Opinion of the Economic and Social Committee on the "Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the establishment of a common classification of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS)"
Date: 2001-07-11
Institutions: European Economic and Social Committee
Subjects: regional government, regional policy, statistical method, statistics

17.9.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 260/57

Opinion of the Economic and Social Committee on the ‘Proposal for a Regulation of the European
Parliament and of the Council on the establishment of a common classification of Territorial
Units for Statistics (NUTS)’

(2001/C 260/11)

On 12 March 2001 the Council decided to consult the Economic and Social Committee, under Article 262
of the Treaty establishing the European Community, on the above-mentioned proposal.

The Section for Economic and Monetary Union and Economic and Social Cohesion, which was
responsible for preparing the Committee’s work on the subject, adopted its opinion on 26 June 2001.
The rapporteur was Mr Walker.

At its 383rd plenary session (meeting of 11 July 2001), the Economic and Social Committee adopted the
following opinion by 111 votes to two with two abstentions.

1.

Introduction

1.1.
Regional statistics are a cornerstone of the European
Statistical System; they are used for a wide range of purposes
and a wide range of users. The regional data of the EU Member
States are, inter alia, used for allocating Structural Funds in a
rational and consistent way. Hence, regional statistics are the
objective statistical base for important political decisions.

1.2.
All regional statistics have to be based on a geographi-
cal division of the country studied. Eurostat, in collaboration
with other Commission departments, set up the Nomenclature
of Statistical Territorial Units (NUTS) at the beginning of the
1970s as a single, coherent system for dividing up the
European Union’s territory in order to produce regional
statistics for the Community.

1.3.
This NUTS classification has gained increasing import-
ance in recent years as the basis for harmonised, and thus
comparable, regional data. NUTS is used as a reference for the
collection, development, harmonisation and dissemination of
Community regional statistics.

So far, the NUTS classification has had no legal basis
1.4.
of its own (i.e. there is no Regulation setting out in detail the
rules for compiling and updating the system). These matters
have been settled thus far by ‘gentlemen’s agreements’ between
each Member State and Eurostat, sometimes after prolonged
and difficult negotiations. NUTS is then published by Eurostat.

Administrative Units (EAU)
is then analysed to determine
where these levels belong in the hierarchy of the regional
classification. There are two possible outcomes:

— the average size broadly corresponds to that of an existing
level within the NUTS classification (in this case, the
administrative structure in question is adopted in its
entirety, without change, as the regional breakdown at
this level);

— no administrative structure has an average size within the
threshold mentioned above (in this case, in line with the
practice adopted for Member States, an ad hoc breakdown
is compiled, called ‘Non-administrative Units’, in collabor-
ation with the country concerned, by grouping together
smaller administrative units).

1.5.1.
In the first case, the region is politically defined; as a
result, the size of certain units may differ widely from the
average size of units registered at this level. The German Länder
are an example of a country with Existing Administrative Units.
Some Member States (e.g. Portugal and the UK) do not have
Existing Administrative Units.

1.6.
It should be noted that the Commission’s proposals
would not affect the status quo in any Member State. The aim
is to produce greater co-ordination and less divergence in the
future.

1.7.
The proposed Regulation would also provide the
candidate countries with the framework for a consistent
regional breakdown of their territory for statistical purposes
on accession.

1.5.
There are several stages to applying the regional
classification to a particular country. First, the administrative
structure is analysed; next, a check is made of whether regional
data are collected and disseminated on the basis of this regional
breakdown, which they usually are. The average size (in
terms of population) of the units of the various Existing

1.8.
The Commission contends that, in accordance with
the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality, the objective
of creating a harmonised regional classification, used for all
European regional statistics, can only be achieved at the
Community level.

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2. The Commission’s proposals

The details of the Commission’s proposals are set out

2.1.
in Appendix 1.

3. Comments

3.1.
The Committee approves the principle of providing a
clear legal basis for a single, coherent system of regional
statistical analysis, both for the existing Member States and the
candidate countries on accession.

Given that

these statistics serve as the basis for
3.2.
important political decisions, it is obvious that the existence of
such a system is fundamental to the proper working of the
Structural Funds.

The Committee would point out

3.3.
the second
sentence of the second paragraph of the proposed Article 3 (4)
reads as follows:

that

‘The size of the non-administrative units in a Member State
for a given NUTS level shall lie within the population
thresholds referred to in paragraph 2’.

As it is written, this would require that the population
3.3.1.
of each and every Non-administrative Unit should fall within
the upper and lower limits delineated for each NUTS level, and
would imply that an adjustment would be required whenever
a Non-administrative Unit went outside of these limits, whereas
the Commission’s explanatory memorandum makes it clear
that the determining factor is the average size of the NUTS
units at any given level in a given country.

3.3.3.
be very different from that which is envisaged.

Unless this is done, the effect of the Regulation will

3.4. Whilst recognising that the comparability of regional
statistics requires that, in normal circumstances, the regions be
of comparable size in terms of population, the Committee
believes it is nevertheless necessary to take into account the
special situation of islands and outermost regions which, by
their very nature, are physically isolated from the rest of the
Community territory.

3.4.1.
The Committee notes the classification criteria outli-
ned in the proposed Article 3 of the regulation and the
arrangements for amendments by the Commission in accord-
ance with the procedures referred to in Article 7 paragraph 2.
Notwithstanding the proposed general criteria, the Committee
urges the Commission to ensure that the NUTS classification
recognises the special situation of the islands and outermost
regions, and identifies them distinctively and separately, irres-
pective of
the thresholds mentioned in paragraph 2 of
Article 3.

There is no guarantee that even those regions which
3.4.2.
are presently identified as separate NUTS units will remain so
in future. Once enlargement has taken place, the Commission
may wish to ‘harmonise’ all NUTS areas across the EU and
progressively apply the same thresholds to all existing NUTS
areas. In this context, the Committee notes that the Com-
mission would have full powers to modify the list of NUTS
areas quoted in the Appendix to the draft Regulation, subject
only to a veto by the Council, acting by a qualified majority.
The Committee urges the Commission to exercise these
powers only when there are clear-cut changes requiring such
adjustment.

3.5.
Article 5 (4) requires that, after an amendment to
NUTS is adopted, the member State concerned must ensure,
within two years, the provision of historical time series for the
new regional breakdown for the last five years. The Committee
considers that this could constitute an onerous commitment
in some cases.

3.3.2.
Therefore, in order to give effect to the Commission’s
intentions, the words, ‘the size of the non-administrative units
...’ should be amended to read, ‘The average size of the non-
administrative units ...’ prior to enactment.

3.6.
The Committee concurs with the Commission that the
objective of creating a harmonised regional classification for
all European regional statistics can only be achieved at
Community level.

Brussels, 11 July 2001.

The President

of the Economic and Social Committee

Göke FRERICHS

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APPENDIX

to the opinion of the Economic and Social Committee

HAVE ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

Subject matter

1.
The purpose of this Regulation is to establish a common statistical classification of territorial units, hereinafter
referred to as ‘NUTS’, in order to ensure the production and dissemination of comparable regional statistics in the
Community.

2.
The NUTS classification laid down in Annex I shall replace the ‘Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics
(NUTS)’ established by the Statistical Office of the European Communities in co-operation with the national institutes
for statistics of the Member States.

Article 2

Structure

The NUTS classification comprises for each region a specified code and name. It subdivides the economic
1.
territory of the Community, as defined in the Commission Decision 91/450/EEC of 26 July 1991 (1), [7] into
territorial units, hereinafter referred to as ‘regions’.

The NUTS classification is hierarchical. It subdivides each Member State into NUTS level 1 regions, each of

2.
which is subdivided into NUTS level 2 regions, these in turn each being subdivided into NUTS level 3 regions.

3.

However, a particular region may represent several levels of NUTS.

Two different regions in the same Member State may not be identified by the same name. If two regions in

4.
different Member States have the same name, the country identifier is added to the region name.

Article 3

Classification criteria

Existing administrative units within the Member States constitute the first criterion used for the definition of

1.
regions.

To this end, ‘administrative unit’ shall mean a geographical area with an Administrative Authority that has the power
to take administrative or policy decisions for that area within the legal and institutional framework of the Member
State.

2.
In order to establish the relevant level of NUTS in which a given class of administrative units in a Member State
is to be classified, the average size of this class of administrative units in the Member State shall lie within the
following population thresholds:

Level

Minimum

Maximum

NUTS 1

NUTS 2

NUTS 3

3 million

800 000

150 000

7 million

3 million

800 000

(1) OJ L 240, 29.8.1991.

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3.
The existing administrative units that are used for the NUTS classification are laid down in Annex II.
Amendments to Annex II may be adopted by the Commission in accordance with the procedure referred to in
Article 7 paragraph 2.

4.
If for a given level of NUTS no administrative units of a suitable scale exist in a Member State, in accordance
with the size criteria referred to in paragraph 2, this NUTS level shall be constituted by aggregating an appropriate
number of existing smaller administrative units. This aggregation shall take geographical, socio-economic, historical,
cultural and/or other relevant criteria into consideration.

The resulting aggregated units shall hereinafter be referred to as ‘non-administrative units’. The size of the non-
administrative units in a Member State for a given NUTS level shall lie within the population thresholds referred to
in paragraph 2.

However, because of particular administrative and geographical circumstances, to be appreciated by the Commission,
individual non-administrative units may deviate from these thresholds.

If the population of a whole Member State is below the maximum threshold for a given NUTS level, the whole

5.
Member State will be one NUTS region for this level.

Article 4

Components of NUTS

1. Within six months after the entry into force of this Regulation, the Commission shall, after consulting the
Member States, publish the components of each NUTS level 3 region in terms of local administrative units.

The existing local administrative units are laid down in Annex III. Amendments to Annex III may be adopted by the
Commission in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 7 paragraph 2.

2. Within the first six months of each year, Member States shall transmit all changes of the components for the
previous year, respecting the electronic data format requested by the Commission.

If any of the changes of local administrative units leads to a need to change the NUTS 3 boundaries, the

3.
provisions of Article 5 apply.

Article 5

Amendments to NUTS

The Member States shall inform the Commission of all modifications to existing administrative units, as well as

1.
of all other changes at national level that may affect the classification criteria laid down in Article 3.

2.
Amendments to the NUTS classification laid down in Annex I may be adopted by the Commission, at intervals
of not less than every three years, on the basis of the criteria laid down in Article 3, in accordance with the procedure
referred to in Article 7 paragraph 2.

3.
The Commission shall amend the non-administrative units in a Member State, as referred to in Article 3
paragraph 4, only if, at the NUTS level in question, the amendment reduces the standard deviation of the size (in
terms of population) of all EU regions.

Amendments to the NUTS classification shall enter into force on the first day of a quarter two years after their

4.
adoption in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 7 paragraph 2.

After an amendment to NUTS is adopted, the Member State concerned must ensure within two years the

5.
provision of historical time series for the new regional breakdown for the last five years.

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Article 6

Management

The Commission shall take the necessary measures to ensure the consistent management of the NUTS classification.
In particular, such measures may include:

(a) Drafting and updating of explanatory notes on NUTS.

(b)

Examination of problems arising from the implementation of NUTS in the Member States’ classifications of
regions.

Article 7

Procedure

The Commission shall be assisted by the Statistical Programme Committee, instituted by Article 1 of Council

1.
Decision 89/382/EEC, Euratom (1).

2. Where reference is made to this paragraph, the regulatory procedure laid down in Article 5 of Council Decision
1999/468/EC shall apply, in compliance with Article 7 and Article 8 thereof.

3.

The period provided for in Article 5(6) of Council Decision 1999/468/EC shall be three months.

Article 8

Entry into force

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

(1) OJ L 181, 28.6.1989, p. 47.