General Fisheries Council for the Mediterranean: accession of the Community

OBJECTIVE: to enable the European Community to join the General Fisheries Committee for the Mediterranean (GFCM). COMMUNITY MEASURE: Council Decision on the accession of the European Community to the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean. SUBSTANCE: The decision enables the European Community to join the General Fisheries Committee for the Mediterranean (GFCM). The GFCM is a subsidiary organisation to the FAO (United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation), established by an international agreement concluded in Rome on 24 September 1949, which aims to manage and conserve the living resources of the Mediterranean sea. To this end, it monitors the state of resources and the state of the fisheries they supply and makes recommendations for the conservation of living marine resources. The GFCM also keeps under review the economic and social aspects of the fishing industry and encourages training, research and development with regard to fisheries. Membership of this commission is necessary as it allows the EU to contribute to conservation of living marine resources in the area covered by the GFCM agreement in which Community fishermen operate. With regard to procedure, accession to the GFCM entails a strict sharing of competences. As some Member States are already members of the GFCM, a single declaration annexed to the text of the decision specifies how competences are to be shared between the Community and the Member States. Thus, the Community has exclusive competence with regard to the conservation and management of living marine resources, while the Member States have competence with regard to organisational matters (legal, budgetary and procedural issues) raised within the GFCM. Competence is shared in several areas (statistics, aquaculture, research and development aid and cooperation with other organisations) for which voting rights are held by the Member States or the Community according to subject. ENTRY INTO FORCE: 16.06.1998. �