COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES 
Brussels, 13.10.1997 
COM(97) 508 final 
97/ 0252 (ACQ 
Proposal for a 
COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) 
amending Articles 6 and 9 of Regulation (EC) No 1172/95 on the statistics relating 
to the trading of goods by the Community and its Member States with non-member 
countries 
(presented by the Commission) 

EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM "| 
Subject: Proposal for a Council Regulation (EC) amending Articles 6 and 9 of 
Regulation (EC) N° 1172/95 on the statistics relating to the trading of goods by the 
Community and its Member States with non-member countries 
1. The Community rules on the statistics relating to the trading of goods with 
non-member countries consist of Council Regulation (EC) N° 1172/95© (basic 
Regulation) and Commission Regulation (EC) N° 840/96 (implementing Regulation). 
A Commission Regulation which annually lays down the country nomenclature is also 
part of the legislation governing the above-mentioned statistics. 
2. The French overseas departments (DOM) and the Canary Islands have recently been 
included in the statistical territory of the Community (cf. Council Regulation (EC) N° 
476/97©); these territories were previously regarded as non-member countries and for 
the purposes of external trade statistics were not part of the statistical territory of the 
European Union. This amendment therefore means that the basic Regulation must be 
adapted accordingly. 
3. Furthermore, some Commission departments have, with the agreement of the 
Member States, requested that the coding system currently used for the country 
nomenclature be changed. For the past twenty years or so the countries have been 
identified by a numerical code, but it is proposed, for practical reasons and in order to 
align more closely with international conventions, that an alphabetical code in line with 
the ISO-alpha2 standard be used. Before this new nomenclature, which will be adopted 
by a Commission Regulation, can be introduced, the necessary adaptations must be 
made to the basic Regulation. 
4. Therefore Articles 6 and 9 of Regulation (EC) N° 1172/95 must be amended in 
accordance with the proposal presented. 
© JO N° L 118, 25.05.1995, p. 10 
©JON°L75, 15.03.1997, p. 1 
<L 
Proposa! for a 
COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) No .../.. 
of 
amending Articles 6 and 9 of Regulation (EC) No 1172/95 on the statistics relating 
to the trading of goods by the Community and its Member States with non-member 
countries 
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION 
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular 
Article 113 thereof, 
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission, 
Whereas following the amendment of the statistical territory of the Community on 1 
January 1997 by Council Regulation (EC) No 476/97(0 amending Regulation (EC) No 
1172/95 on the statistics relating to the trading of goods by the Community and its 
Member States with non-member countries, the references to the former definition of the 
statistical territory must be deleted; whereas Article 6 (1) of Regulation (EC) No 
1172/95(2) must therefore be amended; 
Whereas from 1 January 1999 the country nomenclature currently used for the statistics 
relating to the trading of goods will be replaced by an alphabetical nomenclature based on 
the ISO alpha-2 code; whereas, in this new context and for the sake of harmonisation, all 
the Member States must use the same nomenclature when compiling statistics and 
transmitting them to Eurostat; whereas it is therefore necessary to amend Article 9 of 
Regulation (EC) No 1172/95 by deleting the possibility accorded the Member States of 
using other country nomenclatures at the collection stage; 
HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION: 
Article 1 
Regulation (EC) No 1172/95 shall be amended as follows: 
1. In Article 6(1): 
a) in subparagraph (a), the second indent is deleted; 
b) in subparagraph (b), the third indent is deleted; 
c) subparagraph (c) is replaced by the following: 
"(c) the goods referred to in Article 4(1), second subparagraph." 
2. In Article 9: 
a) paragraph 2 is replaced by the following: 
"2. The code specified in the country nomenclature referred to in paragraph 1 
must be given for each country." 
b) paragraph 3 is deleted. 
C1) OJL75of 15.03.1997, p. 1 
(2) OJL 118 of 25.05.1995, p.10. Q 
Article 2 
This regulation shall enter into force on the twentieth day following its publication in the 
Official Journal of the European Communities. 
The provisions of Article 1 (2) shall apply from 1 January 1999. 
This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member 
States. 
Done at Brussels, 
For the Council 
2 
ISSN 0254-1475 
COM(97) 508 final 
EN 
Catalogue number : CB-C0-97-519-EN-C 
ISBN 92-78-25695-1 
Office for Official Publications of the European Communities 
L-2985 Luxembourg 
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