LegalizeCouncil Regulation (EC) No 1005/2008 of 29 September 2008 establishing a Community system to prevent, deter and eliminate illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, amending Regulations (EEC) No 2847/93, (EC) No 1936/2001 and (EC) No 601/2004 and repealing Regulations (EC) No 1093/94 and (EC) No 1447/1999
CHAPTER I
GENERAL PROVISIONS
Article 1
Subject matter and scope
Article 2
Definitions
For the purposes of this Regulation:
‘illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing’ or ‘IUU fishing’ means fishing activities which are illegal, unreported or unregulated;
‘illegal fishing’ means fishing activities:
(a) conducted by national or foreign fishing vessels in maritime waters under the jurisdiction of a State, without the permission of that State, or in contravention of its laws and regulations; (b) conducted by fishing vessels flying the flag of States that are contracting parties to a relevant regional fisheries management organisation, but which operate in contravention of the conservation and management measures adopted by that organisation and by which those States are bound, or of relevant provisions of the applicable international law; or (c) conducted by fishing vessels in violation of national laws or international obligations, including those undertaken by cooperating States to a relevant regional fisheries management organisation;
‘unreported fishing’ means fishing activities:
(a) which have not been reported, or have been misreported, to the relevant national authority, in contravention of national laws and regulations; or (b) which have been undertaken in the area of competence of a relevant regional fisheries management organisation and have not been reported, or have been misreported, in contravention of the reporting procedures of that organisation;
‘unregulated fishing’ means fishing activities:
(a) conducted in the area of application of a relevant regional fisheries management organisation by fishing vessels without nationality, by fishing vessels flying the flag of a State not party to that organisation or by any other fishing entity, in a manner that is not consistent with or contravenes the conservation and management measures of that organisation; or (b) conducted in areas or for fish stocks in relation to which there are no applicable conservation or management measures by fishing vessels in a manner that is not consistent with State responsibilities for the conservation of living marine resources under international law;
‘fishing vessel’ means any vessel of any size used or intended for use for the purposes of commercial exploitation of fishery resources, including support ships, fish processing vessels, vessels engaged in transhipment and carrier vessels equipped for the transportation of fishery products, except container vessels;
‘ Union fishing vessel’ means a fishing vessel flying the flag of a Member State and registered in the Union;
‘fishing authorisation’ means entitlement to engage in fishing activities during a specified period, in a given area or for a given fishery;
‘fishery products’ mean any products which fall under Chapter 03 and Tariff headings 1604 and 1605 of the Combined Nomenclature established by Council Regulation (EEC) No 2658/87 of 23 July 1987 on the tariff and statistical nomenclature and on the Common Customs Tariff (1), with the exception of the products listed in Annex I of this Regulation;
‘conservation and management measures’ mean measures to conserve and manage one or more species of living marine resources and that are adopted and in force in accordance with the relevant rules of international and/or Union law;
‘transhipment’ means the unloading of all or any fishery products on board a fishing vessel to another fishing vessel;
‘importation’ means the introduction of fishery products into the territory of the Union, including for transhipment purposes at ports in its territory;
‘indirect importation’ means the importation from the territory of a third country other than the flag State of the fishing vessel responsible for the catch;
‘exportation’ means any movement to a third country of fishery products harvested by fishing vessels flying the flag of a Member State, including from the territory of the Union, from third countries or from fishing grounds;
‘re-exportation’ means any movement from the territory of the Union of fishery products which had been previously imported into the territory of the Union;
‘regional fisheries management organisation’ means a subregional, regional or a similar organisation with competence, as recognised under international law, to establish conservation and management measures for living marine resources placed under its responsibility by virtue of the convention or agreement by which it was established;
‘contracting party’ means a contracting party to the international convention or agreement establishing a regional fisheries management organisation, as well as States, fishing entities or any other entities that cooperate with such an organisation and have been granted cooperating non-contracting party status with respect to such an organisation;
‘sighting’ means any observation by a Member State’s competent authority responsible for inspection at sea, or by the master of a Union or third-country fishing vessel of a fishing vessel engaged in activities that may be considered to be IUU fishing in accordance with Article 3;
‘joint fishing operation’ means any operation between two or more fishing vessels where catch is transferred from the fishing gear of one fishing vessel to another or where the technique used by those fishing vessels requires one common fishing gear;
‘legal person’ means any legal entity having such status under the applicable national law, with the exception of States or public bodies in the exercise of State authority and public organisations;
‘risk’ means the likelihood of an event that may occur, with regard to fishery products imported into or exported from the territory of the Union, which prevents the correct application of this Regulation or of the conservation and management measures;
‘risk management’ means the systematic identification of risk and the implementation of all measures necessary for limiting exposure to risk. This includes activities such as collecting data and information, analysing and assessing risk, prescribing and taking action, and regular monitoring and review of the process and its outcomes, based on international, Union or national sources or strategies;
‘high seas’ means all the part of the sea as defined in Article 86 of the United Nations Convention of the Law of the Sea (Unclos);
‘consignment’ means products which are either sent simultaneously from one exporter to one consignee or covered by a single transport document covering their shipment from the exporter to the consignee.
Article 3
Fishing vessels engaged in IUU fishing
A fishing vessel shall be presumed to be engaged in IUU fishing if, contrary to the conservation and management measures applicable in the fishing area concerned, it carried out one or more activities:
(a) listed in Article 90(2), points (a) to (m), of Regulation (EC) No 1224/2009; or
(b) considered to be serious infringements pursuant to Article 90(3), points (a) to (f), (h), (i), (j), (l) and (n), of Regulation (EC) No 1224/2009.
CHAPTER II
INSPECTIONS OF THIRD COUNTRY FISHING VESSELS IN MEMBER STATES PORTS
SECTION 1
Conditions for access to port by third country fishing vessels
Article 4
Inspection in port schemes
Article 5
Designated ports
Article 6
Prior notice
Masters of third country fishing vessels or their representatives shall notify the competent authorities of the Member State whose designated port or landing facilities they wish to use at least three working days before the estimated time of arrival at the port, of the following information:
(a) vessel identification;
(b) name of the designated port of destination and the purposes of the call, landing, transhipment or access to services;
(c) fishing authorisation or, where appropriate, authorisation to support fishing operations or to tranship fishery products;
(d) dates of the fishing trip;
(e) estimated date and time of arrival at port;
(f) the quantities of each species retained on board or, where appropriate, a negative report;
(g) the zone or zones where the catch was made or where transhipment took place, whether in Union waters, in zones under the jurisdiction or sovereignty of a third country or on the high seas;
(h) the quantities for each species to be landed or transhipped.
Masters of third country fishing vessels or their representatives shall be exempted from notifying information contained in points (a), (c), (d), (g) and (h), where a catch certificate has been validated in accordance with Chapter III for the full catch to be landed or transhipped in the territory of the Union.
Article 7
Authorisation
Article 8
Recording of landing or transhipment operations
SECTION 2
Port inspections
Article 9
General principles
The following fishing vessels shall be inspected in all cases:
(a) fishing vessels sighted in accordance with Article 48;
(b) fishing vessels reported in the framework of a notification made under the Union alert system in accordance with Chapter IV;
(c) fishing vessels identified by the Commission as presumed to have engaged in IUU fishing in accordance with Article 25;
(d) fishing vessels appearing in a IUU vessel list adopted by a regional fisheries management organisation notified to Member States in accordance with Article 30.
Article 10
Inspection procedure
For the purpose of verifying compliance with applicable laws, regulations and relevant international conservation and management measures, Member States shall apply the provisions of Chapter I of Title VII of Regulation (EC) No 1224/2009.
Article 11
Procedure in the event of infringements
CHAPTER III
CATCH CERTIFICATION SCHEME FOR FISHERY PRODUCTS
Article 12
Catch certificates
Article 12a
Integrated computerised information management system for the Catch Certification Scheme
Article 12b
General functionalities of CATCH
CATCH shall:
(a) allow for the computerised submission, handling, storage, management and exchange of information, data and documents necessary for the performance of checks, risk management, verifications, control, quantity management and decisions as provided for under this Chapter and in the related delegated and implementing acts referred to in this Chapter and in Article 54a, between the competent authorities of Member States, between competent authorities of Member States and the Commission and, where appropriate, between competent authorities of Member States and competent authorities of flag States, countries of processing and other third countries concerned, and importers and exporters;
(b) provide for a quantity management mechanism which ensures that the weight of the raw material for one or more importations under one single catch certificate is not higher than the weight validated in such certificate;
(c) by 10 January 2028 provide for the possibility of exchanging information, data and documents relevant for importation, re-exportation and, where relevant, exportation of fishery products in accordance with the provisions of this Chapter and the delegated and implementing acts adopted pursuant to this Chapter, with other authorities of the Member States and with the customs authorities of Member States through the EU Single Window;
(d) provide for the possibility of electronic risk management and analysis.
Article 12c
The functioning of CATCH
In accordance with the rules laid down for TRACES, the Commission may adopt implementing acts for the functioning of CATCH which lay down:
(a) the technical specifications for CATCH as a system component of TRACES, including the electronic data exchange mechanism for exchanges with existing national and other systems, identification of applicable standards, definition of message structures, access conditions, data dictionaries, exchange of protocols and procedures;
(b) the specific rules for the functioning of CATCH and of its system components to ensure protection of personal data and security of exchange of information;
(c) contingency arrangements to be applied in the event of unavailability of any of the functionalities of CATCH;
(d) the cases where, and the conditions under which, the third countries and regional fisheries management organisations referred to in Article 13 or other international organisations may be granted partial access to the functionalities of CATCH and the technical specifications for such access;
(e) the rules under which electronic documents are validated in accordance with Regulation (EU) No 910/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council (3);
(f) the templates, forms and rules for the issuance of official documents, including in electronic format, provided for under this Regulation, other than those provided for in this Chapter and related Annexes.
Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 54(2).
Article 12d
Protection of personal data
Article 12e
Data security
Member States and the Commission shall ensure that CATCH complies with the rules on data security referred to in Articles 134 and 136 of Regulation (EU) 2017/625.
Article 13
Catch documentation schemes agreed and in force in the framework of a regional fisheries management organisation
Article 14
Importation of fishery products
In order to import fishery products transported in the same form to the Union from a third country other than the flag State or the State in which processing takes place as referred to in paragraph 2, the importer shall submit to the competent authorities of the Member States of importation:
(a) the catch certificate(s) validated by the flag State and, if applicable, the endorsed statement referred to in paragraph 2, as follows: (i) the original catch certificate(s) and, if applicable, the original of the statement referred to in paragraph 2, of the fishery products concerned if the total consignment is exported; or (ii) a copy of the original catch certificate(s) and, if applicable, a copy of the statement referred to in paragraph 2 where only a part of the fishery products concerned in the consignment is exported; and
(b) documented evidence that the fishery products did not undergo operations other than unloading, reloading or any operation designed to preserve them in good and genuine condition, and remained under the surveillance of the competent authorities in that third country. Such documented evidence shall be provided by means of: (i) if the whole consignment related to a catch certificate and, if relevant, to the statement referred to in paragraph 2 is exported, the single transport document issued to cover the passage from the territory of the flag State or the State in which processing takes place through that third country; or (ii) if the original consignment related to a catch certificate and, if relevant, to the statement referred to in paragraph 2 of this Article is split, a document validated by the competent authorities of that third country, using the template referred to in Article 54a, which at least: — gives an exact description of the fishery products and the weight of the consignment exported, the dates of unloading and reloading of the fishery products and, where applicable, the names of the vessels or other means of transport used; and — indicates the name and approval number of the storage facility and the conditions under which the fishery products remained in that third country.
Where the species concerned are subject to a catch documentation scheme adopted by a regional fisheries management organisation and recognised under Article 13, the documents referred to above may be replaced by the re-export certificate of that catch documentation scheme, provided that the third country has fulfilled its notification requirements accordingly.
In order to import fishery products constituting one single consignment and which have been processed in a third country, the importer shall submit to the competent authorities of the Member State of importation a statement established by the processing plant in that third country and endorsed by its competent authorities in accordance with the form set out in Annex IV:
(a) giving an exact description of the unprocessed and processed products and their respective quantities;
(b) indicating that the processed products have been processed in that third country from catches accompanied by catch certificate(s) validated by the flag State; and
(c) accompanied by: (i) the original catch certificate(s) where the totality of the catches concerned has been used for the processing of the fishery products exported in a single consignment; or (ii) a copy of the original catch certificate(s), where part of the catches concerned has been used for the processing of the fishery products exported in a single consignment.
Reading this document does not replace reading the official text published in the Official Journal of the European Union. We assume no responsibility for any inaccuracies arising from the conversion of the original to this format.