Common Position (EC) No 29/2006 of 14 November 2006 adopted by the Council, acting in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 251 of the Treaty establishing the European Community, with a view to adopting a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the submission of statistical data on landings of fishery products in Member States and repealing Council Regulation (EEC) No 1382/91 Text with EEA relevance
Date: 2006-11-14
Institutions: Council of the European Union
Subjects: EU Member State, EU statistics, data transmission, fishery product, fishing statistics, quantity of fish landed

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COMMON POSITION (EC) No 29/2006

adopted by the Council on 14 November 2006

with a view to adopting Regulation (EC) No …/2006 of the European Parliament and of the
Council of … on the submission of statistical data on landings of fishery products in Member
States and repealing Council Regulation (EEC) No 1382/91

(Text with EEA relevance)

(2006/C 301 E/03)

THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EURO-
PEAN UNION,

(5)

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Com-
munity, and in particular Article 285(1) thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,

Acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article
251 of the Treaty (1),

Whereas:

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

Council Regulation (EEC) No 1382/91 of 21 May 1991
on the submission of data on the landings of fishery
products in Member States (2) requires Member States to
submit data on the quantities and average prices of
fishery products landed on their territory.

Experience has shown that analyses of the market for
fishery products and other economic analyses would not
be adversely affected if data were submitted under Com-
munity legislation at yearly rather than monthly inter-
vals.

Analyses would be enhanced if data were broken down
by the flag state of fishing vessels carrying out landings.

Regulation (EEC) No 1382/91 imposes a limit on the
extent to which sampling techniques are permitted when
the collection and compilation of data place an excessive
burden on certain national authorities.
to
improve and simplify the system for the submission of
data, it is appropriate to replace that Regulation with a
new instrument. Consequently, Regulation
(EEC)
No 1382/91 should be repealed.

In order

(1) Opinion of the European Parliament of 15 June 2006 (not yet
published in the Official Journal), Council Common Position of 14
November 2006 and Position of the European Parliament of … (not
yet published in the Official Journal).

(2) OJ L 133, 28.5.1991, p. 1. Regulation as last amended by Regu-
lation (EC) No 1882/2003 of the European Parliament and of the
Council (OJ L 284, 31.10.2003, p. 1).

a

common legal

framework for

Since the objective of this Regulation, namely the estab-
lishment of
the
systematic production of Community statistical data on
landings of fishery products in Member States, cannot be
sufficiently achieved by the Member States and can
therefore be better achieved at Community level, the
Community may adopt measures,
in accordance with
the principle of subsidiarity as set out in Article 5 of the
Treaty. In accordance with the principle of proportion-
ality as set out in that Article, this Regulation does not
go beyond what is necessary in order to achieve that
objective.

Council Regulation (EC) No 322/97 of 17 February
1997 on Community Statistics (3) provides a reference
framework for statistics in the field of fisheries. In par-
ticular, it requires conformity with principles of imparti-
ality, reliability, relevance, cost-effectiveness, statistical
confidentiality and transparency.

It is important to ensure the uniform application of this
Regulation and, in order to do so, to make provision for
a Community procedure to help determine the imple-
menting arrangements within an appropriate timescale
and to make the necessary technical adaptations.

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 (4).

for

tool

the management of

Since the statistical data on landings of fishery products
the
are an essential
Common Fisheries Policy, it is appropriate to lay down
the possibility of using the management procedure
provided for by Decision 1999/468/EC for granting
Member States transitional periods for the implementa-
tion of this Regulation and derogations permitting them
to exclude statistical data covering a particular sector of
the fisheries industry from the national statistical data
submitted.

(6)

(7)

(8)

(9)

(3) OJ L 52, 22.2.1997, p. 1. Regulation as amended by Regulation

(EC) No 1882/2003.

(4) OJ L 184, 17.7.1999, p. 23. Decision as amended by Decision

2006/512/EC (OJ L 200, 22.7.2006, p. 11).

