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:

399 R 0530: Council Regulation (EC) No 530/1999 of 9 March 1999 concerning structural statistics on earnings and labour costs (OJ L 63, 12.3.1999, p. 6);

399 R 1726: Commission Regulation (EC) No 1726/1999 of 27 July 1999 implementing Council Regulation (EC) No 530/1999 concerning structural statistics on earnings and on labour costs as regards the definition and transmission on information on labour costs (OJ L 203, 3.8.1999, p. 28).

3. Article 1.3(b) of Council Regulation (EC) No 2894/94 concerning the arrangements for implementing the EEA Agreement envisages that the Council establishes the Community position for such Decisions on a proposal from the Commission.

4. The draft Decision of the EEA Joint Committee is submitted for the approval of the Council. The Commission would hope to be able to put forward the position of the Community in the EEA Joint Committee in July 2000.

Draft DECISION OF THE EEA JOINT COMMITTEE No .../2000

of ... 2000 amending Annex XXI (Statistics) to the EEA Agreement

THE EEA JOINT COMMITTEE,

Having regard to the Agreement on the European Economic Area, as adjusted 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 530/1999 of 9 March 1999 concerning structural statistics on earnings and labour costs [2] is to be incorporated into the Agreement.

[2] OJ L 63, 12.3.1999, p. 6.

(3) Commission Regulation (EC) No 1726/1999 of 27 July 1999 implementing Council Regulation (EC) No 530/1999 concerning structural statistics on earnings and on labour costs as regards the definition and transmission on information on labour costs [3] is to be incorporated into the Agreement,

[3] OJ L 203, 3.8.1999, p. 28.

HAS DECIDED AS FOLLOWS:

Article 1

The following shall be inserted after point 18c (Council Regulation (EC) No 23/97) of Annex XXI to the Agreement:

'18d. 399 R 0530: Council Regulation (EC) No 530/1999 of 9 March 1999 concerning structural statistics on earnings and labour costs (OJ L 63, 12.3.1999, p. 6).

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

(a) Liechtenstein is exempted from collecting the data required by the Regulation;

(b) For Norway, the provision of information on

- hours worked according to Article 6(1)(b), third indent;

- the type of collective pay agreement in force according to Article 6(2)(a), fifth indent;

- the type of employment contract according to Article 6(2)(b), 7th indent;

shall be optional.

18e. 399 R 1726: Commission Regulation (EC) No 1726/1999 of 27 July 1999 implementing Council Regulation (EC) No 530/1999 concerning structural statistics on earnings and on labour costs as regards the definition and transmission on information on labour costs (OJ L 203, 3.8.1999, p. 28).'

Article 2

The texts of Council Regulation (EC) No 530/1999 and Commission Regulation (EC) No 1726/1999 in the Icelandic and Norwegian languages, to be published in the EEA Supplement to the Official Journal of the European Communities, shall be authentic.

Article 3

This Decision shall enter into force on ... 2000, provided that all the notifications under Article 103(1) of the Agreement have been made to the EEA Joint Committee [4].

[4] [Constitutional requirements indicated.][No 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, ... 2000.

For the EEA Joint Committee

The President

The Secretaries to the EEA Joint Committee