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Document 52023PC0408
Proposal for a COUNCIL DECISION on the position to be taken on behalf of the European Union in the Fishery Committee for the Eastern Central Atlantic and repealing Decision (EU) 2019/1570
Proposal for a COUNCIL DECISION on the position to be taken on behalf of the European Union in the Fishery Committee for the Eastern Central Atlantic and repealing Decision (EU) 2019/1570
Proposal for a COUNCIL DECISION on the position to be taken on behalf of the European Union in the Fishery Committee for the Eastern Central Atlantic and repealing Decision (EU) 2019/1570
COM/2023/408 final
EUROPEAN COMMISSION
Brussels, 11.7.2023
COM(2023) 408 final
2023/0269(NLE)
Proposal for a
COUNCIL DECISION
on the position to be taken on behalf of the European Union in the Fishery Committee for the Eastern Central Atlantic and repealing Decision (EU) 2019/1570
EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM
1.Subject matter of the proposal
This proposal concerns a Decision establishing the position to be taken on the behalf of the European Union in the sessions of the Fishery Committee for the Eastern Central Atlantic (CECAF) in 2024-2028 on the planned adoption of non-binding observations and measures regarding the management of living marine resources.
2.Context of the proposal
2.1.Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
The Fishery Committee for the Eastern Central Atlantic (CECAF) was established by Resolution 1/48 of the Council of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations under Article VI (2) of the FAO Constitution. The CECAF’s statutes were promulgated by the FAO Director-General on 19 September 1967 and were last amended in 2003, particularly as regards the CECAF’s purpose, functions and responsibilities.
The purpose of the CECAF is to promote the sustainable utilisation of the living marine resources within its area for which it is responsible by the proper management and development of the fisheries and fishing operations. The Committee covers all living marine resources in the area covered by the CECAF, which runs from Cape Spartel to the mouth of the Congo River.
The European Union is a member of the CECAF 1 , as are Greece, Spain, France, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Romania.
2.2.The Fishery Committee for the Eastern Central Atlantic
The CECAF is a consultative technical and regional fisheries body (RFB) established under Article VI (2) of the FAO Constitution. The CECAF’s Secretariat is managed and financed by the FAO. Its main functions include promoting, coordinating and facilitating scientific research, governance, and activities related to the conservation and management of living marine resources in the area for which it is responsible. The CECAF can also provide advice to its members on fisheries management, monitoring, control and surveillance. It also works to establish the scientific basis for regulatory measures leading to the conservation and management of marine fishery resources, and provides advice on the adoption of regulatory measures by member governments.
Sessions of the CECAF are normally held every two years. As a member, the EU is entitled to participate in, and vote on, its decisions. Decisions of the CECAF are taken by a majority of the votes cast, except as otherwise laid down in its rules of procedure.
2.3.Decisions adopted by the Fishery Committee for the Eastern Central Atlantic
Under the terms of reference of its revised statutes, the CECAF gives advice on management measures (‘measures’) to member governments and competent regional organisations. Because of its advisory status, the CECAF’s decisions are not binding on its members.
3.Position to be taken on the EU's behalf
Consistent with the procedures applicable to regional fisheries management organisations (RFMOs), the position to be adopted on behalf of the EU at the annual meetings of RFBs such as the CECAF shall be established using a two-tier approach. A Council Decision sets out the guiding principles of the EU’s position on a multiannual basis, and it is subsequently adjusted before each annual meeting by Commission services non-papers to be endorsed by the Council.
For the CECAF, this approach is implemented by Council Decision (EU) 2019/1570 of 16 September 2019, which sets out the EU’s position in the CECAF for the period 2019-2023. The Decision contains general principles, but also takes into account as far as possible, the specific features of the CECAF. In addition, it sets out the standard process for establishing the EU’s position year by year, as requested by Member States.
Council Decision (EU) 2019/1570 incorporated the principles of the new common fisheries policy, as laid down in Regulation (EU) No 1380/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council 2 , also taking into account the objectives set out in the Commission Communication on the external dimension of the common fisheries policy 3 . Moreover, it adjusted the EU’s position to the Treaty of Lisbon.
Council Decision (EU) 2019/1570 provides for an assessment, and where appropriate, a revision of the EU’s position before the 2024 annual meeting. Therefore, this proposal sets out the EU’s position in the CECAF for the period 2024-2028, thereby replacing Council Decision (EU) 2019/1570.
