EC/Mauritius fisheries agreement: protocol for the period from 3 December 2002 to 2 December 2003

The committee adopted the report by Dominique SOUCHET (Ind, F) approving the proposal under the consultation procedure subject to just a few amendments. Believing that Parliament should be provided with better information to enable it to carry out its duties under the consultation procedure, the committee stipulated that, before undertaking any negotiations on renewal of the Protocol, the Commission should submit to Parliament and Council a general assessment report on its application, including a cost benefit analysis. Only after this report had been received and Parliament consulted should the Council authorise the Commission to enter into negotiations for adopting a new Protocol. MEPs also called on the Commission to ensure consistency between its fisheries, development and commercial policies. They added that the Community's commercial policy should not jeopardise the particularly positive economic and social effects of its tuna fishing agreements with ACP countries such as Mauritius and that the Commission should therefore maintain a customs differential for its imports of canned tuna from those countries.