Explanatory Memorandum to COM(2010)153 - Agreement with Chile on the provisional application of the Understanding concerning the conservation of swordfish stocks in the South-Eastern Pacific Ocean

Please note

This page contains a limited version of this dossier in the EU Monitor.

dossier COM(2010)153 - Agreement with Chile on the provisional application of the Understanding concerning the conservation of swordfish stocks in ...
source COM(2010)153 EN
date 19-04-2010
Following a complaint brought by ANAPA (Spanish National Association of Owners of Deep-sea Longliners), the European Commission initiated an investigation under Council Regulation No. 3286/94 (Trade Barriers Regulation) (notice of initiation published on 10 July 1998). On 23 March 1999, the European Commission issued its investigation report, according to which Chilean practices denying access to Chilean ports to vessels fishing swordfish on the high seas in the South-Eastern Pacific were inconsistent with Article V of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade of 1994 (GATT).

Following Commission Decision 2000/296/EC of 5 April 2000 concerning the Chilean prohibition on unloading of swordfish catches of Community vessels in Chilean ports, the European Commission initiated a WTO dispute settlement procedure against Chile.

In reaction to this WTO case, Chile asked that certain questions be submitted to compulsory dispute settlement under the UN Law of the Sea Convention. Subsequently, Chile and the Community submitted on 19 December 2000 a dispute regarding the Conservation and Sustainable Exploitation of Swordfish Stocks in the South-Eastern Pacific Ocean to a Special Chamber of the International Tribunal of the Law of the Sea (ITLOS).

On 25 January 2001, the European Commission and Chile reached a provisional arrangement as a consequence of which Parties agreed to the parallel suspension of the WTO and ITLOS procedures.

In April 2008 the Council adopted a decision authorising the Commission to conduct negotiations with Chile on behalf of the European Union to reach a definitive agreement on a new fisheries cooperation framework.

On 30 October 2008 the Commission presented to the Council's Working Party on Internal and External Fisheries the text of the Understanding agreed between negotiators concerning the conservation of swordfish stocks in the South-Eastern Pacific Ocean. The new Understanding will ensure access to designated Chilean ports for transhipments and landings operations, as well as for logistical purposes, for fishing vessels flying the flags of Member States operating in the South-Eastern Pacific waters. The new Understanding does not call into question the respective competences of existing regional fisheries management organisations currently established (Inter-American Tropical Tunas Commission – IATTC) nor of those that are in the course of being established (South Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Organisation – SPRFMO).

On 3 December 2009 the Commission presented to the Council's Working Party on Internal and External Fisheries the outcome of the bilateral technical talks with Chile that took place on 5-6 October 2009 in New York. The Parties initialled a technical Annex I to the Understanding that contains detailed procedures to be followed by the EU vessels fishing for swordfish seeking access the designated Chilean ports. These procedures are in keeping with modern FAO Port State measures.

In the meantime, both Parties have already jointly withdrawn the ITLOS case. On 16 December 2009 the ITLOS Special Chamber placed on record the discontinuance of the case in accordance with the joint request of Chile and the EU.

Preparations are also underway for a joint withdrawal of the WTO Case (WT/DS/193 - Measures Affecting the Transit and Importation of Swordfish). However, the Commission will not, at this stage propose a closure of the Trade Barriers Regulation case. The Commission intends to make proposal for the withdrawal only after the formal conclusion of the Agreement by the respective EU and Chilean authorities and provided that the provisions on access to Chilean ports of EU vessels fishing for swordfish on the high seas in the South-Eastern Pacific have been implemented in a satisfactory manner during a reasonable period of time.

The Member States and the European Parliament should be invited by the Commission to start the relevant procedure for conclusion. In the meantime, in order to ensure that access for EU vessels fishing for swordfish to the designated Chilean ports is not delayed any further, it is necessary to provisionally apply the Understanding, for which a simultaneous but separate Council decision is herewith proposed.