The current revision takes into consideration, in relation to fishing, the European Green Deal, notably Biodiversity 4 , Climate Adaptation 5 and Farm to Fork Strategies 6 . It also takes into account the Plastics Strategy 7 and the Zero pollution Action Plan 8 . Furthermore, it also takes into consideration, the International Ocean Governance Joint Communication 9 .
4.Legal basis
4.1.Procedural legal basis
4.1.1.Principles
Article 218(9) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (‘the Treaty’) provides for decisions establishing ‘the positions to be adopted on the EU’s behalf in a body set up by an agreement, when that body is called upon to adopt acts having legal effects, with the exception of acts supplementing or amending the institutional framework of the agreement’.
The concept of ‘acts having legal effects’ includes acts that have legal effects by virtue of the rules of international law governing the body in question. It also includes instruments that do not have a binding effect under international law, but that are ‘capable of decisively influencing the content of the legislation adopted by the EU legislature’ 10 .
4.1.2.Application to this case
The CECAF is a technical and regional fisheries body set up by FAO resolution 1/48 of 1967, under Article VI (2) of the FAO Constitution. While the CECAF decisions (‘measures’) are not binding on its members, acts that the CECAF is called on to adopt do constitute acts capable of decisively influencing the content of the legislation adopted by the EU legislature.
The envisaged act does not supplement or amend the institutional framework of the agreement.
Therefore, the procedural legal basis for the proposed Decision is Article 218(9) of the Treaty.
4.2.Substantive legal basis
4.2.1.Principles
The substantive legal basis for a decision under Article 218(9) of the Treaty depends primarily on the objective and content of the envisaged act in respect of which a position is being taken on the EU’s behalf. If the envisaged act pursues two aims, or has two components, and if one of those aims or components is identifiable as the main one (whereas the other is merely incidental), the Decision under Article 218(9) of the Treaty must have a single substantive legal basis, which is that required by the main aim or component.
4.2.2.Application to this case
The main objective and content of the envisaged act relate to fisheries. The legal basis that sets out the principles to be reflected in this position is Regulation (EU) No 1380/2013.
Therefore, the substantive legal basis of the proposed Decision is Article 43(2) TFEU. The Decision will replace Council Decision (EU) 2019/1570, which covers the period 2019-2023.
4.3.Conclusion
The legal basis of the proposed Decision should therefore be Article 43(2) of the Treaty in conjunction with Article 218(9) of the Treaty.
2023/0269 (NLE)
Proposal for a
COUNCIL DECISION
on the position to be taken on behalf of the European Union in the Fishery Committee for the Eastern Central Atlantic and repealing Decision (EU) 2019/1570
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,
Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, and in particular Article 43(2), in conjunction with Article 218(9) thereof,
Having regard to the proposal from the European Commission,
Whereas:
(1)The European Union is a member of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) 11 and of the Fishery Committee for the Eastern Central Atlantic (CECAF), a regional fishery committee of the FAO.
(2)The CECAF gives advice on management measures (hereinafter ‘measures’). Because of its advisory status, its decisions are not binding on its members.
(3)Council Decision (EU) 2019/1570 12 provides for an assessment, and where appropriate, a revision of the EU’s position before the 2024 annual meeting. The CECAF, during its next session is to give advice on measures on the conservation and management of living marine resources.
(4)Regulation (EU) No 1380/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council 13 provides that the Union is to ensure that fishing and aquaculture activities are environmentally sustainable in the long-term and are managed in a way that is consistent with the objectives of achieving economic, social and employment benefits, and of contributing to the availability of food supplies. It also provides that the Union is to apply the precautionary approach to fisheries management, and is to aim to ensure that exploitation of living marine biological resources restores and maintains population of harvested species above levels, which can produce the maximum sustainable yield. It further provides that the Union is to take management and conservation measures based on best available scientific advice, to support the development of scientific knowledge and advice, to gradually eliminate discards and to promote fishing methods that contribute to more selective fishing and the avoidance and reduction, as far as possible, of unwanted catches, to fishing with low impact on marine ecosystem and fishery resources. Besides, Regulation (EU) No 1380/2013 specifically provides that those objectives and principles are to be applied by the Union in the conduct of its external fisheries relations.
(5)In line with the Biodiversity 14 , Climate Adaptation 15 and Farm to Fork Strategies 16 , it is essential to protect nature and reverse the degradation of ecosystems. The risks stemming from climate change and loss of biodiversity must not jeopardise the availability of the goods and services that healthy marine ecosystems provide to fishers, coastal communities and humanity at large.
