Implementation of Council Decision 2006/512/EC amending Council Decision 1999/468/EC of 28 June 1999 laying down the procedures for the exercise of implementing powers conferred on the Commission, in statistics proposals

Contents

  1. Kerngegevens
  2. Text
  3. EU Monitor

1.

Kerngegevens

Document date 03-11-2006
Publication date 12-08-2009
Reference 14695/06
From General Secretariat
To Working Party on Statistics
External link original PDF
Original document in PDF

2.

Text

COUNCIL OF Brussels, 3 November 2006

THE EUROPEAN UNION

14695/06

STATIS 94

NOTE

from : General Secretariat

to : Working Party on Statistics

Subject : Implementation of Council Decision 2006/512/EC i amending Council Decision 1999/468/EC i of 28 June 1999 laying down the procedures for the exercise of

implementing powers conferred on the Commission, in statistics proposals

Delegations will find attached a Presidency note on comitology in statistical regulations for

discussion in the meeting of 10 November 2006.

Presidency proposals to take into account the comitology decision of 17 July 2006 in Commission proposals for regulations in the field of statistics.

The comitology decision

On 17 July 2006, the Council adopted Decision 2006/512/EC i amending Council Decision 1999/468/EC i of 28 June 1999 laying down the procedures for the exercise of implementing powers conferred on the Commission and introducing a new procedure named "regulatory procedure with scrutiny" (Article 5a). A consolidated version of the comitology decision can be found in Official Journal of 21.10.2006, C255/4.

The main purpose of this amendment was to introduce a new comitology procedure called regulatory procedure with scrutiny. This new decision has to be taken into account in all legislative acts adopted after 23 July 2006.

Significance to Member States

One needs to remember the significance of the new procedure for the Member States. This was addressed in the Presidency notes of 25 July 2006 and of 11

September 2006 1 .

To put it briefly, the new procedure gives the Parliament a right to veto, but for the Member States, in practice, it does not make much difference when compared with the old regulatory procedure. This is because the voting rules in the Committee and in the Council are the same for both regulatory procedures.

Standard formulation of comitology recitals and articles

The Legal Services of the three institutions have discussed the practical adaptation of the Council decision amending the comitology decision of 1999. They have reached an agreement concerning the formulations of comitology recital and articles in legal acts. This text, however, is not yet formally adopted.

The agreement dictates the form of comitology recitals and articles. Unfortunately, it gives no additional advice as to what kind of implementing measures are suitable for the scrutiny procedure.

The Council document 12813/06, an Opinion of the Legal Service, discusses the application of the new comitology rules. This document was presented to Coreper 1 in September. It can be obtained from the Permanent Representations of the MSs, if needed.

1 Council documents 11974/06 and DS 605/06. These can be found on the Presidency Website

of Statistics Finland, on page Calendar (Meetings) http://tilastokeskus.fi/eu2006/calendar_en.html , among the documents of the meetings on 6 September and 19 September , respectively.

DG C I EN

Urgent dossiers NACE Rev. 2, Business Register and Landings of Fishery Products

Because of the timetable, the comitology issue had to be resolved for NACE Rev.2 dossier and for the FATS dossier (discussed and adopted unanimously at WP meetings on 19 and 6 September, respectively), even though there were no guidelines. The same applies now for the Business Register and Landings of Fishery Products regulations. These regulations would suffer from further delay if they were not published in the Official Journal by the end of this year.

The scope of the Council comitology decision and regulatory procedure with scrutiny

The comitology decision deals with the implementation powers delegated to the Commission. The decision of 17 July 2006 added a new paragraph 2 to article 2 of the comitology decision of 1999:

 “2. Where a basic instrument, adopted in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 251 of the Treaty, provides for the adoption of measures of general scope designed to amend non-essential elements of that instrument, inter alia, by deleting some of those elements or by supplementing the instrument by the addition of new non-essential elements, those measures shall be adopted in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny.“

From here on the term “regulation” instead of “instrument” is used in this paper, as in practice all statistical legal acts are regulations.

