COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT pursuant to Article 294(6) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union concerning the position of the Council on the adoption of a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the sustainable management of external fishing fleets, repealing Council Regulation (EC) No 1006/2008
Date: 2017-10-25
Institutions: Directorate-General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, European Commission
Subjects: EU Member State, EU waters, exchange of information, fishery management, fishing industry, fishing permit, fishing vessel, international waters, ship's flag, third country

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   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 25.10.2017  COM(2017) 633 final 2015/0289 (COD)   COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT  pursuant to Article 294(6) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union  concerning the position of the Council on the adoption of a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the sustainable management of external fishing fleets, repealing Council Regulation (EC) No 1006/2008  
 
 
2015/0289 (COD) 

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION 
TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT 

pursuant to Article 294(6) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union 

concerning the 

position of the Council on the adoption of a Regulation of the European Parliament and 
of the Council on the sustainable management of external fishing fleets, repealing 
Council Regulation (EC) No 1006/2008 

1. 

BACKGROUND 

Date of transmission of the proposal to the European Parliament and 
to the Council 
(document COM(2015) 636 final – 2015/0289 COD): 

10 December 2015 

Date  of  the  opinion  of  the  European  Economic  and  Social 
Committee: 

25 May 2016 

Date of the position of the European Parliament, first reading: 

2 February 2017 

Date of transmission of the amended proposal: 

14 July 2017 

Date of adoption of the position of the Council: 

17 October 2017 

OBJECTIVE OF THE PROPOSAL FROM THE COMMISSION 

2. 
As  an  integral  part  of  the  reform  the  Common  Fisheries  Policy1  (CFP),  the  Commission 
proposed a revision of the Fishing Authorisations Regulation2 (FAR) in its Communication3 
on  the  External  Dimension  of  the  CFP  in  2011.  The  proposal  for  a  Regulation  on  the 
sustainable management of external fishing fleets will strengthen the supervision of the EU's 
external fishing fleet wherever it operates.  

The aim of this proposal is to revise the current rules in the FAR Regulation, so as to improve 
ocean governance, address the objectives of the new CFP, and provide consistency with the 
Control Regulation and the Regulation on Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing4. 
The proposal  also intends to  achieve level playing field  between  different fleets, so that the 

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Regulation (EU) No 1380/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 December 2013, 
on  the  Common  Fisheries  Policy,  amending  Council  Regulations  (EC)  No  1954  and  (EC)  No 
1224/2009 and repealing Council Regulations (EC) No 2371/2002 and (EC) No 639/2004 and Council 
Decision 2004/585/EC (OJ L 354, 28.12.2013, p. 22) 
Council  Regulation  (EC)  No  1006/2008  of  29  September  2008  concerning  authorisations  for  fishing 
activities  of  Community  fishing  vessels  outside  Community  waters  and  the  access  of  third  country 
vessels to Community waters (OJ L 286, 29.10.2008, p. 33) 
COM (2011) 424 of 13.7.2011 
Council  Regulation  (EC)  No  1005/2008  of  29  September  2008  establishing  a  Community  system  to 
prevent, deter and eliminate illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing (OJ L 286, 29.10.2008, 1-32) 

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EU fishing fleet fishing outside EU waters is subject to the same rules as third country vessels 
fishing in EU waters.  

There are new rules regulating direct authorisations (also known as "private agreements"), to 
deter abusive reflagging, to regulate chartering of Union vessels, and to create a database for 
fishing authorisations, including a secured and a public part.  

The proposal is based on the principle of flag state responsibility and establishes provisions 
whereby flag Member States will screen vessels against given eligibility criteria before these 
vessels  are  allowed  to  fish  outside  EU  waters.  Strong  provisions  on  the  monitoring  of  the 
fleets will allow stopping EU vessels from fishing if they do not comply with the rules.  

3. 

COMMENTS ON THE POSITION OF THE COUNCIL 

3.1   General comments on the Council's position 

The  position  of  the  Council  reflects  the  political  agreement  reached  by  the  European 
Parliament ('EP') and the Council on 20 June 2017. The Commission supports this agreement. 

3.2 

Amendments by the European Parliament at first reading 

The  EP  has  agreed  on  new  elements  derived  from  compromises  reached  with  the  Council 
during the trilogues, however the first reading position of the EP has always been maintained 
and is reflected in the final political agreement.  

3.3  

Provisions introduced by the Council and Commission position in this regard 

The  Council  position  departs  from  the  Commission  proposal  concerning  the  scope  of  the 
proposal,  the  definitions  used,  and  the  procedures  for  issuing  fishing  authorisations.  The 
Council position further strengthened provisions on equal treatment, ensuring that EU vessels, 
operating inside and outside EU waters, are treated equally, and third country vessels in EU 
waters  are  to  abide  by  the  same  conditions  as  EU  vessels.  Hence,  level  playing  field  is 
ensured all across the board. 

The  Commission  considers  that  these  changes  contribute  to  reinforce the  consistency  of  the 
proposal,  simplify  and  streamline  the  procedures  foreseen,  minimise  administrative  burden 
and  refer  as  much  as  possible  to  existing  rules  under  RFMOs,  International  Fisheries 
Agreements, including Northern Agreements and SFPAs. 

The  Commission  proposal  was  therefore  amended  to  provide  for  the  following  measures 
reflected in the political agreement: 

Inclusion  of  new  Section  2  on  "fishing  activities  under  agreements  on  exchange  or  joint 
management". This section was included to clarify the scope of the proposal and ensure that 
all third country fishing vessels fishing in EU waters are covered by the Regulation.  

Article 5(1)(d) on Eligibility criteria: "Absence of serious infringements in the last 12 months 
prior  to  applying  for  a  fishing  authorisation".  This  eligibility  criterion,  for  EU  vessels 
intending  to  fish  outside  EU  waters,  was  proposed  as  a  precondition  for  having  access  to  a 
fishing  authorisation.  However,  the  Council  considered  that  this  eligibility  criterion  is  a 
double  sanctioning  system  and  expressed  a  very  strong  opposition  to  it.  The  EP,  however, 
supported  it.  As  a  part  of  an  overall  compromise,  the  Commission  accepts  to  remove  this 

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eligibility criterion from the text provided a legal basis allowing the Commission to intervene 
in order to stop a vessel from fishing under Article 7 is agreed.  

Article  7(6)  on  "Monitoring  of  fishing  activities":  This  provision  would  allow  the 
Commission to intervene, as an ultimate resort, in order to stop a vessel from fishing when the 
flag Member State does no take action (the "claw-back" clause). The Commission's original 
proposal  is  not  acceptable  for  the  Council  because  it  is  seen  as  an  inference  on  the 
competences of flag Member States. The EP supports a solid legal basis for the Commission 
to intervene in order to stop a vessel from fishing when that vessel does not comply with the 
rules.  

As a part of an overall compromise, the Commission has accepted that the intervention by the 
Commission  to  stop  a vessel from fishing is limited to  areas  where  there is an international 
fisheries agreement binding the Union vis-à-vis RFMOs or third countries under SFPAs.  

Article 6(2) on reflagging operations: EU vessels shall not fish in waters of non-cooperating 
third countries pursuant to Articles 31 and 33 of the IUU Regulation. Article 31 concerns the 
"identification" by the Commission, and Article 33 concerns the "listing" by the Council. The 
Council is of the position that it is for the Council (through its Decision) to list a country as 
non-cooperating,  and  therefore  the  identification  by  the  Commission  should  not  have  any 
effect in the context of this proposal.  

As  a  part  of  an  overall  compromise,  the  Commission  has  accepted  that  a  six  weeks'  notice 
would  be  given  to  the  vessel  to  leave  the  third  country  waters,  once  the  third  country  is 
identified as non-cooperating under Article 31 of the IUU Regulation.  

Articles 13-15 on "reallocation of unused fishing opportunities": Under the current rules, the 
Commission  reallocates  unused  fishing opportunities ((please add the specific  article of this 
regulation°Council Regulation (EC) No 1006/2008) via a Commission decision. The proposal 
for  the  external  fleets  foresees  implementing  powers  for  the  Commission  to  do  this 
reallocation. The Council insists on doing the reallocation based on Article 43(3) TFEU.  

As  a  part  of  an  overall  compromise,  the  Commission  accepts  this  legal  basis  for  the 
reallocation of unused fishing opportunities. 

Article  26a  on  "transhipment":  the  EP  had  difficulties  to  accept  the  Council's  definition  for 
"fishing activities" in Article 3(g), arguing that it is not as holistic as the one in the CFP. The 
EP is mainly interested in including "landings" and "transhipments" in the definition, however 
this  would  entail  substantial  administrative  burdens  for  issuing  authorisations  for  the  said 
activities.  As  a  compromise,  the  Council  accepted  expanding  the  scope  of  Article  26a  to 
transhipments in the high seas and for direct authorisations, including a prior notification to 
the  flag  Member  State  and  an  annual  reporting  for  Member  States  to  the  Commission.  The 
Commission  has  accepted  this  compromise  because  it  will  help  the  Commission  to  obtain 
information on transhipments.    

Article 39(2) public information in the data base: The Commission proposal and the Council 
general approach agreed to make public data on the name and flag of the vessel, the type of 
authorisation and the authorised time and zone of fishing. The EP position was to include: (1) 
the CFR5 and IMO numbers, (2) name, city and country of residence of the company owner 
and the beneficial owner, and (3) the type of authorisation and fishing opportunities. 

Neither  the  Council,  nor  the  Commission  can  support  the  demand  from  the  EP  as  such 
because of concerns in relation to the right of privacy, data protection and the protection of 
commercial interests.  A compromise  was  reached  by  the  co-legislators whereby  the  data  on 

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CFR stands for Community Fleet Register (number). 

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the company owner and the beneficial owner will be stored on the secure part of the database. 
In addition, the following data will be made public: (1) the CFR and IMO numbers, (2) the 
type of authorisation including target species or group of species, and (3) authorised time and 
zone  of  fishing  activity.  The  Commission  has  accepted  this  compromise  as  it  will  increase 
transparency in full compliance with data protection rules. 
The position a first reading adopted by the Council the 17th October 2017 reinforces the main 
elements of the Commission proposal and puts forward a balanced text that takes into account 
the main considerations of the European Parliament, the Commission and the Council.  

4. 

CONCLUSION 

The  legal  services  and  lawyer  linguists  of  the  European  Parliament  and  the  Council  were 
mandated  to  make  all  relevant  adjustments  to  the  text.  The  resulting  document  therefore 
represents the political agreement reached by the co-legislators on 20 June 2017. 

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