REGULATION (EC) No 184/2005 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL
of 12 January 2005
on Community statistics concerning balance of payments, international trade in services and foreign direct investment
THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 285(1) thereof,
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,
Having regard to the opinion of the European Central Bank, delivered in accordance with Article 105(4) of the Treaty (1),
Acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 251 of the Treaty (2),
Whereas:
(1)
The Treaty requires the Commission to submit reports to the Council in order to enable the Council to monitor economic developments in each of the Member States and in the Community as well as the consistency of economic policies with certain broad guidelines.
(2)
According to the Treaty, the Commission must submit proposals to the Council for implementing the common commercial policy and the Council must authorise the Commission to open the necessary negotiations.
(3)
The implementation and the review of trade agreements, including the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) (3) and the Agreement on Trade-Related aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) (4), as well as the current and future negotiations on further agreements, call for the relevant statistical information to be made available.
(4)
Council Regulation (EC) No 2223/96 of 25 June 1996 on the European System of national and regional accounts in the Community (5) (ESA 95) contains the reference framework of common standards, definitions, classifications, and accounting rules for drawing up the accounts of the Member States for the statistical requirements of the Community, in order to obtain comparable results between Member States.
(5)
The Action Plan on EMU Statistical Requirements presented to the Council in September 2000 and the 3rd, 4th and 5th Progress Reports, also supported by the Council, provide for quarterly European accounts by the institutional sector within 90 days. The timely provision of quarterly balance-of-payments figures is a prerequisite for the compilation of these quarterly European accounts.
(6)
Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 58/97 of 20 December 1996 on Structural Business Statistics (6), established a common framework for the collection, compilation, transmission and evaluation of Community statistics on the structure, activity, competitiveness and performance of businesses in the Community and sets out the characteristics which should be collected in this area.
(7)
Regulation (EC) No 2560/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 December 2001 on cross-border payments in euro (7), had a direct impact on the collection of statistics; an increase in the threshold provided for in that Regulation would have a significant impact on the reporting burden of undertakings and on the quality of balance of payments statistics of Member States, especially in the Member States that have collection systems based on settlements.
(8)
Collectively, the Balance of Payments Manual of the International Monetary Fund, the Guideline of the European Central Bank (ECB) of 2 May 2003 on the statistical reporting requirements of the European Central Bank in the field of balance of payments and international investment position statistics, and the international reserves template (8), the Manual on statistics of international trade in services of the United Nations, and the OECD Benchmark Definition of Foreign Direct Investment, define the general rules for compiling statistics on balance of payments, international trade in services, and foreign direct investment.
(9)
In the field of balance of payments statistics, the ECB and the Commission coordinate work on compilation issues as appropriate. This Regulation defines in particular the statistical information that the Commission needs from the Member States in order to produce Community statistics on balance of payments, international trade in services and foreign direct investment. For the purposes of producing and disseminating those Community statistics, the Commission and the Member States consult with each other on matters concerning the quality of the data supplied and its dissemination.
(10)
Council Regulation (Euratom, EEC) No 1588/90 of 11 June 1990 on the transmission of data subject to statistical confidentiality to the Statistical Office of the European Communities (9), provides that national rules on statistical confidentiality may not be invoked to prevent the transmission of confidential statistical data to the Community authority (Eurostat) where an act of Community law governing a Community statistic provides for the transmission of such data.
(11)
Council Regulation (EC) No 2533/98 of 23 November 1998 concerning the collection of statistical information by the European Central Bank (10), lays down a confidentiality regime that applies to confidential statistical information transmitted to the ECB.
(12)
The production of specific Community statistics is governed by the rules set out in Council Regulation (EC) No 322/97 of 17 February 1997 on Community statistics (11).
(13)
There is a clear need to produce Community statistics on balance of payments, international trade in services and foreign direct investment which follow common statistical quality standards.
(14)
Since the objective of this Regulation, namely the creation of common statistical quality standards for the production of comparable statistics on balance of payments, international trade in services and foreign direct investment, cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States and can therefore be better achieved at Community level, the Community may adopt measures, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity as set out in Article 5 of the Treaty. In accordance with the principle of proportionality, as set out in that Article, this Regulation does not go beyond what is necessary in order to achieve that objective.
(15)
In order to guarantee the fulfilment of the obligations laid down in this Regulation, the national institutions responsible for the collection of data within the Member States may need to gain access to administrative data sources such as business registers held by other public institutions and to other databases containing information on cross-border transactions and positions, wherever such data are necessary for the production of Community statistics.
(16)
The measures necessary for the implementation of this Regulation should be adopted in accordance with Council Decision 1999/468/EC of 28 June 1999 laying down the procedures for the exercise of implementing powers conferred on the Commission (12),
HAVE ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:
Article 1
Subject matter
This Regulation establishes a common framework for the systematic production of Community statistics on balance of payments, international trade in services and foreign direct investment.
