THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 37 thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission(1),

Having regard to the opinion of the European Parliament(2),

Whereas:

(1) Council Regulation (EEC) No 3760/92(3) established a Community system for fisheries and aquaculture. According to that Regulation, the Council has to decide on any necessary adjustments by 31 December 2002.

(2) The scope of the Common Fisheries Policy extends to conservation, management and exploitation of living aquatic resources and aquaculture, as well as to the processing and marketing of fishery and aquaculture products, where such activities are practised on the territory of Member States or in Community waters or by Community fishing vessels or nationals of Member States, bearing in mind the provisions of Article 117 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, without prejudice to the primary responsibility of the flag State.

(3) Given that many fish stocks continue to decline, the Common Fisheries Policy should be improved to ensure the long-term viability of the fisheries sector through sustainable exploitation of living aquatic resources based on sound scientific advice and on the precautionary approach, which is based on the same considerations as the precautionary principle referred to in Article 174 of the Treaty.

(4) The objective of the Common Fisheries Policy should therefore be to provide for sustainable exploitation of living aquatic resources and of aquaculture in the context of sustainable development, taking account of the environmental, economic and social aspects in a balanced manner.

(5) It is important that the management of the Common Fisheries Policy is guided by the principle of good governance and that the measures taken are mutually compatible and consistent with other Community policies.

(6) The objective of sustainable exploitation will be more effectively achieved through a multi-annual approach to fisheries management, involving multi-annual management plans for stocks at or within safe biological limits. For stocks outside safe biological limits, the adoption of multi-annual recovery plans is an absolute priority. In line with scientific advice, substantial reductions in fishing effort may be required for these stocks.

(7) These multi-annual plans should establish targets for sustainable exploitation of the stocks concerned, contain harvesting rules laying down the manner in which annual catch and/or fishing effort limits are to be calculated and provide for other specific management measures, taking account also of the effect on other species.

(8) The content of multi-annual plans should be commensurate with the conservation status of the stocks, the urgency of their recovery, and the characteristics of these stocks and the fisheries in which they are caught.

(9) Sustainable exploitation of stocks for which no multi-annual plan has been established should be ensured by setting catch and/or effort limits.

(10) Provision should be made for Member States or the Commission to adopt emergency measures in the event of a serious threat to the conservation of resources, or to the marine eco-system resulting from fishing activities, and requiring immediate action.

(11) In their 12 nautical mile zone, Member States should be allowed to adopt conservation and management measures applicable to all fishing vessels, provided that, where such measures apply to fishing vessels from other Member States, the measures adopted are non-discriminatory and prior consultation has taken place, and that the Community has not adopted measures specifically addressing conservation and management within this area.

(12) The Community fleet should be reduced to bring it into line with available resources and specific measures should be set up in order to attain that objective, including the fixing of reference levels for fishing capacity which may not be exceeded, a special Community facility to promote scrapping of fishing vessels and national entry/exit schemes.

(13) Each Member State should maintain a national register of fishing vessels which should be made available to the Commission for the purposes of monitoring the size of the Member States' fleets.

(14) Rules in place restricting access to resources within the 12 nautical mile zones of Member States have operated satisfactorily benefiting conservation by restricting fishing effort in the most sensitive part of Community waters and preserving traditional fishing activities on which the social and economic development of certain coastal communities is highly dependent. They should therefore continue to apply until 31 December 2012.

(15) Although other access restrictions contained in Community legislation should be maintained for the time being, they should be reviewed in order to evaluate whether they are necessary to ensure sustainable fisheries.

(16) In view of the precarious economic state of the fishing industry and the dependence of certain coastal communities on fishing, it is necessary to ensure relative stability of fishing activities by the allocation of fishing opportunities among the Member States, based upon a predictable share of the stocks for each Member State.

(17) In other respects, that stability, given the temporary biological situation of stocks, should safeguard the particular needs of regions where local populations are especially dependent on fisheries and related activities as decided by the Council in its Resolution of 3 November 1976(4), on certain external aspects of the creation of a 200-mile fishing zone in the Community with effect from 1 January 1977, and in particular Annex VII thereto.

(18) Therefore, it is in this sense that the notion of relative stability aimed at should be understood.

(19) In order to ensure effective implementation of the Common Fisheries Policy, the Community control and enforcement system for fisheries should be reinforced and the division of responsibilities between the Member States' authorities and the Commission should be further clarified. To this end it is appropriate to insert in this Regulation the main provisions governing control, inspection and enforcement of the rules of the Common Fisheries Policy, part of which are already contained in Council Regulation (EEC) No 2847/93 of 12 October 1993 establishing a control system applicable to the Common Fisheries Policy(5). That Regulation has to remain in force until all the necessary implementing rules have been adopted.

(20) Provisions on control, inspection and enforcement concern, on the one hand, obligations for the masters of fishing vessels and operators in the marketing chain and, on the other hand, spell out the different responsibilities for the Member States and the Commission.

(21) The Community should be able to operate deductions of fishing opportunities when a Member State has exceeded the fishing opportunities which have been allocated to it. Where it is established that, as a result of a Member State having exceeded its fishing opportunities, another Member State has suffered damage, part or all of the deduction should be allocated to that Member State.

(22) Member States should be obliged to adopt immediate measures to prevent the continuation of serious infringements as defined in Council Regulation (EC) No 1447/1999 of 24 June 1999 establishing a list of types of behaviour which seriously infringe the rules of the Common Fisheries Policy(6).

(23) The Commission should be able to take immediate preventive measures if there is evidence of a risk that fishing activities could lead to a serious threat to conservation of living aquatic resources.

(24) The Commission should be provided with appropriate powers to carry out its obligation to control and evaluate the implementation of the Common Fisheries Policy by the Member States.

(25) It is necessary to intensify cooperation and coordination between all relevant authorities in order to achieve compliance with the rules of the Common Fisheries Policy, in particular through the exchange of national inspectors, by requiring Member States to treat inspection reports drawn up by Community inspectors, inspectors of another Member State or Commission inspectors equally to their own inspection reports for the purpose of establishing the facts.

(26) The measures necessary for the implementation of this Regulation should be adopted in accordance with Council Decision 1999/468/EC of 28 June 1999 laying down the procedures for the exercise of implementing powers conferred on the Commission(7).

(27) To contribute to the achievement of the objectives of the Common Fisheries Policy, Regional Advisory Councils should be established to enable the Common Fisheries Policy to benefit from the knowledge and experience of the fishermen concerned and of other stakeholders and to take into account the diverse conditions throughout Community waters.

(28) To ensure that the Common Fisheries Policy benefits from the best scientific, technical and economic advice, the Commission should be assisted by an appropriate committee.

(29) It is necessary and appropriate for the achievement of the basic objective of the sustainable exploitation of living aquatic resources to lay down rules on the conservation and exploitation of those resources. In accordance with the principle of proportionality as set out in Article 5 of the Treaty, this Regulation does not go beyond what is necessary in order to achieve that objective.

(30) By reason of the number and importance of the amendments to be made, Regulation (EEC) No 3760/92 should be repealed. Council Regulation (EEC) No 101/76 of 19 January 1976 laying down a common structural policy for the fishing industry(8) being voided of all substantial provisions should also be repealed,

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