There are three conditions for an implementing measure to qualify for the scrutiny procedure:

  • 1) 
    The regulation is adopted in co-decision 2) the implementing measure is of general scope 3) the implementing measure is designed to amend non-essential elements of the regulation

“Co-decision”: Statistical regulations, based on Article 285 of the Treaty, are adopted in co-decision (the Commission regulations are a different issue and are not part of this discussion).

“General scope”: Measures which are individual decisions, including those addressed to Member States, do not fulfil this condition (Council Legal Service, Council document 12813/06). Examples are decisions on derogations and transitional periods granted to individual Member States.

DG C I EN

“Amend non-essential elements of the regulation”:

Amending means that the text is concretely changed by adding words (sentences, paragraphs, …), deleting words or changing existing words.

“Non-essential elements”: In a regulation there are essential elements and nonessential elements. One should note that the dichotomy “essential” and “nonessential” is made from a legalistic point of view:

  • a) 
    The essential elements define the purpose and scope of the regulation (e.g. the

Business Register regulation: articles 1 to 3 2 ). These can only be adopted and

changed in co-decision and can not be delegated to the Commission.

  • b) 
    Other elements are non-essential. Typical such elements in statistical

    regulations are the lists of characteristics / variables and their definitions, how the results are to be classified / grouped, in what timetable they are to be transmitted, and what actions the Commission and the Member States are to do in addition to what is already written in the regulation itself (like deciding on the format and procedures of data transmission, the quality criteria, the structure of quality reports, derogations).

Concrete cases for scrutiny: -- where the measures add a variable to the regulation (FATS, Business register, SBS), -- where the Commission can decide on the definitions to be used (ESSPROS), -- where the Commission can decide on the adaptation or updating of the definitions (PPP, Migration), -- where the Commission can decide on the “groupings”, i.e. a classifications (Migration, Education and LLL), -- where the Commission can decide to add “groupings” / “breakdowns”, i.e. a classifications (Migration), -- where the Commission can adjust the scope of the regulation (cf. Business register, small enterprises, delimiting the scope), -- where the Commission can update the periods of time for the transmission (SBS) and -- where the Commission can decide on the selection and specification of subjects covered by the domains and their characteristics (Education and LLL)

In these cases, the regulation text is changed or added to. As for the cases where the regulation text does not define definitions, classifications etc. and the definition of these is delegated to the Commission, the measures can be seen to add new nonessential elements into the regulation.

2 There may be other parts in the Business Register regulation which are “essential elements”

but defining them goes beyond the purpose of this note, because defining these terms in more detail is not relevant to the present discussion which is the application of the comitology decision in statistical legal acts.

DG C I EN

Concrete cases NOT for scrutiny: -- where the Commission can decide the quality criteria and the structure of a quality report, -- where the Commission can decide the format of data transmission and -- where the Commission can make “ decisions required in case of problems arising from implementation” (NACE rev.2)

These measures do not lead to changes in the regulation text itself. Moreover, these issues are of a professional nature (statistics, data processing) and it is difficult to see that the legislators would have the competence or interest to define and / or consider these kind of details.

In general, if one can think that the outcome of an implementation measure could have been part of the regulation text from the beginning, these measures are obvious candidates for scrutiny procedure. On the other hand, if the outcome of an implementation measure could not be thought as part of the basic regulation, these are not candidates for scrutiny.

There is a “grey” area, which is problematic. For instance -- SBS recast, Article 11(c), measure concerning “the definitions of the characteristics and their relevance for certain activities”

In the SBS regulation, all the characteristics are listed in the Annexes. However, their definitions are not written in the regulation. On the other hand in the Migration regulation the characteristics and their definitions are part of the regulation text. In the Migration regulation there is an implementing measure “to update definitions” and these would obviously amend the regulation and therefore scrutiny procedure must be used. The SBS characteristics are such that they already have definitions either in other regulations (value added ESA95) or in other contexts (turnover accounting laws and practices). This will mean that in comitology only rather marginal definition issues will be decided. Taking into account this small margin of appreciation left to the Commission in this case, this measure in the SBS regulation should not go to scrutiny. The same argumentation applies to “relevance for certain activities”. (See also Council Legal Service opinion, Council document 12813/06, on the “margin of appreciation” and how it affects the choice of comitology procedure).

