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 (EU) 2018/974 on statistics of goods transport by inland waterways
Date: 2021-03-12
Institutions: European Commission, Eurostat
Subjects: EU statistics, European Commission, carriage of goods, data collection, delegated legislation, inland waterway, powers of the institutions (EU), transport statistics

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  EN 

   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 12.3.2021  COM(2021) 117 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 (EU) 2018/974 on statistics of goods transport by inland waterways  
 
 
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 (EU) 2018/974 on statistics of goods transport by inland 
waterways 

1. 

INTRODUCTION 

Regulation  (EU)  2018/974  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council1 empowers  the 
Commission to adopt delegated acts under Article 10 for the following purposes: 

 

 

 

to raise the threshold for statistical coverage of goods transport by inland waterways, 
so as to take economic and technical trends into account (see Article 2(5)); 

to  adapt  definitions  or  provide  for  new  ones,  so  as  to  take  relevant  definitions  that 
have been amended or adopted at international level into account (see Article 3); 

to  reflect  changes  in  coding  and  nomenclature  at  international  level  or  in  relevant 
Union legislative acts (see Article 4(4)). 

According  to  Articles  2(5),  3  and  4(4),  when  exercising  that  power,  the  Commission  must 
ensure that the delegated acts do not impose a significant additional burden on the Member 
States or respondents. Furthermore, the Commission must justify the actions for which those 
delegated  acts  provide,  using,  where  appropriate,  a  cost-effectiveness  analysis  that  assesses 
the burden on respondents and the production costs. 

As specified in Article 10(4), before adopting a delegated act, the Commission must consult 
experts designated by each Member State in accordance with the principles laid down in the 
Interinstitutional Agreement of 13 April 2016 on Better Law-Making2.  

2. 

LEGAL BASIS 

This report is required under Regulation (EU) 2018/974, which specifies in Article 10(2) that 
the  power  to  adopt  delegated  acts  is  conferred  on  the  Commission  for  a  period  of  5  years 
from  7  December  2016.  The  Commission  is  required  to  draw  up  a  report  in  respect  of  the 
delegation of power not later than 9 months before the end of the 5-year period. This report 
fulfils that requirement for the first time. 

3. 

EXERCISE OF THE DELEGATION 

1   Regulation (EU) 2018/974 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 4 July 2018 on statistics of 

goods transport by inland waterways (OJ L 179, 16.7.2018, p. 14). 

2   OJ L 123, 12.5.2016, p. 1. 

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The Commission has not yet exercised the power to adopt delegated acts conferred on it by 
Regulation (EU) 2018/974. 

The  Commission  regularly  discusses  potential  improvements  to  inland  waterways  transport 
statistics  with  the  Expert  Group  on  Inland  Waterways  Transport  Statistics  and  the 
Coordinating  Group  for  Statistics  on  Transport.  These  discussions  also 
into 
consideration possible costs and burdens on countries and respondents. 

take 

Statistical  needs  in  the  context  of  the  Sustainable  and  Smart  Mobility  Strategy3 and  policy 
initiatives  set  out  in  the  Commission  Communication  on  the  European  Green  Deal 4 may 
require  the  Commission  to  adopt  delegated  acts  in  the  future.  Such  acts  will  help  to  adapt 
inland  waterways  statistics  to  economic  and  technical  trends  and  to  reflect  changes  in 
definitions, coding and nomenclature at EU or international level. 

4. 

CONCLUSION 

The Commission has not yet exercised its power to adopt delegated acts as conferred on it by 
Regulation (EU) 2018/974. 

The Commission considers that it should continue to have these delegated powers, as it may 
need  to  adopt  delegated  acts  in  the  future  to  support  developments  in  inland  waterways 
statistics.  

3 COM(2020) 789 final. 
4 COM(2019) 640 final. 

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