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

PART VI U.K. EXTERNAL POLICY

Article 28 U.K. Objectives

1. In order to ensure sustainable exploitation, management and conservation of marine biological resources and the marine environment, the Union shall 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.

2. In particular, the Union shall:

(a) actively support and contribute to the development of scientific knowledge and advice;

(b) improve policy coherence of Union initiatives, with particular regard to environmental, trade and development activities and strengthen consistency of actions taken in the context of development cooperation and scientific, technical and economic cooperation;

(c) contribute to sustainable fishing activities that are economically viable and promote employment within the Union;

(d) ensure that Union fishing activities outside Union waters are based on the same principles and standards as those applicable under Union law in the area of the CFP, while promoting a level–playing field for Union operators vis-à-vis third-country operators;

(e) promote and support, in all international spheres, action necessary to eradicate IUU-fishing;

(f) promote the establishment and the strengthening of compliance committees of RFMOs, periodical independent performance reviews and appropriate remedial actions, including effective and dissuasive penalties, which are to be applied in a transparent and non-discriminatory manner.

3. The provisions of this Part shall be without prejudice to specific provisions adopted under Article 218 of the Treaty.

TITLE I U.K. International fisheries organisations

Article 29 U.K. Union activities in international fisheries organisations

1. The Union shall actively support and contribute to the activities of international organisations dealing with fisheries, including RFMOs.

2. The positions of the Union in international organisations dealing with fisheries and in RFMOs shall be based on the best available scientific advice so as to ensure that fishery resources are managed in accordance with the objectives laid down in Article 2, in particular paragraph 2 and point (c) of paragraph 5 thereof. The Union shall seek to lead the process of strengthening the performance of RFMOs so as to better enable them to conserve and manage marine living resources under their purview.

3. The Union shall actively support the development of appropriate and transparent mechanisms for the allocation of fishing opportunities.

4. The Union shall foster cooperation among RFMOs and consistency between their respective regulatory frameworks, and shall support the development of scientific knowledge and advice to ensure that their recommendations are based on such scientific advice.

Article 30 U.K. Compliance with international provisions

The Union shall, including through the European Fisheries Control Agency ("the Agency"), cooperate with third countries and international organisations dealing with fisheries, including RFMOs, to strengthen compliance with measures, especially those to combat IUU fishing, in order to ensure that measures adopted by such international organisations are strictly adhered to.

TITLE II U.K. Sustainable fisheries partnership agreements

Article 31 U.K. Principles and objectives of Sustainable fisheries partnership agreements

1. Sustainable fisheries partnership agreements with third countries shall establish a legal, environmental, economic and social governance framework for fishing activities carried out by Union fishing vessels in third country waters.

Such frameworks may include:

(a) development and support for the necessary scientific and research institutions;

(b) monitoring, control and surveillance capabilities;

(c) other capacity building elements concerning the development of a sustainable fisheries policy of the third country.

2. For the purpose of ensuring the sustainable exploitation of surpluses of marine biological resources, the Union shall endeavour to ensure that the Sustainable fisheries partnership agreements with third countries are of mutual benefit to the Union and to the third country concerned, including its local population and fishing industry and that they contribute to continuing the activity of Union fleets and seek to obtain an appropriate share of the available surplus, commensurate with the Union fleets' interest.

3. For the purpose of ensuring that Union vessels fishing under Sustainable fisheries partnership agreements operate, where appropriate, under similar standards to those applicable to Union fishing vessels fishing in Union waters, the Union shall endeavour to include in Sustainable fisheries partnership agreements appropriate provisions on obligations to land fish and fishery products.

4. Union fishing vessels shall only catch surplus of the allowable catch as referred to in Article 62(2) and (3) of the UNCLOS, and identified, in a clear and transparent manner, on the basis of the best available scientific advice and of the relevant information exchanged between the Union and the third country about the total fishing effort on the affected stocks by all fleets. Concerning straddling or highly migratory fish stocks, the determination of the resources available for access should take due account of scientific assessments conducted at the regional level as well as conservation and management measures adopted by relevant RFMOs.

5. Union fishing vessels shall not operate in the waters of the third country with which a Sustainable fisheries partnership agreement is in force unless they are in possession of a fishing authorisation which has been issued in accordance with that agreement.

6. The Union shall ensure that Sustainable fisheries partnership agreements include a clause concerning respect for democratic principles and human rights, which constitutes an essential element of such agreements.

Those agreements shall also, to the extent possible, include:

(a) a clause prohibiting the granting of more favourable conditions to other fleets fishing in those waters than those granted to Union economic actors, including conditions concerning the conservation, development and management of resources, financial arrangements, and fees and rights relating to the issuing of fishing authorisations;

(b) an exclusivity clause relating to the rule provided for in paragraph 5.

7. Efforts shall be made at Union level to monitor the activities of Union fishing vessels that operate in non–Union waters outside the framework of Sustainable fisheries partnership agreements.

8. Member States shall ensure that Union fishing vessels flying their flag and operating outside Union waters are in a position to provide detailed and accurate documentation of all fishing and processing activities.

9. A fishing authorisation, as referred to in paragraph 5, shall be granted to a vessel which has left the Union fishing fleet register and which has subsequently returned to it within 24 months, only if the owner of that vessel has provided to the competent authorities of the flag Member State all data required to establish that, during that period, the vessel was operating in a manner fully consistent with the standards applicable to a vessel flagged in the Union.

Where the state granting the flag during the period that the vessel was off the Union fishing fleet register became recognised under Union law as a non-cooperating state with regard to combating, deterring and eliminating IUU fishing, or as a state allowing for non-sustainable exploitation of living marine resources, such fishing authorisation shall only be granted if it is established that the vessel's fishing operations ceased and the owner took immediate action to remove the vessel from the register of that state.

10. The Commission shall arrange for independent ex-ante and ex-post evaluations of each protocol to a Sustainable fisheries partnership agreement, and make them available to the European Parliament and to the Council in good time before it submits to the Council a recommendation to authorise the opening of negotiations for a successor protocol. A summary of such evaluations shall be made publicly available.

Article 32 U.K. Financial assistance

1. The Union shall provide financial assistance to third countries through Sustainable fisheries partnership agreements in order to:

(a) support part of the cost of access to the fisheries resources in third country waters; the part of the cost of access to the fisheries resources to be paid by Union vessel owners shall be assessed for each Sustainable fisheries partnership agreement or a Protocol to it and shall be fair, non-discriminatory and commensurate with the benefits provided through the access conditions;

(b) establish the governance framework, including the development and maintenance of the necessary scientific and research institutions, promote consultation processes with interest groups, and monitoring, control and surveillance capability and other capacity building items relating to the development of a sustainable fisheries policy driven by the third country. Such financial assistance shall be conditional upon the achievement of specific results and complementary to and consistent with the development projects and programmes implemented in the third country in question.

2. Under each Sustainable fisheries partnership agreement, the financial assistance for sectoral support shall be decoupled from payments for access to fisheries resources. The Union shall require the achievement of specific results as a condition for payments under the financial assistance, and shall closely monitor progress.

TITLE III U.K. Management of stocks of common interest

Article 33 U.K. Principles and objectives of management of stocks of common interest to the Union and third countries and agreements on exchange and joint management

1. Where stocks of common interest are also exploited by third countries, the Union shall engage with those third countries with a view to ensuring that those stocks are managed in a sustainable manner that is consistent with this Regulation, and in particular with the objective laid down in Article 2(2). Where no formal agreement is reached, the Union shall make every effort to reach common arrangements for fishing of such stocks with a view to making the sustainable management possible, in particular, concerning the objective in Article 2(2), thereby promoting a level–playing field for Union operators.

2. In order to ensure a sustainable exploitation of stocks shared with third countries and to guarantee stability of the fishing operations of its fleets, the Union shall, in accordance with UNCLOS, endeavour to establish bilateral or multilateral agreements with third countries for the joint management of stocks, including the establishment, where appropriate, of access to waters and resources and conditions for such access, the harmonisation of conservation measures and the exchange of fishing opportunities.