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 Regulation (EC) 184/2005 on Community statistics concerning balance of payments, international trade in services and foreign direct investment
Date: 2020-09-10
Institutions: European Commission, Eurostat
Subjects: EU statistics, United Kingdom, balance of payments, delegation of power, direct investment, foreign investment, international trade, service industry, third country, withdrawal from the EU

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  EN 

   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 10.9.2020  COM(2020) 490 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 Regulation (EC) 184/2005 on Community statistics concerning balance of payments, international trade in services and foreign direct investment     
 
 
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 Regulation (EC) No 184/2005 on Community statistics concerning balance 
of payments, international trade in services and foreign direct investment 

1.  INTRODUCTION  

Regulation  (EU)  2016/1013  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council1  aligned,  inter 
alia,  the  powers  conferred  on  the  Commission  by  Regulation  (EC)  No  184/20052  with  the 
Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU).   

Regulation  (EC)  No  184/2005,  as  amended,  empowers  the  Commission  to  adopt  delegated 
acts in accordance with Article 290 TFEU for the following purposes:  

 

 

 

to update the geographical breakdown levels, institutional sector breakdown levels and 
economic activity breakdown levels set out in Tables 6, 7 and 8 of its Annex I to reflect 
economic or technical changes (Article 2(3));  

to eliminate or reduce certain requirements of data flows in its Annex I, provided that 
such elimination or reduction does not reduce the quality of the statistics produced in 
accordance with that regulation (Article 2(3)); and   

to extend the deadline for the report under Article 5(5) of that regulation as regards the 
findings of the pilot studies on foreign direct investment (FDI) statistics based on the 
ultimate  ownership  concept  and  FDI  statistics  distinguishing  greenfield  FDI 
transactions from takeovers (Article 5(6)). 

When exercising those powers, the Commission should ensure that the delegated acts adopted 
under these provisions do not impose a significant additional burden on Member States or on 
the  respondent  units,  exceeding  what  is  necessary  for  the  purposes  of  Regulation  (EC)  No 
184/2005, nor modify the applicable underlying conceptual framework. Article 10(4) of that 
regulation provides for systematic consultations of Member State experts by the Commission 
during  its  preparatory  work  on  delegated  acts,  in  accordance  with  the  Interinstitutional 
Agreement of 13 April 2016 on Better Law-Making3. Article 10(5) of that regulation requires 
the  Commission  to  notify  the  European  Parliament  and  the  Council  as  soon  as  it  adopts  a 
delegated act. 

1  Regulation  (EU)  2016/1013  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  of  8  June  2016  amending 
Regulation (EC) No 184/2005 on Community statistics concerning balance of payments, international trade in 
services and foreign direct investment (OJ L 171, 29.6.2016, p. 144). 

2  Regulation  (EC)  No 184/2005  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  of  12 January  2005  on 
Community  statistics  concerning  balance  of  payments,  international  trade  in  services  and  foreign  direct 
investment (OJ L 35, 8.2.2005, p. 23). 

3 Interinstitutional Agreement between the European Parliament, the Council of the European Union and the 

European Commission on Better Law-Making of 13 April 2016 (OJ L 123/1). 

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2.  LEGAL BASIS  

Under  Article  10(2)  of  Regulation  (EC)  No  184/2005,  the  power  to  adopt  delegated  acts  is 
conferred on the Commission for a period of 5  years from 19 July 2016. The delegation of 
power is to be tacitly extended for periods of 5 years, unless the European Parliament or the 
Council opposes such extension not later than 3 months before the end of each period.  

The Commission is required to draw up a report on the delegation of power no later than 9 
months before the end of the five-year period.   

This report fulfils this obligation. 

3.  COMMISSION’S EXERCISE OF THE DELEGATION  

Since  Regulation  (EU)  2016/1013  entered  into  force,  the  Commission  has  adopted  one 
delegated act – Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/5054. Based on Article 2(3) of 
Regulation  (EC)  No  184/2005,  this  Delegated  Regulation  updated  the  geographical 
breakdown  levels  set  out  in  Annex  I  to  Regulation  (EC)  No  184/2005,  in  order  to  reflect 
economic and technical developments.  

