Common Position (EC) No 37/2000 of 26 June 2000 adopted by the Council, acting in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 251 of the Treaty establishing the European Community, with a view to adopting a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council modifying the common principles of the European system of national and regional accounts in the Community (ESA 95) as concerns taxes and social contributions and amending Council Regulation (EC) No 2223/96
Date: 2000-06-26
Institutions: Council of the European Union
Subjects: EU statistics, European accounting system, Eurostat, approximation of laws, social-security contribution, tax

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I

(Information)

COUNCIL

COMMON POSITION (EC) No 37/2000

adopted by the Council on 26 June 2000

with a view to adopting a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council of (cid:133)
modifying the common principles of the European system of national and regional accounts in
the Community (ESA 95) as concerns taxes and social contributions and amending Council
Regulation (EC) No 2223/96

(2000/C 245/01)

THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE
EUROPEAN UNION,

(2) Article 2 of Regulation (EC) No 2223/96 sets out the
conditions under which the Commission may adopt
amendments to the ESA 95 methodology which are
intended to clarify and improve its content.

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European
Community, and in particular Article 285 thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission (1),

(3)

is

therefore necessary to refer

clarifications
It
concerning the recording of taxes and social contributions
in ESA 95 to the European Parliament and to the Council
as these clarifications modify basic concepts.

the

Having regard to the opinion of
Committee (2),

the Economic and Social

Acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article
251 of the Treaty (3),

Whereas:

(1) Council Regulation (EC) No 2223/96 of 25 June 1996 on
the European system of national and regional accounts in
the Community (4)
reference
framework
definitions,
classifications and accounting rules for drawing up the
statistical
accounts of
to obtain
requirements of
comparable results between Member States.

the Member States
the Community,

(ESA 95)
common

contains
standards,

the
in order

the

for

of

(4) Article 2 of

the Protocol on the

excessive deficit
procedure relating to Article 104 of the Treaty states that
the government deficit means net borrowing of
the
general government sector as defined in the European
system of integrated economic accounts (ESA).

(5) The Statistical Programme Committee (SPC), set up by
Council Decision 89/382/EEC, Euratom (5), the Committee
on Monetary, Financial and Balance of Payments Statistics
(CMFB), set up by Council Decision 91/115/EEC (6), and
the Gross National Product Committee (GNP Committee)
can state their opinion on the country-specific accounting
treatment of taxes and social contributions whenever they
consider it relevant.

(1) OJ C 21 E, 25.1.2000, p. 68.
(2) OJ C 75, 15.3.2000, p. 19.
(3) Opinion of the European Parliament of 13 April 2000 (not yet
published in the Official Journal), Council Common Position of 26
June 2000 and Decision of the European Parliament of (cid:133) (not yet
published in the Official Journal).

(4) OJ L 310, 30.11.1996, p. 1. Regulation as amended by Regulation

(6) The SPC and the CMFB have been consulted.

(5) OJ L 181, 28.6.1989, p. 47.
(6) OJ L 59, 6.3.1991, p. 19. Decision as amended by Decision

(EC) No 448/98 (OJ L 58, 27.2.1998, p. 1).

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

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(7) The measures necessary for

implementation of
Regulation (EC) No 2223/96 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 (1),

the

HAVE ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

Purpose

this Regulation is to modify the common
The purpose of
principles
social
contributions so as to ensure comparability and transparency
among the Member States.

ESA 95 as

concerns

taxes

and

of

Article 2

General principles

impact on the net

The
general
government of taxes and social contributions recorded in the
system shall not include amounts unlikely to be collected.

lending/borrowing of

the

impact

Accordingly,
net
on
lending/borrowing of taxes and social contributions recorded
in the system on an accrual basis shall be equivalent over a
time to the corresponding amounts
reasonable amount of
actually received.

government

general

treatment, a capital transfer to the relevant sectors could
be recorded equal to the same adjustment. The coefficients
shall be estimated on the basis of past experience and
current expectations in respect of assessed and declared
amounts never collected. They shall be specific to different
types of taxes and social contributions. The determination
of these coefficients shall be country-specific, the method
being cleared with the Commission (Eurostat) beforehand.

(b)

If cash receipts are used, they shall be time-adjusted so
that the cash is attributed when the activity took place to
generate the tax liability (or when the amount of tax was
determined,
in the case of some income taxes). This
adjustment may be based on the average time difference
between the activity (or the determination of the amount
of tax) and cash tax receipt.

Article 4

Verification

The

Commission

the
1.
implementation by Member States of the principles laid down
in this Regulation.

(Eurostat)

verify

shall

2.
From 2000 onwards, Member States shall provide the
Commission (Eurostat) before the end of each year with a
detailed description of the methods they plan to use for the
different categories of taxes and social contributions in order
to implement this Regulation.

The methods applied and the possible revisions shall be
3.
subject to agreement between each Member State concerned
and the Commission (Eurostat).

Article 3

4.
The Commission (Eurostat) shall keep the SPC, the CMFB
and the GNP Committee informed of the methods and the
calculation of the aforementioned coefficients.

Treatment of taxes and social contributions in the
accounts

Taxes and social contributions recorded in the accounts may
be derived from two sources:
evidenced by
amounts
assessments and declarations or cash receipts.

Article 5

Implementation

(a)

If assessments and declarations are used, the amounts shall
reflecting assessed and
be adjusted by a coefficient
collected. As an alternative
declared amounts never

(1) OJ L 184, 17.7.1999, p. 23.

Within six months of the adoption of this Regulation, the
Commission shall
introduce in the text of Annex A to
Regulation (EC) No 2223/96, pursuant to the procedure in
Article 4 thereof, the changes needed for the application of
this Regulation.

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Article 6

Committee procedure

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.(cid:146)

Article 4 of Regulation (EC) No 2223/96 shall be replaced by
the following:

(cid:145)Article 4

Article 7

Entry into force

The Commission shall be assisted by the Statistical
(cid:147)the

1.
Programme Committee (hereinafter
Committee(cid:148)).

referred to as

This Regulation shall enter into force on the twentieth
the

1.
day following its publication in the Official
European Communities.

Journal of

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

States may

2. Member
a
ask
transitional period of no more than two years in which to
bring their accounting systems into line with this Regulation.

the Commission for

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

Done at (cid:133)

For the European Parliament

The President

For the Council

The President

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STATEMENT OF THE COUNCIL’S REASONS

I.

INTRODUCTION

1. On 19 October 1999, the Commission forwarded to the Council a proposal for a European
Parliament and Council Regulation modifying the common principles of the ESA 95 for recording
taxes and social contributions and amending Council Regulation (EC) No 2223/96.

2. The above proposal is based on Article 285 of the Treaty according to which the procedure of

co-decision with the European Parliament prescribed in Article 251 of the Treaty applies.

3. The European Parliament delivered its opinion in first reading on 13 April 2000.

4. The Economic and Social Committee delivered its opinion on 26 January 2000.

5. On 26 June 2000, the Council adopted its Common Position pursuant to Article 251 of the

Treaty.

II. OBJECTIVE OF THE PROPOSAL

The main purpose of the proposal is to modify the common principles relating to the ESA 95 with
regard to the recording of taxes and social contributions. Furthermore it aims to amend Council
Regulation (EC) No 2223/96 by replacing the committee procedure of Article 4 in order to take
account of Council Decision 1999/468/EC of 28 June 1999 (1). Concerning the main purpose it aims
to ensure that Community’s statistical needs are met by recording taxes and social contributions in the
ESA 95 in a comparable and transparent manner. The major modification to be introduced is that
taxes and social contributions recorded in the system exclude amounts which are not expected to be
collected. This aims to ensure that within a reasonable period, taxes and social contributions recorded
on the basis of the operative event are equivalent to the corresponding amounts actually collected.

