Council Regulation (EC) No 882/2003 of 19 May 2003 establishing a tuna tracking and verification system
Date: 2003-05-19
Institutions: Council of the European Union
Subjects: conservation of resources, exchange of information, fishery management, fishery resources, fishing industry, fishing vessel, member country, protection of animals, sea fish, ship's flag

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I

(Acts whose publication is obligatory)

COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) No 882/2003

of 19 May 2003

establishing a tuna tracking and verification system

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)

As the Community has fishing interests in the eastern
Pacific and has started the procedure to accede to the
InterAmerican Tropical Tuna Commission, hereinafter
referred to as the ‘IATTC’ and in accordance with its
cooperation obligations under
the United Nations
Convention on the Law of the Sea the Community has
decided to apply the measures adopted by the IATTC
pending its accession to that organisation.

The Community has signed the Agreement on the Inter-
national Dolphin Conservation Programme (3), herein-
after referred to as the ‘AIDCP’, and has decided to apply
it provisionally by means of Decision 1999/386/EC (4),
pending its full approval. The Community must there-
fore apply the provisions of the Agreement, the Secre-
tariat for which is provided by the IATTC.

In July 1999 the Contracting Parties to the AIDCP
decided to establish a system to track and verify tuna
caught in the Agreement's area of application. Accord-
ingly, the Community should establish a tuna tracking
and verification system for tuna caught in the Agree-
ment area by vessels fishing under the AIDCP. The
purpose of this system is to enable dolphin-safe tuna to
be distinguished from non-dolphin-safe tuna from the
time it is caught to the time it is ready for retail sale.
The system is based on the premise that dolphin-safe
tuna shall, from the time of capture, during unloading,
storage,
identified as
transfer,
dolphin-safe tuna.

and processing, be

(1) OJ C 304 E, 30.10.2001, p. 212.
(2) Opinion delivered on 27 March 2003 (not yet published in the Offi-

cial Journal).

(3) OJ L 132, 27.5.1999, p. 3.
(4) OJ L 147, 12.6.1999, p. 23.

(4)

(5)

(6)

(7)

As this Decision has become binding on the Parties to
the Agreement, the Community must therefore imple-
ment it.

Supervision of catch unloading and transport
is the
responsibility of each Member State, but it can delegate
this responsibility to the State where unloading occurs
by administrative arrangement or agreement.

Council Regulation (EEC) No 2847/93 of 12 October
1993 establishing a control system applicable to the
common fisheries policy (5) applies to all fishing activity
and all related activities carried out on the territory and
in the maritime waters falling within the jurisdiction or
sovereignty of the Member States, including the activities
of Community fishing vessels operating in the waters of
third countries or on the high seas, notwithstanding the
fisheries agreements concluded between the Community
and third countries or
international conventions to
which the Community is a signatory.

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 (6),

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

Purpose

This Regulation lays down the general principles and condi-
the tuna
tions relating to the Community's application of
tracking and verification system adopted by the Agreement on
the International Dolphin Conservation Programme (AIDCP).

(5) 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).

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

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Article 2

Scope

Article 4

Member States' obligations

This Regulation shall apply to fishing vessels flying the flag of a
Member State and registered in the Community, hereinafter
referred to as ‘Community fishing vessels’, fishing for tuna in
the Agreement Area.

The Member States shall be responsible for tracking and
tuna caught,

1.
verifying,
in accordance with this Regulation,
transported and unloaded for processing on their territory.

This Regulation also applies to all Community vessels, flying
the flag of a Member State and registered in the Community,
that carry tuna identified by a tracking form. It shall also apply
to tuna caught in the Agreement Area, unloaded, stored, trans-
ferred or processed in the Community.

Article 3

Definitions

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

1.

‘tuna’ means species of the suborder Scombridae, with the
exception of the genus Scomber;

2.

‘dolphin’ means species of the Delphinidae family, associated
with yellowfin tuna fishing in the Agreement Area;

2.
The obligation in paragraph 1 shall also apply to tuna
unloaded outside the Agreement area by vessels operating in
that area. In the case of those vessels, the tracking system shall
involve confirmation of the weight unloaded.

