Brussels, 14/11/2008 (Agence Europe) - On Friday 14 November, the European Commission adopted a draft regulation to overhaul the Community system of control of fishing activities. The European fisheries commissioner is proposing inter alia: - to harmonise administrative sanctions at Community level; - a penalty points system for fishing licence holders and vessel skippers; - to allow the Commission the option of imposing financial sanctions (by freezing or removing aid from the European Fisheries Fund) on member states which fail in their control duties; - to ensure full traceability for fisheries products; - to require fishermen to land their catches at approved centres (fish markets) so that control operations can be carried out. The proposed regulation will be negotiated over the coming year by European fisheries ministers and the Commission hopes that the new rules will come into force on 1 January 2010.
“Control and enforcement should be the cornerstone of the common fisheries policy. Instead it is our Achille's heel,” said Borg. The Commission, then, puts forward “its solution”: instead of amending some existing piece of legislation, it proposes “an entire new legal framework” for the control and enforcement of the common fisheries policy. The current system, which dates from 1993, is, in the view of the commissioner, “inefficient, expensive and too complex”.
The Commission notes that 88% of EU fish stocks are currently being overfished, with one of the reasons being that the quantities of fish caught are not being adequately checked. The biggest problem for the common fisheries policy (CFP) remains the overcapacity of the European fleet (somewhere of the order of 30-40%), and this problem must be solved quickly, said a Commission expert. The total cost of control in the EU is somewhere around €700 million annually, and fines imposed on those breaking CFP rules amounted to only €9 million in 2006. “Our control system isn't very viable,” commented an expert with some irony. He noted, too, that only two member states (Greece and Spain) made frequent use of the deterrent sanction that is withdrawal of licences.
Here is a summary of the new draft control regulation.
New approach to control and inspection. The proposal defines the general concept of inspections for all catches at all stages of the chain - at sea, in port, on transport and markets - and introduces harmonised inspection procedures. The first main thrust is the introduction of a systematic risk analysis approach and the introduction of a comprehensive traceability system. Moreover, the use of modern technologies will provide a global view of the situation of fishing activities almost in real time. For this purpose the proposal extends the use of the Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) and other technology. The proposal establishes a permanent mechanism of real time closures of fisheries. Lastly, the proposal provides for control measures on recreational fisheries (registration of catches).
Moving towards a culture of compliance. A system of harmonised and proportionate administrative sanctions is proposed, comprising: - a list of serious offences; - minimum and maximum levels of fines to be imposed on natural and legal persons (between €5,000 and €300,000 per infringement, doubled in cases of repeat offending). Furthermore, the proposal creates a penalty point system for infringements carried out by the holder of a fishing permit. In cases of repeated breaches of the CFP rules, this mechanism should lead to the suspension or, in particularly serious circumstances and taking into account the principle of proportionality, to the withdrawal of the fishing permit. To improve cooperation, the Commission proposes, too, to strengthen the mandate of the European Fisheries Control Agency in Vigo. Its future mandate will include audits and inspections of national control systems.
Effective application of CFP rules. According to the proposal, Commission inspectors will be given the same powers as national inspectors. The Commission will also be able to close a fishery when there is reasonable evidence that a member state is not taking appropriate measures when fishing possibilities have been used up. It will also be able to impose financial sanctions (suspension or cancellation of aid from the European Fisheries Fund) on member states which fail to meet their control responsibilities. Moreover, where a member state has overfished its quota, the proposal says that the Commission must have competence to deduct overfished quantities from the annual quota of the following years. (L.C./transl.rt)