Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/38 of 16 January 2020 establishing technical operational requirements for the recording, formatting and transmission of information pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2017/2403 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the sustainable management of external fishing fleets

Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/38 · Regulation · 8 articles

Data as of 2026-07-04 · Compiled from an official source version. Later amendments or repeals may not be reflected; the official text prevails. · Read the official text ↗

CHAPTER I — GENERAL PROVISIONS

Subject matter

Article 1

This Regulation establishes technical operational requirements for the recording, formatting and transmission of the information as referred to in Article 40(2) of the SMEFF Regulation.

Definitions

Article 2

1. For the purpose of this Regulation, the definitions set out in Article 3 of the SMEFF Regulation shall apply. 2. For the purpose of this Regulation, the following definition shall also apply: (a) ‘Union fishing fleet database’ means the register, kept by the Commission, containing information on all Union fishing vessels in accordance with Implementing Regulation (EU) 2017/218 and supplemented by additional vessel details required in the applications for fishing authorisations under the SMEFF Regulation. (b) ‘Union fishing authorisations database’ means the database set up in accordance with Article 39 of the SMEFF Regulation in order to ensure the exchange of information referred to in Titles II and III of that Regulation.

CHAPTER II — INFORMATION IN THE UNION FISHING AUTHORISATIONS DATABASE

Applications for authorisation

Article 3

1. When submitting applications for fishing authorisations in accordance with Article 39(3) of the SMEFF Regulation, Member States and third countries shall file one application per vessel, per agreement, per fishing category and per period. 2. The vessel information available in the Union fishing fleet database shall be used by the Union fishing authorisations database to ensure data exchanges on fishing authorisations as required by the SMEFF Regulation.

Format of the information exchanged

Article 4

1. The format of the information exchanged between Member States, third countries and the Commission in accordance with Articles 11, 18, 22 and 25 of the SMEFF Regulation shall be the Fishing License Authorization & Permit (FLAP) Domain XML Schema Definition based on the United Nations Fisheries Language for Universal Exchange (UN/FLUX) P1000-9 standard. 2. Data fields, core components and well-formatted Extensible Markup Language (XML) messages shall comply with the XML Schema Definition (XSD) based on the UN/FLUX standardisation libraries. 3. The XSD and codes on the Master Data Register page of the European Commission Fisheries website shall be used. 4. Member States shall use the FLAP implementation document available on the European Commission fisheries website to ensure that the correct messages are communicated and the correct procedures are followed for the Union fishing authorisations database.

Transmission of messages

Article 5

1. The transmission of messages shall be fully automated and immediate, using the transportation layer for fisheries data exchanges as made available by the Commission. 2. The sender shall be responsible for communicating the messages in line with the agreed validation and verification rules set out in the FLAP implementation document. 3. The receiver of the message shall inform the sender of the reception and of the validation and verification results of the message by transmitting a response message.

Changes to XML formats and implementation documents

Article 6

1. Amendments to the UN/FLUX FLAP domain XML format and the FLAP implementation document shall be decided by the Commission services in concert with Member States. 2. The amendments referred to in paragraph 1 shall not come into effect earlier than 6 months and no later than 18 months after they have been decided. The timing shall be decided by the Commission services in concert with Member States.

Personal data

Article 7

Personal data contained in the Union fishing authorisations database shall not be stored for a period longer than 10 years, except if the personal data is necessary to allow the follow up of an infringement, an inspection, or judicial or administrative procedures. In these cases, the personal data may be stored for 20 years. If personal data is retained for a longer period, the data shall be anonymised.

CHAPTER III — FINAL PROVISIONS

Entry into force

Article 8

This Regulation shall enter into force on the twentieth day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union . It shall apply from 1 December 2020.

Other acts of the same type

Source: EUR-Lex (Publications Office of the EU), © European Union, reuse permitted under Commission Decision 2011/833/EU.

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