Opinion of the European Central Bank of  24 March 2006  concerning the proposal for a European Parliament and Council regulation establishing the statistical classification of economic activities NACE Rev. 2 and amending Council Regulation (EEC) No 3037/90 and certain EC regulations on specific statistical domains (CON/2006/18)
Date: 2006-03-24
Institutions: European Central Bank
Subjects: EU statistics, European Central Bank, economic activity, national statistics, statistical nomenclature

1.4.2006

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 79/31

EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK

OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK

of 24 March 2006

concerning the proposal for a European Parliament and Council regulation establishing the statis-
tical classification of economic activities NACE Rev. 2 and amending Council Regulation (EEC) No
3037/90 and certain EC regulations on specific statistical domains

(CON/2006/18)

(2006/C 79/07)

On 6 March 2006 the European Central Bank (ECB) received a request from the Council of the European
Union for an opinion on a proposal for a European Parliament and Council regulation establishing the
statistical classification of economic activities NACE Rev. 2 and amending Council Regulation (EEC)
No 3037/90 and certain EC regulations on specific statistical domains (hereinafter the ‘proposed regu-
lation’).

The ECB's competence to deliver an opinion is based on the first indent of Article 105(4) of the Treaty
establishing the European Community, as the proposed regulation falls within the ECB's fields of compe-
tence. In accordance with the first sentence of Article 17.5 of the Rules of Procedure of the ECB, the
Governing Council has adopted this opinion.

1. General observations

1.1. The ECB welcomes the proposed regulation which intends to establish the common statistical classifi-
cation of economic activities within the Community (hereinafter ‘NACE Rev. 2’). The ECB objects
neither to the new NACE structure nor to its detailed classification.

1.2. The ECB supports the principles underlying NACE Rev. 2, namely (i) adherence to economic reality
(extension of the classification as regards the services industries); and (ii) comparability with other
international classifications,
in particular the International Standard Industrial Classification of all
economic activities (ISIC) Rev. 4; and (iii) continuity vis-a-vis the previous classification. The ECB
further considers that all necessary efforts should be made and all the requisite legal provisions should
be introduced to ensure maximum consistency with other international classifications and statistical
standards.

1.3 Furthermore, the ECB welcomes the implementing measures in the proposed regulation for key
monthly, quarterly and annual statistics; in particular, Articles 12 and 16 for short-term statistics and
the labour cost index. However, these implementing measures as well as the implementation rules for
the European System of national and regional accounts in the Community, must be defined to
prevent a damaging loss of information e.g. breaks in time series and the consequent unavailability of
long time series.

1.4 Furthermore, for euro area and European Union statistics, which are compiled by using country infor-
mation as the main source, simultaneous implementation in Member States is crucial. A differentiated
implementation schedule of NACE Rev. 2 throughout the EU would have severe adverse consequences
on the quality and availability of euro area and EU aggregate statistics until all Member States have
fully adopted the new classification and revised their time series accordingly. The ECB therefore
suggests strengthening recital 9 and Article 6(c) to ensure fully coordinated implementation of NACE
Rev. 2 in Member States and consistency across statistical domains.

C 79/32

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

1.4.2006

The ECB's proposed amendments are annexed to this opinion.

2. Drafting proposals

Done at Frankfurt am Main, 24 March 2006.

The President of the ECB

Jean-Claude TRICHET

ANNEX

Drafting proposals

Text proposed by the Commission (1)

Amendments proposed by the ECB (2)

Amendment 1
Recital 9

Programme

‘Use of the classification of economic activities in the Com-
munity requires that the Commission be assisted by the
Statistical
up
by Council Decision 89/382/EEC, Euratom in particular as
regards the examination of problems arising from imple-
mentation of NACE Rev. 2, the smooth transition from
NACE Rev. 1 to NACE Rev. 2, as well as the incorporation
of amendments to NACE Rev. 2’.

Committee

set

‘Use of the classification of economic activities in the Com-
munity requires that the Commission be assisted by the
Statistical Programme Committee set up by Council Deci-
sion 89/382/EEC, Euratom in particular as regards the
examination of problems arising from implementation of
NACE Rev. 2, the smooth and fully coordinated transi-
tion from NACE Rev. 1 to NACE Rev. 2, as well as the
incorporation of amendments to NACE Rev. 2’.

Justification — See paragraph 1.4 of the opinion

Amendment 2
Article 6(c)

‘measures ensuring the smooth transition from NACE Rev.
1.1 to NACE Rev. 2, especially with respect
to issues
related to breaks in time series, including double reporting
and back-casting of time series.’

‘measures ensuring the smooth and fully coordinated
transition from NACE Rev. 1 to NACE Rev. 2, especially
with respect to issues related to breaks in time series,
including double reporting and back-casting of time series,
and the simultaneous implementation in the Member
States.’

Justification — See paragraph 1.4 of the opinion

Italics in the body of the text indicate where the ECB proposes deleting text.
(1)
(2) Bold in the body of the text indicates where the ECB proposes inserting new text.