Report from the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament on the operation of Council Regulation (EC) No 1185/2003 on the removal of fins of sharks on board vessels
Date: 2005-12-23
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: common fisheries policy, conservation of fish stocks, fish product, fishing permit, fishing regulations, fishing rights, sea fish

COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES 

Brussels, 23.12.2005 
COM(2005)700 final 

REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE COUNCIL AND THE EUROPEAN 
PARLIAMENT 

on the operation of Council Regulation (EC) No 1185/2003 on the removal of fins of 
sharks on board vessels. 

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TABLE OF CONTENTS 

Introduction. ............................................................................................................................... 3 

1. 

2. 

3. 

4. 

4.1. 

4.2. 

4.3. 

5. 

6. 

7. 

Background: Main provisions established by Regulation No 1185/2003.................... 3 

Periods of interest and compliance with national reporting requirements................... 4 

General State of play as regard to the use or not by Member States of the possibility 
to allocate special fishing permits to remove fins on-board ........................................ 5 

Information related to the allocation of special fishing permits to remove fins of 
sharks on board and the associated conditions............................................................. 6 

Number of special fishing permits and justification .................................................... 6 

Correspondence between weights of fins and shark bodies......................................... 6 

Documentation considered valid by the Member States for the purpose of monitoring 
separate landing of fins and bodies - Landings outside Community ports. ................. 7 

Controls and monitoring of compliance of vessels holding special fishing permits.... 8 

International developments on shark finning prohibitions........................................... 9 

Conclusions .................................................................................................................. 9 

Annex Reception of national reports........................................................................................ 11 

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REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE COUNCIL AND THE 
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT 

on the operation of Council Regulation (EC) No 1185/2003 on the removal of fins of 
sharks on board vessels. 

Introduction  

The strong international market for shark fins, but the often relatively low value for shark 
meat  and  the  practical  constraints  for  conserving  it  on  board,  has  led  to  the  practice 
whereby  fins  are  removed  from  any  shark  caught  by  a  fishing  vessel  and  retained  on 
board while the remainder of the shark is discarded at sea. 

This practice, known as “shark finning”, has raised increasing concerns, at international 
and at Community level, due to the killing of large quantities of sharks, with devastating 
and unsustainable effects on shark populations. 

On  the  basis  of  a  Commission  proposal1,  the  Council  adopted  Regulation  (EC)  No 
1185/20032  to  prohibit  the  practice  of  finning  within  all  Community  waters  and  for  all 
Community  vessels  around the world, while recognising the possibility for a legitimate 
shark fishery when full use is made of the catch. 

The  Commission  is  presenting  this  general  report  on  the  operation  of  Regulation 
1185/2003 in compliance with Article 6 thereof. 

1. 

BACKGROUND:  MAIN  PROVISIONS  ESTABLISHED  BY  REGULATION  NO 
1185/2003 

The  most  effective  and  practical  means  to  implement  a  prohibition  of  finning  and  to 
render by-catches of sharks less attractive in fisheries is to prohibit the removal of fins on 
board. As a logical consequence, the keeping on board, transhipping or landing of shark 
fins  which  have  been  removed  from  the  fish  body  is  also  prohibited.  These  general 
prohibitions are established under Article 3 of the Regulation. 

Notwithstanding possible gutting or heading of sharks, for certain fisheries there could be 
a practical need to remove shark fins on board and for separate on-board processing of 
fins and bodies, even when the carcass is retained (e.g. for freezer vessels that stay for a 
long period at sea). In those circumstances, the Regulation (Article 4) allows competent 
authorities of a Member State to derogate from the general prohibitions mentioned above 
by issuing a special fishing permit under which on-board removal would be allowed. The 
issuing  of  a  special  permit  is  however  subject  to  the  conditions  that  such  processing  is 
duly justified and that all parts of the sharks are used. 

1 
2 

COM (2002)449 final of 5.8.2002 
Council Regulation (EC) No 1185/2003 of 26.6.2003 on the removal of fins of sharks on board 
vessels, OJ EU L 167, 4.7.2003, p. 1. 

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In  those  circumstances  also,  the  weight  of  fins  kept  from  the  catch  are  not  to  exceed  a 
reference weight that would correspond to the remaining parts of the retained shark. The 
value of the correspondence between the weight of fins and the weight of remaining parts 
of sharks kept from the catch shall by established by Member States taking into account 
the type of fishery, processing and storage and species catch composition. However, to 
limit possible abuses, the theoretical proportion of the weight of fins shall never exceed 
5% of the live weight of shark catch. 

Moreover,  to  facilitate  enforcement,  Article  5  of  the  Regulation  foresees  a  number  of 
provisions on traceability and reinforced recordings of catch, landings transhipments and 
sales, especially when the shark catch might not be landed as a whole. In such a case the 
Member  State  shall  also  define the  type of documentation that  is deemed valid  for this 
purpose.  Furthermore,  controls  on  landing  outside  Community  port  is  reinforced  by  a 
system of prior notification (at least 72 hours before landings). 

Finally,  Article  6  of  the  Regulation  requires  Members  states  to  send  annually  the 
Commission,  by  1st  May  at  the  latest,  a  comprehensive  annual  report  on  the 
implementation of the Regulation during the previous year. This report is to describe the 
monitoring  of  compliance  of  vessels  with  the  requirements  of  the  Regulation,  and  to 
detail in particular the number of special permits issued, the technical basis for setting the 
theoretical  correspondence  between  weights  of  fins  and  bodies  and  the  documentation 
considered valid for the purposes of monitoring separate landings of fins and bodies. The 
Commission is required to report on the operation of the Regulation and the international 
developments  in  this  field  to  the  European  Parliament  and  the  Council  after  the 
submission by Member States of their second annual report. 

2. 

PERIODS  OF  INTEREST  AND  COMPLIANCE  WITH  NATIONAL  REPORTING 
REQUIREMENTS 

Regulation  1185/2003  entered  into  force  on  2  September  2003.  The  first  report  from 
Member States concerning the 2003 implementation period (which only covers the last 
part of 2003) was due on 1 May 2004. The second annual report covering the whole year 
2004 (from 1 May 2004 for the new Member States concerned) was due by 1 May 2005. 

Generally,  Member  States  did  not  respect  the  reporting  deadlines  and  the  Commission 
services  issued  reminder  letters  to  most  of  the  "fishing"  Member  States.  Moreover, 
although  the  scope  of  this  Regulation  is  very  specific  and  the  information  on  its 
implementation  to  be  provided  to  the  Commission  can  be  rather  concise,  further 
correspondence  was  necessary  with  a  number  of  Member  States  to  ask  for  some 
information  (see  annex  for  further  details  on  reception  of  national  reports  and  on 
exchange of correspondence with Member States on this issue).  

Considering that Article 6 of regulation 1185/2006 requires the Commission to report not 
later  than  1  January  2006,  the  present  report  has  been  prepared  on  the  basis  of 
information  that  has  been  received  from  Member  States  by  30  September  2005  at  the 
latest. 

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By this date, national reports were still missing for the year 2004 from 5 Member States 
(Ireland,  Italy,  Malta,  the  Netherlands  and  Slovenia).  Additional  information  on  some 
points was also awaited from 7 other Member States. 

3. 

GENERAL  STATE  OF  PLAY  AS  REGARD  TO  THE  USE  OR  NOT  BY  MEMBER 
STATES  OF  THE  POSSIBILITY  TO  ALLOCATE  SPECIAL  FISHING  PERMITS  TO 
REMOVE FINS ON-BOARD 

For the concerned period in 2003, two Member States (out of the 13 concerned), namely 
Germany and Spain, allocated special fishing permits allowing removal of shark fins on 
board. Spain also indicated that an information note was sent to the representatives of the 
concerned  fisheries  in  September  2003  to  inform  them  about  the  requirements  of 
Regulation 1885/2003. Similarly, immediately after the publication of the Regulation, the 
Portuguese  authorities  informed  the  concerned  fisheries  of  the  need  to  ask  for  special 
permits. Portugal also prepared and put into place the necessary administrative measures 
to frame the allocation of such permits, but no permit could in practice be issued by the 
national  authorities  before  the  end  of  2003.  In  its  report,  this  Member  State  already 
announced its intention to deliver special permits for the year 2004. 

The other Member States did not issue any special fishing permit to allow the removal of 
shark fins on board vessels3. Most of them also reported that there was no need for such 
permits, or that their national shark fisheries were limited or that fishermen land sharks 
whole. None of these Member States provided any indication on a possibility of issuing 
special permits in the future. 

In 2004, the situation reported for the EUR 15 concerned Member States was comparable 
to  the  one  reported  for  2003,  except  one  noticeable  change  in  the  general  situation 
concerning the United Kingdom which allocated special fishing permits in that year. 

As far as new Member States are concerned, no report was available for 2004 from Malta 
and  Slovenia  by  30  September  2005.  The  Polish  authorities  indicated  that  they  did  not 
issue  special  permits  to  remove  shark  fins  on  board.  Information  provided  by  Cyprus, 
Estonia and Latvia implied that these Member States had not given such permits either, 
but  confirmation  replies  were  still  awaited  by  the  Commission  services.  The  main 
elements referred to by all these Member States were either the absence of catch or the 
fact that sharks are usually a by-catch and landed whole. Lithuania mentioned that 2004 
was a transitional year after accession and that no special permit was issued for this year. 
The  Lithuanian  2004  report  indicated  however  already  that  the  only  vessel  engaged  in 
targeted shark fisheries and usually landing in Vigo, was given a special permit in 2005. 

3 

Information  provided  by  Italy  for  2003  implies  that  such  permits  were  not  needed.  No  reply  is 
however yet available to a Commission request for confirmation of the non allocation of special 
permits. 

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4. 

INFORMATION  RELATED  TO  THE  ALLOCATION  OF  SPECIAL  FISHING  PERMITS 
TO REMOVE FINS OF SHARKS ON BOARD AND THE ASSOCIATED CONDITIONS. 

This chapter provides more details of the information given by the Member States having 
made use of the possibility provided by Regulation 185/2003 to allocate special fishing 
permits  to  some  of  their  vessels  to  allow  the  removal  of  shark  fins  on  board  in  2003-
2004. 

4.1. 

Number of special fishing permits and justification 

In 2003, the German authorities issued special permits for three vessels, on the basis of a 
declaration from the vessel-owner that on-board processing is necessary and that all parts 
of  sharks  will  be  used.  According  to  their  indications,  these  vessels  operated  mainly  in 
Irish waters and usually landed in Spain. In their 2004 report, Germany indicated that the 
same  procedure  was  used  in  2004  to  issue  special  fishing  permits  to  the  same  three 
vessels. However, in a later reply to a request for some additional information, Germany 
indicated  that  two  other  vessels  were  also  given  a  special  permit  in  2004,  bringing  the 
total number of vessels concerned to 5. 

Spain issued 182 special permits in 2003, all of them being given to surface longliners. A 
total of 90 permits were allocated for fisheries in Spanish waters and 86 for fisheries in 
international waters. Six permits were given to vessels engaged in experimental fisheries 
(in areas VIII a, b, c and d). In 2004, 198 special permits were issued and they concerned 
surface longliners in Spanish waters (99), surface longliners in international waters (91), 
deep  sea  long  liner  in  Spanish  water  (1),  and  experimental  fisheries  (7).  No  indication 
was available on the justification of the needs for special permits. 

