Proposal for a Council Regulation establishing an emergency Community measure for scrapping fishing vessels
Date: 2002-05-28
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: State aid, cessation of trading, conservation of fish stocks, fishing vessel

24.9.2002

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 227 E/333

Proposal for a Council Regulation establishing an emergency Community measure for scrapping
fishing vessels

(2002/C 227 E/06)

COM(2002) 190 final — 2002/0115(CNS)

(Submitted by the Commission on 28 May 2002)

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

(4) The maximum amounts for the scrapping premiums laid
down in Article 7 of Regulation (EC) No 2792/1999 are
insufficient to enable the higher premiums to be paid.

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European
Community, and in particular Articles [36 and] 37 thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,

Having regard to the opinion of the European Parliament,

Whereas:

(1) Council Regulation (EC) No 2792/1999 of 17 December
1999 laying down the detailed rules and arrangements
the
regarding Community
decommissioning
fisheries
incentives as a way of bringing about a balanced ratio
of fleet capacity to available resources in the long term.

assistance

structural

sector (1)

afforded

has

in

(2) Several

importance

stocks of major

to Community
fisheries are now seriously depleted. The owners of
fishing vessels whose fishing opportunities have been
severely reduced as a result of a multiannual management
plan adopted by the Council under Council Regulation
(EC) No . . . [on the conservation and exploitation of
fishery resources under the common fisheries policy]
should therefore be offered additional decommissioning
incentives on top of
in
Council Regulation (EC) No 2792/1999.
Sufficient
additional
funds should be made available to Member
States for this purpose.

those already provided for

(5) For conservation reasons the Community measure should
be established as soon as possible and should be limited in
time to ensure that suitable restructuring of the fleet can
proceed without delay.

(6) It

is necessary to ensure adequate flexibility of
the
distribution of the additional scrapping money to allow
it to be directed to those Member States most in need,
provided that they have fulfilled their obligation resulting
from MAGP IV.

(7) The roles of all parties involved in the implementation of
the financial measure should be clearly defined and steps
taken to guarantee the transparency and equity of the
procedures for the management and monitoring of the
measure.

(8) Rules on the financial contributions made under this
Regulation should be defined by reference to those laid
down in Regulation (EC) No 2792/1999.

(9) The measures necessary for the implementation of this
Regulation should be
adopted in accordance with
Council Decision 1999/468/EC of 28 June 1999 laying
down the procedures for the exercise of implementing
powers conferred on the Commission (2).

(3) Only those vessel owners who are severely affected by a
multiannual management plan in Member States that have
complied with appropriate fleet capacity reductions under
MAGP IV provisions,
to
additional decommissioning incentives for the scrapping
of fishing vessels defined by this Regulation. A reduction
of 25 % or more in the fishing opportunities of the vessel
concerned should be regarded as an objective indicator of
severe impact.

should be afforded access

(10) In accordance with the principle of proportionality, it is
the
necessary and appropriate for the achievement of
basic objective of
the conser-
vation and sustainable exploitation of fisheries resources
to lay down rules on the scrapping of fishing vessels. This
Regulation does not go beyond what is necessary in order
to achieve the objectives pursued in accordance with the
third paragraph of Article 5 of the Treaty,

this Regulation namely,

(1) OJ L 337, 30.12.1999, p. 10. Regulation as last amended by Regu-

lation (EC) No 179/2002 (OJ L 31, 1.2.2002, p. 25).

(2) OJ L 184, 17.7.1999, p. 23.

C 227 E/334

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

24.9.2002

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

TITLE I

SUBJECT MATTER AND ELIGIBILITY

Article 1

Subject matter

An emergency Community measure to assist Member States to
achieve additional reductions in fishing effort resulting from
Multiannual Management plans adopted by the Council under
Regulation (EC) No . . . is hereby instituted for the period from
2003 to 2006. The measure shall consist of a special incentive
to provide Member States with money to co-finance their
additional needs to scrap fishing vessels affected by the Multi-
annual Management plans. The measure shall be available
solely for Member States that have achieved both overall and
segment MAGP IV targets for their fleet under provisions of
Council Decision 97/413/EC (1) and for their vessels referred to
in Article 2.

