THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community,
Having regard to the Council Regulation (EC) No 861/2006 of 22 May 2006 establishing Community financial measures for the implementation of the common fisheries policy and in the area of the Law of the Sea, and in particular Article 24(1) thereof,
Whereas:
(1)
Regulation (EC) No 861/2006 lays down the conditions whereby Member States may receive a contribution from the Community for expenditure incurred in their national programmes of collection and management of data.
(2)
Those programmes are to be drawn up in accordance with Council Regulation (EC) No 1543/2000 of 29 June 2000 establishing a Community framework for the collection and management of the data needed to conduct the common fisheries policy and Commission Regulation (EC) No 1639/2001 of 25 July 2001 establishing the minimum and extended Community programmes for the collection of data in the fisheries sector and laying down detailed rules for the application of Council Regulation (EC) No 1543/2000.
(3)
Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Greece, Spain, France, Ireland, Italy, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Finland, Romania, Slovenia, Sweden and the United Kingdom have submitted national programmes for 2008 as provided for in Article 6(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1543/2000. Those Member States have also submitted applications for a financial contribution by the Community.
(4)
The Commission has examined Member States’ programmes and has assessed the eligibility of the expenditures.
(5)
Article 5(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1543/2000 lays down the basis for a minimum Community programme covering the information absolutely needed for the scientific evaluations and an extended programme that shall include, in addition to the information contained in the minimum programme, information likely to improve substantially the scientific evaluations.
(6)
Article 24(3)(b) of Regulation (EC) No 861/2006 establishes that a Commission Decision shall fix the rate of the financial contribution. Article 16 of Regulation (EC) No 861/2006 provides that Community financial measures in the area of basic data collection shall not exceed 50 % of the costs incurred by Member States in carrying out the programme of collection and management of data. Article 24(2) stipulates that priority shall be given to the actions which are most appropriate in order to improve the collection of data necessary for the CFP.
(7)
An advance payment should be granted to the Member States to facilitate the implementation of their national programme. The payment of the total Community financial contribution to the National Programmes should be subject to the approval by the Commission of the annual technical report referred to in Article 6(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1639/2001 and its associated costs.
(8)
This Decision shall constitute the financial decision within the meaning of Article 75(2) of Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1605/2002 of 25 June 2002 on the Financial Regulation applicable to the general budget of the European Communities.
(9)
The measures provided for in this Decision are in accordance with the opinion of the Committee for Fisheries and Aquaculture,
HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION: