Multiannual guidance programmes for the fishing fleets end 1999 MAGP (Regulation (EC) No 2792/99). Annual report

The committee adopted the resolution by Niels BUSK (ELDR, DK) on the Commission report. As in previous years, it expressed criticism of the implementation of the multiannual guidance programmes and focused on certain key points, namely, the quality of the reported data, the fulfilment of the Member States' obligations and the need to apply penalties where appropriate. It called on the Commission and the Member States to adopt precise and clear criteria for the measurement of vessels and the categories of fishing fleets, and regretted that there had not yet been any harmonisation of the measurement of vessels' capacity in all Member States. Criteria for the measurement of tonnage and engine power needed to be comparable, so that a uniform reduction in capacity of the various fishing fleets could be achieved. The committee was also critical of the failure of many Member States to supply the necessary information, and welcomed the Commission's reinforced powers to withhold aid for the renewal or modernisation of fleets (under Articles 6 and 10 of Regulation 2792/99) in the event of non-compliance by the Member States. It urged the Commission to apply these penalties where necessary and called for them to be strengthened. The committee also wanted to be informed whenever a decision was taken to apply the penalty instruments, so that it could monitor Member States' failure to implement Community rules.