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1. Scope 1.1. 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 any of the gears defined in point 3, and present in zone VIIe. For the purposes of this Annex, a reference to the year 2007 means the period from 1 February 2007 to 31 January 2008.

1.2. Vessels fishing with static nets with mesh size equal to or larger than 120 mm and with track records of less than 300 kg live weight of sole according to the EC logbook in 2004 shall be exempt from the provisions of this Annex on the conditions that:

(a) such vessels catch less than 300 kg live weight of sole in 2007, and (b) such vessels shall not tranship any fish at sea to another vessel, and (c) each Member State concerned makes a report to the Commission by 31 July 2007 and 31 January 2008 on these vessels' track records for sole in 2004 and catches of sole in 2007. When either of these conditions is not met, the vessels shall with immediate effect no longer be exempted from the provisions of this Annex.

2. Definition of day present with 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 zone VIIe 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 purposes of this Annex, the following groupings of fishing gears shall apply:

(a) Beam trawls of mesh size equal to or greater than 80 mm;

(b) Static nets including gill-nets, trammel-nets and tangle-nets with mesh size less than 220 mm. 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 that area 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 set out 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. The maximum number of days per year for which a vessel may be present within the area having carried on board and used any one of the fishing gears referred to in point 3 is shown in Table I.

7.2. The number of days per year for which a vessel is present within the total area covered by this Annex and Annex IIA shall not exceed the number shown in Table I of this Annex. However the number of days in which the vessel is present in the areas covered in Annex IIA shall comply with the maximum number fixed in accordance with Annex IIA.

8. Management periods 8.1. Member States 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 Member States concerned.

8.3. In any given management period a vessel that has used the number of days present within the area for which it is eligible shall remain in port or out of the area for the remainder of the management period unless using a gear for which no maximum number of days has been fixed.

9. Allocation of additional days for permanent cessations 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 then be 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.

9.2. Member States may re-allocate the additional number of days to any vessel or group of vessels using the conversion mechanism foreseen in point 11.

9.3. 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.

9.4. On the basis of such a request the Commission may amend the number of days defined in point 7.1 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 of February 2007 and 31 of 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 11.1 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 7.1 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.

EXCHANGES OF FISHING EFFORT ALLOCATIONS 11. Transfer of days between fishing vessels flying the flag of a Member State 11.1. A Member State may permit any of its fishing vessels flying its flag to transfer days present within the area for which it is eligible to another of its vessels flying its flag within the area provided that the product of the days received by a vessel and its engine power in kilowatts (kilowatt days) is equal to or less than the product of the days transferred by the donor vessel and the engine power in kilowatts of that vessel. The engine power in kilowatts of the vessels shall be that recorded for each vessel in the Community fishing fleet register.

11.2. The total number of days present within the area, multiplied by the engine power in kilowatts of the donor vessel, shall not be higher than the donor vessel's average annual days track record in the area as verified by the Community logbook in the years 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005 multiplied by the engine power in kilowatts of that vessel.

11.3. The transfer of days as described in point 12.1. shall be permitted only between vessels operating within the same gear grouping referred to in point 3 and during the same management period.

11.4. On request from the Commission, Member States shall provide reports on the transfers that have taken place. A detailed format of spreadsheet for making these reports available to the Commission may be adopted in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 30(2) of Regulation (EC) No 2371/2002.

12. Transfer of days between fishing vessels flying the flag of different Member States Member States may permit transfer of days present within the area for the same management period and within the area between any fishing vessels flying their flags provided the same provisions as laid down in points 5.1, 5.2, 6 and 12. Where Member States decide to authorize such a transfer, as a preliminary they shall notify the Commission before such transfers take place of the details of the transfer, including the number of days transferred, the fishing effort and, where applicable, the fishing quotas relating thereto, as agreed between them. USE OF FISHING GEAR 13. Notification of fishing gear