Introductory text

THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,

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

Having regard to the Council Regulation (EC) No 1224/2009 of 20 November 2009 establishing a Community control system for ensuring compliance with the rules of the common fisheries policy amending Regulations (EC) No 847/96, (EC) No 2371/2002, (EC) No 811/2004, (EC) No 768/2005, (EC) No 2115/2005, (EC) No 2166/2005, (EC) No 388/2006, (EC) No 509/2007, (EC) No 676/2007, (EC) No 1098/2007, (EC) No 1300/2008, (EC) No 1342/2008 and repealing Regulations (EEC) No 2847/93, (EC) No 1627/94 and (EC) No 1966/2006^f1, and in particular Articles 111 and 116 thereof,

Having regard to Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 404/2011of 8 April 2011 laying down detailed rules for the implementation of Council Regulation (EC) No 1224/2009 establishing a Community control system for ensuring compliance with the rules of the common fisheries policy^f2, and in particular Article 146j thereof,

Whereas:

During its 27th forum of 25-29 April 2016, the United Nations Centre for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business (UN/Cefact) adopted a standard for the exchange of information on fisheries (FLUX). In order to comply with this worldwide standard, the current European Union electronic reporting system (ERS) needs to be amended.

Article 146c of Implementing Regulation (EU) No 404/2011 provides that all messages related to the exchange of information on fisheries shall be based on this UN/Cefact standard.

The amended XML formats and implementation documents to be used for all electronic data exchanges are made available on the Master Data Register page of the European Commission Fisheries website^f3.

During meetings of the Fisheries Control Experts Group — ERS (Electronic recording and reporting system) and Data Management working group, Member States provided advice on the time needed to implement this amended format. The advice has been taken into account. The measures provided for in this Decision have been decided in concert with the Member States.

HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION: