What is a European Unio Agency?

A European Agency is a body of the European Union distinct from the Community Institutions like the Council, Parliament and Commission and has its own legal personality. Each Community Agency is established by the Community legislature in order to deal with a very specific technical, scientific or managerial task.
At present, there are 25 established European Community Agencies. The EFCA in Vigo is one of three European Union agencies located in Spain.

Why has the EFCA been established?

In the framework of the reform of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) in 2002, it was concluded that the CFP had been poorly implemented and that control measures were not systematically implemented by Member States. Fishermen felt not treated on an equal footing when operating in Community waters and sometimes even discriminated. The fishing industry pleaded for reinforcement of control and enforcement arrangements in order to ensure a level playing field on Community level.
In fact the European fishing industry felt that the Community institutions should assume direct responsibility for the proper implementation of the CFP and establish European controls.

From an institutional point of view the Commission should not carry out tasks in the place of Member States and did not have the means to do so. Therefore it proposed to establish an Agency independent from Member States and the Commission which should organize operational cooperation between Member States and coordinate the deployment of control means pooled by Member States. The Agency together with the national specialized services of the Member States should ensure uniform and effective application of the rules of the CFP.

What are the working methods of the EFCA?

The EFCA works closely with the European Commission and the Member States in certain regions and areas concerned by specific fisheries. The Commission will adopt the objectives for control and inspection in specific fisheries, as well as the priorities and benchmarks.

The Agency brokers operational cooperation between Member States concerned and seeks to ensure that Member States pool sufficient means (inspection vessels, surveillance aircraft and inspectors). The deployment of the pooled national means is coordinated by the EFCA through so called "Joint Deployment Plans" in cooperation with the Member States concerned and the Commission. To this end the EFCA establishes a Steering Group where representatives of Member States, the Commission and the EFCA are seating supervising the whole project and Technical Joint Deployment Groups consisting of national coordinators seconded to the EFCA by the Member States concerned.

In this context, the EFCA contributes to a harmonization of the procedures and training of the inspectors involved in the project in order to ensure uniform and effective application of the rules of the CFP.

How is the EFCA organized?

The Administrative Board, in which each Member State nominates a member and the European Commission nominates 6 members including the Chairman, adopts each year an annual work programme and the budget of the Agency. The Executive Director, nominated by the Board, has to implement the annual work programme. He is also the chairman of the Advisory Board in which one representative of each Regional Advisory Council is seating. The Advisory Board elects one representative which may participate to the meetings of the Administrative Board without the right to vote.

The work programmes of the EFCA as well as its budget are published on its web site.

What is the origin of the EFCA's resources?

The budget of the EFCA (including the establishment plan of its staff) is authorized by the Community Budgetary Authority and integral part of the Community budget. In the case where the EFCA provides contractual services to Member States it receives the correspondent funding from Member States concerned.

Why is the EFCA established in Vigo?

The seat has been laid down in the Council Regulation establishing the EFCA, in line with the agreement on the seats of agencies reached by the heads of State and Government leaders in December 2003.
Vigo is the biggest fishing port in Europe in terms of landings of fishery products. It is, therefore, a very appropriate place for the seat of the EFCA.
In the future, Vigo will not only be known in Europe as a large industrial and fishing port but also as the home of the EFCA. In this sense, the EFCA will contribute to the international image of Vigo.

What are the core tasks of the EFCA?

The core tasks of the EFCA are the organization of operational cooperation between Member States in the area of the implementation of the CFP and the coordination of the deployment of pooled national means of control, inspection and surveillance in specific fisheries such as currently:
• The cod recovery plans in the North Sea, Western Watersv and the Baltic Sea;
• The NAFO and NEAFC fisheries;
• The blue fin tuna fisheries in the Mediterranean and the Eastern Atlantic.

Moreover, the fight against illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing activities (IUU) will be coordinated by the EFCA.

Furthermore, the EFCA actively contributeS to the Commission and Member States in the creation and strengthening of their control and inspection capacities in areas such as control methodology and applied technologies, processing of statistics and reporting of information and training of inspectors.

How many persons are working at the EFCA?

At present, 56 staff members of 18 different nationalities are working at the EFCA.