EUROPEAN COMMISSION Brussels, 6.3.2019 COM(2019) 97 final 2019/0053(NLE) Proposal for a COUNCIL DECISION concerning the position to be taken on behalf of the European Union in the South Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Organisation and repealing Decision 9784/17



EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM 1.Subject matter of the proposal This proposal concerns a Decision establishing the position to be taken on the Union’s behalf at meetings of the South Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Organisation (SPRFMO) for the period 2019-2023 in connection with the envisaged adoption of conservation and management measures. 2.Context of the proposal 2.1.Convention on the Conservation and Management of High Seas Fishery Resources in the South Pacific Ocean The Convention on the Conservation and Management of High Seas Fishery Resources in the South Pacific Ocean (SPRFMO Convention) aims, by establishing the SPRFMO, to ensure the long-term conservation and sustainable use of fishery resources in the Convention area. The Convention entered into force on 24 August 2012. The Union is a party to the SPRFMO, having ratified the Convention pursuant to Council Decision 2012/130/EU. 2.2.SPRFMO Commission The SPRFMO Commission is the body established by the SPRFMO Convention to be responsible for the management and conservation of fishery resources in the Convention area. It adopts conservation and management measures to ensure the long-term conservation and sustainable use of fishery resources under its purview. As a member of the SPRFMO Commission, the Union has participation and voting rights. The SPRFMO Commission usually takes its decisions by consensus. However, it may take decisions by a three-quarters majority of its members, except where the SPRFMO Convention expressly provides for consensus. 2.3.SPRFMO Commission decisions The SPRFMO Commission has the authority to adopt conservation and enforcement measures for the fisheries under its purview, which are binding on the contracting parties. In accordance with Article 17(1) of the SPRFMO Convention, the measures enter into force 90 days after the date on which the contracting parties are notified of them by the SPRFMO. If any member of the SPRFMO Commission presents an objection to a decision within 60 days of being notified, the decision will not become binding on that member to the extent of the objection. If an objection is presented, a review panel is established within 30 days of the end of the objection period to decide on the objection. 3.Position to be taken on the Union’s behalf The position to be adopted on behalf of the Union at the annual meetings of regional fisheries management organisations (RFMOs) is currently established according to a twotier approach. A Council Decision sets out the guiding principles and orientations of the Union’s position on a multiannual basis and it is subsequently adjusted for each annual meeting by Commission non-papers to be discussed in the Council Working Party. For the SPRFMO, this approach is implemented by Council Decision 9784/17 of 30 May 2017, which sets out the Union’s position in the SPRFMO for the period 2017-2021. The Decision contains general principles and orientations, but also takes into account to the extent possible the specificities of the SPRFMO. In addition, it sets out the standard process for establishing the Union’s position year by year, as requested by Member States. Decision 9784/17 does not provide for a review of the Union’s position within the SPRFMO before the 2022 annual meeting. However, the vast majority of the Council Decisions setting out the Union’s position in the various RFMOs to which it is a contracting party are due for review before the 2019 annual meetings of those RFMOs. Therefore, to promote coherence among the Union’s positions in all RFMOs and to synchronise the timing for the revision procedures, it is appropriate to bring forward the revision of the Union’s position in the SPRFMO for the period 2019-2023 and thereby replace Decision 9784/17. Decision 9784/17 incorporated the principles and orientations of the new common fisheries policy (CFP), as laid down in Regulation (EU) No 1380/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council, also taking into account the objectives set in the Commission Communication on the external dimension of the CFP. Moreover, it adjusted the Union’s position to the Lisbon Treaty. The current revision takes into consideration, in connection with impacts of fishing, the Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions on a European strategy for plastics in a circular economy, the Joint Communication by the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and the European Commission on International ocean governance: an agenda for the future of oceans and the Council conclusions on that Joint Communication.