Portugal did not issue any permit before the end of 2003, but allocated 11 special permits 
in  2004  to  vessels  using  longlines  (and  catching  swordfish  and  pelagic  shark  species). 
These  permits  were  issued  only  under  the  following  conditions:  declaration  from  the 
vessel regarding the capacity to use all parts of sharks, justification for the need for on-
board processing (for trading or storage reasons) and control of the existence of proper 
sanitary authorisation for on board processing. 

The United Kingdom authorities allocated 20 special fishing permits to derogate from the 
general  prohibition  on  removing  shark  fins  on  board  vessels  in  2004.  However,  the 
national report did not include any further indication on this aspect, in particular on the 
justification for such needs. 

4.2. 

Correspondence between weights of fins and shark bodies 

In  the  four  Member  States  which  allocated  special  permits  in  2003  and/or  2004,  the 
theoretical  maximum  ratio  of  5%  (weight  of  fins  vs.  live  weight  of  sharks)  was 
applicable. 

Both  Spain  and  Portugal  considered,  however,  that  the  maximum  5%  live  weight  ratio 
was not a perfect fit with the reality of their national fisheries. In their report, the Spanish 

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authorities referred to some results presented in an ICES working group4 and mentioned 
that that it would be appropriate to set different levels according to the fisheries. Portugal 
provided  some  results  that  were  also  presented  in  the  ICCAT  meeting  in  2004) 
concerning  fin  weight  /live  weight  ratios  for  blue  sharks  caught  on  longliners  in  the 
Centre East Atlantic (Azores Waters), on the basis of which they indicated that a 6.6 % 
ratio would represent a value adapted to the Portuguese case.  

A part from Portugal which provided also some indication on the ratio used in practice 
for control purposes in 2003 (12 % of dressed weight), Member States did not provide 
other indication on the relationship between weights of fins and bodies (in particular the 
conversion  factor  available  to  their  control  authorities  to  assess  in  practice  whether  the 
proportion  of  fins  and  processed  parts  of  carcasses  kept  on  board  complies  with  the 
theoretical 5% ratio, based on live weight of sharks).  

The UK considered that there was insufficient data to vary this ratio from the maximum 
allowed under Regulation 1185/2003. Considering the importance of their shark fisheries 
and  the  way  national  vessels  operate,  Germany  referred  to  proportionality  and  cost 
limitation  reasons  for  not  having  engaged  in  scientific  research  to  provide  a  technical 
basis for setting the theoretical correspondence between fins and bodies of sharks. 

4.3. 

Documentation  considered  valid  by  the  Member  States  for  the  purpose  of 
monitoring  separate  landing  of  fins  and  bodies  -  Landings  outside 
Community ports. 

included 

logbooks, 

in  Spain 

landing/transhipping  declaration, 

Documents required to Spanish (or Community) vessels for controls in case of separate 
landings 
sale 
documentation and the special permit. In the case of non-EU vessels, the documentation 
required  by  Spanish  control  authorities  refers  to  the  cargo  manifest  and  all  fishing  and 
sale  documentation.  In  their  2004  report,  Spanish  authorities  also  mentioned  that  a 
ministerial decree was under preparation to establish a special catch register for vessels 
under  ten  meters  that  might  benefit  from  a  special  fishing  permit  (and  which  are  not 
subject  to  the  general  logbook  requirements).  This  new  decree  would  also  give  details 
concerning  such  controls.  The  annual  reports  provided  no  indication  of  the  possible 
extent  of  the  practice  of  separate  landings  of  fins  and  bodies  in  different  harbours 
compared to the practice of landing the entire catch at once. 

Portugal  indicated  in  2003  that  they  considered  that  additional  specific  documentation 
was not needed as the fleet concerned did not make separate landings. They confirmed 
for 2004 the absence of separate landing or transhipment of shark fins and bodies. 

Separate landings of fins and remaining parts of carcasses were not allowed by the UK 
authorities  (as  the  special  fishing  permits  to  remove  sharks  on  board  issued  in  2004 
required fins and bodies to be landed at the same time). 

