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1. Member States shall:

(a) establish and operate an FMC in accordance with Articles 9 and 9a of Regulation (EC) No 1224/2009 and provide for back-up and recovery procedures in case of system failures;

(b) implement a VMS for its fishing vessels which conduct fishing activities, or plan to conduct fishing activities, in the Regulatory Area;

(c) require their fishing vessels conducting fishing activities in the Regulatory Area to be equipped with an autonomous system able to automatically transmit messages to the FMC, allowing a continuous tracking of the position of the fishing vessel;

(d) ensure that the autonomous system enables a fishing vessel to communicate by satellite to the FMC reports including the following information:

(i) the vessel identification;

(ii) the most recent geographical position of the vessel (longitude, latitude) with a position error which shall be less than 500 m, with a confidence interval of 99 %;

(iii) the date and time of the fixing of the position of the vessel referred to in point (ii); and (iv) the speed and course at the time of fixing of the position of the vessel referred to in point (ii).

(e) transmit to the NEAFC Secretariat the position reports as soon as they are received for vessels flying their flag upon entering into or exiting from the Regulatory Area and at least once every hour when operating in the Regulatory Area;

(f) cooperate with the Commission, EFCA and the NEAFC Secretariat in order to maintain a database delimiting the Regulatory Area suitable for importing coordinates directly into a Geographic Information System. Changes to those coordinates shall be notified to the NEAFC Secretariat without delay in a computer-readable form in accordance with the procedures described in Annex IX with the Commission and EFCA in copy. The coordinates shall be without prejudice to each Member State’s position concerning the delimitation of sea areas under their sovereignty and jurisdiction;

(g) ensure that the VMS data received from its fishing vessels are recorded in a computer-readable form and stored for at least 3 years; and (h) in respect of bottom fishing in the Regulatory Area:

(i) implement an automatic system able to monitor and detect possible bottom fishing in areas outside the existing bottom fishing areas, and possible fishing inside closed bottom fishing areas; and (ii) ensure that delimitations of closed bottom fishing areas are installed and up to date in their VMS.

2. Masters of Union fishing vessels shall ensure that the satellite tracking devices are fully operational at all times and that the information in paragraph 1 is transmitted to the FMC. In the event of a technical failure or non-operation of the satellite tracking device fitted on board a fishing vessel, the device shall be repaired or replaced within one month of that event. After that period, it shall be prohibited to commence a fishing trip with a defective satellite tracking device. Where a device stops functioning and a fishing trip lasts more than one month, the repair or the replacement shall take place as soon as the vessel enters a port, and the fishing vessel shall not be authorised to continue or commence a fishing trip without the satellite tracking device having been repaired or replaced.

3. The master of a fishing vessel with a defective VMS tracking device shall communicate, at least every four hours, reports containing the information listed in paragraph 1, point (d), to the FMC in accordance with the format set out in Annex X.