Council Regulation (EC) No 2846/98 of 17 December 1998 amending Regulation (EEC) No 2847/93 establishing a control system applicable to the common fisheries policy
Date: 1998-12-17
Institutions: Council of the European Union
Subjects: authorised catch, exchange of information, fishery management, fishing controls, quantity of fish landed, sea fishing

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I

(Acts whose publication is obligatory)

COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) No 2846/98

of 17 December 1998

amending Regulation (EEC) No 2847/93 establishing a control system applicable
to the common fisheries policy

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

be extended for one year to coincide with the entry into
force of the amended logbook requirements;

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

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission (1),

Having regard to the opinion of the European Parlia-
ment (2),

Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social
Committee (3),

Whereas practice in fisheries and in the transport and
marketing of
fishery products has evolved; whereas
monitoring measures should therefore be adapted accord-
ingly; whereas various shortcomings in Council Regula-
tion (EEC) No 2847/93 of 12 October 1993 establishing a
control
system applicable to the common fisheries
policy (4) should therefore be remedied;

Whereas one of the basic requirements on masters of
fishing vessels for control purposes is to record the
amounts of different species held on board; whereas this
requirement should be simplified; whereas specific char-
acteristics of fisheries operations in the Mediterranean
have to be taken into account; whereas, therefore, Article
6 of Regulation (EEC) No 2847/93 should be amended
and Article 5 of Council Regulation (EEC) No 2241/87 of
23 July 1987 establishing certain control measures for
fishing activities (5), should be repealed;

Whereas it is appropriate that the existing exemptions of
the provisions of Articles 6 and 8 of Regulation (EEC) No
2847/93 for fisheries operation in the Mediterranean Sea

(1) OJ C 201, 27. 6. 1998, p. 14.
(2) OJ C 328, 26. 10. 1998.
(3) Opinion delivered on 9 September 1998 (not yet published in

the Official Journal).

(4) OJ L 261, 20. 10. 1993, p. 1. Regulation as last amended by
Regulation (EC) No 2635/97 (OJ L 356, 31. 12. 1997, p. 14).
(5) OJ L 207, 29. 7. 1987, p. 1. Regulation as last amended by
Regulation (EEC) No 2847/93 (OJ L 261, 20. 10. 1993, p. 1).

Whereas Member States may adopt stricter measures in
accordance with this Regulation, including for controlling
landings; whereas to that end Member States may desig-
nate ports for landings;

Whereas controls on fishery products after landing should
be reinforced; whereas the information about
fishery
products referred to in Article 9 of Regulation (EEC) No
2847/93 should be available from the moment of landing
until the final marketing stage; whereas sales notes and
take-over declarations should contain this information for
the purposes of control;

involving joint

action by several

Whereas transhipment operations and, in general, opera-
tions
in
Community waters have caused considerable control
problems in some fisheries; whereas such operations
should be subject to prior authorisation by Member States
and made conditional on compliance with control
procedures laid down;

vessels

Whereas application of the new provisions on tranship-
ments and other joint fishing operations involving several
fishing vessels should be postponed until the entry into
force of the detailed implementing rules;

Whereas it should be ensured that the Commission has
remote access to information contained in the relevant
computer files in the databases updated by the Member
States so that it can efficiently carry out the control tasks
entrusted to it pursuant to Regulation (EEC) No 2847/93;

Whereas, according to the principles of Community law,
any decision taken in accordance with the procedure laid
down in Article 36 of Regulation (EEC) No 2847/93 will
have to respect existing Community law, and in particular

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rules on confidentiality, professional secrecy and data
protection as laid down in Directive 95/46/EC of the
European Parliament and of the Council of 24 October
1995 on the protection of individuals with regard to the
processing of personal data and on the free movement of
such data (1);

Whereas the means for control of each Member State
include interventions at sea, on landing as well as after
landing, whilst taking into account the specificities of
each Member State, the relative importance of the risk of
different types of fraud, and, for control after landing, the
control provisions prior to landing and on landing;

inspection and surveillance
Whereas the monitoring,
measures in Regulation (EEC) No 2847/93 applicable to
fishing vessels flying the flag of a third country which
carry out fishing activities in the Community fishery zone
should be amplified; whereas, in particular such vessels
exceeding a stipulated length operating in this zone
should be subject to continuous satellite surveillance from
the date on which the ‘Vessel Monitoring System' (VMS)
applies to all Community fishing vessels; whereas it is
necessary to intensify the inspection and surveillance of
landings by vessels flying the flag of a third country and
particularly, following the steps taken by certain regional
fisheries organisations to increase the effectiveness of
measures for the conservation of fishery resources on the
high seas, catches taken in the zones concerned;

Whereas, to enable the Commission to fulfil its role ef-
fectively, observation procedures should be introduced to
allow inspectors acting for the Commission to verify the
application of Regulation (EEC) No 2847/93; whereas to
this end Community inspectors should have access to all
relevant places and documentation in accordance with the
rules of procedure of the national law and be accom-
panied by national inspectors;

Whereas, in order to strengthen and facilitate cooperation
between all the authorities in the Community involved in
the monitoring, inspection and surveillance of activities
in the fisheries sector, a general framework should be set
up under which all the authorities concerned can request
mutual assistance and the exchange of relevant informa-
tion, and specific monitoring programmes should be
introduced; whereas it is appropriate to provide for the
adoption of specific monitoring programmes in cases of
serious and unforeseen upheaval;

Whereas Regulation (EEC) No 2847/93 should therefore
be amended,

(1) OJ L 281, 23. 11. 1995, p. 31.

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

Regulation (EEC) No 2847/93 is hereby amended as
follows:

1. the heading of Title I shall be replaced by the

following:

‘TITLE I

Monitoring, inspection and surveillance';

2. Article 2 shall be replaced by the following:

‘Article 2

1.
In order to ensure compliance with all the rules
in force, each Member State within its territory and
within maritime waters subject to its sovereignty or
inspect and maintain
jurisdiction shall monitor,
surveillance of all activities in the fisheries sector,
particularly fishing itself,
landing,
marketing, transport and storage of fisheries products
and the recording of landing and sales. The Member
States shall take the necessary measures to ensure the
best possible control within their territory and within
maritime waters subject to their sovereignty or juris-
diction, taking into account their particular situation.

transhipment,

2.
Each Member State shall ensure that the activ-
ities of its vessels outside the Community fishery
zone are subject to proper monitoring and, where
such Community obligations exist, to inspections and
to ensure compliance with
surveillance,
Community rules applicable in those waters.';

in order

3. the last sentence of Article 3(2) shall be deleted;

4. Article 5 shall be replaced by the following:

‘Article 5

Detailed rules for the application of this Title shall be
adopted as necessary, without prejudice to the
national competences, in accordance with the pro-
cedure laid down in Article 36,
in particular as
regards:

(a) the identification of officially designated in-
spectors and inspection vessels, aircraft and such
other means of inspection as may be used by a
Member State;

(b) the procedure for the inspection and surveillance

of activities in the fisheries sector;

(c) the marking and identification of fishing vessels

and their gear;

(d) the certification of the characteristics of fishing

vessels which relate to fishing activities.';

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5. Article 6(2) shall be replaced by the following:

From 1 January 2000 any amount greater than
‘2.
50 kg of
live-weight equivalent of any species
retained on board, must be recorded in the logbook
in areas other than the Mediterranean. For the fish-
eries operations in the Mediterranean Sea any amount
greater than 50 kg of live-weight equivalent retained
on board of any species indicated on a list adopted
under this Article must be recorded in the logbook.';

6. Article 6(8) shall be replaced by the following:

Detailed rules for the implementation of this
‘8.
Article shall be adopted in accordance with the
procedure laid down in Article 36, including:

— another geographical basis other than the ICES
statistical rectangle, in certain specific cases, and

— recording of catches taken with small meshed

gear and kept on board unsorted,

— the list referred to in paragraph 2.';

7. Article 7(1) shall be replaced by the following:

The Master of a Community fishing vessel
‘1.
who wishes to utilise landing locations in a Member
State other than the flag Member State shall comply
with the requirements of any designated port scheme
established by that Member State in accordance with
Article 38, or if that Member State does not operate
such a scheme, he must
inform the competent
authorities in that Member State at least four hours in
advance of:

— the landing location(s) and estimated time of

arrival there,

— the quantities of each species to be landed.';

8. in Article 9:

(a) paragraph 1 and 2 shall be replaced by the

following:

‘1.
Auction centres or other bodies or persons
authorised by Member States, which are respons-
ible for the first marketing of fishery products
landed in a Member State shall submit, upon the
first sale, a sales note to the competent authorities
of the Member State in whose territory the first
marketing takes place. The submission of the sales
notes listing all data required under this Article
shall be the responsibility of the auction centres or
other bodies or persons authorised by Member
States.

2. Where the first marketing of fisheries prod-
ucts landed in a Member State is carried out in a
manner different from that laid down in paragraph
1, the landed products shall not be collected until

the

following documents has been
one of
submitted to the competent authorities or other
authorised bodies of the Member States:

— a sales note, when the products have been sold
or are offered for sale at the place of landing,

— a copy of one of the documents provided for in
Article 13, when the products are offered for
sale at a location other than the place of
landing; a sales note must be appended to such
copies at the time of actual sale,

— a take-over declaration, when the products are
not offered for sale or are intended for sale at a
later date.

The submission of the sales note listing all data
required under this Article shall be the respons-
ibility of the buyer.

The submission of the take-over declaration listing
all data required under this Article shall be the
responsibility of the holder of this declaration.';

(b) in paragraph 3 the following indents shall be

inserted as first, third and last indent:

‘— the relevant name of each species and its

geographical area of origin,

— where appropriate, the relevant minimum fish

size,

— where possible, the reference number of the

sales contract.';

(c) paragraph 4 shall be replaced by the following:

Sales notes

‘4.
shall be submitted to the
competent authorities responsible for monitoring
the first marketing of fish in such a way that the
following data shall be included:

— the external indentification and name of the
fishing vessel which has landed the products
concerned,

— the name of the vessel’s owner or master,

— the port and date of landing,

— where applicable, reference to one of the docu-
ments provided for in Article 13(1) and (4)(b).';

(d) the following paragraphs shall be inserted:

‘4a.
Where a sales note does not correspond to
the invoice or to a document replacing it, as
referred to in Article 22(3) of the sixth Council
Directive 77/388/EEC (1), the Member State shall
adopt the necessary provisions to ensure that the
information on the price excluding tax for deliv-
eries of goods to the purchaser is identical to that
indicated on the invoice.

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Take-over declarations as referred to in
4b.
paragraph 2, drawn up by owners of landed fishery
products or their agents, shall contain at least the
following information:

— the relevant name of each species and its

geographical area of origin,

— the weight of each species, broken down by

type of product presentation,

— where appropriate, the relevant minimum fish

size,

— identification of

the fishing vessel

that has

landed the products,

— identification of the master of the vessel,

— the port and date of landing,

— the places where the products are stored,

— where applicable, reference to one of the docu-
ments provided for in Article 13(1) and (4)(b).

4c.
Where the fisheries products landed are
intended for sale at a later date, and where such
products are to be placed on the market at a price
provided for in a contract or at a fixed price set for
a specified period, Member States shall carry out
appropriate verifications to check the accuracy of
the information in the take-over declarations and
sales notes referred to in paragraph 2.

(1) Sixth Council Directive 77/388/EEC of 17 May
1977 on the harmonisation of the laws of the
Member States relating to turnover taxes —
common system of value added tax: uniform
basis of assessment (OJ L 145, 13.6.1977, p. 1).';

(e) paragraph 5 shall be replaced by the following:

Sales notes, take-over declarations and a copy
‘5.
of the transport documents shall be submitted,
within 48 hours following the first marketing or
the landing, to the competent authority or other
bodies authorised by the Member State, in accord-
ance with the law of the Member State in whose
territory the operations have been carried out. On
request of a Member State, the Commission, in
accordance with the procedure laid down in
Article 36, may grant exceptions to this delay in
specific situations.