Germany  did  not  provide  a  clear  indication  on  whether  separate  landings  of  fins  and 
shark bodies would occur or not. However, as practically the total shark catch by vessels 
under  the  German  flag  was  landed  in  other  member  States,  the  German  authorities 

4 

Working  Group  on  Elasmobranches  Fisheries  2003  of  the  International  Council  for  the 
Exploration of the Sea (ICES) 

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insisted in their reports on the need to rely on controls performed by the other Member 
States. 

As far as possible landings of sharks outside the Community by vessels holding a special 
fishing permit are concerned, Portugal reported that a small proportion of the shark catch 
was landed in Cape Town, but did not comment further on this issue (in particular on the 
compliance  or  functioning  of  the  pre-notification  system  established  by  Regulation 
1185/2003  in  such  a  case).  According  to  some  additional  indication  provided  by 
Germany, German vessels holding a special fishing permits to remove fins of sharks on 
board would  not land shark outside Community ports. More  indications on  this subject 
were still awaited from Spain and the UK on 30 September 2005. 

5. 

CONTROLS AND MONITORING OF COMPLIANCE OF VESSELS HOLDING SPECIAL 
FISHING PERMITS.  

In  their  initial  annual  reports,  most  of  Member  States  provided  only  few  or  even  no 
indications on the monitoring of compliance of vessels with this Regulation and on the 
outcome of controls, triggering thereby the need for requests for additional information 
from the Commission services. 

Controls  appear  to  have  been  usually  performed  as  part  of  the  normal  inspections  and 
according  to  usual  control  procedures  and  practices  in  the  fisheries  sector  (i.e.  on 
landings, on-board or on the basis of the required documentation, depending also on the 
practical possibilities).  

A  part  from  one  at-sea  control  on  one  vessel,  the  German  authorities  indicated  that 
vessels  with  a  special  fishing  permit  to  remove  fins  of  sharks  usually  fished  outside 
waters  under  German  jurisdiction  (mainly  Irish  waters  with  no  access  to  German 
inspectors) and landed directly in Spain. Their controls could therefore be performed on 
the  basis  of  documentation  only.  Germany  insisted  also  on  the  fact  that  in  such  case, 
controls  (during  fishing  operations  or  at  landings)  would  rely  on  actions  taken  by 
competent authorities of other Member States. 

In  terms  of  outcome  of  controls,  Member  States not issuing special fishing permits did 
not  identify  any  breach  of  Regulation  1185/2003  during  the  period  2003-2004.  There 
were in particular no clear cases of finning practices (e.g. by detection of boxes of sharks 
fins  without  some  corresponding  part  of  carcass).  A  few  infringements  have  been 
reported  for  2004  concerning  vessels  holding  special  fishing  permits.  These 
infringements  related  to  failure  of  compliance  with  the  recording  requirements  or  the 
maximum ratio of correspondence between the weight of fins and the weight of carcasses 
kept on board. 

More  precisely,  Germany  indicated  having  opened  one  administrative  infringement 
procedure for non recording of the weight of shark fins removed. Portugal mentioned that 
some  difficulties  were  noticed  concerning  the  differentiated  recording  procedure  for 
shark  fins,  in  particular  from  owners  of  freezer  vessels,  and  warning  notifications  had 
been issued to ask them to remedy this situation. No illegal situation was detected in the 
documentation of fishing vessels controlled at landing. Spain reported that, in 2004, 119 
inspections  performed  on  longliners  and  freezer  vessels  with  shark  catch  on  board 

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allowed  the  identification  of  three  breaches  (among  33  infringements)  for  non 
compliance with the maximum 5% live weight ratio set by Regulation 1185/2003. 

6. 

INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENTS ON SHARK FINNING PROHIBITIONS 

The  prohibition  of  shark  finning  practices  established  by  Regulation  1185/2003  applies 
to all types of fishing in Community waters, and to all Community vessels fishing in non-
Community  waters.  As  the  Community  policy  is  to  show  equal  commitment  towards 
conservation in all waters where its fishing vessels operate, the Community also took a 
proactive attitude to facilitate the promotion of measures prohibiting finning practices for 
adoption  in  operational  international  fora,  namely  Regional  Fisheries  Organisations 
(RFOs).  

Therefore,  in  the  last  two  years,  the  prohibition  of  finning  practices  was  agreed  within 
several  RFOs  on  the  basis  of  a  Community  proposal  (with  joint  support  from  other 
parties). By the 30 September 2005, these RFOs were namely: 

- the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT)5, 

- the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC)6, 

- the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC) 7 and  

- the North Atlantic Fisheries Organisation (NAFO)8. 

7. 

CONCLUSIONS 

The  information  made  available  by  the  Member  States  to  the  Commission  on  the 
operation  of  this  Regulation,  although  not  always  complete,  amounts  to  a  confirmation 
that the Regulation appears to be achieving its general objectives.  

Finning, i.e. the practice which consists in keeping only the fins of sharks and discarding 
the carcass at sea, did not appear to be significantly in use in Community fisheries before 
the  Regulation  entered  into  force  (Some  Member  States  had  already  prohibited  such 
practices) and this Regulation aimed primarily at preventing any possible development of 
such a practice. 

As  envisaged,  the  practical  consequences  arising  from  this  Regulation  for  European 
fleets  remain  rather  limited  and  are  primarily  of  an  administrative  nature  (allocation  of 
special  permits  by  competent  authorities  and  additional  documentation  required  from 

5 

6 

7 

8 

Recommendation 04/10 concerning the conservation of sharks caught in association with fisheries 
managed by ICCAT(available at http://www.iccat.es ) 
Resolution  C-50-03  on  the  conservation  of  sharks  caught  in  association  with  fisheries  in  the 
Eastern Pacific Ocean (available at http://www.iattc.org ) 
Resolution  05-05  concerning  the  conservation  of  sharks  caught  in  association  with  fisheries 
managed by IOTC (available at http://www.iotc.org) 
Conservation  and  enforcement  measures  of  NAFO  agreed  at  its  2005  Annual  Meeting  (19-23 
September 2005) – See http://www.nafo.int 

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some fishermen for reinforced traceability). Such consequences concern mainly surface 
long-line  fishing  fleets  of  some  Member  States,  and  with  limited  impact  on  the  fishing 
operations themselves. 

Although  a  couple  of  Member  States  consider  that  the  present  maximum  5%  ratio 
between the weight of fins and the total live weight of the shark catch does not reflect the 
reality  in  specific  cases  for  which  scientific  data  are  available,  Member  States  did  not 
provide information to suggest that the sector is having significant difficulties in coping 
with the present legislation, as also indicated by the outcome of controls. It does not seem 
either  that  this  Regulation  -  when  properly  implemented  and  enforced  -  would  present 
loopholes  allowing  for  significant  "legal"  finning to  take  place  within  this  5%  limit.  In 
view of the need for proportional and enforceable rules, the present Regulation does not 
appear to need an amendment at this stage. Improved implementation of some aspects by 
some  Member  States  is  certainly  desirable,  in  particular  in  terms  of  the  criteria  for 
allocation of special fishing permits or reporting. 

The  Commission  will  continue  to  monitor  this  Regulation,  on  the  basis  of  the  annual 
reports from the Member States or of any other relevant information.  

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Annex 
Reception of national reports 

2003 reports 

By the deadline of 1 May 2004, the Commission had not received any national report for 
the 2003 period of implementation of this Regulation. A first reminder letter was send on 
19 May 2005 to all 13 concerned Member States (i.e. EUR 15 with the exception of AT 
and LU). A second reminder was sent on 6 October 2004 to 5 Member States (FR, ES, 
NL, SW, FI). The latest 2003 report was provided to the Commission on 15 March 2005 
(SE, which used this opportunity to inform the Commission about the situation for both 
2003  and  2004).  While  some  national  reports,  even  not  very  developed,  could  be 
considered  as  sufficient  (especially  when  no  special  fishing  permits  had  been  given), 
other  national  reports  could  not  be  considered  as  providing  the  minimum  information 
needed with respect to relevant provisions of Regulation 1185/2003. 

