European Union, Norway and the United Kingdom - fisheries consultations: agreed records 2026
Agreed records of consultations from meetings of delegations from the United Kingdom, the European Union and Norway, held in November and December 2025, on the joint management of shared North Sea stocks.
24 Electronic exchange of data
24.1 The Delegations noted the decision by the North-East Atlantic Fisheries Commission (NEAFC) to implement and set into production the new Electronic Reporting System (ERS) based on the United Nations Fisheries Language for Universal Exchange (UN/FLUX standard) on 15th January 2024. This date marked the start of the two-year transition period wherein the remaining Contracting Parties shall test and implement the new ERS data exchange system based on the UN/FLUX standard. Furthermore, the Delegations noted that the bilateral agreements on exchange of electronic vessel positions data between the EU and Norway and between Norway and the UK have been revised and completed to facilitate exchange of data based on UN/FLUX standard.
24.2 The Delegations agreed to continue to make revisions of the current agreements on bilateral electronic exchange of data between the Parties, including fishing activities (ERS) and notifications and authorisations data. The Delegations noted that the discussions and work had been intensified by the Parties in 2025 recognising the technical challenges that need to be overcome.
24.3 Furthermore, the Delegations noted the progress made at a technical level to develop a template (i.e. common principles) for an electronic notification and authorisation scheme based on the UN/FLUX standard with the intention to establish bilateral data exchanges, as appropriate. They also noted the ongoing technical work on fishing activities (ERS) data based on the UN/FLUX standard and agreed to continue the development in a trilateral setting to establish a template (i.e. common principles) with the intention to establish bilateral data exchanges, as appropriate.
24.4 The Delegations noted the important progress made in the Working Group on the electronic exchange of data following the Terms of Reference in Annex X of the Trilateral Agreed Record for 2025. The Delegations agreed to seek suitable arrangements within the scope of the Working Group on electronic exchange of data as outlined in Annex X. The work plan for the Working Group on electronic exchange of data can be found in Annex XI. The parties noted the implementation of Vessel Position data over FLUX bilaterally between the EU and Norway and the UK and Norway has been completed.
24.5 The UK hosted the first Working Group meeting of 2025 in Scotland in April, Norway hosted the second meeting in Bergen in June, and the EU hosted the third meeting in Brussels in October. The UK will host the next meeting in York in 2026.