The Court dismisses an action brought by Sweden for partial annulment of a regulation allocating cod fishing quotas which did not apply the method of allocating fishing opportunities provided for in the Act of Accession to "compensation cod"
Fishing in the Baltic Sea is regulated by the Convention on fishing and conservation of the living resources in the Baltic Sea and the Belts to which the Community acceded. The International Baltic Sea Fishery Commission (the IBSFC) fixes annually for each Contracting Party the total allowable catch (TAC) for each stock of fish and for each zone.
For 1997, the TAC for cod in Community fishing waters was fixed as 109 600 tonnes.
The Council distributes the fishing opportunities between Member States in such a way as to ensure stability of fishing activities. Such distribution takes account of Community fishing waters, together with Community fishing opportunities elsewhere.
The Court observed that the Act of Accession of Sweden to the European Union provided that a certain percentage of fishing opportunities in Community waters was to be allocated to Sweden.
For 1997, fishing opportunities were distributed amongst the Member States by a regulation of which Sweden sought partial annulment. Sweden objected to the allocation in respect of "compensation cod". The latter relates to fishing opportunities purchased by the European Union from the three Baltic States (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania) which were allocated by that Council regulation only to Denmark and Germany.
The issue, in the Court's view, was how to define the scope of the method of allocating cod fishing opportunities. The Court considered whether that method of allocation was also applicable to the "compensation cod" acquired by the Community from third countries.
The Court analysed the Act of Accession and dismissed Sweden's action. It considered that the method of allocation provided for in the Act of Accession applied only to fishing opportunities in Community fishing waters, which reflected the TACs fixed by the IBSFC, and not to "compensation cod" acquired by the Community from third countries.
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