4.Legal basis 4.1.Procedural legal basis 4.1.1.Principles Article 218(9) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) provides for decisions establishing ‘the positions to be adopted on the Union’s behalf in a body set up by an agreement, when that body is called upon to adopt acts having legal effects, with the exception of acts supplementing or amending the institutional framework of the agreement’. ‘Acts having legal effects’ include acts that have legal effects by virtue of the rules of international law governing the body in question, and instruments that do not have a binding effect under international law, but are ‘capable of decisively influencing the content of the legislation adopted by the EU legislature’. 4.1.2.Application to the present case The SPRFMO Commission is a body set up by an agreement, namely the SPRFMO Convention. The acts that the SPRFMO Commission is called upon to adopt constitute acts having legal effects. The envisaged acts are to be binding under international law in accordance with Article 17 of the SPRFMO Convention and are capable of decisively influencing the content of EU legislation, including: ·Council Regulation (EC) No 1005/2008 establishing a Community system to prevent, deter and eliminate illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing; ·Council Regulation (EC) No 1224/2009 establishing a Community control system for ensuring compliance with the rules of the Common Fisheries Policy; and ·Council Regulation (EU) 2017/2403 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 December 2017 on the sustainable management of external fishing fleets. The envisaged acts do not supplement or amend the institutional framework of the SPRFMO Convention. Therefore, the procedural legal basis for the proposed Decision is Article 218(9) TFEU. 4.2.Substantive legal basis 4.2.1.Principles The substantive legal basis for a Decision under Article 218(9) TFEU depends primarily on the objective and content of the envisaged act in respect of which a position is taken on the Union’s behalf. If that act pursues two aims or has two components, and if one of those aims or components is identifiable as the main one, whereas the other is merely incidental, the Decision under Article 218(9) TFEU must be founded on a single substantive legal basis, namely that required by the main or predominant aim or component. 4.2.2.Application to the present case The main objective and content of the envisaged act relate to fisheries. Regulation (EU) No 1380/2013 is the legal basis setting out the principles to be reflected in this position. Therefore, the substantive legal basis of the proposed Decision is Article 43(2) TFEU. The Decision is to replace Decision 9784/17. 4.3.Conclusion

The legal basis of the proposed Decision should be Article 43(2) TFEU, in conjunction with Article 218(9) TFEU. 2019/0053 (NLE) Proposal for a COUNCIL DECISION concerning the position to be taken on behalf of the European Union in the South Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Organisation and repealing Decision 9784/17 THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, and in particular Article 43(2), in conjunction with Article 218(9) thereof, Having regard to the proposal from the European Commission, Whereas: (1)By Council Decision 2012/130/EU of 3 October 2011, the Union concluded the Convention on the Conservation and Management of High Seas Fishery Resources in the South Pacific Ocean (SPRFMO Convention), which established the SPRFMO Commission. (2)The SPRFMO Commission is responsible for the adoption of conservation and management measures to achieve the objectives of the SPRFMO Convention. Such measures may become binding upon the Union. (3)Regulation (EU) No 1380/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council provides that the Union is to ensure that fishing and aquaculture activities are environmentally sustainable in the long-term and are managed in a way that is consistent with the objectives of achieving economic, social and employment benefits, and of contributing to the availability of food supplies. It also provides that the Union is to apply the precautionary approach to fisheries management, and is to aim to ensure that exploitation of living marine biological resources restores and maintains population of harvested species above levels, which can produce the maximum sustainable yield. It further provides that the Union is to take management and conservation measures based on best available scientific advice, to support the development of scientific knowledge and advice, to gradually eliminate discards and to promote fishing methods that contribute to more selective fishing and the avoidance and reduction, as far as possible, of unwanted catches, to fishing with low impact on marine ecosystem and fishery resources. Besides, Regulation (EU) No 1380/2013 specifically provides that those objectives and principles are to be applied by the Union in the conduct of its external fisheries relations. (4)As stated in the Joint communication by the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and the European Commission on International ocean governance: an agenda for the future of oceans, and the Council conclusions on that Joint communication, the promotion of measures to support and enhance the effectiveness of regional fisheries management organisations (RFMOs) and, where relevant, improve their governance is central to the Union’s action in these fora. (5)The Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions on a European Strategy for Plastics in a Circular Economy, refers to specific measures to reduce plastics and marine pollution as well as the loss or abandonment at sea of fishing gear. (6)It is appropriate to establish the position to be taken on the Union’s behalf in the SPRFMO Commission for the period 2019-2023, as the SPRFMO conservation and enforcement measures will be binding on the Union and capable of decisively influencing the content of Union law, namely, Council Regulation (EC) No 1005/2008; Council Regulation (EC) No 1224/2009; and Regulation (EU) 2017/2403 of the European Parliament and of the Council. (7)Council Decision 9784/17 does not provide for a review of the Union’s position within the SPRFMO Commission before the 2022 annual meeting. However, the vast majority of the Council Decisions setting the Union’s position within the different RFMOs to which the Union is a Contracting Party are due for revision before the 2019 annual meetings of those RFMOs. Therefore, to promote improved coherence amongst the Union position in all RFMOs and to streamline the revision process, it is appropriate to bring forward the revision of Council Decision 9784/17 and to repeal it replacing it by a new Decision for the period 2019-2023. (8)In view of the evolving nature of fishery resources in the SPRFMO Convention area and the consequent need for the position of the Union to take account of new developments, including new scientific and other relevant information presented before or during the meetings of the SPRFMO Commission, procedures should be established, in line with the principle of sincere cooperation among the Union institutions enshrined in Article 13(2) of the Treaty on the European Union (TEU), for the year-to-year specification of the Union position for the period 2019-2023. HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION: Article 1 The position to be taken on the Union’s behalf in the meetings of the South Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Organisation (SPRFMO) Commission is set out in Annex I.