Activites

• 1998/10/12 Final act published in Official Journal
• 1998/09/18 Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
  • T4-0531/1998 summary

    Adopting the report by Mr James L.C. PROVAN (PPE, UK) on monitoring under the Common Fisheries Policy, the European Parliament welcomed the fact that the Commission had responded to its call for action by publishing the present communication. However, it regretted that the Commission?s communication did not take any account of wider international experience of the successful control of fisheries policies other than that of NAFO. It underlined the fact that the scientific data on which TACs are based has to have the full confidence of the fishing industry and should therefore be better integrated into the control process. It insisted on several priorities in order to improve the fisheries policy and win the confidence of fishermen: - more positive involvement of fishermen?s organisations in improving compliance with control measures; - greater cooperation between the Commission and the Member States in monitoring and control activities, with the Commission taking the lead in this area; - strengthening the Community fisheries inspectorate so that it can improve and extend its control work in EU waters (Parliament considered, in particular, that it should have responsibility for the inspection of landings made by Community vessels into ports outside their flag state); - standardisation of the definition of control and monitoring terms (in particular common definitions of tonnage, engine power and inspections in port and at sea) in order to ensure that controls are even-handed, irrespective of the Member State carrying out the control or the flag of the vessel being controlled; - correction of the imbalance between controls carried out in Community waters and in international waters: controls on third country vessels operating in Community waters need to be reinforced and measures adopted to allow access on board these vessels for the purpose of inspection and monitoring. Parliament insisted that controls should not end at port but were essential throughout the supply chain through to the end consumer and efficient control of the markets was therefore needed in order to combat fraudulent imports. Increased cooperation was needed between Member States and the Commission in order to monitor properly the market channels for fisheries products under the supervision of the Community inspectorate. Parliament requested the Commission to bring forward proposals to ensure that in all Member States it becomes a punishable offence to trade in illegally caught or landed fish. It also stressed the need for urgent supervisory action in the knowledge that some Member States are not adequately carrying out control activities and are only partially honouring their legal obligations in the field of data transfer. The Commission must have on-line access to Member States? data bases covering the fisheries sector and use all available instruments, including legal action and financial penalties, to ensure that Member States abide by regulations. Parliament urged the Commission to consider how a decentralised control system for coastal regions which would directly involve fish producers in decisions concerning their sector could be implemented in the post year 2000 period. Finally, it called on the Commission to consider how the NAFO control model could be adapted and extended to Community waters. �

• 1998/09/17 Debate in Parliament
• 1998/07/20 Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading
  • A4-0277/1998
• #2077
• 1998/03/24 Council Meeting
  • 2077
• 1998/03/09 Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
• 1998/02/19 Non-legislative basic document published
  • COM(1998)0092 summary

    OBJECTIVE: To take stock of developments in monitoring of the Common Fisheries Policy since 1992 and to analyse the prospects for progress in this area. SUBSTANCE: Since a new regulation on fisheries monitoring (Regulation 2847/93/EEC) was adopted in 1993 and a plan for monitoring by satellite (Regulation 686/97/EC) was put in place in 1996, there have been significant improvements in monitoring the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP). Nonetheless, major shortcomings have become apparent in the Community monitoring instrument, particularly in the following sectors: - monitoring of fleets; - monitoring at sea; - monitoring of landings (in particular, with regard to basic documents, computerisation and data checking and with regard to monitoring vessels flying the flag of a country other than where they land; there are also problems with regard to control points, given the number of potential landing points and landings in third countries); - monitoring the market for fishery products (the main short comings concern respect for common marketing standards and minimum fish sizes). The Commission document also discusses the problem of infringements and penalties. It deplores the fact that these are not always harmonised and therefore fair. Increased cooperation between Member States is needed in this area and with competent international organisations such as NAFO. The Commission's resources should also be increased in order to guarantee the effectiveness of Member States' monitoring systems and the fairness of the penalties imposed. In the third part of its communication, the Commission proposes a number of measures to remedy the various short comings. To this end, it suggests priorities for action in the years to come with a possible calender for 1998 and 1999. In 1998, its main proposals are to: - remedy the serious shortcomings with regard to basic documents and their computerisation, incorrect catch declarations and repeated overfishing of quotas; - examine how combining regulatory arrangements with cooperation will make it possible for controls to be more effective, - put in place pilots schemes for coordinating control operations, - amend the existing regulations (in particular, Regulation (EEC) 2847/93), - integrate the Mediterranean in the general rules of the CFP and launch the first phase of satellite monitoring, - study the issue of human resources assigned to monitoring activities. In 1999 the basic goals are follow-up action to the initiative launched in 1998, extending control operations across the whole of the sector and exploiting the opportunities afforded by satellite monitoring, proposing a procedure for resolving coordination problems between the Member States by establishing a plan for exchanges of information and staff, defining possible statistical objectives for the resources assigned to monitoring by each Member State, dividing tasks fairly between the Commission and the Member States with regard to monitoring non-Community resources and preparing the ground for the action to be taken on the budget decision due to expire in 2000. �

Documents

• Non-legislative basic document published: COM(1998)0092
• Debate in Council: 2077
• Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading: A4-0277/1998
• Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading: T4-0531/1998

History

(these mark the time of scraping, not the official date of the change)