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(10) On the other hand, power should be conferred on the
Commission to establish the conditions under which the
Annexes should be technically adapted. Since those
measures are of general scope and are designed to
amend non-essential elements of this Regulation, they
should be adopted in accordance with the regulatory
procedure with scrutiny provided for in Article 5a of
Decision 1999/468/EC,

HAVE ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

Definitions

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

1) ‘Community fishing vessels’ means fishing vessels flying the
flag of a Member State and registered in the Community;

2) ‘EFTA fishing vessels’ means fishing vessels flying the flag

of, or registered in, an EFTA country;

3) ‘Unit value’ means:

(a) the value at first sale of the fishery products landed (in
national currency) divided by the quantity landed (in
tonnes), or

(b) for fishery products not immediately sold, the average
price per tonne in national currency, estimated using an
appropriate method.

Article 2

Obligations of the Member States

Each year each Member State shall

1.
to the
Commission statistical data in respect of the fishery products
landed on its territory by Community and EFTA fishing vessels
(hereinafter referred to as ‘statistical data’).

submit

2.
For the purposes of this Regulation, the following fishery
products shall be deemed to be landed on the territory of the
reporting Member State:

(a) products landed by fishing vessels or other parts of the

fishing fleet in national ports within the Community;

(b) products landed by fishing vessels of the reporting Member
State in non-Community ports and covered by the T2M
form contained in Annex 43 to Commission Regulation
(EEC) No 2454/93 of 2 July 1993 laying down provisions
for
implementation of Council Regulation (EEC)
No 2913/92 establishing the Community Customs Code (1).

the

Article 3

Compilation of statistical data

The statistical data shall cover total landings on national

1.
territory within the Community.

Sampling techniques may be employed where, owing to
2.
the structural characteristics of a particular sector of the fish-
eries of a Member State, comprehensive data collection would
result in difficulties for the national authorities disproportionate
to the importance of that sector.

Article 4

Statistical data

The statistical data shall relate to the total quantities and unit
values of the fishery products landed in the reference calendar
year.

The variables for which statistical data need to be submitted,
their definitions and the relevant nomenclatures are given in
Annexes II, III and IV.

Article 5

Submission of statistical data

Member States shall submit the statistical data to the Commis-
sion on an annual basis in accordance with the format specified
in Annex I and using the codes set out in Annexes II, III and IV.

The statistical data shall be submitted within six months of the
end of the reference calendar year.

Article 6

Methodology

1.
By … (*) each Member State shall submit a detailed meth-
odological report to the Commission describing how the data
have been collected and the statistics compiled. That report
shall include details of any sampling techniques and an evalua-
tion of the quality of the resulting estimates.

2.
The Commission shall examine the reports and present its
conclusions to the relevant working group of the Standing
Committee for Agricultural Statistics (hereinafter referred to as
‘the Committee’)
established by Article 1 of Council
Decision 72/279/EEC (2).

3.
The Member States shall inform the Commission of any
change in the information provided for under paragraph 1
within three months of the introduction of such change. They
shall also forward to the Commission details of any substantial
changes in the collection methods used.

(1) OJ L 253, 11.10.1993, p. 1. Regulation as last amended by Regu-

lation (EC) No 402/2006 (OJ L 70, 9.3.2006, p. 35).

(*) 12 months from the date of entry into force of this Regulation.
(2) OJ L 179, 7.8.1972, p. 1.

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Article 7

Transitional periods

Transitional periods for the implementation of this Regulation
lasting not more than three years from the date of its entry
into force may be granted to Member States in accordance with
the procedure referred to in Article 11(2).

and the Council on the statistical data compiled pursuant to
this Regulation and in particular on their relevance and quality.
The report shall also analyse the cost-effectiveness of
the
system used for the collection and processing of statistical data
and shall put forward best practices for reducing the workload
for Member States and enhancing the usefulness and quality of
the statistical data.

Article 8

Derogations

Article 11

Committee procedure

1. Where the inclusion in the statistics of a particular sector
of the fisheries industry of a Member State would cause difficul-
ties to the national authorities disproportionate to the impor-
tance of that sector, a derogation may be granted in accordance
with the procedure referred to in Article 11(2), permitting that
Member State to exclude statistical data covering that sector
from the national statistical data submitted.

2. Where a Member State requests a derogation under para-
graph 1,
in support of its
request, with a report on problems encountered in applying
this Regulation to total landings on its territory.

it shall provide the Commission,

1.

The Commission shall be assisted by the Committee.

2. Where reference is made to this paragraph, Articles 4 and
7 of Decision 1999/468/EC shall apply, having regard to the
provisions of Article 8 thereof.

The period laid down in Article 4(3) of Decision 1999/468/EC
shall be set at three months.

3. Where reference is made to this paragraph, Article 5a(1)
to (4) and Article 7 of Decision 1999/468/EC shall apply,
having regard to the provisions of Article 8 thereof.

Article 9

Updating of the Annexes

Article 12

Repeal

The measures relating to technical adaptation of the Annexes
shall be adopted in accordance with the regulatory procedure
with scrutiny referred to in Article 11(3).

Regulation (EEC) No 1382/91 is hereby repealed.

Article 10

Assessment

The Commission shall, by … (*) and every three years there-
after, submit an assessment report to the European Parliament

Article 13

Entry into force

This Regulation shall enter into force on the twentieth day
following that of 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 …,

For the European Parliament

The President

…

For the Council

The President

…

(*) Three years from the date of entry into force of this Regulation.

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Official Journal of the European Union

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ANNEX I

FORMAT OF STATISTICAL DATA SUBMITTED

Statistical data file format

The statistical data are to be submitted in a file in which each record includes the fields indicated below. These fields are
to be separated by a comma (‘,’).

Field

Note

Annex

Reference year

4 digits (e.g. 2003)

Reporting country

Alpha-3 code

Species or species group

International alpha-3 code (*)

Flag State

Presentation

Intended use

Quantity

Unit value

Alpha-3 code

Tonnes landed (rounded to one decimal place)

National currency per tonne

Annex II

—

Annex II

Annex III

Annex IV

(*) The full list of international alpha-3 species codes is to be found in the FAO's ASFIS file (http://www.fao.org/fi/statist/fisoft/asfis/as-

fis.asp)

Quantities of less than 50 kg landed weight are to be recorded as ‘0,0’.

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ANNEX II

LIST OF COUNTRY CODES

Country

Belgium

Czech Republic

Denmark

Germany

Estonia

Greece

Spain

France

Ireland

Italy

Cyprus

Latvia

Lithuania

Luxembourg

Hungary

Malta

Netherlands

Austria

Poland

Portugal

Slovenia

Slovakia

Finland

Sweden

United Kingdom

Iceland

Norway

Other

Code

BEL

CZE

DNK

DEU

EST

GRC

ESP

FRA

IRL

ITA

CYP

LVA

LTU

LUX

HUN

MLT

NLD

AUT

POL

PRT

SVN

SVK

FIN

SWE

GBR

ISL

NOR

OTH

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Official Journal of the European Union

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ANNEX III

LIST OF PRESENTATION CODES

Part A

List

Presentation

Code

Fresh (not specified)

Fresh (whole)

Fresh (gutted)

Fresh (tails)

Fresh (fillets)

Fresh (gutted and headed)

Fresh (live)

Fresh (other)

Frozen (not specified)

Frozen (whole)

Frozen (gutted)

Frozen (tails)

Frozen (fillets)

Frozen (not filleted)

Frozen (gutted and headed)

Frozen (cleaned)

Frozen (not cleaned)

Frozen (other)

Salted (not specified)

Salted (whole)

Salted (gutted)

Salted (fillets)

Salted (gutted and headed)

Salted (other)

Smoked

Cooked

Cooked (frozen and packaged)

Dried (not specified)

Dried (whole)

10

11

12

13

14

16

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

26

27

28

29

30

31

32

34

36

39

40

50

60

70

71

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Dried (gutted)

Dried (fillets)

Dried (gutted and headed)

Dried (skinned)

Dried (other)

Whole (not specified)

Claws

Eggs

Presentation unknown

Presentation

Part B

Notes

Code

72

74

76

77

79

91

80

85

99

1. Fillets: strips of flesh cut parallel to the backbone of the fish and consisting of the right or left side of the fish,
provided that the head, viscera, fins (dorsal, anal, caudal, ventral, pectoral) and bones (vertebrae or large backbone,
ventral or costal, bronchial or stirrup bones, etc.) have been removed and the two sides are not connected, for
example by the back or stomach.

2. Whole fish: ungutted fish.

3. Cleaned: squid where the arms, head and internal organs have been removed from the body.

4. Frozen fish: fish that have been subjected to freezing in a manner to preserve the inherent quality of the fish by redu-

cing the average temperature to -18 °C or lower and which are then kept at a temperature of -18 °C or lower.

5. Fresh fish: fish that have not been preserved, cured, frozen or otherwise treated other than chilled. They are generally

presented whole or gutted.

6. Salted fish: fish often in gutted and headed form, preserved in salt or brine.

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Official Journal of the European Union

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ANNEX IV

LIST OF CODES FOR INTENDED USE OF FISHERY PRODUCTS

Part A

List

Destination

Code

Nature of submissions

Human consumption

Industrial uses

Withdrawn from the market

Bait

Animal feed

Waste

Intended use unknown

1

2

3

4

5

6

9

Part B

Notes

Mandatory

Mandatory

Voluntary

Voluntary

Voluntary

Voluntary

Voluntary

1. Human consumption: all fishery products which are sold at first sale for human consumption or which are landed
under contract or other agreement for human consumption. Excluded are quantities intended for human consump-
tion but which, at the time of first sale, are withdrawn from the market for human consumption owing to market
conditions or hygiene regulations or for similar reasons.

2. Industrial uses: all fishery products specifically landed for reduction to meal and oil for consumption by animals, and
quantities which, although originally intended for human consumption, are not sold for that purpose at first sale.

3. Withdrawn from the market: the quantities which originally were intended for human consumption but which, at
the time of first sale, are withdrawn from the market owing to market conditions or hygiene regulations or for
similar reasons.

4. Bait: quantities of fresh fish which are intended to be used as bait in other fishing activities. An example is the bait

used in tuna pole and line fisheries.

5. Animal feed: the quantities of fresh fish intended to be fed direct to animals. Excluded are quantities intended for

processing to fish meal and oil.

6. Waste: fish or parts thereof which due to their state are to be destroyed prior to landing.

7. Intended use unknown: quantities of fish which cannot be assigned to any of the above categories.

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STATEMENT OF THE COUNCIL'S REASONS

I. INTRODUCTION

1. The Commission adopted its proposal (1) on 11 November 2005 with the aim of replacing the
existing fishery products statistics Regulation (EEC) No 1382/91, in order to improve the use of the
data collected while at the same time reducing the workload on Member States. The proposal was
examined and discussed in the Council's preparatory bodies under successive Presidencies.

2. The European Parliament adopted its Opinion at first reading on 15 June 2006.

3. The Council adopted its common position in accordance with Article 251 of the EC Treaty on 14

November 2006.

II. OBJECTIVE

The objective of the draft Regulation is to provide for the submission by the Member States of harmo-
nised data on the quantity and the value of landings of fishery products on their territories to permit
analyses of the market for fishery products and more general economic analyses of the situation in fish-
eries.

III. ANALYSIS OF THE COMMON POSITION

1. General context

An agreement at fist reading was reached on this dossier in June 2006 (PE-CONS 3628/06).

On 17 July 2006,
the Council adopted Decision 2006/512/EC amending Council Decision
1999/468/EC of 28 June 1999 laying down the procedures for the exercise of implementing
powers conferred on the Commission and introducing a new procedure named ‘regulatory proce-
dure with scrutiny’ (Article 5a).

The new Committee procedure has to be followed to adopt measures of general scope which seek
to amend non-essential elements of a basic instrument adopted in accordance with the procedure
referred to in Article 251 of the Treaty, inter alia by deleting some of those elements or by supple-
menting the instrument by the addition of new non-essential elements.

2. Adaptations introduced by the Council

The draft Regulation refers to the Committee management procedure for adopting measures relating
to technical adaptation of the annexes. However, since those measures are of general scope and are
designed to amend non-essential elements of the Regulation, they should be adopted in accordance
with the new regulatory procedure with scrutiny provided for
in Article 5a of Decision
1999/468/EC.

Due to the urgency of the matter, it will be necessary that the adoption of this Regulation by the
Parliament and the Council take place by December 2006.

3. The Commission has accepted the common position agreed by the Council.

(1) COM(2005) 566 final.