COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT pursuant to the second subparagraph of Article 251 (2) of the EC-Treaty concerning the common position of the Council on the amendment to Council Regulation (EEC) No 3330/91 on the statistics relating to the trading of goods between Member States, as regards the simplified application of the product nomenclature

1997/0162(COD)

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT pursuant to the second subparagraph of Article 251 (2) of the EC-Treaty concerning the common position of the Council on the amendment to Council Regulation (EEC) No 3330/91 on the statistics relating to the trading of goods between Member States, as regards the simplified application of the product nomenclature

1. BACKGROUND

Date of transmission of the proposal (COM(1997) 275 final - 1997/0162/COD) to the European Parliament and the Council : 4 June 1997.

Date of the opinion of the European Parliament at first reading: 1 April 1998.

Date of transmission of the amended proposal: 27 April 1998.

Date of adoption of the common position: 28.2.2000

Date of the opinion of the Economic and Social Committee: 29 October 1997.

Date of the opinion of the Committee of the Regions: 2 December 1997.

2. PURPOSE OF THE COMMISSION PROPOSAL

Simplification of the burden on businesses in the statistical system for intra-Community trade (INTRASTAT) as regards the product nomenclature.

3. COMMENTS ON THE COMMON POSITION

3.1 Brief general remarks on the common position.

The common position is based on some important conclusions reached by the conciliation committee on 18 March 1999 about another SLIM/Intrastat proposal (reduction of data variables). In particular the principle of preserving one single nomenclature for intra-Community and external trade statistics and a commitment of the Council to reexamine the proposal on nomenclature can be emphasised.

Although the common position deviates from the initial proposal submitted by the Commission, it nevertheless maintains the fundamental idea of the Commission's proposal, i.e. to provide simplifications, in particular, to SMEs.

In fact this objective is achieved by allowing them only to declare information about a maximum of the 10 most important goods traded (in terms of value) including partner country and value. The Commission shall, under the comitology procedure ,lay down the rules for determining the 10 most important products.

The Council invites furthermore the Commission to examine the possibility of raising the simplification threshold from the present level of 100 000 euro to 200 000 euro. A rise in the simplification threshold would mean, in those Member States where the threshold is not already at a level that allows a total exemption of SMEs, that the SMEs should submit a simplified monthly declaration restricted to three variables (product, partner country and value).

3.2 Action taken on the European Parliament's amendments at first reading.

3.2.1 -Accepted by the Commission and incorporated into the common position;

The European Parliament proposed a number of modifications following its first reading of the Commission's initial proposal.

All changes proposed by the European Parliament have in principle been taken into account in the common position.

Amendment No 3 in which a simplified application of the Combined Nomenclature is emphasised together with the availability of tools facilitating the classification of goods, taking into account the difficulties encountered by enterprises when classifying their products.

This is now covered by the revised title of the proposal and recitals Nos 4 and 5.

However, an explicit reference to tools that could facilitate the classification of goods is not found.

Amendment No 4, in which it is stated that the simplification of the Combined Nomenclature has been proposed as a pilot project as part of the second phase of the SLIM initiative.

This is now covered by recital No 5.

Amendment No 5, in which it is stated that the Combined Nomenclature should be the single nomenclature for intra- and extra-Community trade statistics.

This is now covered by recital No 5.

Amendments Nos 6 and 7, in which a partnership between national authorities and the European representatives of users and declarants should be established. The aim of this partnership is to draw up proposals for simplifying the Combined Nomenclature, however, taking into account the need to preserve detailed information for some sectors.

This is now covered by recital No 5.

Amendment No 8.1, in which it is stated that the Combined Nomenclature is used to identify the goods

This is implicit in the fact that the Combined Nomenclature is the only applicable nomenclature.

Amendments Nos 1, 2, 8.2, 8.3 and 8.4 are not applicable.

3.2.2 -Accepted by the Commission but not incorporated into the common position (Commission's position in that respect);

None.

3.3 If applicable, new provisions introduced by the Council and the Commission's position on the matter.

None.

3.4 If applicable. comitology problems encountered in adopting the common position (and the position adopted by the Commission).

None.

4. CONCLUSIONS OR GENERAL OBSERVATIONS

The Commission can in general support the common position that will allow simplifications to the benefit of SMEs, in particular, if the simplification threshold can be raised to 200 000 euro.

The Commission considers that the amendments introduced by the common position of the Council do not water down its proposal.

Although the common position deviates from the initial proposal submitted by the Commission, it nevertheless maintains the fundamental idea and objective of the Commission's proposal, i.e. to simplify the application of the product nomenclature to the benefit, in particular, of SMEs. Furthermore, it includes the accepted amendments of the European Parliament's first reading.

Notably, the Council's and European Parliament's general acceptance of the principle of a uniform nomenclature for intra- and extra-trade statistics should be taken into account. It should also be recalled that the European federations have repeatedly expressed their strong opposition to operating two different nomenclatures for intra- and extra-trade statistics.

Finally, it should be noted that for the third consecutive year the number of codes in the Combined Nomenclature has decreased. This new development and the successful results that have been obtained under the SLIM II initiative reflect the joint efforts of Commission services, Member States and European federations to simplify and modernise the Combined Nomenclature.