CELEX: 51976PC0497
Language: en
Date: 1976-09-28
Title: DRAFT COUNCIL DIRECTIVE concerning coordinated statistics on the business cycle in building and civil engineering (submitted to the Council by the Commission)

ARCHIVES HISTORIQUES
DE LA COMMISSION
COLLECTION RELIEE DES
DOCUMENTS "COM"
COM (76) 497
Vol. 1976/0147
 ---pagebreak--- Disclaimer
Conformément au règlement (CEE, Euratom) n° 354/83 du Conseil du 1er février 1983
concernant l'ouverture au public des archives historiques de la Communauté économique
européenne et de la Communauté européenne de l'énergie atomique (JO L 43 du 15.2.1983,
p. 1), tel que modifié par le règlement (CE, Euratom) n° 1700/2003 du 22 septembre 2003
(JO L 243 du 27.9.2003, p. 1), ce dossier est ouvert au public. Le cas échéant, les documents
classifiés présents dans ce dossier ont été déclassifiés conformément à l'article 5 dudit
règlement.
In accordance with Council Regulation (EEC, Euratom) No 354/83 of 1 February 1983
concerning the opening to the public of the historical archives of the European Economic
Community and the European Atomic Energy Community (OJ L 43, 15.2.1983, p. 1), as
amended by Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1700/2003 of 22 September 2003 (OJ L 243,
27.9.2003, p. 1), this file is open to the public. Where necessary, classified documents in this
file have been declassified in conformity with Article 5 of the aforementioned regulation.
In Übereinstimmung mit der Verordnung (EWG, Euratom) Nr. 354/83 des Rates vom 1.
Februar 1983 über die Freigabe der historischen Archive der Europäischen
Wirtschaftsgemeinschaft und der Europäischen Atomgemeinschaft (ABI. L 43 vom 15.2.1983,
S. 1), geändert durch die Verordnung (EG, Euratom) Nr. 1700/2003 vom 22. September 2003
(ABI. L 243 vom 27.9.2003, S. 1), ist diese Datei der Öffentlichkeit zugänglich. Soweit
erforderlich, wurden die Verschlusssachen in dieser Datei in Übereinstimmung mit Artikel 5
der genannten Verordnung freigegeben.
 ---pagebreak--- COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
                                            COM(76)497 final
                                            Brussels , 28 September 1976
                             \   ''
                              \
                               \
                                    DRAFT
                              COUNCIL DIRECTIVE
                       i                       !
            concerning coordinated statistics on the business
                   cycle in building and civil engineering
                                                 /
                                                   i
               ( submitted to the Council by the Commission )
C0M(76 ) 497 final
 ---pagebreak---                         EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM
1 « For its current work, particularly in the field of "business cycle policy ,
    the Commission requires quantitative statistical data enabling it to follow
    short-term economic trends in each of the Member States and in the Com­
    munity as a whole *
2 * In order to eliminate at least the most serious deficiencies in the field
    of short-term economic data and obtain information which is oos   arable as
    between Community countries , the Council of the European Communities adopted
    on 30 May 1972 Directive No » 72/211/EEC * This Directive calls for co­
    ordinated statistical inquiries to be conducted on the business cycle in
    all branches of industry and handicraft , though not in building and civil
    engineering*
3 * As a matter of fact , when the draft of this Directive was examined by the
    compfetent Council authorities , several experts considered that the 2ist of
    variables selected to obtain the short-term economic information required ,
    though perfectly suitable for the mining and manufacturing industries ,
    needed amplification or minor amendments for building and civil engineering
    in order to take into account certain features peculiar to this industry *
    Building and civil engineering was thus provisionally excluded from the
    scope of the inquiries , but an additional Directive was envisaged to solve
    the problem of the business cycle statistics to be established for this
    industry, as stated in Article 4 of Directive No* 72/211/EEC , which reads
    as follows :
                                      Article 4
        "A subsequent Council Directive shall , on the basis of co-ordinated
         definitions and methods , lay down the measures required for the
         drawing up of statistics necessary for the study of economic and
         business-cycle trends in the construction industry - making use , if
         necessary , of variables other than those referred to in Article 3 »
         the Directive shall also specify the frequency ^±'-h which these
         statistics must be produced *"
 ---pagebreak---                                       2  -
4 . 1+ is "by virW.! of this "brief -that the Commission , in co-operation with
    the Working Party on Building and Civil Engineering Statistics attached
    to the Statistical Office of the European Communities and consisting of
    experts from national statistical offices , the responsible ministries
    from the Member States and the employers' organisations , has drawn up
    the enclosed draft directive .
    The statistics to "be drawn up under the terms of this draft would comple­
    ment those already obtained for all the other industries , providing
    hencefcr+h the Commission as well as the interested "bodies in the Member
    States with a wider and more accurate statistical base for their studies
    of the business cycle in industry-
5 , As building and civil engineering are an industry of great importance and
    cannot therefore be overlooked in analyses concerning the short-term trends
    in industrial activity, the Commission considers it appropriate to propose
    to the Council the adoption of a Directive conforming to the enclosed
    draft .
 ---pagebreak---                                   DRAFT
                            COUNCIL DIRECTIVE
              concerning coordinated statistics on the business
                   cycle in building and civil engineering
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES ,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community,
and in particular Article 213 thereof.
