Article 1 
Each Member State shall take all the necessary measures to institute a system allowing it to collect information on the activities of the fleets of third countries whose practices are harmful to the shipping interests of the Member States and in particular in so far as those activities adversely affect the competitive participation of the fleets of Member States in international maritime trade. That system must enable each Member State, to the extent necessary to attain the objectives referred to in the first paragraph, to collect information on: (a) the level of cargo shipping services offered; (b) the nature, volume, value, origin and destination of goods loaded or unloaded in the Member States concerned by the ships engaged in these services; and (c) the level of tariffs charged for such services.
Article 2 
1. The Council, acting by qualified majority, shall decide to which third countries' fleets the information system is to be jointly applied. 2. The decision referred to in paragraph 1 shall specify the type of cargo shipping to which the information system is to apply, the date of its introduction, the intervals at which the information is to be provided and which of the types of information listed in the second paragraph of Article 1 are to be collected. 3. Each Member State shall forward to the Commission, periodically or at the request of the latter, the information produced by its information system. 4. The Commission shall collate the information for the Community as a whole. Article 4 of Council Decision 77/587/EEC of 13 September 1977 setting up a consultation procedure on relations between Member States and third countries in shipping matters and on action relating to such matters in international organisations ( 5 ) shall apply to that information.
Article 3 
The Member States and the Commission shall examine regularly, within the framework of the consultation procedure established by Decision 77/587/EEC and on the basis inter alia of the information produced by the information system referred to in Article 1, the activities of the fleets of the third countries specified in the decisions referred to in Article 2(1).
Article 4 
The Council, acting unanimously, may decide on the joint application by Member States, in their relations with a third country or group of third countries regarding which a decision referred to in Article 2(1) has been adopted, of appropriate counter-measures forming part of their national legislation.
Article 5 
The Member States shall retain the right to apply unilaterally their national information systems and counter-measures.
Article 6 
Decision 78/774/EEC is hereby repealed, without prejudice to the obligations of the Member States with regard to time-limits for implementing that Decision. References made to the repealed Decision shall be construed as being made to this Decision and should be read in accordance with the correlation table in Annex II.
Article 7 
This Decision is addressed to the Member States.