Notice of the making of this Statutory Instrument was published in

"Iris Oifigiúil" of 13th March, 2015.

I, SIMON COVENEY, Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, in exercise of the powers conferred on me by sections 3 and 14 of the Sea-Fisheries and Maritime Jurisdiction Act 2006 (No. 8 of 2006) and the Sea Fisheries, Foreshore and Dumping at Sea (Transfer of Departmental Administration and Ministerial Functions) Order 2007 ( S.I. No. 707 of 2007 ) (as adapted by the Agriculture and Food (Alteration of Name of Department and Title of Minister) Order 2011 ( S.I. No. 455 of 2011 )), for the purpose of giving further effect to Article 15 of Regulation (EU) No 1380/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 December 2013¹ and effect to Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) No 1393/2014 of 20 October 2014² hereby make the following regulations:

Citation

1. These Regulations may be cited as the European Union (Common Fisheries Policy) (Landing Obligation) Regulations 2015.

Application

2. These Regulations apply to the master of-

(a) an Irish sea-fishing boat wherever it may be, or

(b) a sea-fishing boat in the exclusive fishing limits of the State.

Interpretation

3. (1) In these Regulations-

"Council Regulation" means Regulation (EU) No 1380/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 December 2013;

"Commission Regulation" means Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) No 1393/2014 of 20 October 2014;

(2) A word or expression that is used in the Council Regulation or the Commission Regulation and is also used in these Regulations, has, unless the context otherwise requires, the same meaning in these Regulations as it has in the Council Regulation or the Commission Regulation.

Landing Obligation

4. A master of a sea-fishing boat shall comply with Article 15(1), (4), (8), (11) and (12) of the Council Regulation.

Discard Plan

5. A master of a sea-fishing boat shall comply with Article 4 of the Commission Regulation in relation to keeping records for the purposes of Article 2 of the Commission Regulation.

De minimis exemptions

6. A master of a sea-fishing boat shall comply with the de minimis rules set out in the Article 3 of the Commission Regulation.

GIVEN under my Official Seal,

4 March 2015.

SIMON COVENEY,

Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine.

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the instrument and does not purport to be a legal interpretation.)

Regulation (EU) No 1380/2013 aims to progressively eliminate discards in all Union fisheries through the introduction of a landing obligation for catches of species subject to catch limits. This instrument applies to vessels engaged in small pelagic and large pelagic fisheries in relation to species caught in those fisheries which are subject to catch limits from 1 January 2015 in the North West Waters (ICES Zones Vb, VIa, VIb, VII) on a gear by species basis, set out in the regulation.

1 OJ L 354, 28.12.2013, p.22

2 OJ L 370, 30.12.2014, p.25