20.12.2012 Official Journal of the European Union L 350/99 COMMISSION IMPLEMENTING DECISION of 19 December 2012 establishing a specific control and inspection programme for pelagic fisheries in Western Waters of the North East Atlantic (2012/807/EU) THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION, Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, Having regard to the Council Regulation (EC) No 1224/2009 of 20 November 2009 establishing a Community control system for ensuring compliance with the rules of the Common Fisheries Policy, amending Regulations (EC) No 847/96, (EC) No 2371/2002, (EC) No 8112004, (EC) No 768/2005, (EC) No 2115/2005, (EC) No 2166/2005, (EC) No 388/2006, (EC) No 509/2007, (EC) No 676/2007, (EC) No 1098/2007, (EC) No 1300/2008, (EC) No 1342/2008 and repealing Regulations (EEC) No 2847/93, (EC) No 1627/94 and (EC) No 1966/2006 ('), and in particular Article 95 thereof, Whereas: (1) Regulation (EC) No 1224/2009 applies to all activities covered by the common fisheries policy carried out on the territory of Member States or in Union waters or by Union fishing vessels or, without prejudice to the primary responsibility of the flag Member State, by nationals of Member States, and lays down in particular that Member States shall ensure that control, inspection and enforcement are carried out on a non-discriminatory basis as regards sectors, vessels or persons, and on the basis of risk management. (2)  Council Regulation (EC) No 1300/2008 of 18 December 2008 establishing a multi-annual plan for the stock of herring distributed to the west of Scotland and the fisheries exploiting that stock (?), lays down the conditions for the sustainable exploitation of herring. (3)  Article 95 of Regulation (EC) No 1224/2009 foresees the possibility for the Commission to determine, in concert with the Member States concerned, the fisheries which () OJ L 343, 22.12.2009, p. 1. OJ L 344, 20.12.2008, p. 6. are to be subject to a specific control and inspection programme. Such a specific control and inspection programme has to state the objectives, priorities and procedures as well as benchmarks for inspection activities to be established on the basis of risk management and to be revised periodically after an analysis of the achieved results. Member States concerned are obliged to adopt the necessary measures to ensure the implementation of the specific control and inspection programme, particularly as regards required human and material resources and the periods and zones where these are to be deployed. ) Article 95(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1224/2009 provides that the specific control and inspection programme states benchmarks for inspections activities that are to be estab- lished on the basis of risk management. For this purpose, it is appropriate to lay down common risk assessment and management criteria for checking, inspection and verification activities in order to allow timely risk analyses and global assessments of relevant control and inspection information. The common criteria aim at ensuring a harmonised approach to inspection and verifi- cation in all Member States and establishing a level playing field for all operators. (5)  The specific control and inspection programme should be established for the period from 1 January 2013 to 31 December 2015 and should be implemented by Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom. (6)  Article 98(1) and (3) of Commission Implementing Regu- lation (EU) No 404/2011 (}) foresees that, without prejudice to provisions contained in multi-annual plans, competent authorities of Member States have to adopt a risk based approach for the selection of targets for inspection, using all available information and, subject to a risk based control and enforcement strategy, carry out the necessary inspection activities in an objective way in order to prevent the retention on board, transhipment, landing, processing, transport, storage, marketing and stocking of fishery products originating from activities that are not in compliance with the rules of the Common Fisheries Policy. () OJ L 112, 30.4.2011, p. 1.