3.
The AIDCP secretariat shall issue the tuna tracking forms
to the on–board observers, except where the Member State
having jurisdiction over the vessel has a national observers'
programme in operation. In such cases, Member States shall
provide the on-board observer with tracking forms for each of
the vessels flying their flag and authorised to fish for tuna in
the Agreement area.

4. Member States shall
take the necessary measures to
ensure that the tuna caught in the Agreement area, which is
stored, processed or marketed in their territory be clearly iden-
tified, until the time it is ready for retail sale, as the case may
be, as dolphin-safe tuna or non-dolphin-safe tuna. These proce-
dures shall include the following requirements, namely that:

(a) any change in ownership of unprocessed tuna covered by a
tracking form number shall be dealt with in accordance
with Article 6(4), (5) and (7);

3.

‘Agreement area’ means the waters of the eastern Pacific as
defined in Article 3 of the AIDCP;

(b) during processing, dolphin-safe and non-dolphin safe tuna
shall not be processed on the same production line at the
same time;

4.

‘dolphin-safe tuna’ means tuna captured in sets in which
there is no mortality or serious injury of dolphins;

5.

6.

7.

‘non-dolphin-safe tuna’
is tuna captured in sets in which
mortality or serious injury of dolphins occurs; any tuna
caught in sets in which dolphins were intentionally encircled
by vessels without a dolphin mortality limit (DML) or whose
captain is not on the list of qualified captains maintained by
the secretariat, shall not be considered dolphin safe;

‘observer’ is the person assigned to the vessel by the IATTC
or the Contracting Party's national observer programme to
record the vessel's fishing activities;

‘tracking form’ is a document presented in accordance with
model A in Annex I (dolphin-safe tuna) and model B in
Annex II (non-dolphin-safe tuna) hereto;

(c) processors shall maintain records which are sufficiently
clear to permit the lot numbers of processed tuna to be
traced back to the corresponding tracking form number.

Article 5

Obligations during fishing operations

The observer shall determine whether the tuna caught is
1.
‘dolphin safe’ or not and, based on this determination, the tuna
shall be loaded into prepared holds identified to this effect.

8.

‘set’ is the act of deploying and retrieving the purse seine in
order to catch tuna;

9.

is any container used to store tuna after unloading,

‘bin’
during cold storage or for transport to processing.

2.
Upon completion of these loading operations, the species
and estimated quantity of tuna loaded into each hold, per net,
shall be indicated by the observer on the corresponding
tracking form, in consultation with the captain or his represen-
tative. The captain or his representative and the observer shall
initial each completed tracking form.

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Transfers of tuna at sea from the net of one fishing vessel
3.
to another fishing vessel must be indicated on the tracking
form by the observers of both vessels, specifying the quantity
involved, the species and dolphin-safe status of the tuna being
transferred.

Unloaded tuna shall be placed in different bins, according
6.
to their dolphin-safe status or otherwise. Each bin shall be iden-
tified by the corresponding tuna tracking form number, the
status of the tuna and the confirmed weight.

4.
At the end of the fishing trip, the captain and observer
shall together review the tracking form, enter any additional
comments and sign it. A fishing trip terminates when a vessel
unloads two thirds or more of its catches, during a single
unloading or during a series of partial unloadings.

7.
Each sale of part of the catch must be accompanied by
the corresponding reference number throughout all stages of
processing. Every transfer of the catch must be notified to the
competent authorities of
the Member State of unloading/
processing, specifying the tracking form number, the species
and quantity of tuna involved, and the consignee.

5.
The Commission may adopt detailed rules for the applica-
tion of this Article in accordance with the procedure laid down
in Article 10(2).

8. When tuna is landed in third country ports, the Member
State may, under specific agreement, delegate the supervision
of unloading and transport to the national authorities of the
port involved.

Article 6

When the third country port State is a Party to the AIDCP, the
responsibility of the tracking form becomes that of the port
State.

Unloading, transport, storage and processing operations

1.
No later than 72 hours before the estimated date of
unloading, the vessel captain, the owner or his agent shall
notify their national authorities of the dates and places of
unloading of all or part of a catch, with a view to its verifica-
tion.