In the event that the products are transported to a
Member State other than the Member State of
landing, the transporter shall transmit within 48
hours following the landing a copy of the trans-
port document to the competent authorities of the
Member
first
marketing is declared to take place. The Member
State of first marketing may require further infor-
mation in this regard from the Member State of
landing.';

in whose

territory

State

the

(f) in paragraph 6, the following subparagraph shall

be added:

‘Where the first marketing of fisheries products
does not take place in the Member State where the
products have been landed,
the Member State
responsible for monitoring the first marketing
the sales note is
shall ensure that a copy of
submitted to the
for
monitoring the landing of the products concerned
as soon as possible.';

responsible

authorities

(g) in paragraph 7 the following sentence shall be
the first subparagraph of

the end of

added at
Article 9(7):

‘or for quantities landed of fisheries products not
exceeding 50 kg of
live weight equivalent by
species.';

9. Article 10 shall be deleted;

10. Article 11 shall be replaced by the following:

‘Article 11

fishing

Transhipments

operations
and
1.
involving joint action by two or more vessels taking
place in maritime waters subject to the sovereignty or
jurisdiction of a Member State, as well as tranship-
ment taking place in a Member State’s ports may be
authorised by this Member State. The Masters of the
vessels concerned shall comply with the procedures
laid down in accordance with paragraph 2, particu-
larly as regards:

— the definition of authorised places,

— inspection and surveillance procedures,

— the terms and conditions for recording and noti-
fying the transhipment operation and the quant-
ities transhipped.

This provision shall not apply to pair trawling activ-
ities by Community vessels.

this
2.
for
Detailed rules
the
Article shall be adopted,
comments of
in
accordance with the procedure laid down in Article
36.';

the application of
taking account of
the Member States concerned,

11. Article 13 shall be amended as follows:

(a) paragraph 1 is replaced by the following:

All

landed

fisheries products

‘1.
in or
imported into the Community, either unprocessed
or after having been processed on board, and for
which neither a sales note nor a take-over declara-
tion has been submitted in accordance with
Article 9(1) and (2), and which are transported to a

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place other than that of landing or import, shall be
accompanied by a document drawn up by the
transporter until the first sale has taken place. The
submission of this transport document listing all
this Article shall be the
data required under
responsibility of the transporter.';

(b) paragraph 2 shall be replaced by the following:

‘2.

This document shall:

(a) indicate in respect of

the consignment

the
name of
the vessel of provenance and its
external identification. In case of import other
than by vessel, this document shall indicate the
location where the consignment was imported;

(b) include the place of destination of the consign-
ment(s) and the identification of the transport
vehicle;

(c) indicate the quantities of

fish (in kilograms
processed weight) for each species transported,
the names of the consignee and the place and
the date of loading, as well as the relevant name
for each species, its geographical area of origin
and, where appropriate, the relevant minimum
fish size.';

(c) the following paragraph shall be inserted:

‘5a.
Where fishery products that have been
declared as sold in accordance with Article 9 are
transported to a location other than the place of
landing or import, at all times transporters must
be able to prove on the basis of a document that a
sales transaction has taken place.';

(d) paragraph 6 shall be replaced by the following:

‘6.
Each Member State shall carry out control
by means of sampling on its territory in order to
verify that
the obligations established by this
Article are being respected. The intensity of such
controls may take account of the intensity of the
controls in previous stages.';

(e) the following paragraph shall be added:

‘7a.
Detailed rules for the application of this
Article shall be adopted in accordance with the
procedure laid down in Article 36.';

12. in Article 18 the following paragraph shall be added:

Detailed rules

‘4.
this
Article shall be adopted in accordance with the
procedure laid down in Article 36.';

the application of

for

13. Article 19 shall be amended as follows:

(a) paragraph 3 shall be replaced by the following:

Each Member State shall adopt the neces-
‘3.
sary measures to ensure that
the information
referred to in paragraph 1 is entered in the data-
base as soon as possible.

The information on regulated resources within the
meaning of Article 8 of Regulation (EEC) No
3760/92 (1) as recorded in the logbook, the landing
declaration, the sales note and the take-over certi-
ficate shall be entered in the database referred to
in paragraph 2 within 15 working days of the date
on which this information is received by the
competent authorities. If more than 85 % of a
quota has been fished, this period shall not exceed
five working days.

