Case C-271/02: Action brought on 24 July 2002 by the Commission of the European Communities against the Kingdom of Sweden
Date: 2002-11-23
Institutions: Court of Justice
Subjects: Sweden, action for failure to fulfil an obligation, catch quota, conservation of fish stocks, fishing regulations, infringement of EU law, ship's flag

C 289/6

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

23.11.2002

Action brought on 24 July 2002 by the Commission
of the European Communities against the Kingdom of
Sweden

(Case C-271/02)

(2002/C 289/10)

An action against the Kingdom of Sweden was brought before
the Court of Justice of the European Communities on 24 July
2002 by the Commission of the European Communities,
represented by T. van Rijn and C. Tufvesson, acting as Agents,
with an address for service in Luxembourg.

The Commission claims that the Court

— should declare that the Kingdom of Sweden:

1.

2.

3.

by failing to lay down detailed provisions regarding
the quotas allocated to Sweden for the 1995 and
1996 fishing years,

by failing to ensure compliance with Community
legislation on conservation by monitoring fishing,
by carrying out adequate inspections of landings and
recording catches and by imposing administrative or
criminal penalties on the master of the vessel or
other persons responsible,

by failing provisionally to prohibit
fishing from
fishing vessels flying its flag or registered in the
State when the quotas allocated to Sweden for the
1995 and 1996 fishing years were deemed to be
exhausted,

has failed to fulfil its obligations under Article 9(2) of
Council Regulation (EEC) No 3760/92 (1) of 20 December
1992 establishing a Community system for fisheries and
aquaculture and under Articles 2, 21(1) and 31 of Council
Regulation (EEC) No 2847/93 (2) of 12 October 1993
establishing a control system applicable to the common
fisheries policy;

— shall be ordered to pay the costs.

Pleas in law and main arguments

The Commission states that Sweden has, on a large number of
occasions, exceeded the fishing quotas for the 1995 and 1996
fishing years allocated in the annexes to:

— Council Regulations (EC) No 3362/94 (3) of 20 December
1994 and (EC) No 3074/95 (4) of 22 December 1995
fixing, for certain fish stocks and groups of fish stocks,
the total allowable catches for 1995 and 1996 and certain
conditions under which they may be fished,

— Council Regulations (EC) No 748/95 (5) of 31 March
1995 and (EC) No 3076/95 (6) allocating, for 1995 and
1996, certain catch quotas between Member States for
vessels fishing in the Norwegian exclusive economic zone
and the fishing zone around Jan Mayen,

— Council Regulations (EC) No 3370/94 (7) of 20 December
1994, (EC) No 3082/95 (8) of 21 December 1995, (EC)
No 3084/95 (9) of 21 December 1995 and (EC) No 3089/
95 (10) of 21 December 1995, allocating, for 1995 and
1996, catch quotas between Member States for vessels
fishing in Latvian, Estonian or Polish waters.

In addition Sweden has failed to ensure that Community
legislation on the conservation of species is complied with by
monitoring fishing, by carrying out adequate inspections of
landings and recording catches and by imposing administrative
or criminal penalties on the master of the vessel or other
persons responsible. There has thus been significant repeated
overfishing over two years which means that the overfishing
must be a consequence of the failure by the Swedish authorities
to discharge their monitoring obligations.

Sweden has failed provisionally to prohibit fishing from vessels
flying the Swedish flag or registered in Sweden where the
fishing quotas allocated for the 1995 and 1996 fishing years
were exhausted.

Moreover, Sweden has not taken appropriate measures to
prevent fishing quotas from being exceeded, despite the fact
that Article 9(2) of the basic regulation requires Sweden to do
so.

(1) OJ L 389 of 31.12.1992, p. 1.
(2) OJ L 261 of 20.10.1993, p. 1.
(3) OJ L 363 of 31.12.1994, p. 1.
(4) OJ L 330 of 30.12.1995, p. 1.
(5) OJ L 74 of 1.4.1995, p. 18.
(6) OJ L 330 of 30.12.1995, p. 51.
(7) OJ L 363 of 31.12.1994, p. 90.
(8) OJ L 330 of 30.12.1995, p. 76.
(9) OJ L 330 of 30.12.1995, p. 86.
(10) OJ L 330 of 30.12.1995, p. 106.