Authorising Poland to ratify the amendment to the Convention on the Conservation and Management of Pollock Resources in the Central Bering Sea

PURPOSE: to authorise Poland to ratify, in the interest of the European Union, the amendment to the Convention on the Conservation and Management of Pollock Resources in the Central Bering Sea.

PROPOSED ACT: Council Decision.

ROLE OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT: Council may adopt the act only if Parliament has given its consent to the act.

BACKGROUND: Poland is a Contracting Party to the Convention on the Conservation and Management of Pollock Resources in the Central Bering Sea. The Union is not a party to the Convention. By virtue of the 2003 Act of Accession, as from the date

of accession, fisheries agreements concluded by acceding Member States with third countries are to be managed by the Union. The Union should therefore implement in its legal order any decisions established under the Convention.

It is in the Union's interest to play an effective role in the implementation of the Convention.

By its Decision of 11 April 2016, the Council authorised Poland to negotiate, in the interest of the Union, an amendment to the Convention that would allow the participation of the Union as a full party to the Convention. To that end, Poland was to propose an amendment to the Convention in order to allow the participation of regional economic integration organisations and to allow for the Union to become a party to the Convention.

In October 2016, Poland proposed such an amendment to the Convention to the Depositary of the Convention. Poland should therefore be authorised to ratify the amendment to the Convention.

CONTENT: under the draft Council decision, Poland would be authorised to ratify, in the interest of the European Union, the amendment to Article XVI.4 of the Convention on the Conservation and Management of Pollock Resources in the Central Bering Sea to allow for the accession of regional economic integration organisations to the Convention.

The draft decision meets the objective of promoting consistency in the Union's conservation approach across oceans and reinforce its commitment to the long-term conservation and sustainable use of fisheries resources globally.