Strasbourg, 22/07/2005 (Agence Europe) - The European Ombudsman, P. Nikiforos Diamandouros, has criticised the European Commission for its interpretation of rules on fishing in the waters surrounding the Azores, a group of islands in the Atlantic Ocean belonging to Portugal. This follows a complaint from the Azores government contesting the Commission's view concerning the date beyond which the regime governing the right to fish in Azorean waters (the zones up to 200 nautical miles from the baseline of the Azores) changed, making it possible for vessels belonging to countries other than Portugal henceforth to fish in these waters. According to the Commission's interpretation, the presence, in January 2004, of Spanish fishing vessels between 100 and 200 miles off the Azores complied with Community law because, in its view, the rules excluding non-Portuguese vessels from fishing in the zone between 100 and 200 miles of the Azorean waters had been repealed in November 2003. Contrary to the Commission's view, however, the Ombudsman concluded that this was not the case. He pointed out that Regulation 1954/2003 contains, in Article 15, an explicit provision concerning the date on which the repeal of the 1995 Regulations was to take effect. It is clear that this date was not 14 November 2003, as the Commission argued, but a subsequent date that could be as late as 1 August 2004. He also pointed out that the Commission's own statements to this effect, contained in an Explanatory Memorandum published in February 2004, meant that - in addition to this legal error - the Commission had acted inconsistently. 'This legal error and inconsistency constitute maladministration', said Diamandouros.
The Ombudsman's decision in this case can be found on his website at: http: //http://www.euro-ombudsman.eu.int/decision/en/041273.htm