COUNCIL REGULATION (EEC) No 3696/93 of 29 October 1993 on the statistical classification of products by activity (CPA) in the European Economic Community
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community, and in particular Article 100a thereof,
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission (1),
In cooperation with the European Parliament (2),
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social Committee (3),
Whereas, in order to function, the internal market requires statistical standards applicable to the collection, transmission and publication of national and Community statistics so that undertakings, financial institutions, governments and all other operators in the Single Market can be provided with reliable and comparable statistical data;
Whereas such information is necessary to enable undertakings to assess their competitiveness and is useful to the Community institutions in preventing distortions of competition;
Whereas only if the Member States use product classifications by activity linked to the Community classification will it be possible to provide integrated information with the reliability, speed, flexibility and degree of detail required for the management of the internal market;
Whereas provision should be made for the Member States to be able, in order to meet national requirements, to retain or to insert in their national classifications additional subdivisions based on the classification of products by activity within the European Economic Community;
Whereas the international compatibility of economic statistics requires that the Member States and the Community institutions use product classifications by activity which are directly linked to the United Nations Central Product Classification (CPC);
Whereas the classification of products by activity in the Community should be linked to the classification of economic activities in the Community (NACE Rev. 1);
Whereas the structuring of a product classification in accordance with the production activity involved avoids proliferation of unrelated coding schemes and facilitates the identification by producers of relevant markets;
Whereas there is a need to create a reference framework within which statistical data on production, consumption, external trade and transport can be compared;
Whereas the use of the classification of products by activity within the Community requires that the Commission be assisted by a Management Committee, namely the Statistical Programme Committee set up by Decision 89/382/EEC, Euratom (4) on any issue relating to the application of this Regulation, in particular as regards interpretation of that classification, minor amendments thereto and the drafting and updating of explanatory notes;
Whereas within the framework of this Regulation it is desirable to have uniform codes for all the Member States using the same product description and a corresponding alphanumeric code;
Whereas it is vital that the contents of the various categories of the classification of products by activity within the Community be interpreted uniformly in all the Member States;
Whereas the introduction of a new classification of products by activity requires a transitional period,
HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:
Article 1
1. The purpose of this Regulation is to establish a classification of products by activity within the Community in order to ensure comparability between national and Community classifications and hence national and Community statistics.
2. The term 'product' shall mean transportable goods, non-transportable goods and services.
3. This Regulation shall apply only to the use of this classification for statistical purposes.
Article 2
1. A common basis for the classification of products by activity within the Community, hereinafter referred to as the 'CPA', is hereby established, comprising:
- a first level consisting of headings identified by an alphabetical code (sections),
- an intermediate level consisting of headings identified by a two-character alphabetical code (subsections),
- a second level consisting of headings identified by a two-digit numerical code (divisions),
- a third level consisting of headings identified by a three-digit numerical code (groups),
- a fourth level consisting of headings identified by a four-digit numerical code (classes),
- a fifth level consisting of headings identified by a five-digit numerical code (categories),
- a sixth level consisting of headings identified by a six-digit numerical code (subcategories).
2. The CPA is annexed to this Regulation.
Article 3
1. The CPA shall be used by the Commission and the Member States as a classification. The CPA may be used for aggregated or detailed Community, national, specific or functional adaptations based on the subcategories of the CPA.
2. These classifications will be related to the CPA in accordance with the following rules:
- classifications which are more aggregated than the CPA shall consist of precise aggregations of CPA subcategories,
- classifications which are more detailed than the CPA shall consist of subdivisions which are wholly contained within CPA subcategories,
- the classifications which are derived in this way may have separate codification.
3. The Member States wishing to use a national classification derived from the CPA shall adopt as quickly as possible, and by 31 December 1993 at the latest, the measures required for the establishment of a national product classification in compliance with this Article.
Article 4
The Commission shall be assisted by the Statistical Programme Committee (SPC), hereinafter referred to as 'the Committee'.
Article 5
The Committee may examine any questions concerning the CPA raised by the chairman, whether on his own initiative or at the request of a representative of a Member State, which have a bearing on the application of this Regulation, especially as regards:
(a) the interpretation of the CPA;
(b) the incorporation of minor amendments to the CPA:
- designed to take account of technological or economic developments, especially in the field of services,
- designed to align and clarify texts,
- resulting from amendments made to other international product classifications, in particular the CPC;
(c) preparation and coordination of work on revising the CPA;
(d) drafting and updating of explanatory notes on the CPA;
(e) examination of problems arising from implementation of the CPA in the Member States' product classifications;
(f) attempting to prepare, as appropriate, a common position concerning the work of international organizations on product classifications, especially the CPC and its explanatory notes;
(g) harmonization with NACE Rev. 1, as set out in the Annex to Council Regulation (EEC) 3037/90 of 9 October 1990 on the statistical classification of economic activities in the European Community (5);
(h) coordination of work with other committees dealing with classifications, in particular the Harmonized System (HS) and the combined nomenclature (CN);
(i) extension of the transitional period at the request of a Member State;
(j) coordination of work with other bodies dealing with more aggregated or more detailed Community, national, specific or functional classifications.
Measures to be taken under (a) to (j) shall be adopted in accordance with the procedure defined in Article 6.
Article 6
1. The representative of the Commission shall submit to the Committee a draft of the measures to be adopted. The Committee shall deliver its opinion on the draft within a time limit which the chairman may lay down according to the urgency of the matter. The opinion shall be delivered by the majority laid down in Article 148 (2) of the Treaty in the case of decisions which the Council is required to adopt on a proposal from the Commission. The votes of the representatives of the Member States within the Committee will be weighted in the manner set out in that Article. The chairman shall not vote.
2. The Commission shall adopt the measures, which shall apply immediately. However, if those measures are not in accordance with the opinion of the Committee, they shall be communicated by the Commission to the Council forthwith. In that event, the Commission shall defer application of the measures which it has decided upon for three months from the date of such communication.
3. The Council, acting by a qualified majority, may take a different decision within the time limit referred to in paragraph 2.
Article 7
Product classifications used for statistics collected after 31 December 1993 shall be drawn up in accordance with Article 3.
Article 8
1. There shall be a transitional period starting on 1 January 1994 and ending on 31 December 1995.
2. The transitional period may be extended and a Member State may be authorized on the basis of duly substantiated technical or operational reasons, to use a classification not provided for pursuant to Article 3 according to the procedure of Article 5.
3. Six months after the end of the transitional period the Commission shall submit a report to the European Parliament and the Council on the experience acquired with the statistical classification of products by activity; the report shall also cover the revision of the CPC carried out by the United Nation's Statistical Office (UNSO).
Article 9
This Regulation shall enter into force on the 20th day following its publication in the Official Journal of the European Communities.
This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.
Done at Brussels, 29 October 1993.