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 pursuant to Directive 2009/42/EC on statistical returns in respect of carriage of goods and passengers by sea
Date: 2020-04-17
Institutions: European Commission, Eurostat
Subjects: EU statistics, carriage of goods, carriage of passengers, data collection, delegated legislation, maritime transport, powers of the institutions (EU), transfer of competence, transport statistics

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   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 17.4.2020  COM(2020) 149 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 pursuant to Directive 2009/42/EC on statistical returns in respect of carriage of goods and passengers by sea  
 
 
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 
pursuant to Directive 2009/42/EC on statistical returns in respect of carriage of goods 
and passengers by sea 

1. 

INTRODUCTION 

Regulation (EU) No 1090/2010 of the European Parliament and of the Council1 aligned the 
powers  conferred  on  the  Commission  by  Directive  2009/42/EC 2 with  the  Treaty  on  the 
Functioning of the European Union (TFEU).  

Directive 2009/42/EC as amended empowers the Commission to adopt delegated acts for the 
following purposes: 

  adapting the data collection requirements in its Annexes I to VIII to reflect economic 
and  technical  developments,  provided  this  does  not  substantially  increase  costs  for 
Member States and/or the burden on respondents (see Article 3(4)); 

  drawing up a list of ports, coded and classified by country and maritime coastal area 

(see Article 4(1)); and 

  amending non-essential elements of the Directive so as to ensure that data collection 
methods  are  such  that  the  statistical  datasets  on  sea  transport  (Annex  VIII)  meet  the 
standards of accuracy set by the Commission (Article 5). 

As laid down in Recital (8) of Regulation (EU) No 1090/2010, “it is of particular importance 
that  the  Commission  carry  out  appropriate  consultations  during  its  preparatory  work, 
including at expert level”. 

2. 

LEGAL BASIS 

This  report  is  required  under  Article  10a(1)  of  the  Directive,  which  conferred  on  the 
Commission  the  power  to  adopt  delegated  acts  for  a  period  of  5  years  from  29  December 
2010 onward. The Commission  submitted a first Report in  20153. The delegation of power 
was automatically extended for another 5 years (from December 2015 to December 2020), as 
the Parliament and the Council did not revoke it pursuant to Article 10b. Article 10a requires 

1   Regulation  (EU)  No  1090/2010  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  of  24  November  2010 
amending Directive 2009/42/EC on statistical returns in respect of carriage of goods and passengers by sea 
(OJ L 325, 9.12.2010, p. 1). 

2   Directive 2009/42/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 6 May 2009 on statistical returns in 

respect of carriage of goods and passengers by sea (OJ L 141, 6.6.2009, p. 29). 

3   Report from the Commission to the European Parliament and to the Council on the exercise of the power to 
adopt  delegated  acts  conferred  on  the  Commission  pursuant  to  Regulation  (EU)  No  1090/2010  of  the 
European Parliament and of the Council amending Directive 2009/42/EC on statistical returns in respect of 
goods and passengers by sea (COM(2015) 362 final, 28.7.2015).  

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the Commission to issue a report in respect of the delegation at the latest 6 months before the 
end of each 5-year period.  

3. 

EXERCISE OF THE DELEGATION 

Since the entry into force of the Regulation, the Commission has adopted two delegated acts: 

a)  Commission  Delegated  Decision  2012/186/EU4 –  this  adapted  certain  aspects  of  the 
data collection requirements in Annexes I to VIII to the Directive, to reflect economic 
and technical developments.  

In its report for the first 5-year period, the Commission concluded that it had exercised 
its delegated powers correctly and invited the Parliament and the Council to take note 
of the report; and 

b)  Commission  Delegated  Decision  (EU)  2018/10075 –  this  updated  the  list  of  ports  in 
order to ensure the accuracy and relevance of European maritime transport statistics in 
accordance with Article 4(1) of the Directive.  

When preparing the Decision, the Commission consulted: 

  national  experts  in  the  annual  meetings  of  the  Working  Group  on  Maritime 
Transport  Statistics  (23-24  May  2016)  and  the  Coordinating  Group  for 
Statistics on Transport (24-25 November 2016); 

 

the directors of sectoral and environmental statistics and accounts (DIMESA) 
in writing in December 2016 and January 2017.  

It informed the Parliament and the Council of all expert group meetings and sent them 
all relevant documents promptly and in an appropriate form.  

The draft Decision was discussed and favourably received by the directors-general of 
the national statistical institutes in February 2018. 

The Commission adopted the Decision on 25 April 2018 and notified the Parliament 
and  the  Council,  neither  of  which  objected  within  the  standard  2-month  period.  The 
Decision  was  published  in  the  Official  Journal  of  the  European  Union  on  17  July 
20186 and entered into force on 6 August 2018. 

4. 

CONCLUSION 

4   Commission  Delegated Decision 2012/186/EU of 3 February 2012 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 L 101, 11.4.2012, p. 5). 

5   Commission Delegated Decision (EU) 2018/1007 of 25 April 2018 supplementing Directive 2009/42/EC of 
the European Parliament and of the Council as regards the list of ports and repealing Commission Decision 
2008/861/EC (OJ L 180, 17.7.2018, p. 29). 

6   OJ L 180, 17.7.2018, p. 29. 

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The Commission considers that it should continue to have these delegated powers, as it may 
need to adopt delegated acts in the future to reflect economic and technical developments and 
changes in Europe’s port infrastructure. 

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

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