- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 06 January 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 14 January 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive for how long the effort limitation measures agreed at the EU Fisheries Council in December will be in place.
Answer
In legal terms, the interim regime will lapse when the Total Allowable Catches and quota regulation 2341/2202 (of which it is a part) lapses at the end of the year. However, there is a political commitment to bring forward a successor regime for agreement by Council at the end of March 2003 and implementation at the beginning of July 2003.
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 16 December 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 13 January 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it, in leading a UK delegation, would have a right of veto on the current Common Fisheries Policy review package should evidence emerge that the European Commission had incompetently invited the European Council to rely on illegal decision-making procedures to overturn provisions of EU law that were protected by unanimity or by treaty amendment procedures.
Answer
All fisheries matters, including legislation undertaken under the Common Fisheries Policy, are subject to Qualified Majority Voting under the terms of the Treaty establishing the European Community. It is for the European Court of Justice to decide whether or not Council regulations are competent.
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 16 December 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 13 January 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has sought any legal opinion on whether the interpretation of the review clause in EEC Regulation 3760/1992 must be circumscribed by other provisions of EU law that are not open to amendment, suspension or repeal other than by recourse to treaty amendment procedures or by other provisions of the acquis communautaire that may not be decided without the unanimous consent of the member states.
Answer
Article 14.2 in Regulation 3760/1992 stipulates 31 December 2002 as the date by which the Council was to decide on access arrangements to follow the arrangements for six- 12-mile limits and the Shetland Box defined in Articles 6 and 7 of the same Regulation. Our legal advice is that this date is valid as the expiration date of the regime defined in Articles 156-164 of the Iberian Act of Accession. Regulation 3760/1992 was established via Qualified Majority Voting (QMV), and any amendments to it or new Regulations in the domain of fisheries are also subject to QMV, as stipulated by Article 37 of the Treaty establishing European Community.
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 16 December 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 13 January 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answers to questions S1W-31980. S1W-31981, S1W-31982 and S1W-31984 by Ross Finnie on 10 December 2002, how these answers are consistent with the terms of Article 155.3 of the Spanish fisheries chapter of the 1985 Act of Accession which states that the European Council "acting unanimously on a proposal from the European Commission shall determine, where appropriate, the possibilities and conditions of mutual access to the respective fishing 'ones and to the resources thereof".
Answer
Fisheries is a matter for Qualified Majority Voting, as stipulated in Article 37 of the Treaty establishing the European Community. The legal interpretation of Article 155.3 of the Fisheries chapter of the 1985 Iberian Act of Accession is that it, and the unanimity to which it refers, applies solely to the Canary Islands, Ceuta and Melilla, with which Article 155 in its entirety is concerned.
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 16 December 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 13 January 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answers to questions S1W-31980. S1W-31981, S1W-31982 and S1W-31984 by Ross Finnie on 10 December 2002, how these answers are consistent with the terms of Articles 6 and 154.1 of the Spanish fisheries chapter of the 1985 Act of Accession which protect certain parts of the act in provisions of EU law that may not be amended, suspended or repealed other than by recourse to treaty amendment procedures.
Answer
Article 6 of the 1985 Iberian Act of Accession refers to suspending, amending or repealing its provisions. Article 154.1 of the same refers to the fact that Chapter 4 applies to the fisheries sector. Neither of these articles in any way conflicts with the fact that, as stated in the answers given to questions S1W-31980, S1W-31981, S1W-31982 and S1W-31984, fisheries is a matter for Qualified Majority Voting, as stipulated by the Treaty establishing the European Community, Article 37.
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 January 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 9 January 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions are planned with the fishing industry regarding the outcome of the December meeting of the EU fisheries council.
Answer
We have already had discussions with industry representatives regarding the outcome of the Council. Discussions continue about the implications and implementation arrangements.
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 16 December 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 7 January 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-31980 by Ross Finnie on 10 December 2002, whether keeping the Common Fisheries Policy's (CFP) principle of relative stability central to a new CFP would not be facilitated by a permissive interpretation of the legal scope of the review clause of EEC Regulation 3760/1992.
Answer
Ministers at the Agriculture and Fisheries Council in December voted in favour of retaining the principle of relative stability in quota allocation, as part of a wider package of CFP reforms.
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 16 December 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 7 January 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has sought any legal opinion on whether the 1985 Act of Accession envisages that Spain's northern EEC fishing access rights will expire on 31 December 2002.
Answer
Following discussions in EC Working Groups, the opinion of the Council Legal Services was sought on that and related matters. Their view is that the access restrictions defined in Articles 156-164 of the Iberian Act of Accession definitively expire after 31 December 2002. The Executive regularly takes legal advice on relevant issues and advice from its legal advisers on this matter is consistent with that from the Council Legal Services.
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 21 November 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 7 January 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what monitoring and assessment took place in relation to the closure of fishing grounds last year as part of the cod recovery plan and what the results of such monitoring and assessment were.
Answer
The purpose of the closure of some of the North Sea fishing grounds in 2001 was specifically to try to improve the spawning chances of cod with a view to enhancing future recruitment to the stock. Evaluations at the time predicted that, at best, a 5% increase in egg production might be expected in the North Sea cod stock.The cod stock is routinely monitored through the sampling of discards and marketed landings and during a series of research vessel cruises. Annual assessments take place within the ICES framework: a stock improvement of sufficient magnitude would be detected by this monitoring. Additional monitoring was not therefore carried out. It is still too early to draw firm conclusions on the efficacy or otherwise of the closure on the state of the cod stock although it is questionable whether such a small predicted benefit to egg production would lead to a detectable improvement in subsequent stock biomass.
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 November 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Peter Peacock on 24 December 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answers to questions S1W-28038 and S1W-30697 by Ms Margaret Curran and Mr Jim Wallace on 30 August and 29 October 2002 respectively, whether it has ever made any direct representations to members of the (a) European Parliament, (b) Committee of the Regions and (c) European Commission and, if so, under what circumstances such representations were made.
Answer
The Scottish Executive has held a number of meetings with and made representations to members of the European Parliament, the Committee of the Regions and the European Commission. It is not, however, our practice to disclose details of such meetings or representations, which are often in the context of sensitive and confidential negotiations.
