[Senate Executive Report 107-6]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]



107th Congress                                               Exec. Rpt.
                                 SENATE
 2d Session                                                       107-6

======================================================================



 
    PROTOCOL TO AMEND THE 1949 CONVENTION ON THE ESTABLISHMENT OF AN 
                INTER-AMERICAN TROPICAL TUNA COMMISSION

                                _______
                                

                 August 1, 2002.--Ordered to be printed

                                _______
                                

          Mr. Biden, from the Committee on Foreign Relations,
                        submitted the following

                              R E P O R T

                    [To accompany Treaty Doc. 107-2]

    The Committee on Foreign Relations, to which was referred 
the Protocol to Amend the 1949 Convention on the Establishment 
of an Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (``Convention''), 
done at Guayaquil, Ecuador on June 11, 1999 and signed by the 
United States on the same date, reports favorably thereon, and 
recommends that the Senate give its advice and consent to the 
ratification thereof as set forth in this report and the 
accompanying resolution of advice and consent to ratification.

                                CONTENTS

                                                                   Page

  I. Purpose..........................................................1
 II. Background.......................................................1
III. Summary of Protocol..............................................2
 IV. Entry Into Force.................................................2
  V. Committee Action.................................................2
 VI. Committee Comments...............................................3
VII. Text of Resolution of Advice and Consent to Ratification.........3

                               I. Purpose

    The purpose of the Protocol is to allow regional economic 
integration organizations such as the European Union to become 
a party to the Convention and thereby a member of the Inter-
American Tropical Tuna Commission (hereafter ``IATTC'' or 
``Commission'').

                             II. Background

    The Protocol amends the Convention establishing the Inter-
American Tropical Tuna Commission, which initially entered into 
force as an agreement between the United States and Costa Rica 
in 1950. The IATTC created by the Convention currently has 
thirteen member states: Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, 
France, Guatemala, Japan, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, 
United States, Vanuatu, and Venezuela.
    The Commission's mandate is to investigate the abundance, 
biology and ecology of yellow fin and skipjack tuna and of fish 
used as bait in the tuna fisheries; to collect and analyze 
information; and to publish such information and make 
recommendations for joint action by the Parties, in order to 
maintain tuna stocks to permit maximum sustained catches year 
after year in the eastern Pacific Ocean. It also implements the 
1999 Agreement on the International Dolphin Conservation 
Program.

                        III. Summary of Protocol

    At present, the Convention is only open to governments of 
states. The Protocol amends the treaty to allow regional 
economic integration organizations to become members, in order 
that the European Union (EU) may join. The EU has exclusive 
competency over the fishing fleets of its member states; 
therefore, member states of the EU are no longer permitted to 
become members of such treaties as individual states. France 
will maintain membership on the Commission due to certain 
territories in the Pacific over which the EU does not assert 
competency. Currently, Spain is the only EU member state that 
conducts fishing in the area covered by the Convention.
    Specifically, the Protocol allows governments and regional 
economic integration organizations with jurisdiction over 
nationals who participate in the fisheries covered by the 
Convention to join the Convention with the unanimous approval 
of Parties to the Convention. Such an organization is defined 
as an organization ``constituted by states that have 
transferred to such organizations competence over matter within 
the purview of [the] Convention, including the competence to 
enter into agreements in respect of those matters.'' Member 
states of such organizations are not eligible to participate, 
unless they have a separate basis for membership (as in the 
case of France), in which case, that state would be limited to 
representing the interests of the separate territories.

                          IV. Entry into Force

    Under Article 2(4), the Protocol will enter into force on 
the thirtieth day after all parties to the Convention have 
indicated their consent to be bound.

                          V. Committee Action

    The Committee held a hearing to review the Protocol on May 
7, 2002.\1\ On July 30, 2002, the Committee considered the 
Protocol and ordered it favorably reported by voice vote, with 
the recommendation that the Senate give its advice and consent 
to the ratification of the Protocol.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\ S. Hrg. 107-594, ``Hearing to Consider 6 Treaties.''
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                         VI. Committee Comments

    The Committee shares the view of the Executive Branch that 
the admission of the European Union (EU) to the IATTC is 
desirable. It will bring Spanish fishermen within the 
conservation management regime of the Commission, and it should 
result in a reduction in U.S. dues for the Commission's budget.
    The Committee also shares the view of the Executive Branch 
that accession of the EU to the Commission should not create a 
situation where the EU and its member states together receive 
greater rights than other states party to the Convention. The 
Protocol clearly provides, in Article I(7), that a member state 
of regional economic integration organizations which join the 
Commission is ``barred from becoming a party (or continuing to 
be a party) to the Convention'' unless the member state 
represents an overseas territory, and provided that such member 
state's participation is ``limited to representing only the 
interests of its territories.'' This means that once the EU 
becomes a party to the Convention, France shall be permitted to 
participate in the Commission only to the extent that the 
matters under deliberation pertain to French territories not 
within the jurisdiction of the EU. The Committee expects that 
the Executive Branch will strongly oppose any efforts by the EU 
or its member states to breach this provision in the councils 
of the Commission.

     VII. Text of Resolution of Advice and Consent to Ratification

    Resolved (two-thirds of the Senators present concurring 
therein), That the Senate advise and consent to the 
ratification of the Protocol to Amend the 1949 Convention on 
the Establishment of an Inter-American Tropical Tuna 
Commission, done at Guayaquil, June 11, 1999, and signed by the 
United States, subject to ratification, in Guayaquil, Ecuador, 
on the same date (Treaty Doc. 107-2).

                                  
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