CELEX: 51974PC0922
Language: en
Date: 1974-06-24
Title: Proposal for a COUNCIL REGULATION modifying Council Regulation (EEC) No 1445/72 concerning the nomenclature of goods for the external trade statistics of the Community and Statistics of Trade between Member States (NIMEYE) (submitted to the Council by the Commission)

ARCHIVES HISTORIQUES
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DOCUMENTS "COM"
COM (74) 922
Vol. 1974/0155
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 ---pagebreak--- COMMISSION CFTHE EUROIEAN COMMUNITIES
                                                         COM(74)922 final
                                                         Brussels . 24 June 1974
                                 Proposal for a
                               COUNCIL REGULATION
  modifying Council Regulation (EEC) No 1445/ 72 concerning the nomenclature of
           goods for the external trade statistics of the Community
             and Statistics of Trade between Member States (NIMEXE)
                 ( submitted to the Council by the Commission)
   CQM(74) 922 final
 ---pagebreak---                         REASONS FOR THE PROPOSAL
Council Regulation (EEC) n 1445/72 of 24 April 1972 established a nomen­
clature of goods for the external trade statistics of the Community and
statistics of trade between Member States ( NIMEXE) . Its immediate effect
was to make available to risers of these statistics data broken down by
NIMEXE items , of which there were 6538 on 1 January 1974* Moreover in re­
serving the right by article 2 paragraph 2 , of specifying not later than
31 December 1974 the detailed rules for application of the NIMEXE by Mem­
ber States , the Council has demonstrated its intention to accelerate the
harmonisation in progress in a second phase .
Now , since the regulation on the NIMEXE came into force , the converging
trend in nomenclatures of products and of activities has accelerated un­
der the influence of work undertaken at the national and international
levels to make them universally appropriate for automatic date. processing.
Thus , several Member States have already set up so called integrated
tariffs uniting both their customs and statistical nomenclatures and to
align with which the various regulations relating to these have been
altered. Moreover , the Customs Cooperation Council and the United Nations
have ambitious nomenclatures on the stocks intended to cover the whole
range of international exchanges of which account will have to be taken
at a detailed level , Faced with these developments and trends it is
unanimously admitted that the unrestricted application of the NIMEXE by
the Member States is also an indispensable element of progress in this
field.
The pressure of computer requirements on nomenclatures has thus been such
that in only a short time it has become superfluous to plan particular
methods of application for every facet of the components of the NIMEXE
and the elements specifying its items . This is why the only problem sub­
mitted for the attention of the Council today is that of the possible con­
sequences of the maintenance and introduction in current nomenclatures of
statistical sub-divisions meeting national needs .
 ---pagebreak---                                    -2-
To prevent recourse to article 6 of the regulation on the NIMEXE , from
which these sub-divieions stem , leading to an impasse in the work the NIMEXE
Committee does under the direction of the Commission , two sorts of measures
are necessary *
Firstly , it would be advisable to make the NIMEXE itself more amenable to
the breakdowns which seem at first sight to interest only one Member State
but which will be of use to several , even to all , once the volume of trade
has gr»own or their importance otherwise increased. In this respect , the
creation of optional items should allow the Commission , in its management
of the NIMEXE both to lend weight to important national interests and to
contribute to the future development pf the nomenclature .
Secondly , by subjecting to prior scrutiny by the Commission the exercise
by Member States of their right to particular information of their own each
time the NIMEXE has been unable to ensure it , the complementary previsions
of article 6 will often encourage the bringing together of Member States
points of view and will at any rate prevent the uncontrolled proliferation
of national sub-divisions . This dual aim must also be attained by working
on existing national sub-divisions , the great number of which still thwarts
to an excessive degree the improvement of the precision and comparability
of the statistics .
Thus , these measures are in the main stream of development begun in 1972
by the regulation on the NIMEXE. They tighten the relationships between
national statistics , extend the fifeld of Community statistics and allow
Member States to seek whatever additional information they may require .
Finally , the addition of an article relating to the annual publication of
the NIMEXE by the Commission is justified by a series of practical consi­
derations . In accordance with the procedure set out in article 5 of Council
Regulation (EEC) n° 1445/72 of 24 April 1972 , the Commission is empowered
to adopt , following an Opinion by the NIMEXE Committee expressing their
agreement , the measures necessary for modification of the NIMEXE. After
their publication in .the Official Journal of the European Communities ,
users are required to insert these modifications in the basic text of the
nomenclature of goods as it was approved by the Council in the version
valid for 1972 .
 ---pagebreak---                                    -3-
This transcription can very easily give rise to errors and. is , therefore ,
prejudicial to legal precision f all the more so in that in general it must
he done in a very short space of time as the Council is in the habit of
deciding only very late in the year on modifications to the nomenclature
of the Common Customs Tariff , on which a good many of the modifications to
the NIMEXE depend . Annual publication of the whole of the nomenclature of goods wi3
goods will take account of all the modifications made to it and will eli­
minate these difficulties . It might be as well to point out explicitly
that this new article merely empowers the Commission to systematise texts
which arise from its existing powers within the limits of Council Regu­
lation (SEC) n° 1445/72.
 ---pagebreak---                                          - 1 -
                                     PROPOSAL
               "■ FOR.-À CCUIICI L REGULATION MODIFYING COUNCIL REGULATION
                  (EEC ) no 1445/72 CONCERNING THE NOMENCLATURE
        .OP GOODS FOR THE EXTERNAL TRADE STATISTICS OF THE      COMMUNITY
            AND STATISTICS OP TRADE BETWEEN MEMBER STATES ( NIMEXE )
THE COUNCIL OP THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES ,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community
and particularly article 235 thereof ;
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission ;
Having regard to the Opinion of the European Parliament ;
Whereas the Council Regulation (EEC ) no 1445/72 of 24 April 1972 concerning
the Nomenclature of Goods for the External Trade Statistics of the Community
and Statistics of Trade "between Member States (NIMEXE ) ( l ) provides in its
Article 2 , paragraph 2 that on a proposal from the Commission , the Council acting
unanimously shall lay down detailed rules for application of the NIMEXE "by the
Member States ; wherea3 , in fixing these rules , amendments to certain provi­
sions of the above mentioned regulation are required in order to take account
of experience since the entry into force of this regulation ;
Whereas only through the complete application of the NIMEXE by the Community
and its Member States can the objectives set out in Council Regulation (EEC )
no I445/72 be attained effectively and in a reasonable length of time ;
Whereas only the complete application of the NIMEXE will facilitate the ne-
gociations which the Commission and the Member States will have to carry on
at the Customs Cooperation Council with a view to creating a Harmonised Des­
cription and Coding System and , at the United Nations , with a view to es­
tablishing a nomenclature of all goods and services ;
( 1 ) O.J. No L 161 of 17.7.72
 ---pagebreak---                                      - 2 -
Whereas in order to ensure the correlation "between the NIMEXE and other
nomenclatures and in particular the nomenclature of the Common Customs
Tariff, as well as its adaptation to the development of trade it is
necessary to make numerous modifications to it every year ; whereas as much
for the user of external trade - statistics as for the supplier of the data ,
utilisation of the NIMEXE is becoming all the more difficult , as the annexe
to Council Regulation ( SEC ) n° 1445/72 is subject to new modifying regu­
lations ; whereas annual publication by the Commission of a single text
including not only those parts of the NIMEXE which have been changed during
the previous year but also parts modified before ,as well as those which are
unchanged, is intended merely to spare the user a laborious up-dating pro­
cess which is bound to lead to errors and is therefore prejudicial to the
accuracy of st&tistical data j
Whereas it would be as well to avoid the situation in which statistical
sub-divisions answering national needs present divergences detrimental to
the proper development of the NIMEXE j whereas for this reason it is impor­
tant to satisfy these national needs as much as possible by means of op­
tional items in the NIMEXE ;
Whereas it is still advisable to allow the Member States to collect na­
tional data when their needs are too specific for account to be taken of
them in the N3HEXE and without the measures taken to this end hindering
the development of the latter ; whereas it is sensible to provide for a
transitional period long enough to resolve the problems posed by the pre­
sent statistical sub-divisions answering national needs ;
HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION :
                                  Article 1
Article 2 of Council Regulation n° 1445/ 72 is replaced by the following
text  :
 ---pagebreak--- " 1 . The NIMEXE shall "be applied by the Community and "by its Member States
      to the external trade statstic^ of the Community and statistics of
      trade between Ilember States .,;
  2 . Use of the items inserted in the NIMEXE in accordance with Article 5 ,
      paragraph 1 , third sub-paragraph is optional.
 3 . The original Member States until 31 December 1975 an& the new Member
      States until 31 December 1977 can continue to use their national nomen­
      clatures for statistics of external trade of the Community and Statistics
      of trade between Member States . In this case , they must however ensure
      the transposition of their nomenclatures into the appropriate iTIM3XE
      item .
                                     Article 2
The first paragraph of article 5 of Council Regulation (SEC ) n° 1445/72
is supplemented by the following third sub-paragraph :
     insertion in the NIMEXE , in the form of optional items , of statistical
     subdivisions answering national needs which will at the same time facilitate
     the correlation or adaptation referred to in the second sub-paragraph above."
                                     Article 3
The following article is inserted in Regulation (EEC ) n° 1445/72 :
"Article 5 A
The Commission shall publish the NIMEXE in its authoritative version on
1 January of each year ."
 ---pagebreak---                                         - 4 -
                                      Article 4
The text of Article 6 of Regulation ( EEC ) n° 1445/ 72 is replaced by the
following :
" 1 . Member States can use , as an extension of items of the NIMEXE , Statistical
      sub-divisions answering national needs in addition to those alluded
      to in Article 5 » paragraph 1 , third sub-paragraph . Member States
      wishing to make use of this facility shall inform the Commission at
      least   2  months before the date when it is intended such measures
      as are planned shall tak£> effect , Vfithin  1  month the Commission can
      call upon the Member State to modify these measures or not to put them
      into effect , when it considers that these statistical sub-divisions
      should be the subject of Community-wide provisions under Article 5 »
      paragraph 1 , second or third sub-paragraph ,
  2 . Until 31 December 1977 and without prejudice to article 5 » Member States
      can continue to use statistical sub-divisions answering national needs
      which they were using on the day this Regulation came into force ,"
                                     Article 5
Preliminary provisions 1 and 2 of the NMEXE are replaced by the following
text    :
" 1 . The NIMEXE items correspond to positions of the Nomenclature for the
      Classification of Goods in Customs Tariffs ( Brussels Nomenclature ,
      abbreviated BTN ), to sub-divisions of the nomenclature of the Common
      Customs Tariff ( abbreviated CCT ) to the extent that they are not
      regrouped or they are not replaced by statistical sub-divisions of
      the positions of the BTN and the sub-positions of the nomenclature of
      the CCT . Moreover , some items , outside this framework , answer
      special needs ( for example : goods carried by post , goods declared
      as ships stores etc ).
 ---pagebreak---                                       - 5 -
   Among the items of the NUIEXE which correspond to statistical sub-divisions
   or Which answer special needs there are some whose application is optional ,
2-.Each item of the NEEEXE is characterised "by its code number , its description
   and where appropriate by its supplementary unit . However , the optional
   items are not provided with code numbers ."
                                    Article 6
   This Regulation shall enter into force on the third day following the date
   of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Communities .
   This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and applicable in all
   Member States .
   Done at Brussels ,
                                                        For the Council
                                                         The President