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Subject matter
This Regulation establishes the European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund (the ‘EMFAF’) for the period from 1 January 2021 to 31 December 2027. The duration of the EMFAF is aligned with the duration of the MFF 2021-2027. It lays down the priorities of the EMFAF, its budget and the specific rules for providing Union funding, complementing the general rules applying to the EMFAF under Regulation (EU) 2021/1060.
Definitions
1. For the purposes of this Regulation and without prejudice to paragraph 2 of this Article, the definitions referred to in Article 4 of Regulation (EU) No 1380/2013, Article 5 of Regulation (EU) No 1379/2013, Article 4 of Regulation (EC) No 1224/2009, Article 2 of Regulation (EU) 2021/523 and Article 2 of Regulation (EU) 2021/1060 apply. 2. For the purposes of this Regulation, the following definitions apply: (1) ‘Common Information Sharing Environment’ or ‘CISE’ means an environment of systems developed to support the exchange of information between authorities involved in maritime surveillance, across sectors and borders, in order to improve their awareness of activities at sea; (2) ‘coast guard’ means national authorities performing coast guard functions, which encompass maritime safety, maritime security, maritime customs, prevention and suppression of trafficking and smuggling, connected maritime law enforcement, maritime border control, maritime surveillance, protection of the marine environment, search and rescue, accident and disaster response, fisheries control, inspection and other activities related to those functions; (3) ‘European marine observation and data network’ or ‘EMODnet’ means a partnership assembling marine data and metadata in order to make those fragmented resources more available and usable by public and private users by offering quality-assured, interoperable and harmonised marine data; (4) ‘exploratory fishing’ means any fishing operation carried out for commercial purposes in a given area, with a view to assessing the profitability and biological sustainability of regular, long-term exploitation of the fishery resources in that area for stocks that have not been subject to commercial fishing; (5) ‘fisher’ means any natural person engaging in commercial fishing activities, as recognised by the Member State concerned; (6) ‘inland fishing’ means fishing activities carried out for commercial purposes in inland waters by vessels or other devices, including those used for ice fishing; (7) ‘international ocean governance’ means a Union initiative to improve the overarching framework encompassing international and regional processes, agreements, arrangements, rules and institutions through a coherent cross-sectoral and rules-based approach, in order to ensure that oceans and seas are healthy, safe, secure, clean and sustainably managed; (8) ‘landing site’ means a location other than a maritime port as defined in point (16) of Article 2 of Regulation (EU) 2017/352 of the European Parliament and of the Council ( 27 ) , which is officially recognised by a Member State, the use of which is not restricted to its owner and which is primarily used for landings of small-scale coastal fishing vessels; (9) ‘maritime policy’ means the Union policy that aims to foster integrated and coherent decision making to maximise the sustainable development, economic growth and social cohesion of the Union, particularly of the coastal and insular areas and of the outermost regions, and of the sustainable blue economy sectors, through coherent maritime-related policies and relevant international cooperation; (10) ‘maritime security and surveillance’ means activities carried out in order to understand, prevent wherever applicable and manage in a comprehensive way all the events and actions related to the maritime domain which would impact the areas of maritime safety and security, law enforcement, defence, border control, protection of the marine environment, fisheries control, trade and economic interest of the Union; (11) ‘maritime spatial planning’ means a process by which the relevant Member State’s authorities analyse and organise human activities in marine areas to achieve ecological, economic and social objectives; (12) ‘public body’ means the State, regional or local authorities, bodies governed by public law or associations formed by one or more such authorities or by one or more of such bodies, governed by public law; (13) ‘sea basin strategy’ means an integrated framework to address common marine and maritime challenges faced by Member States and, where appropriate, third countries, in a specific sea basin or in one or more sub-sea basins, and promote cooperation and coordination in order to achieve economic, social and territorial cohesion. It is developed by the Commission in cooperation with the Member States and third countries concerned, their regions and other stakeholders as appropriate; (14) ‘small-scale coastal fishing’ means fishing activities carried out by: (a) marine and inland fishing vessels of an overall length of less than 12 metres and not using towed gear as defined in point (1) of Article 2 of Council Regulation (EC) No 1967/2006 ( 28 ) ; or (b) fishers on foot, including shellfish gatherers; (15) ‘sustainable blue economy’ means all sectoral and cross-sectoral economic activities throughout the internal market relating to oceans, seas, coasts and inland waters, covering the Union’s insular and outermost regions and landlocked countries, including emerging sectors and non-market goods and services, aimed at ensuring environmental, social and economic sustainability in the long term and which are consistent with the SDGs, and in particular SDG 14, and with Union environmental legislation.
