on the exercise of the power to adopt delegated acts conferred on the Commission by Regulation (EU) No 549/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the European system of national and regional accounts in the European Union

REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL

1. INTRODUCTION

Regulation (EU) No 549/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council set up the European System of Accounts 2010 (ESA 2010). ESA 2010 is a system of national and regional accounts designed to meet the requirements of the EU’s economic, social and regional policy. It contains:

a)a methodology (Annex A of the Regulation) on common standards, definitions, classifications and accounting rules that must be used for compiling accounts and tables on comparable bases for the purposes of the EU;

b)a programme (Annex B of the Regulation) setting out the time limits by which Member States must transmit to the Commission (Eurostat) the accounts and tables to be compiled in accordance with the methodology referred to in point (a).

Regulation (EU) No 549/2013 empowers the Commission to adopt delegated acts:

·on amendments to the ESA 2010 methodology in order to specify and improve its content for the purpose of ensuring a harmonised interpretation or to ensure international comparability provided that they do not change its underlying concepts, do not require additional resources for producers within the European Statistical System for their implementation, and do not cause a change in own resources (Article 2(2));

·on the methodology used for the calculation and allocation of financial intermediation services indirectly measured (FISIM) in national accounts in accordance with the methodology described in Annex A. This empowerment shall be exercised before 17 September 2013, laying down a revised methodology for the calculation and allocation of FISIM (Article 2(4));

·to ensure the reliability and comparability of the ESA 2010 data of the Member States on research and development recorded as gross fixed capital formation. In exercising its power pursuant to this paragraph, the Commission must ensure that such delegated acts do not impose a significant additional administrative burden on the Member States or on the respondent units (Article 2(5)).

In addition, Regulation (EU) No 549/2013 emphasises how important it is that the Commission carry out appropriate consultations during its preparatory work. The European Statistical System Committee established under Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 is also consulted before exercising the empowerment (Recital 24).

2. LEGAL BASIS

This report is required under Article 7(2) of Regulation (EU) No 549/2013, which confers on the Commission the power to adopt delegated acts for a period of five years from 16 July 2013. The Commission is required to prepare a report on the delegation of power no later than nine months before the end of the five-year period.

3. EXERCISE OF THE DELEGATION

Since the entry into force of Regulation (EU) No 549/2013, the Commission has adopted two delegated acts:

·Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) No 2015/1342 amending the methodology for the classification of products by activity (CPA); and

·Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) No 2015/1365 on the transmission format for research and development expenditure data.

The Commission has not adopted a delegated regulation on the methodology for the calculation and allocation of FISIM in national accounts (Article 2(4) of Regulation (EU) No 549/2013). After carrying out appropriate consultations with the Member States, it has decided not to change the methodology for the calculation and allocation of FISIM.

a) Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) No 2015/1342 amending the methodology for the classification of products by activity was deemed necessary as a result of the revision of the CPA referred to in ESA 2010.

Regulation (EC) No 451/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council, which established a new CPA (the ‘CPA 2008’), was adopted to reflect the EU’s statistical requirements. It was amended by Commission Regulation (EU) No 1209/2014 (establishing ‘CPA 2.1’) to maintain comparability and consistency with international product classification standards, namely the updated Central Product Classification (‘CPC Ver.2’) of the United Nations.