Regulation (EU) No 1380/2013 of the European Parliament and of the CouncilShow full title

Article 15 U.K. Landing obligation

1. All catches of species which are subject to catch limits and, in the Mediterranean, also catches of species which are subject to minimum sizes as defined in Annex III to Regulation (EC) No 1967/2006, caught during fishing activities in Union waters or by Union fishing vessels outside Union waters in waters not subject to third countries' sovereignty or jurisdiction, in the fisheries and geographical areas listed below shall be brought and retained on board the fishing vessels, recorded, landed and counted against the quotas where applicable, except when used as live bait, in accordance with the following time-frames:

(a) From 1 January 2015 at the latest:

• (a) small pelagic fisheries (i.e. fisheries for mackerel, herring, horse mackerel, blue whiting, boarfish, anchovy, argentine, sardine, sprat);

• large pelagic fisheries (i.e. fisheries for bluefin tuna, swordfish, albacore tuna, bigeye tuna, blue and white marlin);

• fisheries for industrial purposes (inter alia, fisheries for capelin, sandeel and Norwegian pout);

• fisheries for salmon in the Baltic Sea.

(b) From 1 January 2015 at the latest for species which define the fisheries and from 1 January 2017 at the latest for all other species in fisheries in Union waters of the Baltic Sea for species subject to catch limits other than those covered by point (a).

(c) From 1 January 2016 at the latest for the species which define the fisheries and from 1 January 2019 at the latest for all other species in:

(i)

the North Sea

• fisheries for cod, haddock, whiting, saithe;

• fisheries for Norway lobster;

• fisheries for common sole and plaice;

• fisheries for hake;

• fisheries for Northern prawn;

(ii)

North Western waters

• fisheries for cod, haddock, whiting, saithe;

• fisheries for Norway lobster;

• fisheries for common sole and plaice;

• fisheries for hake;

(iii)

South Western waters

• fisheries for Norway lobster;

• fisheries for common sole and plaice;

• fisheries for hake;

(iv)

other fisheries for species subject to catch limits.

(d) From 1 January 2017 at the latest for species which define the fisheries and from 1 January 2019 at the latest for all other species in fisheries not covered by point (a) in the Mediterranean, in the Black Sea and in all other Union waters and in non-Union waters not subject to third countries' sovereignty or jurisdiction.

2. Paragraph 1 shall be without prejudice to the Union's international obligations. The Commission shall be empowered to adopt delegated acts, in accordance with Article 46, for the purpose of implementing such international obligations into Union law, including, in particular, derogations from the landing obligation under this Article.

3. Where all the Member States having a direct management interest in a particular fishery agree that the landing obligation should apply to species other than those listed in paragraph 1, they may submit a joint recommendation for the purpose of extending the application of the landing obligation to such other species. For this purpose, Article 18(1) to (6) shall apply mutatis mutandis. Where such a joint recommendation is submitted, the Commission shall be empowered to adopt delegated acts, in accordance with Article 46, containing such measures.

4. The landing obligation referred to in paragraph 1 shall not apply to:

(a) species in respect of which fishing is prohibited and which are identified as such in a Union legal act adopted in the area of the CFP;

(b) species for which scientific evidence demonstrates high survival rates, taking into account the characteristics of the gear, of the fishing practices and of the ecosystem;

(c) catches falling under de minimis exemptions[F1 ;]

[F2 (d) fish which shows damage caused by predators.]

5. Details of the implementation of the landing obligation referred to in paragraph 1 shall be specified in multiannual plans referred to in Articles 9 and 10 and, where relevant, further specified in accordance with Article 18, including:

[F1 (a) specific provisions regarding fisheries or species covered by the landing obligation referred to in paragraph 1, such as the technical measures referred to in Article 7(2), aimed at increasing gear selectivity or reducing or, as far as possible, eliminating unwanted catches;]

(b) the specification of exemptions to the landing obligation of species referred to in point (b) of paragraph 4;

(c) provisions for de minimis exemptions of up to 5 % of total annual catches of all species subject to the landing obligation referred to in paragraph 1. The de minimis exemption shall apply in the following cases:

(i)

where scientific evidence indicates that increases in selectivity are very difficult to achieve; or

(ii)

to avoid disproportionate costs of handling unwanted catches, for those fishing gears where unwanted catches per fishing gear do not represent more than a certain percentage, to be established in a plan, of total annual catch of that gear.

Catches under the provisions referred to in this point shall not be counted against the relevant quotas; however, all such catches shall be fully recorded.

For a transitional period of four years, the percentage of the total annual catches referred to in this point shall increase:

(i)

by two percentage points in the first two years of application of the landing obligation; and

(ii)

by one percentage point in the subsequent two years;

(d) provisions on documentation of catches;

(e) where appropriate, the fixing of minimum conservation reference sizes in accordance with paragraph 10.

