Article 1 Subject matter
1. The purpose of this Regulation is to establish a common statistical classification of territorial units, hereinafter referred to as ‘NUTS’, in order to enable the collection, compilation and dissemination of harmonised regional statistics in the Community. 2. The NUTS classification laid down in Annex I shall replace the ‘Nomenclature of territorial units for statistics (NUTS)’ established by the Statistical Office of the European Communities in cooperation with the national statistical institutes of the Member States.
Amendment rationale: CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL Reasons for and objectives of the proposal Eurostat publishes European statistics in many statistical domains at regional level according to Regulation (EC) No 1059/2003 ( 1 ) on the establishment of a common classification of territorial units for statistics (NUTS). These statistics are widely used in the context of EU regional policy and to determine eligibility for regions under the cohesion funds. Over the past few years, Eurostat has expanded the range of statistics published on a number of territorial typologies to address EU policy-makers’ increasing need for such data in the context of cohesion and territorial development policies. The Commission has defined these territorial typologies in cooperation with the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), and adopted methodologies to set up and maintain them. The NUTS Regulation does not yet include or legally define these territorial typologies to determine urban, rural, coastal and/or other areas and regions in the EU, although they are already being used. The fact that these typologies and their methodologies have no legal recognition and are not formally recognised by the European Statistical System (ESS) is an issue that needs to be addressed to establish them as recognised, impartial and transparent statistical typologies. The main policy objectives of the initiative are the following. 1. Establish a legal recognition of territorial typologies, including the definition of cities, for the purpose of European statistics A regulation amending Regulation (EC) No 1059/2003 will integrate the territorial typologies into the current NUTS Regulation. This will make it possible for thematic statistical regulations and policy initiatives to refer to these territorial typologies for the purpose of collecting European statistics and/or to target specific territories such as cities, urban, rural or coastal areas and regions in policy. The initiative will therefore cover the existing territorial typologies based on NUTS level 3 (e.g. urban-rural typology, metropolitan regions), the local administrative units (e.g. degree of urbanisation, cities, coastal areas) and the 1 km² grid level required to calculate the other typologies, which are based on population distribution and density in the grid cells. 2. Lay down the core definitions and statistical criteria for the different territorial typologies To create methodological transparency and to safeguard the stability of the territorial typologies over time, the core definitions and criteria for creating and updating the typologies need to be specified in the regulation and its implementing provisions. For this purpose, the initiative will use the already existing methodologies for the different typologies. 3. Ensure harmonised and transparent application and use of the territorial typologies at EU level and in Member States The initiative aims to improve the comparability and stability of the typologies. This will have a positive impact on the compilation and dissemination of European regional statistics. 4. In the context of the alignment of Regulation (EC) No 1059/2003 to the new rules of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), powers currently conferred on the Commission by that regulation to adopt acts designed to amend non-essential elements of the regulation by supplementing it, in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny, should be provided for by powers to adopt delegated acts.
Revised version (Article 1 Subject matter):
1. This Regulation establishes a common statistical classification of territorial units (NUTS), in order to enable the collection, compilation and dissemination of European statistics at different territorial levels of the Union. 2. The NUTS classification is set out in Annex I. 3. Local administrative units (LAU), as referred to in Article 4, shall complement the NUTS classification. 4. Statistical grids, as referred to in Article 4a, shall complement the NUTS classification. Those statistical grids shall be used to calculate population-based territorial typologies. 5. Union territorial typologies, as referred to in Article 4b, shall complement the NUTS classification by attributing types to the territorial units.
Article 2 Structure
1. The NUTS classification subdivides the economic territory of the Member States, as defined in Decision 91/450/EEC, into territorial units. It ascribes to each territorial unit a specific code and name. 2. The NUTS classification is hierarchical. It subdivides each Member State into NUTS level 1 territorial units, each of which is subdivided into NUTS level 2 territorial units, these in turn each being subdivided into NUTS level 3 territorial units. 3. However, a particular territorial unit may be classified at several NUTS levels. 4. At the same NUTS level, two different territorial units in the same Member State may not be identified by the same name. If two territorial units in different Member States have the same name, the country identifier is added to the territorial units' names. 5. In each Member State, there can be further hierarchical levels of detail, decided by the Member State, whereby NUTS level 3 is subdivided. Within two years from the entry into force of this Regulation, the Commission, after consulting the Member States, shall submit a communication to the European Parliament and the Council on the appropriateness of establishing rules on a Europe-wide basis for more detailed levels in the NUTS classification.
