Changes from report parliamentary committee draft to plenary report

The proposal presented by the European Commission aims to strengthen the EU’s external fisheries governance, in line with the multilateral framework established by the Regional Fisheries Management Organisations (RFMOs) worldwide, and to transpose into EU law most of the rules agreed multilaterally in NAFO, IATTC, ICCAT, IOTC, SPRFMO and WCPFC between 2018 and 2024. This initiative reflects the EU’s continued commitment to promoting sustainable fisheries, fair competition, and the protection of marine ecosystems at the global level.

Whilst the Rapporteur welcomes the Commission’s proposal - which has the primary aim to facilitate the inter-institutional process of transposing rules adopted annually by RFMOs – he underlines his cautious approach towards amassing proposals of all RFMOs into one-single massive dossier – in contrast to previous transposition exercises being done per RFMO. The Rapporteur believes that such an approach, risks leading to the inter-institutional process being stuck for a long period due to a small number of points, possibly stemming from a minority of RFMO recommendations, at the detriment of European fishers who are seeking legal clarity. To that end, the Rapporteur calls on the Commission to engage with the Parliament prior to future transposition proposals in order to review this process.

With the aim to ensure a strict and timely transposition, the Rapporteur introduced amendments integrating RFMOs Recommendations adopted until 2024 which were missing in the Commission’s proposals (namely those stemming from ICCAT, IOTC, NAFO and SPRFMO). This approach guarantees that the EU maintains its role as a global leader in responsible fisheries management, ensures that citizens and stakeholders have legal clarity with the most up-to-date international standards being transposed into EU law and upholds a level playing field for EU operating under the management of these RFMOs.

Furthermore, the text highlights the potential future role of the European Fisheries Control Agency (EFCA) as the body acting on behalf of the European Commission in managing information flows and in serving as a reference point for Member States. This is reflected throughout the proposal by the recurring phrase “...or the body designated by the Commission.”

Finally, the amendments introduced by the Rapporteur enhance the readability and accessibility of the legal text for EU citizens and fishing operators, while ensuring coherence between the Union’s trade policy and its broader international ocean governance and sustainability objectives. Several parts of the proposal required updates to data protection provisions, in order to guarantee additional clarity and transparency for EU citizens and fishing operators when consulting the relevant legislation.