Article 2
Submission of data
1. Member States shall submit to the Commission (Eurostat) data on balance of payments, international trade in services and foreign direct investment as referred to in Annex I. The data shall be as defined in Annex II.
2. Member States shall submit the data to the Commission (Eurostat) in accordance with the deadlines shown in Annex I.
Article 3
Data sources
1. Member States shall collect the information required pursuant to this Regulation using all the sources they consider relevant and appropriate. These may include administrative data sources such as business registers.
2. Natural and legal persons required to supply information shall, when responding, comply with the time limits and definitions set by the national institutions responsible for the collection of data within the Member States in accordance with this Regulation.
3. Where the required data cannot be collected at a reasonable cost, best estimates may be transmitted (zero values included).
Article 4
Quality criteria and reports
1. Member States shall take all reasonable measures they consider necessary to ensure the quality of the data transmitted according to common quality standards.
2. Member States shall supply the Commission with a report on the quality of the data transmitted (hereinafter referred to as ‘quality report’).
3. The common quality standards, as well as the content and periodicity of the quality reports, shall be specified in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 11(2), taking into account the implications as regards the cost of collecting and compiling the data as well as important changes concerning data collection.
The quality of the data transmitted shall be assessed, on the basis of the quality reports, by the Commission with the assistance of the Balance of Payments Committee referred to in Article 11. This assessment by the Commission shall be sent to the European Parliament for information.
4. Member States shall communicate to the Commission major methodological or other changes that would influence the data transmitted, not later than three months after any such change becomes applicable. The Commission shall notify the European Parliament and the other Member States of any such communication.
Article 5
Data flows
The statistics to be produced shall be grouped for transmission to the Commission (Eurostat) according to the following data flows:
(a)
balance of payments euro indicators;
(b)
balance of payments quarterly statistics;
(c)
international trade in services;
(d)
foreign direct investment (FDI) flows;
(e)
FDI positions.
The data flows shall be as further specified in Annex I.
Article 6
Reference period and periodicity
Member States shall compile the data flows according to the relevant first reference period and the periodicity as specified in Annex I.
Article 7
Transmission of data
Member States shall transmit to the Commission (Eurostat) the data required by this Regulation following a format and a procedure defined by the Commission, in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 11(2).
Article 8
Transmission and exchange of confidential data
1. Notwithstanding the rules laid down in Article 5(4) of Regulation (Euratom, EEC) No 1588/90, the transmission of confidential data between Eurostat and the ECB may take place to the extent this transmission is necessary to ensure coherence between the balance of payments figures of the European Union and those of the economic territory of the Member States which have adopted the single currency.
2. Paragraph 1 shall apply on condition that the ECB takes due account of the principles defined in Article 10 of Regulation (EC) No 322/97 and complies with the conditions laid down in Article 14 of the same Regulation.
3. The exchange of confidential data, as defined by Article 13 of Regulation (EC) No 322/97, shall be allowed between Member States where the exchange is necessary to safeguard the quality of the balance of payment figures of the European Union.
Member States receiving confidential data from other Member States shall treat that information confidentially.
Article 9
Dissemination
The Commission (Eurostat) shall disseminate the Community statistics produced pursuant to this Regulation, with a periodicity similar to that specified in Annex I.
Article 10
Adaptation to economic and technical changes
The measures necessary to take account of economic and technical changes shall be laid down in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 11(2).
Such measures shall concern:
(a)
the updating of the definitions (Annex II);
(b)
the updating of data requirements, including submission deadlines as well as revisions, extensions and eliminations of data flows (Annex I).
Article 11
Committee procedure
1. The Commission shall be assisted by a Balance of Payments Committee, hereinafter the ‘Committee’.
2. Where reference is made to this paragraph, Articles 5 and 7 of Decision 1999/468/EC shall apply, having regard to the provisions of Article 8 thereof.
The period laid down in Article 5(6) of Decision 1999/468/EC shall be set at three months.
3. The Committee shall adopt its Rules of Procedure.
4. The ECB may attend the meetings of the Committee as an observer.
Article 12
Report on implementation
By 28 February 2010, the Commission shall submit a report to the European Parliament and the Council on the implementation of this Regulation.
In particular, the report shall:
(a)
record the quality of the statistics produced;
(b)
assess the benefits accruing to the Community, the Member States and the providers and users of statistical information of the statistics produced in relation to the costs;
(c)
identify areas for potential improvement and amendments considered necessary in the light of the results obtained;
(d)
review the operation of the Committee and recommend whether the scope of implementing measures should be redefined.
Article 13
Entry into force
This Regulation shall enter into force on the 20th day following its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.
This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.
Done at Strasbourg, 12 January 2005.