Proposal for a REGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL amending Regulation (EC) No 138/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards regional economic accounts for agriculture
Date: 2021-02-26
Institutions: European Commission, Eurostat
Subjects: EU statistics, European accounting system, agricultural statistics, common agricultural policy, data collection, disclosure of information, economic accounts for agriculture, statistical method

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   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 26.2.2021  COM(2021) 54 final/2 2021/0031 (COD)  CORRIGENDUM This document corrects document COM(2021) 54 final of 12.2.2021. Concerns all language versions.  Addition of the interinstitutional reference.  The text shall read as follows: Proposal for a REGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL amending Regulation (EC) No 138/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council  as regards regional economic accounts for agriculture     (Text with EEA relevance)  
 
 
EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM 

1. 

• 

CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL 

Reasons for and objectives of the proposal 

Eurostat has compiled European agricultural statistics on EU agriculture for decades. Today 
they  cover  the  following  aspects:  structure  of  farms,  economic  accounts  for  agriculture, 
animal  and  crop  production,  organic  farming,  agricultural  prices,  pesticides,  nutrients  and 
other  agri-environmental  aspects.  The  main  aim  is  to  monitor  and  evaluate  the  common 
agricultural policy (CAP) and other important EU policies, and to support policy-making. 

These data collections were evaluated in 20161 and found to be in need of an update to take 
account of changes in agriculture, the CAP and other related EU policies. The ‘Strategy for 
Agricultural  Statistics for 2020  and beyond’2 is  a major programme to  modernise European 
Union  agricultural  statistics  run  by  the  European  Commission  in  close  cooperation  with 
Member States. The strategy is supported by the European Statistical System Committee  and 
is  part  of  the  Regulatory  Fitness  and  Performance  programme  (REFIT)  whose  aim  is  to 
streamline and improve the European agricultural statistics system (EASS). The strategy also 
follows international recommendations, such as the guidelines of the Intergovernmental Panel 
on Climate Change on reporting greenhouse gas emissions, and the standards of the UN Food 
and  Agriculture  Organization,  and  it  implements  the  UN  Global  Strategy  to  improve 
agricultural and rural statistics. 

Agriculture is a relatively small sector economically, but covers almost half of the land area 
of the EU and supplies most of its food, ensuring both food safety and food security. It has a 
large impact on climate change and the environment, and many rural communities depend on 
agriculture. The EU needs the most accurate information in this field to design policies that 
benefit  all  citizens  of  Europe  by  allocating  the  substantial  budget  of  the  CAP  and  related 
measures  most  efficiently  and  effectively  across  multiple  dimensions.  Furthermore, 
agriculture is at the heart of the Commission Communication on the European Green Deal3, in 
particular in its ‘Farm-to-Fork strategy’. 

The  performance  of  the  agricultural  sector  as  a  whole  can  be  assessed  by  bringing  the 
information about the volume and price changes for agricultural goods and services under the 
umbrella of an accounting structure. To this end, the economic accounts for agriculture (EAA) 
provide  a  set  of  comparable  data  that  offers  important  macroeconomic-level  information  to 
key  users,  in  particular  the  Commission’s  Directorate  General  for  Agriculture  and  Rural 
Development (DG AGRI).   

As a satellite account of the European system of accounts (ESA 2010), the EAA very closely 
follow  the  methodology  for  national  accounts.  However,  their  compilation  requires  the 
formulation of appropriate rules and methods. Under the current methodology, Member States 

1 

2

3 

SWD(2017)96 - Commission staff working document evaluation accompanying the document ‘Strategy 
for  Agricultural  Statistics  2020  and  beyond’  and  subsequent  potential  legislative  scenarios  (Available 
only in English). 

https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/documents/749240/749310/Strategy+on+agricultural+statistics+F

inal+version+for+publication.pdf (Available only in English). 

Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the European Council, the Council, 
the  European  Economic  and  Social  Committee  and  the  Committee  of  the  Regions  on  the  European 
Green Deal, COM(2019) 640 of 11.12.2019. 

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have  been  providing  Eurostat  with  national  and  regional  economic  accounts  for  agriculture 
since  2000.  In  2004,  Regulation  (EC)  No  138/2004  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the 
Council  of  5  December  2003  on  the  economic  accounts  for  agriculture  in  the  Community4 
came  into  force  and  formalised  the  national  level  economic  accounts  part;  since  then  it  has 
been  amended  six  times.  However,  regional  level  accounts  have  not  been  included  in  the 
Regulation but have continued to be regularly transmitted by nearly all Member States under 
a  gentlemen’s  agreement.  This  is  suboptimal,  as  the  statistics  covered  by  the  gentlemen’s 
agreement are not formally part of the EAA, and there are no binding obligations or guarantee 
of delivery. Thus as regional economic accounts for agriculture are mature statistics that are 
important,  they  should  be  formalised  by  being  included  in  the  EAA  Regulation.  This  is  the 
only way to ensure their quality. The European Court of Auditors identified this issue in its 
Special  Report  SR  01/20165,  recommending  the  formalisation  of  the  regional  economic 
accounts for agriculture. The Commission accepted this finding. 

