THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community,

Having regard to Council Regulation (EEC) No 2930/86 of 22 September 1986 defining the characteristics of fishing vessels 1, as amended by Regulation (EC) No 3259/94 2, and in particular Article 4 thereof and the Annex thereto,

Whereas it is appropriate to take into account the situations in the different Member States regarding the procedures and methods for the measurement of the tonnage of their fleets;

Whereas the new deadlines agreed by the Council to ensure the remeasurement of small fishing vessels with a length of less than 24 metres must be used to ensure a gradual and balanced implementation of the formulae and operations linked to the remeasurement; whereas it is therefore appropriate that annual intermediate objectives should be fixed to ensure that those operations are gradually accomplished;

Whereas in the meantime it is necessary to have estimates of the gross tonnage of the Community fleet made available before the deadline fixed for the mid-term review of the multiannual guidance programmes for the period 1993-1996 defined by Commission decisions 3,

Whereas rationalization at the level of each Member State and harmonization at Community level of the units of tonnage measurement are amongst the conditions for the effective implementation of the multiannual guidance programmes for the period 1993-1996, under the transparent conditions which are needed for supervising compliance with the objectives;

Whereas the measures provided for in this Decision are in accordance with the opinion of the Management Committee for Fisheries and Aquaculture,

HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION: