Introductory text

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Articles 36 and 37 thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission^f1,

Having regard to the opinion of the European Parliament^f2,

Whereas:

Council Regulation (EC) No 2792/1999 of 17 December 1999 laying down the detailed rules and arrangements regarding Community structural assistance in the fisheries sector^f3 has afforded decommissioning incentives as a way of bringing about a balanced ratio of fleet capacity to available resources in the long term.

Several stocks of major importance to Community fisheries are now seriously depleted. The owners of fishing vessels whose fishing opportunities have been severely reduced as a result of a recovery plan adopted by the Council should therefore be offered additional decommissioning incentives on top of those already provided for in Regulation (EC) No 2792/1999. Sufficient additional funds should be made available to Member States for this purpose.

Only those vessel owners who are severely affected by a recovery plan should be afforded access to additional decommissioning incentives for the scrapping of fishing vessels defined by this Regulation. A reduction of 25 % or more in the fishing opportunities of the vessel concerned should be regarded as an objective indicator of severe impact.

The maximum amounts for the scrapping premiums laid down in Article 7 of Regulation (EC) No 2792/1999 are insufficient to enable the higher premiums to be paid.

For conservation reasons the Community measure should be established as soon as possible and should be limited in time to ensure that suitable restructuring of the fleet can proceed without delay.

It is necessary to ensure adequate flexibility of the distribution of the additional scrapping funds to allow them to be directed to those Member States most in need.

The roles of all parties involved in the implementation of the financial measure should be clearly defined and steps taken to guarantee the transparency and equity of the procedures for the management and monitoring of the measure.

Rules on the financial contributions made under this Regulation should be defined by reference to those laid down in Regulation (EC) No 2792/1999.

The measures necessary for the implementation of this Regulation should be adopted in accordance with Council Decision 1999/468/EC of 28 June 1999 laying down the procedures for the exercise of implementing powers conferred on the Commission^f4.

It is necessary and appropriate for the achievement of the basic objective of this Regulation, namely the conservation and sustainable exploitation of fisheries resources, to lay down rules on the scrapping of fishing vessels. In accordance with the principle of proportionality as set out in Article 5 of the Treaty, this Regulation does not go beyond what is necessary in order to achieve that objective,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION: