Proposal for a COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) on the submission of nominal catch statistics by Member States fishing in certain areas other than those of the North Atlantic
Date: 1994-09-09
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: EU Member State, FAO, catch by species, exchange of information, fishing area, statistics

COMVIISSION  OF  THE  EUROPEAN  COMMUNITIES 

C0M(94)  376 
B r u s s e l s,  0 9 . 0 9 . 1 9 94 

f i n al 

9 4/  0198CCNS) 

P r o p o s al 

f or  a 

COUNCIL  REGULATION  (EC) 

on the  submission  of  nominal  catch  statistics  by  Member  States fishing  in  certain 
areas  other than those  of the  North  Atlantic 

(presented  by the Commission) 

Explanatory Memorandum 

Statistics on the nominal catches by Member States fishing in certain areas other than those  of 
the North Atlantic are required so that 

1)  the  European  Union  may  meet  its  obligations  under 

the  terms  of  its  membership  of 
international  organisations  (for  example, the  Food and Agriculture  Organisation  of  the 
United Nations and its subsidiary bodies) 

and 

< 

2)  the European  Uniion  may have available the information on the activities of  its  fishing 
the  management  of  its  fishery  resources  in  the 
vessels  in  these  waters  to  aid 
Mediterranean  and  the  Eastern  Central  Atlantic  and  to  aid  its  negotiations  in  the 
international fora. 

This  proposed  regulation  converts  into  EU  legislation  certain  of  the  STATLANT  series  of 
questionnaires  used  for  many  years  by  Member  States  to  report  annual  nominal  catches  to 
international  organisations, on  an  informal  basis.  Because this  proposed  regulation  formalises 
the  transmission  of  existing  data  sets  collected  by  Member  States  it  is  the  opinion  of  the 
Commission that the proposal will  impose no extra financial implications for businesses and will 
have no impact on competitiveness or employment. 

on the submission of nominal catch statistics by Member States fishing in certain 
areas other than those of the North Atlantic 

Council Regulation (EEC) No 

/94 

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, 

Having  regard to the Treaty  establishing the  European Community,  and  in  particular  Article 
43 thereof, 

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission, 

Having regard to the opinion of the European Parliament, 

Having regard to the Agreement whereby the European Community  acquires membership of 
the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO), 

Whereas  the  protocol  established  between  the  Council  of  the  European  Union  and  the 
Commission of the European Communities  provides for the Commission to supply  FAO with 
the requested statistics, 

Whereas  according to the  principle of subsidiarity the objectives  of the  proposed  action  can 
only  be achieved on the  basis of a Community  legal act  because  only the  Commission  can 
coordinate  the  necessary  harmonisation  of  the  statistical  information  at  Community  level 
while  the  collection  of  fishery  statistics  and  the  necessary  infra-structure  to  process  and 
monitor the reliability of these statistics is first and foremost the responsibility  of the  Member 
States, 

Whereas the specific method of drawing up the relevant community statistics, which is based 
on  the  national  statistical  systems,  requires  particularly  close  cooperation  between  the 
Commission  and  the  Member  States,  in  particular  within  the  Standing  Committee  for 
Agricultural Statistics set up in Decision 72/279/EEC1). 

HAS ADOPTED THIS  REGULATION 

Article  1 

Each Member State shall submit to the Commission data on the nominal catches  by vessels 
registered in or flying the flag of that Member State fishing  in certain  areas other than those 
of the  North Atlantic, with  due  regard to  Council  Regulation  (Euratom,  EEC)  no.  1588/90  of 
11 June 1990 on the transmission of data subject to statistical confidentiality to the  Statistical 
Office of the European Communities2)-

The  nominal catch data  shall  include all fishery  products landed or transhipped  at sea in no 
matter what form but shall exclude quantities which, subsequent to capture, are discarded at 
sea,  consumed  on  board  or  used as bait  on board.  The data  shall  be  recorded  as the  live 
weight equivalent of the landings or transhipment, to the nearest tonne. 

Article 2. 

1.  The data to be submitted shall be the nominal catches in each of the Major Fishing Areas 
and sub-divisions thereof as listed in Annex  1, described in Annex 2 and illustrated in Annex 
3.  For each of the  Major Fishing Areas the species for which data  are  required  are  listed in 
Annex 4. 

1)  OJNo. L 179, 7.8.1972, p. 1. 
2)  OJNo. L 151, 15.6.1990, p.1 

2.  The data  for  each calendar  year shall  be submitted within  six  months  of the  end  of  the 
year. 

3.  Where  the  Member  State's  vessels  under Article  1 have  not  fished  in  a  Major  Fishing 
Area  in  the  calendar  year,  the  Member  State  shall  inform  the  Commission  to  this  effect. 
However,  where  fishing  has  occurred  in  a  Major  Fishing  Area,  submissions  shall  only  be 
required for species/sub-division combinations for which catches were recorded in the annual 
period of the submission. 

4.  The data for species of minor importance  caught by the vessels of a Member State need 
not  be individually  identified  in the submissions  but  may  be included  in an aggregated  item 
provided that the weight of the products does not exceed 5% of the total annual catch in that 
Major Fishing Area. 

5.  The  lists  of  statistical  fishing  areas,  or  sub-divisions  thereof,  and  species  may  be 
amended in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 5. 

Article 3 

Except  where  provisions  adopted  under  the  common  fisheries  policy  dictate  otherwise,  a 
Member State shall be permitted to  use sampling techniques to derive  catch data  for those 
parts of the  fleet  for which the  complete  coverage  of the data would  involve  the  excessive 
application  of  administrative  procedures.  The details  of the  sampling  procedures,  together 
with details of the  proportion of the total data derived by such techniques, must  be  included 
by the Member State in the report submitted pursuant to Article 6(1). 

Article 4. 

Member States shall fulfil their obligations pursuant to Articles 1 and 2 by submitting the data 
on magnetic medium, the format of which is given in Annex 5. 

With the  prior  approval  of the  Commission,  Member  States  may  submit  data  in  a  different 
form or on a different medium. 

Article 5. 

1.  Where the  procedure  laid down  in this Article  is to  be followed, the  chairman  shall  refer 
the matter to the  Standing  Committee for Agricultural  Statistics  (hereinafter  referred to 
as 'the Committee'), either on his own initiative or at the request of the representative of 
a Member State. 

2.  The  representative  of  the  Commission  shall  submit  to  the  Committee  a  draft  of  the 
measures  to  be taken.  The  Committee  shall  deliver  its opinion  on that  draft,  within  a 
time  limit  which the  chairman  may  lay down according  to the  urgency  of the  matter,  if 
necessary by taking a vote. 

3.  The opinion shall be recorded in the minutes:  in addition, each Member State shall have 

the right to ask to have its position recorded in the minutes. 

4.  The  Commission  shall  take  the  utmost  account  of  the  opinion  delivered  by  the 
Committee.  It shall inform the Committee of the manner in which its opinion has been 
taken into account. 

1.  Within  12 months of the  entry  into force of this regulation, Member states shall submit a 
detailed  report  to  the  Commission  describing  how  the  data  on  catches  are  derived  and 

Article 6. 

specifying the degree of representativity  and reliability of these data.  The Commission  shall 
drflw up a summary  of these  reports for discussion within the competent  Working  Group  of 
the Agricultural Statistics Committee. 

2.  Member  States  shall  inform  the  Commission  of  any  modifications  to  the  information 
provided under paragraph 1 within three months of their introduction. 

3.  Where the  methodological  reports under paragraph  1 show that  a  Member  State  cannot 
immediately meet the requirements of this Regulation and that changes in survey techniques 
and  methodology  are  necessary,  the  Commission  may,  in  co-operation  with  the  Member 
State within the Standing Committee on Agricultural Statistics, set a transitional  period of up 
to two years during which the programme of this Regulation is to be achieved. 

4.  Methodological  reports,  transitional  arrangements,  data  availability,  data  reliability  and 
other  relevant  issues  connected  with  the  application  of  this  Regulation  shall  be  examined 
once a year within the competent Working Group of the Agricultural Statistics Committee. 

Article 7. 

This  Regulation  shall  enter  into  force  on  the  day  following  its  publication  in  the  Official 
Journal of the European Communities. 

This regulation shall be binding from 1 January 1995. 

ISSN 0254-1475 

COM (94) 376 final 

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