When EU Fisheries Ministers met in Brussels earlier this week, a gradual introduction of the so-called omnibus regulation from 1 January 2015 was confirmed, despite continued disagreement on some key issues. Ministers also exchanged views regarding progress on the regional discard ban plans.
On 17 June, the EU Fisheries Ministers met in Brussels to discuss the proposal for an omnibus regulation and work on the regional discard ban plans. While exchange of views was made regarding the discard plans.
Prior to the meeting, the Greek Presidency had put forward a compromise on the omnibus regulation, which is supposed to pave the way for implementing the new landing obligation (Article 15, EC 1380/2013). The omnibus regulation could be seen as a bridging tool, attempting to align technical measures and control rules to the landing obligation by removing currently contradictory legislation. It has also been called “a sticking plaster”.
At the meeting, Ministers agreed on a gradual introduction of the omnibus regulation with implementation beginning on 1 January 2015. However, the compromise prepared by the Presidency received diverging views from Member States on a number of key issues, such as the removal of minimum conservation reference sizes (MCRS) for pelagic species in the North-East Atlantic and introducing exemptions for undersized fish. Some Member States expressed concern that such an exemption would not be in line with the new basic regulation (EC 1380/2013). The proposal by the Presidency to favour simple, coherent and operational measures received applause.
The discussions on the implementation of the discard ban plans took place behind closed doors, but the issue of how to handle damaged fish, including seal-damage which has caused extensive discussion in the Baltic region, as well as how to harmonise interpretation of the de minimis rule were covered. Another key issue discussed was whether technical measures needed to be included in the regional discard plans.
Proposals for regional discard ban plans are underway for most EU waters and some are about to be forwarded to the Commission as joint recommendations. If the Commission considers them of sufficient quality, they will be transformed into EU law as delegated acts before the end of the year.
The Council will seek to agree on a general approach on the ahead of negotiations with the European Parliament, which takes place in the second half of this year, with the aim to adopt the regulation by the end of 2014.