(6)The Plastics Strategy 17 refers to specific measures to reduce plastics and marine pollution as well as the loss or abandonment at sea of fishing gear. Furthermore, the Zero pollution Action Plan 18 aims at reducing by 50% plastic litter at sea and by 30% micro-plastics released into the environment.
(7)Currently the position to be taken on the Union’s behalf in the meetings of the CECAF is established by Council Decision (EU) 2019/1570. It is appropriate to repeal that Decision and establish a new Decision for the period 2024-2028.
(8)Under the International Ocean Governance Joint Communication 19 , marine biodiversity protection and conservation are key priorities under the EU’s external action The EU is the most prominent actor in Regional Fisheries Management Organisations (RFMOs) and fisheries bodies worldwide. There, the EU promotes the sustainability of fish stocks, promotes transparent decision-making based on sound scientific advice, enhances scientific research, and strengthens compliance.
(9)In view of the evolving nature of fishery resources in the area of CECAF and the need for the Union’s position to take account of new developments, including new scientific and other relevant information presented before or during the meetings of the CECAF, procedures should be established for the year-to-year specification of the Union’s position in 2024-2028. Those positions should be in line with the principle of sincere cooperation among the Union institutions enshrined in Article 13(2) of the Treaty on the European Union.
HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION:
Article 1
The position to be taken on the Union's behalf in the sessions of the Fishery Committee for the Eastern Central Atlantic (CECAF) is set out in Annex I of this Decision.
Article 2
The year-to-year specification of the Union’s position to be taken in the sessions of the CECAF shall be conducted in accordance with Annex II.
Article 3
The Union’s position set out in Annex I shall be assessed and, where appropriate, revised by the Council upon a proposal from the Commission, at the latest before any session of the CECAF in 2024.
Article 4
Decision (EU) 2019/1570 is repealed.
Article 5
This Decision is addressed to the Commission.
Done at Brussels,
For the Council
The President
EUROPEAN COMMISSION
Brussels, 11.7.2023
COM(2023) 408 final
ANNEXES
to the
proposal for a Council Decision
on the position to be taken on behalf of the European Union in the Fishery Committee for the Eastern Central Atlantic and repealing Decision (EU) 2019/1570
ANNEX I
The position to be taken on the Union’s behalf in the Fishery Committee for the Eastern Central Atlantic (CECAF)
1.PRINCIPLES
In the framework of the CECAF, the Union shall:
(a)ensure that measures adopted within the CECAF are consistent with international law, and in particular with the provisions of the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, the 1995 UN Agreement relating to the Conservation and Management of Straddling Fish Stocks and Highly Migratory Fish Stocks, the 1993 Agreement to promote compliance with international conservation and management measures by fishing vessels on the high seas; and the 2009 Food and Agriculture Organization Port State Measures Agreement;
(b)promote the objectives of the Agreement under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction (BBNJ) and at the 15th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP 15), in particular as regards stepping up the protection of marine biodiversity and the protection of 30 % of the world’s ocean through marine protected areas;
(c)contribute to the implementation of European Green Deal, including the Biodiversity and Climate Adaptation Strategies, notably concerning the protection of nature, and Farm to Fork strategies, and a stronger Europe in the world;
(d)pursue the objectives of the Plastics Strategy and the Zero pollution Action plan, notably the reduction of plastics and marine pollution;
(e)act in accordance with the objectives and principles pursued by the Union within the common fisheries policy, notably through the precautionary approach and the aims related to the maximum sustainable yield as laid down in Article 2(2) of Regulation (EU) No 1380/2013, to promote the implementation of an ecosystem-based approach to fisheries management, to avoid and reduce, as far as possible, unwanted catches, and gradually eliminate discards, and to minimise the impact of fishing activities on marine ecosystems and their habitats, as well as, through the promotion of economically viable and competitive Union fisheries, to provide a fair standard of living for those who depend on fishing activities and taking account of the interests of consumers;
(f)be in line with the Council Conclusions of 19 March 2012 on the Commission Communication on the external dimension of the common fisheries policy 1 ;
(g)be in line with the objectives of the Joint Communication on the EU’s International Ocean Governance agenda 2 regarding marine biodiversity conservation, as well as the Council conclusions on that Joint Communication; 3
(h)work towards an appropriate involvement of stakeholders in the preparation phase for CECAF measures and ensure that measures adopted within the CECAF are in accordance with the objectives of the CECAF Statutes;
(i)promote positions consistent with the best practices of regional fisheries management organisations (RFMOs);
(j)seek consistency and synergy with the policy that the Union is pursuing as part of its bilateral fisheries relations with third countries, and ensure coherence with its other policies notably in the field of external relations, environment, trade, development, research and innovation;
(k)aim to create a level playing field for the Union fleet within the CECAF area based on the same principles and standards as those applicable under Union law, and to promote the uniform implementation of those principles and standards;
(l)promote coordination between the CECAF, existing RFMOs and regional sea conventions (RSCs) and cooperation with global organisations, as applicable, within their mandates, where appropriate;
(m)promote cooperation mechanisms amongst non-tuna RFMOs similar to the so-called Kobe process for tuna RFMOs.