2004 reports 

On  1  May  2005,  the  Commission  had  not  received  any  national  report  for  the  2004 
period, except from SE. Letters were sent out on 19 May 2005 to 19 Member States9 to 
remind  them  about  their  obligation  to  report  in  a  comprehensive  manner  and/or  where 
necessary  to  ask  for  some  additional  information  that  was  not  provided  as  far  as  year 
2003 was concerned. A second reminder was sent at the beginning of August 2005 to 6 
Member  States  (FI,  IE,  IT,  MT,  NL  and  SI)  which  had  not  provided  the  Commission 
with any indication for year 2004 at that time. Further correspondence was also necessary 
to  request  additional  information  from  12  Member  States  when  considering  the 
information they initially provided for 2004.  

State of play by 30 September 2005  

2004  national  report  were  not  available  from Ireland,  Italy,  Malta,  the  Netherlands  and 
Slovenia. 

Replies  to  request  for  additional  information  were  also  awaited  from  Cyprus,  Estonia, 
Greece, Spain, Latvia, Portugal and United Kingdom. 

The table below provides a detailed situation for each Member State 

9 

EUR 25, with the exception of non coastal states (i.e. AT, LU, SK, CZE, HU) and SE and ES the 
report of which was transmitted in the meanwhile. 

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Member 
State 

Dates of 2003 report*   Dates of 2004 report*  

Comments (by 30.9.2005) 

BE 

7.6.2004 

9.6.2005 
(29.8.2005 : additional 
information) 

Information available with main points addressed 

CY 

DK 

DE 

EE 

EL 

ES 

FI 

FR 

IE 

IT 

LT 

LV 

MT 

NL 

PL 

PT 

SE 

SI 

UK 

/ 

3.9.2004 

22.7.2004 

/ 

14.6.2004 

16.11.2004 

4.11.20047 

2.2.2005 

6.8.2004 

28.7.2004 

/ 

/ 

/ 

22.10.2004 

/ 

19.7.2004 

15.3.2005 

28.6.2005 

4.7.2005 

Additional information requested on 16.8.2005 

Information available with main points addressed 

13.6.2005 
(29.9.2005: additional 
information)  

Information generally available – need for 
clarification on a few points. 

8.6.2005 

22.7.2005 

18.5.2005 

20.9.2005 

1.7.2005 

Additional information requested on 16.8.2005 

Additional information requested on 8.9.2005 

Additional information requested on 16.8.2005 

Information available with main points addressed 

Information available with main points addressed 

Second reminder sent on 4.8.2005 

Second reminder sent on 4.8.2005 

Information available with main points addressed 

16.6.2005 
(2.9.2005 : additional 
information)  

6.6.2005 

Additional information requested on 16.8.2005 

Second reminder sent on 4.8.2005 

Second reminder sent on 4.8.2005 

Information available with main points addressed 

6.6.2005 
(29.8.2005 : additional 
information) 

18.7.2005 

Additional information requested on 8.9.2005 

15.3.2005 
(21.7.2005 : additional 
information) 

Information available with main points addressed 

/ 

Second reminder sent on 4.8.2005 

30.7.2004 

26.5.2005 

Additional information requested on 16.8.2005 

* These dates might differ slightly from the dates of reception of the reports, depending notably 
on the procedure used to transmit those reports and their reception within Commission services. 

As  a  reminder,  the  following  Member  States:  AT,  CZ,  HU,  LU  and  SK  are  not  concerned  by 
Regulation 1185/2003. 

EN 

12 

   EN