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COM(74)922
Vol.1974/0155

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COMMISSION CFTHEEUROIEAN COMMUNITIES
COM(74)922final
Brussels.24June1974
Proposalfora
COUNCILREGULATION
modifyingCouncilRegulation(EEC)No1445/72concerningthenomenclatureof
goodsfortheexternaltradestatisticsoftheCommunity
andStatisticsofTradebetweenMemberStates(NIMEXE)
(submittedtotheCouncilbytheCommission)
CQM(74)922final

REASONSFORTHEPROPOSAL
Council Regulation (EEC)n1445/72of24April 1972 established anomen­
clature ofgoods fortheexternal trade statistics oftheCommunity and
statistics oftrade between Member States (NIMEXE ).Itsimmediate effect
was tomake available torisers ofthese statistics data broken down by
NIMEXE items ,ofwhich there were 6538 on1January 1974 *Moreover inre­
serving theright byarticle 2paragraph 2,ofspecifying notlater than
31December 1974 thedetailed rules forapplication oftheNIMEXE byMem­
berStates ,theCouncil hasdemonstrated itsintention toaccelerate the
harmonisation inprogress inasecond phase .
Now ,since theregulation ontheNIMEXE came into force ,theconverging
trend innomenclatures ofproducts andofactivities hasaccelerated un­
der the influence ofwork undertaken atthe national and international
levels tomake them universally appropriate forautomatic date .processing .
Thus ,several Member States have already setupsocalled integrated
tariffs uniting both their customs andstatistical nomenclatures and to
align with which thevarious regulations relating tothese have been
altered .Moreover ,theCustoms Cooperation Council andtheUnited Nations
have ambitious nomenclatures onthe stocks intended tocover the whole
range ofinternational exchanges ofwhich account will have tobetaken
atadetailed level ,Faced with these developments andtrends itis
unanimously admitted that theunrestricted application oftheNIMEXE by
theMember States isalso anindispensable element ofprogress inthis
field .
Thepressure ofcomputer requirements onnomenclatures hasthus been such
that inonly ashort time ithasbecome superfluous toplan particular
methods ofapplication forevery facet ofthecomponents oftheNIMEXE
andtheelements specifying itsitems .This iswhytheonly problem sub­
mitted fortheattention oftheCouncil today isthat ofthepossible con­
sequences ofthemaintenance andintroduction incurrent nomenclatures of
statistical sub-divisions meeting national needs .

-2-
Toprevent recourse toarticle 6oftheregulation ontheNIMEXE ,from
which these sub-divieions stem ,leading toanimpasse inthework theNIMEXE
Committee does under thedirection oftheCommission ,two sorts ofmeasures
are necessary *
Firstly ,itwould beadvisable tomake theNIMEXE itself more amenable to
thebreakdowns which seem atfirst sight tointerest only oneMember State
butwhich will beofusetoseveral ,even toall ,once thevolume oftrade
has gr»own ortheir importance otherwise increased .Inthis respect ,the
creation ofoptional items should allow theCommission ,initsmanagement
oftheNIMEXE both tolend weight toimportant national interests andto
contribute tothe future development pfthenomenclature .
Secondly ,bysubjecting toprior scrutiny bytheCommission theexercise
byMember States oftheir right toparticular information oftheir owneach
time theNIMEXE hasbeen unable toensure it,thecomplementary previsions
ofarticle 6will often encourage thebringing together ofMember States
points ofview andwill atanyrate prevent theuncontrolled proliferation
ofnational sub-divisions .This dual aimmust also beattained byworking
onexisting national sub-divisions ,thegreat number ofwhich still thwarts
toanexcessive degree theimprovement oftheprecision andcomparability
ofthe statistics .
Thus ,these measures areinthemain stream ofdevelopment begun in1972
bytheregulation ontheNIMEXE .They tighten therelationships between
national statistics ,extend the fifeld ofCommunity statistics andallow
Member States toseek whatever additional information they mayrequire .
Finally ,theaddition ofanarticle relating totheannual publication of
theNIMEXE bytheCommission isjustified byaseries ofpractical consi­
derations .Inaccordance with theprocedure setoutinarticle 5ofCouncil
Regulation (EEC)n°1445/72of24April 1972 ,theCommission isempowered
toadopt ,following anOpinion bytheNIMEXE Committee expressing their
agreement ,themeasures necessary formodification oftheNIMEXE .After
their publication in .theOfficial Journal oftheEuropean Communities ,
users arerequired toinsert these modifications inthebasic text ofthe
nomenclature ofgoods asitwasapproved bytheCouncil intheversion
valid for 1972 .

