WRITTEN QUESTION E-2068/01 by Stefano Zappalà (PPE-DE) to the Commission. Non-Community vessels in Italian waters.
Date: 2001-07-13
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Italy, customs procedure suspending duties, customs territory (EU), residence permit, temporary admission, territorial waters, third country, vehicle registration, vessel

C 134 E/10

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

6.6.2002

Answer given by Mrs Reding on behalf of the Commission

(15 October 2001)

Title B3-3 of the Community budget is dedicated to ‘Information and Communication’ and provides for
€ 86,6 millions in commitments in the 2001 budget. Additional € 16,5 millions of commitment credits
have been put into the reserve (chapter B0-40) by the Budget Authority. It must be stressed that this
money is dedicated to Information and not to public relations.

Title B3-3 includes the lines B3-300 General information work concerning the Community (€ 13,8 millions
and € 12,9 millions in reserve), B3-301 Information Outlets (€ 13 millions), B3-302 Information
programmes for third countries (€ 5 millions), B3-303 Communication work (€ 11,9 millions and
€ 3,6 millions in reserve), B3-304 European Integration in universities (€ 4 millions), B3-306 Information
programme for European citizens ‘Prince’ (€ 37,6 millions), B3-309 Special Annual events (€ 1,25 millions).

Title B3-3 (€ 86,6 millions) represents 1,39 % of the Internal policies (€ 6 232,2 millions).

The Commission naturally wishes to ensure that this work is executed in a professional way with a view to
reaching the maximum number of people and securing value for money. Some of the work is undertaken
by people who are expert in communication and this may include journalists who have the necessary
specialist skills.

(2002/C 134 E/011)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2068/01

by Stefano Zappalà (PPE-DE) to the Commission

Subject: Non-Community vessels in Italian waters

(13 July 2001)

The owners of vessels who are non-resident in the European Union can stay in Italian waters for no more
than six months, after which they have to leave territorial waters, otherwise they can be charged with
illegal trafficking (unless they register the vessels in Italy).

This temporary importation is punitive for those who want to spend the whole winter in Italy, since they
include not only wealthy people, but also those who love the sea and travel to and fro between their
country of origin and the port where they have left their boat.

The EC has for some time been considering the proposal to extend authorisation for up to two years
provided that vessels leave territorial waters for at least a day.

Some Community countries outside the Mediterranean areas already apply this new rule in practice.

Can the Commission say if the above is true and what urgent measures it intends to take?

Answer given by Mr Bolkestein on behalf of the Commission

(4 September 2001)

Non-Community vessels intended for re-export may be used in the customs territory of the Community
with relief from import duties and Value Added Tax (VAT) if the goods are placed under the temporary
importation procedure.

This customs procedure must be discharged within a given period. The re-exportation of the goods from
the customs territory of the Community is the usual means of discharging a temporary importation
procedure. The period for discharge for privately used means of sea and inland waterway transport is
18 months (Article 562 (e) of Commission Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93 of 2 July 1993 as amended by
Commission Regulation (EC) No 993/2001 of 4 May 2001, amending Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93
laying down provisions for the implementation of Council Regulation (EEC) No 2913/92 establishing the
Community Customs Code (1)).

6.6.2002

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 134 E/11

Due to the reform of the customs procedures with economic impact the legal situation is now better than
before for those who want to stay with their vessels in the Union for more than 6 months. The longer
period of 18 months applies from 1 July 2001.

(1) OJ L 141, 28.5.2001.

(2002/C 134 E/012)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-2078/01

by Pat Gallagher (UEN) to the Commission

(3 July 2001)

Subject: Dolphin by-catch

According to a recent BBC report on dolphin by-catch, reported strandings of dolphins have increased
66 % this year. The programme pointed to some evidence that there could be a danger of the extinction of
common dolphins as a direct result of pairtrawling.

Does the Commission have evidence to support such claims, and if so what mitigating measures could it
envisage? Is the Commission aware that pairtrawling is already banned in some states, and has it
considered proposing such a move within the context of integrating environmental concerns into the
Common Fisheries Policy?

Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission

(4 September 2001)

The Commission as such has no self-generated statistical evidence on this topic and thus cannot express
any evaluation on reliability and accuracy of
is the
responsibility of Member States to monitor cetacean incidental catches and to enforce existing Community
rules (1).

the statistics reported by the BBC.

In fact

it

Furthermore, the Commission is not informed on criteria utilised to diagnose the cause of death of the
stranded animals and, therefore, whether the increase in strandings of dolphins can be attributed to fishing
activities, particularly pair trawling.

The Commission is aware that most of the studies on the state of conservation of small cetaceans point to
the risk that by-catch of some species is attaining levels that might put at risk the sustainability of some
cetacean populations (not species extinction). However,
fishing
methods to this problem as well as its extent is still to be fully quantified.

the relative contribution of different

Nonetheless, the Commission has supported most of the scientific investigations on this problem. In
particular, the most recent study on incidental catches of cetaceans in pelagic trawls of the Northeast
Atlantic, published in Fisheries Research 41(3), state that the incidental capture of a marine mammal in a
trawl fishery is a rare event.

So far there are few hypothesis about how cetacean by-catch in trawls occurs and consequently few
suggestions about how to reduce it. Research proposals on cetaceans, are eligible for Community financial
support under the 5th framework program for Community research, both within key action 5 of the
Quality of Life Programme, and key action 3 of the Energy, Environment and Sustainable Development
Programme, ‘Sustainable Maríne Ecosystems’.

The Commission is currently not considering a ban of pair trawling, since there are a range of different
gear specifications and operational aspects (such as depth, speed, time of the day, soaktime, season, area,
haulback speed, retrieval of the net etc.) that could have an influence on dolphin mortality. A complete
ban of such fishing technique would not seem justified at this stage.