Proposal for a Council Decision establishing a Committee on monetary, financial and balance of payments statistics (codified version)
Date: 2003-05-26
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: EU statistics, balance of payments, codification of EU law, committee (EU), financial statistics

COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES

Brussels, 26.05.2003
COM(2003) 298 final

2003/0103 (CNS)

Proposal for a

COUNCIL DECISION

establishing a Committee on monetary, financial and balance of payments statistics

(codified version)

(presented by the Commission)

EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM

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.

On  1  April  1987  the  Commission  therefore  decided1  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.

The  Conclusions  of 
the  Edinburgh  European  Council
(December 1992) confirmed this2, stressing the importance of codification as it offers
certainty as to the law applicable to a given matter at a given time.

the  Presidency  of 

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.

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 statistics3; the new Decision will supersede the various acts
incorporated  in  it4;  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.

COM(1987) 868 PV.
See Annex 3 to Part A of such Conclusions.
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.
Annex I to this proposal.

1.

2.

3.

4.

1

2

3

4

2

                                                
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.

3

(cid:1) 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 Parliament1,

Having regard to the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee2,

Whereas:

(1) 

Council  Decision  91/115/EEC  of  25  February  1991  establishing  a  Committee  on
monetary,  financial  and  balance  of  payments  statistics3  has  been  substantially
amended4.  In  the  interests  of  clarity  and  rationality  the  said  Decision  should  be
codified.

(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.

(cid:1) 91/115/EEC, Recital (3)
(adapted)

(3) 

By Decision 89/382/EEC, Euratom (cid:2) of 19 June 1989 establishing a Committee on
the  Statistical  Programmes  of  the  European  Communities (cid:3)5  the  Council  set  up  a

(cid:1) 91/115/EEC Recital (4)
(adapted)

1

2

3

4

5

OJ C […] […], p.[…]
OJ C […] […], p.[…].
OJ L 59, 6.3.1991, p. 19.
See Annex I.
OJ L 181, 28.6.1989, p. 47.

4

                                                
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.

(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.

(cid:1) 91/115/EEC Recital (5)

(cid:1) 91/115/EEC Recitals (6) and
(7) (adapted)

(5) 

It is necessary, in order to achieve (cid:2) 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 (cid:3)  a  Committee  composed  of
representatives of (cid:2) the principal national institutions concerned. (cid:3)

(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.

(cid:1) 91/115/EEC Recital (8)

(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.

(cid:1) 91/115/EEC Recital (9)

(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,

(cid:1) 91/115/EEC Recital (10)

5

HAS DECIDED AS FOLLOWS:

(cid:1) 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)

(b)

(c)

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

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;

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.

6

(cid:1) 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 (cid:2) European Central Bank (ECB) (cid:3) and national central banks, on
the  other.  In  the  execution  of  its  tasks,  the  Committee  shall  give  its  views  to  all  interested
parties.

(cid:1) 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 (cid:2) ECB (cid:3) .  In addition, one representative of the (cid:2) Economic and
Financial (cid:3)  Committee  may  attend  the  meetings  of  the  Committee,  as  an  observer.  Each
Member State, the Commission and the (cid:2) ECB (cid:3) 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.

(cid:1) 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.

(cid:1) 91/115/EEC Article 6

The Committee shall draw up its rules of procedure.

Article 7

7

(cid:1) 

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

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(cid:4) 

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)

_____________

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ANNEX II

CORRELATION TABLE

Decision 91/115/EEC

This Decision

Articles 1 – 3

Articles 1 – 3

Article 3a

Article 4

Article 5

Article 6

–

–

–

Article 4

Article 5

Article 6

Article 7

Article 8

Annex I

Annex II

_____________

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