Common Position (EC) No 24/2003

adopted by the Council on 18 February 2003

with a view to adopting Regulation (EC) No.../2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council of...amending Council Regulation (EC) No 2223/96 with respect to the time limit for transmission of the main aggregates of national accounts, to the derogations concerning the transmission of the main aggregates of national accounts and to the transmission of employment data in hours worked

(2003/C 125 E/01)

(Text with EEA relevance)

THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 285 thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission(1),

Having regard to the opinion of the European Central Bank(2),

Acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 251 of the Treaty(3),

Whereas:

(1) Council Regulation (EC) No 2223/96 of 25 June 1996 on the European system of national and regional accounts in the Community(4) contains the reference framework of common standards, definitions, classifications and accounting rules for drawing up the accounts of the Member States for the statistical requirements of the Community, in order to obtain comparable results between Member States.

(2) The report of the Monetary Committee on statistical requirements in the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU), endorsed by the Ecofin Council of 18 January 1999, underlined that, for the proper functioning of the EMU and the Single Market, effective surveillance and coordination of economic policies are of major importance and that this requires a comprehensive statistical information system providing policy makers with the necessary data on which to base their decisions. This report outlined the high priority in having such information available for the Community and especially for Member States participating in the euro area.

(3) The report underlined that the cross-country comparison of the labour market will demand more attention in the EMU.

(4) In order to compile quarterly statistics for the euro area, the time limit for transmission of the main aggregates of national accounts should be reduced to 70 days.

(5) Quarterly and annual derogations accorded to Member States that prevent the compilation of the main aggregates of national accounts for the euro area and the Community should be abrogated.

(6) The Action Plan on Economic and Monetary Union Statistical Requirements, endorsed by the Ecofin Council of 29 September 2000, identifies as a priority the transmission of national accounts employment data according to the unit "hours worked".

(7) The Statistical Programme Committee (SPC) and the Committee on Monetary, Financial and Balance of Payments Statistics (CMFB) have been consulted in accordance with Article 3 of Council Decision 89/382/EEC, Euratom(5) and Council Decision 91/115/EEC(6) respectively,

HAVE ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

Annex B of Regulation (EC) No 2223/96 is hereby amended as follows:

1. The text following the title: "Transmission Programme of National Accounts Data" shall be amended as follows:

(a) The text of the "Overview of the tables" shall be replaced by the text in Annex I.

(b) The text of Table 1 "Main aggregates - quarterly and annual exercise" shall be replaced by the text in Annex II.

2. The text following the title: "Derogations concerning the tables to be supplied in the framework of the questionnaire 'ESA 95' by country" shall be replaced by the text in Annex III.

Article 2

This Regulation shall enter into force on the twentieth day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.

Done at...

For the European Parliament

The President

For the Council

The President

(1) OJ C 203 E, 27.8.2002, p. 258.

(2) OJ C 253, 22.10.2002, p. 14.

(3) Opinion of the European Parliament of 24 September 2002 (not yet published in the Official Journal), Council Common Position of 18 February 2003 and Decision of the European Parliament of...(not yet published in the Official Journal).

(4) OJ L 310, 30.11.1996, p. 1. Regulation as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 359/2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council (OJ L 58, 28.2.2002, p. 1).

(5) OJ L 181, 28.6.1989, p. 47.

(6) OJ L 59, 6.3.1991, p. 19.

ANNEX I

Amendments to the table "Overview of the tables" of Annex B - Transmission Programme of National Accounts Data - of Regulation (EC) No 2223/96 (ESA 95)

"TRANSMISSION PROGRAMME OF NATIONAL ACCOUNTS DATA

Overview of the tables

>TABLE>

t= Reference period (year or quarter)."

ANNEX II

Amendments to Table 1 "Main aggregates, quarterly and annual exercise" of Annex B "Transmission Programme of National Accounts Data" of Regulation (EC) No 2223/96 (ESA 95)

"Table 1 - Main aggregates - quarterly and annual exercise

>TABLE>

(x) At real terms."

ANNEX III

Amendments to the tables by country of Annex B - Derogations concerning the tables to be supplied in the framework of the questionnaire "ESA 95" by country - of Regulation (EC) No 2223/96 (ESA 95)

"DEROGATIONS CONCERNING THE TABLES TO BE SUPPLIED IN THE FRAMEWORK OF THE QUESTIONNAIRE 'ESA 95' BY COUNTRY

1. AUSTRIA

1.1. Derogations for tables

>TABLE>

1.2. Derogations for single variables/sectors in the tables

>TABLE>

2. DENMARK

2.1. Derogations for tables

>TABLE>

2.2. Derogations for single variables/sectors in the tables

>TABLE>

3. GERMANY

3.1. Derogations for tables

>TABLE>

3.2. Derogations for single variables/sectors in the tables

>TABLE>

4. GREECE

4.1. Derogations for tables

>TABLE>

4.2. Derogations for single variables/sectors in the tables

>TABLE>

5. SPAIN

5.1. Derogations for tables

>TABLE>

5.2. Derogations for single variables/sectors in the tables

>TABLE>

6. FRANCE

6.1. Derogations for tables

>TABLE>

6.2. Derogations for single variables/sectors in the tables

>TABLE>

7. IRELAND

7.1. Derogations for tables

>TABLE>

7.2. Derogations for single variables/sectors in the tables

>TABLE>

8. ITALY

8.1. Derogations for tables

>TABLE>

8.2. Derogations for single variables/sectors in the tables

>TABLE>

9. LUXEMBOURG

9.1. Derogations for tables

>TABLE>

9.2. Derogations for single variables/sectors in the tables

>TABLE>

10. NETHERLANDS

10.1. Derogations for tables

>TABLE>

10.2. Derogations for single variables/sectors in the tables

>TABLE>

11. PORTUGAL

11.1. Derogations for tables

>TABLE>

11.2. Derogations for single variables/sectors in the tables

>TABLE>

12. FINLAND

12.1. Derogations for tables

>TABLE>

12.2. Derogations for single variables/sectors in the tables

>TABLE>

13. SWEDEN

13.1. Derogations for tables

>TABLE>

13.2. Derogations for single variables/sectors in the tables

>TABLE>

14. UNITED KINGDOM

14.1. Derogations for single variables/sectors in the tables

>TABLE>"

STATEMENT OF THE COUNCIL'S REASONS

I. INTRODUCTION

1. On 15 May 2002, the Commission forwarded to the Council a proposal for a European Parliament and Council Regulation amending Council Regulation (EC) No 2223/96 with respect to the time limits for transmission of the main aggregates of national accounts, to the derogations concerning the transmission of the main aggregates of national accounts and to the transmission of employment data in hours worked.

2. The above proposal is based on Article 285 of the Treaty according to which the procedure of co-decision with the European Parliament prescribed in Article 251 of the Treaty applies.

3. The European Parliament approved the Commission proposal without amendment on 24 September 2002.

4. The European Central Bank adopted its Opinion on 3 October 2002.

5. On 18 February 2003, the Council adopted its common position pursuant to Article 251 of the Treaty.

II. OBJECTIVE OF THE PROPOSAL

The proposal has three objectives:

- to reduce the time limit for transmission of data on quarterly and annual main aggregates (Table 1 of Annex B of ESA 95) from four months after the end of the reference period to 70 days after the end of the reference period;

- to abrogate derogations to Member States which prevent the compilation of the main quarterly and annual aggregates for the euro area and the EU;

- to implement the transmission of national accounts employment data in units of "hours worked".

These objectives fall within the scope of the EMU Statistics Action Plan.

III. ANALYSIS OF THE COMMON POSITION

The Council's common position adheres very closely to the Commission proposal, departing from that text only to introduce a strict minimum of necessary derogations, without which Member States would not be able to implement the Regulation. These derogations have been kept to a minimum so as not to impair the calculation of euro area and EU aggregates, and therefore so as to ensure that the Regulation's objective is met as soon as possible.

At the request of Germany, the Regulation also abrogates a number of derogations applying to Germany, since the German authorities have made great efforts to provide the data covered by the derogations, which are therefore no longer required.

The changes introduced by the Council are as follows:

In Recital 2, reference is made to the Monetary Committee, since this is the body that made the report in question.

All other changes relate to Annex III, introducing derogations where Member State will be unable to provide data from the entry into force of the Regulation (and deleting redundant derogations for Germany):

In table 1.2, a derogation until 2005 for employment data according to the unit hours worked is introduced for Austria.

In table 3.1, derogations relating to backward calculations for tables 2, 3, 5, 8 and 11 and that relating to constant price data in table 21 are abrogated, as Germany now provides all the relevant data.

In table 5.2, derogations until 2005 for quarterly and annual data on acquisitions less disposals of valuables are introduced for Spain.

In table 7.1, derogations allowing for first transmission of main aggregate data at t + 90 days in 2004 and first transmission at t + 70 days in 2008 are introduced for Ireland.

In table 7.2, a derogation until 2005 on the provision of data for final consumption expenditure of NPISHs is introduced for Ireland.

In table 8.2, a derogation until 2004 on transmission of employment data according to the unit hours worked is introduced for Italy.

In table 9.1, derogations allowing for first transmission of main aggregate data at t + 90 days in 2003 and first transmission at t + 70 days in 2010 are introduced for Luxembourg.

In table 11.2, a derogation until 2007 on transmission of employment data according to the unit hours worked is introduced for Portugal.

IV. CONCLUSION

The Council considers that the modifications introduced in its common position are fully in line with the objectives of the proposed Regulation. They provide for the absolute minimum of derogations necessary for the implementation of the Regulation in all Member States, while ensuring that the quality of the aggregates is not significantly adversely affected, and that any minor effects are only temporary.