REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL on the implementation of Regulation (EC) No 1921/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 December 2006 on the submission of statistical data on landings of fishery products in Member States
Date: 2025-01-28
Institutions: European Commission, Eurostat
Subjects: EU Member State, EU statistics, data collection, data transmission, fishery product, fishing statistics, quantity of fish landed

EN 

  EN 

   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 28.1.2025  COM(2025) 12 final  REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL on the implementation of Regulation (EC) No 1921/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 December 2006 on the submission of statistical data on landings of fishery products in Member States   
 
 
1 

BACKGROUND  

The  Commission  (Eurostat)  receives  statistical  data  on  landings  of  fishery  products  under 
Regulation  (EC)  No  1921/2006  (‘the  Regulation’)1.  According  to  Article  2  of  the  Regulation, 
fishery products are deemed to be landed on a Member State’s territory if landed at its ports by EU 
and European Free Trade Association (EFTA) fishing vessels, or if landed on non-EU territory by 
EU fishing vessels and then imported2. Article 10 of the Regulation requires the Commission to 
submit a report to the European Parliament and the Council every 3 years assessing, in particular, 
the quality and relevance of the statistical data collected. The report must also analyse the cost-
effectiveness of the system for collecting and processing statistical data on landings and propose 
any best practices to lessen the workload at national level and produce more useful, higher-quality 
statistical data.  

The Regulation applies to EU Member States and is relevant for all EEA countries. However, as 
it relates to landings of marine fishery products, five landlocked Member States are exempted from 
the data reporting obligation (Czechia, Luxembourg, Hungary, Austria and Slovakia).  

In  addition  to  landings  statistics,  Eurostat  also  receives  data  related  to  catches,  fleet  and 
aquaculture. To manage the common fisheries policy, other Commission departments, mainly the 
Directorate-General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (DG MARE), also collect data under three 
other regulations: Council Regulation (EC) No 1224/20093 which puts in place a control system 
to  ensure  compliance  with  fisheries  rules;  Regulation  (EU)  2017/10044  on  the  collection, 
management and use of fisheries data; and Implementing Regulation (EU) 2017/2185 on the EU 
fishing fleet register. 

Every 3 years the Commission collects national quality reports6, on which this report is based. The 
national reports include detailed information on the data quality and on the methods used to collect 

1  

2  

3  

4  

5  
6  

Regulation (EC) No 1921/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 December 2006 on the 
submission  of  statistical  data  on  landings  of  fishery  products  in  Member  States  and  repealing  Council 
Regulation (EEC) No 1382/91 (OJ L 403, 30.12.2006, p. 1, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2006/1921/oj). 

This means that these statistics are not comparable to landing data collected under Council Regulation (EC) 
No 1224/2009, where data are collected by a vessel’s flag country. 

Council  Regulation  (EC)  No  1224/2009  of  20  November  2009  establishing  a  Union  control  system  for 
ensuring compliance with the rules of the common fisheries policy, amending Regulations (EC) No 847/96, 
(EC) No 2371/2002, (EC) No 811/2004, (EC) No 768/2005, (EC) No 2115/2005, (EC) No 2166/2005, (EC) 
No  388/2006,  (EC)  No  509/2007,  (EC)  No  676/2007,  (EC)  No  1098/2007,  (EC)  No  1300/2008,  (EC) 
No 1342/2008 and repealing Regulations (EEC) No 2847/93, (EC) No 1627/94 and (EC) No 1966/2006 (OJ 
L 343, 22.12.2009, p. 1, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2009/1224/2024-10-11). 

Regulation  (EU)  2017/1004  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  of  17  May  2017  on  the 
establishment of a Union framework for the collection, management and use of data in the fisheries sector 
and support for scientific advice regarding the common fisheries policy and repealing Council Regulation 
(EC) No 199/2008 (OJ L 157, 20.6.2017, p. 1, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2017/1004/oj). 

Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2017/218 on the Union fishing fleet register 
https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/cache/metadata/en/fish_ld_esms.htm 

1 

 
 
 
 
 
 
them. The national quality reports follow the European Statistical System (ESS) guidelines and 
are collected using the ESS Metadata Handler. 

This report is based on: (i) the quality reports on landings submitted to Eurostat by the reporting 
Member States for the reference year 2022; (ii) compliance analysis; and (iii) cost data collected 
by Eurostat.  

The Commission adopted previous assessment reports concerning statistics on landings submitted 
under the Regulation in November 20107, April 20148, May 20169, February 201910 and December 
202111.  

This report covers annual data on total quantities and unit prices of the fishery products landed in 
2022 on the territory of the Member States. The data collected by Eurostat are broken down by 
species, vessel flag, presentation and intended use. 

2 

MAIN FINDINGS 

2.1 

Timeliness and punctuality 

Most Member States met the data submission deadlines for the period covered by this report. The 
compliance assessment for the landings of fisheries products statistics for the reference year 2022 
was  compared  with  that  of  previous  years.  Compared  with  the  data  collection  for  the  2019 
reference year, punctuality improved, with only one country delivering the data slightly late. 

As per the usual procedure, data were subjected to an automatic pre-validation of their structure 
and content, and countries received a report flagging any errors. Countries resubmitted their data, 
as necessary, until no further errors were reported. Eurostat then carried out additional checks and 

7  

8  

9  

10  

11  

Report  from  the  Commission  to  the  European  Parliament  and  the  Council  on  the  implementation  of 
Regulation  (EC)  No  1921/2006  on  the  submission  of  statistical  data  on  landings  of  fishery  products  in 
Member States, COM(2010) 675 final. 

Report  from  the  Commission  to  the  European  Parliament  and  the  Council  on  the  implementation  of 
Regulation  (EC)  No  1921/2006  on  the  submission  of  statistical  data  on  landings  of  fishery  products  in 
Member States, COM(2014) 240 final. 

Report  from  the  Commission  to  the  European  Parliament  and  the  Council  on  the  implementation  of 
Regulation  (EC)  No  1921/2006  on  the  submission  of  statistical  data  on  landings  of  fishery  products  in 
Member States, COM(2016) 239 final. 

Report  from  the  Commission  to  the  European  Parliament  and  the  Council  on  the  implementation  of 
Regulation  (EC)  No  1921/2006  on  the  submission  of  statistical  data  on  landings  of  fishery  products  in 
Member States, COM(2019) 47 final. 

Report  from  the  Commission  to  the  European  Parliament  and  the  Council  on  the  implementation  of 
Regulation  (EC)  No  1921/2006  on  the  submission  of  statistical  data  on  landings  of  fishery  products  in 
Member States, COM(2021) 789 final. 

2 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
when it spotted inconsistencies it asked reporting countries to correct the data and submit revisions. 
For the 2022 reference year, the data submitted by one third of the reporting countries needed some 
clarifications and corrections. However, significant efforts have clearly been made by the reporting 
countries and Eurostat to improve the quality of the data over time.  

The Commission (Eurostat) released the data immediately after validation, in line with its usual 
practice. Although it rarely proves necessary, data may be revised at any time. 

2.2  Accuracy and comparability 

According to the quality reports received from Member States, users rate their accuracy as good 
or very good and their reliability as stable or improved. 

In  October  2019,  Eurostat  published  a  revised  version  of  a  handbook  dedicated  to  catch  and 
landings statistics12. By using the revised handbook, further improvements have been made to the 
comparability of statistical data across countries.  

Due to the differing EU accession dates of Member States, the length of the available time series 
data differs, resulting in varying degrees of comparability over time. However, when considering 
only the period covered by this report, data are comparable. 

2.3 

Relevance 

The  development,  monitoring  and  evaluation  of  the  common  fisheries  policy  requires  a  lot  of 
detailed data and information.  Therefore, the statistical  data collected under the Regulation  are 
essential for informed, evidence-based policymaking at both national and EU level. The data on 
production levels and trends are important for analysing the development of the fisheries sector as 
part  of  the  common  fisheries  policy.  They  provide  policymakers  and  industry  with  solid 
foundations on which to build the sector’s future. 

2.4 

Accessibility 

Statistical  data on landings of fishery products  are available in  the Eurostat  database13, both in 
detailed country tables and in an overall summary table displaying EU and national data at a more 
aggregated level. 

12  

13  

https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/cache/metadata/Annexes/fish_ld_esms_an_3.pdf (available only in English). 

https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/data/database 

3 

 
 
 
 
 
 
In  addition,  the  Member  States  publish  the  data  in  national  online  databases  or  in  the  form  of 
electronic publications. Access to these products is always free of charge. 

The European reference metadata, including an EU-level quality report on landings statistics14, 
are published on Eurostat’s public database. Eurostat publishes data and articles on landings of 
fishery products in its online ‘Statistics Explained’15 collection and in overview publications16.  

There is also a single-entry point for all data, methodology and publications on the Eurostat 
website17. 

