CELEX: 51991PC0148
Language: en
Date: 1991-04-30
Title: PROPOSAL FOR A COUNCIL REGULATION ( EEC ) AMENDING REGULATION ( EEC ) NO 104/76 LAYING DOWN COMMON MARKETING STANDARDS FOR SHRIMPS ( CRANGON CRANGON ), EDIBLE CRABS ( CANCER PAGURUS ) AND NORWAY LOBSTERS ( NEPHROPS NORVEGICUS )

COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
                                      COM(91) 148 final
                                      Brussels, 30 ApriI 1891
                             Proposal for a
                       COUNCIL REGULATION (EEC)
        amending Regulation (EEC) No 104/76 laying down common
   marketing standards for shrimps (Crangon crangon), edible crabs
      (Cancer pagurus) and Norway lobsters (Nephrops norvegicus)
                     (presented by the Commission)
 ---pagebreak---                                       - 2 -
                            EXPLANATORY  MEMORANDUM
Council Regulation (EEC) No 104/76 of 19 January 1976, which it is
proposed to amend, lays down common marketing standards for shrimps,
edible crabs and Norway lobsters and establishes grading categories for
the three products in question as well as freshness categories for
shrimps and Norway lobsters.
Article 7 provides for derogations from the minimum marketing sizes laid
down within the grading categories for shrimps (paragraph 4) and edible
crabs (paragraph 5 ) .
So far, only the derogation for crabs has been applied, the coastal zones
of the United Kingdom where the size derogation is authorized having
being laid down in Commission Regulation (EEC) No 1048/86.
In order to conserve crab stocks, the British authorities increased the
minimum biological size for crabs to 12.5 cm in several of the areas
specified in Regulation (EEC) No 1048/86 on 1 February 1990, the uniform
size of 11.5 cm laid down by Regulation (EEC) No 104/76 continuing to be
authorized for the other areas.
Since a Community minimum biological size has not yet been fixed for
edible crabs, there is now a contradiction between Community rules on
marketing standards and British legislation on the conservation of
resources.
Producers may therefore be unsure of the legal position.
The Community rules regarding derogations must therefore be amended but,
since different minimum sizes have been introduced in certain zones, it
 is proposed, in the interests of simplification and to facilitate future
management of the application of these measures, to retain the principle
of the derogation contained in Council Regulation (EEC) No 104/76, its
application being determined in accordance with the procedure laid down
 •r, Article 33 of Regulation (EEC) No 3796/81.
 it also appears sensible, again for reasons of simplification, to bring
the derogations for shrimps and crabs together in the same text and to
 lay down identical application procedures for the two products.
This proposal has no financial impact on the Community budget.
 It does not affect the SMEs concerned.
 ---pagebreak---                                        - 3 -
                                 Proposal for a
                            COUNCIL REGULATION (EEC)
               amending Regulation (EEC) No 104/76 laying down
         common marketing standards for shrimps (Crangon crangon),
  edible crabs (Cancer pagurus) and Norway lobsters (Nephrops norvegicus)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community,
Having regard to Council Regulation (EEC) No 3796/81 of 29 December 1981
on the common organization of the market         in fishery products1, as last
amended by Regulation (EEC) No 2886/892, and         in particular Article 2(3)
thereof,
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,
Whereas   Council    Regulation   (EEC)    No 104/76 3, as      last   amended   by
Regulation    (EEC)   No   4213/884,    lays  down,    inter alia,     the   sizing
categories applicable     to shrimps and crabs, and        fixes a minimum     size
below which    these products may not be marketed         for   human   consumption
within the Community;
Whereas Article 7(4) of the above Regulation provides for exemptions from
the minimum    size for   shrimps,   in order   to ensure     local   supplies for
certain coastal areas of the Community;
Whereas,   in order   to ensure    local  or  regional   supplies of     crabs for
certain coastal    zones of the United Kingdom, Article 7(5) of the above
Regulation   introduces an exception reducing the minimum marketing size
for this product to 11.5 cm in these zones;
1    0J No L 379, 31.12.1981, p. 1.
2    0J No L 282, 2.10.1989, p. 1.
3    0J No L 20, 28.1.1976, p. 35.
4    0J No L 370, 31.12.1988, p. 33,
 ---pagebreak--- j! Whereas experience has shown that exceptions from the minimum sizes must
|i
p  be differentiated according to the zones concerned in order to take
ij
 1 account of differing conditions of production and sale in these zones;
 i
 i Whereas, in order to ensure efficient management of the scheme, identical
   procedures for the fixing of the size exceptions and for the
   determination of the coastal zones in which these sizes are to apply must
   be laid down for the two products concerned,
   HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:
                                   Article 1
   Article 7 of Regulation (EEC) No 104/76 is hereby amended as follows:
   1. Paragraph 4 is replaced by the following:
   "4. Exemptions from the minimum sizes referred to in paragraph 1(a) and
       (b) may be laid down in order to ensure local or regional supplies of
       shrimps and crabs for certain coastal zones of the Community.
       These zones shall be determined and the corresponding marketing sizes
       fixed in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 33 of
       Regulation (EEC) No 3796/81."
   2. Paragraph 5 is deleted.
                                   Article 2
   This Regulation shall enter into force on 1 June 1991.
   This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable
   in ai I Member States.
   Dons at Brussels,                                  For the Council
                                                      The President
 ---pagebreak---                                                                                 ISSN.Q254-1475
                                                                 COM (91) 148 final
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