Proposal for a Council Regulation amending Regulation (EC) No 3317/94 as regards the transmission of applications for fishing licences to third countries
Date: 2005-06-06
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: agreement (EU), fishing agreement, fishing licence, fishing rights, third country

COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES 

Brussels, 06.06.2005 
COM(2005) 238 final 

2005/0110 (CNS) 

Proposal for a 

COUNCIL REGULATION 

amending Regulation (EC) No 3317/94 as regards the transmission of applications for 
fishing licences to third countries  

(presented by the Commission) 

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EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM 

Before  a  protocol  to  a  fisheries  agreement  expires,  the  contracting  parties  start  renewal 
negotiations. At the close of these negotiations, as well as the new text of the protocol and the 
annex thereto, the parties also sign an exchange of letters on the provisional application of the 
new  protocol  from  a  specific  date  between  the  expiry  date  of  the  previous  protocol  and  the 
entry into force of the new protocol as negotiated, which avoids any interruption in the fishing 
activities of the Community fleet in the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of that third country. 
In most cases this provisional date of application is the day following the expiry date of the 
previous protocol. 

Once all these documents have been signed the Commission departments start the procedure 
required to produce a formal proposal, which is then transmitted to the Council for adoption. 
This procedure comprises two strands: a Council regulation (Regulation), with the opinion of 
the  European  Parliament,  and  a  Council  decision  (Decision)  allocating  the  fishing 
opportunities  between  the  Member  States  and  approving  the  exchange  of  letters  on  the 
provisional application of the protocol; this procedure may take several months. The second 
strand  is  designed  to  bring  forward  the  point  at  which  a  decision  is  taken  by  the  Council. 
However, this is sometimes several months after the date of provisional application laid down 
in the exchange of letters, as the date on which negotiations end depends on the third country . 

To avoid the situation where the fishing opportunities provided for in the new protocol cannot 
be  used  in  the  intervening  period,  this  proposal  aims  to  allow  the  Commission  to  process 
applications  from  the  Member  States  for  fishing  opportunities  immediately  and  to  transmit 
them  to  the  third  country.  It  is  in  the  Community’s  interests  to  avoid  any  suspension,  even 
temporary, of fishing activities, which would be damaging both to the European Community 
and to the fishing fleets concerned. 

Pending  the  adoption  of  the  Council  decision  on  the  exchange  of  letters  on  the  provisional 
application  of  the  new  protocol  to  a  fisheries  agreement  and  on  the  allocation  of  fishing 
opportunities  among  the  Member  States,  this  proposal  lays  down  temporary  provisions 
allowing  the  Commission  to  transmit  licence  applications  to  third  countries  based  on  the 
method of allocating the fishing opportunities used in the agreement, taking into account the 
principle of relative stability. Provided all the conditions required under the new protocol are 
met, this will allow third countries to issue licences and authorise applicant vessels to fish in 
the EEZ concerned in accordance with the date laid down in the exchange of letters. Since the 
proposal  deals  with  renewals  of  agreements  only,  it  may  use  the  existing  allocation  on  a 
temporary  basis,  leaving  it  for  other  texts  to  lay  down  any  reallocation  of  fishing 
opportunities. 

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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 Commission1, 

Having regard to the opinion of the European Parliament2, 

Having regard to the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee3, 

Whereas: 

(1) 

(2) 

Under  the  terms  of  the  fisheries  agreements  between  the  Community  and  third 
countries, before the expiry of the period of validity of each protocol the contracting 
parties  are  to  negotiate  in  order  to  agree  the  contents  of  a  new  protocol  for  the 
following period and, once the protocol has been agreed, sign an exchange of letters 
on its provisional application on a given date to allow fishing activities to continue. 

Under  Article  5(2)  of  Council  Regulation  (EC)  No  3317/94  of  22  December  1994 
laying down general provisions concerning the authorization of fishing in the waters of 
a  third  country  under  a  fisheries  agreement4,  the  Commission  examines  the 
applications from each Member State in the light of the fishing opportunities allocated 
to it and transmits them to the third country concerned. 

(3)  Where the Council procedure adopting the decision on the exchange of letters on the 
provisional application of a new protocol to a fisheries agreement and on the allocation 
of fishing opportunities among the Member States cannot be finalised before the date 
of  this  provisional  application,  to  avoid  any  interruption  of  fishing  activities  by 
Community  vessels  the  Commission  should  be  allowed,  on  a  temporary  basis,  to 
transmit  fishing  licences  to  the  third  country  taking  into  account  the  principle  of 
relative stability. 

(4) 

Regulation (EC) No 3317/94 should therefore be amended accordingly, 

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OJ C […], […], p. […]. 
OJ C […], […], p. […]. 
OJ C […], […], p. […]. 
OJ L 350, 31.12.1994, p. 13. 

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HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION: 

Article 1 

The following subparagraph is hereby added to Article 5(2) of Regulation (EC) No 3317/94: 

“If  the  Council  has  not  yet  adopted  the  decision  on  the  temporary  application  of  a 
new  protocol  to  a  fisheries  agreement  with  a  third  country  allocating  fishing 
opportunities between the Member States, the Commission shall transmit the licence 
applications to the third country concerned in accordance with the first subparagraph, 
without  prejudice  to  the  provisions  subsequently  adopted  by  the  Council.  For  the 
purposes of this transmission, the Commission shall apply the method of allocating 
fishing opportunities in force in the previous protocol.”  

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

Article 2 

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

Done at Brussels,  

For the Council 
The President 

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