If a fishing trip terminates when the vessel has been
2.
unloaded, a new tracking form shall be issued for that vessel
for its next fishing trip and any tuna retained on board shall be
recorded as the first entry on the new form.

3.
If a fishing trip does not terminate when the vessel has
been unloaded, the vessel shall retain the original tracking form
and a copy shall be sent, with original signatures,
to the
national authorities of the port of unloading.

4. Where tuna is unloaded from one fishing vessel and then
loaded aboard a carrier vessel for transport to a processing
location, the flag State of the carrier vessel shall be responsible
for obtaining the relevant tuna tracking form, retaining the
information on the unloading (including the total weight
unloaded if it has been checked), verifying that the dolphin-safe
tuna is kept separate from the non-dolphin-safe tuna during
loading and transport and transmitting all relevant informations
to the AIDCP secretariat, with a copy to the Commission. The
two kinds of tuna may be stored in the same place during
transport, provided that they remain physically separated by
netting or similar material, and the non-dolphin-safe tuna is
clearly identified as such.

5.
If the tuna is unloaded for immediate processing, the
Member State where processing takes place shall be responsible
for keeping the documentation on unloading and for recording
the confirmed weight of the dolphin-safe and non-dolphin-safe
tuna. The Member State in question shall use the original tuna
tracking form for entering the requisite information into the
database and for tracking of the processed tuna, and shall send
a copy of this form to the flag Member State of the vessel that
fished the tuna concerned.

When the third country port State is not a Party to the AIDCP,
the flag Member State of the vessel remains responsible for the
tracking form, unless otherwise agreed in a specific bilateral
arrangement.

9.
The Commission may adopt detailed rules for the applica-
tion of this Article in accordance with the procedure provided
for in Article 10(2).

Article 7

Data transmission

For the implementation of these rules the Member States
1.
shall create a computer database to which the Commission
must have computerised access.

2. Within 10 days of receipt of a tuna tracking form, the
Member States shall send the tracking form, signed by the
observer and captain, to the AIDCP secretariat, and a copy to
the Commission.

3. Member States shall report to the AIDCP secretariat, with
a copy to the Commission, the changes in ownership of unpro-
cessed tuna pursuant to Article 4(4).

4.
Before 1 May each year, Member States shall send a
report of their implementation of the tuna tracking and verifi-
cation system to the Commission, which shall send a report on
this basis to the AIDCP secretariat before each annual meeting.

5.
The Member States shall send the Commission the names
and addresses of the officials responsible for implementing the
tuna tracking and verification system as established by this
Regulation.

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the
The Commission shall send the AIDCP secretariat
6.
names and addresses of the Commission officials responsible
for implementing the tuna tracking and verification system as
established by this Regulation.

Article 8

Annexes

Annexes I and II may be amended to apply AIDCP conservation
in
measures which become obligatory for the Community,
accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 10(3).

Article 9

Implementation

The measures necessary for the implementation of Article 5(5)
and Article 6(9) shall be adopted in accordance with the proce-
dure referred to in Article 10(2).

to Article 8 shall be
The measures to be taken pursuant
adopted in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article
10(3).

Article 10

Committee procedures

1.
The Commission shall be assisted by the Committee
established by Article 30 of Council Regulation (EC) No 2371/
2002 (1).

2. Where reference is made to this paragraph, Articles 4 and
7 of Decision 1999/468/EC shall apply.

3. Where reference is made to this paragraph, Articles 5 and
7 of Decision 1999/468/EC shall apply.

The period laid down in Article 4(3) and Article 5(6) of

4.
Decision 1999/468/EC shall be set at three months.

5.

The Committee shall adopt its Rules of Procedure.

Article 11

Entry into force

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

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

Done at Brussels, 19 May 2003.

For the Council

The President

A.-A. TSOCHATZOPOULOS

(1) OJ L 358, 31.12.2002, p. 59.

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ANNEX I

Tracking document (model A) for dolphin-safe tuna

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ANNEX II

Tracking document (model B) for non-dolphin-safe tuna

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