The Union is exclusively competent, under the Common Fisheries Policy, to adopt measures for the conservation of marine biological resources and to enter into agreements with third countries and international organisations in this respect.

Pursuant to Council Decision 98/392/EC2 and 98/414/EC3, the Union is a contracting party to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea of 10 December 1982 (‘the Convention’) and to the Agreement on the implementation of the provisions of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea of 10 December 1982, relating to the Conservation and Management of Straddling Fish Stocks and Highly Migratory fish stocks (‘the Fish Stocks Agreement’). Both the Convention and the Fish Stocks Agreement require all States to cooperate in conserving and managing the living resources of the sea. The Agreement to Prevent Unregulated High Seas Fisheries in the Central Arctic Ocean (‘the Agreement’) fulfils this obligation.

Regulation (EU) No 1380/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council4 provides that the Union is to conduct its external fisheries relations in accordance with its international obligations and policy objectives, as well as the objectives and principles set out in Articles 2 and 3 of that Regulation, in order to ensure sustainable exploitation, management and conservation of marine biological resources and the marine environment. The Agreement is consistent with those objectives.

On 31 March 2016, the Council authorised the Commission to negotiate, on behalf of the Union, an international agreement to prevent unregulated high seas fisheries in the central Arctic Ocean. Those negotiations were successfully concluded on 30 November 2017. In accordance with Council Decision (EU) 2018/12575, the Agreement to Prevent Unregulated High Seas Fisheries in the Central Arctic Ocean was signed on 3 October 2018, subject to its conclusion at a later date.

Becoming a party to the Agreement will promote consistency in the Union's conservation approach across oceans and reinforce its commitment to the long-term conservation and sustainable use of marine biological resources globally, and is therefore in the Union's interest.

The Agreement should be approved,