-3-
Thistranscription canveryeasilygiverisetoerrorsand.is,therefore,
prejudicialtolegalprecisionfallthemoresointhatingeneralitmust
hedoneinaveryshortspaceoftimeastheCouncilisinthehabitof
decidingonlyverylateintheyearonmodifications tothenomenclature
oftheCommonCustomsTariff,onwhichagoodmanyofthemodifications to
theNIMEXEdepend.Annualpublicationofthewholeofthenomenclature ofgoodswi3
goodswilltakeaccountofallthemodifications madetoitandwilleli­
minatethesedifficulties .Itmightbeaswelltopointoutexplicitly
thatthisnewarticlemerelyempowerstheCommissiontosystematisetexts
whicharisefromitsexistingpowerswithinthelimitsofCouncilRegu­
lation(SEC)n°1445/72.

-1-
PROPOSAL
"■FOR.-ÀCCUIICILREGULATION MODIFYINGCOUNCILREGULATION
(EEC)no1445/72CONCERNING THENOMENCLATURE
.OPGOODSFORTHEEXTERNALTRADESTATISTICS OFTHECOMMUNITY
ANDSTATISTICSOPTRADEBETWEENMEMBERSTATES(NIMEXE)
THECOUNCILOPTHEEUROPEANCOMMUNITIES ,
HavingregardtotheTreatyestablishing theEuropeanEconomicCommunity
andparticularlyarticle235thereof;
HavingregardtotheproposalfromtheCommission ;
HavingregardtotheOpinionoftheEuropeanParliament ;
WhereastheCouncilRegulation(EEC)no1445/72of24April1972concerning
theNomenclature ofGoodsfortheExternalTradeStatisticsoftheCommunity
andStatisticsofTrade"betweenMemberStates(NIMEXE)(l)providesinits
Article2,paragraph 2thatonaproposalfromtheCommission ,theCouncilacting
unanimouslyshalllaydowndetailedrulesforapplicationoftheNIMEXE "bythe
MemberStates;wherea3,infixingtheserules,amendmentstocertainprovi­
sionsoftheabovementionedregulationarerequiredinordertotakeaccount
ofexperiencesincetheentryintoforceofthisregulation ;
WhereasonlythroughthecompleteapplicationoftheNIMEXEbytheCommunity
anditsMemberStatescantheobjectivessetoutinCouncilRegulation(EEC)
noI445/72beattainedeffectivelyandinareasonablelengthoftime;
WhereasonlythecompleteapplicationoftheNIMEXEwillfacilitatethene-
gociationswhichtheCommissionandtheMemberStateswillhavetocarryon
attheCustomsCooperationCouncilwithaviewtocreatingaHarmonisedDes­
criptionandCodingSystemand,attheUnitedNations,withaviewtoes­
tablishinganomenclature ofallgoodsandservices;
(1)O.J.NoL161of17.7.72

-2-
Whereasinordertoensurethecorrelation "betweentheNIMEXEandother
nomenclatures andinparticularthenomenclature oftheCommonCustoms
Tariff,aswellasitsadaptationtothedevelopment oftradeitis
necessarytomakenumerousmodifications toiteveryyear;whereasasmuch
fortheuserofexternaltrade-statisticsasforthesupplierofthedata,
utilisationoftheNIMEXEisbecomingallthemoredifficult,astheannexe
toCouncilRegulation(SEC)n°1445/72issubjecttonewmodifyingregu­
lations;whereasannualpublication bytheCommissionofasingletext
includingnotonlythosepartsoftheNIMEXEwhichhavebeenchangedduring
thepreviousyearbutalsopartsmodifiedbefore,aswellasthosewhichare
unchanged,isintendedmerelytosparetheuseralaboriousup-datingpro­
cesswhichisboundtoleadtoerrorsandisthereforeprejudicialtothe
accuracyofst&tisticaldataj
Whereasitwouldbeaswelltoavoidthesituationinwhichstatistical
sub-divisions answeringnationalneedspresentdivergencesdetrimentalto
theproperdevelopmentoftheNIMEXEjwhereasforthisreasonitisimpor­
tanttosatisfythesenationalneedsasmuchaspossiblebymeansofop­
tionalitemsintheNIMEXE;
WhereasitisstilladvisabletoallowtheMemberStatestocollectna­
tionaldatawhentheirneedsaretoospecificforaccounttobetakenof
themintheN3HEXEandwithoutthemeasurestakentothisendhindering
thedevelopmentofthelatter;whereasitissensibletoprovidefora
transitional periodlongenoughtoresolvetheproblemsposedbythepre­
sentstatisticalsub-divisions answeringnationalneeds;
HASADOPTEDTHISREGULATION :
Article1
Article2ofCouncilRegulationn°1445/72isreplacedbythefollowing
text:

