20.12.2014   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 366/1

(1)

Article 43(3) of the Treaty provides that the Council, on a proposal from the Commission, is to adopt measures on the fixing and allocation of fishing opportunities.

(2)

Regulation (EU) No 1380/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council (1) requires that conservation measures be adopted taking into account available scientific, technical and economic advice, including, where relevant, reports drawn up by the Scientific, Technical and Economic Committee for Fisheries (STECF).

(3)

It is incumbent upon the Council to adopt measures on the fixing and allocation of fishing opportunities, including certain conditions functionally linked thereto, as appropriate. Fishing opportunities should be distributed among Member States in such a way as to assure each Member State relative stability of fishing activities for each stock or fishery and having due regard to the objectives of the Common Fisheries Policy established by Regulation (EU) No 1380/2013.

(4)

The total allowable catches (TACs) should be established on the basis of available scientific advice, taking into account biological and socioeconomic aspects whilst ensuring fair treatment between fishing sectors, as well as in the light of the opinions expressed during the consultation of stakeholders, and in particular the Regional Advisory Councils concerned.

(5)

Fishing opportunities should be in accordance with international agreements and principles, such as the 1995 United Nations agreement concerning the conservation and management of straddling stocks and highly migratory fish stocks (2), and the detailed management principles laid down in the 2008 International Guidelines for the Management of Deep-sea Fisheries in the High Seas of the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, according to which, in particular, a regulator should be more cautious when information is uncertain, unreliable or inadequate. The absence of adequate scientific information should not be used as a reason for postponing or failing to take conservation and management measures.

(6)

The latest scientific advice from the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) and from STECF indicates that most deep-sea stocks are still harvested unsustainably and that fishing opportunities for those stocks, in order to assure their sustainability, should be further reduced until the evolution of the stocks shows a positive trend. The ICES has further advised that no directed fishery should be allowed for orange roughy in all areas and for certain stocks of red seabream and roundnose grenadier.

(7)

As regards the four stocks of roundnose grenadier, scientific advice and recent discussions in the North East Atlantic Fisheries Commission (NEAFC) indicate that catches of this species may be misreported as catches of roughhead grenadier. In this context, it is appropriate to establish a TAC covering both species while enabling a separate reporting for each of them.

(8)

Concerning deep sea sharks, the main commercial species are considered depleted and, therefore, no directed fishing should take place. Furthermore, in view of the migratory nature of deep-sea sharks and their wide distribution throughout the North East Atlantic, STECF has recommended that management measures for these species be extended to Union waters of Committee for Eastern and Central Atlantic Fisheries (CECAF) around Madeira.

(9)

The fishing opportunities for deep-sea species as defined in Article 2(a) of Council Regulation (EC) No 2347/2002 (3) are decided on a bi-annual basis. Nevertheless, an exception is made for the stocks of greater silver smelt and the stocks of blue ling. As regards the latter, the main fishery of blue ling is linked to the annual negotiations with Norway; in the interest of simplification, all blue ling TACs should be established along that one and within the same legal act. Therefore, fishing opportunities for the stocks of greater silver smelt and of blue ling should be set in another relevant annual regulation fixing fishing opportunities.

(10)

In accordance with Council Regulation (EC) No 847/96 (4) the stocks that are subject to various measures referred to therein should be identified. Precautionary TACs should apply for stocks for which no scientifically-based evaluation of fishing opportunities is available specifically for the year in which the TACs are to be set; analytical TACs should apply otherwise. In view of ICES and STECF advice for deep-sea stocks, those for which a science-based evaluation of the relevant fishing opportunities is not available should be subject to precautionary TACs in this Regulation.

