[pic] | COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES |

Brussels, 21/12/2007

COM(2007) 859 final

2007/0288 (COD)

Proposal for a

DIRECTIVE OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL

on statistical returns in respect of carriage of goods and passengers by sea

(Recast)

EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM

1. On 1 April 1987 the Commission decided[1] to instruct its staff that all legislative acts should be codified after no more than ten amendments, stressing that this is a minimum requirement and that departments should endeavour to codify at even shorter intervals the texts for which they are responsible, to ensure that the Community rules are clear and readily understandable.

2. The codification of Council Directive 95/64/EC of 8 December 1995 on statistical returns in respect of carriage of goods and passengers by sea[2] has been initiated by the Commission . The new Directive was to have superseded the various acts incorporated in it[3].

3. In the meantime Council Decision 1999/468/EC of 28 June 1999 laying down the procedures for the exercise of implementing powers conferred on the Commission[4] has been amended by Decision 2006/512/EC, which introduced a regulatory procedure with scrutiny for measures of general scope designed to amend non-essential elements of a basic instrument adopted in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 251 of the Treaty, including by deleting some of those elements or by supplementing the instrument by the addition of new non-essential elements.

4. In accordance with the joint statement of the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission[5] on Decision 2006/512/EC, for this new procedure to be applicable to instruments adopted in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 251 of the Treaty which are already in force, those instruments must be adjusted in accordance with the applicable procedures.

5. It is therefore appropriate to transform the codification of Directive 95/64/EC into a recast in order to incorporate the amendments necessary for the adjustment to the regulatory procedure with scrutiny.

ê 95/64/EC (adapted)

2007/0288 (COD)

Proposal for a

DIRECTIVE …/…/EC OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL

of […]

on statistical returns in respect of carriage of goods and passengers by sea

(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 Ö 285(1) Õ thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission[6],

Having regard to the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee[7],

Acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 251 of the Treaty[8],

Whereas:

ò new

1. Council Directive 95/64/EC of 8 December 1995 on statistical returns in respect of carriage of goods and passengers by sea[9] has been substantially amended several times[10]. Since further amendments are to be made, it should be recast in the interests of clarity.

ê 95/64/EC Recital 1 (adapted)

2. To carry out the tasks entrusted to it in the context of the common maritime transport policy, the Commission Ö (Eurostat) should Õ have at its disposal comparable, reliable, synchronised and regular statistical data on the scale and development of the carriage of goods and passengers by sea to and from the Community, between Member States and for domestic sea transport.

ê 95/64/EC Recital 2

3. It is also important for Member States and economic operators to have a good knowledge of the maritime transport market.

ê 95/64/EC Recital 5

4. The collection of Community statistical data on a comparable or harmonised basis makes it possible to establish an integrated system providing reliable, consistent and up-to-date information.

ê 95/64/EC Recital 6

5. The data on the transport of goods and passengers by sea have to be made comparable between Member States and between the different modes of transport.

ê 95/64/EC Recital 11

6. In accordance with the principle of subsidiarity, the creation of common statistical standards enabling the production of harmonised information can only be tackled efficiently at Community level. Data will be collected in each Member State under the authority of the bodies and institutions in charge of compiling official statistics.

ò new

7. The measures necessary for the implementation of this Directive should be adopted in accordance with Council Decision 1999/468/EC of 28 June 1999 laying down the procedures for the exercise of implementing powers conferred on the Commission[11].

8. Power should be conferred on the Commission in particular to adopt certain detailed rules for implementing this Directive. Since those measures are of general scope and are designed to amend non-essential elements of this Directive, inter alia, by supplementing it, they should be adopted in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny provided for in Article 5a of Decision 1999/468/EC.

9. The new elements introduced into this Directive only concern the committee procedures. They therefore do not need to be transposed by the Member States.

10. This Directive should be without prejudice to the obligations of the Member States relating to the time-limits for transposition into national law of the Directive set out in Annex IX, Part B,

ê 95/64/EC (adapted)

HAVE ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE:

Article 1

Ö Collection of statistical data Õ

ê 95/64/EC

Member States shall collect Community statistics on the carriage of goods and passengers by seagoing vessels calling at ports in their territories.

Article 2

Definitions

For the purposes of this Directive:

(a) ‘carriage of goods and passengers by sea’ means the movement of goods and passengers using seagoing vessels, on voyages which are undertaken wholly or partly at sea.

