on exercising the power to adopt delegated acts conferred on the Commission pursuant to Regulation (EU) No 691/2011 on European environmental economic accounts

REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL

REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL

on exercising the power to adopt delegated acts conferred on the Commission pursuant to Regulation (EU) No 691/2011 on European environmental economic accounts

(1)Background

Article 3(3) and (4) of Regulation (EU) No 691/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 6 July 2011 on European environmental economic accounts confers powers on the Commission to adopt delegated acts. In accordance with Article 9(2) of that Regulation, the power to adopt delegated acts is conferred for a period of 5 years from 11 August 2011. These powers are to be tacitly extended for periods of 5 years unless the European Parliament or the Council opposes such an extension.

The Commission has to draw up a report on this delegation of power not later than 9 months before the end of the five-year period. The Commission submitted a first report in November 2015. The delegation of power was automatically extended for another 5 years, as the Parliament and the Council did not revoke it pursuant to Article 9(3).

This is the second report on the Commission’s exercising of the power to adopt delegated acts conferred on it pursuant to Regulation (EU) No 691/2011 on European environmental economic accounts.

(2)Commission’s exercising of delegated powers pursuant to Regulation (EU) No 691/2011

Since Regulation (EU) No 691/2011 entered into force, the Commission has adopted only Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2016/172.

This act specifies the energy products referred to in Section 3 of Annex VI of Regulation (EU) No 691/2011. This delegated act was specifically envisaged in Regulation (EU) No 538/2014 amending Regulation (EU) No 691/2011. A list of energy products for the European environmental economic accounts is an essential element to determine the scope of these statistics, to allow comparability of data across countries and to ensure the internal consistency (balancing) of the physical energy flow accounts.

Most of the energy products needed for the European environmental economic accounts are aggregations of the list of energy products in Regulation (EC) No 1099/2008. They were supplemented with other categories needed for environmental accounts but not established in energy statistics, namely for natural energy inputs and energy residuals.

During the preparatory work for Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2016/172, appropriate consultations were carried out, including at expert level. The Eurostat Working Group on Environmental Accounts and the Working Group on Environment Expenditure Statistics were consulted in a joint meeting in March 2015. The Directors of sectoral and environmental statistics and accounts (DIMESA) were consulted in June 2015. Both the European Parliament and the Council were duly informed.

The Commission may need to use the powers stipulated in Article 3(3) and (4) in the near future to better reflect the data needs of current EU policies.

(3)Conclusions

The Commission exercised its delegated powers correctly and invites the European Parliament and the Council to take note of this report.

The Commission considers that it should continue to have the delegated powers pursuant to Regulation (EU) No 691/2011, as it may need to adopt delegated acts in the future to reflect progress in statistical methodologies and adjust priorities to meet the new needs for environmental information.