The Commission has recognised that “The current control system is inefficient, expensive and complex and does not produce the desired results.” Hence, last November, it has proposed a Regulation establishing a Community control system for ensuring compliance with the rules of the Common Fisheries Policy.
The proposal is going through the consultation procedure with QMV required at the Council. On 22 April, the European Parliament adopted Raül Romeva consultative report on the Commission’s proposal.
The Commission wants to put in place new system for inspection, monitoring, control, surveillance and enforcement of Common Fisheries Policy rules “throughout the market chain, from catch to the retailer.” All Member States would be required to inspect activities along the whole production chain of fishery products including landing, processing, transport and marketing.
It also proposed to introduce a complete traceability system for fishery products in order that all fish and fisheries products can be tracked throughout the market chain. Those involved in the landing and marketing of fish would be required to declare the quantities landed, transhipped, offered for sale or purchased. All fishery products transported within the Community would have to be accompanied by a transport document identifying their nature, origin and weight.
The draft proposal includes an extension of vessel monitoring systems (VMS) and e-logbooks to all vessels over 10 metres in length, rather than 15 metres as presently which will have cost implications for vessel owners. According to the European Parliament the EU budget aid should be available for installing vessel monitoring systems and electronic logbooks. According to the European Parliament, “Co-financing from the Community budget shall be at the rate of 80%.”
The Commission draft regulation broadens the scope of inspections between Member States national fishery inspectors. Hence, officials from one EU Member State could inspect vessels from another country.
The Commission has stressed that the action taken follow an infringement of the CFP rules is different from one Member State to another and that infringements are not subject to the same enforcement measures or sanctions. Presently, penalties are not established at the EU level but they are Member States responsibility however the Commission has decided, once again, to go beyond the limits of its competence, and proposed to harmonise the minimum and maximum levels of fines for serious infringements against the rules of the CPF.
A maximum penalty would correspond to five times the value of the fishery products obtained by committing a serious infringement, or eight times in the case of a repeated serious infringement. If it is not possible to link the severity of the infringement to the value of any fishery products obtained in the process Member States would be required to ensure that serious infringement are punishable by an administrative fine of a minimum of 5.000 EUR and a maximum of 300.000 EUR.
Moreover, Member States are required to impose an administrative fine of a minimum of 10.000 EUR and a maximum of 600.000 EUR for repeated serious infringement cases within a 5 year period. The EU Member States are likely to oppose to such provisions as they encroach with their competence and they laid down harsher penalties than those foreseen in several Member State’s legislation.
The Commission has also proposed a penalty point system for infringements committed by masters, operators or beneficial owners of a fishing permit. When an infringement is committed, the appropriate number of points will be attributed to the offender in the national registry of fishery offences of the flag Member State. An implementation regulation, adopted through the comitology procedure, will fix the number of points to be attributed for specific infringements. Depending on the number of points operators might have their fishing authorisation suspended for six months or 12 months and in case of repeated offences the fishing permit will be automatically revoked.
The European Parliament has introduced a provision under which operators found liable for a serious infringement will preclude from benefiting from the European Fisheries Fund or other public aid.
Recreational fishing has dominated the debates on the proposal at the European Parliament. There were fears that the draft regulation would require recreational fishermen to register their boats and that all catches would be counted as part of limits on national catch quotas. Replying to a written question from the Conservative fisheries spokesman in the European Parliament, Struan Stevenson, the Commissioner responsible for Fisheries and Maritime Affairs, Joe Borg, has said that the “Commission has not made any proposals to submit all recreational or amateur anglers to quotas or controls similar to those applying to professional fishermen.” According to Joe Borg the draft regulation “would not cover shore anglers” but “recreational fishermen who fish from a vessel in the open sea and who catch fish which are under recovery plans, i.e. fish that are threatened by extinction.”
The European Parliament has considered that recreational fishing must be monitored on the same level as commercial fishing. According to Raül Romeva “it would be discriminatory to subject commercial fisheries to strict controls and limits while largely exempting non-commercial fisheries.” The European Parliament has therefore amended the recreational fishing article in order to ensure catches by vessels operating in Community waters of stocks subject to a multiannual reconstitution plan may be evaluated by member states. The MEPs have proposed that within two years of the date of entry into force of the regulation, Member States may decide, with the Commission, which recreational fisheries are having a considerable impact on fisheries stocks and then member states could decide whether they would include recreational fishermen in the regulation. According to the European Parliament if a recreational fishery has a significant impact, catches shall be counted against the relevant quota of the flag Member State. That Member State might decide to establish a share of the quota to be used solely for the purpose of that recreational fishery.
Jimmy Buchan from Trawlerman has said "I am delighted that the majority of recreational anglers are now taken out of the equation. However I am alarmed that for those who seek to sell their catch, quota will be deducted from hard-pressed commercial skippers to provide them with an allocation." It should be recall that, Struan Stevenson has tabled an amendment to delete Article 47 but it was rejected in the Fisheries Committee.
Moreover, the UK Government is concerned that the proposal would require the compulsory sale of all regulated stocks through auctions and this “would have serious consequences for the infrastructure within the UK, where there is a significant level of direct sales to processors and merchants.”
It should be recall that control and enforcement are the exclusive competence of the Member States. The Commission has powers of verifying implementation of the CFP rules by Member States. However, unsurprisingly, the Commission wants to strengthen its management powers. Commission inspectors would have the same powers as national inspectors. The Commission would be empowered to carry out inspections without prior notice to verify the control operations carried out by the competent authorities of Member States.
The Commission would be able to impose financial sanctions on Member States for poor management of their obligations under the Common Fisheries Policy. It has proposed measures such as the possibility to suspend or reduce financial assistance through the European Fisheries Fund and to deduct quantities from the following year’s quota where a Member State has overfished.
It remains to be seen what will come out from the Member States negotiations. The Council is not bound by the Parliament's position.