In the same Special Report SR 01/2016, a lack of EAA quality reporting was also identified. 
Since 2016, Eurostat has been implementing this recommendation, and EAA quality reports 
have  been  provided  by  EU  Member  States  (with  very  few  exceptions)  since  2019  with 
reference  to  the  requirements  of  Article  12(2)  of  Regulation  (EC)  No  223/20096.  However, 
Article  12  provides  for  the  specific  inclusion  of  quality  reporting  requirements  in  sectoral 
legislation,  which  allows  the  modalities,  structure,  periodicity  and  assessment  indicators  of 
the quality reports to be defined, in addition to deadlines for data transmission. At present, the 
exact quality reporting arrangements are only informal and therefore should be formalised in 
line with these existing requirements of Regulation (EC) No 223/2009. 

Finally,  for  the  EAA,  Member  States  transmit,  for  national-level  data,  first  estimated  data 
(deadline  November  of  reference  year  n),  second  estimated  data  (deadline  January  of  year 
n+1) and final data (deadline September of year n+1). The second data follow too soon after 
the  first  for  quality  to  be  optimally  improved,  so  the  data  transmission  deadlines  for  the 
second estimate should  be relaxed by 2 months from  end January to  end March of the  year 
following the reference year.   

• 

Consistency with existing policy provisions in the policy area 

For policymakers, businesses and the general public to be able to take appropriate evidence-
based decisions, statistics have to be reliable and of high quality.  

The  2020  agricultural  statistics  strategy  mentioned  above  includes  the  following  key 
objectives: 

 

 

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produce high quality statistics that meet users' needs efficiently and effectively; 

improve the harmonisation and coherence of European agricultural statistics. 

Regulation (EC) No 138/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 December 2003 on 
the economic accounts for agriculture in the Community (OJ L 33, 5.2.2004, p. 1). 
Special  report  No  1/2016:  Is  the  Commission’s  system  for  performance  measurement  in  relation  to 
farmers’ incomes well designed and based on sound data? 
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). 

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The three areas included in this proposal directly address these objectives.   

• 

Consistency with other Union policies 

Providing quality statistics to support European policies is the main driver of the 2013-2017 
European  statistical  programme7  (extended  to  20208).  Environmental  and  agricultural 
statistics  are one of the three pillars of statistical  production under that  programme. Among 
the programme’s relevant objectives is ‘the review and simplification of the agricultural data 
collection  in  line  with  the  CAP  review  post-2013  and  the  redesign  of  the  agricultural  data 
collection processes, in particular with the objective of improving the quality and timeliness 
of the data’. This initiative implements that objective. 

By  providing  better  data  for  assessing  the  agricultural  sector’s  sustainability  for  the 
environment,  people,  regions  and  the  economy,  the  European  agricultural  statistics  system 
will  also  contribute  to  at  least  two  of  the  six  priorities9  of  the  von  der  Leyen  Commission, 
namely:  

 

 

a  European  Green  Deal  with  the  underlying  Farm-to-Fork  and  Biodiversity 
strategies; and 

an economy that works for people.  

However,  agricultural  statistics  are  also  useful  for  other  Union  or  Member  State  priorities 
affecting or affected by agriculture and rural development.  

Beyond this, the proposal for a single market programme10 currently under interinstitutional 
discussion  provides  a  framework  for  financing 
the  development,  production  and 
dissemination  of  European  statistics.  The  implementation  of  Union  policies  requires  high 
quality, comparable and reliable statistical information about the economic, social, territorial 
and  environmental  situation  in  the  Union.  Additionally,  European  statistics  allow  European 
citizens to understand and participate in the democratic process and debate about the present 
state and future of the Union.  In the case of agricultural statistics, the focus is on  providing 
timely  and  relevant  data  for  the  needs  of  the  common  agricultural  policy,  the  common 
fisheries policy and policies related to the environment, food security and animal welfare.  

Agricultural  statistics  provide  high  quality  statistical  evidence  for  the  implementation  and 
monitoring of the CAP.  The CAP is an important driver for jobs and smart, sustainable and 
inclusive growth in the Union. On top of its social objectives, rural development policy, being 
an  integral  part  of  the  CAP,  aims  to  improve  the  competitiveness  and  sustainability  of 
agricultural production. The CAP represents more than 37% of the Union’s total budget in the 
context of the 2014-2020 multiannual financial framework (MFF). 

