Commission Regulation (EC) No 2103/2004

of 9 December 2004

concerning the transmission of data on certain fisheries in the western waters and the Baltic Sea

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community,

Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 2371/2002 of 20 December 2002 on the conservation and sustainable exploitation of fisheries resources under the Common Fisheries Policy [1], and in particular Article 22(3) thereof,

Whereas:

(1) The maximum levels of annual fishing effort for certain fishing areas and fisheries are fixed by Council Regulation (EC) No 1415/2004 of 19 July 2004 [2], as provided for by Article 11(2) of Council Regulation (EC) No 1954/2003 of 4 November 2003 [3] on the management of the fishing effort relating to certain Community fishing areas and resources and modifying Regulation (EC) No 2847/93 and repealing Regulations (EC) No 685/95 and (EC) No 2027/95.

(2) Commission Regulation (EC) No 2092/98 of 30 September 1998 [4] concerning the declaration of fishing effort relating to certain Community fishing areas and resources is no longer in line with Regulations (EC) No 1954/2003 and 1415/2004 as regards the western waters. It is therefore necessary to redefine the obligations relating to the fishing effort declarations for the western waters.

(3) The existing obligations for the fishing effort declarations for the Baltic Sea, as laid down in Regulation (EC) No 2092/98, should remain in force.

(4) By reason of the number and the importance of the amendments to be made and with regard to coherence between the new obligations for the western waters and the existing obligations for the Baltic Sea, Regulation (EC) No 2092/98 should be repealed.

(5) The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Committee for Fisheries and Aquaculture,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

CHAPTER I

WESTERN WATERS

Article 1

Lists of vessels with special fishing permit

1. Member States shall transmit to the Commission, within 30 days from the date of entry into force of this Regulation, an updated version of the list of vessels referred to in Article 7 of Regulation (EC) No 1954/2003 using the reporting format set out in Annex I to this Regulation.

2. In accordance with Article 10(2) of Council Regulation (EC) 1954/2003 and Article 19(f) of Regulation (EC) 2847/1993 [5], amendments to the information contained in Annex I will be reported to the Commission on a daily basis by sending the complete updated Annex I at the time a special fishing permit as referred to in Article 8(3) of Regulation (EC) 1954/2003 is issued or withdrawn.

Article 2

Fishing effort

1. Member States shall transmit to the Commission the aggregated data on fishing effort, exerted by the vessels referred to in Article 1 in the previous month, before the 15th of each month using the reporting format set out in Annex II to this Regulation.

2. For the first fishing effort declaration, the reference period for the aggregated data shall start on 1 January 2004.

CHAPTER II

THE BALTIC SEA

Article 3

Lists of vessels with special fishing permit

1. Member States shall transmit to the Commission the list of vessels, referred to in Article 2 of Regulation (EC) No 779/97, using the reporting format set out in Annex III to this Regulation.

2. Amendments to the lists of vessels shall be reported to the Commission, using the same reporting format, at the latest four working days before the date of entry of vessels into the fishing area.

Article 4

Fishing effort

Member States shall transmit to the Commission the aggregated data on fishing effort, referred to in the second and third indent of Article 19(i) of Regulation (EEC) No 2847/93, in accordance with Annex IV to this Regulation.

CHAPTER III

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 5

Transfer of data and access to data

1. Member States shall communicate the data referred in Articles 1 to 4 to the Commission through the Fisheries Data Exchange System (or any future data system decided by the Commission).

2. The Commission shall make the data regarding the updated lists of vessels available through the Fisheries Data Exchange System (or any future data system decided by the Commission).

3. For the list of vessels referred to in Article 1 and the fishing effort declarations referred to in Article 2, the Fisheries Data Exchange System shall be adapted by the Commission by 1 July 2005, at the latest.

Until that date, the data referred to in Articles 1 and 2 shall be communicated by the Member States to the Commission in spreadsheet format by sending it to the appropriate mailbox address which shall be communicated to the Member States by the Commission.

Article 6

Repeal

1. Regulation (EC) No 2092/98 is repealed.

2. References made to the repealed Regulation shall be construed as references to this Regulation.

Article 7

Entry into force

This Regulation shall enter into force on the seventh day following its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.

Done at Brussels, 9 December 2004.

For the Commission

Joe Borg

Member of the Commission

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[1] OJ L 358, 31.12.2002, p. 59.

[2] OJ L 258, 5.8.2004, p. 1.

[3] OJ L 289, 7.11.2003, p. 1.

[4] OJ L 266, 1.10.1998, p. 47.

[5] OJ L 261, 20.10.1993, p. 1.

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