Amendment rationale: CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL Reasons for and objectives of the proposal Eurostat publishes European statistics in many statistical domains at regional level according to Regulation (EC) No 1059/2003 ( 1 ) on the establishment of a common classification of territorial units for statistics (NUTS). These statistics are widely used in the context of EU regional policy and to determine eligibility for regions under the cohesion funds. Over the past few years, Eurostat has expanded the range of statistics published on a number of territorial typologies to address EU policy-makers’ increasing need for such data in the context of cohesion and territorial development policies. The Commission has defined these territorial typologies in cooperation with the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), and adopted methodologies to set up and maintain them. The NUTS Regulation does not yet include or legally define these territorial typologies to determine urban, rural, coastal and/or other areas and regions in the EU, although they are already being used. The fact that these typologies and their methodologies have no legal recognition and are not formally recognised by the European Statistical System (ESS) is an issue that needs to be addressed to establish them as recognised, impartial and transparent statistical typologies. The main policy objectives of the initiative are the following. 1. Establish a legal recognition of territorial typologies, including the definition of cities, for the purpose of European statistics A regulation amending Regulation (EC) No 1059/2003 will integrate the territorial typologies into the current NUTS Regulation. This will make it possible for thematic statistical regulations and policy initiatives to refer to these territorial typologies for the purpose of collecting European statistics and/or to target specific territories such as cities, urban, rural or coastal areas and regions in policy. The initiative will therefore cover the existing territorial typologies based on NUTS level 3 (e.g. urban-rural typology, metropolitan regions), the local administrative units (e.g. degree of urbanisation, cities, coastal areas) and the 1 km² grid level required to calculate the other typologies, which are based on population distribution and density in the grid cells. 2. Lay down the core definitions and statistical criteria for the different territorial typologies To create methodological transparency and to safeguard the stability of the territorial typologies over time, the core definitions and criteria for creating and updating the typologies need to be specified in the regulation and its implementing provisions. For this purpose, the initiative will use the already existing methodologies for the different typologies. 3. Ensure harmonised and transparent application and use of the territorial typologies at EU level and in Member States The initiative aims to improve the comparability and stability of the typologies. This will have a positive impact on the compilation and dissemination of European regional statistics. 4. In the context of the alignment of Regulation (EC) No 1059/2003 to the new rules of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), powers currently conferred on the Commission by that regulation to adopt acts designed to amend non-essential elements of the regulation by supplementing it, in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny, should be provided for by powers to adopt delegated acts.
Revised version (Article 2 Structure):
1. The NUTS classification subdivides the economic territory of the Member States, as defined in Decision 91/450/EEC, into territorial units. It ascribes to each territorial unit a specific code and name. 2. The NUTS classification is hierarchical. It subdivides each Member State into NUTS level 1 territorial units, each of which is subdivided into NUTS level 2 territorial units, these in turn each being subdivided into NUTS level 3 territorial units. 3. However, a particular territorial unit may be classified at several NUTS levels. 4. At the same NUTS level, two different territorial units in the same Member State may not be identified by the same name. If two territorial units in different Member States have the same name, the country identifier is added to the territorial units' names.
