Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour)
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913. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if other European Union countries operate a penalty regime on owners, licensees and masters and skippers of fishing vessels similar to that included in SI. No. 318/2020; if a comparative analysis was carried out; if so, if he will provide details of same; if not, if he will provide the reasons therefor; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10007/22]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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The European Union (Common Fisheries Policy) (Point System) Regulations 2020 - SI No 318/2020 adopts the requirements of Article 92 of Council Regulation (EC) No 1224/2009 of 20 November 2009 and Title VII of Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 404/2011.

In accordance with the EU Regulations, this instrument establishes a point system, which will apply to the licence holder of a sea fishing boat when a serious infringement of the rules of the Common Fisheries Policy is detected within the exclusive fishery limits of the State or for an Irish vessel wherever it may be.

The Sea Fisheries Protection Authority is determined as the competent authority for the establishment of the system and the assignment of points. The Licensing Authority is the competent authority for the recording of points assigned to the licence of an Irish registered fishing vessel and the transfer of those points.

SI No 318/2020 provides for the establishment of a Determination Panel comprised of three independent legal professionals nominated by the Attorney General to determine if, on the balance of probabilities, a serious infringement occurred. The instrument also establishes an independent appeals officer to review the decision of the Determination Panel at the request of the licence holder.

The governing EU regulations mentioned above are directly applicable in all Member States, who are obliged to implement the relevant requirements of same insofar as the points system for licence holders is concerned.

A number of key features of the points system, including the list of serious infringements, the number of points applicable to each and the thresholds for suspension and disqualification, are set out in the EU Regulations. Accordingly, the same fundamental elements of the points system such as these must feature in the systems adopted by Member States across the EU. Particular differences in the points systems of different Member States that may arise from the practical arrangements put in place to implement the points system and these arrangements may arise from the specific type and nature of the legal systems of those Member States.

The EU Commission commissioned a report, published in January 2021, that provides an in-depth analysis of the national systems sanctioning the infringements of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP), and in particular of the sanctions applied by Member States for infringements detected between 1 January 2015 and 31 December 2019, including insofar as the EU points systems are concerned. This report is available here:

Study on the sanctioning systems of Member States for infringements to the rules of the Common Fisheries Policy - Publications Office of the EU (europa.eu)

In addition, a study prepared for the EU Parliament's PECH Committee was published in July 2020 entitled "Implementation of the current EU Fisheries control system by Member States (2014-2019)" which also considered inter aliathe EU points systems. This study is available here:

Implementation of the current EU fisheries control system by Member States (2014-19) (europa.eu)