Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee on ‘Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council defining characteristics for fishing vessels (Recast)’ (COM(2016) 273 final — 2016/0145 (COD))
Date: 2016-10-19
Institutions: European Economic and Social Committee
Subjects: fishing regulations, fishing vessel, safety standard, technical specification, technical standard








C_2017034EN.01014001.xml










2.2.2017   


EN


Official Journal of the European Union


C 34/140





Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee on ‘Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council defining characteristics for fishing vessels (Recast)’
(COM(2016) 273 final — 2016/0145 (COD))
(2017/C 034/22)






Rapporteur:



Gabriel SARRÓ IPARRAGUIRRE











Referral


Council, 1 June 2016
European Parliament, 6 June 2016




Legal basis


Article 43(2) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.




 



(COM(2016) 273 final — 2016/0145 (COD))





Committee Bureau decision:


14 June 2016




 


 




Section responsible


Section for Agriculture, Rural Development and the Environment




Adopted in section


30 September 2016




Adopted at plenary


19 October 2016




Plenary session No


520




Outcome of vote
(for/against/abstentions)


222/0/2




1.   Conclusions









1.1.


The EESC agrees with the current proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council defining characteristics for fishing vessels (recast), as it considers it both necessary and appropriate for EU law.




2.   Background









2.1.


The aim of the Commission’s proposal is to undertake a codification of Council Regulation (EEC) No 2930/86 of 22 September 1986 defining characteristics for fishing vessels, as modified by Council Regulation (EC) No 3259/94 of 22 December 1994.












2.2.


This codification follows on from the Conclusions of the Presidency of the Edinburgh European Council (December 1992) confirming the Commission’s decision that all acts (both the original act and subsequent amendments) should be codified after no more than ten amendments.












2.3.


Codification is necessary in order to make EU law simpler, clearer and more transparent, and in doing so render it more accessible and easier to understand for citizens. In this way, they will be given new opportunities and the chance to make use of the specific rights afforded to them.












2.4.


Codification must be undertaken in full compliance with the approval procedure for Union acts.




3.   General comments









3.1.


The Commission’s proposal fully preserves the content of the acts being codified.












3.2.


However, the proposal also makes a substantive amendment to Article 5(3) of Regulation (EEC) No 2930/86, with a view to delegating powers to the Commission for adapting the requirements for the determination of continuous engine power to technical progress. Therefore, the proposal is being presented in the form of a recast.












3.3.


The recast proposal was drawn up on the basis of a preliminary consolidation, in 23 official languages, of Regulation (EEC) No 2930/86 and the instrument amending it, carried out by the Publications Office of the European Union, by means of a data-processing system.












3.4.


The proposal contains three annexes, which set out the amendment to the (adapted) annex of Regulation (EC) No 3259/94 and the correlation, in cases where articles have been re-numbered, between the proposal’s new numbers and the previous ones.




4.   Specific comments









4.1.


The EESC agrees with the amendments made to Article 5(3), which empowers the Commission to adopt delegated acts for adapting the requirements for the determination of continuous engine power to technical progress in accordance with the requirements adopted by the International Organisation for Standardisation in its recommended International Standard ISO 3046/1, 2nd edition, October 1981.





Brussels, 19 October 2016.


The President of the European Economic and Social Committee

Georges DASSIS