In 2006, the International Commission for the Conservation of the Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) adopted a multiannual recovery plan for bluefin tuna in the eastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean. ICCAT amended that multiannual recovery plan during the 2008 Annual Meeting. The amended plan was transposed into Union Law by way of Council Regulation (EC) No 302/2009 of 6 April 2009 concerning a multiannual recovery plan for bluefin tuna in the eastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean2. This plan was further amended and endorsed in the 2010 ICCAT Annual Meeting by way of ICCAT Recommendation 10-04 and transposed into Union Law by way of Regulation (EU) No 500/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 June 2012 amending Council Regulation (EC) No 302/2009 concerning a multiannual recovery plan for bluefin tuna in the eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean3.

To ensure the successful implementation of the amended recovery plan, Commission Decision 2009/296/EC4 establishing a specific control and inspection programme covering a period of two years from 15 March 2009 to 15 March 2011 was adopted.

The specific control and inspection programme related to the recovery of bluefin tuna in the eastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean, as established by Commission Decision 2011/207/EU5, was adopted with a view of ensuring the continuity of the programme established by Decision 2009/296/EC and immediately implementing certain provisions of ICCAT Recommendation 10-04. Decision 2011/207/EU covers the period 15 March 2011 to 15 March 2014.

In light of the discussions in ICCAT at the 2011 Annual Meeting and with a view to fully implement the provisions required by ICCAT, it was appropriate, in the absence of transposition of those requirements to EU Law, to amend Decision 2011/207/EU to implement the requirements concerning sampling and pilot operations set out in paragraph 87 of the ICCAT Recommendation 10-04 establishing a multiannual recovery plan for bluefin tuna in the eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean. Therefore, Commission Implementing Decision 2012/246/EU of 2 May 2012 amending Decision 2011/207/EU establishing a specific control and inspection programme related to the recovery of bluefin tuna in the eastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean6 was published.

At its Annual Meeting in 2012, ICCAT adopted Recommendation 12-03 amending the multiannual recovery plan for bluefin tuna. With a view of ensuring the continuity of the programme established by Decision 2011/207/EU and immediately implementing certain provisions of ICCAT Recommendation 12-03 it is appropriate to update and correct certain obsolete or erroneous references that existed in Decision 2011/207/EU.

Decision 2011/207/EU should therefore be amended accordingly.

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