03/10/2017 (Agence Europe) – The European Parliament voted by 590 to 72, with 16 abstentions, on Tuesday 3 October to endorse the institutional agreement on the proposal to incorporate measures approved by the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) (see EUROPE 11774) into EU law. While welcoming the agreement, rapporteur Gabriel Mato (EPP, Spain) said in the debate the previous day that he regretted the length of time taken by the European Commission to re-transcribe these recommendations into EU law. Some, he said, date from 2008 and others are already “obsolete”, those on swordfish, for example. The new provisions could come into force by the end of this year.