Article 2

Eligibility

Any vessel covered by a multiannual management plan
adopted by the Council in accordance with Article 5 of Regu-
lation (EC) No . . . [on the conservation and sustainable exploi-
tation of fisheries resources under the common fisheries policy]
shall be eligible for an increased scrapping premium in
accordance with Article 3 of this Regulation provided that:

(a) the vessel

is also eligible for scrapping premiums under

Regulation (EC) No 2792/1999,

(b) its fishing effort has had to be reduced by 25 % or more as

a consequence of a multiannual management plan.

TITLE II

YEAR 2003

Article 4

Financial contribution from the Community

The Community may grant,
for the year 2003, a financial
contribution (hereinafter ‘financial contribution’) for the expen-
diture incurred by Member States under Article 3. The financial
contribution shall be calculated in accordance with the rates set
out in Table 3, Group 1 of Annex IV to Regulation (EC) No
2792/1999 (2).

Article 5

Forecast programmes of annual expenditure

Member States wishing to receive a financial contribution will
present to the Commission by 30 June 2003 a plan of their
proposed decommissioning expenditure for the year 2003,
under both the ‘adjustment of
fishing effort’ programme
under Regulation (EC) No 2792/1999 and this measure. The
Commission will make a provisional and indicative allocation
by Member State and then proceed with the commitment of
the global annual amount available in the budget
for this
measure,
the impact of multiannual
management plans on the fleet and the proposed use of
‘adjustment of
fishing effort’ money under Regulation (EC)
No 2792/1999.

taking into account

Article 6

Procedure

1. Member States shall submit
their applications for the
payment of the expenditure by 30 June 2004. On the basis
of the applications, and the situation of each Member State in
respect of the impact of multiannual management plans and
the availability of ‘adjustment of fishing capacity’ money under
Regulation (EC) No 2792/1999, the Commission shall decide
on the Community contribution to be paid to each Member
State. The Commission shall pay up to 50 % of the assistance
on receipt of the application and the balance after certification
by the authorities referred to in paragraph 2.

Article 3

Maximum amount of increased scrapping premium

Owners of vessels may be granted public aid in respect of
the scales referred to in
eligible vessels on the basis of
increased
Article 7(5)(a) of Regulation (EC) No 2792/1999,
by 20 %.

2.
The authorities responsible for the implementation of the
emergency Community measure for scrapping fishing vessels
shall be the managing and paying authorities involved in
structural fund measures concerning fisheries in the ðrelevant
Member State. They shall perform the functions assigned to
them by Regulation (EC) No 1260/1999.

(1) OJ L 175, 3.7.1997, p. 27 as

revised by Council Decision

(2) OJ L 337, 30.12.1999, p. 10, amended by Regulation (EC)

2002/70/EC (OJ L 31, 1.2.2002, p. 77).

1451/2001 (OJ L 198, 21.7.2001, p. 9).

24.9.2002

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Except in the case of contrary provisions arising form this
3.
regulation, the provisions of Articles 33 to 39 of Regulation
(EC) No 1260/1999, as well as derived legislation, are in force.

TITLE IV

IMPLEMENTATION AND ENTRY INTO FORCE

Article 8

Implementation

The detailed rules for the implementation of this Regulation
shall be adopted by the Commission in accordance with the
procedure laid down in Article 10(2) of Regulation (EC) No . . .
[on the conservation and sustainable use of fisheries resources
under the common fisheries policy].

Article 9

Entry into force

TITLE III

PERIOD 2004–2006

Article 7

For the period 2004-2006 the necessary funds for financing
this measure shall be made available by reprogramming of the
Structural Funds provided for in Articles 41 and 44 of Council
Regulation (EC) No 1260/1999 and be programmed within the
existing FIFG programmes.

This Regulation shall enter into force on 1 January 2003.

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