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10 

The  current  programme  was  established  by  Regulation  (EU)  No  99/2013 of  the  European  Parliament 
and of the Council of 15 January 2013 on the European  statistical programme  for the period 2013 to 
2017. It has been extended to 2020 by Regulation (EU) 2017/1951 of the European Parliament and of 
the Council of 25 October 2017. 

Regulation  (EU)  2017/1951  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  of  25  October  2017 
amending Regulation (EU) No 99/2013 on the European statistical programme 2013-17, by extending it 
to 2020 (OJ L 284, 31.10.2017, p. 1). 

https://ec.europa.eu/info/strategy/priorities-2019-2024_en. 
COM (2018) 441.  

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Agricultural  statistics  are  also  increasingly  needed  for  other  key  Union  policies  such  as  the 
European Green Deal, environmental and climate change policies, trade policy, social policy, 
regional policy, etc. 

 2. 

LEGAL BASIS, SUBSIDIARITY AND PROPORTIONALITY 

• 

Legal basis 

Article  338  of  the  Treaty  on  the  Functioning  of  the  European  Union  (TFEU)  provides  the 
legal  basis  for  European  statistics.  Acting  in  accordance  with  the  ordinary  legislative 
procedure, the European Parliament and the Council adopt measures for producing statistics 
where  this  is  necessary  for  the  Union  to  carry  out  its  role.  Article  338  sets  out  the 
requirements for producing European statistics, stating that they must conform to standards of 
impartiality, reliability,  objectivity, scientific independence, cost-effectiveness  and statistical 
confidentiality. 

The legal basis for the quality reports is Article 12 of Regulation (EC) No 223/2009.   

• 

Subsidiarity (for non-exclusive competence)  

The  subsidiarity  principle  applies  if  the  proposal  does  not  fall  within  the  exclusive 
competence of the Union. The ESS provides an infrastructure for statistical information. The 
system is designed to meet the needs of multiple users, for the purpose of decision-making in 
democratic  societies.  The  proposal  for  this  Regulation  has  been  drafted  to  protect  core 
activities  of  ESS  partners  while  better  ensuring  the  quality  and  comparability  of  EAA 
statistics. 

One of the main criteria that the statistical data must meet is to be consistent and comparable. 
Member  States  cannot  achieve  the  necessary  consistency  and  comparability  without  a  clear 
European  framework,  that  is  to  say,  Union  legislation  laying  down  the  common  statistical 
concepts, reporting formats and quality requirements.  

The  comparability  requirement  is  very  important  for  agricultural  statistics  because  of  the 
CAP. 

The objective of the proposed action cannot be achieved satisfactorily by the Member States 
acting  independently.  Action  can  be  taken  more  effectively  at  the  Union  level,  based  on  a 
Union legal act ensuring the comparability of statistical information in the statistical domains 
covered by the proposed act. Meanwhile, the data collection itself can be carried out by the 
Member States. 

• 

Proportionality 

The proposal complies with the proportionality principle, in view of the following: 

By applying the same principles across Member  States, the proposal  will ensure the quality 
and comparability of European agricultural statistics that have been  collected and compiled. 
Similarly, it will ensure that European agricultural statistics remain relevant and are adapted 
to  respond  to  user  needs.  The  Regulation  will  make  the  production  of  statistics  more  cost-
effective while taking into account the specific characteristics of Member States' systems. 

In accordance with the principle of proportionality, the proposed regulation confines itself to 
the minimum required to achieve its objective and does not go beyond what is necessary for 
that purpose.  

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• 

Choice of the instrument 

Proposed instrument: a regulation. 

Given  the  objectives  and  content  of  the  proposal,  a  regulation  is  the  most  appropriate 
instrument.  Important  common  EU  policies  such  as  the  CAP  inherently  depend  on 
comparable, harmonised and high quality agricultural statistics at European level. These can 
best  be  ensured  by  regulations,  which  are  directly  applicable  in  Member  States  and  do  not 
need to be transposed into national law first.  

3. 

• 

RESULTS 
CONSULTATIONS AND IMPACT ASSESSMENTS 

EVALUATIONS, 

POST 

OF 

EX 

STAKEHOLDER 

Ex post evaluations/fitness checks of existing legislation 

The evaluation of the ‘Strategy for Agricultural Statistics for 2020 and beyond’ referred to the 
then ongoing European Court of Auditors’ audit (resulting in Special Report SR 01/2016) as 
providing  indications  on  the  extent  to  which  EAA  serves  the  data  needs  of  the  users.  As 
indicated earlier, these findings are an important driver of the proposal.   

• 

Stakeholder consultations 

The development, production and dissemination of European agricultural statistics is achieved 
by Eurostat  through  close, coordinated and regular cooperation in  the ESS, building upon a 
long partnership between Eurostat and the national  statistical  institutes (NSIs)  as well as all 
other relevant authorities. 

At an overall level and with reference to the ‘Strategy for Agricultural Statistics for 2020 and 
beyond’,  the  main  categories  of  stakeholders  of  European  agricultural  statistics  are  data 
producers  (NSIs  and  other  national  authorities  as  well  as  Eurostat),  respondents  (farmers, 
farmers'  organisations  and  businesses)  and  users  (public  and  private  decision  makers  -  in 
particular  other  Commission  departments  -  researchers  and  journalists).  They  have  been 
consulted extensively on problems and desired changes in the status quo, their data needs and 
priorities, possible policy options to solve the problems, impacts of suggested actions, and the 
formulation of the strategy specifically. The main fora for these consultations have been: (i) 
the meetings and seminars of the Standing Committee for Agricultural Statistics (CPSA) and 
its successor, the Directors' Group for Agricultural Statistics (DGAS) (composed of directors 
of agricultural statistics of NSIs) where Commission departments, international organisations, 
farmers'  organisations  are  often  heard;  (ii)  the  European  Statistical  System  Committee 
meetings  (composed  of  the  directors-general  of  the  NSI);  and  (iii)  regularly  scheduled 
consultations and hearings within Commission departments. 

A  public  consultation  was  carried  out  for  the  evaluation,  and  the  results  are  detailed  in  a 
specific report11. 

The  main  findings  of  this  public  consultation,  forming  the  core  of  the  2020  agricultural 
statistics strategy and subsequently of this Regulation, are threefold: 

11 

Eurostat public consultation webpage: 
http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/about/opportunities/consultations/eass (Available only in English). 
Open public consultation report: 
http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/documents/10186/6937766/Agricultural-Statistics-Strategy-2020-
Report.docx (Available only in English). 

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The  current  Union  legislation  on  agricultural  statistics  does  not  adequately 
serve  new  and  emerging  data  needs  because  the  provision  of  this  data  is  not 
included in the legislative acts, and the acts are not flexible and integrated enough to 
respond to new needs in a timely manner.  

These  new  data  needs  mainly  stem  from  new  developments  in  agriculture,  revised 
legislation and changing policy priorities, in particular the recently reformed CAP. 

The data collections are not harmonised and coherent because new data needs are 
emerging,  legislation  has  been  developed  separately  over  many  years,  and  partly 
different definitions and concepts are used in different agricultural statistics areas.  

The  burden  of  providing  data  is  perceived  as  too  high  because  data  needs  are 
increasing, data collection is not harmonised, and resources continue to shrink at the 
Union and national level. That burden was confirmed as jeopardising data collection 
and data quality.  

As  part  of  the  modernisation  of  European  Union  agricultural  statistics,  the  EAA  have  been 
undergoing their own modernisation since 2016. An input to this has been the findings of the 
audit carried out by the European Court of Auditors (Special Report SR 01/2016) on farmers’ 
incomes.  The  recommendations  from 
the  broader 
modernisation exercise, which contain several improvements to EAA. 

this  report  were  brought  under 

Two of these improvements were identified by the Commission as requiring a change to the 
existing Regulation, i.e. the integration of regional economic accounts for agriculture (REAA) 
and the relaxation of second estimate deadlines for EAA. 

These  were  discussed  extensively  with  both  the  Agricultural  Accounts  and  Prices  Working 
Group and with the higher level Directors Group on Agricultural Statistics, both of which are 
groups comprising experts from the Member States. 

As the REAA are long established statistics that have been transmitted to Eurostat for many 
years,  incorporating  the  REAA  into  Regulation  (EC)  No  138/2004  is  mainly  a  case  of 
integrating the existing methodology, as used under the longstanding gentlemen’s agreement. 
Given that as it stands the methodology is largely satisfactory (EAA/EAF Manual Part VII12 ), 
there  is  no  need  to  rewrite  it.  The  methodology  and  the  chapter  on  regional  economic 
accounts  for  agriculture,  which  is  to  be  included  in  the  Regulation,  can  reflect  what  is 
currently  in  the  existing  manual.  Nevertheless,  some  smaller  changes  are  necessary  to  take 
account of ESA 2010 and the technical consultations with the Member States. 