Having regard to the draft submitted by the Commission in pursuance of
                                             (1)
Article 4 of Council Directive 72/ 211 / EEC     of 30 May 1972 concerning
coordinated statistics on the business cycle in industry and small craft
industries ,
Whereas the Commission , in order to carry out the tasks entrusted tD it
under the Treaty , must have at its disposal coherent statistical docu­
mentation , comparable as between States , on the short-term economic
development of industry and small craft industries in Member States ? .
Whereas the statistics to be drawn up pursuant to Council Directive
72/ 221 / EEC cover only the energy sector , mining and quarrying and the
manufacturing industries , but not building and civil engineering ;
Whereas building and civil engineering constitute a very substantial
sector of industry holding a key position within the economic structure ;
Whereas , in view of the increasing international interpenetration and
interdependence of business cycle and economic policies , it is necessary
that there be available a body of statistical data by means of which the
short-term development in all sectors of the economy may be followed and
appropriate and coordinated measures may be taken within the framework of
the short and medium-term economic objectives ;
< ) 0J No L 128, 3.6.1972, p. 28
 ---pagebreak---                                 - 2 -
 t'herear the data co building and civil engineering ought to be such as
 vo make possible also the analysis of disturbances or discrepancies arid
 of intensities c * yrowth or regression in partial markets , and this
 requires a breakdown of certain statistics by building on the one hand
 arid civil engineering on the other ;
Whereas the statistics available in the different Member States on short-
term economic trends in building and civil engineering are insufficient
or not sufficiently comparable to be able to serve as a valid basis for
the work of the Commission/
HAS ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE :
                               Article 1
The Member States , in technical cooperation with the Commission , shall
take all necessary steps for collecting , on the basis of coordinated
definitions and methods , the quantitative statistical data required for
the study of the business cycle and economic trends ii^ building and civil
engineering .                                   '    .
                               Article 2
The statistics shall cover building and civil engineering activitis as
listed in Division 5 of the General Industrial Classification of Economic
Activities within the European Communities ( NACE ), 1970 edition .
They shall be obtained either from statistical surveys covering at least
undertakings employing twenty or more persons , or from administrative
records , for example building permits . In order that results may be
promptly available, those data to be supplied by the undertakings may be
collected on a representative basis . The statistical unit for these -
statistics shall be the unit of economic activity as defined in part I
of NACE .
For the purposes of the Communities the presentation of the data shall
be based on NACE .
 ---pagebreak---                               Article 3
The statistics shall relate to the following variables or indicators :
- monthly :
  1.    building permits :
  1.1   Number of permits granted for residential buildings with an
        indication of the number of dwellings and the corresponding
        habitable floor area and/ or cubic capacity ;
  1.2   Number of permits granted for non-residential buildings with an
        indication of the number of buildings and the usable floor area
        and/ or the corresponding cubic capacity ;
        The data on building permits may be replaced by the corresponding
        data on building starts .
  2.    index-numbers of industrial production :
  2.1   Index of production for building and civil engineering ;
  2.11  Index of production for building ; *
  2.12  Index of production for civil engineering ;     *
  3.    orders received :
  3.1   Index-number of orders received for building and civil engineering
  3.11  Orders received for building , in value , and/ or number of building
        starts , residential and non-residential , with an indication of the
        habitable/ usable floor area or the cubic capacity ;
  3.12  Orders received in civil engineering , in value ;
- initially at least quarterly , this frequency being subject to m^dificati
  by the Commission in agreement with the Member States :
  4.    number of employees , specifying the number of manual workers ;
  5.    gross wages and salaries ;
  6.    turnover or value of work done :
  6.1   Turnover or value of work done in building ;
  6.2   Turnover or value of work done in civil engineering ;
  7.    volume of work done :
  7.1   Number of hours worked in building ;
  7.2   Number of hours worked in civil engineering .
 ---pagebreak---                                 - 4 -
                               Article 4
 The cat a shaU be collected for the first time not later than in the course
 of the fourth quarter after the notification of this Directive and shall be
 in respect of the preceding month or quarter .
 However , Member States not yet having statistics on building permits or on
building starts shall be allowed a period of two years from the date of the
notification of the Directive to introduce one or other of these types of
 statistics .
Member States shall be allowed the same period for the breakdown of the
total index of production ( variable 2.1 ) into an index of production for
building ( variable 2.11 ) and an index of production for civil engineering
( variable 2.12 ).
Data on the number of building starts may be used as substitute data for one
variable only , either for the number of building permits granted ( variables
1.1 and 1.2 ) or for the number of orders for building received ( variable 3.11 ).
                               Article 5
Member States shall take all appropriate steps to reduce to a minimum the
time needed for carrying out surveys and for processing and calculating
data , in order that the results of the surveys may be made available to
the Commission as soon as possible .
                               Article 6
The cost of compiling these statistics in the Member States shall be borne
by the various national budgets .
                               Article 7
This Directive is addressed to the Member States .
                                         Done at
                                         For the Council
                                         The President
 ---pagebreak---                   FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS
                 for the Community Budget
       of the Council 's approval of a Directive on
        the compilation of coordinated short–term
       statistics with respect to construction and
                   civil engineering
Article 6 of the draft Directive provides that expenses incurred
in the Member States' assembly and processing of the statistics in
question shall be chargeable to the national Budgets .
Nor is the Commission required to part–finance similar surveys on
the extractive and manufacturing industries carri    out by Member
States pursuant to Directive No 72/21 l/EEC of 30 May 1972 .