Decisions on Appeals. The Delay Dilemma

With decisions under FRAP 2015/2016 in various fishing sectors having been announced by the Delegated Authority (“DA”) and with the upcoming FRAP 2020 decisions in mind it is appropriate to reflect on the rights of applicants who wish their internal appeals against such decisions to be decided on urgently.

The urgency for applicants generally arises from the scenario where the DA makes decisions on rights applications after the previous long term rights have expired. Existing right holder applicants are then placed in a position where their previous rights have expired, they are unsuccessful with their new application, but the new rights allocations commence for the successful applicants. 

In such a scenario an existing fishing operation grinds to a halt while the TAC to the successful applicants is being fished during the time that the unsuccessful applicant is submitting its internal appeal and awaiting a decision thereon.