(1) OJ L 389, 31.12.1992, p. 1.';

(b) paragraph 4 shall be deleted;

(c) paragraph 5 shall be replaced by the following:

‘5.
Member States shall adopt the necessary
measures to facilitate the collection, validation and
cross-referencing of data. The Commission shall
have remote access to duplicated computer files
containing the relevant information on the basis
of a specific request.';

14. Article 21 shall be amended as follows:

(a)

in paragraph 3 the following sentence shall be
added to the first subparagraph:

‘The Commission shall notify the Member States
of this date without delay.';

(b) in paragraph 3 the last subparagraph shall be

replaced by the following:

transhipment and landing of

‘As from the date referred to in the first sub-para-
graph, the flag Member State shall provisionally
prohibit fishing for that stock or group of stocks
by vessels flying its flag as well as the retention on
board,
fish taken
after that date and shall decide on a date up to
which transhipments
final
declarations
are permitted. The
Commission shall be notified forthwith of this
measure and shall then inform the other Member
States.';

and landings or

catches

of

15. in Article 28 the following paragraph shall be

inserted:

that

‘2a.
Where a minimum size has been fixed for a
given species pursuant to Article 4 of Regulation
(EEC) No 3760/92, operators responsible for the
selling, stocking or transporting of batches of fish-
eries products of
than the
minimum size must be able to prove the geograph-
ical area of origin or the provenance from aquaculture
of the products at all times. The Member States shall
carry out the necessary controls in order to prevent
the problems that might exist
territory
because of the transport or the marketing of under-
sized fish.';

in their

smaller

species

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16. the following Title shall be inserted:

‘TITLE VIa

Monitoring the fishing activities of
country vessels

third-

Article 28a

For the purposes of this Title “third-country fishing
vessels” means:

— a vessel, whatever its dimensions, used primarily

or secondarily to take fisheries products,

— a vessel that, even if not used to make catches by
its own means, takes the fisheries products by
transhipment from other vessels,

— a vessel aboard which fisheries products are
subject to one or more of the following operations
prior to packaging: filleting or slicing, skinning,
mincing, freezing and/or processing

and flying the flag of, and registered in, a third
country.

Article 28b

Third-country fishing vessels shall be author-
1.
ised to catch, retain on board or process fishery prod-
ucts in the Community fishing zone only provided
they have been issued with a fishing licence and a
special fishing permit in accordance with Article 9 of
Regulation (EC) No 1627/94 (1).

2.
In addition, third-country fishing vessels may
only tranship or process if they have prior author-
isation from the Member State in whose waters the
opeation will take place. Third-country fishing vessels
shall be permitted to carry out
transhipments or
fishing operations involving joint action by two or
more vessels only if
they have obtained a prior
authorisation to tranship or to process from the
Member State concerned and they fulfil the condi-
tions set out in Article 11 of this Regulation.

Detailed rules

3.
this
Article shall be adopted in accordance with the
procedure laid down in Article 36.

the application of

for

Article 28c

third-country fishing vessels operating in the
to the

Al
Community fishing zone shall be subject
following obligations:

— to record, in a logbook, the information referred

to in Article 6,

— from 1 January 2000 at the latest, for vessels
exceeding 20 metres between perpendiculars or
24 metres overall length, to be equipped with a
VMS position monitoring system approved by the
Commission,

— until the VMS system is introduced, to comply

with a system for reporting movements,

— to comply with a system for reporting catches

retained on board,

— to comply with the instructions of the authorities
responsible for monitoring, particularly as regards
the inspections prior to leaving the Community
fishing zone,

— to comply with the rules on the marking and
identification of fishing vessels and their gear.

Article 28d

The Commission shall determine the date from
which catches of a stock or group of stocks subject to
quota taken by third-country fishing vessels shall be
deemed to have exhausted the quota. The Commis-
sion shall notify the third country and the Member
States concerned of this date without delay.

As from this date, fishing for that stock or group of
stocks by such vessels as well as the retention on
board, the transhipment and the landing of fish taken
after that date shall be provisionally prohibited. The
Commission shall also determine the date up to
which transhipments and landings or final catch
declarations are permitted.

Article 28e

1.
Masters of third-country fishing vessels or their
representatives must notify the competent authorities
of the Member State whose ports or landing facilties
they wish to use, at least 72 hours before the esti-
mated time of arrival at the port, of the following:

— their time of arrival at the port of landing,

— the catches retained on board,

— the zone or zones where the catch was made,
whether in the Community fishing zone, in zones
under the jurisdiction or sovereignty of a third
country or on the high seas.

Landing operations may not commence until author-
ised by the competent authorities of that Member
State.

2.
Except in cases of force majeure or where a
vessel is in distress, third-country fishing vessels may
put in only at the ports designated by the Member
State whose ports or landing facilities they wish to
use.

