Proposal for a COUNCIL DECISION on the position to be adopted, on behalf of the European Union, in the EEA Joint Committee concerning an amendment to Annex XXI to the EEA Agreement
Date: 2013-05-30
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: EU statistics, European Economic Area, Eurostat, carriage of goods, data collection, disclosure of information, dissemination of EU information, revision of an agreement, road transport, statistical method, transport statistics, vehicle

EUROPEAN 
COMMISSION 

Brussels, 30.5.2013  
COM(2013) 313 final 

2013/0163 (NLE) 

Proposal for a 

COUNCIL DECISION 

on the position to be adopted, on behalf of the European Union, 
in the EEA Joint Committee 
concerning an amendment to Annex XXI 
to the EEA Agreement 

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EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM 

1. 

CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL 

In  order  to  ensure  the  requisite  legal  security  and  homogeneity  of  the  Internal  Market,  the 
EEA Joint Committee is to integrate all the relevant EU legislation into the EEA Agreement 
as soon as possible after its adoption. 

2. 

RESULTS OF CONSULTATIONS WITH THE INTERESTED PARTIES AND 
IMPACT ASSESSMENTS 

The draft Decision of the EEA Joint Committee (annexed to the proposed Council Decision) 
aims  to  amend  Annex  XXI  (Statistics)  to  the  EEA  Agreement  in  order  to  incorporate 
Regulation  (EU)  No  70/2012  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  of  18  January 
2012 on statistical returns in respect of the carriage of goods by road (recast)1. 
Regulation  (EU)  No  70/2012  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  of  18  January 
2012 on statistical returns in respect of the carriage of goods by road (recast) is incorporated 
into the EEA Agreement with certain adaptations for the EEA EFTA States.  

The adaptations concern the applicability to Iceland and Liechtenstein. 
Regulation  (EU)  No  70/2012  repeals  Council  Regulation  (EC)  No  1172/982,  which  is 
incorporated  into  the  Agreement  and  which  is  subsequently  to  be  repealed  under  the  EEA 
Agreement.  

With  regards  to  Council  Regulation  (EC)  No  1172/98  of  25  May  1998  (repealed  by 
Regulation (EU) No 70/2012) on statistical returns in respect of the carriage of goods by road, 
Iceland was granted a total derogation. The reason at that time was the total isolation of the 
Icelandic  road  system  from  the  European  road  system.  Practically  there  were  no  road 
transport vehicles engaged in the international carriage of goods between Iceland and Europe. 
For that reason, Icelandic statistics on domestic carriage of goods by road would not add any 
further information to the statistics on European carriage of goods by road. The situation in 
2012 is the same. Therefore Regulation (EU) No 70/2012 shall not apply to Iceland. 

The  main  reason  that  Liechtenstein  was  not  exempted  from  Council  Regulation  (EC)  No 
1172/98 of 25 May 1998 was the assumption that the number of the road transport vehicles 
would increase in the future, but the contrary was the case. There was a substantial reduction 
of the freight transports from 2005, the first year of the survey, until 2010: 

number of enterprises minus 25%; 

number of road transport vehicles minus 19%; 

number of laden vehicle kilometres minus 32%; 

freight in tons minus 24%; 

ton kilometres minus 22%.  

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OJ L 32, 3.2.2012, p. 1. 
OJ L 163, 6.6.1998, p. 1. 

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In  2010,  Liechtenstein’s  road  transport  vehicles  had  491  EU  transport  licenses.  But  not  all 
vehicles  do  regularly  carry  out  road  freight  transport  operations  on  the  territory  of  EU 
Member  States.3  The  Swiss  Customs  Authorities  register  each  transport  vehicle  leaving  the 
customs  area  of  Switzerland  and  Liechtenstein.  In  the  year  2010,  458  different  transport 
vehicles left the customs area of Switzerland and Liechtenstein but only 268 vehicles crossed 
the border into the European Union once every two weeks. 

The demand for the results of the survey is very limited. There are only six subscribers for the 
publications from outside the administration and very few downloads of the publications on 
the internet.  

In the case of the survey on carriage of goods by road, there is no balance between the burden 
on  respondents,  the  high  costs  for  the  statistical  office  and  the  benefits  at  European  and 
national level. The data's value added for European Statistics is very limited and there is no 
domestic  demand  for  the  results  of  the  survey.  This  contradicts  two  major  principles  of  the 
statistical Code of Practice: 

According  to  principle  9  of  the  statistical  Code  of  Practice  the  reporting  burden  has  to  be 
proportionate  to  the  needs  of  the  users  and  may  not  be  excessive  for  respondents.  An 
obligation for Liechtenstein to carry out the survey on transport of goods by road is not in line 
with  this  principle  as  the  excessive  burden  for  respondents  is  not  proportionate  to  the  very 
small interest of users for these data. 

According to principle 11 of the statistical Code of Practice, European statistics have to meet 
the need of users. It follows from this that statistical data which neither respond to a need at 
European nor at national level should not be collected.  

In  view  of  this,  a  discussion  took  place  with  representatives  of  Eurostat  and  DG  Move  and 
Lichtenstein  at  a  meeting  in  Luxembourg  on  21  February  2013,  on  an  adaptation  text 
according to which Regulation (EU) No 70/2012 shall not apply to Liechtenstein for as long 
as the number of Liechtenstein-registered goods road transport vehicles which regularly carry 
out road freight transport operations on the territory of EEA Member States (thus outside the 
Swiss-Liechtenstein Customs territory) does not exceed 400 vehicles.  

In order for Eurostat to be able to monitor the number of Liechtenstein-registered goods road 
transport vehicles which regularly carry out road freight transport operations on the territory 
of EEA Member States, the adaptation furthermore foresees an obligation for Liechtenstein to 
annually  submit  this  number  to  Eurostat.  As  Liechtenstein  receives  these  numbers  from 
Switzerland  (as  mentioned  above  the  Swiss  Customs  Authorities  register  each  transport 
vehicle leaving the customs area of Switzerland and Liechtenstein) with some months delay, 
the deadline for submission of these numbers to Eurostat shall be end of April following the 
year to which the numbers relate. 

For  the  purpose  of  the  adaptation,  the  term  “regularly”  is  defined  as  “leaving  the  Swiss-
Liechtenstein Custom Union territory towards the EU more than twice a month”. 

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Note: As Swiss law requires Liechtenstein-registered vehicles to have an EU-licence, even if they only 
operate within the Swiss-Liechtenstein Custom Union territory, the number of Liechtenstein-registered 
vehicles carrying out road freight transport operations on the territory of the EU does not correspond to, 
and is considerably smaller, than the number of EU-licences. 

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For the case that the number of Liechtenstein-registered goods road transport vehicles which 
regularly  carry  out  road  freight  transport  operations  on  the  territory  of  EEA  Member  States 
exceeds 400 vehicles and Regulation (EU) No 70/2012 becomes applicable to Liechtenstein, 
the adaptation clarifies (in line with what has been so far foreseen with regard to Regulation 
(EC) No 1172/98 and due to the  reasons  highlighted above) that the data collection method 
shall be adapted to the structural characteristics of road transport in the country, in agreement 
with  Eurostat.  In  particular,  Liechtenstein  may  transmit  data  covering  only  vehicles  which 
regularly carry out road freight transport operations on the territory of EEA Member States. 

3. 

LEGAL ELEMENTS OF THE PROPOSAL 

Article  1(3)  of  Council  Regulation  (EC)  No  2894/94  concerning  arrangements  for 
implementing  the  EEA  Agreement  provides  that  the  Council  establishes  the  position  to  be 
adopted on the Union’s behalf on such Decisions, on a proposal from the Commission.  

The Commission submits the Draft Decision of the EEA Joint Committee for adoption by the 
Council as the Union’s position. The Commission would hope to be able to present it in the 
EEA Joint Committee at the earliest possible opportunity. 

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2013/0163 (NLE) 

Proposal for a 

COUNCIL DECISION 

on the position to be adopted, on behalf of the European Union, 
in the EEA Joint Committee 
concerning an amendment to Annex XXI 
to the EEA Agreement 

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, 

Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, and in particular 
Article 338 (1), in conjunction with Article 218(9) thereof, 

Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 2894/94 of 28 November 1994 concerning 
arrangements for implementing the Agreement on the European Economic Area4, and in 
particular Article 1(3) thereof, 

Having regard to the proposal from the European Commission, 

Whereas: 

(1) 

(2) 

(3) 

(4) 

The Agreement on the European Economic Area5 (“the EEA Agreement”) entered 
into force on 1 January 1994. 

Pursuant  to  Article  98  of  the  EEA  Agreement,  the  EEA  Joint  Committee  may 
decide to amend, inter alia, Annex XXI thereto. 

Annex  XXI  to  the  EEA  Agreement  contains  specific  provisions  concerning 
statistics. 

Regulation (EU) No 70/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 
January  2012  on  statistical  returns  in  respect  of  the  carriage  of  goods  by  road 
(recast)6  is  to  be  incorporated  into  the  EEA  Agreement  with  certain  adaptations 
for the EEA EFTA states. 

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OJ L 305, 30.11.1994, p. 6. 
OJ L 1, 3.1.1994, p. 3.  
OJ L 32, 3.2.2012, p. 1. 

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(5) 

Regulation  (EU)  No  70/2012  repeals  Council  Regulation  (EC)  No  1172/987, 
which  is  incorporated  into  the  Agreement  and  which  is  subsequently  to  be 
repealed under the Agreement. 

(6) 

Annex XXI to the EEA Agreement should therefore be amended accordingly. 

(7) 

The  position  of  the  Union  in  the  EEA  Joint  Committee  should  be  based  on  the 
attached draft Decision, 

HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION:  

Article 1 

The  position  to  be  adopted,  on  behalf  of  the  European  Union,  in  the  EEA  Joint 
Committee  on  the  proposed  amendment  to  Annex  XXI  to  the  EEA Agreement  shall  be 
based on the draft Decision of the EEA Joint Committee attached to this Decision. 

Article 2 

This Decision shall enter into force on the day of its adoption. 

Done at Brussels,  

For the Council 
The President 

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OJ L 163, 6.6.1998, p. 1. 

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Annex 

Draft 

DECISION OF THE EEA JOINT COMMITTEE  
No 

of 

amending Annex XXI (Statistics) to the EEA Agreement 

THE EEA JOINT COMMITTEE, 

Having  regard  to  the  Agreement  on  the  European  Economic  Area  (“the  EEA 
Agreement”), and in particular Article 98 thereof, 

Whereas: 

(1) 

(2) 

Regulation (EU) No 70/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 
18 January 2012 on statistical returns in respect of the carriage of goods by road 
(recast)8 is to be incorporated into the EEA Agreement. 

Regulation  (EU)  No  70/2012  repeals  Council  Regulation  (EC)  No  1172/989, 
which  is  incorporated  into  the  Agreement  and  which  is  subsequently  to  be 
repealed under the Agreement. 

(3) 

Annex XXI to the EEA Agreement should therefore be amended accordingly, 

HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION : 

Article 1 

The  text  of  point  7f  (Council  Regulation  (EC)  No  1172/98)  of  Annex  XXI  to  the  EEA 
Agreement is replaced by the following: 

‘32012 R 0070: Regulation (EU) No 70/2012 of the European Parliament and of 
the Council of 18 January 2012 on statistical returns in respect of the carriage of 
goods by road (recast) (OJ L 32, 3.2.2012, p. 1). 

The  provisions  of  the  Regulation  shall,  for  the  purposes  of  this  Agreement,  be 
read with the following adaptations: 

(a)  This Regulation shall not apply to Iceland.  

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OJ L 32, 3.2.2012, p. 1. 
OJ L 163, 6.6.1998, p. 1. 

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(b) 

 This Regulation shall not apply to Liechtenstein, so long as the number of 
Liechtenstein-registered  goods  road  transport  vehicles,  which  regularly 
carry out road freight transport operations on the territory of EEA Member 
States, does not exceed 400 vehicles.  

 For that purpose,  Liechtenstein shall annually,  at the latest by the end of 
April  following  the  year  to  which  the  number  relates,  submit  to  Eurostat 
the  number  of  Liechtenstein-registered  goods  road  transport  vehicles 
which regularly carry out road freight transport operations on the territory 
of  EEA  Member  States.  Regularly  in  this  context  shall  be  understood  as 
leaving  the  Swiss-Liechtenstein  Custom  Union  territory  towards  the  EU 
more than twice a month. 

 As soon as this Regulation will apply to Liechtenstein, the data collection 
method shall be adapted to the structural characteristics of road transport 
in  the  country,  in  agreement  with  Eurostat.  In  particular,  Liechtenstein 
may  transmit  data  covering  only  vehicles  which  regularly  carry  out  road 
freight transport operations on the territory of EEA Member States. 

Article 2 

The texts of Regulation (EU) No 70/2012 in the Icelandic and Norwegian languages, to 
be published in the EEA Supplement to the Official Journal of the European Union, shall 
be authentic. 

Article 3 

This  Decision  shall  enter  into  force  on  […],  provided  that  all  the  notifications  under 
Article 103(1) of the EEA Agreement have been made∗. 

Article 4 

This Decision shall be published in the EEA Section of, and in the EEA Supplement to, 
the Official Journal of the European Union. 

Done at Brussels, . 

For the EEA Joint Committee 

The President 

∗ 

[No constitutional requirements indicated.] [Constitutional requirements indicated.] 

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The Secretaries 
to the EEA Joint Committee 

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