Proposal for a COUNCIL DECISION establishing a Committee on monetary, financial and balance of payments statistics (codified version)

(presented by the Commission)

EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM

1. In the context of a people's Europe, the Commission attaches great importance to simplifying and clarifying Community law so as to make it clearer and more accessible to the ordinary citizen, thus giving him new opportunities and the chance to make use of the specific rights it gives him.

This aim cannot be achieved so long as numerous provisions that have been amended several times, often quite substantially, remain scattered, so that they must be sought partly in the original instrument and partly in later amending ones. Considerable research work, comparing many different instruments, is thus needed to identify the current rules.

For this reason a codification of rules that have frequently been amended is also essential if Community law is to be clear and transparent.

2. On 1 April 1987 the Commission therefore 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.

[1] COM(1987) 868 PV.

3. The Conclusions of the Presidency of the Edinburgh European Council (December 1992) confirmed this [2], stressing the importance of codification as it offers certainty as to the law applicable to a given matter at a given time.

[2] See Annex 3 to Part A of such Conclusions.

Codification must be undertaken in full compliance with the normal Community legislative procedure.

Given that no changes of substance may be made to the instruments affected by codification, the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission have agreed, by an interinstitutional agreement dated 20 December 1994, that an accelerated procedure may be used for the fast-track adoption of codification instruments.

4. The purpose of this proposal is to undertake a codification of Council Decision 91/115/EEC of 25 February 1991 establishing a Committee on monetary, financial and balance of payments statistics [3]; the new Decision will supersede the various acts incorporated in it [4]; this proposal fully preserves the substance of the acts being codified and hence does no more than bring them together with only such formal amendments as are required by the codification exercise itself.

[3] 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.

[4] Annex I to this proposal.

5. The codification proposal was drawn up on the basis of a preliminary consolidation, in all official languages, of Decision 91/115/EEC and the instrument amending it, carried out by the Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, by means of a data-processing system. Where the Articles have been given new numbers, the correlation between the old and the new numbers is shown in a table set out in Annex II to the codified Decision.

91/115/EEC

2003/0103 (CNS)

Proposal for a COUNCIL DECISION establishing a Committee on monetary, financial and balance of payments statistics

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,

Having regard to the opinion of the European Parliament [5],

[5] OJ C [...] [...], p.[...]

Having regard to the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee [6],

[6] OJ C [...] [...], p.[...].

Whereas:

(1) Council Decision 91/115/EEC of 25 February 1991 establishing a Committee on monetary, financial and balance of payments statistics [7] has been substantially amended [8]. In the interests of clarity and rationality the said Decision should be codified.

[7] OJ L 59, 6.3.1991, p. 19.

[8] See Annex I.

91/115/EEC, Recital (3) (adapted)

(2) There is a need to establish, as a section of the multiannual statistical programme of the Commission, a multiannual work programme in the field of monetary, financial and balance of payments statistics.

91/115/EEC Recital (4) (adapted)

(3) By Decision 89/382/EEC, Euratom of 19 June 1989 establishing a Committee on the Statistical Programmes of the European Communities [9] the Council set up a Committee on the Statistical Programme of the European Communities, comprising representatives of the Member States' statistical institutes, to ensure close cooperation between Member States and the Commission whilst the statistical programme is established.

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

91/115/EEC Recital (5)

(4) In Member States monetary and banking statistics are drawn up by central banks, and financial and balance of payments statistics are drawn up by various institutions, including central banks.

91/115/EEC Recitals (6) and (7) (adapted)

(5) It is necessary, in order to achieve close co-operation between Member States and the Commission in the fields of monetary, financial and balance of payments statistics that the Commission be assisted, in drawing up and implementing the multiannual work programme relating to such statistics, by a Committee composed of representatives of the principal national institutions concerned.

91/115/EEC Recital (8)

(6) Having regard to the specific role played in the Member States by the aforementioned institutions, it is necessary to allow the committee to choose its chairman.

91/115/EEC Recital (9)

(7) There is, from the point of view of statistics, a close interdependence between the monetary, financial and balance of payments areas on the one hand, and certain other areas of economic statistics on the other hand.

91/115/EEC Recital (10)

(8) The increased demand from the Member States and Community institutions for improved statistical information requires the enhancement of cooperation between the users and producers of monetary, financial and balance of payments statistics,

HAS DECIDED AS FOLLOWS:

91/115/EEC

Article 1

A Committee on Monetary, Financial and Balance of Payments Statistics, hereinafter called "the Committee", is hereby established.

Article 2

The Committee shall assist the Commission in drawing up and implementing the multiannual programme of work relating to monetary, financial and balance of payments statistics. The Committee shall, in particular, have the task of expressing opinions on the development and coordination of the monetary, financial and balance of payments statistics required for the policies implemented by the Council, the Commission, and the various committees assisting them.

The Committee may be asked to express opinions on the links between monetary, financial and balance of payments statistics on the one hand, and certain other economic statistics on the other, in particular those on which national accounts are based. The work of this Committee will be coordinated with that of the Statistical Programme Committee.

Article 3

The Commission, on its own initiative, and, should the occasion arise, following a request from the Council or from the committees which assist them, shall consult the Committee on:

(a) the establishment of multiannual Community programmes for monetary, financial and balance of payments statistics;

(b) the measures which the Commission intends to undertake to achieve the objectives referred to in the multiannual programmes for monetary, financial and balance of payments statistics and the resources and timetables involved;

(c) any other question, in particular questions of methodology, arising from the establishment or implementation of the Statistical Programme in the relevant fields.

The Committee may express opinions on its own initiative on any questions relating to the establishment or the implementation of statistical programmes in the monetary, financial and balance of payments fields.

96/174/EC Sole Art., point 1 (adapted)

Article 4

The Committee may express opinions on its own initiative on any questions relating to those statistics that are of common concern to the Commission and national statistical authorities, on the one hand, and the European Central Bank (ECB) and national central banks, on the other. In the execution of its tasks, the Committee shall give its views to all interested parties.

96/174/EC Sole Art., point 2 (adapted)

Article 5

The Committee shall be composed of one, two or three representatives per Member State, coming from the institutions principally concerned with financial, monetary and balance of payments statistics, up to three representatives of the Commission and up to three representatives of the ECB . In addition, one representative of the Economic and Financial Committee may attend the meetings of the Committee, as an observer. Each Member State, the Commission and the ECB will have one vote each.

Representatives of other organisations, as well as any person able to contribute to discussions, may, on the decision of the Committee, participate in the Committee's meetings.

96/174/EC Sole Art., point 3,

Article 6

The Committee shall elect its chairman according to the detailed rules laid down in its rules of procedure.

91/115/EEC Article 6

Article 7

The Committee shall draw up its rules of procedure.

Article 8

Decision 91/115/EEC is repealed.

The references made to the repealed Decision shall be construed as references to this Decision and shall be read in accordance with the correlation table in Annex II.

Done at Brussels,

For the Council

The President

ANNEX I

Repealed Decision and its amending Decision

Council Decision 91/115/EEC // (OJ L 59, 6.3.1991, p.19)

Council Decision 96/174/EC // (OJ L 51, 1.3.1996, p. 48)

ANNEX II

CORRELATION TABLE

Decision 91/115/EEC // This Decision

Articles 1 - 3 // Articles 1 - 3

Article 3a // Article 4

Article 4 // Article 5

Article 5 // Article 6

Article 6 // Article 7

- // Article 8

- // Annex I

- // Annex II