Council Regulation (EC) No 1262/2000 of 8 June 2000 laying down certain control measures in respect of vessels flying the flag of non-Contracting Parties to the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organisation (NAFO)
Date: 2000-06-08
Institutions: Council of the European Union
Subjects: North-West Atlantic Fisheries Organisation, fishing controls, sea fish, ship's flag

17.6.2000

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

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I

(Acts whose publication is obligatory)

COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) No 1262/2000

of 8 June 2000

laying down certain control measures in respect of vessels flying the flag of non-Contracting
Parties to the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organisation (NAFO)

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European
Community, and in particular Article 37 thereof,

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

Having regard to the Opinion of the European Parliament (2),

Whereas:

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

The Community is a Contracting Party to the Conven-
tion on Future Multilateral Cooperation in the North-
west Atlantic Fisheries, hereafter
referred to as the
‘NAFO Convention’ (3).

regional

cooperation in the

The NAFO Convention provides a suitable framework
for
conservation and
management of fishery resources through, inter alia, the
setting up of an international organisation known as the
Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organisation, hereafter
referred to as ‘NAFO’, and the adoption of proposals for
conservation and enforcement measures for the fishery
resources of the NAFO regulatory area, which become
binding upon the Contracting Parties.

The practice of operating fishing vessels under the flag
of non-contracting parties to NAFO as a means of
avoiding compliance with conservation and enforcement
the
measures established by NAFO remains one of
factors which seriously undermines the effectiveness of
such measures and should, therefore, be discouraged.

NAFO has consistently invited the non-contracting
parties concerned either to become a member of NAFO
or to agree to apply the conservation and enforcement
measures established by NAFO with a view to fulfilling
their responsibilities with regard to fishing vessels enti-
tled to fly their flag.

(1) OJ C 56, 29.2.2000, p. 1.
(2) Opinion delivered on 19 May 2000 (not yet published in the Offi-

cial Journal).

(3) OJ L 378, 30.12.1978, p. 1.

(5)

(6)

(7)

(8)

(9)

At its 19th annual meeting in September 1997, NAFO
resolved to adopt a ‘scheme to promote compliance by
non-contracting party vessels with the conservation and
enforcement measures established by NAFO’, the objec-
tive of which is to ensure that
the effectiveness of
conservation and enforcement measures established by
NAFO is not undermined by non-contracting vessels.

The said Scheme provides, inter alia, for the mandatory
inspection of non-contracting party vessels when such
vessels are voluntarily in the ports of Contracting Parties
and, with due regard to the multispecies fisheries in the
regulatory area of NAFO, a prohibition of landings and
transhipments if, in the course of such inspection, it is
established that the catch has been taken in contraven-
tion of conservation and enforcement measures estab-
lished by NAFO as well as certain other collateral meas-
ures to be taken by Contracting Parties.

At the 20th annual meeting of NAFO in September
1998, certain specifications were made to the provisions
of the scheme relating to at-sea transhipments and rele-
vant sightings.

At the 21st annual meeting of NAFO in September
1999, additional specifications for Stateless vessels were
made.

Under the Treaty, the authority over internal waters and
ports is exercised by the Member States. However, as
regards access to port facilities in the Community by
non-contracting party
sighted
engaging in fishing activities in the NAFO regulatory
area, it is necessary to enact additional uniform meas-
ures at Community level, which supplement the meas-
ures provided for in Council Regulation (EEC) No 2847/
93 of 12 October 1993 establishing a control system
applicable to the common fisheries policy (4) and ensure

vessels which

are

(4) OJ L 261, 20.10.1993, p. 1. Regulation as last amended by Regula-

tion (EC) No 2846/98 (OJ L 358, 31.12.1998, p. 5).

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Official Journal of the European Communities

17.6.2000

that the operations of such vessels in Community ports
do not undermine the effectiveness of the conservation
and enforcement measures established by NAFO,

Article 4

Community fishing vessels shall be prohibited from receiving
transhipments of fish from non-contracting party vessels.

