Sea Fisheries Protection Authority
Article 61(1) of Council Regulation 1224/2009
Weighing of Fishery products Control Plan
Providing for fishery products to be weighed after transport to a destination in Ireland
1. Introduction
Article 60(1) of the Fishery Control Regulation EC No. 1224/2009 states that all fishery products shall be weighed at landing prior to transport. However Article 61(1) provides for transport to a destination within the Member State of landing to take place before weighing, where there is a Control Plan in place that has been approved by the Commission.
2. Aim
The aim of this Control Plan is to minimise the risk of non-compliance with the rules of the Common Fisheries Policy, in particular the under-recording or not recording of fish landed, in circumstances where the transport of fishery products from the place of landing to a destination within Ireland is permitted prior to weighing. At a practical level this Control Plan implements a derogation from the requirement to weigh fish prior to transport. Compliance with the weighing requirements may be achieved by applying the provisions of this Control Plan thereby allowing transport of fish prior to weighing.
3.General Principle
This ‘Control Plan’ facilitates the transport of fishery products, without weighing at landing, to the premises of a Registered Fish Buyer where all the products must then be weighed. This control plan is applicable to the transport of fishery products away from the place of landing without weighing. The central principle is that weighing will only be possible in establishments of fish buyers who are specifically permitted, subject to compliance with certain pre-requisites, to carry out this activity.
4. Applicability & Non applicability,
This Control plan only pertains to landing of fishery products to an Irish port, where they are to be transported to a destination within Ireland.
Landings in Ireland destined for other Member States are not covered. Landings in other Member States destined for Ireland are not covered.
Such operations may be the subject of a Common Control Programme between the Member State of landing, and the Member State of destination.
5. Permit
The Sea Fisheries Protection Authority will consider applications from fish buyers to be allocated a permit to engage in weighing of fishery products at their establishment after transport, in accordance with this control plan.
The following prerequisites will be required of the applicant
· Be registered as a fish buyer and submitting Sales Note information by electronic means in accordance with Art 62-64 of the Control Regulation 1224/2009;
· Have access to a fishery product establishment (e.g. processing plant or auction hall) that is approved under food regulations notably Regulation (EC) No 853/2004
· Have weighing systems fit for purpose, calibrated and sealed according to national standards, and approved by SFPA;
· Have traceability systems in place in accordance with Art 58 for the Control Regulation; this includes provision for the placing of fishery products into lots and the labelling of fishery products in accordance with Art 56.
A buyer who meets these prerequisites and agrees to comply with this Control Plan may be granted a permit and therefore be authorised to weigh fisheries products after transport from the place of landing by the SFPA.
Non compliance with this Control Plan may result in the withdrawal of the permit by SFPA, and require the buyer to weigh fish prior to transport.
6. Operator Obligations
Fisheries products may be transported from the place of landing to the premises of a fish buyer who is the permit holder subject to compliance with all of the following measures:
Transport
The fishery products shall be accompanied from landing to the weighing destination with transport document containing all of the information specified in Article 68(5) of the Control Regulation with the following additional considerations
· The document will indicate nature of the transport operation, ie ‘ Fishery products to be weighed after transport in accordance with Article 61(1) of 1224/09
· As part of the information on the destination (68 5 (a) the document will indicate the permit number of the registered buyer permitted to weigh after transport
· Species weight (68 5 (d)) will be estimated for that transport consignment, e.g. on the basis of operational logbook totals, or transport capacity estimates
However in the case of local transport of non-bulk-stored demersal fishery products within the port area, the operator will be exempt from the requirement for this transport document.
In the case of bulk-transport of pelagic fish outside of the local port area, the operator shall seal the access points prior to transport, and record the identifier number of all relevant seals prior to transport. Tanker trailer tracking devices shall be made visible to SFPA
Weighing Systems
The operator that is responsible for the weighing of the fishery products shall ensure that all weighing systems are calibrated in accordance with national systems, and approved by the Sea Fisheries Protection Authority. SFPA will issue detailed Fishery Information Notice (FIN) on operator responsibility regarding weighing systems.
Where the weighing is carried out on a conveyor belt system a visible counter shall be fitted that records the cumulative total of the weight. The counter must be in a position where it can be viewed at the same time as the conveyor belt it is taking weight readings from. Facility shall be provided to divert a sample of weighed fish to a separate container for monitored sample weighing to verify accuracy.
Weighing records
Each operator responsible for the weighing of fishery products should maintain a bound, paginated weighing record, and/or equivalent electronic record, which will be completed immediately after weighing of the fishery product has taken place or at least by midnight on the day of weighing. Where weighing is carried out on conveyor belt systems, all use of the system shall be recorded, and the reading of the counter at the start of the weighing operation as well as the cumulative total shall be recorded. This weighing record shall be kept for a minimum of 3 years.
All weighing of fisheries products shall be recorded by indicating the following information:
· The external identification number and the name of the fishing vessel from which the weighed quantity originates.
· The date of weighing (YYYY-MM-DD)
· The logsheet number(s) / ERS Record number
· Result of weighing for each quantity of each species in kilograms product weight.
The detail that is necessary here for each species in the landing includes
· The FAO alpha-3 codes of the species
· The presentation of the fisheries products (iced, gutted etc)
· Where fish are weighed in standardised boxes
o The number of boxes
o The individual weights of each box
o The ‘tare’ weight of box+ice
o Calculated total weight for that species
· Where fish are weighed following transport using bulk containers
o The tanker/trailer/truck identification numbers
o The identifier numbers on all seals
A Sea Fisheries Protection Officer acting under Section 17 of the Sea Fisheries and Maritime Jurisdiction Act 2006 shall have full access at all times to the weighing systems, the weighing records, written declarations and all premises where the fisheries products are stored or processed. Permitted operators are must facilitate that access at all times
Traceability
Operators weighing fishery products in accordance with this Control Plan shall be responsible for placing of fishery products into lots, and compliance with the general traceability requirements of the Control regulation. SFPA will produce a detailed Fishery Information Notice (FIN) on traceability requirements.
Completion of weighing
When fishery products are weighed after transport subject to this Control Plan, the landing operation will be deemed to have been completed after weighing, in accordance with Article 54 of 404/2011. Permitted buyers should therefore ensure that weighing is finalised within 24 hours of the fishery products being unloaded/discharged in order to minimise delay in completion and submission of information necessary to accurately assess quota uptake.
7. Official Controls
The weighing of fishery products after transport will be subject to official controls to verify operator compliance with these provisions and ensure that the risk of noncompliance is minimised.
These controls will be incorporated into the national fisheries control program.
The control program is risk-based in accordance with the criteria established in Articles 2, 3 &-4
of Annex XXI of Regulation EU No 404/2011, specifically the risk criteria against which the following associated insepection program will be targetted based on the associated level of assesed risk of each permitted premises..
Premises : Annual Risk Assessed Inspection profileVery Low / Low / Medium / High / Very High
Inspection Programmed
Visits / Nil / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
The inspection program will include but not be limited to:
· . Desk top analysis and documentary cross-checks of
o prior-notification, log sheets, landing declarations, sales notes, fluctuation of market price levels, risk of fraud, and any other relevant documentation
· Inspections at landings.
o Sample weighing of transport consignments prior to and after transport *
· Transport inspections
o Transport document validation
o Species verification
· Inspections after transport at auctions/buyers/processors
o Monitored sample weighing in the presence of SFPA**
o Inspection of weighing records
o Inspection of traceability systems
o Validation of calibration and approval of weighing systems
*Sample weighing of transport consignments prior to and after transport
In order to minimise the risk on non-compliance, the accuracy of post-transport weighing will be validated on a risk-based sample of transport consignments. In general terms, this will involve the weighing of all or some of the fishery products, following separation of water/ice where relevant, prior to transport in the presence of SFPA. The weighing of these fishery products will then be monitored by SFPA post-transport. Operators transporting bulk-stored pelagic fish should take all reasonable steps to minimise water and ice content prior to this pre-transport weighing. SFPA may supervise sealing of transport units and recording of seal numbers by operators for subsequent removal of seal at destination when approved to do so by SFPA.
Permitted Operators are obliged to facilitate these procedures to provide necessary assurance around accuracy of their post transport weighing.
**Monitored sample weighing at destination.
Where fisheries products are landed in standardised boxes and weighed in accordance with this control plan, there will be a program of sample weighing after transport in the presence of SFPA Officers. When this official control takes place, the number of boxes to be sample weighed will be in line with the sampling plan adapted by SFPA under 60(1) of the Control Regulation.
For bulk transported fish weighed on continuous weigh-belt systems this official control will involve the diversion of approximately 1 tonne of fish into a separate bin following in-line belt-weighing, to facilitate supplementary verification weighing of that bin.
Permitted Operators are obliged to facilitate these procedures to provide necessary assurance around accuracy of their post transport weighing.
8. Permit Holder Compliance
The permitting of weighing post-transport is designed to facilitate to the extent possible a more practical means of compliance with the weighing obligations on registered buyers. Where non compliance is suspected or detected the SFPA reserves the right to withdraw permission to weigh post transport. The withdrawal of permit will not prevent the Registered buyer engaging in their normal economic activity provided they comply with the obligation to weigh all fishery products on landing or where applicable any lesser amount indicated by the National Sampling Plan. The SFPA reserve the right to alter, amend or withdraw this Control Plan at any time.