The scope of this Directive shall also include goods:

(i) shipped to offshore installations;

(ii) reclaimed from the seabed and unloaded in ports.

ê 95/64/EC (adapted)

Bunkers and stores supplied to vessels shall be excluded from the scope Ö of this Directive Õ;

ê 95/64/EC

(b) ‘seagoing vessels’ means vessels other than those which navigate exclusively in inland waters or in waters within, or closely adjacent to, sheltered waters or areas where port regulations apply.

This Directive shall not apply to fish-catching vessels, fish-processing vessels, vessels for drilling and exploration, tugs, pusher craft, research and survey vessels, dredgers, naval vessels or vessels used solely for non-commercial purposes;

(c) ‘port’ means a place having facilities for merchant ships to moor and to load or unload cargo or to disembark or embark passengers to or from vessels;

(d) ‘nationality of the maritime transport operator’ means the country in which the effective centre of the transport operator's commercial activity is located;

(e) ‘maritime transport operator’ means any person by whom or on behalf of whom a contract for the transport for goods or persons by sea is concluded with a shipper or a passenger.

Article 3

Data collection characteristics

1. Member States shall collect data relating to the following domains:

(a) cargo and passenger information;

(b) information on the vessel.

Vessels with a gross tonnage of less than 100 may be excluded from the data collection.

2. The characteristics of the data collection, namely the statistical variables in each domain and the nomenclatures for their classification, as well as their periodicity of observation, are set out in Annexes I to VIII.

3. The data collection shall be based, in so far as possible, on available sources, limiting the burden on respondents.

ê 95/64/EC (adapted)

ð new

Article 4

Ports

1. For the purposes of this Directive, ð the Commission shall draw up ï a list of ports, coded and classified according to countries and maritime coastal areas, shall be drawn up .

ð Those measures, designed to amend non-essential elements of this Directive by supplementing it, shall be adopted ï in accordance with the ð regulatory ï procedure ð with scrutiny ï Ö referred to Õ in Article 11(3).

ê 95/64/EC (adapted)

2. Each Member State shall select from Ö the Õ list Ö referred to in paragraph 1 Õ any port handling more than one million tonnes of goods or recording more than 200 000 passenger movements annually.

ê 95/64/EC

For each port selected, detailed data are to be provided, in conformity with Annex VIII, for the domains (goods and passengers) in which that port meets the selection criterion, and with summary data, if appropriate, for the other domain.

3. For the ports which are not selected from the list, summary data are to be provided in conformity with Annex VIII, data set A3.

ê 95/64/EC (adapted)

ð new

Article 5

Accuracy of statistics

The methods of collecting data shall be such that Community sea transport statistics display the precision required for the statistical data sets described in Annex VIII.

ð The Commission shall draw up ï the standards of accuracy shall be drawn up .

ð Those measures, designed to amend non-essential elements of this Directive by supplementing it, shall be adopted ï in accordance with the ð regulatory ï procedure ð with scrutiny ï Ö referred to Õ in Article 11(3).

Article 6

Processing of the results of the collection of data

Member States shall process the statistical information collected pursuant to Article 3, in order to obtain comparable statistics, with the standard of accuracy Ö referred to Õ in Article 5.

Article 7

Transmission of the results of the collection of data

1. Member States shall transmit the results referred to in Article 3 to the Ö Commission (Eurostat) Õ, including the data declared confidential by the Member States pursuant to domestic legislation or practice concerning statistical confidentiality, in accordance with [Council] Regulation (Euratom, EEC) No [1588/90] [12].

2. The results shall be transmitted in accordance with the structure of the statistical data sets defined in Annex VIII. The technical details for transmission of the results Ö shall Õ be specified in accordance with the procedure Ö referred to Õ in Article 11(2).

ê 95/64/EC

3. The transmission of the results shall take place within five months of the end of the period of observation for data of quarterly periodicity and within eight months for data of annual periodicity.

The first transmission shall cover the first quarter of 1997.

ê 95/64/EC (adapted)

Article 8

Reports

Member States shall provide the Commission Ö (Eurostat) Õ with all relevant information on the methods used in compiling the data. They shall also forward details of substantial changes in the methods used to collect the data.

Article 9

Dissemination of statistical data

The Commission Ö (Eurostat) Õ shall disseminate appropriate statistical data with a periodicity comparable to that of the results transmitted.

The arrangements for publication or dissemination of the statistical data by the Commission Ö (Eurostat) Õ shall be adopted according to the procedure Ö referred to Õ in Article 11(2).

