Keywords

Summary



Keywords

1 Fisheries - Conservation of the resources of the sea - System of fishing quotas - Allocation among the Member States of the volume of available catches - Allocation, by Regulation No 3362/94, of the quotas for cod and whiting in Area VIIa (Irish Sea) - Legal basis - Regulation No 3760/92 - Assessment of the validity of Regulation No 3362/94 - Annex VII to the Hague Resolution - Not relevant

(EC Treaty, Art. 43; Council Regulations No 3760/92 and No 3362/94; Council Resolution of 3 November 1976, Annex VII)

2 Fisheries - Conservation of the resources of the sea - System of fishing quotas - Allocation among the Member States of the volume of available catches - Judicial review - Limits - Allocation, by Regulation No 3362/94, of the quotas for cod and whiting in Area VIIa (Irish Sea) - No manifest error of assessment and bounds of discretion not exceeded - Principles of non-discrimination and proportionality - Infringement - None

(EC Treaty, Arts 39 and 40(3); Council Regulations No 3760/92, Art. 8(4), and No 3362/94; Council Resolution of 3 November 1976, Annex VII)

Summary

3 According to the terms of Annex VII to the Hague Resolution of 3 November 1976, the Council, having regard to the economic relationships which characterise fishing activity in Ireland, declared its intention so to apply the provisions of the common fisheries policy as to secure the continued and progressive development of the Irish fishing industry, while also agreeing to take account of the vital needs of the local communities in other regions.

That annex, which expresses essentially the Council's political will to take account, in applying the future common fisheries policy, of the special needs of regions in which the populations are particularly dependent on fishing and related activities, cannot, however, produce legal effects capable of limiting the Council's legislative powers. Thus, Regulation No 3362/94 fixing, for certain fish stocks and groups of fish stocks, the total allowable catches for 1995 and certain conditions under which they may be fished, and allocating to Ireland and the United Kingdom cod and whiting quotas in Area VIIa (Irish Sea) calculated on the basis of the preferences resulting from that annex, was not adopted pursuant to any binding commitments arising under that annex but on the basis of Article 8(4) of Regulation No 3760/92 establishing a Community system for fisheries and aquaculture, which was validly adopted under Article 43 of the Treaty.

It follows that the question whether the annex was properly adopted or not is irrelevant in assessing the validity of Regulation No 3362/94, with the result that the validity of the allocation of those quotas is not dependent on whether the annex was properly adopted.

4 When implementation by the Council of the common agricultural policy necessitates the evaluation of a complex economic situation, its discretion is not limited solely to the nature and scope of the measures to be taken but also, to some extent, to the finding of basic facts inasmuch as, in particular, it is open to the Council to rely if necessary on general findings. That is precisely the case when, pursuant to Article 8(4) of Regulation No 3760/92 establishing a Community system for fisheries and aquaculture, the Council fixes total allowable catches and distributes fishing opportunities among Member States. In reviewing the exercise of such a power the Court must confine itself to examining whether there has been a manifest error or misuse of power or whether the authority in question has clearly exceeded the bounds of its discretion.

So far as concerns the allocation of cod and whiting quotas in Area VIIa (Irish Sea) to Ireland and the United Kingdom by Regulation No 3362/94 fixing, for certain fish stocks and groups of fish stocks, the total allowable catches for 1995 and certain conditions under which they may be fished, the Council intended to give effect to the principle of relative stability of fishing activities for each Member State for each of the stocks concerned, as set out in Article 8(4) of Regulation No 3760/92, by balancing the interests represented by each Member State with particular regard to its traditional fishing activities and, where relevant, its local populations and industries dependent on fishing through application of the allocation keys set out in Regulation No 172/83 and the operation of the preferences resulting from Annex VII to the Hague Resolution of 3 November 1976, which, for their part, seek to address the special needs of Ireland and the northern parts of the United Kingdom. Even if, in the context of the quotas allocated to the United Kingdom, this balancing of interests leads to a reduction in catch opportunities for fishermen from Northern Ireland, the Council cannot on that ground be regarded as having committed a manifest error of assessment or as having manifestly exceeded the limits which the requirement of relative stability imposes on its discretion.

Nor was the allocation of the quotas in question contrary to the principle of non-discrimination set out in Article 40(3) of the Treaty or to the principle of proportionality. By deciding, in light of the special needs of the regions concerned, to allocate higher fishing quotas to Ireland than to the United Kingdom, the Council made an agricultural policy choice that lay within the scope of its discretion and which is consistent with the objectives of that common policy, as defined by Article 39 of the Treaty, since that distinction was neither arbitrary nor manifestly inappropriate in relation to the objective of safeguarding the respective needs of the communities dependent on fishing in Ireland and the northern parts of the United Kingdom.