COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES 
COM(91) 148 final 
Brussels, 30 ApriI 1891 
Proposal for a 
COUNCIL REGULATION (EEC) 
amending Regulation (EEC) No 104/76 laying down common 
marketing standards for shrimps (Crangon crangon), edible crabs 
(Cancer pagurus) and Norway lobsters (Nephrops norvegicus) 
(presented by the Commission) 
- 2 -
EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM 
Council Regulation (EEC) No 104/76 of 19 January 1976, which it is 
proposed to amend, lays down common marketing standards for shrimps, 
edible crabs and Norway lobsters and establishes grading categories for 
the three products in question as well as freshness categories for 
shrimps and Norway lobsters. 
Article 7 provides for derogations from the minimum marketing sizes laid 
down within the grading categories for shrimps (paragraph 4) and edible 
crabs (paragraph 5). 
So far, only the derogation for crabs has been applied, the coastal zones 
of the United Kingdom where the size derogation is authorized having 
being laid down in Commission Regulation (EEC) No 1048/86. 
In order to conserve crab stocks, the British authorities increased the 
minimum biological size for crabs to 12.5 cm in several of the areas 
specified in Regulation (EEC) No 1048/86 on 1 February 1990, the uniform 
size of 11.5 cm laid down by Regulation (EEC) No 104/76 continuing to be 
authorized for the other areas. 
Since a Community minimum biological size has not yet been fixed for 
edible crabs, there is now a contradiction between Community rules on 
marketing standards and British legislation on the conservation of 
resources. 
Producers may therefore be unsure of the legal position. 
The Community rules regarding derogations must therefore be amended but, 
since different minimum sizes have been introduced in certain zones, it 
is proposed, in the interests of simplification and to facilitate future 
management of the application of these measures, to retain the principle 
of the derogation contained in Council Regulation (EEC) No 104/76, its 
application being determined in accordance with the procedure laid down 
•r, Article 33 of Regulation (EEC) No 3796/81. 
it also appears sensible, again for reasons of simplification, to bring 
the derogations for shrimps and crabs together in the same text and to 
lay down identical application procedures for the two products. 
This proposal has no financial impact on the Community budget. 
It does not affect the SMEs concerned. 
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Proposal for a 
COUNCIL REGULATION (EEC) 
amending Regulation (EEC) No 104/76 laying down 
common marketing standards for shrimps (Crangon crangon), 
edible crabs (Cancer pagurus) and Norway lobsters (Nephrops norvegicus) 
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, 
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community, 
Having regard to Council Regulation (EEC) No 3796/81 of 29 December 1981 
on the common organization of the market in fishery products1, as last 
amended by Regulation (EEC) No 2886/892, and in particular Article 2(3) 
thereof, 
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission, 
Whereas Council Regulation (EEC) No 104/76 3, as last amended by 
Regulation (EEC) No 4213/884, lays down, inter alia, the sizing 
categories applicable to shrimps and crabs, and fixes a minimum size 
below which these products may not be marketed for human consumption 
within the Community; 
Whereas Article 7(4) of the above Regulation provides for exemptions from 
the minimum size for shrimps, in order to ensure local supplies for 
certain coastal areas of the Community; 
Whereas, in order to ensure local or regional supplies of crabs for 
certain coastal zones of the United Kingdom, Article 7(5) of the above 
Regulation introduces an exception reducing the minimum marketing size 
for this product to 11.5 cm in these zones; 
1 0J No L 379, 31.12.1981, p. 1. 
2 0J No L 282, 2.10.1989, p. 1. 
3 0J No L 20, 28.1.1976, p. 35. 
4 0J No L 370, 31.12.1988, p. 33, 
j! Whereas experience has shown that exceptions from the minimum sizes must 
|i p be differentiated according to the zones concerned in order to take 
ij 
1 account of differing conditions of production and sale in these zones; 
i 
i Whereas, in order to ensure efficient management of the scheme, identical 
procedures for the fixing of the size exceptions and for the 
determination of the coastal zones in which these sizes are to apply must 
be laid down for the two products concerned, 
HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION: 
Article 1 
Article 7 of Regulation (EEC) No 104/76 is hereby amended as follows: 
1. Paragraph 4 is replaced by the following: 
"4. Exemptions from the minimum sizes referred to in paragraph 1(a) and 
(b) may be laid down in order to ensure local or regional supplies of 
shrimps and crabs for certain coastal zones of the Community. 
These zones shall be determined and the corresponding marketing sizes 
fixed in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 33 of 
Regulation (EEC) No 3796/81." 
2. Paragraph 5 is deleted. 
Article 2 
This Regulation shall enter into force on 1 June 1991. 
This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable 
in ai I Member States. 
Dons at Brussels, For the Council 
The President 
ISSN.Q254-1475 
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