Amended proposal for a REGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL on the production of annual Community statistics on steel for the reference years 2003-2009 (presented by the Commission pursuant to Article 250 (2) of the EC Treaty)

2002/0251 (COD)

Amended proposal for a REGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL on the production of annual Community statistics on steel for the reference years 2003-2009

1. History

25 October 2002: transmission of the proposal to the Council and the European Parliament COM (2002) 584 final - 2002/0251 COD

26 March 2003: opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee CCMI/001

13 May 2003: position of the European Parliament - first lecture

2. Objective of the Commission

The present Community system for steel statistics rests on the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) Treaty, which expired on 23 July 2002. There are some 300 enterprises in the European steel industry, producing a fifth of world steel output. Almost all of them are large enterprises, with a strong interest in using statistics. A comprehensive statistical system was developed in the last fifty years to meet ECSC policy needs, and the needs of the industry. This was done in close co-operation with the European steel associations. In most Member States, the Commission has collected data directly either from the steel companies or their national associations.

This proposal deals with annual Community steel statistics from 2003 onwards. Eurostat has carried out user needs studies, and these showed the areas where statistical information was required after the expiry of the ECSC Treaty. The Commission's policy units, national ministries and the industry requested that key statistics on the steel industry should continue to be made available. However the needs for Community policy making will be much less after the end of the ECSC Treaty. For this reason, this proposal implies a very large reduction in official Community steel statistics compared with the ECSC statistical system.

Four of the existing annual ECSC questionnaires produce information which are important for developing and monitoring Community policy, but which are not collected under existing Community legislation. The present proposal is for a regulation covering the period 2003 to 2009 to allow for a core set of the information in these questionnaires to continue to be collected in all EU States where there is a significant steel industry. The proposed regulation is for a fixed period, with a provision for an intermediate report after four years to evaluate the results and propose possible future actions.

Content of the regulation

The list in the annex of this Regulation covers: iron and steel scrap balance sheets; energy balance sheets; investment by type of plant; and steel making capacity.

The steel scrap balance data covers the demand and supply of iron and steel scrap. This is nowadays an important raw material for steel making, and for which a free and open market is needed internationally. The Commission may need this information if third countries restrict exports of scrap to help their domestic industries.

The energy balance sheet yields not only information on energy use and production within the steel industry but indirectly also on emission of pollutants. For example, blast furnaces use coke, limestone, and iron ore to make steel, and produce carbon dioxide as a waste product. The energy balance sheet data enables the quantity of these CO2 emissions to be calculated.

The investment expenditure and capacity data are used to assess possible future under- or over- capacity for particular classes of steel products. This information is useful not only to the industry but also for international trade negotiations. It also feeds into a network of world steel capacity monitoring organised under the auspices of the OECD.

3. Opinion of the Commission on the amendments of the Parliament

3.1 Amendments accepted by the Commission

3.1.1 The following amendments concern logical consistency, better definition, simplification of the text, updating on the procedure, adding necessary information, clarification and technical amendment:

Amendment 1 (on recital 1),

Amendment 2 (recital 1 a (new)),

Amendment 3 (recital 2),

Amendment 4 (recital 2 a (new))

Amendment 5(recital 6),

Amendment 6 (recital 7 a (new)),

Amendment 7 (article 1, title),

Amendment 8 (article 1),

Amendment 9 (article 3, paragraph 1),

Amendment 10 (article 4, paragraph 1),

Amendment 11 (article 5, paragraph 1),

Amendments 12 (article 6, paragraph 1),

Amendment 13 (article 6, paragraph 2),

Amendment 17 (article 8, paragraph 1),

Amendment 18 (annex, point 1),

Amendment 19 (annex, point 2, part A),

Amendment 20 (annex, point 2, part B),

Amendment 21 (annex, point 3, part A),

Amendment 22 (annex, point 3, part B),

Amendment 23 (annex, point 3, part B, table, title 5) and

Amendment 24 (annex, point 3, part B, table, title 7).

The Commission agrees to take into account in its modified proposal those amendments.

3.1.2 The following amendments:

amendment 14 (article 6, paragraph 2 a (new)) and

amendment 16 (article 7, paragraph 1. point (b))

have been introduced to extend the period for the transmission of data to twelve months for the first year of transmission. That should be possible for those Member States that have difficulties in the implementation of the regulation.

The Commission agrees to take into account in its modified proposal those amendments.

Member States were not involved in steel statistics during the ECSC Treaty.

3.1.3 The following amendment:

amendment 15 (article 7, paragraph 1, point (a))

has been introduced to reassure the Members States that no additional burden (e.g. the obligation to provide additional statistics) will be imposed upon them in the future.

The Commission agrees to take into account in its modified proposal those amendments.

3.2 Amendments not accepted by the Commission:

None.

3.3 Amendments rejected by the Commission

None.

4. Conclusion

Having regard to Article 250 (2) of the EC Treaty, the Commission modifies its proposal of the Regulation on the production of annual Community statistics on steel for the reference years 2003-2009 as indicated above.