Article 10

Detailed rules of implementation

Detailed rules for implementing this Directive, including measures for adapting it to economic and technical developments Ö shall be adopted Õ , in particular:

ê 95/64/EC

(a) adaptation of the data collection characteristics (Article 3) and of the content of Annexes I to VIII in so far as such adaptation does not involve a substantial increase in cost for the Member States and/or the burden on respondents;

(b) a list of ports, updated on a regular basis by the Commission, coded and classified by country and maritime coastal area (Article 4);

(c) accuracy requirement (Article 5);

ê 95/64/EC (adapted)

(d) the description of the composition of a data file and codes for transmission of the results to the Commission Ö (Eurostat) Õ (Article 7);

(e) the arrangements for publication or dissemination of the data (Article 9).

Ö The measures referred to in points (d) and (e) shall be adopted in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 11(2). Õ

ò new

The measures referred to in points (a), (b) and (c), designed to amend non-essential elements of this Directive, inter alia, by supplementing it, shall be adopted in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny referred to in Article 11(3).

ê 1882/2003 Art. 2 and Annex II (adapted)

Article 11

Ö Committee procedure Õ

1. The Commission shall be assisted by the Statistical Programme Committee, set up by Council Decision 89/382/EEC, Euratom[13], hereinafter referred to as ‘the Committee’.

2. Where reference is made to this paragraph, Articles 4 and 7 of Decision 1999/468/EC shall apply, having regard to the provisions of Article 8 thereof.

The period laid down in Article 4(3) of Decision 1999/468/EC shall be set at three months.

3. The Committee shall adopt its rules of procedure.

ò new

3. Where reference is made to this paragraph, Article 5a(1) to (4) and Article 7 of Decision 1999/468/EC shall apply, having regard to the provisions of Article 8 thereof.

ê 95/64/EC (adapted)

Article 12

Ö Communication of national provisions Õ

Member States shall communicate to the Commission the text of the main provisions of Ö national Õ law which they adopt in the field governed by this Directive.

ê

Article 13

Repeal

Directive 95/64/EC, as amended by the Acts listed in Annex IX, Part A, is repealed, without prejudice to the obligations of the Member States relating to the time-limits for transposition into national law of the Directive set out in Annex IX, Part B.

References to the repealed Directive shall be construed as references to this Directive and shall be read in accordance with the correlation table in Annex X.

ê 95/64/EC (adapted)

Article 14

Ö Entry into force Õ

ê 95/64/EC

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

ê 95/64/EC (adapted)

Article 15

Ö Addressees Õ

ê 95/64/EC

This Directive is addressed to the Member States.

Done at Brussels, […]

For the European Parliament For the Council

The President The President

[…] […]

ê 2005/366/EC Art. 1 and Annex I

ANNEX I

VARIABLES AND DEFINITIONS

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ê 2005/366/EC Art. 1 and Annex II

ANNEX II

TYPE OF CARGO CLASSIFICATION

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ê 1304/2007 Art. 1 and Annex

ANNEX III

NST 2007

Division | Description |

01 | Products of agriculture, hunting, and forestry; fish and other fishing products |

02 | Coal and lignite; crude petroleum and natural gas |

03 | Metal ores and other mining and quarrying products; peat; uranium and thorium |

04 | Food products, beverages and tobacco |

05 | Textiles and textile products; leather and leather products |

06 | Wood and products of wood and cork (except furniture); articles of straw and plaiting materials; pulp, paper and paper products; printed matter and recorded media |

07 | Coke and refined petroleum products |

08 | Chemicals, chemical products, and man-made fibres; rubber and plastic products; nuclear fuel |

09 | Other non-metallic mineral products |

10 | Basic metals; fabricated metal products, except machinery and equipment |

11 | Machinery and equipment n.e.c.; office machinery and computers; electrical machinery and apparatus n.e.c.; radio, television and communication equipment and apparatus; medical, precision and optical instruments; watches and clocks |

12 | Transport equipment |

13 | Furniture; other manufactured goods n.e.c. |

14 | Secondary raw materials; municipal wastes and other wastes |

15 | Mail, parcels |

16 | Equipment and material utilised in the transport of goods |

17 | Goods moved in the course of household and office removals; baggage transported separately from passengers; motor vehicles being moved for repair; other non-market goods n.e.c. |

18 | Grouped goods: a mixture of types of goods which are transported together |

19 | Unidentifiable goods: goods which for any reason cannot be identified and therefore cannot be assigned to groups 01–16 |

20 | Other goods n.e.c. |

________

ê 2005/366/EC Art. 1 and Annex III (adapted)

ANNEX IV

MARITIME COASTAL AREAS

The nomenclature to be used is the Geonomenclature (the nomenclature Ö of countries and territories Õ for the external trade statistics of the Community and statistics of trade between Member States, drawn up Ö in accordance with Article 9 of Õ [Council] Regulation (EC) No Ö [1172/95] Õ [14]) Ö and Õ in force in the year to which the data refer.

ê 2005/366/EC Art. 1 and Annex III

The code consists of four digits: the ISO alpha 2 standard code for each country from the abovementioned nomenclature, followed by two zeros (e.g. code GR00 for Greece), except for countries which are divided into two or more maritime coastal areas, which are identified by a fourth digit other than zero (from 1 to 7), as below:

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ê 2005/366/EC Art. 1 and Annex IV (adapted)

ANNEX V

NATIONALITY OF REGISTRATION OF VESSELS

The nomenclature to be used is the Geonomenclature (the nomenclature Ö of countries and territories Õ for the external trade statistics of the Community and statistics of trade between Member States drawn up Ö in accordance with Article 9 of Õ Regulation (EC) No Ö [1172/95] Õ ) Ö and Õ in force in the year to which the data refer.

ê 2005/366/EC Art. 1 and Annex IV

The code consists of four digits: the ISO alpha 2 standard code for each country from the abovementioned nomenclature, followed by two zeros (e.g. code GR00 for Greece), except for countries with more than one register which are identified by a fourth digit other than zero, as below:

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ê 2005/366/EC Art. 1 and Annex V

ANNEX VI

TYPE OF SHIP CLASSIFICATION (ICST-COM)

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_____________

ê 98/385/EC Art. 3(2)

ANNEX VII

VESSEL SIZE CLASSES

in deadweight (DWT) or in gross tonnage (GT)

This classification applies only to vessels with a gross tonnage of 100 or more.

Class | Lower limit | Upper limit |

DWT | GT | DWT | GT |

01 | — | 100 | up to 499 | up to 499 |

02 | 500 | 500 | 999 | 999 |

03 | 1 000 | 1 000 | 1 999 | 1 999 |

04 | 2 000 | 2 000 | 2 999 | 2 999 |

05 | 3 000 | 3 000 | 3 999 | 3 999 |

06 | 4 000 | 4 000 | 4 999 | 4 999 |

07 | 5 000 | 5 000 | 5 999 | 5 999 |

08 | 6 000 | 6 000 | 6 999 | 6 999 |

09 | 7 000 | 7 000 | 7 999 | 7 999 |

10 | 8 000 | 8 000 | 8 999 | 8 999 |

11 | 9 000 | 9 000 | 9 999 | 9 999 |

12 | 10 000 | 10 000 | 19 999 | 19 999 |

13 | 20 000 | 20 000 | 29 999 | 29 999 |

14 | 30 000 | 30 000 | 39 999 | 39 999 |

15 | 40 000 | 40 000 | 49 999 | 49 999 |

16 | 50 000 | 50 000 | 79 999 | 79 999 |

17 | 80 000 | 80 000 | 99 999 | 99 999 |

18 | 100 000 | 100 000 | 149 999 | 149 999 |

19 | 150 000 | 150 000 | 199 999 | 199 999 |

20 | 200 000 | 200 000 | 249 999 | 249 999 |

21 | 250 000 | 250 000 | 299 999 | 299 999 |

22 | ≥ 300 000 | ≥ 300 000 | — | — |

NB: If vessels with a gross tonnage of less than 100 were to be included pursuant to this Directive, they would be allocated class code ‘99’. |

________

ê 2005/366/EC Art. 1 and Annex VI

ANNEX VIII

STRUCTURE FOR STATISTICAL DATA SETS

The data sets specified in this Annex define the periodicity for the maritime transport statistics required by the Community. Each data set defines a cross classification of a limited set of dimensions at different levels of the nomenclatures, aggregated across all other dimensions, for which statistics of good quality are required.

ê 2005/366/EC Art. 1 and Anne VI (adapted)

The conditions for collecting data set B1 Ö shall Õ be decided by the Council on a proposal from the Commission in the light of the results of the pilot study Ö carried out Õ during a three-year transitional period, as Ö provided for Õ in Article 10 of Directive Ö 95/64/EC and concerning the feasibility and the cost to Member States and to the respondents of collecting those items of information Õ .

