Amended proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the statistics relating to the trading of goods between Member States (presented by the Commission pursuant to Article 250(2) of the EC Treaty)
Date: 2004-03-30
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: EU statistics, data collection, trading operation

COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES 

Brussels, 30.03.2004 
COM(2004) 179 final 

2003/0126 (COD) 

Amended proposal for a 

REGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT 
AND OF THE COUNCIL 

on the statistics relating to the trading of goods between Member States  

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

EN 

   EN 

 
 
 
2003/0126(COD) 

Amended proposal for a  

REGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL 

on the statistics relating to the trading of goods between Member States  

1. 

HISTORY OF THE PROPOSAL 

20 June 2003: adoption by the Commission and transmission of the proposal to the 
Council and to the European Parliament, 

COM (2003) 364 final – 2003/0126(COD) 

The  Council  Working  Party  on  Statistics  examined  the  Commission  proposal  at  its 
meetings of 8 September and 8 October 2003. 

16 December 2003: opinion of the European Parliament at first reading. 

2. 

PURPOSE OF THE COMMISSION PROPOSAL 

The system of collecting statistics on the trading of goods between Member States of 
the  European  Union,  known  as  the  Intrastat  system,  was  introduced  by  Council 
Regulation (EEC) No 3330/911 and has been applicable since 1993, when the single 
market  was  completed  and  the  physical  barriers  between  Member  States  were 
removed. 

Until  then,  statistical  information  on  the  trading  of  goods,  both  with  non-member 
countries  and  between  Member  States,  had  been  collected  on  the  basis  of  customs 
declarations.  The  disappearance  of  this  comprehensive  and  very  closely  controlled 
source  of  information  made  it  necessary  to  devise  a  new  system  which  would 
maintain a satisfactory level of information. The advent of the internal market did not 
diminish the usefulness of statistics which help track progress in integrating Europe's 
economies and which help European businesses conduct market analyses and define 
their commercial strategies, whilst remaining an essential source of information for 
balance of payments statistics, national accounts and short-term economic studies.  

From the beginning, the main characteristics of the Intrastat system have been: 

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the management of detailed statistical information on trade;  

direct  collection  of  information  from  companies,  which  have  to  send  the 
relevant statistical body a summary statement for the previous month;  

1 OJ L 316 of 16.11.91, p. 1. 

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a close link with the VAT system relating to intra-Community trade, so that the 
exhaustiveness and quality of the statistical data can be checked; 

a maximum reduction of the workload on businesses by means of a system of 
exemption or simplification thresholds. 

From  the  very  outset,  the  Member  States  have,  to  varying  degrees,  experienced 
difficulties in complying with the Community rules. In view of the difficulties faced 
by  certain  businesses,  particularly  very  small  enterprises,  Intrastat  was  chosen  in 
1996  as  a  pilot  project  for  the  SLIM  (Simpler  Legislation  for  the  Internal  Market) 
initiative  launched  by  the  internal  market  ministers.  The  work  has  shown  that  the 
interests  of  data  providers,  who  naturally  want  formalities  to  be  simplified,  are  not 
easily reconciled with those of data users, who generally want detailed information 
which is available quickly. 

Despite  this  difficult  context,  the  Commission  and  the  Member  States  nonetheless 
managed to reach a consensus on amending the collection system on two occasions, 
firstly  by  reducing  the  number  of  statistical  variables,  and  then  by  simplifying  the 
arrangements for supplying the product nomenclature.  

This new proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council, 
which will replace the existing rules as from 2005, should be seen in the context of 
improving and adapting the statistical system to take both user needs and the burden 
on information providers more fully into account.  

3. 

THE COMMISSION’S OPINION ON THE AMENDMENTS PRESENTED BY PARLIAMENT 

3.1. 

Amendments accepted by the Commission 

The European Parliament proposes five modifications, all of which are accepted by 
the Commission. 

Amendment  1,  which  concerns  Article  3(5),  stipulates  that  the  list  which  is  to  be 
drawn up by the Commission of goods which shall be excluded must satisfy certain 
methodological  criteria.  The  Commission  will  indeed  have  to  take  account  of 
international recommendations designed to ensure that trade statistics are comparable 
at world level.  

Amendment  2  concerns  Article  10(3).  It  lowers  the  requirements  in  terms  of  trade 
coverage  at  a  detailed  level,  from  98%  to  97%.  This  amendment  will  lighten  the 
administrative burden on a large number of enterprises and will have only a marginal 
impact on the quality of the statistics. The loss of information at detailed level will be 
compensated for at aggregated level by the new rules on adjustment. 

Amendment 3 concerns Article 10(5). It stipulates that the conditions to be defined 
by the Commission relating to the simplification of information on small transactions 
must  satisfy  the  quality  requirements.  This  amendment  therefore  defines  the 
Commission’s scope for action.  

Amendment  4,  which  concerns  Article  11,  relates  to  the  confidentiality  of  the  data 
and  makes  it  explicit  that  the  ultimate  decision  rests  with  the  national  authorities, 

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after they have examined requests from enterprises. This amendment is important for 
certain Member States where the issue of data confidentiality is highly sensitive.  

Amendment  5,  which  concerns  Article  12(1)(a),  supplements  a  provision  which 
makes the Commission competent to define the content of the aggregated results to 
be transmitted by the Member States. Like other, similar provisions, it stipulates that 
the  Commission  will  be  assisted  in  that  task  by  a  Committee  set  up  under  the 
Regulation. In this way, it avoids confusion by defining the framework in which the 
Commission is required to present its draft.  

The Commission accepts the five amendments proposed by the European Parliament 
and will take them into account in its amended proposal. 

3.2 

Amendments not accepted by the Commission 

None. 

4. 

CONCLUSION 

Pursuant to Article 250(2) of the EC Treaty, the Commission will amend its proposal 
as described above.  

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