Title II, Chapter III, Article 55 · Regulation (EU) 2023/2124

Contents

Article 55Traceability of red coral products#

1.For a transitional period of three years (2020–2022), Member States may participate in the pilot phase of the Catch Documentation Scheme (CDS), for the purpose of identifying where the origin of red coral is harvested in the GFCM area of application, and implement the following traceability measures:

(a)a validated CDS certificate as referred to in Annex X and issued by the competent authorities of the flag State shall accompany all landings, imports, export and re-exports of red coral harvested;

(b)each certificate shall have a unique document identification number. Such number shall be specific to the flag State and be assigned to each fisher or authorised vessel. Such certificates shall not be transferable to another fisher or authorised vessel;

(c)Member States shall validate the CDS harvest certificates for red coral only when all the information contained in the CDS has been established to be accurate as a result of the verification of the supporting documents and corresponding consignment.

2.Member States participating in the pilot phase shall report to the Commission, and the Commission shall report to the GFCM Secretariat accordingly, on the implementation of the pilot phase in the context of a permanent CDS for red coral.

Defined terms · 7

Show every defined term

buffer area
means a zone surrounding a fisheries restricted area in order to avoid accidental access to it, enhancing the protection of the surrounded area;
Common Fleet Register (CFR) number
means the common fleet register (CFR) number as defined in Article 2, point (l), of Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2017/218;
Data Collection Reference Framework (DCRF) manual
means the manual prepared by the Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC) and endorsed by the GFCM related to the implementation of the DCRF;
fishing day
means any continuous period of 24 hours, or part thereof, during which a vessel is present in the GFCM Agreement area and absent from port;
live weight
means the weight of fresh catches weighed immediately after the end of fishing operations or, in the case of daily fishing trips, before their landing at the designated landing point at the latest;
red coral bank
means an area of variable size where red coral (Corallium rubrum) colonies are relatively abundant;
red coral colony
means the biological unit exploited in red coral (Corallium rubrum) fisheries and represents a genetic unit formed by hundreds/thousands of red coral polyps, which can have a tree-like shape with several branches.