Council Regulation (EC) No 1984/2003 of 8 April 2003 introducing a system for the statistical monitoring of trade in bluefin tuna, swordfish and bigeye tuna within the Community

CHAPTER 1

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1

Object

This Regulation lays down general rules and conditions for the application by the Community of:

(a) the statistical document programmes for  bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus), swordfish (Xiphias gladius) and bigeye tuna (Thunnus obesus) adopted by the ‘ICCAT’.

Article 2

Scope

This Regulation shall apply to  bluefin tuna, swordfish and bigeye tuna as referred to in Article 1:

(a) caught by a Community vessel or producer, or

(b) imported into the Community, or

(c) exported or re-exported from the Community to a third country.

This Regulation shall not apply to bigeye tuna taken by seiners or baitboats and intended mainly for the canning industry in the areas of application of the Agreement for the establishment of the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (hereinafter called ‘the IOTC Agreement’) and the ICCAT Convention.

Article 3

Definitions

For the purposes of this Regulation, the following definitions shall apply:

(b) swordfish: fish of the species Xiphias gladius falling within the TARIC codes listed in Annex II;

(c) bigeye tuna: fish of the species Thunnus obesus falling within the TARIC codes listed in Annex III;

(d) fishing: capture by a vessel with a view to landing, transhipment or placing in a cage or by a producer using a tuna trap net, of any fish belonging to one of the species listed in Article 1;

(e) Community producer: natural persons or legal entities using the means of production for obtaining fishery products with a view to first-stage marketing;

(f) importation: the customs procedures referred to in Article 4, points 16(a) to 16(f), of Council Regulation (EEC) No 2913/92 of 12 October 1992 establishing the Community Customs Code (¹);

(g) large-scale fishing vessel: fishing vessel 20 metres in length overall or greater;

(h) large-scale pelagic longline vessel: pelagic longline vessel 24 metres in length overall or greater.

CHAPTER 2

STATISTICAL MONITORING

Section 1

Requirements on Member States in respect of imports

Article 4

Statistical document for importation

All quantities of fish belonging to one of the species referred to in Article 1 imported from a third country into the territory of the Community shall be accompanied by a statistical document drawn up in accordance with the specimen shown at:

— Annex V in the case of swordfish,

— Annex VI or Annex VII in the case of bigeye tuna.

A statistical document shall:

(a) contain all the information specified in the relevant Annexes referred to in paragraph 1 and all the signatures required by the appropriate operators, who shall be answerable for the declarations made therein;

(b) be validated: (i) where the fishing has been carried out by a vessel: by a civil servant duly approved by the flag State of the vessel which carries out the fishing or by any other person or institution duly approved by that State. In the case of the third countries listed in Annex IVb, validation may be undertaken by an institution recognised for that purpose by that country; (ii) where the fishing has been carried out using a trap net: by a civil servant duly approved by the State in whose territorial waters the catch has been taken; (iii) in the case of swordfish,  bluefin tuna and bigeye tuna caught by a vessel operating under a charter agreement: by a civil servant or any other person or institution duly approved by the exporting State; (iv) in the case of bigeye tuna caught by one of the vessels listed in Annexes VIIIa and VIIIb: by a Japanese or Taiwanese government official or by any other person duly approved for that purpose by the Governments of those countries;

(c) if the fishing has been carried out by a large-scale fishing vessel, be accepted only when that vessel is on the ICCAT record of vessels.

Those authorities may also examine the content of any cargo in order to verify the accuracy of the information contained in those documents.

Section 2

Requirements on Member States in respect of exports

Article 5

Statistical document for exportation

All quantities of fish belonging to one of the species referred to in Article 1 caught by a Community vessel or taken by a Community producer and exported to a third country shall be accompanied by a statistical document drawn up in accordance with the specimen shown at:

— Annex V in the case of swordfish;

— Annex VI or Annex VII in the case of bigeye tuna.

A statistical document shall:

(a) contain all the information specified in the relevant Annexes referred to in paragraph 1 and all the signatures required by the appropriate operators, who shall be answerable for the declarations made therein;

(b) be validated by: (i) the competent authorities of the flag Member State, or (ii) the competent authorities of another Member State in which the products are landed, provided the corresponding quantities are exported outside the Community from the territory of that Member State. The latter shall transmit a copy of the validated statistical document to the flag Member State within two months;

(c) if the fishing has been carried out by a large-scale fishing vessel, be validated only when that vessel is on the ICCAT record of vessels.

These authorities may also examine the content of any cargo in order to verify the accuracy of the information contained in those documents.

Section 3

Requirements on Member States in respect of re-exports

Article 6

Re-export certificates

A re-export certificate shall accompany all quantities of fish belonging to one of the species referred to in Article 1 which are:

(a) re-exported from the Community to a third country following importation into the Community; or

(b) imported into the territory of the Community from a third country after having been re-exported by that third country.

Re-export certificates shall be drawn up in accordance with the specimen shown at:

(b) Annex X in the case of swordfish;

(c) Annex XI or Annex XII in the case of bigeye tuna.

Re-export certificates shall:

(a) contain all the information specified in the relevant Annexes referred to in the second subparagraph of paragraph 1 and all the signatures required by the appropriate operators, who shall be answerable for the declarations made therein;

(b) be validated by the competent authorities of the Member State from which the re-export is to take place or the competent authorities of the third country from which the re-export has taken place;

(c) be accompanied by a duly validated copy of the statistical document for importation referred to in Article 4.

These authorities may also examine the content of any cargo in order to verify the accuracy of the information contained in those documents.

Article 7

Repeated re-exports

Article 6 (3), (4), (5) and (6) shall apply.

Section 4

Requirements for Member States in respect of transhipped products in the ICCAT Convention area

Article 7a

Statistical documents and reporting

CHAPTER 3

TRANSMISSION OF DATA

Article 8

Information concerning validation

Each Member State shall forward to the Commission not later than 30 days following the entry into force of this Regulation a specimen of its statistical documents and re-export certificates. It shall also forward to the Commission all necessary information concerning validation and, in good time, any changes to those documents and certificates, in accordance with:

(a) the ICCAT specimen shown at Annex XIII for  bluefin tuna, swordfish and bigeye tuna.

Article 9

Transmission of data

Member States which import, export or re-export fish belonging to one of the species referred to in Article 1 shall forward to the Commission by computer transmission before 15 March for the period from 1 July to 31 December of the preceding year and before 15 September for the period from 1 January to 30 June of the current year, a report on:

(a) the quantities of each commercial presentation of fish belonging to one of the species referred to in Article 1 imported into their territory, broken down by third country of origin, place of catch and type of fishing gear used;

(b) the quantities of each commercial presentation of fish belonging to one of the species referred to in Article 1 imported into their territory after having been re-exported by a third country, broken down by third country of origin, place of capture and type of fishing gear used.

The report referred to in paragraph 1 shall contain the information specified in:

(b) Annex XVI for swordfish;

(c) Annex XVII or Annex XVIII for bigeye tuna.

Article 10

National report

Member States which export fish belonging to one of the species referred to in Article 1 shall check that the information on imports transmitted by the Commission corresponds to their own information. They shall inform the Commission of the outcome of such cross-checks in the national report referred to in Article 9 of Council Regulation (EC) No 1936/2001 of 27 September 2001 laying down control measures applicable to fishing for certain stocks of highly migratory fish (³).

CHAPTER 4

FINAL PROVISIONS

Article 11

Amendment of Annexes

The Annexes hereto may be amended in accordance with the ICCAT and the IOTC conservation measures which become binding on the Community and in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 12(2).

Article 12

Committee procedure

The period laid down in Article 4(3) of Decision 1999/468/EC shall be set at one month.

Article 13

Repeal

Article 14

Entry into force

This Regulation shall enter into force on the 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.

ANNEX II

Without prejudice to the rules for the interpretation of the Combined Nomenclature, the wording of the description of the goods is regarded as being for information purposes only. In the context of this Annex, the TARIC codes will apply, as they exist when this Regulation is adopted.

TARIC code

ANNEX III

Without prejudice to the rules for the interpretation of the Combined Nomenclature, the wording of the description of the goods is regarded as being for information purposes only. In the context of this Annex, the TARIC codes will apply, as they exist when this Regulation is adopted.

TARIC code

ANNEX IVb

Third countries recognised by ICCAT for which the statistical document can be validated by an institution authorised for this purpose, for example a chamber of commerce: Angola, Brazil, Canada, Cape Verde, China, Côte d'Ivoire, Croatia, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea-Conakry, Japan, Korea, Libya, Morocco, Russia, São Tomé and Príncipe, South Africa, Tunisia, Uruguay, USA, Venezuela.

ANNEX V

ANNEX VI

ANNEX VIIIa

(At 1 November 2001)
No	Year of breaking up	Flag State	Name of vessel	Tonnage	Year of construction	Fishing area
1	2002	BOLIVIA	YING CHIN HSIANG 66	379	1979	INDIAN OCEAN
2	2002	CAMBODIA	HUA CHENG 707	606	1980	INDIAN OCEAN
3	2002	CAMBODIA	HUA CHUNG 808	549	1980	INDIAN OCEAN
4	2002	PHILIPPINES	CHEN FA 736	636	1979	ATLANTIC
5	2002	BOLIVIA	ZHONG I 85	437	1976	PACIFIC
6	2002	BELIZE	LIEN TAI	491	1979	ATLANTIC
7	2003	BELIZE	JEFFREY 131	597	1980	PACIFIC
8	2003	EQUATORIAL GUINEA	WIN FAR 236	672	1978	INDIAN OCEAN
9	2003	EQUATORIAL GUINEA	WIN FAR 266	535	1979	INDIAN OCEAN
10	2003	BOLIVIA	CHIN I MING	663	1979	ATLANTIC
11	2003	BOLIVIA	CHIN CHANG MING	578	1980	ATLANTIC
12	2003	BOLIVIA	GOLDEN RICH (previously: ZHONG XIN 26)	520	1974	ATLANTIC
13	2003	BOLIVIA	CHI MAN	556	1982	INDIAN OCEAN
14	2003	BOLIVIA	HUNG YU 112	690	1981	INDIAN OCEAN
15	2003	EQUATORIAL GUINEA	CHEN CHIANG 1	578	1988	INDIAN OCEAN

ANNEX VIIIb

No	Flag State	Name of vessel	Tonnage	Fishing area	Year of construction
1	EQUATORIAL GUINEA	YIH SHUEN NO 212	470	INDIAN OCEAN	1999
2	SEYCHELLES	SEYGEM	573	PACIFIC	1997
3	SEYCHELLES	SEYSTAR	573	PACIFIC	1998
4	VANUATU	NINE LUCKY No 1	508	PACIFIC	1998
5	BELIZE	WIN FAR No 868	498	PACIFIC	1999
6	EQUATORIAL GUINEA	WEI CHING	498	ATLANTIC	1997
7	BELIZE	JUI YING No 666	498	PACIFIC	1997
8	BELIZE	CHEN FA No 1	550	INDIAN OCEAN	1997
9	SEYCHELLES	SEYPERAL	680	PACIFIC	1998
10	BELIZE	PING YUAN No 201	706	INDIAN OCEAN	1996
11	BELIZE	LIAN HORNG No 777	499	PACIFIC	1998
12	BELIZE	FONG KU No 36	521	PACIFIC	1997
13	BELIZE	SHYE SIN No 1	598	O. INDIAN OCEAN	1997
14	BELIZE	HUNG YU No 212	470	ATLANTIC	1997
15	BELIZE	HWA CHIN No 202	470	ATLANTIC	1997
16	BELIZE	SUNG HUI	573	ATLANTIC	1998
17	BELIZE	HSIEN HUA 106	625	PACIFIC	2000
18	BELIZE	HSIEN HUA 107	625	PACIFIC	2000
19	BELIZE	FU YUAN No 66	683	PACIFIC	1998
20	BELIZE	LONG CHANG No 3	589	ATLANTIC	1997

ANNEX X

ANNEX XI

ANNEX XIII

ANNEX XVI

ANNEX XVII

ANNEX XIX

Regulation (EC) No 858/94	This Regulation
—  Article 1	—  Article 2
—  Article 2	—  Article 4
—  Article 2a	—  Article 5
—  Article 3(1), (2) and (3)	—  Article 4
—  Article 3(4)	—  Article 6
—  Article 3a	—  Article 6
—  Article 4	—
—  Article 5	—  Article 9
—  Annex I	—  Annex IVa
—  Annex II	—  Annex IVb
—  Annex III	—  Annex IX