Amended proposal for a REGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL amending Regulation (EC, Euratom) n° 58/97 concerning structural business statistics - (presented by the Commission pursuant to Article 250 (2) of the EC Treaty)

EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM

1. The Commission has presented on 25 January 2001 a proposal for a Regulation amending Council Regulation No 58/97 [1] concerning structural business statistics to the European Parliament and the Council [COM(2001)38 final 2001/0023 (COD)].

[1] OJ L 14, 17.1.1997, p.1.

2. The European Parliament adopted on 13 June 2001 its opinion in first reading on the proposal.

3. The Commission accepts all amendments of the European Parliament.

4. The Commission accepts to amend the recital 6 in order to refer to the impact of the introduction of the single currency on the single market (amendment European Parliament No 1).

5. The Commission accepts to delete the detailed definition of the environmental domain 'Other environmental protection activities' in Article 3(7) as this will be subject of the implementation measures to be adopted at a later stage (amendment European Parliament No 2).

6. The Commission accepts to add 'the internal market' to the heading 'data on internationalisation' in Annex 6 Section 4 (iii) in order to stress that one of the main objectives of the proposal is to collect data that can be used for monitoring of the internal market of credit institutions (amendment European Parliament No 3).

7. The Commission accepts to make the characteristics on geographical breakdown (characteristics 45 31 0, 45 41 0 and 45 42 0) of Annex 6 Section 4 (iii) into mandatory characteristics (amendment European Parliament No 4). These characteristics are vital for measuring the development of the single market and the international presence of credit institutions.

8. The Commission accepts to add the characteristics 16 11 2 'Number of women employed' and 16 13 1 'Number of female employees' to the list of characteristics on employment of Annex 6 Section 4(iii) as they are important for measuring gender-related patterns in employment (amendment European Parliament No 5).

9. The Commission accepts to make the characteristics 11 61 0 'Number of pension schemes' and 48 15 2 'Other debt securities and other fixed income securities' of Annex 7 Section 4(2) mandatory (amendment European Parliament No 6). This information is necessary for monitoring the investment behaviour of pension funds and to allow the comparison of the structure of pension funds with regard to pension schemes.

10. The Commission accepts the following modifications to Annex 7 Section 4 (2) (amendment European Parliament No 7): to add 'the internal market and' to the heading 'Data on internationalisation', to add the characteristics 11 71 0 'Number of enterprises with members in other EEA countries' and 48 65 0 'Geographical breakdown of number of members by gender' and to make characteristic 48 64 0 mandatory. All these modifications stress that one of the main objectives of the proposal is to collect data that can be used for monitoring the internal market of pension funds (which is expected to open up in the short and medium term).

11. The Commission accepts to delete characteristics 11 71 0 and 48 65 0 from the list of characteristics in Annex 7 Section 9 (2) for which a pilot action needs to be organised as these characteristics will be included in the Annex 7 Section 4 (2) and will therefore be mandatory (amendment European Parliament No 8).

12. The Commission accepts to include characteristic 48 70 7 'Number of female members' to the list of residual variables in Annex 7 Section 4(2) as this information will enable the assessment of the participation of women to supplementary pension funds (amendment European Parliament No 9).

13. On 13 June 2001, the Working Group ECOFIN Statistics of the Council discussed the proposal. Following this Working Group meeting, the Commission accepts three further amendments to its proposal.

14. The Commission accepts to amend Article 3 (6) in order to limit the breakdown by industrial activity of the environmental variables to the NACE Rev.1 2 digit level. The more detailed breakdown could possibly result in additional costs for some Member States which are not outweighed by the benefits in the form of availability of more detailed information.

15. The Commission accepts to amend Section 6 of Annex 6 in order to reduce the level of regional breakdown to the NUTS 1 level. This information could possibly result in additional costs for the reporting authorities of some Member States as well as the enterprises, which are not outweighed by the benefits of the more detailed information.

