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) No 70/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 January 2012 on statistical returns in respect of the carriage of goods by road
Date: 2021-04-14
Institutions: European Commission, Eurostat
Subjects: EU statistics, European Commission, carriage of goods, data collection, delegated legislation, powers of the institutions (EU), road transport, transport statistics

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  EN 

   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 14.4.2021  COM(2021) 176 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) No 70/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 January 2012 on statistical returns in respect of the carriage of goods by road  
 
 
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) No 70/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council 
of 18 January 2012 on statistical returns in respect of the carriage of goods by road 

1. 

INTRODUCTION 

Article 3(4) of Regulation (EU) No 70/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council1 
empowers  the  Commission  to  adopt,  where  necessary,  delegated  acts  in  accordance  with 
Article 8 to:  

-  update Part 1 of Annex I, solely in  order to  take account of economic and technical 
developments,  except  for  any  modifications  to  the  optional  nature  of  the  required 
information; 

-  adapt Annexes II to VII to take account of economic and technical developments.  

Under  Article  3(4)  of  the  same  Regulation,  when  exercising  that  power,  the  Commission 
must  ensure  that  any  delegated  acts  it  adopts  do  not  impose  significant  additional 
administrative burdens on the Member States or respondents. 

2. 

LEGAL BASIS 

Under  Article 8(2)  of  Regulation  (EU)  No 70/2012,  the  power  to  adopt  delegated  acts 
referred  to  in  Article  3(4)  is  conferred  on  the  Commission  for  a  period  of  5  years  from 
23 February 2012. The delegation of power is  to  be tacitly  extended for periods of 5  years, 
unless the European Parliament or the Council opposes such extension.  

The Commission must draw up a report in respect of the delegation of power not later than 9 
months before the end of the 5-year period.  

The  Commission  submitted  a  first  report  in  2016 2 .  The  delegation  of  power  was 
automatically  extended  for  another  5  years  from  February  2017  to  February  2022,  as  the 
Parliament or the Council did not revoke it pursuant to Article 8(3). 

This report fulfils the Commission’s obligation to draw up a second report on the exercise of 
its power to adopt delegated acts. 

1 Regulation (EU) No 70/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 January 2012 on statistical 
returns in respect of the carriage of goods by road (OJ L 32, 3.2.2012, p. 1). 
2 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  under  Regulation  (EU)  No  70/2012  of  18  January  2012  on 
statistical returns in respect of the carriage of goods by road (COM (2016) 562 final, 12.9.2016). 

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3. 

EXERCISE OF THE DELEGATION 

The Commission has not yet exercised the power to adopt delegated acts conferred on it by 
Regulation (EU) No 70/2012. 

The  Commission  regularly  discusses  possible  improvements  to  road  freight  transport 
statistics  with  the  Member  States,  in  the  context  of  technical  developments  and  new 
economic,  environmental  and  societal  requirements.  The  Commission,  together  with  the 
Expert Group on Road Freight Transport Statistics and the Coordinating Group for Statistics 
on  Transport,  consider  improvements  to  road  freight  transport  statistics,  while  taking  into 
account potential costs and burdens on countries and respondents. 

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  to  adapt  the  aforementioned  Annexes  to 
Regulation  (EU)  No 70/2012  to  economic  and  technical  developments  and  improve 
monitoring of policy targets and trends.  

4. 

CONCLUSIONS 

The  Commission  has  not  yet  exercised  its  power  to  adopt  delegated  acts  under  Regulation 
(EU) No 70/2012. 

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  road freight  transport 
statistics. 

3 COM(2020) 789 final. 

4 COM(2019) 640 final. 

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