The European Commission has adopted a report on the monitoring of the implementation of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) which identifies weaknesses in Member States' control systems. This report, which covers the period from 1996 to 2000, evaluates the effectiveness of the control systems and activities of the Member States in ensuring compliance with CFP measures such as the respect of fishing quotas (TACs) or fleet capacity limits. "Undeniably, progress has been achieved. However, significant problems remain. We need stronger resolve to put in place the necessary controls. Member States have to commit the necessary resources. In its Green Paper, the Commission stresses the need to seize the opportunity offered by the forthcoming CFP review to explore new ways of improving control arrangements. Otherwise, the CFP will suffer a fatal blow to its credibility. I am determined to use this review to make control more effective and equitable", Franz Fischler, Commissioner for Agriculture, Rural Development and Fisheries said.

Member States are responsible for the proper enforcement of CFP measures which cover all activities related to fisheries from the net to the plate. Their national control and sanction schemes have been influenced by the traditions of their administrative and legal systems. The result is a patchwork of control and monitoring systems involving many different authorities which have different priorities, often lack resources and which are seen as ineffective and discriminatory by those targeted by the rules.

As the panoply of EU legal instruments is already in place, improvement in this area will require greater political will and determination among national authorities. Thus, the Commission has noted that, in some Member States, existing measures regarding the registration of catches and which were established as far back as in the 1980s have still not been fully implemented.

In some cases, inspection strategies have not been drawn up and many inspectors do not receive adequate training. Often a permissive attitude pervades with regard to the reporting of infringements to the relevant authorities and to their subsequent sanctioning.

Not surprisingly, as the Commission noted in the Green paper on the review of the CFP that it launched last March, the fishing industry has been calling for a 'level playing field' in order to ensure that infringements are detected and penalised in the same way throughout the EU.

The Commission, as guardian of the Treaty, must ensure equity under a common policy. However, its powers are rather limited in this field. It has a small unit of 25 inspectors who accompany national inspectors in order to observe them in their daily activities. Commission inspectors also monitor activities in some fisheries undertaken in international waters managed by Regional Fisheries Organisations.

The Commission noted some progress in the development of effective control mechanisms for certain types of fisheries as well as in the application of new technologies such as the monitoring of vessels by satellite or the computerised processing of data on catch and fishing effort. EU funds were available to Member States to improve their control systems. Over a period of five years (1996-2000) €205 million were allocated for this purpose.

Progress has also been achieved, for example, in strengthening co-operation among Member States, thanks to the Commission's three-year Action Plan which covered the period 1998-2000 and which is currently being evaluated.

Among the areas where the Commission sees scope for further progress are the strengthening and development of co-operation and co-ordination between all authorities involved in fisheries control, the exchange of information between them, the harmonisation of sanctions and the follow-up of infringements. Ways must be found to pool national and EU means and resources.

Stakeholders, too, have an important collective role to play in improving control. The industry and the authorities share the same objective of securing the future of the fishing sector and the way to achieve this is by complying with the conservation measures designed to protect stocks and ensure sustainable fisheries.

The Commission also advocates better monitoring of EU vessels operating outside EU waters and clarification by the EU on the division of responsibilities between the Commission and Member States on control and monitoring of fisheries activities in waters under the responsibility of Regional Fisheries Organisations.

On the basis of the Green Paper and of the response to it from interested parties, as well as of this report on control, the Commission will now produce a Communication, to be presented to the Council and the European Parliament, on the future orientations in the domain of enforcement of CFP measures.