The EU’s fisheries control system

KEY POINTS

• The main objectives of the control system are to:
  • ensure that only the permitted quantities of marine biological resources are caught or harvested for commercial purposes;
  • collect the necessary data for managing fishing stocks;
  • clarify the roles of EU Member States, the European Commission and the European Fisheries Control Agency (EFCA);
  • ensure the CFP rules are applied, controlled and enforced in the same way with respect to all fisheries and operators, and that there are harmonised sanctions throughout the EU;
  • ensure that all fishery and aquaculture product lots¹ are digitally traceable throughout the supply chain, from net to plate, taking in all the fishing or harvesting, landing, processing, transport and marketing stages.
• The regulation applies to:
  • all fishing activities in EU waters;
  • the fishing activities of EU fishing vessels in EU and non-EU waters;
  • commercial fishing without a vessel;
  • operators in the supply chain dealing with fishery and aquaculture product lots, which may be either non-imported or imported into the EU;
  • recreational fisheries.

Access to waters and resources

• To commercially exploit marine biological resources, a fishing vessel must have a valid fishing licence issued by the flag Member State. The information contained in the licence must be accurate and consistent with that contained in the EU Fleet Register.
• Vessels operating in EU waters may carry out fishing activities only insofar as these activities are indicated in a valid fishing authorisation. Activities authorised may be subject to a fishing effort regime, a multiannual plan, a fishing-restricted area or fishing for scientific purposes.
• Detailed rules are in place regarding the marking and identification of fishing vessels and their gear.
• Each Member State must operate a satellite-based vessel monitoring system (VMS) to systematically monitor vessel positions and movements. Larger vessels must have a VMS device installed on board; smaller vessels under 12 metres in length do not have to install a VMS device but must have a device on board allowing them to be located and identified by a tracking device at regular intervals; certain smaller coastal vessels under 9 metres in length are exempt from the VMS requirement until 31 December 2029.
• Each Member State must establish and operate a fisheries monitoring centre to monitor fishing activities and the effort of vessels flying its flag, along with those of vessels of other Member States and of countries authorised to conduct fishing activities in their waters.

Control of fisheries

• Masters of fishing vessels must use electronic reporting systems (ERS) to record and report fishing activities, including catches, transshipments and landings. All vessels will be required to have these systems from 2028, although there are certain exceptions made for smaller vessels until then.
• The regulation specifies in detail the information to be kept in the logbook. For certain larger vessels, remote electronic monitoring tools will be used to ensure unwanted catches are not discarded at sea in breach of the landing obligation.
• Member States must record all relevant data on catches and fishing effort and transmit these to the Commission. They are responsible for ensuring that the total capacity corresponding to the fishing licences they have issued is not, at any moment, higher than their maximum fishing capacity. They must also immediately inform the Commission should they establish that 80 % of a quota has been exhausted or 80 % of the maximum fishing effort level related to a fishing gear or a fishery has been reached.
• Coastal Member States must put in place an electronic system to record and report catches from recreational fisheries to collect information on catches by individuals fishing for species, stocks or groups of stocks for which fishing opportunities are set by the EU, are covered by a multiannual plan or are subject to the landing obligation.

Control of the supply chain

• Member States are responsible for ensuring that the CFP rules are respected in their territory at all stages of the marketing of fisheries and aquaculture products, from their placing on the market to their retail sale, including transport. They must ensure that the use of fishery products below the applicable minimum conservation reference size subject to the landing obligation set out in Regulation (EU) No 1380/2013 is restricted to purposes other than direct human consumption.
• Member States must ensure that the products to which common marketing standards apply are made available on the market only if they comply with these standards. They must perform checks to ensure compliance at all stages in the supply chain, including transport and catering.
• The composition of a fishery product or of an aquaculture product lot falling under Chapter 3 of the Combined Nomenclature (CN), established by Regulation (EEC) No 2658/87, is defined, and some exemptions from these rules are set prior to placing the products in question (fish, crustaceans, molluscs and aquatic invertebrates) on the market.
• Operators must ensure that fisheries and aquaculture products are put into lots and are traceable at all stages of production, processing and distribution, from catching or harvesting to retail stage.
• Operators must have in place systems and procedures to ensure that, for each fishery or aquaculture product lot falling under Chapter 3 of the CN, the minimum traceability information set is recorded and made available digitally to the operator(s) to whom these products have been supplied and, upon request, to the competent authorities.
• The minimum traceability information for a fishery or aquaculture product lot falling under Chapter 3 of the CN is defined. Rules concerning lots of fishery or aquaculture products falling under this chapter of the CN will be applicable by 10 January 2026.
• For fishery or aquaculture product lots falling under headings 1604 and 1605 of Chapter 16 of the CN (preparations of fish, crustaceans, molluscs or other aquatic invertebrates) and for fishery or aquaculture product lots falling under subheading 1212 21 of Chapter 12 of the CN (seaweeds and other algae), the minimum traceability information, including the digital systems to be used, will be set in delegated acts and will apply by 10 January 2029.
• Member States may exempt from those traceability requirements small quantities of fishery products sold directly to consumers, provided that those products are only for private consumption and that the quantities do not exceed 10 kg of fishery products per consumer per day. In the specific case of the Baltic Sea, this limit must not exceed two individual salmon per consumer per day.

Surveillance and inspections

• Detailed rules are set out for surveillance and inspections by EU inspectors who can operate in the territory of Member States and in EU waters, and on EU fishing vessels outside EU waters.
• Member States are responsible for controlling and enforcing the CFP and must have a list of officials available to carry out inspections.
• Inspections must be carried out in a non-discriminatory manner at sea, in ports, during transport, on processing premises and during the marketing of fishery products.
• The regulation sets out a framework for EU control observers on board fishing vessels who must verify the vessels’ compliance with the CFP rules, including rules on their safety and independence from operators.

Evaluation and control by the Commission

The Commission will carry out audits, verifications and autonomous inspections to check and evaluate Member States’ application of the CFP rules.

Sanctions

• Member States must take appropriate administrative action, such as sanctions or criminal proceedings, in case of infringement of the rules. In case of serious infringements, they must also apply a system of penalty points for the holders of fishing permits and for masters of fishing vessels. The accumulation of points can lead to suspension and ultimately to the withdrawal of the licence.
• Member States can also face sanctions for not enforcing CFP rules correctly, including the closing of a fishery or a reduction in quotas (in the case of overfishing).

Data collection

• Member States are required to have a secure database, accessible to the Commission, of all information collected in carrying out their responsibilities under the regulation. They must set up an official website including information such as designated ports, real-time closures, contact points, a list of operators authorised to carry out weighing and other data.
• The regulation also introduces a system of mutual assistance, administrative cooperation and information exchange between Member States, the Commission, the EFCA and non-EU countries.

Coordination

• To encourage closer collaboration and the sharing of best practices, the EFCA organises joint control campaigns involving inspectors from different Member States.

Rules for specific control and inspection programmes for certain fisheries

• Rules for specific control and inspection programmes for certain fisheries can be adopted by the Commission. In December 2018, the Commission adopted Implementing Decision (EU) 2018/1986 which sets out specific control and inspection programmes for certain fisheries, which are jointly controlled by the Member States concerned with EFCA’s coordination under the relevant joint deployment plans.