(11)

In order to avoid the interruption of fishing activities and to ensure the livelihood of the fishermen of the Union, this Regulation should apply from 1 January 2015. For reasons of urgency, this Regulation should enter into force immediately after its publication,

(a)

‘Union fishing vessel’ means a fishing vessel flying the flag of a Member State and registered in the Union;

(b)

‘Union waters’ means the waters under the sovereignty or jurisdiction of the Member States with the exception of waters adjacent to the territories listed in Annex II to the Treaty;

(c)

‘total allowable catch’ (TAC) means the quantity that can be taken and landed from each fish stock each year;

(d)

‘quota’ means a proportion of the TAC allocated to the Union or a Member State;

(e)

‘international waters’ means waters falling outside the sovereignty or jurisdiction of any State.

(a)

ICES (International Council for the Exploration of the Sea) zones are the geographical areas specified in Annex III to Regulation (EC) No 218/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council (5);

(b)

CECAF (Committee for Eastern Central Atlantic Fisheries) zones are the geographical areas specified in Annex II to Regulation (EC) No 216/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council (6).

(a)

exchanges made pursuant to Article 16(8) of Regulation (EU) No 1380/2013;

(b)

deductions and reallocations made pursuant to Article 37 of Council Regulation (EC) No 1224/2009 (7) or pursuant to Article 10(4) of Council Regulation (EC) No 1006/2008 (8);

(c)

additional landings allowed pursuant to Article 4 of Regulation (EC) No 847/96;

(d)

deductions made pursuant to Articles 105, 106 and 107 of Regulation (EC) No 1224/2009.

20.12.2014   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 366/15

(1)

Requests were made by Member States to the Administrative Commission for the Coordination of Social Security Systems for entries in Annex 1 to Regulation (EC) No 987/2009 to be amended in order to bring that Annex in line with developments in their national legislation.

(2)

Annex 1 to Regulation (EC) No 987/2009 aims at giving an overview of the implementing provisions for bilateral agreements between Member States that remain in force on the basis of Article 8(1) of that Regulation or that are concluded and listed on the basis of Articles 8(2) and 9(2) of the same Regulation.

(3)

The Administrative Commission for the Coordination of Social Security Systems has made relevant proposals to the Commission for the requested amendments on the basis of Article 72(f) of Regulation (EC) No 883/2004.

(4)

The Commission agreed to include the proposals for the technical amendments to Annex 1 of Regulation (EC) No 987/2009.

(5)

Commission Regulation (EU) No 1372/2013 (3) in Article 1(2) erroneously amended Annex XI to Regulation (EC) No 883/2004. That amending provision should therefore be deleted. For reasons of legal clarity the deletion of Article 1(2) of Regulation (EU) No 1372/2013 should apply retroactively from 1 January 2014.

(6)

Regulations (EC) No 987/2009 and (EU) No 1372/2013 should therefore be amended accordingly,

(1)

Annex 1 is amended as follows:

(2)

In the section ‘FRANCE-LUXEMBOURG’, point (b) is replaced by the following:

.

20.12.2014   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 366/17

(1)

By virtue of the first subparagraph of Article 53(1) of Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012, the Commission has examined Italy's application for the approval of amendments to the specification for the protected designation of origin ‘Garda’, registered under Commission Regulation (EC) No 2325/97 (2).

(2)

Since the amendments in question are not minor within the meaning of Article 53(2) of Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012, the Commission published the amendment application in the Official Journal of the European Union  (3) as required by Article 50(2)(a) of that Regulation.

(3)

As no statement of opposition under Article 51 of Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012 has been received by the Commission, the amendments to the specification should be approved,

20.12.2014   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 366/18

(1)

On 7 August 2014, the Russian government introduced a ban on import of certain agricultural products from the Union to Russia, including milk products.

(2)

With over 25 % of its milk production exported to Russia, accounting for 64 % of its total exports of milk and milk products to third countries, Finland counts among the Member States whose milk production was the most dependent on exports to Russia before the introduction of the ban.

(3)

Farm gate milk prices in Finland experienced a sharp drop in September 2014, exclusively attributable to the Russian import ban. While the average milk price in Finland is relatively high as compared to the Union as a whole, production costs in Finland are the highest of the Union.

