Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2022/2564 of 16 August 2022 amending Delegated Regulation (EU) 2021/2064 supplementing Regulation (EU) No 1380/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards the establishment of a de minimis exemption to the landing obligation for certain demersal fisheries in the Adriatic and south-eastern Mediterranean

Article 3 of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2021/2064 is amended as follows:

(1) paragraph 1 is amended as follows:

(i) point (a)(viii) is replaced by the following:

(viii) for anchovy (Engraulis encrasicolus), sardine (Sardina pilchardus), mackerel (Scomber spp.) and horse mackerel (Trachurus spp.), up to a maximum of 5 % for 2022 and 2023 of the total annual by-catches of those species caught by vessels using bottom trawls.;

(ii) point (b)(vii) is replaced by the following:

(vii) for anchovy (Engraulis encrasicolus), sardine (Sardina pilchardus), mackerel (Scomber spp.) and horse mackerel (Trachurus spp.), up to a maximum of 5 % for 2022 and 2023 of the total annual by-catches of those species caught by vessels using bottom trawls.;

(2) paragraph 2 is replaced by the following:

1. By 1 May 2022 and 2023 the Member States having a direct management interest in the fisheries in the Adriatic and south-eastern Mediterranean Sea shall submit to the Commission additional data based on the ongoing projects and studies, and any other relevant scientific information supporting the exemption laid down in points (a)(viii) and (b)(vii) of paragraph 1. The STECF shall assess those data and that information by July 2023 at the latest.

Article 2

Entry into force and application

This Regulation shall enter into force on the day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

It shall apply from 1 January 2023 until 31 December 2023.

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.

Done at Brussels, 16 August 2022.

For the Commission

The President

Ursula von der Leyen