Article 1 Subject matter and scope
This Regulation establishes a Union bluefin tuna catch documentation programme in order to support the implementation of conservation and management measures adopted by the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), incorporating the provisions of the ICCAT bluefin tuna catch documentation programme with a view to identifying the origin of all bluefin tuna.
Article 2 Definitions
For the purpose of this Regulation, the following definitions shall apply: (a) ‘Bluefin tuna’ means fish of the species Thunnus thynnus falling within the codes of the Combined Nomenclature listed in Annex I; (b) ‘Domestic trade’ means: (i) trade, in one Member State or between two or more Member States, in bluefin tuna caught in the ICCAT Convention area by a Union catching vessel or trap, which is landed in the territory of the Union; and (ii) trade, in one Member State or between two or more Member States, in farmed bluefin tuna caught in the ICCAT Convention area by a Union catching vessel, which is caged in a farm established in the territory of the Union; (c) ‘Export’ means any movement to a third country of bluefin tuna caught in the ICCAT Convention area by a Union catching vessel or trap, including from the territory of the Union, from third countries or from fishing grounds; (d) ‘Import’ means the introduction into the territory of the Union, including for caging, fattening, farming or transhipment purposes, of bluefin tuna caught in the ICCAT Convention area by a third country catching vessel or trap; (e) ‘Re-export’ means any movement from the territory of the Union of bluefin tuna which had been previously imported into the territory of the Union; (f) ‘ICCAT Convention area’ means the area determined by the International Convention for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas; (g) ‘Flag Member State’ means the Member State where the catching vessel is flagged; (h) ‘Trap Member State’ means the Member State where the trap is established; (i) ‘Farm Member State’ means the Member State where the farm is established; (j) ‘CPCs’ means Contracting Parties, cooperating non-contracting Parties, entities and fishing entities of ICCAT; (k) ‘Lot’ means a quantity of bluefin tuna products of the same presentation and originating in the same relevant geographical area and the same fishing vessel, or group of fishing vessels, or the same trap.
Article 3 General provisions
1. Member States shall require a completed bluefin tuna catch document (‘catch document’) for each bluefin tuna landed or transhipped at their ports, caged as specified in Annex IV, and harvested from their farms. 2. Each lot of bluefin tuna domestically traded, imported into, exported or re-exported from the territory of the Union shall be accompanied by a validated catch document – except in cases where Article 4(3) applies – and, where applicable, an ICCAT transfer declaration or a validated bluefin tuna re-export certificate (‘re-export certificate’). Any such landing, transhipment, caging, harvest, domestic trade, import, export or re-export of bluefin tuna without a completed and validated catch document and, where applicable, a re-export certificate shall be prohibited. 3. Member States shall not place bluefin tuna into a farm not authorised by a Member State or the CPCs or not listed in the ICCAT record of farming facilities authorised to operate for farming of bluefin tuna caught in the ICCAT Convention area. 4. Farm Member States shall ensure that bluefin tuna catches are placed in separate cages or series of cages and partitioned on the basis of the Member State or CPC of origin. 5. By way of derogation from paragraph 4, farm Member States shall ensure that bluefin tuna caught in the context of a joint fishing operation, as defined by Article 2(g) of Council Regulation (EC) No 302/2009 of 6 April 2009 concerning a multiannual recovery plan for bluefin tuna in the eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean ( 8 ) , are placed in separate cages or series of cages and partitioned on the basis of joint fishing operations. 6. Farm Member States shall ensure that bluefin tuna are harvested from farms in the same year in which they were caught, or before the beginning of the purse seiners fishing period, if harvested in the following year. Where harvesting operations are not completed within that period, farm Member States shall complete and transmit an annual carry-over declaration to the Commission within ten days of the end of that period. That declaration shall include: — quantities (expressed in kg) and number of fish intended to be carried over, — year of catch, — size composition, — flag Member State or CPC, ICCAT number and name of the catching vessel, — reference numbers of the catch document corresponding to the catches carried over, — name and ICCAT number of the fattening facility, — cage number, and, — information on harvested quantities (expressed in kg), when completed, The Commission shall forward such declarations to the ICCAT Secretariat within five days. 7. Quantities carried over in accordance with paragraph 6 shall be placed in separate cages or series of cages in the farm and partitioned on the basis of the catch year. 8. Flag or trap Member States shall provide catch document forms only to their catching vessels and traps authorised to fish bluefin tuna in the ICCAT Convention area, including as by-catch. 9. Each catch document form shall have a unique document identification number. Document numbers shall be specific to the flag or trap Member State and shall be assigned to each catching vessel or trap. Such forms shall not be transferable to another catching vessel or trap. 10. Copies of catch documents shall follow each part of split lots or processed product, using the unique document identification number of the original catch document in order to track them. 11. Domestic trade, import, export and re-export of fish parts other than the meat (i.e. heads, eyes, roes, guts and tails) shall be exempted from the requirements of this Regulation.
Article 4 Validation
1. Catching vessel masters, trap operators, farm operators, sellers, exporters, or their authorised representatives, shall complete a catch document, if possible electronically, by providing the required information in appropriate sections and shall request its validation in accordance with paragraph 2 on each occasion when they land, transfer, cage, harvest, tranship, domestically trade or export bluefin tuna. 2. The catch document shall be validated by a competent authority of the flag, trap or farm Member State or the Member State where the seller or exporter is established. Member States shall validate the catch document for all bluefin tuna only where: (a) a catching vessel flies the flag of the Member State or a trap or farm is established in the Member State that harvested the bluefin tuna, (b) all the information contained in the catch document has been established to be accurate as a result of the verification of the lot, (c) the accumulated amounts to be validated are within their quotas or catch limits of each management year, including, where appropriate, individual quotas allocated to catching vessels or traps, and (d) the bluefin tuna complies with the relevant provisions of the ICCAT conservation and management measures. 3. Validation under paragraph 2 of this Article shall not be required where all the bluefin tuna available for sale are tagged, as referred to in Article 5, by the flag or trap Member State that fished them. 4. Where the bluefin tuna quantities caught and landed are less than 1 tonne or three fish, the fishing logbook or the sales note may be used as a temporary catch document, pending the validation of the catch document within seven days and prior to domestic trade or export. 5. A validated catch document shall include, as appropriate, the information set out in Annex II. 6. A catch document model is set out in Annex III. In cases where a section of the catch document model does not provide sufficient room to completely track movement of bluefin tuna from catch to trade, the relevant information section may be expanded as necessary and attached as an annex. The competent authority of the Member State concerned shall validate the annex as soon as possible, but not later than the next movement of bluefin tuna. 7. Instructions for the issuing, numbering, completion and validation of the catch document are set out in Annex IV.
Article 5 Tagging
1. Member States may require their catching vessels or traps to affix a tag to each bluefin tuna, preferably at the time of kill, but not later than at the time of landing. Tags shall have unique Member State specific numbers and be tamper-proof. The tag numbers shall be linked to the catch document. 2. A summary of the implementation of the tagging programme shall be submitted to the Commission by the Member States concerned. The Commission shall forward the summaries to the ICCAT Secretariat within a reasonable period of time. 3. The use of tags shall be authorised only when the accumulated catch amounts are within Member States’ quotas or catch limits for each management year, including, where appropriate, individual quotas allocated to catching vessels or traps.
Article 6 General provisions
1. Member States shall ensure that each lot of bluefin tuna which is re-exported from their territory is accompanied by a validated re-export certificate. The re-export certificate shall not apply in cases where farmed bluefin tuna is imported live. 2. The operator responsible for the re-export shall complete the re-export certificate by providing the required information in its appropriate sections and request its validation for the lot of bluefin tuna to be re-exported. The completed re-export certificate shall be accompanied by a copy of the validated catch document(s) relating to the bluefin tuna previously imported.
Article 7 Re-export validation
1. The re-export certificate shall be validated by the competent authority of the re-exporting Member State. 2. The competent authority shall validate the re-export certificate for all bluefin tuna products only when: (a) all the information contained in the re-export certificate has been established to be accurate, (b) the validated catch document(s) submitted in support of the re-export certificate had been accepted for the importation of the products declared on the re-export certificate, (c) the products to be re-exported are wholly or partly the same products appearing on the validated catch document(s), and (d) a copy of the catch document(s) is attached to the validated re-export certificate. 3. The validated re-export certificate shall include the information set out in Annex V.
Article 8 Communication and conservation of validated documents
1. Member States shall communicate, by electronic means, a copy of all validated catch documents or re-export certificates, except in cases where Article 4(3) applies, as soon as possible and in any event within five working days of the date of validation, or without delay where the expected duration of the transportation should not take more than five working days, to the following: (a) the Commission, (b) the competent authorities of the Member State or CPC where the bluefin tuna will be domestically traded, or farmed or imported, and (c) the ICCAT Secretariat. 2. Member States shall keep copies of the validated catch documents and re-export certificates issued or received for at least two years.
Article 9 Verification
1. Member States shall ensure that their competent authorities identify each lot of bluefin tuna landed in, transhipped in, domestically traded in, imported into or exported or re-exported from their territory. The competent authorities shall request and examine the validated catch document(s) and related documentation of each lot of bluefin tuna. The examination shall include the consultation of the database on validation held by the ICCAT Secretariat. 2. The competent authorities may also examine the content of the lot to verify the information contained in the catch document and in related documents and, where necessary, shall carry out verifications with the operators concerned. 3. If, as a result of examinations or verifications carried out pursuant to paragraphs 1 and 2, a doubt arises regarding the information contained in a catch document, Member States shall cooperate with the competent authorities which validated the catch document(s) or re-export certificate(s) to resolve such doubts. 4. If a Member State identifies a lot with no catch document, it shall notify its findings to the delivering Member State or the exporting CPC and, where known, the flag Member State or the flag CPC. 5. Pending the examinations or verifications under paragraphs 1 and 2, Member States shall not release the lot for domestic trade, import or export or, in the case of live bluefin tuna destined for farms, accept the transfer declaration. 6. Where a Member State, as a result of examinations or verifications pursuant to paragraph 1 and in cooperation with the validating authorities concerned, determines that a catch document or re-export certificate is invalid, the domestic trade, import, export or re-export of the lot of bluefin tuna concerned shall be prohibited.
Article 10 Information concerning validation and points of contact
1. Member States shall notify to the Commission: (a) the name and full address of their authorities competent for validating and verifying catch documents or re-export certificates, (b) the name, title and sample impression of the stamp or seal of the validating officials who are individually empowered, and (c) as appropriate, tag samples. 2. The notification shall indicate the date on which the information referred to in paragraph 1 takes effect. Updated details of validating authorities and officials shall be communicated to the Commission in a timely fashion. 3. Member States shall notify to the Commission the points of contact that should be informed when there are questions relating to catch documents or re-export certificates, and in particular, their name. 4. The Commission shall promptly forward this information to the ICCAT Secretariat.
Article 11 Annual programme report
1. By 15 September of each year, Member States shall provide to the Commission, by electronic means, a programme report including the information set out in Annex VI, covering the period from 1 July of the preceding year to 30 June of that year. 2. The Commission shall establish the Union’s annual programme report and communicate it to the ICCAT Secretariat by 1 October of each year.
Article 12 Amendment of Annexes
In order to apply the conservation measures adopted by ICCAT, the Commission may amend, by means of delegated acts in accordance with Article 13 and subject to the conditions set out in Articles 14 and 15, the Annexes to this Regulation. When adopting such delegated acts, the Commission shall act in accordance with the provisions of this Regulation.
Article 13 Exercise of the delegation
1. The powers to adopt delegated acts referred to in Article 12 shall be conferred on the Commission for a period of five years following 14 August 2010. The Commission shall make a report in respect of the delegated powers at the latest six months before the end of the five-year period. The delegation of powers shall be automatically extended for periods of an identical duration, unless the European Parliament or the Council revokes it in accordance with Article 14. 2. As soon as it adopts a delegated act, the Commission shall notify it simultaneously to the European Parliament and to the Council. 3. The powers to adopt delegated acts are conferred on the Commission subject to the conditions laid down in Articles 14 and 15.
Article 14 Revocation of the delegation
1. The delegation of powers referred to in Article 12 may be revoked at any time by the European Parliament or by the Council. 2. The institution which has commenced an internal procedure for deciding whether to revoke the delegation of powers shall endeavour to inform the other institution and the Commission within a reasonable time before the final decision is taken. 3. The decision of revocation shall put an end to the delegation of the powers specified in that decision. It shall take effect immediately or at a later date specified therein. It shall not affect the validity of the delegated acts already in force. It shall be published in the Official Journal of the European Union .
Article 15 Objections to delegated acts
1. The European Parliament or the Council may object to a delegated act within a period of two months from the date of notification. At the initiative of the European Parliament or the Council that period shall be extended by two months. 2. If, on expiry of that period, neither the European Parliament nor the Council has objected to the delegated act it shall be published in the Official Journal of the European Union and shall enter into force at the date stated therein. 3. If the European Parliament or the Council objects to a delegated act, it shall not enter into force. The institution which objects shall state the reasons for objecting to the delegated act.
Article 16 Amendments to Regulation (EC) No 1984/2003
1. Regulation (EC) No 1984/2003 is amended as follows: (a) in the title, the words ‘bluefin tuna’ are deleted; (b) in Article 1(a), the words ‘bluefin tuna ( Thunnus thynnus )’ are deleted; (c) in Article 2, the words ‘bluefin tuna’ are deleted; (d) in Article 3, point (a) is deleted; (e) in Article 4(1), the first indent is deleted; (f) in Article 4(2)(b)(iii), the words ‘bluefin tuna’ are deleted; (g) in Article 5(1), the first indent is deleted; (h) in Article 6(1) second paragraph, point (a) is deleted; (i) in Article 8(a), the words ‘bluefin tuna’ are deleted; (j) in Article 9(2), point (a) is deleted; (k) Annexes I, IVa, IX and XV are hereby repealed. 2. References to the repealed provisions of Regulation (EC) No 1984/2003 shall be construed as references to this Regulation.
Article 17 Review
The Commission shall review this Regulation following the recommendations adopted by ICCAT, taking into account the updated scientific opinions on stocks size which will be submitted at its meetings, and shall submit proposals for any amendments that may be necessary.
Article 18 Entry into force
This Regulation shall enter into force on the 20th day following its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union .