Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning labour cost index
Date: 2001-07-23
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: data transmission, labour market, price index, wage cost

C 304 E/184

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Official Journal of the European Communities

30.10.2001

Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning labour cost
index

(2001/C 304 E/08)

(Text with EEA relevance)

COM(2001) 418 final (cid:151) 2001/0166(COD)

(Submitted by the Commission on 23 July 2001)

THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE
EUROPEAN UNION,

of statistical
information at Community level, while the
collection of data and compilation of comparable labour
cost indices can be organised by the Member States.

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European
Community, and in particular Article 285(1) thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,

Having regard to the opinion of
Committee,

the Economic and Social

Having regard to the opinion of the European Central Bank,

(6) Since the measures necessary for the implementation of
this Regulation are management measures within the
meaning of Article 2 of Council Decision 1999/468/EC
of 28 June 1999 laying down the procedures for the
conferred on the
exercise of
Commission (1),
the
management procedure provided for in Article 4 of that
Decision.

they should be adopted by use of

implementing powers

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

(7) The Statistical Programme Committee (SPC), established by
Council Decision 89/382/EEC, Euratom (2), has been
consulted in accordance with Article 3 of that Decision,

Whereas:

HAVE ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

(1) A range of statistics, of which labour cost indices form an
the
the labour

essential part,
inflationary process and the dynamics of
market.

for an understanding of

is relevant

Article 1

Objective

(2) The Community, and particularly its economic, employment
and monetary authorities, need to have regular and timely
labour cost indices for the purpose of monitoring changes
in labour costs.

The objective of
this Regulation is to establish a common
framework for the production, transmission and evaluation of
comparable labour cost indices in the Community. Member
States shall produce labour cost
indices for the economic
activities defined in Article 4.

(3) The Action Plan on Economic and Monetary Union stat-
produced
European
istical
requirements,
Commission (Eurostat)
in close collaboration with the
European Central Bank, identifies as a priority the devel-
opment of a legal basis covering short-term labour cost
statistics.

the

by

(4) The benefits of collecting, at Community level, complete
data on all segments of the economy should be balanced
against the reporting possibilities and the response burden
on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

(5) According to the principle of subsidiarity as set forth in
Article 5 of the Treaty, the creation of common statistical
standards for labour cost indices can only be achieved on
the basis of a Community legal act because only the
Commission can coordinate the necessary harmonisation

Article 2

Definitions

1.
The labour cost index (LCI) is defined as the Laspeyres
index of labour costs per hour worked, chain linked annually
and based on a fixed structure of economic activity at NACE
Rev.1 sub-section level, where NACE Rev.1 is the classification
established by Council Regulation (EEC) No 3037/90 of 9
October 1990 on the statistical classification of economic
activities in the European Community (3). The formula to be
used for the calculation of the LCI is defined in the Annex to
this Regulation.

(1) OJ L 184, 17.7.1999, p. 23.
(2) OJ L 181, 28.6.1989, p. 47.
(3) OJ L 293, 24.10.1990, p. 1.

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The labour costs are the total quarterly costs incurred by
2.
the employer in the employment of labour. The labour cost
items and total staff employed are defined by reference to
Annex II, Sections A and D (items D1, D4 and D5 and their
subcomponents, excluding items D2 and D3) of Commission
(EC) No 1726/1999 of 27 July 1999 (1),
Regulation
implementing Council Regulation (EC) No 530/1999 of 9
March 1999 concerning structural statistics on earnings and
on labour costs (2).

less

4. Employers’ social contributions plus taxes paid by the
employer
received by the employer, as
defined by the sum of items D.12 and D.4 less D.5 in
Annex II of Commission Regulation (EC) No 1726/1999 (5),
referred to in Article 2.

subsidies

Article 5

Frequency and back data

3.
The hours worked are defined by reference to Regulation
(EC) No 2223/96 of 25 June 1996 on the European system of
national and regional accounts in the Community (3), Annex A,
Chapter 11, paragraphs 11.26-11.31.

1.
The data for the LCI shall first be compiled for the first
quarter of 2002, and thereafter for each quarter (ending on 31
March, 30 June, 30 September and 31 December of each year).

4.
Technical specification of the index, including revisions to
the weighting structure, can be redefined in accordance with
the procedure laid down in Article 11, paragraph 2.

Article 3

Scope

This Regulation shall apply to all activities defined in

1.
sections C to O of NACE Rev.1.

2.
The LCI shall represent all statistical units as defined in
Council Regulation (EEC) No 696/93 of 15 March 1993 on the
statistical units
the
production system in the Community (4).

the observation and analysis of

for

Article 4

Breakdown of variables

1.
The data shall be broken down by economic activities
NACE Rev.1 at least by sections and sub-sections. The data
shall also be provided for NACE Rev.1 L, M, N and O in
conformity with the transitional arrangements referred to in
Article 9.

Labour cost indices shall be provided separately for the

2.
four labour cost categories identified below:

1. Total labour costs;

2. Labour costs excluding bonuses, which are defined by
D.11112 in Annex II of Commission Regulation (EC) No
1726/1999;

Back data covering the period from the first quarter of
2.
1996 to the fourth quarter of 2001 shall be made available by
the Member States. The back data shall be provided for each of
the NACE Rev.1 sections C-K and for the labour cost items
mentioned in Article 4, paragraph 2, except for labour costs
excluding bonuses in Article 2, paragraph 4, item (2).