(4)

The continuity of the Finnish milk and milk products sector is put at stake by the Russian import ban, as that sector had invested in products with high added value tailored to the tastes and needs of the Russian market. Milk products manufactured for the Russian market have to be absorbed by the Finnish retail market at reduced prices. Time is needed for the sector in Finland to find new outlets or to adapt production to new products that could meet demand. Reliance on public intervention and private storage is insufficient to address this threat.

(5)

In order to address the resulting market disturbance efficiently and effectively, it is appropriate to grant aid to Finland in the form of a one-time financial envelope with a view to supporting milk producers who are affected by the Russian import ban and, as a result, encounter liquidity problems.

(6)

The financial envelope available to Finland should be calculated on the basis of 2013/2014 milk production within national quotas, and proportional to the observed milk price drop. In order to ensure that support is targeted to those producers affected by the ban, while taking into account limited budget resources, Finland should distribute that amount on the basis of objective criteria and in a non-discriminatory way, while avoiding any market and competition distortion.

(7)

As the financial envelope allocated to Finland will compensate only a limited portion of the actual loss suffered by producers, Finland should be allowed to grant additional support to milk producers.

(8)

That additional support should be granted under the same conditions of objectiveness, non-discrimination and non-distortion of competition and should take into account the national aid producers have received for the same purpose on the basis of Article 142 of the Act of Accession of Austria, Finland and Sweden.

(9)

The aid provided for in this Regulation should be granted as a measure supporting agricultural markets in accordance with Article 4(1)(a) of Regulation (EU) No 1306/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council (2).

(10)

For budgetary reasons, the Union should finance the expenditure incurred by Finland in relation to the support to milk producers only where such payments are made by a certain deadline.

(11)

In order to ensure transparency and the monitoring and proper administration of the amount available to it, Finland should inform the Commission of the objective criteria used to determine the methods for granting the support and the provisions taken to avoid distortion of competition.

(12)

In order to ensure that milk producers receive the aid as soon as possible, Finland should be enabled to implement this Regulation without delay. Therefore, this Regulation should enter into force on the third day following that of its publication,

(a)

without delay and no later than 30 April 2015, the objective criteria used to determine the methods for granting targeted support and the measures taken to avoid distortion of competition;

(b)

no later than 31 July 2015, the total amounts paid and the number and type of beneficiaries.

20.12.2014   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 366/20

(1)

On 7 August 2014 the Russian government introduced a ban on imports of certain products from the Union to Russia, including fruit and vegetables.

(2)

In order to prevent the resulting disturbance of the market for fruit and vegetables, where large quantities of perishable products are involved, from turning into a more severe or prolonged market disturbance, Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) No 932/2014 (2) was adopted. It provided for maximum amounts of support for withdrawal, non-harvesting and green harvesting operations. The mechanism introduced by that Regulation was subsequently supplemented by measures under Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) No 1031/2014 (3) in the form of additional, targeted support for certain quantities of products, calculated on the basis of traditional exports to Russia.

(3)

The Russian import ban continues to create a serious threat of market disturbances caused by significant price falls due to the fact that an important export market has suddenly become unavailable. For such a market situation, the normal measures available under Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 still appear to be insufficient. The mechanism based on support for certain quantities of products under Delegated Regulation (EU) No 1031/2014 needs therefore to be prolonged.

(4)

Taking the estimated quantities affected by the ban into account, the Union financial assistance should be prolonged in accordance with the quantities of products concerned. The calculation of those quantities should be made for each Member State in accordance with the level of its average exports to Russia of the products concerned for the previous three years in the following months: April and May for fruit and January to May for vegetables. Furthermore, due to their seasonal exports, lemons of CN code 0805 50 10 should be added to the list of products eligible for support under Delegated Regulation (EU) No 1031/2014.

(5)

Delegated Regulation (EU) No 1031/2014 should therefore be amended accordingly.

