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Whereas:

(1) As the Community has fishing interests in the eastern Pacific and has started the procedure to accede to the InterAmerican Tropical Tuna Commission, hereinafter referred to as the "IATTC" and in accordance with its cooperation obligations under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea the Community has decided to apply the measures adopted by the IATTC pending its accession to that organisation.

(2) The Community has signed the Agreement on the International Dolphin Conservation Programme(3), hereinafter referred to as the "AIDCP", and has decided to apply it provisionally by means of Decision 1999/386/EC(4), pending its full approval. The Community must therefore apply the provisions of the Agreement, the Secretariat for which is provided by the IATTC.

(3) In July 1999 the Contracting Parties to the AIDCP decided to establish a system to track and verify tuna caught in the Agreement's area of application. Accordingly, the Community should establish a tuna tracking and verification system for tuna caught in the Agreement area by vessels fishing under the AIDCP. The purpose of this system is to enable dolphin-safe tuna to be distinguished from non-dolphin-safe tuna from the time it is caught to the time it is ready for retail sale. The system is based on the premise that dolphin-safe tuna shall, from the time of capture, during unloading, storage, transfer, and processing, be identified as dolphin-safe tuna.

(4) As this Decision has become binding on the Parties to the Agreement, the Community must therefore implement it.

(5) Supervision of catch unloading and transport is the responsibility of each Member State, but it can delegate this responsibility to the State where unloading occurs by administrative arrangement or agreement.

(6) Council Regulation (EEC) No 2847/93 of 12 October 1993 establishing a control system applicable to the common fisheries policy(5) applies to all fishing activity and all related activities carried out on the territory and in the maritime waters falling within the jurisdiction or sovereignty of the Member States, including the activities of Community fishing vessels operating in the waters of third countries or on the high seas, notwithstanding the fisheries agreements concluded between the Community and third countries or international conventions to which the Community is a signatory.

(7) The measures necessary for the implementation of this Regulation should be adopted in accordance with Council Decision 1999/468/EC of 28 June 1999 laying down the procedures for the exercise of implementing powers conferred on the Commission(6), HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION: