Article 1 Objective
Member States shall establish statistical returns on the carriage of passengers, freight and mail by commercial air services as well as on civil aircraft movements to or from Community airports, except for flights by State aircraft.
Article 2 Gibraltar
1. The application of this Regulation to the airport of Gibraltar is understood to be without prejudice to the respective legal positions of the Kingdom of Spain and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland with regard to the dispute over sovereignty over the territory in which the airport is situated. 2. The application of this Regulation to Gibraltar airport shall be suspended until the arrangements in the Joint Declaration made by the Foreign Ministers of the Kingdom of Spain and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland on 2 December 1987 come into operation. The Governments of Spain and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland shall inform the Council of such date of entry into operation.
Article 3 Data collection characteristics
1. Each Member State shall collect statistical data relating to the following variables: (a) passengers (b) freight and mail (c) flight stages (d) passenger seats available (e) aircraft movements. The statistical variables in each area, the nomenclatures for their classification, their periodicity of observation and the definitions are set out in Annexes I and II. 2. Each Member State shall collect all data set out in Annex I for all Community airports in its territory with traffic in excess of 150 000 passenger units annually. A list of Community airports covered by the first subparagraph shall be drawn up by the Commission and, if necessary, updated in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 11(2). 3. For airports, apart from those having only occasional commercial traffic, which are not covered by paragraph 2, Member States shall transmit only an annual return of the data specified in Table C1 of Annex I. 4. Notwithstanding paragraphs 2 and 3, for airports: (a) with fewer than 1 500 000 passenger units a year for which no collection of data corresponding to those specified in Annex I exists on the date of entry into force of this Regulation, (b) and for which the introduction of a new data collection system proves very difficult, a Member State may for a limited time not exceeding three years from 1 January 2003, in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 11(2), transmit data less complete than those referred to in Annex I. 5. Notwithstanding paragraph 2, for airports: (a) for which no collection of data corresponding to those specified in Table B1 of Annex I exists on the date of entry into force of this Regulation, a Member State may, until 31 December 2003, in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 11(2), transmit only existing data.
Amendment rationale: CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL The proposal for a Council Regulation is necessitated by the upcoming accession of the Republic of Croatia to the European Union. The Treaty concerning the accession of the Republic of Croatia to the European Union[1] was signed by all Member States of the European Union and the Republic of Croatia at Brussels on 9 December 2011. Article 3 (3) of the Treaty of Accession provides that it shall enter into force on 1 July 2013 provided that all the instruments of ratification have been deposited before that date. Article 3(4) of the Treaty of Accession enables the institutions of the Union to adopt before accession measures referred to, inter alia, in Article 50 of the Act concerning the conditions of accession of the Republic of Croatia[2]. These measures shall enter into force only subject to and on the date of the entry into force of the Treaty of Accession. Article 50 of the Act of Accession provides that where acts of the institutions adopted prior to accession require adaptation by reason of accession, and the necessary adaptations have not been provided for in this Act or its Annexes, the Council or the Commission (if the original acts were adopted by the Commission) shall adopt the necessary acts. Point 2 of the Final Act[3] refers to the political agreement on a set of adaptations to acts adopted by the institutions which was reached between the Member States and Croatia in the context of the approval of the Treaty of Accession; the High Contracting Parties of the Treaty of Accession invited the Council and the Commission to adopt these adaptations before accession in accordance with Article 50 of the Act of Accession, completed and updated where necessary to take account of the evolution of the law of the Union. The present proposal regroups the technical adaptations to all Council regulations and decisions as well as to all European Parliament and Council regulations and decisions which require technical adaptation by reason of the accession of Croatia, into a single Council regulation. Alongside this proposal for a Council Regulation, the Commission transmits a series of separate proposals for several Council directives to the Council which cover technical adaptations to Council directives as well as to European Parliament and Council directives which also need technical adaptation by reason of the accession of Croatia. Each of these separate proposals for Council directives regroups the technical adaptations which correspond to different negotiation chapters. This structure is designed to facilitate the transposition of the directives by Member States into their respective legal orders, and is in line with the approach which was taken in view of the accession of Bulgaria and Romania[4]. It is foreseen that all the legal acts included in this package will be published in the Official Journal of the European Union at the same date. The present proposal and the other proposals included in this package will take into account technical adaptations to the acquis which were published in the Official Journal of the European Union until 1 September 2012. The reasons for this are to provide sufficient time for the legislative processes involved on the one hand, and for the fulfilment of the ensuing transposition and notification obligations by Member States as regards directives on the other hand. Adaptations which may be necessary to the acquis published in the Official Journal of the European Union after 1 September 2012 will be foreseen in the relevant acts themselves or done at a later stage through the appropriate procedure. In addition, the Commission intends to informally provide a list of such legislation to Member States in early July 2013.
Revised version (Article 3 Data collection characteristics):
The statistical variables in each area, the nomenclatures for their classification, their periodicity of observation and the definitions are set out in Annexes I and II. 2. Each Member State shall collect all data set out in Annex I for all Community airports in its territory with traffic in excess of 150 000 passenger units annually. A list of Community airports covered by the first subparagraph shall be drawn up by the Commission and, if necessary, updated in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 11(2). 3. For airports, apart from those having only occasional commercial traffic, which are not covered by paragraph 2, Member States shall transmit only an annual return of the data specified in Table C1 of Annex I.
Article 4 Collection of data
1. The collection of data shall be based where possible on available sources, minimising the burden on respondents. 2. Respondents called upon by Member States to supply information shall be obliged to give true and complete information within the prescribed time limits.
Article 5 Accuracy of statistics
The collection of data shall be based on complete returns, unless other standards of accuracy are established by the Commission. Those measures, designed to amend non-essential elements of this Regulation by supplementing it, shall be adopted in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny referred to in Article 11(3).
Article 6 Data processing
Member States shall use methods for data processing which ensure that the data collected under Article 3 comply with the standards of accuracy set out in Article 5.
Article 7 Transmission of results
1. Member States shall transmit to the Statistical Office of the European Communities the results of the data processing referred to in Article 6, including data declared confidential by the Member States pursuant to domestic legislation or practice concerning statistical confidentiality, in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 322/97. 2. The results shall be transmitted according to the data files shown in Annex I. The files shall be specified by the Commission. Those measures, designed to amend non-essential elements of this Regulation, shall be adopted in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny referred to in Article 11(3). The medium to be used for transmission shall be specified by the Commission in accordance with the regulatory procedure referred to in Article 11(2). 3. The first period of observation shall begin on 1 January 2003. Transmission shall take place as soon as possible and no later than six months after the end of the period of observation.
Article 8 Dissemination
1. The arrangements whereby the Commission publishes or disseminates the statistical results shall be drawn up in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 11(2). 2. The Commission shall disseminate to the Member States appropriate statistical results with a frequency similar to that laid down for the transmission of results.
Article 9 Reports
1. At the request of the Commission, Member States shall communicate all information concerning the methods used in the collection of data. Member States shall also, where appropriate, communicate to the Commission any substantive changes to the collection methods used. 2. After data have been collected over a period of three years, the Commission shall submit a report to the European Parliament and the Council on experience acquired in the application of this Regulation, in particular of Articles 7 and 8.
Article 10 Implementing measures
1. The following implementing measures shall be adopted in accordance with the regulatory procedure referred to in Article 11(2): — the list of Community airports covered by Article 3(2), — description of the data codes and the medium to be used for transmission of results to the Commission (Article 7), — dissemination of statistical results (Article 8), 2. The Commission shall adopt the following implementing measures: — adaptation of the specifications in the Annexes to this Regulation, — adaptation of the data collection characteristics (Article 3), — accuracy of statistics (Article 5), — description of the data files (Article 7), Those measures, designed to amend non-essential elements of this Regulation by supplementing it, shall be adopted in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny referred to in Article 11(3).
Article 11 Committee procedure
1. The Commission shall be assisted by the Statistical Programme Committee established by Decision 89/382/EEC, Euratom. 2. Where reference is made to this paragraph, Articles 5 and 7 of Decision 1999/468/EC shall apply, having regard to the provisions of Article 8 thereof. The time limit laid down in Article 5(6) of Decision 1999/468/EC shall be set at three months. 3. Where reference is made to this paragraph, Article 5a(1) to (4) and (5)(a) and Article 7 of Decision 1999/468/EC shall apply, having regard to the provisions of Article 8 thereof.
Article 12 Entry into force
This Regulation shall enter into force on the 20th day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union . This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.
Amendment rationale: CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL The proposal for a Council Regulation is necessitated by the upcoming accession of the Republic of Croatia to the European Union. The Treaty concerning the accession of the Republic of Croatia to the European Union[1] was signed by all Member States of the European Union and the Republic of Croatia at Brussels on 9 December 2011. Article 3 (3) of the Treaty of Accession provides that it shall enter into force on 1 July 2013 provided that all the instruments of ratification have been deposited before that date. Article 3(4) of the Treaty of Accession enables the institutions of the Union to adopt before accession measures referred to, inter alia, in Article 50 of the Act concerning the conditions of accession of the Republic of Croatia[2]. These measures shall enter into force only subject to and on the date of the entry into force of the Treaty of Accession. Article 50 of the Act of Accession provides that where acts of the institutions adopted prior to accession require adaptation by reason of accession, and the necessary adaptations have not been provided for in this Act or its Annexes, the Council or the Commission (if the original acts were adopted by the Commission) shall adopt the necessary acts. Point 2 of the Final Act[3] refers to the political agreement on a set of adaptations to acts adopted by the institutions which was reached between the Member States and Croatia in the context of the approval of the Treaty of Accession; the High Contracting Parties of the Treaty of Accession invited the Council and the Commission to adopt these adaptations before accession in accordance with Article 50 of the Act of Accession, completed and updated where necessary to take account of the evolution of the law of the Union. The present proposal regroups the technical adaptations to all Council regulations and decisions as well as to all European Parliament and Council regulations and decisions which require technical adaptation by reason of the accession of Croatia, into a single Council regulation. Alongside this proposal for a Council Regulation, the Commission transmits a series of separate proposals for several Council directives to the Council which cover technical adaptations to Council directives as well as to European Parliament and Council directives which also need technical adaptation by reason of the accession of Croatia. Each of these separate proposals for Council directives regroups the technical adaptations which correspond to different negotiation chapters. This structure is designed to facilitate the transposition of the directives by Member States into their respective legal orders, and is in line with the approach which was taken in view of the accession of Bulgaria and Romania[4]. It is foreseen that all the legal acts included in this package will be published in the Official Journal of the European Union at the same date. The present proposal and the other proposals included in this package will take into account technical adaptations to the acquis which were published in the Official Journal of the European Union until 1 September 2012. The reasons for this are to provide sufficient time for the legislative processes involved on the one hand, and for the fulfilment of the ensuing transposition and notification obligations by Member States as regards directives on the other hand. Adaptations which may be necessary to the acquis published in the Official Journal of the European Union after 1 September 2012 will be foreseen in the relevant acts themselves or done at a later stage through the appropriate procedure. In addition, the Commission intends to informally provide a list of such legislation to Member States in early July 2013.
Revised version (Article 12 Entry into force):
This Regulation shall enter into force on the 20th day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union .