State of play, main conclusions, outlook

The evaluation of the overall policy framework of bilateral Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Agreements (SFPAs) with third countries started in December 2020. The support study was finalised in 2021. The evaluation draws on the study and also on the individual (the Commission is required to ensure independent ex-ante and ex-post evaluations of each SFPA protocol) and regional evaluations as well as the ex-post evaluation of the so-called ‘2nd Financial Instrument’ - Council Regulation (EC) No 861/2006 - (providing funding for SFPAs) from 2015¹ and the Court of Auditors 2015 Special Report on SFPAs. The objective of this evaluation is to provide the Commission with a thorough analysis of the SFPAs features, content, implementation, results and impacts and support their future improvement.

The evaluation has a global, regional scope and looks at some individual agreements as well. It takes into consideration the current, and when possible future, legal and political context of the fisheries policy and related EU policies, and analyses the current and future role and contribution of the SFPAs to these policies, their contribution to the sustainable development of the partner countries and the overall cooperation between the EU and third countries. The evaluation will feed into the Communication on the Common Fisheries Policy.

¹ https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/d5c69773-de15-11e6-ad7c-01aa75ed71a1