ARCHIVESHISTORIQUES
DELACOMMISSION
COLLECTION RELIEEDES
DOCUMENTS "COM"
COM(78)731
Vol.1978/0272

Disclaimer
Conformément aurèglement(CEE,Euratom)n°354/83duConseildu1erfévrier1983
concernantl'ouvertureaupublicdesarchiveshistoriquesdelaCommunauté économique
européenneetdelaCommunautéeuropéennedel'énergieatomique(JOL43du15.2.1983,
p.1),telquemodifiéparlerèglement(CE,Euratom)n°1700/2003du22septembre2003
(JOL243du27.9.2003,p.1),cedossierestouvertaupublic.Lecaséchéant,lesdocuments
classifiésprésentsdanscedossierontétédéclassifiésconformément àl'article5dudit
règlement.
InaccordancewithCouncilRegulation(EEC,Euratom)No354/83of1February1983
concerningtheopeningtothepublicofthehistoricalarchivesoftheEuropeanEconomic
CommunityandtheEuropeanAtomicEnergyCommunity(OJL43,15.2.1983,p.1),as
amendedbyRegulation(EC,Euratom)No1700/2003of22September2003(OJL243,
27.9.2003,p.1),thisfileisopentothepublic.Wherenecessary,classifieddocumentsinthis
filehavebeendeclassified inconformitywithArticle5oftheaforementioned regulation.
InÜbereinstimmung mitderVerordnung(EWG,Euratom)Nr.354/83desRatesvom1.
Februar1983überdieFreigabederhistorischen ArchivederEuropäischen
Wirtschaftsgemeinschaft undderEuropäischen Atomgemeinschaft (ABI.L43vom15.2.1983,
S.1),geändertdurchdieVerordnung(EG,Euratom)Nr.1700/2003vom22.September2003
(ABI.L243vom27.9.2003,S.1),istdieseDateiderÖffentlichkeitzugänglich.Soweit
erforderlich,wurdendieVerschlusssachen indieserDateiinÜbereinstimmung mitArtikel5
dergenanntenVerordnungfreigegeben.

COMMISSION OFTHEEUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
C0MC78)731final
Brussels.15December1978
f-■
'.'J
L-ïi
■I
Recommendation fora
COUNCILDECISION
authorizingtheCommissiontonegotiatefisheriesagreementswith
developingcountries
(submittedtotheCouncilbytheCommission )
C0MC78)731final

Explanatory Memorandum
SUPPLEMENTARY DIRECTIVES FORTHECOMMISSION FORTHENEGOTIATION
OFFISHERIES AGREEMENTS WITHDEVELOPING COUNTRIES
1.On3November 1976,theCounciladopted aResolution concerning
certainexternal aspectsofthecreation ofa200-nautical milefishing
zoneintheCommunity .
OnJune27,1977,theCouncilauthorized theCommission toopen
negotiations withGuinea-Bissau ,Senegal,Mauritania andCapeVerdeon
thebasisofthedirectives already agreedfornegotiations withthose
thirdcountries towhichtheCommunity doesnotofferreciprocity of
fishingrights.Thesedirectives wereconfirmed andmademoreprecise
bytheDecision of7December 1977(S/1962/77andR/3217/777.
2.Meanwhile ,alargenumberofStateshaveextendedtheirfishing
zonesto200milesandaremakingfishinginthosezonessubjectto
authorization .Certaindeveloping countries inparticular haveshown
»
adesiretoenterintonegotiations withtheCommunity (Guinea,SaoTome
andPrincipe,Gabon,Congo,Angola);inaddition,oneoftheMember
Stateshasrequested thatnegotiations beopenedwiththeSeychelles and
Mauritius .Furthermore ,theAgreement betweenItalyandTunisiaexpires
inJune1979andanewagreement willhavetobenegotiated bytheCom­
munity.
Inthesecircumstances ,itseemsappropriate togivetheCommission
theauthority toopennegotiations withallthedeveloping countries in
Λ
whichCommunity fishermen haveajustified interest .Itisalsodesira­
blethattheCommission shouldbeabletoopennegotiations immediately ,
particularly inthosecaseswhereitisapproached byacountrythatis
seekingincreased cooperation byestablishing closerrelations withthe
Community .
•••/t•

-2-
3.On6July1978,theCommission presented totheCouncilthe
Supplementary Memorandum onsea-fishing inthecontextoftherenewal
oftheLom£Convention (COM(78)323final=1/207/78(ACP34)).It
setsoutinthatmemorandum itsinterest instrengthening relations
betweentheEECandtheACPinthefisheries field,intheexpectation
notablyofageneralwillingness onthepartoftheACPStatestonego­
tiatewith'the Community,theprinciples thathaveemergedfromthe
ThirdUnitedNationsConference ontheLawoftheSeabeingrespected
bybothsides.
Itistherefore proposed thattheCouncilauthorise theCommission
toopennegotiations inaccordance withdirectives ,whicharebasedon
theprinciples underlying thedirectives alreadyadopted,theseprinciples
beingrestated intheabovememorandum .Asthingsstandatpresent,the
Commission feelsthatnegotiations shouldfirstbeundertaken withthe
following countries :Mauritius,Seychelles ,SaoTomeandPrincipe,Congo
(Brazzaville ),Gabon,Guinea,AngolaandTunisia.

Councildecisionauthorizing theCommissiontonegotiatefisheries
agreementswithdevelopingcountries
THECOUNCILOFTHEEUROPEANCOMMUNITIES,
HavingregardtotheTreatyestablishing theEuropeanEconomicCommunity,
HavingregardtotheRecommendation fromtheCommission,
Whereason27Juneand7December1977theCouncilauthorizedtheCommis­
siontoopenandcontinuenegotiations fortheconclusionof
fisheriesagreementswithGuinea-Bissau ,Senegal,MauritaniaandCapeVerde;
WhereasotherdevelopingcountriestowhichtheCommunitydoesnotoffer
reciprocity offishingrightshaveshowntheirinterestinsuchagreements;
whereasthenegotiatingsituationvis-£-v1sallthosecountriesisbroadly
identical;whereasconsequently thedirectivesforthenegotiations with
theaboveWestAfricancountriesconstitute avalidbasisforthenegotia­
tionswiththeotherdevelopingcountries.
HASDECIDEDASFOLLOWS:
SoleArticle
TheCommissionisherebyauthorizedtoopen,inaccordancewith
thedirectivesannexedhereto,negotiations forfisheriesagreements
withcoastaldevelopingcountries,providedthereisproveninterest
infishinginthosecountries'fishingzones.
TheCommissionshallconductthenegotiations,assistedbythe
representatives oftheMemberStates.
Doneat,
FortheCouncil

ANNEX
Supplementary negotiatingdirectives
1mTheprincipalobjectivesoftheCommunityinthenegotiationsto
beconductedwithdevelopingcountries .,,areasfollows:
(a)tomaintaincurrentfishingrightsunderagreementsconcludedbythe
MemberStates;
(b)torestoreothertraditional Communityfishingactivities;
(c)toacquireadditionalaccessrights,
therebyimprovingtheoverallfisherypossibilities forCommunityvessels.
2.Itisunderstoodthattotalvesselcapacityforallthezonescon­
cerned,includingthezonereferredtointhenegotiatingdirectivesof
7December1977(S/1962/77),willnotsignificantly exceedtheorderof
magnitudeof80000grossregisteredtons,thisbeingthevolumealready
established inthosedirectives.
3.TheCommunity'soverallapproachshallbethatlaiddowninthe
negotiatingdirectives ,of7December1977.TheCommissionwillalso
takeaccountoftheresultsofdeliberations intheCouncilinthefield
ofsea-fishinginthecontextoftherenewaloftheLom4Convention
(1/207/78(ACP34)).
y
A.Asregardsfinancialcompensation inthecaseofagreementswhere
theCommunitydoesnotofferreciprocity,theprinciplessetoutinpara­
graph6ofthenegotiatingdirectivesof7December1977shallremain
valid;itisstressednevertheless thatthenegotiations musttakeaccount;
inrespectofcompensation,ofthemosteconomicalfishingpossibilities
bothforCommunityfishermenandfortheCommunityitselfandoftheCom­
munity'sinterestinmaintainingorestablishing relationsinthematter
offisherieswiththecountryin,question.
5.Asafirststep,negotiations areforeseenwithMauritius,Seychelles,
SaoTomeePrincipe,Congo,Gabon,Guinea,AngolaandTunisia.