On 29 April 2021 the Council adopted Decision (EU) 2021/689 (1) on the conclusion of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement between the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community, of the one part, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, of the other part (2) (the ‘Trade and Cooperation Agreement’). The Trade and Cooperation Agreement entered into force on 1 May 2021.
(2)
Article 8(1), point (q), of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement establishes the Specialised Committee on Fisheries. Its competences are set out in Article 8(4) of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement.
(3)
Article 8(4), point (f), of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement empowers the Specialised Committee on Fisheries to establish, supervise, coordinate and dissolve Working Groups.
(4)
In accordance with Article 8(10) of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement, and by way of derogation from Article 8(9) thereof, the Specialised Committee on Fisheries may adopt and subsequently amend its own rules that are to govern its work.
(5)
Article 508 of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement lists, in a non-exhaustive manner, the tasks and areas of competence of the Specialised Committee on Fisheries.
(6)
The Specialised Committee on Fisheries is responsible for the adoption of measures, including decisions and recommendations, in support of the objectives set out in Article 494 of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement, in particular the objective of ensuring that fishing activities for shared stocks in the Parties’ waters are environmentally sustainable in the long term and contribute to achieving economic and social benefits, while fully respecting the rights and obligations of independent coastal States as exercised by the Parties, and the objective of exploiting shared stocks at rates intended to maintain and progressively restore populations of harvested species above biomass levels that can produce the maximum sustainable yield (MSY). Such measures may become binding upon the Union.
(7)
Regulation (EU) No 1380/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council (3) provides that the Union is to ensure that fishing and aquaculture activities are environmentally sustainable in the long term and are managed in a way that is consistent with the objectives of achieving economic, social and employment benefits, and of contributing to the availability of food supplies. It provides that the Union is to implement an ecosystem-based approach, take management and conservation measures based on best available scientific advice, support the development of scientific knowledge and advice, gradually eliminate discards and promote fishing methods that contribute to more selective fishing and the avoidance and reduction, as far as possible, of unwanted catches, and to fishing with low impact on marine ecosystem and fishery resources. Regulation (EU) No 1380/2013 specifically provides that those objectives and principles are to be applied by the Union in the conduct of its external fisheries relations, without prejudice to specific provisions adopted under Article 218 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), and sets out the principles and objectives of management of stocks of common interest to the Union and third countries and provisions concerning agreements on exchange and joint management.
(8)
It is appropriate to establish the position to be adopted on behalf of the Union within the Specialised Committee on Fisheries with regard to acts of the Specialised Committee on Fisheries having legal effects.
(9)
That position and its specification should be established by the Council in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Treaties, Decision (EU) 2021/689 and this Decision. This Decision should cover the position of the Union within the Specialised Committee on Fisheries for the period 2021–2026, with the exception of the establishment or dissolution of any working group on fisheries and annual consultations on fishing opportunities, which will be covered by separate decisions under Article 218(9) TFEU. This Decision does not exclude the adoption of separate decisions under Article 218(9) TFEU for other issues of particular importance.
(10)
The European Parliament is to be immediately and fully informed pursuant to Article 218(10) TFEU.
(11)
In view of the evolving nature of fishery resources covered by the Trade and Cooperation Agreement and the consequent need for the position of the Union to take account of new developments, including new scientific and other relevant information presented before or during the meetings of the Specialised Committee on Fisheries, provisions on cooperation and coordination should be laid down, in line with the principle of sincere cooperation among the Union institutions enshrined in Article 13(2) of the Treaty on European Union, for the specification of the Union position for the period 2021–2026. Building on the practice developed with regard to the consultations on the fishing opportunities for 2021, those provisions on cooperation and coordination should ensure the regular and full involvement of the Council and its preparatory bodies, in line with the procedures set out in Decision (EU) 2021/689,