(6)

In order to have an immediate impact on the market and to contribute to stabilise prices, this Regulation should enter into force on the day of its publication,

(1)

Article 1 is amended as follows:

(2)

In Article 2, paragraph 1 is replaced by the following:

‘1.   The support referred to in Article 1(1) shall be made available to Member States for the following quantities of products:

For the period referred to in Article 1(3)(a), that support shall also be available in all Member States for withdrawal, green harvesting or non-harvesting operations, with respect to one or more of the products referred to in Article 1(2) as determined by the Member State, provided that the additional quantity involved does not exceed 3 000 tonnes per Member State.’

(3)

Article 9 is amended as follows:

(4)

In Article 10(1), the introductory part of the first subparagraph is replaced by the following:

‘By 30 September 2014, 15 October 2014, 31 October 2014, 15 November 2014, 30 November 2014, 15 December 2014, 31 December 2014, 15 January 2015, 31 January 2015 and 15 February 2015 in respect of the period referred to in Article 1(3)(a) and, until 30 September 2015, by the 15th and the last day of each month in respect of the period referred to in Article 1(3)(b), Member States shall notify the Commission of the following information for each product:’

(5)

Article 11 is replaced by the following:

‘Article 11

Payment of Union financial assistance

Member States' expenditure in relation to the payments under this Regulation shall only by eligible for Union financial assistance if it has been paid by the following dates:

(6)

The title of Annex I is replaced by the following:

‘Maximum quantities of products allocated per Member State as referred to in Article 2(1)(a)’

(7)

Annex Ia is inserted, the text of which is set out in Annex I to this Regulation.

(8)

Annexes III and IV are replaced by the text set out in Annex II to this Regulation.

20.12.2014   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 366/32

(1)

Implementing Regulation (EU) No 543/2011 lays down, pursuant to the outcome of the Uruguay Round multilateral trade negotiations, the criteria whereby the Commission fixes the standard values for imports from third countries, in respect of the products and periods stipulated in Annex XVI, Part A thereto.

(2)

The standard import value is calculated each working day, in accordance with Article 136(1) of Implementing Regulation (EU) No 543/2011, taking into account variable daily data. Therefore this Regulation should enter into force on the day of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union,

20.12.2014   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 366/34

(1)

Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 413/2014 (2) opened annual tariff quotas for imports of poultrymeat products originating in Ukraine.

(2)

For the quota with order number 09.4273, the quantities covered by the applications for import licences lodged from 1 to 7 December 2014 for the subperiod from 1 January to 31 March 2015 exceed those available. The extent to which import rights may be allocated should therefore be determined and an allocation coefficient laid down to be applied to the quantities applied for, calculated in accordance with Article 6(3) in conjunction with Article 7(2) of Commission Regulation (EC) No 1301/2006 (3).

(3)

In order to ensure efficient management of the measure, this Regulation should enter into force on the day of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union,

20.12.2014   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 366/36

(1)

Regulation (EC) No 2533/98 provides in Article 2(1) that, for the fulfilment of its statistical reporting requirements, the European Central Bank (ECB), assisted by the national central banks (NCBs), has the right to collect statistical information within the limits of the reference reporting population and of what is necessary to carry out the tasks of the European System of Central Banks (ESCB). It follows from Article 2(2)(a) of Regulation (EC) No 2533/98 that insurance corporations form part of the reference reporting population for the purpose of fulfilling the ECB's statistical reporting requirements, inter alia, in the field of monetary and financial statistics. Furthermore, Article 2(4) of Regulation (EC) No 2533/98 states that, in duly justified cases, the ECB has the right to collect statistical information on a consolidated basis. Article 3 of Regulation (EC) No 2533/98 requires the ECB to specify the actual reporting population within the limits of the reference reporting population and provides it with the power to fully or partly exempt specific classes of reporting agents from its statistical reporting requirements.

(2)

The purpose of imposing statistical reporting requirements on insurance corporations is to provide the ECB with adequate statistics on the financial activities of the insurance corporation subsector in the Member States whose currency is the euro (hereinafter the ‘euro area Member States’), which are viewed as one economic territory. The collection of statistical information on insurance corporations is necessary to satisfy regular and ad hoc analytical needs, to support the ECB in carrying out monetary and financial analysis, and for the ESCB's contribution to the stability of the financial system.

