REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL on the exercise of the power to adopt delegated acts conferred on the Commission by Regulation (EU) No 549/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the European system of national and regional accounts in the European Union
Date: 2017-08-10
Institutions: European Commission, Eurostat
Subjects: Economic and Monetary Union, European Commission, European accounting system, data collection, data transmission, economic analysis, national accounts, powers of the institutions (EU), statistics, transfer of competence

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   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 10.8.2017  COM(2017) 423 final   REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL on the exercise of the power to adopt delegated acts conferred on the Commission by Regulation (EU) No 549/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the European system of national and regional accounts in the European Union  
 
 
1.  

INTRODUCTION 

Regulation  (EU)  No  549/2013  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council1  set  up  the 
European  System  of  Accounts  2010  (ESA  2010).  ESA  2010  is  a  system  of  national  and 
regional  accounts  designed  to  meet  the  requirements  of  the  EU’s  economic,  social  and 
regional policy. It contains:   

a)  a  methodology  (Annex  A  of  the  Regulation)  on  common  standards,  definitions, 
classifications  and  accounting  rules  that  must  be  used  for  compiling  accounts  and 
tables on comparable bases for the purposes of the EU; 

b)  a  programme  (Annex  B  of  the  Regulation)  setting  out  the  time  limits  by  which 
Member States must transmit to the Commission (Eurostat) the accounts and tables to 
be compiled in accordance with the methodology referred to in point (a). 

Regulation (EU) No 549/2013 empowers the Commission to adopt delegated acts: 

  on  amendments  to  the  ESA  2010  methodology  in  order  to  specify  and  improve  its 
content  for  the  purpose  of  ensuring  a  harmonised  interpretation  or  to  ensure 
international comparability provided that they do not change its underlying concepts, 
do  not  require  additional  resources  for  producers  within  the  European  Statistical 
System for their implementation, and do not cause a change in own resources (Article 
2(2)); 

  on the methodology used for the calculation and allocation of financial intermediation 
services  indirectly  measured  (FISIM)  in  national  accounts  in  accordance  with  the 
methodology  described  in  Annex  A.  This  empowerment  shall  be  exercised  before 
17 September  2013,  laying  down  a  revised  methodology  for  the  calculation  and 
allocation of FISIM (Article 2(4)); 

 

to ensure the reliability and comparability of the ESA 2010 data of the Member States 
on research and development recorded as gross fixed capital formation. In exercising 
its power pursuant to this paragraph, the Commission must ensure that such delegated 
acts  do  not  impose  a  significant  additional  administrative  burden  on  the  Member 
States or on the respondent units (Article 2(5)). 

In  addition,  Regulation  (EU)  No 549/2013  emphasises  how  important  it  is  that  the 
Commission  carry  out  appropriate consultations  during its  preparatory  work.  The European 

1 Regulation (EU) No 549/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 May 2013 on the European 
system of national and regional accounts in the European Union (OJ L 174, 26.6.2013, p. 1).  

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Statistical  System  Committee  established  under  Regulation  (EC)  No 223/20092  is  also 
consulted before exercising the empowerment (Recital 24). 

2.  

LEGAL BASIS 

This report is required under Article 7(2) of Regulation (EU) No 549/2013, which confers on 
the  Commission  the  power  to  adopt  delegated  acts  for  a  period  of  five  years  from  16 July 
2013.  The  Commission  is  required  to  prepare  a  report  on  the  delegation  of  power  no  later 
than nine months before the end of the five-year period. 

3. 

EXERCISE OF THE DELEGATION 

Since the entry into force of Regulation (EU) No 549/2013, the Commission has adopted two 
delegated acts: 

  Commission  Delegated  Regulation  (EU)  No 2015/13423  amending  the  methodology 

for the classification of products by activity (CPA); and 

  Commission  Delegated  Regulation  (EU)  No 2015/13654  on  the  transmission  format 

for research and development expenditure data. 

The  Commission  has  not  adopted  a  delegated  regulation  on  the  methodology  for  the 
calculation  and  allocation  of  FISIM  in  national  accounts  (Article  2(4)  of  Regulation  (EU) 
No 549/2013).  After  carrying  out  appropriate  consultations  with  the  Member  States,  it  has 
decided not to change the methodology for the calculation and allocation of FISIM. 

a) 
Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) No 2015/1342 amending the methodology 
for the classification of products by activity was deemed necessary as a result of the revision 
of the CPA referred to in ESA 2010. 

Regulation  (EC)  No 451/2008  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council5,  which 
established  a  new  CPA  (the  ‘CPA  2008’),  was  adopted  to  reflect  the  EU’s  statistical 

2 Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 March 2009 on European 
statistics and repealing Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1101/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council 
on  the  transmission  of  data  subject  to  statistical  confidentiality  to  the  Statistical  Office  of  the  European 
Communities,  Council  Regulation  (EC)  No 322/97  on  Community  Statistics,  and  Council  Decision 
89/382/EEC,  Euratom  establishing  a  Committee  on  the  Statistical  Programmes  of  the  European  Communities 
(OJ L 87, 31.3.2009, p. 164). 

3  Commission  Delegated  Regulation  (EU)  2015/1342  of  22 April  2015  amending  the  methodology  for  the 
classification  of  products  by  activity  given  in  Annex  A  to  Regulation  (EU)  No 549/2013  of  the  European 
Parliament and of the Council (OJ L 207, 4.8.2015, p. 35). 

4 Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/1365 of 30 April 2015 on the transmission format for research 
and development expenditure data (OJ L 211, 8.8.2015, p. 1). 