This  proposal  has  been  fully  discussed  with  the  Agricultural  Accounts  and  Prices  Expert 
Group and with the Directors Group on Agricultural Statistics, which acknowledged that the 
Commission  (Eurostat)  would  be  proceeding  with  the  proposal  based  on  its  own  right  of 
initiative. The proposal has also been presented to the European Statistical System Committee 
set up by Regulation (EC) No 223/2009.   

• 

Collection and use of expertise 

Eurostat has held extensive discussions on the content of the proposal with NSIs via specific 
task forces and via existing expert groups, including at directors’ level.  

12 

EAA Manual on the Economic Accounts  for Agriculture and Forestry EAA/EAF 97 (Rev. 1.1), 2000 
https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/fr/web/products-manuals-and-guidelines/-/KS-27-00-782 
(Available in English, French and German). 

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The  proposal  was  also  presented  to  the  European  Statistical  System  Committee  in  October 
2020.  

• 

Impact assessment 

The  Regulatory  Scrutiny  Board  issued  a  positive  opinion  on  the  impact  assessment  of  the 
‘Strategy for Agricultural Statistics for 2020 and beyond’13 of which the EAA is part14. 

The impact assessment was undertaken at the strategy level because of a systematic approach 
across the whole agricultural statistics system, ensuring that all parts fit together.  

The  impact  assessment  found  that  the  EASS  should,  as  a  preferred  option,  ultimately  be 
covered  by  three  regulations.  Two  of  these  regulations  would  be  new  and  would  replace 
several  older  EU  regulations  on  agricultural  statistics.  The  first  of  these,  Integrated  Farm 
Statistics (IFS), which covers data on farm structure, orchards and vineyards, was adopted as 
Regulation  (EU)  2018/109115.  The  second  of  these  is  a  parallel  legislative  proposal  on  a 
regulation  on  statistics  on  agricultural  input  and  output  (SAIO),  which  covers  inputs  to  and 
outputs  of  the  agricultural  sector:  agricultural  production  (crops  and  animals)  including  
organic  farming,  agricultural  prices,  nutrients  and  plant  protection  products.  The  third 
regulation,  as  referred  to  in  the  impact  assessment,  is  Regulation  (EC)  No  138/2004  on  the 
Economic  Accounts  for  Agriculture  (EAA),  which  is  subject  to  the  present  proposal  for  an 
amending Regulation. As the EAA are a satellite account of the national accounts and macro-
economic by nature, their integration into the new framework regulations was not proposed. 
Instead,  it  was  proposed  that  these  remain  under  separate  legislation,  as  has  been  the  case 
since the EAA Regulation first came into force in 2004.  

• 

Regulatory fitness and simplification 

The proposal is part of the ‘Strategy for Agricultural Statistics for 2020 and beyond’, a major 
programme to modernise EU agricultural statistics run by the European Commission in close 
cooperation with the EU Member States. The strategy is supported by the European Statistical 
System  Committee  and  is  part  of  the  REFIT  programme  whose  aim  is  to  streamline  and 
improve the EASS.  

The EAA are mature statistics covered by Regulation (EC) No 138/2004. The new regulation 
that  is  being  proposed  should  cover  all  the  components  of  the  EAA  in  order  to  ensure  the 
quality of these statistics. The use of gentlemen’s agreements should be abolished. This would 
help  simplify  matters,  as  the  reference  point  will  be  the  new  regulation,  satisfying  all  data 
needs and all quality reporting requirements.   

The proposal on what to include under the proposed regulation amendment results from the 
ongoing  actions  to  modernise  the  EAA.  The  REAA  are  not  the  only  data  that  have  been 
covered  by  a  gentlemen’s  agreement.  In  the  case  of  EAA  ‘unit  values’,  which  are  data  that 
have  been  provided  for  many  years  under  the  same  type  of  agreement,  the  modernisation 
exercise determined that the collection of unit values at EU level should be discontinued. As a 
result, unit values were not proposed for inclusion in the EAA regulation amendment and will 
be dropped. This represents a small but distinct reduction in the burden for stakeholders.      

13 
14 

15 

SWD(2016)430 (Available only in English). 
https://ec.europa.eu/smart-regulation/impact/ia_carried_out/docs/ia_2016/sec_2016_0519_en.pdf 
(Available only in English). 
Regulation  (EU)  2018/1091  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  of  18  July  2018  on 
integrated farm statistics and repealing Regulations (EC) No 1166/2008 and (EU) No 1337/2011 (OJ L 
200, 7.8.2018, p. 1). 

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• 

Fundamental rights 

The proposal has no consequences for the protection of fundamental rights.  

4. 

BUDGETARY IMPLICATIONS 

None   

5. 

• 

OTHER ELEMENTS 

Implementation plans and monitoring, evaluation and reporting arrangements 

The  proposed  regulation  is  expected  to  be  adopted  by  the  European  Parliament  and  the 
Council  in  2021,  with  the  adoption  of  the  Commission’s  implementing  measure  on  quality 
reporting  to  follow  shortly  after  that.  The  Regulation  will  be  directly  applicable  in  all  EU 
Member States without the need for an implementation plan. 

Member  States  are  expected  to  start  providing  data  to  the  Commission  under  the  new 
regulation in 2022.  

The proposed legislative instrument is part of the EASS, which will undergo a comprehensive 
evaluation  in  order to  assess,  among other things, how effective  and efficient it has been in 
achieving its objectives and to decide whether new measures or amendments are needed. 

• 

Compliance monitoring of the statistics produced 

Eurostat conducts regular compliance assessments. These assessments include a review of the 
data availability, quality and punctuality and follow-up actions in case of non-compliance.  

In accordance with Union legislation, Member States are required to provide the Commission 
with relevant figures on agricultural statistics. These figures are subject to strict transmission 
deadlines which must be observed for the good management, dissemination and usefulness of 
European statistics, as missing or incomplete data lead to shortcomings in the availability of 
information  (that  is  to  say, it is  not  possible to  calculate Union aggregates and publish data 
according to planned time schedules).  

Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 constitutes the basic legal framework for the functioning of the 
European  statistical  system  and  for  all  sectoral  legislation  on  the  production  of  European 
statistics.  

While compliance assessments already consider timeliness,  punctuality and completeness  as 
important  factors  in  ensuring  a  timely  dissemination  of  agriculture  statistics,  more  attention 
will be paid to these factors and other quality dimensions in order to ensure confidence in the 
statistics produced by Eurostat and the ESS. 

Continuous improvement of the EASS: identification of new data needs and new 

• 
data sources, improvement of coherence, reduction of burden 

At  present,  Eurostat  conducts  annual  hearings  with  other  Commission  departments.  An 
important  aspect  of  these  hearings  is  the  exchange  of  information  on  respective  work 
programmes. They provide a formal platform for discussing upcoming needs for new statistics 
and reviewing the usefulness of the statistics available. 

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Further collaboration with other Commission departments, NSIs and other national authorities 
will take place at different hierarchical levels in regular Expert Group meetings and seminars, 
Directors'  Group  meetings,  European  Statistical  System  Committee  meetings,  and  through 
frequent  bilateral  exchanges.  Particular  attention  will  be  paid  to  the  identification  of 
administrative data and other sources of information maintained under Union legislation and 
the  assessment  of  their  suitability  for  the  production  of  statistics  in  order  to  establish 
agreements  for  their  stability,  accessibility  and  eventual  adaptation  to  better  fit  statistical 
requirements.  Furthermore,  periodic  surveys  and  analyses  will  be  conducted  to  identify  any 
potential  for  improving  European  agricultural  statistics  and  reducing  the  administrative 
burden. 

Those adjustments and the overall functioning of the legal framework will be monitored and 
evaluated in particular against the strategy objectives listed above.  

• 

Triennial monitoring reports 

In order to monitor the functioning of the renewed EASS and ensure that it fulfils the REFIT 
goals of simplification and burden reduction, a report will be published every 3 years on the 
functioning of the overall system.  

• 

Evaluation 

The second triennial monitoring report will be replaced by a retrospective evaluation  of the 
renewed  EASS,  conducted  according  to  the  Commission's  evaluation  guidelines.  This 
retrospective  evaluation  could  also  form  the  basis  for  further  revisions  of  the  legislation,  if 
deemed necessary. 

• 

Detailed explanation of the specific provisions of the proposal 

The  proposed  regulation  consists  of  two  new  articles  and  the  amendment  of  both  Annex  I 
(EAA methodology) and Annex II (Transmission programme of data). 

The main changes relate to Annex I and Annex II. 

The first main change relates to regional economic accounts for agriculture (REAA). Member 
States have been providing Eurostat with REAA since 2000 under a gentlemen’s agreement 
and in line with methodological practices that have been in place since that time. To integrate 
the  REAA  into  Regulation  (EC)  No  138/2004,  a  chapter  has  been  added  to  Annex  I.  This 
takes  into  account  consultations  with  the  expert  groups  of  Member  State  delegates  (the 
Agricultural  Accounts  and  Prices  Working  Group  and  the  Directors’  Group  on  Agricultural 
Statistics) on including some small updates to the current methodology to ensure that it is up 
to  date  and  fit  for  inclusion  in  the  regulation.  Annex  II  has  been  updated  to  reflect  the 
corresponding transmission deadlines for the REAA.  

Secondly, an article has been added to cover quality reporting requirements (Article 4a). Since 
2019,  EU  Member  States  (with  very  few  exceptions)  have  willingly  provided  EAA  quality 
reports  with  reference  to  the  requirements  of  Article  12(2)  of  Regulation  (EC)  223/2009. 
However,  there  is  no  article  in  Regulation  (EC)  No  138/2004  on  quality  reporting.  Article 
12(2)  of  Regulation  (EC)  223/2009  provides  for  specific  inclusion  of  quality  reporting 
requirements  in  sectoral  legislation,  which  allows  the  modalities,  structure,  periodicity  and 
assessment  indicators  of  the  quality  reports  to  be  defined  and  allows  the  deadlines  for 

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transmission to be set. At present, the exact quality reporting arrangements for the EAA are 
only informal and therefore would be formalised by the inclusion of Article 4a. 

The  third  main  change  relates  to  relaxing  the  transmission  deadlines  for  the  second  EAA 
estimates in order to facilitate improved data quality. For the EAA, Member States transmit, 
for  national  data,  first  estimated  data  (deadline  November  of  reference  year  n),  second 
estimated  data  (deadline  January  of  year  n+1)  and  final  data  (deadline  September  of  year 
n+1).  The  second  data  follow  too  soon  after  the  first  data  for  quality  to  be  substantially 
improved. Therefore transmission deadlines for the second estimates should be relaxed from 
January of  year n+1 to  March of  year n+1 so that Member States have  more time to  obtain 
better  quality  data.  As  the  timeliness  of  the  crucial  first  estimates  and  final  data  remain 
unchanged,  relaxation  of  the  deadlines  of  the  second  estimates  for  this  purpose  is  deemed 
appropriate.  Annex  II  has  been  updated  to  reflect  the  proposed  change  in  the  transmission 
deadlines for the EAA second estimates. 

The remaining proposed changes to articles are intended to address the following:  

– 

– 

– 

– 

to clarify the first transmission deadline of data for the regional economic accounts 
for agriculture (Article 3(2)); 

to  allow  possible  derogations  from  regional  economic  accounts  for  agriculture 
requirements (Article 4b); 

to make reference to the Committee procedure (Article 4c) which does not appear in 
the current legislation but which should be added;   

In  Annex  I,  a  very  small  number  of  additional  changes  are  proposed  (following 
consultations with the expert groups).   

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2021/0031 (COD) 

Proposal for a 

REGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL 

amending Regulation (EC) No 138/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council  
as regards regional economic accounts for agriculture 

(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 European Commission, 

After transmission of the draft legislative act to the national parliaments, 

Acting in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure, 

Whereas: 

Regulation (EU) No 549/2013 of the European Parliament and the Council16 contains 
(1) 
the  reference  framework  of  common  standards,  definitions,  classifications  and  accounting 
rules for drawing up the accounts of the Member States for the statistical requirements of the 
Union (‘ESA 2010’).  

Regulation  (EC) No 138/2004  of the European Parliament  and the Council17  sets  up 
(2) 
the economic accounts for agriculture (EAA) in the Union by providing for the methodology 
and the time limits for the transmission of the agricultural accounts.  The economic accounts 
for agriculture are satellite accounts of national accounts, as defined by ESA 2010, with the 
purpose of obtaining results that are harmonised and comparable between the Member States 
in order to draw up the accounts for the purposes of the Union. 

(3) 
The  regional  economic  accounts  for  agriculture  (REAA)  are  a  regional-level 
adaptation of the EAA. National figures alone cannot reveal the full and sometimes complex 
picture of  what  is  happening at  a more detailed level.  Therefore, regional-level  data help  to 
increase  the  understanding  of  the  diversity  that  exists  between  regions,  complementing 
information for the Union, the euro area and individual Member States. The REAA therefore 
need  to  be  integrated  into  Regulation  (EC)  No  138/2004  both  in  terms  of  methodology  and 
appropriate transmission deadlines.  

(4) 
Statistics are no longer considered to be just one among many sources of information 
for  policymaking  purposes  but  instead  play  a  central  role  in  the  decision‐ making  process. 
Evidence‐ based  decision‐ making  requires  statistics  that  meet  high‐ quality  criteria,  as  set 

16 

17 

Regulation  (EU)  No  549/2013  of  the  European  Parliament  and  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).  
Regulation (EC) No 138/2004 of the European Parliament and  of the Council of 5 December 2003 on 
the economic accounts for agriculture in the Community (OJ L 33, 5.2.2004, p. 1). 

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out  in  Regulation  (EC)  No  223/2009  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council18,  in 
accordance with the purposes they are serving. 

(5) 
Regulation  (EC)  No  223/2009  provides  the  legal  framework  for  European  statistics 
and  requires  Member  States  to  comply  with  the  statistical  principles  and  quality  criteria 
specified  in  the  Regulation.  Quality  reports  are  essential  for  assessing,  improving  and 
communicating  on  the  quality  of  European  statistics.  The  European  Statistical  System 
Committee (ESSC) has endorsed the single integrated metadata structure as the ESS standard 
for  quality  reporting,  thereby  helping  to  satisfy,  through  uniform  standards  and  harmonised 
methods,  the  statistical  quality  requirements  laid  down  in  Regulation  (EC)  No  223/2009,  in 
particular those set out in Article 12 (3) thereof. 

(6) 
In  order  to  ensure  uniform  conditions  for  the  implementation  of  this  Regulation, 
implementing powers should be conferred on the Commission in respect of the arrangements 
for  and  the  content  of  the  quality  reports.  In  addition,  implementing  powers  should  also  be 
conferred  on  the  Commission  in  respect  of  possible  derogations  from  regional  economic 
accounts for agriculture requirements. Those powers should be exercised in accordance with 
Regulation (EU) No 182/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council. 

(7) 
The  EAA  provide  important  annual  macroeconomic  data  to  European  policymakers 
three  times  a  year;  first  and  second  estimates  are  followed  by  the  final  data.  The  current 
transmission deadline for the EAA second estimates does not provide much time after the end 
of the reference period to collect improved data compared to the data provided for the EAA 
first  estimates.  To  improve  the  quality  of  these  second  estimates,  the  transmission  deadline 
needs to be slightly postponed. 

(8) 

(9) 

Regulation (EC) No 138/2004 should therefore be amended accordingly.  

The European Statistical System Committee has been consulted, 

HAVE ADOPTED THIS REGULATION: 

Regulation (EC) No 138/2004 is amended as follows: 

(1)  

In Article 3 (2), the following sentence is added: 

Article 1 

 ‘2. The first transmission of data for the regional economic accounts for agriculture shall take 
place by 30 June 2022 at the latest.’ 

(2) 

The following Articles are inserted: 

’Article 4a 

Quality assessment 

1.  Member  States  shall  take  the  measures  necessary  to  ensure  the  quality  of  the  data  and 
metadata transmitted. 

18 

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). 

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2. For the purpose of this Regulation, the quality criteria set out in Article 12(1) of Regulation 
(EC) No 223/2009 shall apply to the data to be transmitted in accordance with Article 3 of this 
Regulation. 

3. The Commission (Eurostat) shall assess the quality of the data transmitted. 

4.  In  applying  the  quality  criteria  referred  to  in  paragraph  2  to  the  data  covered  by  this 
Regulation,  the  Commission  shall,  by  means  of  implementing  acts,  define  the  modalities, 
structure, periodicity and assessment indicators of the quality reports and set the deadline for 
providing the reports to the Commission (Eurostat). Those implementing acts shall be adopted 
in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 4c(2).  

5. Member States shall inform the Commission (Eurostat) as soon as possible of any relevant 
information  or  change  with  regard  to  the  implementation  of  this  Regulation  that  would 
influence the quality of the data transmitted.  

6. Upon a duly justified request from the Commission (Eurostat), Member States shall provide 
necessary additional clarification to evaluate the quality of the statistical information. 

Article 4b 

Derogations 

1. Where the application of this Regulation would necessitate major adaptations in a national 
statistical system of a Member State as regards the implementation of the content of Annex I, 
point VII. ‘Regional economic accounts for agriculture’ and of the transmission programme 
of data for regional accounts for agriculture as referred to in Annex II, the Commission may 
adopt implementing acts granting derogations to that Member State for a maximum duration 
of two years. 

2. The relevant Member State shall submit a duly reasoned request for such a derogation to 
the  Commission  within  three  months  of  [insert  the  date  of  the  entry  into  force  of  this 
Regulation]. 

3.  These  implementing  acts  shall  be  adopted  in  accordance  with  the  examination  procedure 
referred to in Article 4c. 

Article 4c 

Committee procedure 

1.  The  Commission  shall  be  assisted  by  the  European  Statistical  System  Committee 
established  by  Regulation  (EC)  No  223/2009.  That  Committee  shall  be  a  committee  within 
the meaning of Regulation (EU) No 182/2011.  

2. Where reference is made to this paragraph, Article 5 of Regulation (EU) No 182/2011 shall 
apply.’ 

(3) Annex I is amended in accordance with Annex I to this Regulation. 

(4) Annex II is amended in accordance with Annex II to this Regulation. 

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

Article 2 

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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