Fisheries agreements: transmission of applications for fishing licences to third countries before expiration of a protocol to a fisheries agreement

PURPOSE : to amend Regulation 3317/94/EEC as regards the transmission of applications for fishing licences to third countries.

PROPOSED ACT : Council Regulation.

CONTENT : under the terms of the fisheries agreements between the Community and third countries, before the expiry of the period of validity of each protocol the contracting parties are to negotiate in order to agree the contents of a new protocol for the following period and, once the protocol has been agreed, sign an exchange of letters on its provisional application on a given date to allow fishing activities to continue.

To avoid the situation where the fishing opportunities provided for in the new protocol cannot be used in the intervening period, this proposal aims to allow the Commission to process applications from the Member States for fishing opportunities immediately and to transmit them to the third country. It is in the Community’s interests to avoid any suspension, even temporary, of fishing activities, which would be damaging both to the European Community and to the fishing fleets concerned.

Pending the adoption of the Council decision on the exchange of letters on the provisional application of the new protocol to a fisheries agreement and on the allocation of fishing opportunities among the Member States, this proposal lays down temporary provisions allowing the Commission to transmit licence applications to third countries based on the method of allocating the fishing opportunities used in the agreement, taking into account the principle of relative stability.