COMMISSION DELEGATED REGULATION (EU) 2019/505

of 19 December 2018

amending Annex I to Regulation (EC) No 184/2005 of the European Parliament and of the Council, as regards the geographical breakdown levels

(Text with EEA relevance)

THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,

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

Having regard to 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 (1), and in particular Article 2(3) thereof,

Whereas:

(1) On 29 March 2017, the United Kingdom submitted the notification of its intention to withdraw from the Union pursuant to Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union. The Treaties will cease to apply to the United Kingdom from the date of entry into force of a withdrawal agreement or failing that, two years after that notification, that is to say from 30 March 2019, unless the European Council, in agreement with the United Kingdom, unanimously decides to extend that period.

(2) Regulation (EC) No 184/2005 establishes a common framework for the systematic production of Community statistics on balance of payments, international trade in services and foreign direct investment.

(3) Member States are to submit to the Commission (Eurostat) data on balance of payments, international trade in services and foreign direct investment as referred to in Annex I to Regulation (EC) No 184/2005. That Regulation defines, inter alia, the required levels of geographical breakdown of the data to be submitted by the Member States to the Commission (Eurostat).

(4) Table 6 of Annex I to Regulation (EC) No 184/2005 contains implicit references to the United Kingdom in the counterpart area ‘Union Member States not in the euro area’ under geographical breakdown level GEO 4. Member States are required to submit data for that counterpart area to the Commission (Eurostat) with an individual breakdown by country.

(5) The withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the Union would have the effect that the United Kingdom would become a third country and as such would no longer be part of the counterpart area ‘Union Member States not in the euro area’ of GEO 4. Member States would therefore no longer be legally bound to submit data for the counterpart area concerning the United Kingdom.

(6) GEO 4 sets out the geographical breakdown level required for certain items of quarterly statistics on balance of payments and international investment position and activity breakdown of annual direct investment positions and annual direct investment transactions and income.

(7) European statistics concerning the balance of payments, international investment positions and foreign direct investment are of vital importance to ensuring informed economic policymaking and accurate economic forecasting. They are essential for those responsible for public policy in the Union, for research and Union citizens.

(8) Given the intense trade and economic relations between the Union and the United Kingdom, it is essential to ensure continuity of Member States' submission of data with the United Kingdom as counterpart after its withdrawal from the Union.

(9) Table 6 of Annex I to Regulation (EC) No 184/2005 also contains explicit references to the United Kingdom in geographical breakdown levels GEO 5 and GEO 6, where the United Kingdom is listed as a separate counterpart country under geographical aggregate ‘Europe’, together with all other Member States of the Union.

(10) Aggregate ‘Europe’ in GEO 5 and GEO 6 is composed of all Member States, the Member States of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) and other European states. Aggregate ‘Other European Countries’ consists of all European countries that are neither Members States of the Union nor EFTA Member States, listed in alphabetical order in English.

(11) Due to the United Kingdom becoming a third country, its positioning in GEO 5 and GEO 6 needs to be changed accordingly.

(12) Table 6 of Annex I to Regulation (EC) No 184/2005 should therefore be amended to include the United Kingdom as a separate counterpart country in geographical breakdown level GEO 4 and to change its positioning in geographical breakdown levels GEO 5 and GEO 6. Such update neither affects the reporting burden nor modifies the applicable underlying conceptual framework.

(13) Taking into account the scrutiny period of three months applying to this delegated act and the necessity to have an updated Table 6 of Annex I to Regulation (EC) No 184/2005 in place and ready to be applied at the moment that the United Kingdom would cease to be in the counterpart area ‘Union Member States not in the euro area’, which could be as early as 30 March 2019, it is essential for this Regulation to enter into force as soon as possible,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1 Annex I to Regulation (EC) No 184/2005 is amended in accordance with the Annex to this Regulation.

Article 2 This Regulation shall enter into force on the day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union. It shall apply from the day following that on which the United Kingdom ceases to be a Member State of the Union.

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States. Done at Brussels, 19 December 2018. For the Commission The President Jean-Claude JUNCKER

(1) OJ L 35, 8.2.2005, p. 23.