III. ANALYSIS OF THE COMMON POSITION

The Common Position follows the main approach of the Commission proposal. The changes in the
Common Position as compared to the Commission proposal are set out below.

Amendment 1 of the European Parliament, changing the title of the Regulation by replacing the term
(cid:145)clarifying(cid:146) with (cid:145)amending(cid:146),
is included in the Common Position in substance but with slightly
modified drafting taking into account the Interinstitutional Agreement of 22 December 1998 on
common guidelines for the quality of drafting of Community legislation (2), in particular point 18
thereof.

Article 1

In the Common Position, Article 1 has been redrafted in order to take into account the change made
In substance, this change follows amendment 1 of the European
to the title of this Regulation.
Parliament.

(1) OJ L 184, 17.7.1999, p. 23.
(2) OJ C 73, 17.3.1999, p. 1.

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However, since this proposal aims to modify the existing regulation relating to the ESA 95 only as far
as the principles for recording taxes and social contributions are concerned, the Council did not find it
appropriate to include in this context provisions creating a legal basis for the determination of the
VAT own resources using ESA 95. Therefore amendment 6 of the European Parliament has not been
included in the Common Position.

Article 2

The modifications to the text of Article 2 do not change the substance of the Commission proposal,
but aim to improve the text by using a more precise wording.

Article 3

In Article 3(a) of the Common Position, a provision for an alternative treatment has been added in
order to increase flexibility. Hence amendment 7 of the European Parliament has been included,
although with a slightly altered wording.

Article 4 of the Commission proposal

The Council considered that the provisions in Article 4 of the original Commission proposal were not
sufficiently clear and decided to delete the Article as unnecessary.

Article 4 (Article 5 of the Commission proposal)

No changes have been introduced to the Commission proposal.

Article 5 (Article 6 of the Commission proposal)

The wording of this Article has been amended in order to improve the clarity of the text. Amendment
8 of the European Parliament has been included.

Article 6 (new)

In order to take account of Council Decision 1999/468/EC of 28 June 1999 (1), which replaces the
committee procedure of Council Decision 87/373/EEC, a new Article 6 has been introduced to the
Common Position. This provision replaces Article 4 of Regulation (EC) No 2223/96 by the new
committee procedure. This amendment does not change the substance of Article 5 of the Common
Position.

Article 7 of the Commission proposal

The date of entry into force in the Common Position is set for the 20th day following its publication
in the Official Journal.

In Article 7(2) of the Common Position the Council has introduced a provision allowing Member
States to ask the Commission for a transitional period of no more than two years. The Common
Position thus includes amendment 9 of the European Parliament.

(1) OJ L 184, 17.7.1999, p. 23.

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Recitals

The recitals have been adapted following the modifications to the Commission proposal.

In order to clarify the text, the Council has deleted recital 3 of the Commission proposal and amended
recital 4 (new 3) by making clear that it is necessary to refer the clarifications concerning the
recording of taxes and social contributions in ESA 95 to the European Parliament and to the Council
as these clarifications modify basic concepts.

The Council does not disagree with the principle that there is a need to establish clear criteria for
accounts in the various Member States to be homogeneous. However, the Council did not include
amendments 2 and 3 of the European Parliament, because their purpose is not to explain the enacting
terms of the Regulation (see point 10 of the Interinstitutional Agreement on common guidelines for
the quality of drafting of Community legislation (1)).

Furthermore for the reasons explained under Article 1, the Council could not accept amendments 4
and 5 of the European Parliament.

In relation to Article 5, a new recital 5 has been included in the Common Position in order to clarify
the role of the various committees.

IV. CONCLUSION

The Council considers that all modifications introduced in its Common Position are fully in line with
the objectives of the proposed Regulation. This aims to ensure that, whichever statistical sources are
used, the Member States are placed on an equal footing. The Common Position includes the substance
of most of the amendments to the enacting terms as proposed by the European Parliament.

(1) OJ C 73, 17.3.1999, p. 1.