General provisions
1. The eBCD system shall be used for any catch, landing, transfer, including intra- and inter-farm transfers, transhipment, caging, harvest, domestic trade, import, export or re-export of bluefin tuna. Paper BCDs may be used under exceptional circumstances as provided for in Article 11.
2. A BCD shall be completed in one of the official languages of ICCAT (English, French or Spanish), for each bluefin tuna caught by a fishing vessel or trap, transferred, landed or transhipped at ports by a fishing vessel or trap, or caged or harvested by farms.
3. Each lot of bluefin tuna domestically traded, imported into, or exported or re-exported from the territory of the Union shall be accompanied by a BCD validated by the competent authority, except in cases where Article 4(4) applies, and, as applicable, an ICCAT transfer declaration or a validated bluefin tuna re-export certificate (‘BFTRC’). Each lot of bluefin tuna shall only contain bluefin tuna products of the same presentation and originating in the same relevant geographical area and the same fishing vessel, or group of fishing vessels, or the same trap.
4. It shall be prohibited to land, transfer, tranship, cage, deliver, harvest, trade domestically, import, export or re-export bluefin tuna without a completed and, where applicable, validated BCD and BFTRC whenever necessary.
5. Each BCD shall have a unique document identification number. Document identification numbers shall be specific to the flag or trap Member State.
6. At the time of caging and provided that all the fish are caged in the same farming cage and on the same day, relevant BCDs may be grouped as a ‘grouped BCD’ with a new BCD number in the following cases:
(a)
multiple catches made by the same vessel;
(b)
catches made by joint fishing operations.
7. The grouped BCD shall replace all the related original BCDs and shall be accompanied by the list of all the associated BCD numbers. The copies of such associated BCDs shall be made available to Member States’ or CPCs’ control authorities, upon request.
8. Bluefin tuna that are caught as by-catch by vessels not authorised to fish actively for bluefin tuna pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2023/2053 may be traded. Member States’ authorities, port authorities and authorised self-registration by the master or representative of the vessel shall facilitate the access by the master or representative of the vessel to the eBCD system, including by way of their national registration number. The flag Member States of the vessels concerned shall not be required to submit a list of such vessels to the Commission.
9. Bluefin tuna that die during the transfer, towing or caging operations covered by Articles 40 to 55 of Regulation (EU) 2023/2053 may be traded by the purse seine vessel, auxiliary vessel, trap and/or farm representatives, where applicable.
10. Bluefin tuna harvested in sport and recreational fisheries, the sale of which is prohibited, shall not be subject to this Regulation and shall not, therefore, be required to be recorded in the eBCD system.
Validation
1. Catching vessel masters, trap operators, farm operators, sellers and exporters, or their authorised representatives, shall complete the BCD by providing the required information and shall request its validation in accordance with paragraph 2 in respect of each bluefin tuna caught, landed, caged, harvested, transhipped, domestically traded or exported.
2. The BCD shall be validated by a competent authority of the flag Member State of the vessel or of the trap or farm Member State that caught or harvested the bluefin tuna, or of the Member State of establishment of the seller or exporter that domestically traded or exported the bluefin tuna.
3. Member States shall validate the BCD for bluefin tuna products only where:
(a)
all the information contained in the BCD has been verified as accurate;
(b)
the accumulated amounts of catch are within their quotas or catch limits for the relevant management year, including, where appropriate, individual quotas allocated to catching vessels or traps; and
(c)
the products comply with all other relevant provisions of the ICCAT conservation and management measures.
4. Validation under paragraph 2 of this Article shall not be required where all bluefin tuna available for sale are tagged, in accordance with Article 6(4), by the flag or trap Member State that fished them.
5. Where the bluefin tuna quantities caught and landed are less than 1 metric tonne or fewer than three fish, the logbook or the sales note may be used as a temporary BCD, pending the validation of the BCD within seven days of landing and prior to export.
6. A validated BCD shall include, as appropriate, the information set out in Annex 1 to ICCAT Recommendation 18-13 and Annex I to this Regulation. Instructions for the issuing, numbering, completion and validation of the BCD are set out in Annex 3 to ICCAT Recommendation 18-13 and Annex III to this Regulation.
7. The buyer information in the trade information section shall be entered into the eBCD system prior to the validation. The trade information section of an eBCD shall be validated prior to export.
