CELEX: 31970R2141
Language: en
Date: 1970-10-20
Title: Regulation (EEC) No 2141/70 of the Council of 20 October 1970 laying down a common structural policy for the fishing industry

Official Journal of the European Communities                                         703
27.10.70                             Official Journal of the European Communities                                No L 236 / 1
                                REGULATION (EEC) No 2141/70 OF THE COUNCIL
                                                   of 20 October 1970
                           laying down a common structural policy for the fishing industry
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,                        standard of living; whereas, to that end, Member
                                                                States should be authorised to grant financial aid so
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the                    that these aims may be achieved in accordance with
European Economic Community, and in particular                  Community rules to be laid down ; whereas,
Articles 7, 42, 43 and 235 thereof;                             moreover, common action to achieve these aims may
                                                                be financed by the Community, if it relates to the
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission ;             aims referred to in Article 39 ( 1 ) ( a) of the Treaty ;
Having regard to the Opinion of the European                    Whereas .the establishment of a Standing Committee
Parliament1 ;                                                   for the Fishing Industry will facilitate the
                                                                development and implementation of a common
                                                                structural policy for this industry by co-ordinating
Having regard to the Opinion of the Economic and                the policies of Member States and by ensuring
Social Committee2 ;                                             constant co-operation between these States and the
                                                                Commission ; whereas, moreover, a constant
Whereas the establishment of a common organisation              exchange of information between Member States and
of the market in fishery products must be                       the    Commission      is  essential     for   the  effective
supplemented by the establishment of a common                   co-ordination of these policies and must serve as a
structural policy for the fishing industry ;                    basis for any measures which may be adopted to
                                                                improve the structures in question ;
Whereas sea fisheries form the most important part
of the fishing industry as a whole; whereas they have           whereas in particular the Commission must express
their own social structure and fish under special               its opinion on the projects and programmes
conditions ;                                                    envisaged by Member States in this Connection ;
Whereas, subject to certain specific conditions                 HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION :
concerning the flag or the registration of their ships ,
Community fishermen must have equal access to and
                                                                                          Article 1
use of fishing grounds in maritime waters coming
 under the sovereignty or within the jurisdiction of
Member States ; whereas, however, exception to this              Common rules shall , be laid down for fishing in
rule may be permitted transitionally for certain types           maritime waters and specific measures shall be
of fishing carried on by local populations whose                 adopted for appropriate action and the co-ordination
 livelihood depends principally on inshore fishing ;             of structural policies of Member States for the fishing
                                                                 industry to promote harmonious and balanced
Whereas the Community must be able to adopt                      development of this industry within the general
 measures to safeguard the stocks of fish present in             economy and to encourage rational use of the
 the waters in question ;                                        biological resources of the sea and of inland waters.
 Whereas it is important that the fishing industry                                        Article 2
 should develop along rational lines and that those
 who live by that industry should be assured of a fair
                                                                 1 . Rules applied by each Member State in respect
                                                                 of fishing in the maritime waters coming under its
 1 OJ No C 116, 8.11.1968, p. 3005 .                             sovereignty or within its jurisdiction shall not lead to
 2 OJ No C 76, 17.6.1969, p . 11 .                               differences in treatment of other Member States .
 ---pagebreak---   704                               Official Journal of the European Communities
 Member States shall ensure in particular equal                                           Article 6
 conditions of access to and use of the fishing grounds
 situated in the waters referred to in the preceding            1.      From the entry into force of this Regulation
 subparagraph for all fishing vessels flying the flag of        Member States shall co-ordinate their structural
 a Member State and registered in Community                     policies for the fishing industry.
 territory.
                                                               To that end they shall notify the Commission each
 2. Member States shall notify other Member States             year of:
 and the Commission of the existing laws and                   — the structural situation, taking into account
 administrative rules and regulations in the field                   regional conditions and regional development
 referred to in the first subparagraph of paragraph 1                policies ;
 together with those arising out of application of the
 provisions referred to in the second subparagraph of          — liaison between structures of the fishing industry
 that paragraph.                                                     and market policy;
                                                               — the nature and extent of measures , for structural
 3.    The maritime waters referred to in this Article               improvement planned for the current year ;
 shall be those which are so described by the laws in
 force in each Member State .                                  — annual and multi-annual programmes and
                                                                     projects for research and scientific and technical
                                                                     assistance adopted by the public authorities or
                         Article 3                                 . financially assisted by them and . any other
                                                                     information enabling efforts made in this field,
 Member States shall notify other Member. States and                 and in particular financial outlay by public
 the Commission of any alterations they intend to                    authorities, to be assessed.
 make to fishery rules laid down pursuant to Article 2 .
                                                               2.       After consulting the Committee referred to in
                                                               Article 12 , the Commission shall decide the form and
                        Article 4                              date of submission of the documents to be supplied
                                                              by Member States.
 1 . By way of derogation from the provisions of
Article 2, access to certain fishing grounds situated                                     Article 7
within a limit of.three nautical miles calculated from
the base lines of the Member State bordering on the            1.      Each year the Commission shall submit a report
 areas concerned may be limited, for certain types of         to the European Parliament and to the Council on
fishing and for a period not exceeding five years from        structures for the fishing industry.
the time of entry into force of this Regulation , to the
local population of the coastal regions concerned if          2.       That report shall include :
that population depends primarily on inshore fishing.
                                                               ( a) a review of the structural situation of the fishing
                                                                      industry and the policies followed by Member
2.     The fishing areas and types of fishing referred                States, and an inventory of the measures adopted
to in paragraph 1 shall be specified by the Council,                  within the framework of these policies ;
acting by qualified majority on a proposal from the
Commission.                                                   .( b) a study on the nature, geographical distribution,
                                                                      scope and financing of these measures, together
                                                                     with     their effectiveness    in   relation   to  the
                        Article 5                                     objectives of the common fisheries policy and the
                                                                     probable outlets for fishery products in the long
Where there is a risk of over-fishing of certain stocks              term .
in the maritime waters referred to in Article 2, of one       (c) information        concerning     co-ordination     on   a
or other Member State, the Council , acting in                        Community scale of structural policies for the
accordance with the procedure provided for in                        fishing industry, covering;
Article 43 (2) of the Treaty on a proposal from the
Commission may adopt the necessary conservation                      — measures adopted;
measures .
                                                                     — Community financing;
                                                                     — results of these . measures and financing;
In particular, these measures may include restrictions
relating to the catching of certain species, to areas, to     (d) a review of the situation regarding research and
fishing seasons, to methods of fishing and to fishing                scientific and     technical     assistance   in   each
gear.                                                                Member State .
 ---pagebreak---                                     Official Journal of the European Communities                                        705
                        Article 8                              the Commission in good time, in so far as they refer
                                                               to structural improvements for the fishing industry;
Measures to co-ordinate the polices of Member States           — as far as possible, drafts of provisions which have
on research and scientific and technical assistance for
                                                                    been laid down by law, regulation or
the fishing industry shall be adopted in accordance                 administrative action, or, failing this, a description
with the procedure laid down in Article 43 (2) of the               of the general lines of the measures proposed ;
Treaty.
                                                               — proposed        multi-annual     plans    and     regional
                                                                   programmes .
                        Article 9
                                                               2.     The Commission :
1.     Member States may grant financial aid in so far
as the operations to which this relates contribute to          — may express its opinion on the provisions which
the achievement of the aims referred to in Article 10 .            have been laid down by law, regulation or
                                                                   administrative action, and on multi-annual plans
2.     Common rules fixing the conditions for                      and regional programmes of which it is notified
granting the aid referred to in paragraph 1 shall be               pursuant to Article 6 ;
laid down before 1 June 1971 in accordance with the
procedure laid down in Article 43 (2) of the Treatv.           — must express its opinion on these when a Member
                                                                   State so requests.
                       Article 10
                                                                                        Article 12
1 . To promote the rational development of the
fishing industry within the framework of economic              1.    A Standing Committee for the Fishing Industry
growth and social progress and to ensure an                    (hereinafter    called   the   ' Committee')     is  hereby
equitable standard of living for the population which          established to promote the co-ordination of structural
depends on fishing for its livelihood, specific                policies for the fishing industry and to ensure close
measures for appropriate action pursuant to Article 1          and constant co-operation between Member States
must contribute to :                                           and the Commission .
— increased productivity through restructuring of              2. The Committee shall be composed of
    fishing fleets and other means of production, in           representatives of each Member State. It shall be
    keeping      with    technical     progress,        and    under the chairmanship of a representative of the
    intensification of the search for new fishing              Commission .
    grounds and new methods of fishing;
— adaptation       of   production     and     marketing       3.    Secretarial services shall be provided for the
    conditions to market requirements, particularly            Committee by the Commission .
    through development of canning and processing
    installations, to make the activities of producers         4.    The Committee shall adopt its own rules of
    organisations more effective ;                             procedure.
— the improvement, in step with technical progress ,
                                                                                        Article 13
    of the standard and conditions of living of the
    population which depends on fishing for its
    livelihood .                                              For the fishing industry as a whole, the Committee
                                                               shall be required :
2.    The provisions of paragraph 1 , in so far as they       — to       ensure    that   Member      States     and    the
relate to the objectives set out in Article 39 ( 1 ) ( a) of       Commission are kept mutually informed of
the Treaty, may be the subject of common action                    structural policies and in particular of measures '
within the meaning of Article 6 ( 1 ) of Council                   governing sea fishing ;
Regulation (EEC) No 729/701 of 21 April 1970 on
the financing of the common agricultural policy.              — to study structural policies of Member States and
                                                                   measures and programmes provided for by the
                                                                   latter to improve structures in this field ;
                       Article 11
                                                              — to assist the Commission in the preparation of
                                                                   Parts ( a) and (d) of the report on structures for
1.    Without prejudice to the provisions of Article 3 ,           the fishing industry provided for in Article 7;
Member States shall send the following documents to
                                                              — to deliver opinions at the request of the
                                                                   Commission on structural problems of the fishing
1 OJ No L 94, 28.4.1970, p . 13 .                                  industry.
 ---pagebreak--- 706                                Official Journal of the European Communities
                       Article 14                                                    Article 15
Where Council Regulation No 17/64/EEC1 of 5                   This Regulation shall enter into force on the third
February 1964 on conditions for obtaining aid from            day following its publication in the Official Journal
the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee              of the European Communities.
Fund and texts resulting therefrom refer to the
Standing Committee on Agricultural Structures,                The rules laid down by this Regulation shall apply
the latter shall be replaced for all problems relating        from 1 February 1971 , except for the provisions of
to the fishing industry by the Standing Committee for         Article 10, which may apply from the date of entry
the Fishing Industry.                                         into force of this Regulation .
              This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member
              States .
              Done at Luxembourg, 20 October 1970.
                                                                                    For the Council
                                                                                     The President
                                                                                    H. D. GRIESAU
 1 OJ No 34, 27.2.1964, p. 586/64.