2.5 

Data confidentiality 

Countries submitted only non-confidential data on landings at the time the Regulation was adopted 
in 2006. However, since 2012, a few countries have started to send confidential figures to protect 
the  data  of  single  companies.  This  is  in  line  with  Regulation  (EC)  No  223/200918  on  the 
transmission of data subject to statistical confidentiality. Although still quite low, the proportion 
of confidential data points reported by the countries is growing steadily, having increased from 
2% to 4% of total landings data between 2019 and 2022.  

When countries started reporting confidential data, it was agreed that Eurostat would apply a strict 
rule when calculating EU aggregates. This rule provides that an aggregate is confidential if a single 
value  included  in  it  is  confidential.  Eurostat  acknowledges  that  while  this  approach  protects 
confidentiality, it also excessively limits the publication of data. Eurostat is therefore working with 
the countries to find ways of publishing more national and EU-level aggregates while still ensuring 
data confidentiality.   

14  

15  

16  

17  

18  

https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/cache/metadata/en/fish_ld_esms.htm 

https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=Fisheries_-_catches_and_landings 

The  most  recent  is  ‘Key  figures  on  the  European  food  chain  –  2023  edition’,  ISBN  978-92-68-07811-2. 
https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/documents/15216629/18054337/KS-FK-23-001-EN-N.pdf/048e130f-79fa-
e870-6c46-d80c9408620b?version=7.0&t=1707290893751 (available only in English). 

https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/fisheries/overview 

Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 March 2009 on European 
statistics  and  repealing  Regulation  (EC,  Euratom)  No  1101/2008  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the 
Council  on  the  transmission  of  data  subject  to  statistical  confidentiality  to  the  Statistical  Office  of  the 
European  Communities,  Council  Regulation  (EC)  No  322/97  on  Community  Statistics,  and  Council 
Decision89/382/EEC,  Euratom  establishing  a  Committee  on  the  Statistical  Programmes  of  the  European 
Communities (OJ L 87, 31.3.2009, p. 164). 

4 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
3  BURDEN AND COST-EFFECTIVENESS 

Eurostat assessed the cost-effectiveness of data collection on landings under the Regulation using 
the quality reports for 2022, together with the cost analysis based on a survey targeted at national 
statistical institutes. The cost analysis was based on costs for 2023 and covered the landings data 
collection for the 2022 reference year. A total of 19 countries replied to the cost survey. The total 
direct  and  indirect  costs  for  all  countries  providing  the  figures  was  roughly  EUR  3.0  million 
annually. It remained at the same level as for reference year 2019. 

The 2022 quality reports submitted by 23 EU Member States and EEA countries showed that the 
majority of countries collect the data using administrative data sources. In total, 11 countries use 
it as the only source, 4 in combination with a census, 3 in combination with a census and sample 
surveys, 2 in combination with sample surveys, 1 in combination with consultation with experts 
and 1 in combination with other sources. Only one country uses a census as the only method of 
data  collection.  A  number  of  countries  reported  efficiency  gains,  mostly  linked  to  further 
automation (6 countries), training (3 countries), increased use of administrative data (3 countries) 
and the introduction of online surveys (1 country). 

4  CONCLUSIONS  AND  WAY  FORWARD:  STREAMLINING  AND  SIMPLIFYING 

EUROPEAN FISHERY STATISTICS 

Eurostat strives to continuously improve the quality and availability of European statistics while 
minimising the reporting burden.  

To that end, in 2018 Eurostat launched the project ‘Streamlining and simplifying European fishery 
statistics’. The project consists of: (i) an evaluation of the current aquaculture, catch and landing 
statistics; and (ii) an impact assessment of future policy options and possible future legislation. 
The evaluation, which also covered the functioning of the Regulation, was concluded in 201919. 
The EFS impact assessment was launched in early 2020 and finalised in November 2021.  

Landing statistics are robust in terms of punctuality, completeness and consistency. The countries 
provide reliable information on the volume and value of fishery products landed in the EU  and 
detailed data at species level that can be used for analysing the EU fish market. 

The  coherence  and  comparability  of  the  data  collection  is  enhanced  by  Eurostat’s  technical 
guidelines and validation procedures. 

Access to the statistical data is public and free of charge. The metadata accompanying the statistics 
produced includes national and EU-level quality reports.  

19  

https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:52019SC0425 

5 

 
 
 
 
 
Only a few reporting countries face problems dealing with confidentiality issues, either regarding 
the quantity or the price of the landed products. A viable approach needs to be found to limit the 
impact of confidentiality on EU aggregates.  

As  mentioned  above,  opportunities  exist  to  enhance  the  relevance  of  European  fisheries  and 
aquaculture statistics, simplify the current system and modernise data collection, for instance by 
drawing on administrative data sources more effectively at EU level.  

6