(1)

Council Regulation (EU) No 39/2013 of 21 January 2013 fixing for 2013 the fishing opportunities available to EU vessels for certain fish stocks and groups of fish stocks which are not subject to international negotiations or agreements (2), lays down quotas for 2013.

(2)

According to the information received by the Commission, catches of the stock referred to in the Annex to this Regulation by vessels flying the flag of or registered in the Member State referred to therein have exhausted the quota allocated for 2013.

(3)

It is therefore necessary to prohibit fishing activities for that stock,

(1)

Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012 entered into force on 3 January 2013. It repealed and replaced Council Regulation (EC) No 510/2006 of 20 March 2006 on the protection of geographical indications and designations of origin for agricultural products and foodstuffs (2).

(2)

Pursuant to Article 6(2) of Regulation (EC) No 510/2006, the Principality of Andorra’s application to register the name ‘Carn d’Andorra’ was published in the Official Journal of the European Union (3).

(3)

As no statement of objection under Article 7 of Regulation (EC) No 510/2006 has been received by the Commission, that name should therefore be entered in the register,

(1)

Article 11(1) of Council Regulation (EC) No 73/2009 (2) lays down that in financial year 2014, the amounts for the financing of the market related expenditure and direct payments of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) have to respect the annual ceilings set out in application of the Regulation to be adopted by the Council pursuant to Article 312(2) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (Treaty). Article 11(1) of Regulation (EC) No 73/2009 also lays down that an adjustment of the direct payments (financial discipline) has to be determined when the forecasts for the financing of the direct payments and market related expenditures, increased by the amounts resulting from the application of Articles 10c and 136 of that Regulation but before the application of Article 10a thereof and without taking into account the margin of EUR 300 000 000, indicate that the annual ceiling will be exceeded. In accordance with Article 11(2) of Regulation (EC) No 73/2009, the European Parliament and the Council had to determine that adjustment by 30 June.

(2)

The forecasts for the direct payments and market related expenditure determined in the Commission 2014 Draft Budget have shown the need for financial discipline. The Draft Budget has been established taking into account an amount of financial discipline of EUR 1 471,4 million, including an amount for the reserve for crises in the agricultural sector. An adjustment rate to the direct payments listed in Annex I to Regulation (EC) No 73/2009 has therefore to be determined.

(3)

On 25 March 2013 the Commission adopted a proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on fixing an adjustment rate to direct payments provided for in Regulation (EC) No 73/2009 in respect of calendar year 2013 (3). The European Parliament and the Council had not determined that adjustment by 30 June, as provided for in Article 11(2) of Regulation (EC) No 73/2009. Therefore, in accordance with Article 18(4) of Regulation (EC) No 1290/2005 if by 30 June those adjustments have not been set, the Commission has to set them.

(4)

The Council Regulation laying down the multiannual financial framework pursuant to Article 312(2) of the Treaty has not yet been adopted. Therefore, as a precautionary measure, the annual ceiling of EUR 44 130 million for financial year 2014, as foreseen in the political agreement reached on 27 June 2013 between Parliament, the Council Presidency and the Commission on the Multiannual Financial Framework 2014–20, should be used for the calculation of the adjustment referred above.

(5)

In accordance with Article 18(5) of Regulation (EC) No 1290/2005, the adjustment rate may be adapted by the Council on a proposal by the Commission by 1 December 2013, on the basis of new information in its possession. In the event of new information, the Commission will propose the adaptation of the adjustment rate in the autumn, in the context of the Amending Letter to the Draft Budget 2014 taking into account the new information available. The Council may then adapt the adjustment rate by 1 December 2013.

(6)

As a general rule, farmers submitting an aid application for direct payments for one calendar year (N) are paid within a fixed payment period falling under the financial year (N + 1). However, Member States have the possibility to make late payments, within certain limits, to farmers beyond this payment period without any time limits. Such late payments may fall in a later financial year. When financial discipline is applied for a given calendar year, the adjustment rate should not be applied to payments for which aid applications have been submitted in the calendar years other than that for which the financial discipline applies. Therefore, in order to ensure equal treatment of farmers, it is appropriate to provide that the adjustment rate is only applied to payments for which aid applications have been submitted in the calendar year for which the financial discipline is applied, irrespectively of when the payment to farmers is made.