2.ORIENTATIONS
The Union shall, where appropriate, endeavour to support the adoption of the following actions by the CECAF:
(a)measures to promote the conservation and full restoration of biodiversity, the sustainability of the stocks, and the integration of climate change considerations in the decision-making process;
(b)conservation and management measures for fisheries resources in the CECAF Convention area based on the best scientific advice available, including Total Allowable Catches and quotas or effort regulation in fisheries harvesting living marine biological resources regulated by the CECAF, which would achieve the maximum sustainable yield Where necessary, those conservation and management measures shall include specific measures for stocks, which suffer from overfishing to keep the fishing effort in line with available fishing opportunities;
(c)measures to promote data collection, scientific research and science-based management decisions, the strengthening of its compliance committee, a culture of compliance and periodical independent performance reviews;
(d)measures to prevent, deter and eliminate illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing activities in the Convention area, including IUU vessel listing and cross-listing with other RFMOs, and measures to promote the traceability of fish and fishery products based on the Voluntary Guidelines for Catch Documentation Schemes;
(e)monitoring, control and surveillance measures in the Convention area in order to ensure efficiency of control and compliance with measures adopted within the CECAF including the strengthening of control on transhipment operations based on the FAO Voluntary Guidelines for Transhipment;
(f)measures to minimise the negative impact of fishing activities on marine biodiversity and marine ecosystems and their habitats, including protective measures for vulnerable marine ecosystems in the CECAF area in line with the CECAF Statutes and the FAO International Guidelines for the Management of Deep-sea Fisheries in the High Seas, measures to avoid and reduce as far as possible unwanted catches, including in particular vulnerable marine species, and to gradually eliminate discards;
(g)measures to reduce marine pollution and prevent the discharge of plastics at sea and reduce the impact on marine biodiversity and ecosystems of plastics present at sea, including measures to reduce the impact of Abandoned, Lost or Otherwise Discarded Fishing Gear (ALDFG) in the ocean and to facilitate the identification and recovery of such gear based on the FAO Voluntary Guidelines on the Marking of Fishing Gear;
(h)measures aimed at the prohibition of fisheries conducted solely for the purpose of harvesting shark fins and requiring that all sharks are landed with each fin naturally attached;
(i)recommendations, where appropriate and to the extent permitted under the relevant constituent documents, encouraging the implementation of the Work in Fishing Convention of the International Labour Organisation (ILO);
(j)common approaches with other RFMOs, where appropriate, in particular those involved in fisheries management in the same region;
(k)additional technical measures based on advice from the subsidiary bodies and working groups of CECAF.
ANNEX II
Year to year specification of the Union’s position to be taken
in sessions of the Fishery Committee for the Eastern Central Atlantic
Before each session of the CECAF, when that body is called upon to adopt decisions capable of decisively influencing the content of the legislation adopted by the Union, the necessary steps shall be taken so that the position to be expressed on the Union's behalf takes account of the latest scientific and other relevant information transmitted to the Commission, in accordance with the principles and orientations set out in Annex I.
To this effect, and based on that information, the Commission shall transmit to the Council, or to its preparatory bodies, in sufficient time before each session of the CECAF, a written document setting out the particulars of the proposed specification of the Union’s position for discussion and endorsement of the details of the position to be expressed on the Union's behalf.
If in the course of a CECAF session it is impossible to reach an agreement, including on the spot, the matter shall be referred to the Council or its preparatory bodies in order for the Union’s position to take account of new elements.