[F3 6. Where no multiannual plan, or no management plan in accordance with Article 18 of Regulation (EC) No 1967/2006, is adopted for the fishery in question, the Commission shall be empowered to adopt, in accordance with Article 18 of this Regulation, delegated acts in accordance with Article 46 of this Regulation, laying down on a temporary basis specific discard plans containing the specifications referred to in points (a) to (e) of paragraph 5 of this Article for an initial period of no more than three years that may be renewed for a further total period of three years. Member States may cooperate, in accordance with Article 18 of this Regulation, in the drawing-up of such a plan with a view to the Commission adopting such acts or submitting a proposal in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure.]

7. Where no measures have been adopted for the purpose of specifying the de minimis exemption either in a multiannual plan in accordance with paragraph 5 or in a specific discard plan in accordance with paragraph 6, the Commission shall adopt delegated acts, in accordance with Article 46, setting the de minimis exemption referred to in point (c) of paragraph 4 which shall, subject to the conditions set out in point (c)(i) or (ii) of paragraph 5, amount to no more than 5 % of total annual catches of all species to which the landing obligation applies under paragraph 1. That de minimis exemption shall be adopted so as to apply from the date of application of the relevant landing obligation.

8. By way of derogation from the obligation to count catches against the relevant quotas in accordance with paragraph 1, catches of species that are subject to the landing obligation and that are caught in excess of quotas of the stocks in question, or catches of species in respect of which the Member State has no quota, may be deducted from the quota of the target species provided that they do not exceed 9 % of the quota of the target species. This provision shall only apply where the stock of the non-target species is within safe biological limits.

9. For stocks subject to the landing obligation, Member States may use a year-to-year flexibility of up to 10 % of their permitted landings. For this purpose, a Member State may allow landing of additional quantities of the stock that is subject to the landing obligation provided that such quantities do not exceed 10 % of the quota allocated to that Member State. Article 105 of Regulation (EC) No 1224/2009 shall apply.

10. Minimum conservation reference sizes may be established with the aim of ensuring the protection of juveniles of marine organisms.

11. For the species subject to the landing obligation as specified in paragraph 1, the use of catches of species below the minimum conservation reference size shall be restricted to purposes other than direct human consumption, including fish meal, fish oil, pet food, food additives, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics.

[F4 12. For species that are not subject to the landing obligation as specified in paragraph 1, the catches of species below the minimum conservation reference size shall not be retained on board, but shall be returned immediately to the sea, except when they are used as live bait.]

13. For the purpose of monitoring compliance with the landing obligation, Member States shall ensure detailed and accurate documentation of all fishing trips and adequate capacity and means, such as observers, closed-circuit television (CCTV) and others. In doing so, Member States shall respect the principle of efficiency and proportionality.

[F2 14. By 31 May 2016 , and by 31 May of each subsequent year up to and including 2020, the Commission shall submit to the European Parliament and to the Council an annual report on the implementation of the landing obligation, based on information transmitted by the Member States, the Advisory Councils and other relevant sources to the Commission.

Annual reports shall include:

• steps taken by Member States and producer organisations to comply with the landing obligation;

• steps taken by Member States regarding control of compliance with the landing obligation;

• information on the socioeconomic impact of the landing obligation;

• information on the effect of the landing obligation on safety on board fishing vessels;

• information on the use and outlets of catches below the minimum conservation reference size of a species subject to the landing obligation;

• information on port infrastructures and of vessels' fitting with regard to the landing obligation;

• for each fishery concerned, information on the difficulties encountered in the implementation of the landing obligation and recommendations to address them.]

Textual Amendments

F1 Substituted by Regulation (EU) 2015/812 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 May 2015 amending Council Regulations (EC) No 850/98, (EC) No 2187/2005, (EC) No 1967/2006, (EC) No 1098/2007, (EC) No 254/2002, (EC) No 2347/2002 and (EC) No 1224/2009, and Regulations (EU) No 1379/2013 and (EU) No 1380/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council, as regards the landing obligation, and repealing Council Regulation (EC) No 1434/98.

F2 Inserted by Regulation (EU) 2015/812 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 May 2015 amending Council Regulations (EC) No 850/98, (EC) No 2187/2005, (EC) No 1967/2006, (EC) No 1098/2007, (EC) No 254/2002, (EC) No 2347/2002 and (EC) No 1224/2009, and Regulations (EU) No 1379/2013 and (EU) No 1380/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council, as regards the landing obligation, and repealing Council Regulation (EC) No 1434/98.

F3 Substituted by Regulation (EU) 2017/2092 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 November 2017 amending Regulation (EU) No 1380/2013 on the common fisheries policy.

F4 Substituted by Regulation (EU) 2019/1241 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 June 2019 on the conservation of fisheries resources and the protection of marine ecosystems through technical measures, amending Council Regulations (EC) No 1967/2006, (EC) No 1224/2009 and Regulations (EU) No 1380/2013, (EU) 2016/1139, (EU) 2018/973, (EU) 2019/472 and (EU) 2019/1022 of the European Parliament and of the Council, and repealing Council Regulations (EC) No 894/97, (EC) No 850/98, (EC) No 2549/2000, (EC) No 254/2002, (EC) No 812/2004 and (EC) No 2187/2005.