Article 3 Classification criteria
1. Existing administrative units within the Member States shall constitute the first criterion used for the definition of territorial units. To this end, ‘administrative unit’ shall mean a geographical area with an administrative authority that has the power to take administrative or policy decisions for that area within the legal and institutional framework of the Member State. 2. In order to establish the relevant NUTS level in which a given class of administrative units in a Member State is to be classified, the average size of this class of administrative units in the Member State shall lie within the following population thresholds: Level Minimum Maximum NUTS 1 3 million 7 million NUTS 2 800 000 3 million NUTS 3 150 000 800 000 Level Minimum Maximum Level Minimum Maximum NUTS 1 3 million 7 million NUTS 1 3 million NUTS 2 800 000 3 million NUTS 2 800 000 NUTS 3 150 000 800 000 NUTS 3 If the population of a whole Member State is below the minimum threshold for a given NUTS level, the whole Member State shall be one NUTS territorial unit for this level. 3. For the purpose of this Regulation, the population of a territorial unit shall consist of those persons who have their usual place of residence in this area. 4. The existing administrative units used for the NUTS classification are laid down in Annex II. Measures designed to amend non-essential elements of this Regulation and adapting Annex II shall be adopted in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny referred to in Article 7(2). 5. If for a given level of NUTS no administrative units of a suitable scale exist in a Member State, in accordance with the criteria referred to in paragraph 2, this NUTS level shall be constituted by aggregating an appropriate number of existing smaller contiguous administrative units. This aggregation shall take into consideration such relevant criteria as geographical, socio-economic, historical, cultural or environmental circumstances. The resulting aggregated units shall hereinafter be referred to as ‘non-administrative units’. The size of the non-administrative units in a Member State for a given NUTS level shall lie within the population thresholds referred to in paragraph 2. Some non-administrative units may, however, deviate from those thresholds because of particular geographical, socio-economic, historical, cultural or environmental circumstances, especially in the islands and the outermost regions. 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 7(2).
Amendment rationale: CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL Reasons for and objectives of the proposal Eurostat publishes European statistics in many statistical domains at regional level according to Regulation (EC) No 1059/2003 ( 1 ) on the establishment of a common classification of territorial units for statistics (NUTS). These statistics are widely used in the context of EU regional policy and to determine eligibility for regions under the cohesion funds. Over the past few years, Eurostat has expanded the range of statistics published on a number of territorial typologies to address EU policy-makers’ increasing need for such data in the context of cohesion and territorial development policies. The Commission has defined these territorial typologies in cooperation with the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), and adopted methodologies to set up and maintain them. The NUTS Regulation does not yet include or legally define these territorial typologies to determine urban, rural, coastal and/or other areas and regions in the EU, although they are already being used. The fact that these typologies and their methodologies have no legal recognition and are not formally recognised by the European Statistical System (ESS) is an issue that needs to be addressed to establish them as recognised, impartial and transparent statistical typologies. The main policy objectives of the initiative are the following. 1. Establish a legal recognition of territorial typologies, including the definition of cities, for the purpose of European statistics A regulation amending Regulation (EC) No 1059/2003 will integrate the territorial typologies into the current NUTS Regulation. This will make it possible for thematic statistical regulations and policy initiatives to refer to these territorial typologies for the purpose of collecting European statistics and/or to target specific territories such as cities, urban, rural or coastal areas and regions in policy. The initiative will therefore cover the existing territorial typologies based on NUTS level 3 (e.g. urban-rural typology, metropolitan regions), the local administrative units (e.g. degree of urbanisation, cities, coastal areas) and the 1 km² grid level required to calculate the other typologies, which are based on population distribution and density in the grid cells. 2. Lay down the core definitions and statistical criteria for the different territorial typologies To create methodological transparency and to safeguard the stability of the territorial typologies over time, the core definitions and criteria for creating and updating the typologies need to be specified in the regulation and its implementing provisions. For this purpose, the initiative will use the already existing methodologies for the different typologies. 3. Ensure harmonised and transparent application and use of the territorial typologies at EU level and in Member States The initiative aims to improve the comparability and stability of the typologies. This will have a positive impact on the compilation and dissemination of European regional statistics. 4. In the context of the alignment of Regulation (EC) No 1059/2003 to the new rules of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), powers currently conferred on the Commission by that regulation to adopt acts designed to amend non-essential elements of the regulation by supplementing it, in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny, should be provided for by powers to adopt delegated acts.
