Joined Cases C-87/03 and C-100/03

Kingdom of Spain

v

Council of the European Union

‛Fisheries — Regulation distributing catch quotas among Member States — Act of accession of Spain — End of the transitional period — Requirement of relative stability — Principle of non-discrimination — New fishing opportunities’

Judgment of the Court (Third Chamber), 30 March 2006 I-2918

Summary of the Judgment

The requirement of relative stability of the allocation of fishing quotas between the Member States must be understood as meaning that each Member State is to retain a fixed percentage when fishing opportunities are distributed. The scale for allocation laid down under Regulation No 170/83 and initially made by taking account of the quantities taken on average by the fleets of the various Member States during the period from 1973 to 1978, will therefore continue to apply as long as an amending regulation has not been adopted according to the procedure which was followed for that regulation. In that connection, since the accession of a new Member State, in particular that of the Kingdom of Spain and the Portuguese Republic, cannot in itself produce legal effects, it does not require the Council to amend the existing allocation. In the same way, the end of the transitional period, as defined by the Act of Accession, can have only the legal effects laid down by that act. The latter does not provide for either an amendment to the scale for allocation which would take effect on the expiry of the transitional period or a duty by the Council to review the scale for allocation at that moment. Therefore, the absence of amendments of the existing scale for allocation by a subsequent act of the Council is not contrary to the principle of relative stability. (see paras 27-30, 32)

The allocation of fishing opportunities between Member States, as provided for in Article 8(4) of Regulation No 3760/92 establishing a Community system for fisheries and aquaculture requires the assessment of a complex economic situation in respect of which the Council enjoys a wide discretionary power. Consequently, the review of the Court must be limited to verifying that the measure in question is not vitiated by any manifest error or a misuse of powers, or that the authority concerned has not manifestly exceeded the limits of its power of assessment. (see para. 38)

By not treating the Kingdom of Spain in the same way as the Member States which participated in the initial allocation of fishing quotas prior to its accession or in subsequent allocations during the transitional period, in Regulation No 2341/2002 fixing for 2003 the fishing opportunities applicable in Community waters, the Council has not acted in a discriminatory manner towards it. It is important to distinguish between access to Community waters and access to marine resources. If, after the end of the transitional period, the Kingdom of Spain may once again have access to the waters of the North Sea and the Baltic Sea, it does not follow that Spanish vessels may have access to the resources of those seas in the same proportions as the Member States who participated in the initial or subsequent allocations. It follows that the Kingdom of Spain was not in a position equivalent to the Member States whose vessels had recently, during the relevant reference period, fished in those waters. (see paras 55-57)