16. The Commission accepts to amend Section 10 of Annex 7 in order to allow a possible extension of the transitional period for the transmission of these characteristics with a maximum of three years in accordance with the Comitology procedure laid down in Article 13 of the Council Regulation No 58/97.

17. Therefore in compliance with Article 250 (2) of the Treaty, the Commission modifies its proposal.

2001/0023 (COD)

Amended proposal for a REGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL amending Regulation (EC, Euratom) n° 58/97 concerning structural business statistics

(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 285 thereof,

Having regard to the amended proposal from the Commission [2],

[2] OJ.....

Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social Committee [3],

[3] OJ.....

Having regard to the opinion of the European Central Bank [4],

[4] OJ C 131, 3.5.2001, p.6.

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

Whereas:

(1) Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 58/97 [5] as last amended by Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) 410/98 [6] established a common framework for the collection, compilation, transmission and evaluation of Community statistics on the structure, activity, competitiveness and performance of businesses in the Community;

[5] OJ L 14, 17.1.1997, p.1.

[6] OJ L 52, 21.2.1998, p.1.

(2) Developments in Community monetary, economic and social integration require the extension of the aforesaid framework to credit institutions, pension funds, other financial intermediation and activities auxiliary to financial intermediation;

(3) The development and operation of the internal market increase the need for information measuring its effectiveness, in particular in the sectors of credit institutions, pension funds, other financial intermediation and activities auxiliary to financial intermediation;

(4) The liberalisation process of international trade in financial services necessitates business statistics in the financial services area to support the trade negotiations;

(5) The compilation of national and regional accounts according to Council Regulation (EC) No 2223/96 [7] of 25 of June 1996 on the European system of national and regional accounts in the Community requires comparable, complete and reliable business statistics in the financial services area;

[7] OJ L 310, 30.11.1996, p.1.

(6) The introduction of the single currency will have a major impact on the structure of the financial services industry and the cross-border flows of capital, which stresses the importance of information on competitiveness, the internal market and internationalisation;

(7) The smooth conduct of policies pursued by the competent authorities relating to prudential supervision of credit institutions and the stability of the financial system implies the need for additional information on credit institutions and related services;

(8) A developing pension funds sector could help to boost the capital markets in taking increasingly advantage of the liberalisation of investment rules;

(9) Decision 2179/98/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on the review of the European Community programme of policy action in relation to the environment and sustainable development "Towards sustainability" [8] reiterated the need for reliable and comparable data, statistics and indicators as a key tool for the evaluation of the cost of compliance with environmental regulations;

[8] OJ L 275, 10.10.1998, p.1.

(10) The Statistical Programme Committee set up by Decision 89/382/EEC, Euratom [9], the Banking Advisory Committee set up by Directive 77/780/EEC [10], the Committee on Monetary, Financial and Balance of Payments Statistics set up by Decision 91/115/EEC [11] and the Insurance Committee set up by Directive 91/675/EEC [12] have been consulted,

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

[10] OJ L 322, 17.12.1977, p.30.

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

[12] OJ L 374, 31.12.1991, p.32.

HAVE ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 58/97 shall hereby be amended as follows:

1. In Article 5 the following indents shall be added:

« ... a detailed module for structural statistics on credit institutions defined in Annex 6, »

« ... a detailed module for structural statistics on pension funds defined in Annex 7. »

2. Annexes 6 and 7, as set out in the Annex to this Regulation, shall be added.

Article 2

Annex 1 of Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 58/97 shall be amended as follows:

1. In section 5 the following sentence shall be added:

"However the first reference year for which statistics on the activity classes covered by the NACE Rev. 1 group 65.2 and division 67 are to be compiled, shall be decided in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 13 of this Regulation."

