position of the Council on the adoption of a Regulation amending Regulation (EU) No 1343/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 December 2011 on certain provisions for fishing in the GFCM (General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean) Agreement area

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT pursuant to Article 294(6) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union concerning the

2014/0213 (COD)

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION

TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT



pursuant to Article 294(6) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union



concerning the

position of the Council on the adoption of a Regulation amending Regulation (EU) No 1343/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 December 2011 on certain provisions for fishing in the GFCM (General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean) Agreement area

1.Background

Date of transmission of the proposal to the European Parliament and to the Council

(document COM(2014) 457 final – 2014/0213 (COD): 11.07.2014. Date of the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee: 15.10.2014. Date of the position of the European Parliament, first reading: 13.01.2015. Date of transmission of the amended proposal: - Date of adoption of the position of the Council: 13.07.2015.

2.Objective of the proposal from the Commission

The proposal aims at transposing in Union law a number of measures adopted in the framework of the Agreement for the establishment of the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean (GFCM) between 2011 and 2013. These measures are already in force and binding on the EU and the ten Member States which are Contracting Parties to the GFCM Agreement (Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, France, Greece, Italy, Malta, Slovenia, Spain and Romania). To the extent to which the content of the GFCM recommendations is not covered or is only partially covered by existing Union law, the transposition of the relevant GFCM measures is necessary in order to make these measures applicable in a uniform and effective manner throughout the Union, including to natural or legal persons.

3.Comments on the position of the Council

3.1. General comments on Council position:

The position of the Council reflects the political agreement reached by the European Parliament and the Council on 26 March 2015. The Commission supports this agreement. Nevertheless, it made two statements which are annexed below.

3.2. Amendments by the European Parliament at first reading:

The European Parliament made 25 amendments at first reading. With the exception of amendment 19 (on fishing vessels equipped with trawl nets and purse seines in Geographical Sub-areas 17 or 18, which the European Parliament agreed to withdraw), all the other amendments have been integrated in the Council position with further changes, as a result of the trilogue meetings of 2 and 26 March and of the inter-institutional technical meetings of 4 February and 4 March.

3.3. New provisions introduced by the Council and Commission position in this regard:

The Council in its position has introduced a new derogation in Article 15a, which concerns the use of trawl nets in coastal waters of the Black Sea and takes account of the prevailing situation in that region. The Commission has no objections.

3.4. Problems encountered in the adoption of the position at first reading and Commission position in this regard:

The Commission has made two statements with a view to clarify some issues linked to derogations on red coral and more precisely to the adoption of national measures during a transitional period and to the final date for the use of Remotely Operated underwater Vehicles (ROVs) for observation and prospection of red coral.

4.Conclusion

The legal services and lawyer linguists of both institutions were mandated to make all the relevant adjustments to the text. The resulting document therefore represents the Commission proposal as modified and integrated by the political agreement reached by the co-legislators on 26 March.

The Commission supports this agreement in general, but wants to make statements on two specific points of concern.