on the exercise of the power to adopt delegated acts conferred on the Commission pursuant to Directive 2009/42/EC on statistical returns in respect of carriage of goods and passengers by sea

REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL

REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL

on the exercise of the power to adopt delegated acts conferred on the Commission pursuant to Directive 2009/42/EC on statistical returns in respect of carriage of goods and passengers by sea

1.INTRODUCTION

Regulation (EU) No 1090/2010 of the European Parliament and of the Council aligned the powers conferred on the Commission by Directive 2009/42/EC with the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU).

Directive 2009/42/EC as amended empowers the Commission to adopt delegated acts for the following purposes:

Øadapting the data collection requirements in its Annexes I to VIII to reflect economic and technical developments, provided this does not substantially increase costs for Member States and/or the burden on respondents (see Article 3(4));

Ødrawing up a list of ports, coded and classified by country and maritime coastal area (see Article 4(1)); and

Øamending non-essential elements of the Directive so as to ensure that data collection methods are such that the statistical datasets on sea transport (Annex VIII) meet the standards of accuracy set by the Commission (Article 5).

As laid down in Recital (8) of Regulation (EU) No 1090/2010, “it is of particular importance that the Commission carry out appropriate consultations during its preparatory work, including at expert level”.

2.LEGAL BASIS

This report is required under Article 10a(1) of the Directive, which conferred on the Commission the power to adopt delegated acts for a period of 5 years from 29 December 2010 onward. The Commission submitted a first Report in 2015. The delegation of power was automatically extended for another 5 years (from December 2015 to December 2020), as the Parliament and the Council did not revoke it pursuant to Article 10b. Article 10a requires the Commission to issue a report in respect of the delegation at the latest 6 months before the end of each 5-year period.

3.EXERCISE OF THE DELEGATION

Since the entry into force of the Regulation, the Commission has adopted two delegated acts:

a)Commission Delegated Decision 2012/186/EU – this adapted certain aspects of the data collection requirements in Annexes I to VIII to the Directive, to reflect economic and technical developments.

In its report for the first 5‑year period, the Commission concluded that it had exercised its delegated powers correctly and invited the Parliament and the Council to take note of the report; and

b)Commission Delegated Decision (EU) 2018/1007 – this updated the list of ports in order to ensure the accuracy and relevance of European maritime transport statistics in accordance with Article 4(1) of the Directive.

When preparing the Decision, the Commission consulted:

-national experts in the annual meetings of the Working Group on Maritime Transport Statistics (23‑24 May 2016) and the Coordinating Group for Statistics on Transport (24‑25 November 2016);

-the directors of sectoral and environmental statistics and accounts (DIMESA) in writing in December 2016 and January 2017.