5 Regulation (EC) No 451/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 April 2008 establishing a 
new statistical classification of products by activity (CPA) and repealing Council Regulation (EEC) No 3696/93 
(OJ L 145, 4.6.2008, p. 65). 

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requirements. It was amended by Commission Regulation (EU) No 1209/20146 (establishing 
‘CPA  2.1’) 
international  product 
classification standards, namely the updated Central Product Classification (‘CPC Ver.2’) of 
the United Nations. 

to  maintain  comparability  and  consistency  with 

Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) No 2015/1342 introduced a number of amendments 
to  Annex  A  to  Regulation  (EU)  No 549/2013.  In  particular,  the  terms  ‘CPA  Rev.  2’  and 
‘CPA 2008’ were replaced by the term ‘CPA’. In addition, several terms were aligned with 
Regulation  (EU)  No 1209/2014  in  Annex  7.1  on  the  summary  of  each  asset  category  and 
Chapter 23 on classifications. 

With  these  amendments,  Commission  Delegated  Regulation  (EU)  No 2015/1342  ensured 
harmonised interpretation and international comparability of statistical standards. 

The Commission carried out consultations, also at expert level, during the preparatory work 
for  the  delegated  act.  The  parties  that  were  consulted  included  the  Directors  of 
Macroeconomic  Statistics,  who  discussed  the  draft  delegated  act  at  their  meeting  of  17-
18 December  2014,  and  the  European  System  Statistical  Committee,  which  met  on 
12 February 2015. 

As  a  result  of  these  consultations,  the  Commission  was  able  to  confirm  that  Commission 
Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/1342: 

  did not change ESA 2010’s underlying concepts; 
  did not require additional resources for producers of statistics; 
  did not cause a change in the EU’s own resources. 

The  Commission  adopted  Delegated  Regulation  (EU)  No 2015/1342  on  22 April  2015  and 
notified the European Parliament and the Council. Neither the European Parliament nor the 
Council issued any objections to the Delegated Regulation within the three months allowed. 
It was published in the Official Journal of the European Union on 4 August 2015 and entered 
into force on 24 August 2015. 

b) 
Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) No 2015/1365 on the transmission format 
for research and development expenditure data to be recorded as gross fixed capital formation 
was deemed necessary to ensure the reliability and comparability of ESA 2010 Member State 
data on research and development. 

Given the importance of research and development for the economy, additional methods and 
harmonised, comparable transmission formats were developed for research and development 
data in the context of the European Statistical System. 

6 Commission Regulation (EU) No 1209/2014 of 29 October 2014 amending Regulation (EC) No 451/2008 of 
the European Parliament and of the Council establishing a new statistical classification of products by activity 
(CPA) and repealing Council Regulation (EEC) No 3696/93 (OJ L 336, 22.11.2014, p. 1). 

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Commission  Delegated  Regulation  (EU)  No 2015/1365  sets  out  the  format  in  which  the 
national accounts research and development expenditure data must be transmitted by Member 
States to the Commission (Eurostat) to ensure the reliability and comparability of those data. 
Member States must apply the following data format: 

(a) AN.1171g, research and development assets, gross; 

(b) AN.1171n, research and development assets, net; 

(c) P.51g, AN.1171, gross fixed capital formation in research and development.   

The requirements apply to data transmitted from 1 August 2015. 

For  a  first  Commission  Delegated  Regulation  on  the  same  subject,  adopted  in  2014,  the 
Commission carried out consultations, also at expert level, during the preparatory work. The 
parties  that  were  consulted  included  the  Directors  of  Macroeconomic  Statistics,  who 
discussed the draft delegated act at their meeting of 12-13 December 2013, and the European 
Statistical  System  Committee,  which  gave  its  opinion  by  written  procedure  on  11 March 
2014. 

On  12 August  2014,  the  Commission  adopted  the  Delegated  Regulation  and  notified  the 
European Parliament and the Council. 

On  12 September  2014,  the  Council  Working  Party  on  Statistics  invited  the  Council  Legal 
Service  to  assess  whether  the  contents  of  the  Delegated  Regulation  corresponded  to  the 
delegation of powers contained in Article 2(5) of Regulation (EU) No 549/2013. The Council 
Legal  Service  issued  its  opinion  on  25 September  2014,  concluding  that  the  delegated  act 
partially exceeded the mandate conferred upon the Commission by the legislator. 

On 7 November 2014, the Council confirmed its intention to object to the delegated act and 
informed the Commission and the European Parliament of this. 

A  new  delegated  act  was  therefore  drawn  up  to  take  into  account  the  reasons  for  the 
Council’s objection. 

The  Commission  then  carried  out  further  consultations  among  national  experts  on  the  new 
draft. The parties that were consulted included the National Accounts Working Group on 25-
26 November 2014, the Directors of Macroeconomic Statistics on 17-18 December 2014, and 
the European Statistical System Committee on 12 February 2015. 

As a result of the consultations, the Commission was able to ensure that a sufficient level of 
confidence was reached in the reliability and comparability of research and development data 
recorded as gross fixed capital formation and that the content of the Delegated Regulation did 
not  impose  a  significant  additional  administrative  burden  on  the  Member  States  or  on  the 
respondent units. 

On  30  April  2015,  the  Commission  adopted  the  Delegated  Regulation  and  notified  the 
European  Parliament  and  the  Council.  Neither  the  European  Parliament  nor  the  Council 

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issued  any  objections  to  the  Delegated  Regulation  within  the  three  months  allowed.  It  was 
published in the Official Journal of the European Union on 8 August 2015 and entered into 
force on 28 August 2015. 

4.  

CONCLUSION 

The  Commission  has  exercised  its  delegated  powers  correctly.  It  invites  the  European 
Parliament and the Council to take note of this report. 

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