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

For the purposes of this Regulation, the following definitions
shall apply:

(a) ‘fishing activities’ shall mean fishing, fish processing opera-
tions, the transhipment of fish or fish products and any
other activity in preparation for, or related to, fishing in the
NAFO regulatory area;

(b) ‘NAFO regulatory area’ shall mean the area referred to in

Article I(2) of the NAFO Convention;

(c) ‘non-contracting party vessel’ shall mean a vessel which has
been sighted and reported as having engaged in fishing
activities in the NAFO regulatory area and

(i) which flies the flag of a State which is not a contracting

party to the NAFO Convention; or

(ii) for which there are reasonable grounds for suspecting it

to be without nationality.

Article 2

Upon receipt of a report on a sighting of a non-contracting
party vessel by a Community inspector assigned to the NAFO
scheme of joint international inspection and surveillance, the
Commission shall transmit this information without delay to
the Secretariat of NAFO and, where possible, to the non-
contracting party vessel, informing it that the information will
be transmitted to all the Contracting Parties to the NAFO
Convention and to its flag State.

Article 3

Article 5

1. Member States shall ensure that each non-contracting
party vessel which enters a designated port within the meaning
of Article 28(e)(2) of Regulation (EEC) No 2847/93 is inspected
by their competent authorities. The vessel may not land or
tranship any catch until this inspection has been completed.

2.
If, on completion of inspection, the competent authorities
find that the non-contracting party vessel holds on board any
of the species listed in Annexes I and II, the Member State
concerned shall prohibit any landing and/or transhipment.

3.
However, no such prohibition shall apply if the master of
the inspected vessel or his representative proves to the satisfac-
the Member State
tion of
concerned that:

the competent authorities of

— species held on board were caught outside the NAFO regu-

latory area, or

— species held on board and listed in Annex II were caught in
accordance with the conservation and enforcement meas-
ures established by NAFO.

Article 6

1. Member States shall communicate without delay to the
Commission the results of each inspection and, where appro-
priate, any subsequent prohibition of landing and/or tranship-
ment, which was applied as a result of the inspection. This
the inspected non-
include the name of
information shall
contracting party vessel and its flag State, the date and the port
of inspection, the grounds for a subsequent prohibition of
landing and/or transhipment or, where no such prohibition
was applied, the evidence presented pursuant to Article 5(3).

2.
The Commission shall transmit this information without
delay to the Secretariat of NAFO and as soon as possible to the
flag State of the inspected non-contracting party vessel.

The Commission shall communicate to all Member States
without delay each report on a sighting which it has received
pursuant to Article 2 or by way of a notification from the
Secretariat of NAFO or another Contracting Party.

Article 7

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

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

Done at Luxembourg, 8 June 2000.

For the Council

The President

G. OLIVEIRA MARTINS

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ANNEX I

LIST OF REGULATED SPECIES

Common English name

Scientific name

1. Atlantic cod

2. Atlantic redfish

3. American plaice

4. Yellowtail flounder

5. Witch flounder

6. Capelin

7. Greenland halibut

8. Short-finned squid (Illex)

9. Shrimps

Gadus morhua

Sebastes spp.

Hippoglossoides platessoides

Limanda ferruginea

Glyptocephalus cynoglossus

Mallotus villosus

Reinhardtius hippoglossoides

Illex illecebrosus

Pandalus spp.

ANNEX II

LIST OF NON-REGULATED SPECIES

Common English name

Scientific name

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

5a.

5b.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

13.

Haddock

Silver hake

Red hake

Pollock

Roundnose grenadier

Roundnose grenadier

Roughhead grenadier

Atlantic herring

Atlantic mackerel

Atlantic butterfish

River herring

Atlantic argentine

Long-finned squid (Loligo)

Wolf-fish (NS)

Skate (NS)

Melanogrammus aeglefinus

Merluccius bilinaris

Urophycis chuss

Pollachisu virens

Macrourus rupestris

Coryphaenoides rupestris

Macrourus berglax

Clupea harengus

Scomber scombrus

Peprilus triacanthus

Alosa pseudoharengus

Argentina silus

Loligo pealei

Anarchichas spp.

Raja spp.