Draft DECISION OF THE EEA JOINT COMMITTEE amending Annex XXI (Statistics) to the EEA Agreement - Draft common position of the Community

(presented by the Commission)

EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM

1. In order to ensure the requisite legal security and homogeneity, the EEA Joint Committee is to integrate all the relevant Community legislation into the EEA Agreement as soon as possible after its adoption.

2. The EEA Joint Committee should therefore adopt the attached decision to amend Annex XXI to the EEA Agreement by adding recently adopted acquis in the field of Statistics. The decision concerns:

398 R 1172: Council Regulation (EC) No 1172/98 of 25 May 1998 on statistical returns in respect of the carriage of goods by road (OJ L 163, 6.6.1998, p. 1).

3. The proposal includes an adaptation for EEA EFTA States.

4. Article 1(3)(a) of Council Regulation (EC) No 2894/94 concerning the arrangements for implementing the EEA Agreement envisages that the Council establishes the Community position for decisions extending Community legislation with substantial changes.

5. The Council is requested to approve the attached draft decision for adoption by the EEA Joint Committee. The Commission would hope to be able to put forward the position of the Community in the EEA Joint Committee in May 2002.

Draft DECISION OF THE EEA JOINT COMMITTEE amending Annex XXI (Statistics) to the EEA Agreement

THE EEA JOINT COMMITTEE,

Having regard to the Agreement on the European Economic Area, as amended by the Protocol adjusting the Agreement on the European Economic Area, hereinafter referred to as 'the Agreement', and in particular Article 98 thereof,

Whereas:

(1) Annex XXI to the Agreement was amended by Decision of the EEA Joint Committee No .../... of ... [1].

[1] OJ L ...

(2) Council Regulation (EC) No 1172/98 of 25 May 1998 on statistical returns in respect of the carriage of goods by road [2] is to be incorporated into the Agreement.

[2] OJ L 163, 6.6.1998, p. 1.

(3) Regulation (EC) No 1172/98 repeals with effect from 1 January 1999 Council Directive 78/546/EEC of 12 June 1978 on statistical returns in respect of carriage of goods by road, as part of regional statistics [3] as subsequently amended, which is incorporated into the Agreement, and which is consequently to be repealed under the Agreement.

[3] OJ L 168, 26.6.1978, p. 29.

(4) Commission Regulation (EC) No 2691/1999 of 17 December 1999 on rules for implementing Council Regulation (EC) No 1172/98 on statistical returns in respect of the carriage of goods by road [4] is to be incorporated into the Agreement,

[4] OJ L 326, 18.12.1999, p. 39.

HAS DECIDED AS FOLLOWS:

Article 1

Annex XXI to the Agreement shall be amended as follows:

1. The following shall be inserted after point 7c (Council Directive 95/57/EC ):

'7d. 398 R 1172: Council Regulation (EC) No 1172/98 of 25 May 1998 on statistical returns in respect of the carriage of goods by road (OJ L 163, 6.6.1998, p. 1), as amended by:

- 399 R 2691: Commission Regulation (EC) No 2691/1999 of 17 December 1999 (OJ L 326, 18.12.1999, p. 39).

The provisions of the Regulation shall, for the purposes of the present Agreement, be read with the following adaptation:

(a) Article 5(3) paragraph 2 shall be replaced by the following:

"The first transmission shall cover the first quarter of 2002."

(b) Iceland is exempted from transmitting the data required by this Regulation.

(c) Liechtenstein shall provide the data as required by this Regulation, but the data collection methods shall be adapted to the structural characteristics of road transport in the country, in agreement with Eurostat. In particular, Liechtenstein may transmit data covering only vehicles which regularly carry out road freight transport operations on the territory of EEA Member States.

(d) Data for Liechtenstein shall be communicated for the first time for the first quarter of 2003.'

2. The text of point 5 shall be deleted.

Article 2

The texts of Regulations (EC) Nos 1172/98 and 2691/1999 in the Icelandic and Norwegian languages, to be published in the EEA Supplement of the Official Journal of the European Communities, shall be authentic.

Article 3

This Decision shall enter into force on , provided that all the notifications under Article 103(1) of the Agreement have been made to the EEA Joint Committee [5].

[5] [No constitutional requirements indicated.] [Constitutional requirements indicated.]

Article 4

This Decision shall be published in the EEA Section of, and in the EEA Supplement to, the Official Journal of the European Communities.

Done at Brussels, .

For the EEA Joint Committee

The President

The Secretaries to the EEA Joint Committee