The EP's plenary has shown broad support to the agreement on measures to prevent, discourage and eliminate illegal fishing. This text is a binding legal instrument that provides a set of rules against a wide range of operations. The aim is to ensure the sustainable use and long-term conservation of living resources and marine ecosystems.

With the support of the European Parliament, the European Union becomes the third entity of the 25 required in order to entry into force of the agreement. The countries and entities like the EU which ratify the agreement may refuse entry and use of its ports to vessels which have engaged in illegal fishing activities. These measures will be applied to fishing vessels and to those used for "fishing related activities" such as transport vessels for fisheries products.

The agreement specifies the procedures to follow by the State port with regard to do inspections of vessels and the transmission of the results of the inspection. Furthermore, it also specifies the procedure to follow when ships apply for entering in a port. With this agreement, the parties will cooperate to establish an information exchange mechanism which will be most probably coordinated by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nation (FAO).

Carmen Fraga, the MEP text's rapporteur expressed his satisfaction with the adoption of the text and underlined that the measures provided for in the agreement will only be truly effective if they are applied globally and in a way uniform and transparent. This measure is linked to a implementing Regulation, which completes an exhaustive reform of the EU system for fisheries controls policy which was started in 2008 and it finishes with the recently adoption of new rules to tighten control over the fishing industry.