(7)

In the political agreement on the CAP reform of 26 June 2013, it has been decided that financial discipline will apply to the direct payments in excess of EUR 2 000. Moreover it is also foreseen that the reimbursement of unused appropriations (if any) at the end of financial year would be paid to farmers subject to financial discipline the following year. In order to ensure consistency, it is appropriate to set the same threshold over the years. The financial discipline should be applied in a similar way for calendar year 2013 to be consistent with what has been agreed to apply in the future; therefore, it is appropriate to provide for the application of the adjustment rate only for amounts in excess of EUR 2 000.

(8)

Article 11(3) of Regulation (EC) No 73/2009 lays down that in the framework of the application of the schedule of increments provided for in Article 121 of that Regulation to all direct payments granted in the new Member States within the meaning of Article 2(g) of that Regulation, the financial discipline should not apply to the new Member States until the beginning of the calendar year in respect of which the level of direct payments applicable in the new Member States is at least equal to the then applicable level of such payments in the other Member States. Since the direct payments are still subject to the application of the schedule of increments in calendar year 2013 in Bulgaria, Romania, the adjustment rate to be determined by the present Regulation should not apply to payments to farmers in these Member States.

(9)

Regulation (EC) No 73/2009 has been adapted by the Act of Accession of Croatia. Since Croatia is subject to the application of the schedule of increments provided for in Article 121 of Regulation (EC) No 73/2009 in calendar year 2013 the adjustment rate to be determined by the present Regulation should not apply to payments to farmers in Croatia,

(1)

Annex I to Regulation (EC) No 881/2002 lists the persons, groups and entities covered by the freezing of funds and economic resources under that Regulation.

(2)

On 1 October 2013 the Sanctions Committee of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) decided to remove one person from its list of persons, groups and entities to whom the freezing of funds and economic resources should apply after considering a de-listing request submitted by this person and the Comprehensive Report of the Ombudsperson established pursuant to UNSC Resolution 1904(2009).

(3)

Annex I to Regulation (EC) No 881/2002 should therefore be updated accordingly,

(1)

Implementing Regulation (EU) No 543/2011 lays down, pursuant to the outcome of the Uruguay Round multilateral trade negotiations, the criteria whereby the Commission fixes the standard values for imports from third countries, in respect of the products and periods stipulated in Annex XVI, Part A thereto.

(2)

The standard import value is calculated each working day, in accordance with Article 136(1) of Implementing Regulation (EU) No 543/2011, taking into account variable daily data. Therefore this Regulation should enter into force on the day of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union,

(1)

Commission Regulation (EC) No 969/2006 (3) opened an annual import tariff quota of 277 988 tonnes of maize (order number 09.4131).

(2)

Article 2(1) of Regulation (EC) No 969/2006 fixes a quantity of 138 994 tonnes for subperiod 2 from 1 July to 31 December 2013.

(3)

Based on the notification made under Article 4(3) of Regulation (EC) No 969/2006, the applications lodged from 13.00 on 27 September 2013 to 13.00 (Brussels time) on 4 October 2013 in accordance with Article 4(1) of that Regulation, relate to quantities in excess of those available. The extent to which import licences may be issued should therefore be determined and the allocation coefficient to be applied to the quantities applied for should be fixed.

(4)

Import licences should no longer be issued under Regulation (EC) No 969/2006 for the current quota period.

(5)

In order to ensure sound management of the procedure of issuing import licences, this Regulation should enter into force immediately after its publication,

(1)

According to Article 61, first subparagraph, point (d) of Regulation (EC) No 1234/2007 the sugar produced during the marketing year in excess of the quota referred to in Article 56 of that Regulation may be exported only within the quantitative limit fixed by the Commission.

(2)

Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 476/2013 of 23 May 2013 fixing the quantitative limit for the exports of out-of-quota sugar and isoglucose until the end of the 2013/2014 marketing year (3) sets the abovementioned limits.

(3)

The quantities of sugar covered by applications for export licences exceed the quantitative limit fixed by Implementing Regulation (EU) No 476/2013. An acceptance percentage should therefore be set for quantities applied for from 1 to 4 October 2013. All export-licence applications for sugar lodged after 4 October 2013 should accordingly be rejected and the lodging of export-licence applications should be suspended,

(1)

Article 48 of Regulation (EC) No 767/2008 provides for a progressive implementation of the VIS operations. The Commission in its Decision 2010/49/EC (2) and its Implementing Decision 2012/274/EU (3) determined respectively the first and second set of regions for the start of operations of the VIS. It is now necessary to determine the third and last set of regions where the data to be processed in the VIS, including photographs and fingerprint data, shall be collected and transmitted to the VIS for all visa applications in the region concerned.

(2)

Article 48(4) of Regulation (EC) No 767/2008 provides for the determination of the sequence of the regions for the VIS deployment based on the following criteria: the risk of irregular immigration, threats to the internal security of the Member States and the feasibility of collecting biometrics from all locations in the region concerned.

(3)

The Commission has made an assessment of the regions not covered by Decision 2010/49/EC and Implementing Decision 2012/274/EU in light of these three criteria taking into account, for the first criterion, elements such as the average visa refusal rates, the entry refusal rates and the rates of third country nationals detected as irregularly present in the territory of the Member States; for the second criterion, a threat assessment performed by Europol; and for the third criterion, the fact that some of the regions to be covered comprised third countries with vast territories or corresponding to very high numbers of visa applicants.

(4)

The starting date of the operations in each of the regions defined by the present Decision is to be determined by the Commission pursuant to Article 48(3) of Regulation (EC) No 767/2008.

(5)

Given that the VIS Regulation builds upon the Schengen acquis, Denmark notified the implementation of the VIS Regulation in its national law in accordance with Article 5 of the Protocol on the position of Denmarkannexed to the Treaty on European Union and to the Treaty establishing the European Community. Denmarkis therefore bound under international law to implement this Decision.

(6)

This Decision constitutes a development of provisions of the Schengen acquis in which the United Kingdomdoes not take part, in accordance with Council Decision 2000/365/EC of 29 May 2000 concerning the request of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to take part in some of the provisions of the Schengen acquis (4). The United Kingdom is therefore not bound by it or subject to its application.

(7)

This Decision constitutes a development of provisions of the Schengen acquis in which Ireland does not take part, in accordance with Council Decision 2002/192/EC of 28 February 2002 concerning Ireland’s request to take part in some of the provisions of the Schengen acquis (5). Ireland is therefore not bound by it or subject to its application.

(8)

As regards Iceland and Norway, this Decision constitutes a development of the provisions of the Schengen acquis within the meaning of the Agreement concluded by the Council of the European Union and the Republic of Iceland and the Kingdom of Norway concerning the latters’ association with the implementation, application and development of the Schengen acquis (6), which fall within the area referred to in Article 1, point B of Council Decision 1999/437/EC (7) on certain arrangements for the application of that Agreement.

(9)

As regards Switzerland, this Decision constitutes a development of the provisions of the Schengen acquis within the meaning of the Agreement between the European Union, the European Community and the Swiss Confederation on the Swiss Confederation’s association with the implementation, application and development of the Schengen acquis (8), which fall within the area referred to in Article 1, point B of Decision 1999/437/EC read in conjunction with Article 3 of Council Decision 2008/146/EC (9).

(10)

As regards Liechtenstein, this Decision constitutes a development of the provisions of the Schengen acquis within the meaning of the Protocol between the European Union, the European Community, the Swiss Confederation and the Principality of Liechtenstein on the accession of the Principality of Liechtenstein to the Agreement between the European Union, the European Community and the Swiss Confederation on the Swiss Confederation’s association with the implementation, application and development of the Schengen acquis, which fall within the area referred to in Article 1, point B of Decision 1999/437/EC read in conjunction with Article 3 of Council Decision 2011/350/EU (10).

(11)

As regards Cyprus, this Decision constitutes an act building upon, or otherwise related to, the Schengen acquis within the meaning of Article 3(2) of the 2003 Act of Accession.

(12)

As regards Bulgaria and Romania, this Decision constitutes an act building upon or otherwise related to the Schengen acquis within the meaning of Article 4(2) of the 2005 Act of Accession.

(13)

As regards Croatia, this Decision constitutes an act building upon, or otherwise related to, the Schengen acquis within the meaning of Article 4(2) of the 2011 Act of Accession,

(14)

The measures provided for in this Decision are in accordance with the opinion of the Committee set up by Article 51(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1987/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 December 2006 on the establishment, operation and use of the second generation Schengen Information System (SIS II) (11),

—

The 12th region:

—

The 13th region:

—

The 14th region:

—

The 15th region:

—

The 16th region:

—

The 17th region:

—

The 18th region:

Russia.

—

The 19th region:

—

The 20th region:

—

The 21st region:

—

The 22nd region:

—

The 23rd region: