Proposal for a Council Decision on the position to be adopted, on behalf of the European Union, in the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organisation (NAFO)

By Regulation (EEC) No 3179/78, the European Community approved the 1979 Convention on Future Multilateral Co-operation in Northwest Atlantic Fisheries (the NAFO Convention), which established the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organisation (NAFO) and was subsequently amended in 2007, ratified by the European Union in 2010. The NAFO is a Regional Fisheries Management Organisation (RFMO) responsible for the conservation and management of fisheries in the Northwest Atlantic Ocean. The European Union became a contracting party to NAFO in 1979.

Pursuant to Article 218(9) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, the position to be adopted on behalf of the Union in RFMOs such as when they are called upon to adopt acts having legal effects, with the exception of acts supplementing or amending their institutional framework, must be adopted by Council Decision, on a proposal from the Commission.

Such position within the RFMO is currently established according to a two tier approach. A Council Decision sets out the guiding principles and orientations of the Union's position on a multiannual basis, whereas it is thereafter adjusted for each annual meeting by Commission non-papers to be discussed in the Council Working Party.

As regards the NAFO, Council Decision 12372/09 of 14 September 2009 provides for a review of the Union's position before the 2014 annual meeting. Therefore, this proposal aims at setting out the Union's position within the NAFO for the period 2014-2019 and thereby replacing Council Decision 12372/09 of 14 September 2009 which is covering the period 2009-2014.

This revision aims at incorporating the principles and orientations of the new Common Fisheries Policy (CFP), as laid down in Regulation (EU) No 1380/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council, taking also into account the objectives of the Commission Communication on the external dimension of the CFP. Moreover, the Union's position has been adjusted to the Lisbon Treaty. At last, the position has been aligned to the extent possible taking into account the specificities of the different RFMOs.

• Primary Source

EUR-Lex: COM(2014)129: Follow the progress of this proposal through the decision-making procedure http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/HIS/?uri=COM:2014:129:FIN

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