2. Section 8 shall be replaced by the following:

"1. The results are to be transmitted within 18 months of the end of the calendar year of the reference period, except for the NACE Rev. 1 activity class 65.11 and the activities of NACE Rev. 1 covered by the annexes 5, 6 and 7. For the NACE activity class 65.11 the transmission delay is 10 months. For the activities covered by the annexes 5, 6 and 7 the transmission delay is laid down in these annexes. However the transmission delay of the results on the activity classes covered by the NACE Rev. 1 group 65.2 and division 67 shall be decided in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 13 of this Regulation.

2. Except for the divisions 65 and 66 of NACE Rev. 1, preliminary national results or estimates are transmitted within 10 months of the end of the calendar year of the reference period for the enterprise statistics compiled for the characteristics listed below:

12 110 (turnover) 16 110 (number of persons employed)

These preliminary results are to be broken down to NACE Rev. 1 3-digit level (group), except for Sections H, I and K of NACE Rev. 1, for which they are to be broken down according to the groupings laid down in Section 9. For the division 67 of NACE Rev. 1, the transmission of preliminary results or estimates shall be decided in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 13 of this Regulation."

3. In section 9, Section J shall be replaced by the following:

"SECTION J Financial intermediation

To enable Community statistics to be compiled, Member States will transmit component national results broken down to the classes of NACE Rev. 1."

4. In section 10 paragraph 1 the first sentence shall be replaced by the following:

"Member States will provide the Commission with a report relating to the definition, structure and availability of information on statistical units which are classified under Sections M to O of NACE Rev. 1. "

Article 3

Annex 2 of the Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 58/97 shall be amended as follows:

1. In section 4, paragraph 3 the following characteristic shall be inserted after the variable 21 11 0 (investment in equipment and plant for pollution control, and special anti-pollution accessories - mainly end-of-pipe equipment):

"21 12 0 - Investment in equipment and plant linked to cleaner technology ("integrated technology") (()"

2. The footnote in section 4, paragraph 3 shall be replaced by the following:

"(() If the total amount of the turnover or the number of persons employed in a division of NACE Rev. 1 Sections C to E represent, in a Member State, less than 1% of the Community total, the information necessary for the compilation of statistics relating to characteristics 21 11 0, 21 12 0, 22 11 0 and 22 12 0 need not be collected for the purposes of this Regulation. If necessary for Community policy requirements, the Commission may, in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 13 of this Regulation, request ad hoc collection of this data."

3. In section 4, paragraph 4 the following characteristic shall be inserted after the variable 20 31 0 (Purchases of electricity (in value)):

"21 14 0 - Total current expenditure on environmental protection (() "

4. To section 4, paragraph 4 the following footnote shall be added:

"(() If the total amount of the turnover or the number of persons employed in a division of NACE Rev. 1 Sections C to E represent, in a Member State, less than 1% of the Community total, the information necessary for the compilation of statistics relating to characteristic 21 14 0 need not be collected for the purposes of the Regulation. If necessary for Community policy requirements, the Commission may, in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 13 of this Regulation, request ad hoc collection of this data."

5. In section 5 the following two paragraphs shall be added:

"3. The first reference year for which statistics on the characteristics 21 12 0 and 21 14 0 are to be compiled is the calendar year 2001.

4. The characteristic 21 12 0 shall be compiled yearly. The characteristic 21 14 0 shall be compiled every three years."

6. In section 7, paragraph 6 shall be replaced by the following:

"6. The results for the characteristics 21 11 0, 21 12 0 and 21 14 0, are to be broken down to the NACE Rev. 1 2-digit level (division). "

7. In section 7, the following paragraph shall be added:

"7. The results for the characteristics 21 11 0, 21 12 0 and 21 14 0, are to be broken down to the following environmental domains: Protection of ambient air and climate, Wastewater management, Waste management and Other environmental protection activities. The results for the environmental domains shall be broken down to NACE Rev.1 2-digit level (division)."

8. In section 9, the following characteristic shall be added:

"21 11 0 - Investment in equipment and plant for pollution control, and special anti-pollution accessories (mainly end-of-pipe equipment)"

The following comment shall be added for the variables 21 11 0, 21 12 0 and 21 14 0:

"Only specific breakdown on the environmental domains Biodiversity and Landscape, Soil and Groundwater".

9. In section 10, the following shall be added:

"For the compilation of statistics on the characteristics 21 12 0 and 21 14 0 this transition period may be extended by a further three years in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 13 of this Regulation."

Article 4

This Regulation shall enter into force on the 20th day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Communities.

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.

Done at Brussels, [...]

For the European Parliament For the Council

The President The President

[...] [...]

ANNEX 6

A DETAILED MODULE FOR

STRUCTURAL STATISTICS ON CREDIT INSTITUTIONS

Section 1

Aims

The aim of this Annex is to establish a common framework for the collection, compilation, transmission and evaluation of Community statistics on the structure, activity, performance and competitiveness of the sector of credit institutions. This module includes a detailed list of characteristics on which statistics shall be compiled in order to improve knowledge on the national, Community and international development of the sector of credit institutions.

Section 2

Scope

The statistics to be compiled shall relate to the domains referred to in points (i), (ii) and (iii) of Article 2 of this Regulation, and in particular to:

1. the detailed analysis of the structure, activity, performance and competitiveness of credit institutions;

2. the development and distribution of total business and business per product, international activities, employment, capital and reserves, and other assets and liabilities.

Section 3

Coverage

1. The statistics shall be compiled for the activities of credit institutions within the scope of NACE Rev. 1 classes 65.12 and 65.22.

2. The statistics shall be compiled for the activities of all credit institutions referred to in Article 2 (1) (a) and Article 2 (2) of Council Directive 86/635/EEC [13] (with the exemption of central banks).

[13] OJ L 372, 31.12.1986, p.1.

3. Branches of credit institutions referred to in Article 24 of Directive 2000/12/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council [14] of 20 March 2000, whose activity falls within one of the NACE Rev. 1 classes referred to in paragraph 1, shall be assimilated to the credit institutions specified in paragraph 2.

[14] OJ L 126, 25.5.2000, p.1.

Section 4

Characteristics

The characteristics and statistics to be compiled are listed below. The characteristics and statistics in italics are also included in the common module lists of Annex 1. When characteristics are derived directly from the annual accounts, accounting years ending within a reference year shall be assimilated to the said reference year.

The list of characteristics includes the following information:

(i) characteristics listed in Article 4 of Directive 86/635/EEC: asset side of the balance sheet: item 4; liability side of the balance sheet: items 2 (a) + 2 (b) as an aggregate, items 7 + 8 + 9 + 10 + 11 + 12 + 13 + 14 as an aggregate.

(ii) characteristics listed in Article 27 of Directive 86/635/EEC: item 2, items 3 (a) + 3 (b) + 3 (c) as an aggregate, item 3 (a), item 4, item 5, item 6, item 7, items 8 (a) + 8 (b) as an aggregate, item 8 (b), item 10, items 11 + 12 as an aggregate, items 9 + 13 + 14 as an aggregate, item 15 + 16 as an aggregate, item 19, items 15 + 20 + 22 as an aggregate, item 23.

(iii) additional characteristics listed below:

>TABLE POSITION>

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(iv) characteristics for which yearly regional statistics are to be compiled:

>TABLE POSITION>

Section 5

First reference year

The first reference year for which annual statistics shall be compiled for the characteristics listed in Section 4 is the calendar year 2001.

Section 6

Production of results

1. The results are to be broken down to the following NACE Rev. 1 classes: 65.12 and 65.22 separately.

2. The results of the regional statistics are to be broken down to NACE Rev. 1 4-digit level (classes) and level 1 of the nomenclature of territorial units (NUTS).

Section 7

Transmission of results

The transmission delay of the results shall be decided in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 13 of this Regulation. It shall not be longer than 10 months from the end of the reference year.

