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1. Scope The conditions laid down in this Annex shall apply to Community vessels of length overall equal to or greater than 10 metres, carrying on board towed and static gears defined in point 3 and present in zones VIIIc and IXa excluding the Gulf of Cadiz. For the purposes of this Annex, a reference to the year 2007 means the period from 1 February 2007 to 31 January 2008.

2. Definition of day present within the area For the purpose of this Annex, a day present within an area shall be any continuous period of 24 hours (or part thereof) during which a vessel is present within the geographical area defined in point 1 and absent from port. The time from which the continuous period is measured is at the discretion of the Member State whose flag is flown by the vessel concerned.

3. Fishing gear For the purpose of this Annex, the following groupings of fishing gears shall apply:

(a) Trawls, Danish seines and similar gears of mesh size equal to or larger than 32 mm;

(b) Gill-nets of mesh size equal to or larger than 60 mm;

(c) Bottom long-lines. IMPLEMENTATION OF FISHING EFFORT LIMITATIONS 4. Vessels concerned by fishing effort limitations 4.1. A Member State shall not permit fishing with a gear belonging to a grouping of fishing gear defined in point 3 in the area by any of its vessels which have no record of such fishing activity in the years 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005 or 2006 in the area, excluding the record of fishing activities as a result of transfer of days between fishing vessels, unless it ensures that equivalent capacity, measured in kilowatts, is prevented from fishing in the regulated area. However, a vessel with a track record of using a gear belonging to a grouping of fishing gear defined in point 3 may be authorised to use a different fishing gear , provided that the number of days allocated to this latter gear is greater than or equal to the number of days allocated to the first gear.

4.2. A vessel flying the flag of a Member State having no quotas in the area defined in point 1 shall not be permitted to fish in that area with a gear belonging to a grouping of fishing gear defined in point 3, unless the vessel is allocated a quota after a transfer as permitted according to the Article 20(5) of Regulation (EC) No 2371/2002 and is allocated days at sea according to point 13 of this Annex.

5. Limitations in activity Each Member State shall ensure that, when carrying on board any of the groupings of fishing gear referred to in point 3, fishing vessels flying its flag and registered in the Community shall be present within the area for no more than the number of days specified in point 7.

6. Exceptions

A Member State shall not count against the days allocated to any of its vessels under this Annex either any days when the vessel has been present within the area but unable to fish because it was assisting another vessel in need of emergency aid or any days when a vessel has been present within the area but unable to fish because it is transporting an injured person for emergency medical aid. The Member State shall provide justification to the Commission within one month of any decisions taken on this basis with associated evidence of the emergency from the competent authorities. NUMBER OF DAYS PRESENT WITHIN THE AREA ALLOCATED TO FISHING VESSELS 7. Maximum number of days 7.1. For the purposes of fixing the maximum number of days a fishing vessel may be present within the area, the following special conditions shall apply in accordance with Table I:

(a) The total landings of hake in the years 2001, 2002 and 2003 made by the vessel, or by the vessel or vessels using similar gears and qualifying for this special condition, mutatis mutandis, that it has replaced in accordance with Community law, shall represent less than 5 tonnes according to the landings in live weight consigned in the Community logbook, and;

(b) The total landings of Norway lobster in the years 2001, 2002 and 2003 made by the vessel, or by the vessel or vessels using similar gears and qualifying for this special condition, mutatis mutandis, that it has replaced in accordance with Community law, shall represent less than 2,5 tonnes according to the landings in live weight consigned in the Community logbook.

7.2. The maximum number of days per year for which a vessel may be present within the area having carried on board any one of the groupings of fishing gear referred to in point 3 is shown in Table I.

8. Management periods 8.1. A Member State may divide the days present within the area given in Table I into management periods of durations of one or more calendar months.

8.2. The number of days for which a vessel may be present within the area during a management period shall be fixed at the discretion of the Member State concerned.

8.3. In any given management period a vessel may undertake non-fishing related activities, without that time being counted against its days allocated under point 7, provided that the vessel first notifies its flag Member State of its intention to do so, the nature of its activity and that it surrenders its fishing licence for this time. Such vessels shall not carry any fishing gear or fish on board during that time.

9. Allocation of additional days for permanent cessation of fishing activities

9.1. An additional number of days on which a vessel may be present within the area when carrying on board any of the groupings of fishing gear referred to in point 3 may be allocated to Member States by the Commission on the basis of permanent cessation of fishing activities that have taken place since 1 January 2004 either in accordance with Article 7 of Regulation (EC) No 2792/1999 or resulting from other circumstances duly motivated by Member States. Any vessels that can be shown to have been definitively withdrawn from the area may also be considered. The effort expended in 2003 measured in kilowatt days of the withdrawn vessels using the gear in question in the relevant area shall be divided by the effort expended by all vessels using that gear during the same year. The additional number of days shall be then calculated by multiplying the ratio so obtained by the number of days originally allocated. Any part of a day resulting from this calculation shall be rounded to the nearest whole day. This point shall not apply where a vessel has been replaced in accordance with point 4.1 or when the withdrawal has already been used in previous years to obtain additional days at sea.

9.1.a. Member States may re-allocate the additional number of days to any vessel or group of vessels using the conversion mechanism foreseen in point 12.

9.2. Member States wishing to benefit from the allocations referred to in point 9.1. shall submit a request to the Commission with reports containing the details of the permanent cessation of fishing activities in question.

9.3. On the basis of such a request the Commission may amend the number of days defined in point 7.2. for that Member State in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 30(2) of Regulation (EC) No 2371/2002. Any additional number of days resulting from permanent cessation of activity previously allocated by the Commission remains allocated in 2007.

10. Allocation of additional days for enhanced observer coverage

10.1. Three additional days on which a vessel may be present within the area when carrying onboard any of the groupings of fishing gear referred to in point 3 may be allocated between 1 February 2007 and 31 January 2008 to Member States by the Commission on the basis of an enhanced programme of observer coverage in partnership between scientists and the fishing industry. Such a programme shall focus in particular on levels of discarding and on catch composition and go beyond the requirements on data collection, as laid down in Regulation (EC) No 1543/2000, Regulation (EC) No 1639/2001 and Regulation (EC) No 1581/2004 for the minimum and extended programme levels.

10.2. Member States wishing to benefit from the allocations referred to in point 10.1 shall submit a description of their enhanced observer coverage programme to the Commission.

10.3. On the basis of this description, and after consultation with STECF, the Commission may amend the number of days defined in point 7.2 for that Member State and for the vessels, the area and gear concerned by the enhanced programme of observers in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 30(2) of Regulation (EC) No 2371/2002.

11. Special conditions for the allocation of days 11.1. If a vessel has received an unlimited number of days resulting from compliance with the special conditions listed in points 7.1(a) and 7.1(b), the vessel's landings in 2007 shall not exceed 5 tonnes live weight of hake and 2,5 tonnes live weight of Norway lobster.

11.2. The vessel shall not tranship any fish at sea to another vessel.

11.3. When either of these conditions is not met by a vessel, that vessel shall with immediate effect no longer be entitled to the allocation of days corresponding to the given special conditions. EXCHANGES OF FISHING EFFORT ALLOCATIONS 12. Transfer of days between vessels flying the flag of a member state