8. Export from the Member States shall take place only if the previous trade between Member States has been properly recorded. Such export shall continue to require validation in the eBCD system in accordance with paragraphs 1 to 5.
Recording and validation of catch and subsequent trades in the eBCD system
1. Following the recording and validation of catch and first trade in the eBCD system in accordance with Article 4, information on the internal sales of bluefin tuna within one Member State shall be recorded in the eBCD system. Validation of those internal sales shall not be required.
2. Following the recording and validation of catch and first trade in the eBCD system, the domestic trade between Member States shall be completed in the eBCD system by the seller in accordance with Article 4.
3. The competent authority referred to in Article 4(2) shall validate domestic trade between the Member States of ‘gilled and gutted’ (GG), ‘dressed’ (DR) and ‘round’ (RD) product forms. However, by way of derogation from Article 4, validation shall not be required:
(a)
where domestic trade of bluefin tuna is in ‘fillets’ (FL) or ‘other, specified’ (OT) product forms listed on the eBCD;
(b)
where the FL or OT product referred to under point (a) is packaged for transport, in which case the associated eBCD number shall be written legibly and indelibly on the outside of any package containing any part of the tuna except for exempted products specified in Article 1(2).
For FL or OT products, subsequent domestic trade to another Member State shall only take place when the trade information from the previous Member State has been recorded in the eBCD system.
4. The derogation provided for in paragraph 3 of this Article shall be applicable until 31 December 2024. Member States shall report annually to the Commission on the implementation of that derogation. That report shall include information on the verification by the Member States provided for in Article 9, the outcomes of that verification and data about the trade events concerned, including relevant statistical information, such as the amount of bluefin tuna and number of trades covered by that derogation.
5. The trade in live bluefin tuna including all trade events to and from bluefin farms shall be recorded and validated in the eBCD system in accordance with this Regulation, unless otherwise specified.
6. By way of derogation from Article 3(3), the validation of sections 2 (catch) and 3 (live trade) in the eBCD system may be completed simultaneously.
7. The amending and re-validation of sections 2 (catch) and 3 (live trade) in the eBCD system, as required by Article 51 of, and Annex XI to, Regulation (EU) 2023/2053, related to the use of stereoscopic camera systems may be completed following the caging operation.
Tagging
1. Member States may require their catching vessels or traps to affix a tag to each bluefin tuna preferably at the time of kill, but in any event not later than the time of landing (‘tagging programme’). Tags shall have unique Member State-specific numbers and shall be tamper proof. The tag numbers shall be linked to the eBCD.
2. Member States concerned shall send a summary of the implementation of the tagging programme to the Commission by 30 April each year in respect of the preceding year. Any subsequent changes to a tagging programme shall also be sent to the Commission. The Commission shall forward the summaries to the ICCAT Secretariat.
3. The use of tags under this Article shall only be authorised when the accumulated catch amounts are within Member States’ quotas or catch limits of each management year, including, where appropriate, individual quotas allocated to vessels or traps.
4. For the purposes of Article 4(4), the commercial tagging programs of the flag Member State for the vessel or trap that harvested the bluefin tuna under which the fish are tagged shall provide at least for the following:
(a)
that all bluefin tuna in the eBCD concerned are individually tagged;
(b)
the following information associated with the tag:
(i)
identification of the catching vessel or trap;
(ii)
date of capture or landing;
(iii)
the area of harvest of the fish in the shipment;
(iv)
the gear used to catch the fish;
(v)
the type of product and individual weight of the tagged bluefin tuna;
(vi)
where applicable, information on the exporter and importer; and
(vii)
where applicable, the point of export.
5. By way of derogation from paragraph 4, point (b) (v), of this Article, for those fisheries subject to the derogations as to minimum conservation reference size under Regulation (EU) 2023/2053, Member States may instead, until 31 December 2024, provide the approximate weight of individual fish within the catch upon offloading, which shall be determined through representative sampling.
6. Where Member States apply the derogation provided for in paragraph 5 of this Article, they shall report to the Commission annually in accordance with Article 5(4) on the implementation of that derogation.
7. The information on tagged fish shall be compiled by the Member State responsible for the tagging programme.
8. The Commission shall compile the information on tagged fish received from Member States and shall transmit it to ICCAT in the format of the Union implementation report.
Source: EUR-Lex (Publications Office of the EU), © European Union, reuse permitted under Commission Decision 2011/833/EU.