ê 2005/366/EC Art. 1 and Annex VI

SUMMARY AND DETAILED STATISTICS

- The data sets to be provided for selected ports for goods and passengers are A1, A2, B1, C1, D1, E1, F1 and/or F2.

- The data sets to be provided for selected ports for goods but not for passengers are A1, A2, A3, B1, C1, E1, F1 and/or F2.

- The data sets to be provided for selected ports for passengers but not for goods are A3, D1, F1 and/or F2.

- The data set to be provided for selected ports and for ports which are not selected (for neither goods nor passengers) is A3.

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________

é

ANNEX IX

Part A

Repealed Directive with list of its successive amendments (referred to in Article 13)

Council Directive 95/64/EC (OJ L 320, 30.12.1995, p. 25) |

Commission Decision 98/385/EC (OJ L 174, 18.6.1998, p. 1) | only Article 3 |

Commission Decision 2000/363/EC (OJ L 132, 5.6.2000, p. 1) | only Article 1 |

Regulation (EC) No 1882/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council (OJ L 284, 31.10.2003, p. 1) | only pt. 20 of Annex II |

Commission Decision 2005/366/EC (OJ L 123, 17.5.2005, p. 1) | only Article 1 |

Commission Regulation (EC) No 1304/2007 (OJ L 290, 8.11.2007, p. 14) | only Article 1 |

Part B

List of time-limits for transposition into national law (referred to in Article 13)

Directive | Time-limit for transposition |

95/64/EC | 1 January 1997 |

_____________

ANNEX X

CORRELATION TABLE

Directive 95/64/EC | This Directive |

Article 1 | Article 1 |

Article 2(1), first subparagraph | Article 2(a), first subparagraph |

Article 2(1), second subparagraph, (a) and (b) | Article 2(a), second subparagraph, (i) and (ii) |

Article 2(1), third subparagraph | Article 2(a), third subparagraph |

Article 2(2) to (5) | Article 2(b) to (e) |

Article 3 | Article 3 |

Article 4(1) | Article 4(1) |

Article 4(2), first subparagraph | Article 4(2), first subparagraph |

Article 4(2), second subparagraph | - |

Article 4(2), third subparagraph | Article 4(2), second subparagraph |

Article 4(3) | Article 4(3) |

Articles 5, 6 and 7 | Articles 5, 6 and 7 |

Article 8(1) | Article 8 |

Article 8(2) | - |

Article 9 | Article 9 |

Article 10 | - |

Article 11 | - |

Article 12, introductory words | Article 10, first paragraph, introductory words |

Article 12, first to fifth indents | Article 10, first paragraph, points (a) to (e) |

Article 12, sixth indent | - |

Article 12, seventh indent | - |

Article 12, final words | Article 10, second paragraph |

- | Article 10, third paragraph |

Article 13(1) and (2) | Article 11(1) and (2) |

- | Article 11(3) |

Article 13(3) | - |

Article 14(1) | - |

Article 14(2) | Article 12 |

- | Article 13 |

Article 15 | Article 14 |

Article 16 | Article 15 |

Annexes I to VIII | Annexes I to VIII |

- | Annex IX |

- | Annex X |

_____________

[1] COM(87) 868 PV.

[2] Carried out pursuant to the Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council – Codification of the Acquis communautaire, COM(2001) 645 final.

[3] See Annex IX, Part A of this proposal.

[4] OJ L 184, 17.7.1999, p. 23. Decision as amended by Decision 2006/512/EC (OJ L 200, 22.7.2006, p. 11).

[5] OJ C 255, 21.10.2006, p. 1.

[6] OJ C […], […], p. […].

[7] OJ C […], […], p. […].

[8] OJ C […], […], p. […].

[9] OJ L 320, 30.12.1995, p. 25. Directive as last amended by Commission Regulation (EC) No 1304/2007 (OJ L 290, 8.11.2007, p. 14).

[10] See Annex IX, Part A.

[11] OJ L 184, 17.7.1999, p. 23. Decision as amended by Decision 2006/512/EC (OJ L 200, 22.7.2006, p. 11).

[12] OJ L [151, 15.6.1990], p. [1].

[13] OJ L 181, 28.6.1989, p. 47.

[14] OJ L Ö [118, 25.5.1995, p. 10.] Õ

5X, 51, 54, 56, 59, 6X, 61, 62, 63 and 69)