(3)

NCBs should have the power to collect information on insurance corporations from the actual reporting population as part of a broader statistical reporting framework, provided that the fulfilment of the ECB's statistical requirements is not jeopardised. In such cases, it is appropriate to ensure transparency by informing the reporting agents of the various statistical purposes for which the data are collected.

(4)

In order to minimise the reporting burden on insurance corporations, NCBs should have the power to combine their reporting requirements under this Regulation with their reporting requirements under Regulation (EU) No 1011/2012 of the European Central Bank (ECB/2012/24) (3).

(5)

There is a close connection between the data collected by NCBs for statistical purposes under this Regulation and the data collected by national competent authorities (NCAs) for supervisory purposes under the framework established by Directive 2009/138/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (4). Given the ECB's general mandate under Article 5.1 of the Statute of the European System of Central Banks and of the European Central Bank (hereinafter the ‘Statute of the ESCB’) to engage in cooperation with other bodies in the field of statistics, and in order to limit the administrative burden and avoid the duplication of tasks, NCBs may derive the data required to be reported under this Regulation from data collected under Directive 2009/138/EC, including the national law implementing that Directive, having due regard to the terms of any cooperation arrangement between the relevant NCB and the relevant NCA. Article 70 of Directive 2009/138/EC provides that NCAs may transmit information intended for the performance of their tasks under that Directive to NCBs and other bodies with a similar function in their capacity as monetary authorities.

(6)

The European system of accounts set up by Regulation (EU) No 549/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council (5) (hereinafter the ‘ESA 2010’) requires that the assets and liabilities of institutional units are reported in the country of residence. In order to minimise the reporting burden, if NCBs derive data required to be reported under this Regulation from data collected under Directive 2009/138/EC, the assets and liabilities of branches of insurance corporations whose head offices are resident in the European Economic Area (EEA) may be aggregated with those of the head offices. Limited information on branches of insurance corporations should be collected for the purposes of monitoring their size and any deviations from the ESA 2010.

(7)

The standards for the protection and use of confidential statistical information as laid down in Article 8 of Regulation (EC) No 2533/98 should apply to the collection of statistical information under this Regulation.

(8)

While it is recognised that regulations adopted under Article 34.1 of the Statute of the ESCB do not confer any rights or impose any obligations on Member States whose currency is not the euro (hereinafter ‘non-euro area Member States’), Article 5 of the Statute of the ESCB applies to both euro and non-euro area Member States. Recital 17 of Regulation (EC) No 2533/98 states that Article 5 of the Statute of the ESCB, together with Article 4(3) of the Treaty on European Union, implies an obligation to design and implement at national level all the measures that the non-euro area Member States consider appropriate to collect the statistical information needed to fulfil the ECB's statistical reporting requirements and to make timely preparations in the field of statistics in order to become euro area Member States.

(9)

Article 7(1) of Regulation (EC) No 2533/98 provides that the ECB has the power to impose sanctions on reporting agents that fail to comply with the statistical reporting requirements set out in ECB regulations or decisions.

(10)

By the year 2020, at the latest, the Governing Council should assess the merits and costs of: (a) an increase in the coverage of quarterly reporting from 80 % to 95 % of the total market share of insurance corporations in each euro area Member State; (b) the separate reporting of assets and liabilities of branches of insurance corporations where the branches are resident in euro area Member States and the parent entities of such branches are resident in the EEA; and (c) a further reduction in the time for the transmission of data by reporting agents to four weeks, following the end of the quarter to which the data relates,

1.

‘insurance corporation’ and ‘IC’ (subsector 128 of the ESA 2010) mean a financial corporation or quasi-corporation that is principally engaged in financial intermediation as a consequence of the pooling of risks mainly in the form of direct insurance or reinsurance.

The following are included within the definition:

The following are not included within the definition:

2.