Section 8

Committee for Monetary, Financial and Balance of Payments Statistics

The Commission shall inform the Committee for Monetary, Financial and Balance of Payments Statistics about the implementation of this module and about all measures for adjustment to economic and technical developments concerning the collection and statistical processing of data, the processing and the transmission of results.

Section 9

Pilot studies

For the activities covered by this annex, the Commission will institute the following pilot studies to be carried out by Member States:

- information on derivatives and off-balance sheet items,

- information on the distribution networks,

- information needed for the decomposition of the transactions of credit institutions according to prices and volumes.

The pilot studies shall be carried out in order to assess the relevance and feasibility of obtaining data, taking into account the benefits of the availability of the data in relation to the cost of collection and the burden on business.

Section 10

Transitional period

For the purposes of this detailed module, the transition period shall not exceed three years from the beginning of the first reference year for the compilation of the statistics indicated in Section 5.

ANNEX 7

A DETAILED MODULE

FOR STRUCTURAL STATISTICS ON PENSION FUNDS

Section 1

Aims

The aim of this Annex is to establish a common framework for the collection, compilation, transmission and evaluation of Community statistics on the structure, activity, performance and competitiveness of the pension funds sector. This module includes a detailed list of characteristics on which statistics shall be compiled in order to improve knowledge of the national, Community and international development of the pension funds sector.

Section 2

Scope

The statistics to be compiled shall relate to the domains referred to in points (i), (ii) and (iii) of Article 2 of this Regulation, and in particular to:

1. the detailed analysis of the structure, activity, performance and competitiveness of pension funds,

2. the development and distribution of total business, patterns of pension funds members, international activities, employment, investments and liabilities.

Section 3

Coverage

1. The statistics are to be compiled for all activities within the scope of NACE Rev. 1 class 66.02. This class covers the activities of autonomous pension funds.

2. Some statistics are to be compiled for enterprises with non-autonomous pension funds which are carried out as ancillary activities.

Section 4

Characteristics

1. The list of characteristics and statistics set out below indicate, where relevant, the type of statistical unit for which the statistics are to be compiled. The statistics and characteristics in italics are also included in the common module lists of Annex 1. When characteristics are derived directly from the annual accounts, accounting years ending within a reference year shall be assimilated to the said reference year.

2. Demographic and enterprise characteristics for which yearly statistics are to be compiled (for autonomous pension funds only):

>TABLE POSITION>

3. Enterprise characteristics for which yearly statistics are to be compiled (for enterprises with non-autonomous pension funds only):

>TABLE POSITION>

Section 5

First reference year

The first reference year for which annual statistics shall be compiled for the characteristics listed in Section 4 is the calendar year 2001.

Section 6

Production of results

1. The results for the characteristics listed in section 4 paragraph 2 are to be broken down according to the NACE Rev. 1, 4-digit level (class).

2. The results for the characteristics listed in section 4 paragraph 3 are to be broken down according to the NACE Rev. 1 section level.

Section 7

Transmission of results

The results shall be transmitted within 12 months from the end of the reference year.

Section 8

Insurance Committee

The Commission shall inform the Insurance Committee about the implementation of this module and about all such measures for adjustment to economic and technical developments concerning the collection and statistical processing of data and the processing and the transmission of results.

Section 9

Pilot studies

For the activities covered by this annex, the Commission will institute the following pilot studies to be carried out by Member States:

- the following more in-depth information on cross-border activities of pension funds:

>TABLE POSITION>

- the following additional information on non-autonomous pension funds:

>TABLE POSITION>

- information on derivatives and off-balance sheet items.

The pilot studies shall be carried out in order to assess the relevance and feasibility of obtaining data, taking into account the benefits of the availability of the data in relation to the cost of collection and the burden on business.

Section 10

Transitional period

For the purposes of this detailed module, the transition period will not exceed three years from the beginning of the first reference year for the compilation of the statistics indicated in Section 5. This transition period may be extended by a further period of up to three years in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 13 of this Regulation.