COMMISSION DELEGATED REGULATION (EU) 2020/1569

of 23 July 2020

amending Annex I to Regulation (EU) No 692/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council, on the classification of countries of residence of guests staying at tourist accommodation establishments in the context of the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the Union

(Text with EEA relevance)

THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,

Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

Having regard to Regulation (EU) No 692/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 6 July 2011 concerning European statistics on tourism (1), and in particular Article 3(2) thereof,

Whereas:

(1) On 1 February 2020, the United Kingdom withdrew from the European Union.

(2) Pursuant to Regulation (EU) No 692/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council, Member States are to submit to the Commission (Eurostat) data on capacity and occupancy of tourist accommodation establishments in accordance with Annex I to Regulation (EU) No 692/2011. That Annex defines, amongst other things, the required categories of countries and geographical areas of residence of guests staying at tourist accommodation establishments.

(3) Regulation (EU) No 692/2011 contains an implicit reference to the United Kingdom in category “European Union (the Union); to be reported separately: each Member State” under the classification to be applied for Section 2 of Annex I, as listed in Section 3 of Annex I.

(4) Following the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the Union, the United Kingdom is no longer part of that category. Member States are therefore no longer obliged to submit, separately, data regarding the United Kingdom under Regulation (EU) No 692/2011.

(5) The Union’s tourism industry occupies an important place in the economy of the Member States with tourist activities representing a large source of employment. European statistics on tourism are essential to provide an appraisal of the industry’s competitiveness and the volume and flows of tourism.

(6) Taking into account the importance of the United Kingdom as a generating market for tourism in the Union, it is essential to ensure continuity in the submission of data by the Member States with counterpart the United Kingdom after its withdrawal from the Union.

(7) As a result of the United Kingdom becoming a third country, its positioning in the classification of countries and geographical areas of residence of guests staying at tourist accommodation establishments needs to be modified accordingly.

(8) Section 3 ‘E. Countries and geographical areas’ of Annex I to Regulation (EU) No 692/2011 should therefore be amended to include the United Kingdom as a separate country of residence of guests staying at tourist accommodation establishments. Such update only moves the United Kingdom from one category to another and therefore neither affects the reporting burden nor modifies the applicable underlying conceptual framework.

(9) It is not advisable to move a country or geographical area from one category to another within a given reference year. It is preferable to apply the amended classification for the entire reference year of 2020 onwards,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1 Annex I to Regulation (EU) No 692/2011 is amended as follows: In Section 3, point ‘E. Countries and geographical areas’, is amended as follows: (1) the third indent is replaced as follows: ‘— other European countries (apart from EU or EFTA; not including the United Kingdom, Russia, Turkey, Ukraine),’; (2) the following indent is inserted before ‘— Russia,’: ‘— the United Kingdom,’.

Article 2 This Regulation shall enter into force on the twentieth day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union and shall apply from the reference year 2020 and onwards.

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States. Done at Brussels, 23 July 2020. For the Commission The President Ursula VON DER LEYEN

(1) OJ L 192, 22.7.2011, p. 17.