‘branch’ means an unincorporated agency or branch, but not the head office, of an insurance or reinsurance corporation;

3.

‘subsidiary’ means an incorporated entity in which another entity has a majority or full participation;

4.

‘reporting agents’ has the meaning as defined in Article 1 of Regulation (EC) No 2533/98;

5.

‘resident’ has the meaning as defined in Article 1 of Regulation (EC) No 2533/98. For the purposes of this Regulation, if a legal entity lacks a physical dimension its residence shall be determined by the economic territory under whose laws the entity is incorporated. If the entity is not incorporated, its residence shall be determined by its legal domicile, namely the country whose legal system governs the creation and continued existence of the entity;

6.

‘relevant NCB’ means the NCB of the euro area Member State in which the insurance corporation is resident;

7.

‘relevant NCA’ means the NCA of the euro area Member State in which the insurance corporation is resident;

8.

‘security-by-security data’ means data broken down into individual securities;

9.

‘item-by-item data’ means data broken down into individual assets or liabilities;

10.

‘aggregated data’ means data that has not been broken down into individual assets or liabilities;

11.

‘financial transactions’ means transactions that arise out of the creation, liquidation or change in ownership of financial assets or liabilities, as further described in Part 5 of Annex II;

12.

‘price and exchange rate revaluations’ means changes to the valuation of assets and liabilities that arise from changes to the price of assets and liabilities and/or the effect of exchange rates on the values, expressed in euro, of assets and liabilities denominated in a foreign currency, as further described in Part 5 of Annex II.

(a)

insurance corporations incorporated and resident in the territory of the relevant euro area Member State, including subsidiaries whose parent entities are located outside that territory;

(b)

branches of insurance corporations specified in point (a) that are resident outside the territory of the relevant euro area Member State; and

(c)

branches of insurance corporations that are resident in the territory of the relevant euro area Member State but whose head office is outside the EEA.

(a)

on a quarterly basis, end-of-quarter stock data on the assets and liabilities of insurance corporations and, in line with Article 5, quarterly revaluation adjustments or financial transactions, where applicable;

(b)

on a quarterly basis, end-of-quarter stock data on non-life insurance technical reserves broken down by line of business;

(c)

on an annual basis, end-of-year stock data on non-life insurance technical reserves broken down by line of business and geographic area.

(a)

data contained in quantitative reporting templates for supervisory reporting transmitted to NCBs by NCAs, whether the NCB and the NCA are separately established or integrated within the same institution, in accordance with the terms of local cooperation arrangements between the two bodies; or

(b)

data contained in quantitative reporting templates for supervisory reporting, transmitted by reporting agents directly and simultaneously to an NCB and NCA.

(a)

reporting agents shall report aggregated data on revaluation adjustments and/or financial transactions, depending on the relevant NCB's instructions;

(b)

NCBs shall either derive approximations of the value of securities transactions from security-by-security data or shall directly collect data on such transactions from reporting agents on a security-by-security basis. NCBs may follow a similar approach for assets other than securities when collecting item-by-item data;

(c)

approximations of the value of financial transactions concerning insurance technical reserves maintained by insurance corporations shall be derived:

(a)

NCBs may grant derogations to the smallest insurance corporations in terms of market share as defined in Article 35(6) of Directive 2009/138/EC, provided that the insurance corporations that contribute to the quarterly aggregated balance sheet account for at least 80 % of the total market share of insurance corporations in each euro area Member State;

(b)

an insurance corporation that is granted a derogation under point (a) shall comply with the reporting requirements in Article 4 on an annual basis so that the insurance corporations that contribute to the annual aggregated balance sheet account for at least 95 % of the total market share of insurance corporations, in each euro area Member State;

(c)

an insurance corporation that is not required to report any data under point (a) and (b) shall report a reduced set of information, as defined by the relevant NCB;

(d)

NCBs shall check the fulfilment of the conditions set out in points (a) and (b) annually and in good time in order to grant or withdraw, if necessary, any derogation with effect from the start of the following calendar year.