The  Commission  deemed  it  necessary  to  exercise  the  power  conferred  on  it  by  Regulation 
(EC) No 184/2005 as a necessary preparation for the United Kingdom withdrawing from the 
EU.  Following  the  United  Kingdom’s  notification  (29  March  2017)  of  its  intention  to 
withdraw  from  the  Union  under  Article  50  TEU,  the  Commision  set  various  preparedness 
measures5,  including  the  update  of  the  composition  of  EU  aggregates  in  the  EU  statistics 
concerning balance of payments, international trade in services and foreign direct investment. 
Commission  Delegated  Regulation  (EU)  2019/505  was  part  of  a  package  of  measures 
adopted  by  the  Commission  in  December  2018  in  response  to  the  United  Kingdom’s 
withdrawal from the EU. 

Commission  Delegated  Regulation  (EU)  2019/505  updated  Table  6  ‘Geographical 
breakdown levels’ of Annex I to Regulation (EC) 184/2005 as follows: 

1)  The United Kingdom was included as a separate counterpart country in column GEO 46 
to ensure the continuity of Member States’ data transmission to Eurostat with counterpart 
United Kingdom after its withdrawal from the EU. 

2)  The  United  Kingdom  was  moved  under  geographical  aggregate  ‘Other  European 
countries’  in  columns  GEO  5  and  GEO  67.  Aggregate  ‘Other  European  countries’ 

4  Commission  Delegated  Regulation  (EU)  2019/505  of  19  December  2018  amending  Annex  I  to  Regulation 
(EC)  No  184/2005  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council,  as  regards  the  geographical  breakdown 
levels (OJ L 85, 27.3.2019, p. 1) 

5  Communication  from  the  Commission  on  ‘Preparing  for  the  withdrawal  of  the  United  Kingdom  from  the 

European Union on 30 March 2019: a Contingency Action Plan’(COM(2018)880 final, 13.11.2018) 

6  GEO  4  is  the  geographical  breakdown  level  required  for  certain  items  of  Member  States’  quarterly  data  on 
balance  of  payments  and  the  international  investment  position  and  activity  breakdown  of  annual  direct 
investment  transactions  and  annual  direct  investment  positions.  At  present,  GEO  4  includes  the  following 
counterpart  areas:  Union  Member  States  not  in  the  euro  area;  Switzerland;  Russia;  the  United  Kingdom; 
Canada; the United States; Brazil; China; Hong Kong; India; Japan; Intra Union; Extra Union; Intra euro area; 
Extra  euro  area;  Union  institutions  (excluding  the  European  Central  Bank);  the  European  Investment  Bank; 
offshore  financial  centres;  international  organisations  (excluding  European  Union  institutions)  and  the 
International Monetary Fund. 

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includes all European countries that are neither EU nor EFTA Member States. With the 
United Kingdom expected to become a third country after its withdrawal from the EU, its 
positioning in GEO 5 and GEO 6 had to be changed accordingly.  

This update has neither affected the reporting burden nor modified the applicable underlying 
conceptual framework. 

During  the  preparatory  work  for  this  Delegated  Regulation,  the  Commission  carried  out 
consultations, including at expert level. The parties consulted included the Expert Group on 
Balance  of  Payments  and  the  Expert  Group  ‘National  Statistical  Institutes  of  the  European 
Statistical  System’.  They  were  consulted  by  written  procedure  in  October  and  November 
2018. The draft delegated act was favourably received by both groups.   

Both the European Parliament and the Council were duly informed and received all relevant 
documents promptly.  

The  Commission  adopted  the  Delegated  Regulation  on  19  December  2018  and  notified  the 
European  Parliament  and  the  Council.  Neither  the  European  Parliament  nor  the  Council 
issued any objection to the delegated act within the three-month period allowed under Article 
10(6) of Regulation (EC) No 184/2005. Upon expiry of that period, Commission Delegated 
Regulation (EU) 2019/505 was published in the Official Journal of the European Union on 
27 March 2019. It entered into force on 28 March 2019. 

4.  CONCLUSION 

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

The Commission believes that it should continue to have these powers, as in the future it may 
need to adopt delegated acts under Article 2(3) of Regulation (EC) 184/2005, when as a result 
of  economic  or  technical  changes,  the  geographical  breakdown  levels,  institutional  sector 
breakdown  levels  and  economic  activity  breakdown  levels  set  out  in  its  Annex  need  to  be 
updated.  

7 GEO 5 and GEO 6 are the geographical breakdown levels required for certain items of Member States’ annual 
data  on  international  trade  in  services,  annual  direct  investment  transactions  (including  income)  and  annual 
direct investment positions submitted to Eurostat. 

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