Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2025/2004 of 6 October 2025 amending Regulation (EU) 2023/2833 of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards derogations on reporting of intra-EU trade and certain tagging information, and the determination of weight of individual bluefin tuna

THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,

Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

Having regard to Regulation (EU) 2023/2833 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 December 2023 establishing a catch documentation programme for bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus) and repealing Regulation (EU) No 640/2010 (1), and in particular Article 14(1)(e) thereof,

Whereas:

(1) The Union is party to the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), having approved the accession to the ICCAT Convention pursuant to Council Decision 86/238/EEC (2).

(2) ICCAT adopts measures to ensure the long-term conservation and sustainable use of the fishery resources in the ICCAT Convention area and to safeguard the marine ecosystems in which these resources occur. Such measures are binding upon the Union.

(3) Since the adoption of Regulation (EU) 2023/2833, ICCAT has adopted, at its 2024 annual meeting, recommendation 24-16 (3) in relation to the application of the electronic bluefin tuna catch documentation programme. ICCAT recommendation 24-16 includes provisions which make specific derogations on reporting of intra-EU trade and certain tagging information permanent, in light of the excessive administrative burden and the differences of treatment these validation requirements create.

(4) Moreover, ICCAT recommendation 24-16 brings the manner in which the approximate weight of individual fish within the catch upon offloading is determined within the Union in line with the current practices, given that all landed fish are weighed, and sampling is not necessary to determine the average weight of the landed bluefin tuna individuals.

(5) Those measures should be implemented into Union law. Therefore Regulation (EU) 2023/2833 should be amended accordingly.

(6) As the provisions provided for in this Regulation have a direct impact on the planning of the fishing season of Union vessels and on related economic activities, this Regulation should enter into force as soon as possible,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

Amendment of Regulation (EU) 2023/2833

Regulation (EU) 2023/2833 is amended as follows:

(1) Article 5(4) is replaced by the following: ‘4.   Member States shall report annually to the Commission on the implementation of that derogation. That report shall include information on the verification by the Member States provided for in Article 9, the outcomes of that verification and data about the trade events concerned, including relevant statistical information, such as the amount of bluefin tuna and number of trades covered by that derogation.’

(2) Article 6(5) is replaced by the following: ‘5.   By way of derogation from paragraph 4, point (b) (v), of this Article, for those fisheries subject to the derogations as to minimum conservation reference size under Regulation (EU) 2023/2053, Member States may instead provide the approximate weight of individual fish within the catch upon offloading, which shall be determined by averaging the total landing weight over the number of individual fish.’

Article 2

This Regulation shall enter into force on the day following that of 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, 6 October 2025.

For the Commission The President Ursula VON DER LEYEN

(1) OJ L, 2023/2833, 20.12.2023, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2023/2833/oj.

(2) Council Decision 86/238/EEC of 9 June 1986 on the accession of the Community to the International Convention for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas, as amended by the Protocol annexed to the Final Act of the Conference of Plenipotentiaries of the States Parties to the Convention signed in Paris on 10 July 1984 (OJ L 162, 18.6.1986, p. 33, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/dec/1986/238/oj).

(3) Recommendation 24-16 by ICCAT (https://www.iccat.int/Documents/Recs/compendiopdf-e/2024-16-e.pdf).