Regulation 2009/1010 - Detailed rules for the implementation of Council Regulation (EC) No 1005/2008 establishing a Community system to prevent, deter and eliminate illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing - Main contents

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 280/5

Regulation (EC) No 1005/2008 provides for the adoption of detailed rules and measures to implement the provisions it sets out.

In accordance with Articles 6(3) and 16(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1005/2008 the period of three working days set out for the prior notification of landings or transhipments in port and for the submission of catch certificates before the estimated time of arrival of fishery products at the place of entry into the territory of the Community may be modified in the light of certain factors. These factors include: the type of fishery product; the distance between the fishing ground, landing places and ports where the vessels in question are registered or listed; the distance to the place of entry into the territory of the Community; the transport means used. Fresh fishery products and consignments arriving by air, road or rail require a shorter period than three working days.

Consistency should be ensured in documents transmitted in relation to prior notification of landings and transhipments, landing and transhipment declarations and sighting reports. For that reason formats for these must be set out in accordance with Articles 6(1), 8(3) and 49(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1005/2008.

Article 9(1) and Article 17(3) of Regulation (EC) No 1005/2008 provide that Member States shall carry out port inspections of at least 5 % of landing and transhipment operations by third country fishing vessels as well as verifications deemed necessary to ensure that the provisions of the Regulation are correctly applied, in accordance with benchmarks determined on the basis of risk management and on the basis of national or Community risk management criteria. It is appropriate to lay down common risk management criteria for checking, inspection and verification activities in order to allow timely risk analyses and global assessments of relevant control information. The common criteria aim at ensuring a harmonised approach to inspection and verification in all Member States and to establish a level playing field for all operators.

Article 52 of Regulation (EC) No 1005/2008 provides that measures necessary for implementing the provisions of that Regulation are to be adopted in accordance with the Committee procedure. Given the fact that the Community should take account of possible capacity constraints for the proper implementation of the certification scheme, it is deemed necessary to adapt the scheme for some fishery products obtained by small fishing vessels, introducing the possibility of a simplified catch certificate. In the absence of a general definition of small scale fisheries certain specific criteria should be laid down under which the validation of a simplified catch certificate may be requested by the exporter. These criteria should take account in the first instance of the limited capacity of the fishing vessels concerned, in relation to which the obligation to apply the standard catch certification scheme would constitute a disproportionate...