"1.TheNIMEXE shall "beapplied bytheCommunity and "byitsMember States
totheexternal trade statstic ^oftheCommunity andstatistics of
trade between Ilember States .,;
2.Useoftheitems inserted intheNIMEXE inaccordance with Article 5,
paragraph 1,third sub-paragraph isoptional .
3.Theoriginal Member States until 31December 1975 an&thenewMember
States until 31December 1977 cancontinue tousetheir national nomen­
clatures forstatistics ofexternal trade oftheCommunity andStatistics
oftrade between Member States .Inthis case ,they must however ensure
thetransposition oftheir nomenclatures into theappropriate iTIM3XE
item .
Article 2
Thefirst paragraph ofarticle 5ofCouncil Regulation (SEC)n°1445/72
issupplemented bythefollowing third sub-paragraph :
insertion intheNIMEXE ,intheform ofoptional items ,ofstatistical
subdivisions answering national needs which will atthesame time facilitate
thecorrelation oradaptation referred tointhesecond sub-paragraph above ."
Article 3
Thefollowing article isinserted inRegulation (EEC)n°1445/72:
"Article 5A
TheCommission shall publish theNIMEXE initsauthoritative version on
1January ofeach year ."

-4-
Article4
ThetextofArticle6ofRegulation(EEC)n°1445/72isreplacedbythe
following :
"1.MemberStatescanuse,asanextensionofitemsoftheNIMEXE,Statistical
sub-divisions answeringnationalneedsinadditiontothosealluded
toinArticle5»paragraph 1,thirdsub-paragraph .MemberStates
wishingtomakeuseofthisfacilityshallinformtheCommissionat
least2monthsbeforethedatewhenitisintendedsuchmeasures
asareplannedshalltak£>effect,Vfithin1monththeCommissioncan
callupontheMemberStatetomodifythesemeasuresornottoputthem
intoeffect,whenitconsidersthatthesestatisticalsub-divisions
shouldbethesubjectofCommunity-wide provisionsunderArticle5»
paragraph 1,secondorthirdsub-paragraph ,
2.Until31December1977andwithoutprejudicetoarticle5»MemberStates
cancontinuetousestatisticalsub-divisions answeringnationalneeds
whichtheywereusingonthedaythisRegulation cameintoforce,"
Article5
Preliminaryprovisions 1and2oftheNMEXEarereplacedbythefollowing
text:
"1.TheNIMEXEitemscorrespondtopositionsoftheNomenclature forthe
Classification ofGoodsinCustomsTariffs(BrusselsNomenclature ,
abbreviated BTN),tosub-divisions ofthenomenclatureoftheCommon
CustomsTariff(abbreviated CCT)totheextentthattheyarenot
regroupedortheyarenotreplacedbystatisticalsub-divisions of
thepositionsoftheBTNandthesub-positions ofthenomenclature of
theCCT.Moreover,someitems,outsidethisframework,answer
specialneeds(forexample:goodscarriedbypost,goodsdeclared
asshipsstoresetc).

-5-
AmongtheitemsoftheNUIEXEwhichcorrespondtostatisticalsub-divisions
orWhichanswerspecialneedstherearesomewhoseapplicationisoptional,
2-.EachitemoftheNEEEXEischaracterised "byitscodenumber,itsdescription
andwhereappropriate byitssupplementary unit.However,theoptional
itemsarenotprovidedwithcodenumbers."
Article6
ThisRegulationshallenterintoforceonthethirddayfollowingthedate
ofitspublicationintheOfficialJournaloftheEuropeanCommunities.
ThisRegulationshallbebindinginitsentiretyandapplicableinall
MemberStates.
DoneatBrussels,
FortheCouncil
ThePresident