Priorities
The EMFAF shall contribute to the implementation of the CFP and of the Union’s maritime policy. It shall pursue the following priorities: (1) fostering sustainable fisheries and the restoration and conservation of aquatic biological resources; (2) fostering sustainable aquaculture activities, and processing and marketing of fishery and aquaculture products, thus contributing to food security in the Union; (3) enabling a sustainable blue economy in coastal, island and inland areas, and fostering the development of fishing and aquaculture communities; (4) strengthening international ocean governance and enabling seas and oceans to be safe, secure, clean and sustainably managed. Support under the EMFAF shall contribute to the achievement of the environmental and climate change mitigation and adaptation objectives of the Union. That contribution shall be tracked in accordance with the methodology set out in Annex IV.
Budget
1. The financial envelope for the implementation of the EMFAF for the period from 1 January 2021 to 31 December 2027 shall be EUR 6 108 000 000 in current prices. 2. The part of the financial envelope allocated to the EMFAF under Title II of this Regulation shall be implemented under shared management in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2021/1060 and Article 63 of the Financial Regulation. 3. The part of the financial envelope allocated to the EMFAF under Title III of this Regulation shall be implemented either directly by the Commission in accordance with point (a) of Article 62(1) of the Financial Regulation or within the framework of indirect management in accordance with point (c) of Article 62(1) of that Regulation.
Budgetary resources under shared management
1. The part of the financial envelope under shared management as specified in Title II shall be EUR 5 311 000 000 in current prices, in accordance with the annual breakdown set out in Annex V. 2. For operations located in the outermost regions, each Member State concerned shall allocate, within its Union financial support set out in Annex V, at least: (a) EUR 102 000 000 for the Azores and Madeira; (b) EUR 82 000 000 for the Canary Islands; (c) EUR 131 000 000 for Guadeloupe, French Guiana, Martinique, Mayotte, Réunion and Saint-Martin. 3. The compensation referred to in Article 24 shall not exceed 60 % of each of the allocations referred to in points (a), (b) and (c) of paragraph 2 of this Article, or 70 % in circumstances justified in each action plan for the outermost regions. 4. At least 15 % of the Union financial support allocated per Member State shall be allocated in the programme, prepared and submitted in accordance with Article 21(1) and (2) of Regulation (EU) 2021/1060, to the specific objective referred to in point (d) of Article 14(1) of this Regulation. Member States with no access to Union waters may apply a lower percentage with regard to the extent of their control and data collection tasks. 5. The Union financial support from the EMFAF allocated per Member State to the total sum of the support referred to in Articles 17 to 21 shall not exceed the higher of the following thresholds: (a) EUR 6 000 000; or (b) 15 % of the Union financial support allocated per Member State. 6. In accordance with Articles 36 and 37 of Regulation (EU) 2021/1060, the EMFAF may support, at the initiative of a Member State, technical assistance for its effective administration and use.
Financial distribution for shared management
The resources available for commitments by Member States referred to in Article 5(1) for the period from 2021 to 2027 are set out in Annex V.
Budgetary resources under direct and indirect management
1. The part of the financial envelope under direct and indirect management as specified in Title III shall be EUR 797 000 000 in current prices. 2. The amount referred to in paragraph 1 may be used for technical and administrative assistance for the implementation of the EMFAF, such as preparatory, monitoring, control, audit and evaluation activities, including corporate information technology systems. In particular, the EMFAF may support, at the initiative of the Commission and subject to the ceiling of 1,5 % of the financial envelope referred to in Article 4(1): (a) technical assistance for the implementation of this Regulation as referred to in Article 35 of Regulation (EU) 2021/1060; (b) the preparation, monitoring and evaluation of SFPAs and the Union participation in RFMOs; (c) the setting-up of a European-wide network of local action groups. 3. The EMFAF shall support the costs of information and communication activities linked to the implementation of this Regulation.
Programming for support under shared management
1. In accordance with Article 21 of Regulation (EU) 2021/1060, each Member State shall prepare a single programme to implement the priorities set out in Article 3 of this Regulation (the ‘programme’). In the preparation of the programme, the Member States shall endeavour to take into account regional and/or local challenges, as appropriate, and may identify intermediate bodies in accordance with Article 71(3) of Regulation (EU) 2021/1060. 2. Support under Title II of this Regulation in pursuit of the policy objectives set out in Article 5 of Regulation (EU) 2021/1060 shall be organised along the priorities and specific objectives as set out in Annex II to this Regulation. 3. In addition to the elements referred to in Article 22 of Regulation (EU) 2021/1060, the programme shall include: (a) an analysis of the situation in terms of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats and the identification of the needs that require to be addressed in the relevant geographical area, including, where appropriate, sea basins relevant for the programme; (b) where applicable, the action plans for the outermost regions referred to in Article 35. 4. While carrying out the analysis of the situation in terms of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats referred to in point (a) of paragraph 3 of this Article, Member States shall take into account the specific needs of small-scale coastal fishing, as set out in Annex V to Regulation (EU) 2021/1060. For the specific objectives that contribute to the development of sustainable small-scale coastal fishing, Member States shall describe the types of actions considered for that purpose, as set out in point (i) of point (d) of Article 22(3) of, and Annex V to, Regulation (EU) 2021/1060. The managing authority shall endeavour to take into account the specificities of small-scale coastal fishing operators for possible simplification measures, such as simplified application forms. 5. The Commission shall assess the programme in accordance with Article 23 of Regulation (EU) 2021/1060. In its assessment it shall take into account, in particular: (a) the maximisation of the contribution of the programme to the priorities set out in Article 3 and to the objectives of resilience, green transition and digital transition, including through a wide range of innovative solutions; (b) the contribution of the programme to the development of sustainable small-scale coastal fishing; (c) the contribution of the programme to environmental, economic and social sustainability; (d) the balance between the fishing capacity of the fleets and the available fishing opportunities, as reported annually by Member States in accordance with Article 22(2) of Regulation (EU) No 1380/2013; (e) where applicable, the multiannual management plans adopted under Articles 9 and 10 of Regulation (EU) No 1380/2013, the management plans adopted under Article 19 of Regulation (EC) No 1967/2006 and the recommendations adopted by RFMOs that bind the Union; (f) the implementation of the landing obligation referred to in Article 15 of Regulation (EU) No 1380/2013; (g) the most recent evidence on the socio-economic performance of the sustainable blue economy, in particular in the fishery and aquaculture sector; (h) where applicable, the regional sea basin analyses developed by the Commission indicating the common strengths and weaknesses of each sea basin with regard to the achievement of the objectives of the CFP as set out in Article 2 of Regulation (EU) No 1380/2013; (i) the contribution of the programme to the conservation and restoration of marine ecosystems, while the support related to Natura 2000 areas shall be in accordance with the prioritised action frameworks established pursuant to Article 8(4) of Directive 92/43/EEC; (j) the contribution of the programme to the reduction of marine litter, in accordance with Directive (EU) 2019/904 of the European Parliament and of the Council ( 29 ) ; (k) the contribution of the programme to climate change mitigation and adaptation.
Programming for support under direct and indirect management
In order to implement Title III, the Commission shall adopt implementing acts laying down work programmes. Work programmes shall set out, where applicable, the overall amount reserved for the blending operations referred to in Article 56. Except as regards technical assistance, those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 63(2).
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