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The Commission,

in accordance with the
3.
procedure laid down in Article 36, may grant an
exemption for certain categories of
third-country
fishing vessels from the obligation stipulated in para-
graph 1 for a limited and renewable period, or make
provision for another notification period taking into
account, inter alia, the distance between the fishing
grounds, landing places and ports where the vessels
in question are registered or listed.

4.
Paragraphs 1 and 2 shall apply without preju-
dice to special provisions in fisheries agreements
concluded between the Community and various third
countries.

Article 28f

Masters of third-country fishing vessels or their rep-
resentatives shall submit as soon as possible, but not
later than within 48 hours after landing,
to the
authorities of
the Member State whose ports or
landing facilities they use a declaration indicating the
quantity of fishery products by species landed and the
date and place of each catch. Masters shall be re
sponsible for the accuracy of such declarations.

Each Member State shall forward to the Commission,
at
information on landings by third-
country fishing vessels.

its request,

Article 28g

Where the master or his representative of a third-
country fishing vessel declares that catches have been
taken on the high seas, the competent authorities
shall authorise landing only if it has been proved to
their satisfaction by the master or his representative
that:

— the species retained on board have been caught
outside the regulatory areas of any competent
international organisations of which the Com-
munity is a member, or

— the species retained on board have been caught in
compliance with the conservation and manage-
ment measures
competent
adopted by
regional organisation of which the Community is
a member.

the

17. in Article 29 the following paragraph shall be

inserted:

‘3a.
Community inspectors may, in the context of
verification without prior notice, conduct observa-
tions on the implementation of this Regulation.

During their observation visits, Community in-
spectors, accompanied by national
inspectors and
without prejudice to applicable Community law and
complying with the rules of procedure provided for
in the laws of the Member State concerned, shall have
access to the relevant files and documents and to the
public premises and places, vessels and private pre-
mises, land and means of transport where the activ-
ities covered by this Regulation take place, in order to
collect data (not containing named references) neces-
sary for the accomplishment of their task.

Following such verifications without prior notice, the
Commission shall forward a report on the observa-
tions made to the Member State concerned without
delay.';

18. in Article 30 the second subparagraph shall be

replaced by the following:

‘The Member States concerned shall
inform the
Commission of the results of the inquiry and forward
a copy of the report drawn up not more than three
months after the Commission’s request. This period
may be extended by the Commission, on a duly
motivated request from a Member State, for a reason-
able delay.';

19. in Article 31 the following paragraph shall be

inserted:

‘2a.
The Council, acting on the basis of Article 43
of the Treaty, may draw up a list of types of behaviour
which seriously infringe
the Community rules
referred to in Article 1 and to which the Member
States undertake to apply proportionate, dissuasive
and effective sanctions.';

20. the following Title and heading shall be inserted after

Article 33:

‘TITLE VIIIa

Cooperation among the authorities responsible
for monitoring in the Member States and with
the Commission';

Article 28h

21. Article 34 shall be replaced by the following Articles:

for

the application of

this Title,
Detailed rules
including the lists of designated ports,
shall be
adopted in accordance with the procedure laid down
in Article 36 in concert with the Member States
concerned.

(1) Council Regulation (EC) No 1627/94 of 27 June
1994 laying down general provisions concerning
special fishing permits (OJ L 171, 6.7.1994, p. 7).';

‘Article 34

The terms and conditions on which the competent
authorities responsible for monitoring the application
of this Regulation in the Member States shall collab-
orate among themselves and with the Commission in
order to ensure compliance with the rules of the
common fisheries policy shall be as set out below.

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Article 34a

1.
The Member States shall provide each other
with the mutual assistance needed to carry out the
checks provided for in this Title.

2.
Where an inspection or surveillance operation
by the competent authorities of a Member State
that Community fishing vessels or vessels
reveal
flying the flag of a third country and registered in a
third country have carried out the fishing activities
referred to in Article 2 in a way likely to infringe the
Community rules, the Member State in question shall
immediately notify all relevant information to the
flag Member State of the vessel or vessels concerned,
the other Member States concerned and the Commis-
sion. The other Member States concerned are the
Member States in whose territory or waters the activ-
ities in question are being or are likely to be carried
out.

The Member State in question may request the other
Member States concerned to carry out special checks,
giving specific reasons for their request.

The Member States shall keep each other informed,
and shall inform the Commission, of the action they
take in response to such requests, including, where
applicable, the results of the checks and any proceed-
ings relating to infringements.

The Member States shall inform each other of
3.
the national measures taken to that end, particularly
those taken pursuant to Article 9(2) of Regulation
(EEC) No 3760/92.

Detailed rules

this
4.
Article shall be adopted in accordance with the
procedure laid down in Article 36.

the application of

for

Article 34b

1.
In the case of verifications with prior notice in
a Member State, the Commission may arrange for its
inspectors visiting a Member State to be accompanied
by one or more fisheries inspectors from another
Member State as observers, with the approval of the
Member State to be visited. Upon request from the
Commission the sending Member State can nominate
at
inspectors
selected as observers.

short notice the national

fisheries

Member States may also draw up a list of national
fisheries inspectors whom the Commission might
invite to be present at
such verifications. The
Commission can invite national inspectors included
in that list or those notified to the Commission upon
request.

The Commission shall, where appropriate, place the
list at the disposal of all the Member States.

Member States may also carry out, among
2.
themselves
initiative, monitoring,
inspecting and surveillance programmes concerning
the fisheries activities.

and on their

Article 34c

The Commission,

1.
in accordance with the
procedure laid down in Article 36 and in concert
with the Member States concerned, shall determine
which fisheries involving two or more Member States
shall be subject to specific monitoring programmes
which may not last longer than two years, and the
such programmes. These
conditions
programmes
state their objectives and the
expected results of the measures specified and the
strategy required to ensure that the inspections are as
effective and economical as possible.

governing

shall

2.
The Member States concerned shall adopt the
necessary measures to facilitate implementation of
the specific monitoring programmes, particularly as
regards the human and material resources required
and the periods and zones where these are to be
deployed.

The

Commission

the
3.
performance of each specific monitoring programme
and communicate to the Council and the European
Parliament the result of such evaluation.';

evaluate

shall

22. Article 35 shall be replaced by the following:

‘Article 35

Not later than 30 April each year, the Member
1.
States shall transmit to the Commission a report on
the application of this Regulation during the previous
calendar year.

and its own observations,

On the basis of the reports submitted by the
2.
Member States
the
Commission shall draw up a factual report every year
and an assessment report every three years to be
submitted to the Council and the European Parlia-
ment. It shall publish this assessment report along
with the Member States’ replies and, where appro-
priate, measures and proposals to mitigate the short-
comings discovered.

3.
Detailed rules for the provision of information
to meet the requirements of this Article shall be
adopted in accordance with the procedure laid down
information
particularly
in Article
concerning:

the

36,

— the technical and human resources for fisheries
monitoring, and the time effectively devoted
thereto,

— the laws, regulations and administrative provisions
that the Member States adopt to prevent and pros-
ecute irregularities,

31. 12. 98

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

L 358/13

to this Regulation,

— the results of inspections or checks carried out
pursuant
the
number and type of infringements discovered and
the action taken, and in particular with respect to
referred to in Article
the types of behaviour
31(2a),

including

Article 2

Article 5 of Council Regulation (EEC) No 2241/87 shall
be repealed, as from 1 January 2000.

Article 3

— the application measures and actions pursuant to
Article 19, particularly with regard to the assess-
ment of the reliability of the data.';

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

23. Article 40 shall be replaced by the following:

‘Article 40

Member States shall be exempted until 1 January
2000 from the obligation to apply the provisions of
Articles 6 and 8, in so far as they concern fisheries
operations in the Mediterranean Sea.'

It shall apply from 1 July 1999. However, Article 11 and
Article 28b(2) of Regulation (EEC) No 2847/93, as
amended by this Regulation, shall apply from the date of
entry into force of
the detailed implementing rules
referred to in Article 11(2) of Regulation (EEC) No 2847/
93, as amended by this Regulation. Article 40 of Regula-
tion (EEC) No 2847/93, as amended by this Regulation,
shall apply from 1 January 1999 and Article 6 of Regula-
tion (EEC) No 2847/93, as amended by this Regulation,
shall apply from 1 January 2000.

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member
States.

Done at Brussels, 17 December 1998.

For the Council

The President

W. MOLTERER