Proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Directive 2009/42/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on statistical returns in respect of carriage of goods and passengers by sea
Date: 2010-03-08
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: carriage of goods, carriage of passengers, maritime transport, statistical method, statistics, transport statistics

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EUROPEAN COMMISSION 

Brussels, 8.3.2010 
COM(2010)65 final 

2010/0041 (COD) 

Proposal for a 

REGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL 

amending Directive 2009/42/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on 
statistical returns in respect of carriage of goods and passengers by sea  

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2010/0041 (COD) 

Proposal for a 

REGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL 

amending Directive 2009/42/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on 
statistical returns in respect of carriage of goods and passengers by sea  

(Text with EEA relevance) 

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EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM 

1. 

110 

CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL 

•  Grounds for and objectives of the proposal 

The  purpose  of  this  proposal  for  a  Regulation  of  the  European  Parliament  and  the 
Council is to amend Directive 2009/42/EC in order to make the collection of data by 
type of goods mandatory for maritime transport statistics. 

The  collection  of  data  by  type  of  goods  is  mandatory  for  road1,  rail2,  and  inland 
waterways3 transport European statistics. 

European statistics on all modes of transport should be collected according to common 
concepts and standards, with the aim of achieving the fullest practicable comparability 
between  transport  modes.  More  particularly,  the  availability  of  comprehensive  and 
homogeneous statistics by type of goods for all the modes of transport would provide a 
general  framework  useful  to  support  and  monitor  the  policy  promoting  co-modality, 
i.e. the possibility of optimally combining various modes of transport within the same 
transport chain, and the modernisation of freight transport logistics4. 

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•  General context 

A technical analysis of the data collected under the European legislation on statistical 
returns in respect of carriage of goods and passengers by sea and of the dissemination 
policy  has  been  carried  out  at  European  level,  in  order  to  propose  possible  technical 
solutions  to  simplify,  as  much  as  possible,  the  various  activities  necessary  for  the 
statistical  production,  while  keeping  the  final  output  in  line  with  present  and 
foreseeable user needs.  

During  this  analysis  the  possibility  to  increase  the  efficiency  in  the  use  of  resources 
devoted to statistical returns in respect of carriage of goods and passengers by sea, by 
concentrating  activities  in  areas  identified  by  users  as  more  important  (statistics  on 
goods) than others (statistics on passengers and on vessel traffic), has been taken into 
account. As a result of this analysis, simplifications in the statistics on both passengers 
transport in the main European ports and vessel traffic in the main European ports have 
been adopted by the Commission5 recently.  

A  certain  part  of  the  technical  analysis  was  devoted  to  the  possibility  and  the 

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Council Regulation (EC) No 1172/98 of 25 May 1998 on statistical returns in respect of the carriage of 
goods by road, OJ L163, 6.6.1998, p. 1. 
Regulation (EC) No 91/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 December 2002 on 
rail transport statistics, OJ L 14, 21.1.2003, p. 1. 
Regulation (EC) No 1365/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 6 September 2006 on 
statistics of goods transport by inland waterways, OJ L 264, 25.9.2006, p. 1. 
Communication  from  the  Commission  to  the  Council  and  the  European  Parliament  "Keep  Europe 
moving - Sustainable mobility for our continent - Mid-term review of the European Commission’s 2001 
Transport White Paper", COM (2006) 314 final of 22.06.2006. 
Commission Decision No …/…/EU of … amending Directive 2009/42/EC of the European Parliament 
and of the Council on statistical returns in respect of carriage of goods and passengers by sea, OJ … 

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conditions  under  which  the  data  collection  by  type  of  goods  (data  set  B1)  could  be 
made mandatory. 

According  to  the  second  paragraph  of  Annex  VIII  of  Directive  2009/42/EC  of  the 
European Parliament and of the Council on statistical returns in respect of carriage of 
goods  and  passengers  by  sea6,  the  conditions  for  collecting  data  set  B1  (data 
concerning  "Seaborne  transport  in  the  main  European  ports,  by  port,  type  of  cargo, 
goods  and  relation")  shall  be  decided  by  the  Council  on  a  proposal  from  the 
Commission in the light of the results of the pilot study carried out during a three-year 
transitional period, as provided for in Article 10 of Directive 95/64/EC of 8 December 
1995 on statistical returns in respect of carriage of goods and passengers by sea7 , and 
concerning  the  feasibility  and  the  cost  to  Member  States  and  to  respondents  of 
collecting those items of information. 

According  to  the  Report  from  the  Commission  to  the  Council  and  to  the  European 
Parliament  on  experience  acquired  in  the  work  carried  out  pursuant  to  Council 
Directive 95/64/EC on statistical returns in respect of carriage of goods and passengers 
by sea8, the collection of detailed information appeared feasible and at reasonable cost 
for bulk and semi-bulk cargo; however the main difficulty occurred in compiling such 
data for containers and roll-on-roll-off traffic; it was prudent to explore the possibility 
to extend the Directive 95/64/EC to other items of information listed in Article 10(2)(a) 
only when more experience had been gained with collecting the current variables and 
the  current  system  was  well  established;  as  regards  the  collection  of  commodity 
information,  the  potential  revisions  of  the  NST/R  classification  (Standard  Goods 
Classification for Transport Statistics/Revised, 1967) should be taken into account.  

The  functioning  of  the  current  collection  system  is  well  established,  including  the 
implementation of the modifications introduced by Commission Decision 2005/366 of 
4 March 20059 and the geographical extension of the system due to 200410 and 200711 
enlargements of the European Union.  

A  large  part  of  Member  States  transmitting  data  to  Eurostat  under  the  scope  of  the 
Directive have been regularly providing Eurostat with data set B1 on a voluntary basis 
according to the NST/R classification.  

The  main  problems  in  compiling  data  by  type  of  goods  according  to  NST/R 

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OJ L 141, 6.6.2009, p. 29 
OJ L 320, 30.12.1995, p. 25. Directive 95/64/EC has been repealed by Directive 2009/42/EC. 
COM (2001) 93 of 20.2.2001. 
OJ L 123, 17.5.2005, p. 1. 
Act  concerning  the  conditions  of  accession  of  the  Czech  Republic,  the  Republic  of  Estonia,  the 
Republic  of  Cyprus,  the  Republic  of  Latvia,  the  Republic  of  Lithuania, the  Republic  of  Hungary,  the 
Republic of Malta, the Republic of Poland, the Republic of Slovenia and the Slovak Republic and the 
adjustments to the Treaties on which the European Union is founded , OJ L 236, 23.9.2003, p. 573 
Commission  Regulation  (EC)  No  1792/2006  of  23  October  2006  adapting  certain  regulations  and 
decisions  in  the  fields  of  free  movement  of  goods,  freedom  of  movement  of  persons,  competition 
policy,  agriculture  (veterinary  and  phytosanitary  legislation),  fisheries,  transport  policy,  taxation, 
statistics, social policy and employment, environment, customs union, and external relations by reason 
of the accession of Bulgaria and Romania, OJ L 362, 20.12.2006, p. 53. 
Annex III to the Directive. 
Commission Regulation 1304/2007 of 7 November 2007, OJ L 290, 8.11.2007, p. 14. 

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classification,  as  mentioned  in  the  Report  cited  above,  have  been  solved  by  the 
introduction of the NST 200712 (Standard Goods Classification for Transport Statistics, 
2007)  as  the  unique  classification  for  transported  goods  in  maritime,  road,  rail  and 
inland waterways transport, applicable from the reference year 2008, covering the 2008 
data.13.  

For  the  Member  States  already  collecting  data  set  B1,  the  compilation  of  data 
according to NST 2007 necessitates a reclassification of information already available 
at  the  competent  National  Statistical  Authorities,  without  any  additional  burden  on 
respondents,  following  the  same  approach  as  for  road,  rail  and  inland  waterways 
transport statistics; for the other Member States, it should be possible to compile data 
set  B1  by  using  information  already  available  at  the  competent  National  Statistical 
Authorities, with very limited exceptions. For the most part, the collection of data set 
B1 will not impose any additional burden on respondents. 

Finally  it  was  agreed  that  the  introduction  in  2011  of  the  obligation  to  provide  the 
Commission (Eurostat) with data set B1, would give Member States an adequate period 
during  which  a  voluntary  compilation  could  be  used  for  the  necessary  tests  and 
adaptations. 

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•  Existing provisions in the area of the proposal 

Provisions already exist in the current legislation (Directive 2009/42/EC, Annex VIII, 
data set B1); however, data are collected on a voluntary basis. 

2. 

CONSULTATION OF INTERESTED PARTIES AND IMPACT ASSESSMENT 

•  Consultation of interested parties 

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At the beginning of 2006 a Task Force on Maritime Transport Statistics was created to 
carry out a technical analysis of the existing data collection and dissemination policy, 
under the European legislation on statistical returns in respect of carriage of goods and 
passengers by sea. 

The Task Force includes representatives from different organisations (data producers, 
users and maritime transport experts), and more precisely: 

–  Competent  National  Statistical  Authorities  (National  Statistical  Institutes,  National 

Maritime Administrations, Ministries of Transport); 

–  Commission Services; 

–  the European Maritime Safety Agency; 

–  economic  operators  (European  Sea  Port  Organisation  –  ESPO,  European 

Community Ship-owners Associations – ECSA).  

In order to prepare and feed the work of the Task Force, in 2006 Eurostat circulated a 
specific  questionnaire  to  the  main  users  of  maritime  transport  statistics  within  the 
Commission, namely DG TREN, DG COMP, DG ENV, DG FISH (now DG MARE), 

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DG JLS, DG TAXUD. 

The  proposals  elaborated  by  the  Task  Force  were  then  discussed  in  the  standard 
framework  of  the  European  Statistical  System,  by  the  Working  Group  on  Maritime 
Transport Statistics and the Coordinating Committee for Statistics on Transport. 

This  proposal  for  a  Regulation  of  the  European  Parliament  and  the  Council  has  been 
object of intensive negotiations between the interested parties and is part of an overall 
package  of  legislative  initiatives  that  is  in  accordance  with  the  Commission's  policy 
approach to the simplification of legislation and better regulation14 and more precisely: 

–  Commission  Regulation  1304/2007  of  7  November  200715,  establishing  the 
classification  NST  2007  for  transported  goods  in  all  the  concerned  modes  of 
transport; 

–  Draft Commission Decision No …/…/EU of … amending Directive 2009/42/EC of 
the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  on  statistical  returns  in  respect  of 
carriage  of  goods  and  passengers  by  sea,  simplifying  statistics  on  passenger 
transport and vessel traffic; 

The previously existing legislation has also undergone a process of recast of the basic 
act16 and codification of the implementing acts.17 

•  Collection and use of expertise 

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The participants in the Task Force on Maritime Transport Statistics and the Working 
Group on Maritime Transport Statistics were all experts with knowledge of the existing 
legislation,  the  national  systems  for  collecting  and  compiling  maritime  transport 
statistics and new trends in the development of maritime transport. 

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•  Analysis of effects and consequences 

Option 1: (The current legislation is maintained) – It would not be possible to secure a 
complete and continuous provision of statistical data on maritime transport by type of 
goods.  

Option 2: (The current legislation will be amended) – It would be possible to secure a 
complete and continuous provision of statistical data on maritime transport by type of 
goods. A comprehensive and homogeneous statistics by type of goods for all the modes 
of  transport  would  provide  a  general  framework  useful  to  support  and  monitor  the 
policy  promoting  co-modality,  i.e.  the  possibility  of  optimally  combining  various 
modes  of  transport  within  the  same  transport  chain,  and  the  modernisation  of  freight 
transport  logistics.  More  generally,  the  proposed  amendment,  in  combination  with 

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COM(2006) 689; COM(2006) 693; COM(2007) 23; COM(2008) 35; COM(2009) 28. 
OJ L 290 of 8.11.2007, p. 14 
Directive  2009/42/EC  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  of  6  May  2009,  OJ  L  141, 
6.6.2009, p.29 
Commission Decision 2008/861/EC of 29 October 2008, OJ L 306,15.11.2008, p. 66 

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other  legal  initiatives,  would  adapt  the  statistical  output  to  current  and  foreseeable 
users' needs. 

As  presented  under  the  part  1  of  this  explanatory  memorandum,  an  evaluation  of  the 
effects of this proposal on the burden for respondents, was made by the Task Force on 
Maritime  Transport  Statistics,  the  Working  Group  on  Maritime  Transport  Statistics 
(where  all  the  National  Statistical  Authorities  in  charge  of  this  data  collection  are 
represented) and the Coordinating Committee on Statistics on Transport: for the most 
part,  the  collection  of  data  set  B1  will  not  impose  any  additional  burden  on 
respondents. 

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LEGAL ELEMENTS OF THE PROPOSAL 

•  Summary of the proposed action 

The  objective  of  the  Regulation  is  to  ensure  a  complete  and  continuous  provision  of 
statistical data on maritime transport by type of goods, consistent and harmonised with 
the statistics already available for the other relevant modes of transport. 

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•  Legal basis 

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Article 338 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union provides the legal 
basis  for  European  statistics.  The  European  Parliament  and  the  Council,  acting  in 
accordance  with  the  ordinary  legislative  procedure,  shall  adopt  measures  for  the 
production  of  statistics  where  necessary  for  the  performance  of  the  activities  of  the 
Union.  This  Article  sets  out  the  requirements  relating  to  the  production  of  European 
statistics,  stating  that  they  must  conform  to  standards  of  impartiality,  reliability, 
objectivity, scientific independence, cost-effectiveness and statistical confidentiality. 

•  Subsidiarity principle 

The  subsidiarity  principle  applies  insofar  as  the  proposal  does  not  fall  under  the 
exclusive competence of the European Union. 

The objectives of this proposal, namely the establishment of a common framework for 
the  systematic  production  of  European  statistics  on  seaborne  goods  using  the  same 
classification by type of goods as for the other relevant transport statistics, cannot be 
sufficiently achieved by the Member States via a voluntary collection. 

The  objectives  can  be  achieved  more  readily  at  European  level  on  the  basis  of  a 
European  legal  act,  because  only  the  Commission  can  coordinate  the  necessary 
harmonisation  of  statistical  information  at  European  level,  whereas  the  collection  of 
data  and  compilation  of  comparable  statistics  on  maritime  transport  can  be  organised 
by  the  Member  States.  The  European  Union  may  therefore  take  action  to  this  end  in 
accordance with the principle of subsidiary as enshrined in Article 5 of the Treaty on 
European Union 

The proposal therefore complies with the subsidiarity principle. 

•  Proportionality principle 

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The proposal complies with the proportionality principle for the following reasons. 

In  line  with  the  principle  of  proportionality,  this  Regulation  confines  itself  to  the 
minimum required to achieve its objective and does not go beyond what is necessary 
for that purpose. This Regulation does not specify the data collection mechanisms for 
each Member State, but the European legislation merely defines the data to be supplied 
so as to ensure a harmonised structure and timing. 

•  Choice of instruments 

Proposed instruments: a European Parliament and Council Regulation. 

BUDGETARY IMPLICATION 

The data collection has no new implication for the European Union budget. 

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION 

The proposed act is an EEA matter and should therefore extend to the whole European 
Economic Area. 

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Proposal for a 

REGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL 

amending Directive 2009/42/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on 
statistical returns in respect of carriage of goods and passengers by sea  

(Text with EEA relevance) 

THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, 

Having  regard  to  the  Treaty  on  the  Functioning  of  the  European  Union,  and  in  particular 
Article 338 (1) thereof, 

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission, 

Having regard to the notification to the national Parliaments, 

Acting in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure, 

Whereas: 

(1) 

(2) 

According  to  the  second  paragraph  of  Annex  VIII  of  Directive  2009/42/EC  of  the 
European Parliament and of the Council on statistical returns in respect of carriage of 
goods  and  passengers  by  sea18,  the  conditions  for  collecting  data  set  B1  (data 
concerning  "Seaborne  transport  in  the  main  European  ports,  by  port,  type  of  cargo, 
goods  and  relation")  shall  be  decided  by  the  Council  on  a  proposal  from  the 
Commission in the light of the results of the pilot study carried out during a three-year 
transitional period, as provided for in Article 10 of Council Directive 95/64/EC of 8 
December 1995 on statistical returns in respect of carriage of goods and passengers by 
sea19. 

According  to  the  Report  from  the  Commission  to  the  Council  and  to  the  European 
Parliament  on  experience  acquired  in  the  work  carried  out  pursuant  to  Directive 
95/64/EC20, the collection of detailed information appeared feasible and at reasonable 
cost for bulk and semi-bulk cargo; however the main difficulty occurred in compiling 
such  data  for  containers  and  roll-on-roll-off  traffic.  It  was  appropriate  to  explore  the 
possibility  to  extend  the  scope  of  Directive  95/64/EC  to  other  items  of  information 
listed in Article 10 (2)(a) only when more experience had been gained with collecting 
the  current  variables  and  the  current  system  was  well  established.  As  regards  the 
the  NST/R 
collection  of  commodity 

the  potential  revisions  of 

information 

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OJ L 141, 6.6.2009, p. 29. 
OJ L 320, 30.12.1995, p. 25. Directive 95/64/EC has been repealed by Directive 2009/42/EC. 
COM (2001) 93 of 20.2.2001. 

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classification  (Standard  Goods  Classification  for  Transport  Statistics/Revised,  1967) 
should be taken into account. 

The  functioning  of  the  current  collection  system  is  well  established,  including  the 
implementation of the modifications introduced by Commission Decision 2005/366 of 
4  March  2005  implementing  Council  Directive  95/64/EC  on  statistical  returns  in 
respect  of  carriage  of  goods  and  passengers  by  sea  and  amending  Annexes  thereto21 
and the geographical extension of the system due to 2004 and 2007 enlargements of 
the European Union.  

A  large  number  of  Member  States  transmitting  data  to  Eurostat  under  the  scope  of 
Directive  95/64/EC  have  been  regularly  providing  Eurostat  with  data  set  B1  on  a 
voluntary basis according to the NST/R classification.  

Commission Regulation 1304/2007 of 7 November 2007 amending Council Directive 
95/64/EC,  Council  Regulation  (EC)  No  1172/98,  Regulations  (EC)  No  91/2003  and 
(EC) No 1365/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council with respect to the 
establishment of NST 2007 as the unique classification for transported goods in certain 
transport  modes22  introduced  the  NST  2007  (Standard  Goods  Classification  for 
Transport  Statistics,  2007)  as  the  unique  classification  for  transported  goods  in 
maritime, road, rail and inland waterways transport. This classification is applicable as 
from the reference year 2008, covering the 2008 data. The main problems in compiling 
data by type of goods according to NST/R classification, as mentioned in the Report 
cited  under  recital  (2),  have  been  solved  by  the  introduction  of  the  NST  2007. 
Therefore,  for  the  most  part,  the  collection  of  data  set  B1  will  not  impose  any 
additional burden on respondents. 

The  collection  of  data  by  type  of  goods  is  mandatory  for  road23,  rail24,  and  inland 
waterways25 transport European statistics, while it is voluntary for maritime transport. 
European statistics on all modes of transport should be collected according to common 
concepts and standards, with the aim of achieving the fullest practicable comparability 
between transport modes. 

The introduction in 2011 of the obligation to provide the Commission (Eurostat) with 
data set B1, provides Member States with an adequate period of time during which a 
voluntary compilation could be used for the necessary tests and adaptations. 

(3) 

(4) 

(5) 

(6) 

(7) 

(8) 

Directive 2009/42/EC should therefore be amended accordingly.  

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OJ L 123, 17.5.2005, p. 1. 
OJ L 290, 8.11.2007, p. 14. 
Council Regulation (EC) No 1172/98 of 25 May 1998 on statistical returns in respect of the carriage of 
goods by road, OJ L163, 6.6.1998, p. 1. 
Regulation (EC) No 91/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 December 2002 on 
rail transport statistics, OJ L 14, 21.1.2003, p. 1. 
Regulation (EC) No 1365/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 6 September 2006 on 
statistics of goods transport by inland waterways, OJ L 264, 25.9.2006, p. 1. 

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HAVE ADOPTED THIS REGULATION: 

The second paragraph of Annex VIII to Directive 2009/42/EC is deleted. 

Article 1 

Article 2 

This Regulation shall enter into force on the twentieth day following that of its publication in 
the Official Journal of the European Union. 

The first reference year for the application of this Regulation shall be 2011, covering the 2011 
data. 

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.  

Done at Brussels,  

For the European Parliament 
The President 

For the Council 
The President 

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