Article 6

Transmission of results

1.
The data shall be supplied in index form. The weights
used to calculate the index, defined in the Annex to this Regu-
lation, should be made available for publication at the same
time. The appropriate technical format to be used for the trans-
mission of the results and the adjustment procedures to be
applied to the data shall be defined in accordance with the
procedure laid down in Article 11, paragraph 2.

2. Member States shall transmit the LCI for the breakdown
specified in Article 4 of this Regulation to the Commission
(Eurostat) within 70 days of the end of the reference period.
Metadata, defined as the explanations needed to interpret the
changes in the data (i) arising from methodological or technical
changes, or (ii) due to real changes in the labour market, shall
be delivered with the data.

The back data referred to in Article 5 of this Regulation
3.
shall be transmitted to the Commission (Eurostat) at the same
time as the LCI for the first quarter of 2002.

3. Wages and salaries, defined by reference to item D.11 in
Annex II of Commission Regulation (EC) No 1726/1999,
referred to in Article 2;

Article 7

Sources

(1) OJ L 203, 3.8.1999, p. 28.
(2) OJ L 63, 12.3.1999, p. 6.
(3) OJ L 310, 30.11.1996, p. 1.
(4) OJ L 76, 30.3.1993, p. 1.

Member States may acquire the necessary data using a combi-
nation of different sources specified below by applying the
principle of administrative simplification:

(5) OJ L 203, 3.8.1999, p. 28.

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(a) surveys, where statistical units, as defined in Council Regu-
lation (EEC) No 696/93, referred to in Article 3, are asked
to give timely, accurate and complete information;

(b) other appropriate sources, including administrative data if
these are appropriate in terms of timeliness and relevance;

(c) appropriate statistical estimation procedures.

Article 8

Quality

The data transmitted shall satisfy quality criteria to be
laid down in Article 11,

the procedure

1.
defined under
paragraph 2.

The Member States shall provide annual quality reports to
2.
the Commission, beginning in 2002. The content of
the
reports shall be defined under the procedure laid down in
Article 11, paragraph 2.

Article 9

Transition periods and derogations

Transition periods, relating to the implementation of this
1.
Regulation, may be conceded, under the procedure specified in
Article 11, paragraph 2, not extending more than two years
from the date of entry into force of this Regulation.

Transition periods, relating to the requirement to produce
2.
results for NACE Rev.1 sections L, M, N and O (Articles 3 and
4) may be conceded, under the procedure specified in Article
11, paragraph 2, not extending more than five years from the
date of entry into force of this Regulation.

During the transition periods, derogations

from the
3.
provisions of
this Regulation may be accepted by the
Commission insofar as the national statistical systems require
major adaptations.

Article 10

Implementing measures

for

including
implementing this
The measures
measures to take account of economic and technical changes,
shall be laid down in accordance with the procedure specified
in Article 11. Such measures shall concern in particular:

regulation,

(a)

additional technical specification of the index (Article 2);

(b) format

for

transmission of results and the adjustment

procedures to be applied (Article 6);

(c) quality criteria for data transmitted and contents of quality

reports (Article 8);

(d) transition period (Article 9);

(e)

the methodology to be used for chaining the index (Annex).

Article 11

Procedure

The Commission shall be assisted by the Statistical
1.
Programme Committee,
instituted by Article 1 of Council
Decision 89/382/EEC, Euratom, composed of representatives
of the Member States and chaired by the representative of
the Commission.

reference

2. Where
the
management procedure laid down in Article 4 of Council
Decision 1999/468/EC shall apply, in compliance with Article
7(3) and Article 8 thereof.

to this paragraph,

is made

The period provided for

3.
Decision 1999/468/EC shall be three months.

in Article 4(3) of Council

Article 12

Reports

The Commission shall submit a report on the implementation
of this Regulation to the European Parliament and the Council
every two years. The first such report shall be submitted no
later than 31 December 2002. This report shall evaluate in
particular the quality of the transmitted LCI data.

Article 13

Entry into force

This Regulation shall enter into force on the twentieth day
following 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.

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The formula to be used for the calculation of the LCI:

1. Define:

ANNEX

i = labour costs per hour worked of employees in economic activity i in period t

wt
ht
i = hours worked by employees in economic activity i in period t
i = wj
Wj

i = labour costs of employees in economic activity i in annual period j

i * hj

2. The basic Laspeyres formula to be used to calculate the LCI for period t with annual base period j is defined as

LCItj (cid:136)

X

i
X

i

ihj
wt

i

ihj
wj

i

X

(cid:133)wt

i=wj

i(cid:134)wj

ihj

i

X

(cid:133)wt

i=wj

i(cid:134)Wj

i

i

(cid:136)

X

Wj
i

i

i

(cid:136)

X

Wj
i

i

3. The methodology for chaining the index will be defined in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 11,

paragraph 2.

4. The weights used to calculate the index and referred to in Article 6, paragraph 1, are the values of:

where Wj
index within two years of the period to which they relate.

i , i and j are defined in paragraph 1 of this Annex. These weights should be used for the calculation of the

Wj
i
X
Wj
i

i