
CHAPTER I
Article 1 
This Regulation establishes technical operational requirements for the recording, formatting and transmission of the information as referred to in Article 40(2) of the SMEFF Regulation.
Article 2 

1. For the purpose of this Regulation, the definitions set out in Article 3 of the SMEFF Regulation shall apply.
2. For the purpose of this Regulation, the following definition shall also apply:
(a) ‘Union fishing fleet database’ means the register, kept by the Commission, containing information on all Union fishing vessels in accordance with Implementing Regulation (EU) 2017/218 and supplemented by additional vessel details required in the applications for fishing authorisations under the SMEFF Regulation.
(b) ‘Union fishing authorisations database’ means the database set up in accordance with Article 39 of the SMEFF Regulation in order to ensure the exchange of information referred to in Titles II and III of that Regulation.
CHAPTER II
Article 3 

1. When submitting applications for fishing authorisations in accordance with Article 39(3) of the SMEFF Regulation, Member States and third countries shall file one application per vessel, per agreement, per fishing category and per period.
2. The vessel information available in the Union fishing fleet database shall be used by the Union fishing authorisations database to ensure data exchanges on fishing authorisations as required by the SMEFF Regulation.
Article 4 

1. The format of the information exchanged between Member States, third countries and the Commission in accordance with Articles 11, 18, 22 and 25 of the SMEFF Regulation shall be the Fishing License Authorization & Permit (FLAP) Domain XML Schema Definition based on the United Nations Fisheries Language for Universal Exchange (UN/FLUX) P1000-9 standard.
2. Data fields, core components and well-formatted Extensible Markup Language (XML) messages shall comply with the XML Schema Definition (XSD) based on the UN/FLUX standardisation libraries.
3. The XSD and codes on the Master Data Register page of the European Commission Fisheries website shall be used.
4. Member States shall use the FLAP implementation document available on the European Commission fisheries website to ensure that the correct messages are communicated and the correct procedures are followed for the Union fishing authorisations database.
Article 5 

1. The transmission of messages shall be fully automated and immediate, using the transportation layer for fisheries data exchanges as made available by the Commission.
2. The sender shall be responsible for communicating the messages in line with the agreed validation and verification rules set out in the FLAP implementation document.
3. The receiver of the message shall inform the sender of the reception and of the validation and verification results of the message by transmitting a response message.
Article 6 

1. Amendments to the UN/FLUX FLAP domain XML format and the FLAP implementation document shall be decided by the Commission services in concert with Member States.
2. The amendments referred to in paragraph 1 shall not come into effect earlier than 6 months and no later than 18 months after they have been decided. The timing shall be decided by the Commission services in concert with Member States.
Article 7 
Personal data contained in the Union fishing authorisations database shall not be stored for a period longer than 10 years, except if the personal data is necessary to allow the follow up of an infringement, an inspection, or judicial or administrative procedures. In these cases, the personal data may be stored for 20 years. If personal data is retained for a longer period, the data shall be anonymised.
CHAPTER III
Article 8 
This Regulation shall enter into force on the twentieth day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.
It shall apply from 1 December 2020.
This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.Done at Brussels, 16 January 2020.
For the Commission
The President
Ursula VON DER LEYEN