Revised version (Article 3 Classification criteria):
1. Existing administrative units within the Member States shall constitute the first criterion used for the definition of territorial units. To this end, ‘administrative unit’ shall mean a geographical area with an administrative authority that has the power to take administrative or policy decisions for that area within the legal and institutional framework of the Member State. 2. In order to establish the relevant NUTS level in which a given class of administrative units in a Member State is to be classified, the average size of this class of administrative units in the Member State shall lie within the following population thresholds: Level Minimum Maximum NUTS 1 3 million 7 million NUTS 2 800 000 3 million NUTS 3 150 000 800 000 Level Minimum Maximum Level Minimum Maximum NUTS 1 3 million 7 million NUTS 1 3 million NUTS 2 800 000 3 million NUTS 2 800 000 NUTS 3 150 000 800 000 NUTS 3 If the population of a whole Member State is below the minimum threshold for a given NUTS level, the whole Member State shall be one NUTS territorial unit for this level. 3. For the purpose of this Regulation, the population of a territorial unit shall consist of those persons who have their usual place of residence in this area. 4. The existing administrative units used for the NUTS classification are set out in Annex II. The Commission shall be empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 7a to amend Annex II on the basis of the changes in the administrative units that have been communicated to it by the Member State concerned in accordance with Article 5(1). 5. If for a given level of NUTS no administrative units of a suitable scale exist in a Member State, in accordance with the criteria referred to in paragraph 2, this NUTS level shall be constituted by aggregating an appropriate number of existing smaller contiguous administrative units. This aggregation shall take into consideration such relevant criteria as geographical, socio-economic, historical, cultural or environmental circumstances. The resulting aggregated units shall hereinafter be referred to as ‘non-administrative units’. The size of the non-administrative units in a Member State for a given NUTS level shall lie within the population thresholds referred to in paragraph 2. Some non-administrative units may, however, deviate from those thresholds because of particular geographical, socioeconomic, historical, cultural or environmental circumstances, especially in the islands and the outermost regions.
Article 4 Components of NUTS
1. Within six months after the entry into force of this Regulation, the Commission shall publish the components of each NUTS level 3 territorial unit in terms of the smaller administrative units as laid down in Annex III, as transmitted to it by the Member States. Measures designed to amend non-essential elements of this Regulation and adapting Annex III shall be adopted in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny referred to in Article 7(2). 2. Within the first six months of each year, Member States shall transmit to the Commission all changes of the components for the previous year that may affect the NUTS level 3 boundaries and in so doing shall respect the electronic data format requested by the Commission.
Amendment rationale: CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL Reasons for and objectives of the proposal Eurostat publishes European statistics in many statistical domains at regional level according to Regulation (EC) No 1059/2003 ( 1 ) on the establishment of a common classification of territorial units for statistics (NUTS). These statistics are widely used in the context of EU regional policy and to determine eligibility for regions under the cohesion funds. Over the past few years, Eurostat has expanded the range of statistics published on a number of territorial typologies to address EU policy-makers’ increasing need for such data in the context of cohesion and territorial development policies. The Commission has defined these territorial typologies in cooperation with the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), and adopted methodologies to set up and maintain them. The NUTS Regulation does not yet include or legally define these territorial typologies to determine urban, rural, coastal and/or other areas and regions in the EU, although they are already being used. The fact that these typologies and their methodologies have no legal recognition and are not formally recognised by the European Statistical System (ESS) is an issue that needs to be addressed to establish them as recognised, impartial and transparent statistical typologies. The main policy objectives of the initiative are the following. 1. Establish a legal recognition of territorial typologies, including the definition of cities, for the purpose of European statistics A regulation amending Regulation (EC) No 1059/2003 will integrate the territorial typologies into the current NUTS Regulation. This will make it possible for thematic statistical regulations and policy initiatives to refer to these territorial typologies for the purpose of collecting European statistics and/or to target specific territories such as cities, urban, rural or coastal areas and regions in policy. The initiative will therefore cover the existing territorial typologies based on NUTS level 3 (e.g. urban-rural typology, metropolitan regions), the local administrative units (e.g. degree of urbanisation, cities, coastal areas) and the 1 km² grid level required to calculate the other typologies, which are based on population distribution and density in the grid cells. 2. Lay down the core definitions and statistical criteria for the different territorial typologies To create methodological transparency and to safeguard the stability of the territorial typologies over time, the core definitions and criteria for creating and updating the typologies need to be specified in the regulation and its implementing provisions. For this purpose, the initiative will use the already existing methodologies for the different typologies. 3. Ensure harmonised and transparent application and use of the territorial typologies at EU level and in Member States The initiative aims to improve the comparability and stability of the typologies. This will have a positive impact on the compilation and dissemination of European regional statistics. 4. In the context of the alignment of Regulation (EC) No 1059/2003 to the new rules of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), powers currently conferred on the Commission by that regulation to adopt acts designed to amend non-essential elements of the regulation by supplementing it, in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny, should be provided for by powers to adopt delegated acts.
Revised version (Article 4 Local administrative units):
1. In each Member State, local administrative units (LAU) shall subdivide NUTS level 3 into one or two further levels of territorial units. At least one of the LAU levels shall be an administrative unit as defined in Article 3(1) and as set out in Annex III. The Commission shall be empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 7a to amend the list of LAU in Annex III on the basis of the changes in the administrative units that have been communicated to it by the Member State concerned in accordance with Article 5(1). 2. Within the first six months of each year, Member States shall transmit to the Commission (Eurostat), with reference to 31 December of the previous year, the list of LAU indicating any changes and the NUTS 3 region to which they belong. In doing so it shall follow the electronic data format requested by the Commission (Eurostat). 3. The Commission (Eurostat) shall publish the list of LAU in the dedicated section of its website by 31 December of each year.
Article 5 Amendments to NUTS
1. The Member States shall inform the Commission of: (a) all changes that have occurred in administrative units, in so far as they may affect the NUTS classification, as laid down in Annex I, or the contents of Annexes II and III; (b) all other changes at the national level that may affect the NUTS classification, in accordance with the classification criteria laid down in Article 3. 2. Changes to NUTS level 3 boundaries due to changes of smaller administrative units as laid down in Annex III: (a) shall not be considered as amendments of NUTS if they involve a population transfer equal to or less than one percent of the NUTS 3 territorial units concerned; (b) shall be considered as amendments of NUTS, in accordance with paragraph 3 of this Article, if they involve a population transfer of more than one percent of the NUTS 3 territorial units concerned. 3. Amendments to the NUTS for the non-administrative units in a Member State, as referred to in Article 3(5), may be made if, at the NUTS level in question, the amendment reduces the standard deviation of the size in terms of population of all EU territorial units. 4. Amendments to the NUTS classification shall be adopted in the second half of the calendar year, not more frequently than every three years, on the basis of the criteria laid down in Article 3. 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 7(2). vertheless, in the case of a substantial reorganisation of the relevant administrative structure of a Member State, the amendments to the NUTS classification may be adopted at intervals of less than three years. The Commission implementing measures referred to in the first subparagraph shall enter into force, with regard to the transmission of the data to the Commission, on 1 January of the second year after their adoption. 5. When an amendment is made to the NUTS classification, the Member State concerned shall transmit to the Commission the time series for the new regional breakdown, to replace data already transmitted. The list of the time series and their length shall be specified by the Commission, taking into account the feasibility of providing them. 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 7(2). The time series are to be supplied within two years of the amendment of the NUTS classification.
Amendment rationale: CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL Reasons for and objectives of the proposal Eurostat publishes European statistics in many statistical domains at regional level according to Regulation (EC) No 1059/2003 ( 1 ) on the establishment of a common classification of territorial units for statistics (NUTS). These statistics are widely used in the context of EU regional policy and to determine eligibility for regions under the cohesion funds. Over the past few years, Eurostat has expanded the range of statistics published on a number of territorial typologies to address EU policy-makers’ increasing need for such data in the context of cohesion and territorial development policies. The Commission has defined these territorial typologies in cooperation with the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), and adopted methodologies to set up and maintain them. The NUTS Regulation does not yet include or legally define these territorial typologies to determine urban, rural, coastal and/or other areas and regions in the EU, although they are already being used. The fact that these typologies and their methodologies have no legal recognition and are not formally recognised by the European Statistical System (ESS) is an issue that needs to be addressed to establish them as recognised, impartial and transparent statistical typologies. The main policy objectives of the initiative are the following. 1. Establish a legal recognition of territorial typologies, including the definition of cities, for the purpose of European statistics A regulation amending Regulation (EC) No 1059/2003 will integrate the territorial typologies into the current NUTS Regulation. This will make it possible for thematic statistical regulations and policy initiatives to refer to these territorial typologies for the purpose of collecting European statistics and/or to target specific territories such as cities, urban, rural or coastal areas and regions in policy. The initiative will therefore cover the existing territorial typologies based on NUTS level 3 (e.g. urban-rural typology, metropolitan regions), the local administrative units (e.g. degree of urbanisation, cities, coastal areas) and the 1 km² grid level required to calculate the other typologies, which are based on population distribution and density in the grid cells. 2. Lay down the core definitions and statistical criteria for the different territorial typologies To create methodological transparency and to safeguard the stability of the territorial typologies over time, the core definitions and criteria for creating and updating the typologies need to be specified in the regulation and its implementing provisions. For this purpose, the initiative will use the already existing methodologies for the different typologies. 3. Ensure harmonised and transparent application and use of the territorial typologies at EU level and in Member States The initiative aims to improve the comparability and stability of the typologies. This will have a positive impact on the compilation and dissemination of European regional statistics. 4. In the context of the alignment of Regulation (EC) No 1059/2003 to the new rules of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), powers currently conferred on the Commission by that regulation to adopt acts designed to amend non-essential elements of the regulation by supplementing it, in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny, should be provided for by powers to adopt delegated acts.
Revised version (Article 5 Amendments to NUTS):
1. The Member States shall inform the Commission of: (a) all changes that have occurred in administrative units, in so far as they may affect the NUTS classification, as laid down in Annex I, or the contents of Annexes II and III; (b) all other changes at the national level that may affect the NUTS classification, in accordance with the classification criteria laid down in Article 3. 2. Changes to NUTS level 3 boundaries due to changes of smaller administrative units as laid down in Annex III: (a) shall not be considered as amendments of NUTS if they involve a population transfer equal to or less than one percent of the NUTS 3 territorial units concerned; (b) shall be considered as amendments of NUTS, in accordance with paragraph 3 of this Article, if they involve a population transfer of more than one percent of the NUTS 3 territorial units concerned. 3. Amendments to the NUTS for the non-administrative units in a Member State, as referred to in Article 3(5), may be made if, at the NUTS level in question, the amendment reduces the standard deviation of the size in terms of population of all EU territorial units. 4. Amendments to the NUTS classification in Annex I shall be adopted in the second half of the calendar year, every three years at the earliest, on the basis of the criteria set out in Article 3. Nevertheless, if there is a substantial reorganisation of the relevant administrative structure of a Member State, such amendments to the NUTS classification may be adopted at shorter intervals. The Commission shall be empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 7a to amend the NUTS classification referred to in the first subparagraph of this paragraph on the basis of the changes in the territorial units that have been communicated to it by the Member State concerned in accordance with paragraph 1 of this Article. Regional data which the Member States send to the Commission (Eurostat) shall be based on the amended NUTS classification starting from 1 January of the second year after the adoption of that delegated act. 5. In the event that the Commission adopts a delegated act as referred to in paragraph 4, the Member State concerned shall transmit to the Commission (Eurostat) the time series for the new regional breakdown, to replace data already transmitted. The Member State concerned shall transmit these time series by 1 January of the fourth year after the adoption of that delegated act. The Commission shall, by means of implementing acts, set out uniform conditions for time series and their length, taking into account the feasibility of providing them. Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 7.
Article 6 Management
The Commission shall take the necessary measures to ensure the consistent management of the NUTS classification. In particular, such measures may include: (a) drafting and updating of explanatory notes on NUTS; (b) examination of problems arising from the implementation of NUTS in the Member States' classifications of territorial units.
Article 7 
1. The Commission shall be assisted by the Statistical Programme Committee. 2. Where reference is made to this paragraph, Article 5a(1) to (4) and Article 7 of Decision No 1999/468/EC shall apply, having regard to the provisions of Article 8 thereof.
Amendment rationale: CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL Reasons for and objectives of the proposal Eurostat publishes European statistics in many statistical domains at regional level according to Regulation (EC) No 1059/2003 ( 1 ) on the establishment of a common classification of territorial units for statistics (NUTS). These statistics are widely used in the context of EU regional policy and to determine eligibility for regions under the cohesion funds. Over the past few years, Eurostat has expanded the range of statistics published on a number of territorial typologies to address EU policy-makers’ increasing need for such data in the context of cohesion and territorial development policies. The Commission has defined these territorial typologies in cooperation with the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), and adopted methodologies to set up and maintain them. The NUTS Regulation does not yet include or legally define these territorial typologies to determine urban, rural, coastal and/or other areas and regions in the EU, although they are already being used. The fact that these typologies and their methodologies have no legal recognition and are not formally recognised by the European Statistical System (ESS) is an issue that needs to be addressed to establish them as recognised, impartial and transparent statistical typologies. The main policy objectives of the initiative are the following. 1. Establish a legal recognition of territorial typologies, including the definition of cities, for the purpose of European statistics A regulation amending Regulation (EC) No 1059/2003 will integrate the territorial typologies into the current NUTS Regulation. This will make it possible for thematic statistical regulations and policy initiatives to refer to these territorial typologies for the purpose of collecting European statistics and/or to target specific territories such as cities, urban, rural or coastal areas and regions in policy. The initiative will therefore cover the existing territorial typologies based on NUTS level 3 (e.g. urban-rural typology, metropolitan regions), the local administrative units (e.g. degree of urbanisation, cities, coastal areas) and the 1 km² grid level required to calculate the other typologies, which are based on population distribution and density in the grid cells. 2. Lay down the core definitions and statistical criteria for the different territorial typologies To create methodological transparency and to safeguard the stability of the territorial typologies over time, the core definitions and criteria for creating and updating the typologies need to be specified in the regulation and its implementing provisions. For this purpose, the initiative will use the already existing methodologies for the different typologies. 3. Ensure harmonised and transparent application and use of the territorial typologies at EU level and in Member States The initiative aims to improve the comparability and stability of the typologies. This will have a positive impact on the compilation and dissemination of European regional statistics. 4. In the context of the alignment of Regulation (EC) No 1059/2003 to the new rules of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), powers currently conferred on the Commission by that regulation to adopt acts designed to amend non-essential elements of the regulation by supplementing it, in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny, should be provided for by powers to adopt delegated acts.
Revised version (Article 7 Committee procedure):
1. The Commission shall be assisted by the European Statistical System Committee. That committee shall be a committee within the meaning of Regulation (EU) No 182/2011. 2. Where reference is made to this paragraph, Article 5 of Regulation (EU) No 182/2011 shall apply.
Article 8 Reporting
Three years after the entry into force of this Regulation, the Commission shall submit a report on its implementation to the European Parliament and the Council.
Amendment rationale: CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL Reasons for and objectives of the proposal Eurostat publishes European statistics in many statistical domains at regional level according to Regulation (EC) No 1059/2003 ( 1 ) on the establishment of a common classification of territorial units for statistics (NUTS). These statistics are widely used in the context of EU regional policy and to determine eligibility for regions under the cohesion funds. Over the past few years, Eurostat has expanded the range of statistics published on a number of territorial typologies to address EU policy-makers’ increasing need for such data in the context of cohesion and territorial development policies. The Commission has defined these territorial typologies in cooperation with the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), and adopted methodologies to set up and maintain them. The NUTS Regulation does not yet include or legally define these territorial typologies to determine urban, rural, coastal and/or other areas and regions in the EU, although they are already being used. The fact that these typologies and their methodologies have no legal recognition and are not formally recognised by the European Statistical System (ESS) is an issue that needs to be addressed to establish them as recognised, impartial and transparent statistical typologies. The main policy objectives of the initiative are the following. 1. Establish a legal recognition of territorial typologies, including the definition of cities, for the purpose of European statistics A regulation amending Regulation (EC) No 1059/2003 will integrate the territorial typologies into the current NUTS Regulation. This will make it possible for thematic statistical regulations and policy initiatives to refer to these territorial typologies for the purpose of collecting European statistics and/or to target specific territories such as cities, urban, rural or coastal areas and regions in policy. The initiative will therefore cover the existing territorial typologies based on NUTS level 3 (e.g. urban-rural typology, metropolitan regions), the local administrative units (e.g. degree of urbanisation, cities, coastal areas) and the 1 km² grid level required to calculate the other typologies, which are based on population distribution and density in the grid cells. 2. Lay down the core definitions and statistical criteria for the different territorial typologies To create methodological transparency and to safeguard the stability of the territorial typologies over time, the core definitions and criteria for creating and updating the typologies need to be specified in the regulation and its implementing provisions. For this purpose, the initiative will use the already existing methodologies for the different typologies. 3. Ensure harmonised and transparent application and use of the territorial typologies at EU level and in Member States The initiative aims to improve the comparability and stability of the typologies. This will have a positive impact on the compilation and dissemination of European regional statistics. 4. In the context of the alignment of Regulation (EC) No 1059/2003 to the new rules of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), powers currently conferred on the Commission by that regulation to adopt acts designed to amend non-essential elements of the regulation by supplementing it, in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny, should be provided for by powers to adopt delegated acts.
Article 9 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.