Amended proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the production of annual Community statistics on steel for the reference years 2003-2009 (presented by the Commission pursuant to Article 250 (2) of the EC Treaty)
Date: 2003-07-25
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: EU statistics, data collection, industrial statistics, iron and steel product, statistical method, steel

COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES

Brussels, 25.7.2003
COM(2003) 464 final

2002/0251 (COD)

Amended proposal for a

REGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL

on the production of annual Community statistics on steel
for the reference years 2003-2009

(presented by the Commission pursuant to Article 250 (2) of the EC Treaty)

2002/0251 (COD)

Amended proposal for a

REGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL

on the production of annual Community statistics on steel
for the reference years 2003-2009

1.

HISTORY

25  October  2002:  transmission  of  the  proposal  to  the  Council  and  the  European
Parliament COM (2002) 584 final – 2002/0251 COD

26  March  2003:  opinion  of  the  European  Economic  and  Social  Committee
CCMI/001

13 May 2003: position of the European Parliament - first lecture

2.

OBJECTIVE OF THE COMMISSION

The  present  Community  system  for  steel  statistics  rests  on  the  European  Coal  and
Steel  Community  (ECSC)  Treaty,  which  expired  on  23  July  2002.  There  are  some
300 enterprises in the European steel industry, producing a fifth of world steel output.
Almost all of them are large enterprises, with a strong interest in using statistics. A
comprehensive statistical system was developed in the last fifty years to meet ECSC
policy needs, and the needs of the industry. This was done in close co-operation with
the  European  steel  associations.  In  most  Member  States,  the  Commission  has
collected data directly either from the steel companies or their national associations.

This  proposal  deals  with  annual  Community  steel  statistics  from  2003  onwards.
Eurostat  has  carried  out  user  needs  studies,  and  these  showed  the  areas  where
statistical  information  was  required  after  the  expiry  of  the  ECSC  Treaty.  The
Commission’s  policy  units,  national  ministries  and  the  industry  requested  that  key
statistics  on  the  steel  industry  should  continue  to  be  made  available.  However  the
needs  for  Community  policy  making  will  be  much  less  after  the  end  of  the  ECSC
Treaty.  For  this  reason,  this  proposal  implies  a  very  large  reduction  in  official
Community steel statistics compared with the ECSC statistical system.

Four  of  the  existing  annual  ECSC  questionnaires  produce  information  which  are
important  for  developing  and  monitoring  Community  policy,  but  which  are  not
collected  under  existing  Community  legislation.  The  present  proposal  is  for  a
regulation covering the period 2003 to 2009 to allow for a core set of the information
in these questionnaires to continue to be collected in all EU States where there is a
significant  steel  industry.  The  proposed  regulation  is  for  a  fixed  period,  with  a
provision  for  an  intermediate  report  after  four  years  to  evaluate  the  results  and
propose possible future actions.

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Content of the regulation

The list in the annex of this Regulation covers: iron and steel  scrap  balance sheets;
energy balance sheets; investment by type of plant; and steel making capacity.

The  steel scrap  balance data  covers  the  demand and supply of  iron  and  steel  scrap.
This is nowadays  an  important raw  material  for  steel  making,  and  for  which  a  free
and  open  market  is  needed  internationally.  The  Commission  may  need  this
information  if  third  countries  restrict  exports  of  scrap  to  help  their  domestic
industries.

The energy balance sheet yields not only information on energy use and production
within the steel industry but indirectly also on emission of pollutants. For example,
blast  furnaces  use  coke,  limestone,  and  iron  ore  to  make  steel,  and  produce  carbon
dioxide  as  a  waste  product.  The  energy  balance  sheet  data  enables  the  quantity  of
these CO2 emissions to be calculated.

The  investment  expenditure  and  capacity  data  are  used  to  assess  possible  future
under- or over- capacity for particular classes of steel  products. This information is
useful  not  only  to  the  industry  but  also  for  international  trade  negotiations.  It  also
feeds into a network of world steel capacity monitoring organised under the auspices
of the OECD.

3.

3.1

3.1.1

OPINION OF THE COMMISSION ON THE AMENDMENTS OF THE PARLIAMENT

Amendments accepted by the Commission

following  amendments  concern 

The 
logical  consistency,  better  definition,
simplification of the text, updating on the procedure, adding  necessary  information,
clarification and technical amendment:

Amendment 1 (on recital 1),

Amendment 2 (recital 1 a (new)),

Amendment 3 (recital 2),

Amendment 4 (recital 2 a (new))

Amendment 5(recital 6),

Amendment 6 (recital 7 a (new)),

Amendment 7 (article 1, title),

Amendment 8 (article 1),

Amendment 9 (article 3, paragraph 1),

Amendment 10 (article 4, paragraph 1),

Amendment 11 (article 5, paragraph 1),

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Amendments 12 (article 6, paragraph 1),

Amendment 13 (article 6, paragraph 2),

Amendment 17 (article 8, paragraph 1),

Amendment 18 (annex, point 1),

Amendment 19 (annex, point 2, part A),

Amendment 20 (annex, point 2, part B),

Amendment 21 (annex, point 3, part A),

Amendment 22 (annex, point 3, part B),

Amendment 23 (annex, point 3, part B, table, title 5) and

Amendment 24 (annex, point 3, part B, table, title 7).

The  Commission  agrees  to  take  into  account  in  its  modified  proposal  those
amendments.

3.1.2

The following amendments:

amendment 14 (article 6, paragraph 2 a (new)) and

amendment 16 (article 7, paragraph 1. point (b))

have  been  introduced  to  extend  the  period  for  the  transmission  of  data  to  twelve
months for the first year of transmission. That should be possible for those Member
States that have difficulties in the implementation of the regulation.

The  Commission  agrees  to  take  into  account  in  its  modified  proposal  those
amendments.

Member States were not involved in steel statistics during the ECSC Treaty.

3.1.3

The following amendment:

amendment 15 (article 7, paragraph 1, point (a))

has been  introduced  to  reassure  the  Members  States  that  no  additional  burden  (e.g.
the  obligation  to  provide  additional  statistics)  will  be  imposed  upon  them  in  the
future.

The  Commission  agrees  to  take  into  account  in  its  modified  proposal  those
amendments.

3.2

Amendments not accepted by the Commission:

None.

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3.3

Amendments rejected by the Commission

None.

4.

CONCLUSION

Having  regard  to  Article  250  (2)  of  the  EC  Treaty,  the  Commission  modifies  its
proposal of the Regulation on the production of annual Community statistics on steel
for the reference years 2003-2009 as indicated above.

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