9 ACTION PLAN FOR SIMPLIFYING AND IMPROVING
THE COMMON FISHERIES POLICY
(27102)
15613/05
COM(05) 647
| Commission Communication: 2006-08 Action Plan for simplifying and improving the Common Fisheries Policy
|
| Legal base | —
|
| Document originated | 8 December 2005
|
| Deposited in Parliament |
15 December 2005 |
| Department | Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
|
| Basis of consideration |
EM of 9 January 2006 |
| Previous Committee Report |
None, but see footnote 28 |
| To be discussed in Council
| No date set |
| Committee's assessment | Politically important
|
| Committee's decision | Cleared
|
Background
9.1 As we noted in our Report of 11 January 2006, the Commission
produced in October 2005 a Communication setting out the ways
in which Community legislation can be simplified.[28]
Fisheries was among the areas included in the rolling programme
of action attached to that Communication, and the Commission has
now sought in this latest document —
which also reflects discussions with Member States and others
—
to indicate the measures it proposes to take in that sector in
the period 2006-08.
The current document
9.2 The Commission suggests that simplification should
benefit both fishermen and those responsible for administering
the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP), and that it should address
three categories of legislation —
those instruments whose review has already started, notably as
a result of the earlier Communication; new legislation to be drawn
up in the coming years; and current legislative instruments which
need to be simplified as a matter of priority.
9.3 More specifically, the Commission proposes that
action should be taken in the following areas:
TACs and quotas and fishing effort
The structure of the various provisions should be
altered, in particular by treating catch limitations, technical
measures, measures for managing fishing effort and control measures
separately; decisions should be targeted according to the "scientific
environment", for example by separating proposals covering
the North Sea from those for the Baltic Sea, or those involving
regional fisheries organisation; and multi-annual approaches should
be adopted. In addition, reporting obligations which are unnecessary
or of limited value should be gradually eliminated.
Technical measures for protecting juvenile stock
The general guiding principles should be set out
in a succinct Council Regulation, with purely technical matters
dealt with separately in Commission Regulations; approaches targeted
by region or fisheries should be developed in order to take account
of special characteristics; and provision should be made for Member
States to adopt certain technical measures having local application.
These steps should be backed up by a number of administrative
measures, aimed at providing better information to fishermen,
ensuring greater consistency, and reducing their reporting obligations.
Collection and management of data
As with the protection of juveniles, the basic rules
should be set out in a Council Regulation, with technical and
administrative aspects covered by Commission implementing regulations.
There should also be greater use of information technology.
Monitoring
Those regulations governing tolerances, conversion
rates, the use of live weight, periods for the transmission of
documents, access to fishing vessels for inspectors, and the rules
relating to third-country vessels should be revised, and steps
taken to achieve uniformity in the approaches adopted by Member
States, as well as greater consistency between the various rules
of the CFP and those arising from the Community's international
obligations. The electronic recording and reporting of fishing
activities, including those involving third-countries, and means
of remote sensing should be developed further, with fishermen
who have chosen to transmit data electronically being offered
the requisite facilities.
Reporting obligations
The need for information to be sent to the Commission
and its frequency should be reviewed, to ensure that proper use
can be made of it, and the use of computerisation and automation
should be examined further.
Fishing outside Community waters
Again, basic principles (for example, the procedure
for examining applications for licences) should be set out in
a Council Regulation, with technical and administrative aspects
(such as the documentation to be provided, its format, and any
deadlines for submission) being handled by the Commission.
The Government's view
9.4 In his Explanatory Memorandum of 9 January 2006,
the Minister for Local Environment, Marine and Animal Welfare
at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Mr
Ben Bradshaw) says that simplification of CFP legislation is a
priority for the Government, and that the reduction of burdens
of fishermen is in line with the approach in the Better Regulation
Task Force report "Less is More", which has been accepted
in full. He points out that the recent UK Presidency succeeded
in its aim of ensuring that the Commission presented this document
at the meeting of the Agriculture and Fisheries Council in December
2005; that the UK agrees with the areas which the Commission has
identified as priorities; and that it wants to work with the Commission
to ensure that the work undertaken produces the best possible
results. He also draws attention to the fact that the Government
took on board, and passed on to the Commission, a number of suggestions
put forward by the National Federation of Fishermen's Organisations.
Conclusion
9.5 Although this document deals with an important
subject, it is essentially an outline blueprint for future action,
and does not in our view require further consideration. We are
therefore clearing it.
28 (26982) 13976/05; see HC 34-xiv (2005-06), para
9 (11 January 2006) Back
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