Article 1 General provisions
The national authorities and Eurostat shall produce Community statistics on the level and composition of labour costs and on the structure and distribution of employees' earnings, in the economic activities defined in Article 3.
Article 2 Reference period
1. The statistics on the level and composition of labour costs shall be produced for the calendar year 2000 and at four-yearly intervals thereafter. 2. The statistics on the structure and distribution of earnings shall be produced for the calendar year 2002 and for a representative month in that year, and at four-yearly intervals thereafter.
Article 3 Scope
1. The statistics shall cover all economic activities defined in sections B (Mining and quarrying), C (Manufacturing), D (Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply), E (Water supply; sewerage, waste management and remediation activities), F (Construction), G (Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles), H (Transportation and storage), I (Accommodation and food service activities), J (Information and communication activities), K (Financial and insurance activities), L (Real estate activities), M (Professional, scientific and technical activities), N (Administrative and support service activities), P (Education), Q (Human health and social work activities), R (Arts, entertainment and recreation activities) and S (Other service activities) of the statistical classification of economic activities in the European Community (NACE Rev. 2).
Article 4 
Taking into account the views of the Statistical Programme Committee, the Commission shall, within four years of the date of entry into force of this Regulation, compile a report taking into account the results of pilot studies, in particular, on the basis of existing sources in the area of statistical units with less than ten employees, and submit it to the Council. The report shall assess the application of the provisions of this Regulation relating to units with less than ten employees. The report shall weigh the importance of complete data against the reporting possibilities and the response burden. Following this report the Commission may, if necessary, submit appropriate initiatives to the Council for the amendment of this Regulation.
Article 5 Statistical units
The compilation of the statistics shall be based on local units and enterprises as defined in Council Regulation (EEC) No 696/93 of 15 March 1993 on the statistical units for the observation and analysis of the production system in the Community ( 6 ).
Article 6 Characteristics of the required information
1. In the case of statistics on the level and composition of labour costs, information shall be provided at least on: (a) the following characteristics relating to the local unit: — the region (at NUTS 1 level), — the size of the enterprise to which the local unit belongs (classified as one of the following: 10-49, 50-249, 250-499, 500-999, 1 000 or more employees), — the economic activity (at the division level of NACE Rev. 2 ); (b) the following variables: — total annual labour costs, distinguishing wages and salaries (broken down into direct remuneration and bonuses, payments to employees' savings schemes, payment for days not worked and wages and salaries in kind), the employer's social contributions, (broken down into actual and imputed social contributions), vocational training costs, other expenditure and taxes, and also subsidies directly related to labour costs, — the average annual number of employees, distinguishing full-time employees, part-time employees, and apprentices, — the annual number of hours worked and the annual number of hours paid, in each case distinguishing full-time employees, part-time employees, and apprentices.
Article 7 Data collection
1. Surveys shall be carried out through the appropriate national authorities, which shall draw up the appropriate methods for collecting the information, taking into account the response burdens, notably on SMEs. 2. Employers and other persons required to supply information shall reply to the questions completely and within the time limits set. The Member States shall take appropriate measures to avoid infringement of the obligation to supply the information referred to in Article 6. 3. In order to reduce the burden on enterprises, particularly on SMEs, surveys need not be carried out if the national authorities have information from other appropriate sources or are able to produce estimates of necessary data using statistical estimation procedures where some or all of the characteristics have not been observed for all the units for which the statistics are to be compiled.
Article 8 Processing of results
The national authorities shall process the replies to the questions referred to in Article 7(2) or the information from other sources, as referred to in Article 7(3), so as to obtain comparable results.
Article 9 Forwarding of results
The results shall be forwarded to Eurostat within a period of 18 months from the end of the reference year.
Article 10 Quality
1. The national authorities shall ensure that the results reflect the true situation of the total population of units with a sufficient degree of representativity. 2. The national authorities shall forward to Eurostat at its request after each reference period a report containing all relevant information relating to the implementation of the Regulation in the Member State concerned, to enable the quality of the statistics to be evaluated.
Article 11 Implementation measures
The following measures necessary for the implementation of this Regulation, including measures to take account of economic and technical changes, shall be adopted by the Commission for each reference period at least nine months before the beginning of the reference period: (i) the definition and breakdown of the information to be provided (Article 6), (ii) the appropriate technical format for the transmission of the results (Article 9), (iii) quality evaluation criteria (Article 10), (iv) derogations, in duly justified cases, for the years 2004 and 2006 respectively (Article 13(2)). The measures referred to in points (ii) and (iv) shall be adopted in accordance with the regulatory procedure referred to in Article 12(2). The measures referred to in points (i) and (iii), 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 12(3).
Article 12 Committee procedure
1. The Commission shall be assisted by the Statistical Programme Committee established by Council Decision 89/382/EEC, Euratom ( 8 ). 2. Where reference is made to this paragraph, Articles 5 and 7 of Council Decision 1999/468/EC ( 9 ) shall apply, having regard to the provisions of Article 8 thereof. The period 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 Article 7 of Decision 1999/468/EC shall apply, having regard to the provisions of Article 8 thereof.
Article 13 Derogations
1. Derogations from the provisions of Articles 2, 3 and 6 for the reference years 2000 and 2002 are set out in the Annex. 2. For the years 2004 and 2006 respectively, derogations from Articles 3 and 6 may be decided in so far as the national statistical system requires major adaptations, in accordance with the regulatory procedure set out in Article 12(2).
Article 14 Entry into force
This Regulation shall enter into force on the twentieth day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Communities .