The comitology issue concerns recitals, the “committee” articles, the subject matter articles which provide for the implementing measures and the “implementation” articles

Recitals

The recitals will follow a standard formulation. According to the agreement (not yet formally adopted) by the Legal Services of the three institutions there would be two recitals, one of a general nature and one specifically addressing the use of scrutiny procedure, and possibly others addressing other comitology procedures if used in the regulation. A basic formulation is as follows (from Business Register Common position, Council document 14375/06):

DG C I EN

(15) The measures necessary for the implementation of this Regulation should be adopted in accordance with Council Decision 1999/468/EC i of 28 June 1999 laying down the procedures for the exercise of

implementing powers conferred on the Commission 3 .

(16) In particular, the Commission should be empowered to update the list of registers characteristics in the Annex, their definitions and their continuity rules, to decide on the coverage of the smallest enterprises and all-resident enterprise groups as well as to adopt the rules for updating registers. These measures of general scope designed to amend nonessential elements or supplement this Regulation by the addition of new non essential elements should be adopted in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny laid down to in Article 5a of Council Decision 1999/468/EC i.

This formulation follows, with minor variations, the agreement of the three legal services. Note that in the latter recital there is a list of measures to be adopted using the scrutiny procedure, which has to be formulated separately for each regulation. This is not a substantial question as the measures themselves are provided in the Articles. Instead, it is more a legal question as the choice of procedure needs justification.

The “Committee” articles

The “Committee” articles (“procedure” articles in Migration and ESSPROS draft regulations) can follow a standard formulation. The formulation in FATS (Annex 1) can serve as an example.

Article 10

Committee

  • 1. 
    The Commission shall be assisted by the Statistical Programme Committee, established by Decision 89/382/EEC i, Euratom, hereinafter referred to as «the Committee».
  • 2. 
    Where reference is made to this paragraph, the regulatory procedure laid down in Articles 5 and 7 of Decision 1999/468/EC i shall apply, having regard to the provisions of Article 8 thereof.

The period laid down in Article 5 (6) of Decision 1999/468/EC i shall be set at three months

  • 3. 
    Where reference is made to this paragraph the regulatory procedure with scrutiny laid down in Article 5a (1) to (4) and Article 7 of Council Decision 1999/468/EC i shall apply, having regard to the provisions of Article 8 thereof.
  • 4. 
    The Committee shall adopt its rules of procedure.

DG C I EN

This formulation may differ somewhat of the form presented in the agreement, but the essential elements are there. It would be logical if the sequence of the procedures follows the order in which they are presented in the comitology decision (this is not the case for draft Migration regulation in the Annex, as this has been formulated by the Parliament).

Subject matter articles referring to comitology

In most regulations, there are references to the comitology procedure in “subject matter articles” or in Annexes. These references must be formulated according to which procedure is to be used for each implementing matter (reference to “Committee article” paragraph X ). Example from the Landings of Fishery Products common position (Council document 14283/06):

Article 9

Updating of the Annexes

The measures relating to technical adaptation of the Annexes shall be adopted in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny referred to in Article 11(3).

Implementation articles

The implementation articles (when there are such articles) need also to be reformulated. As an example, article 15 of the Business Register (Common position, Council document 14375/06):

Article 15

Implementing measures

1.The following measures shall be adopted in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny referred to in Article 16(2):

(a) the coverage of the smallest enterprises and all-resident enterprise groups, as provided for in Article 3;

(b) the updating of the list of registers characteristics in the Annex, their definitions and their continuity rules, as provided for in Article 5, taking into account the principle that the benefits of the updating must outweigh its cost and the principle that the additional resources involved either for Member States or for enterprises remain reasonable;

(c) the rules for updating registers, as provided for in Article 8.

These measures shall be annexed to this Regulation.

  • 2. 
    The following measures necessary for implementation of this Regulation shall be adopted in accordance with the regulatory procedure referred to in Article 16(3):

DG C I EN

 (a) the transmission of registers' information and quality reports, as provided for in Articles 6 and 9;

 (b) the transmission of data on individual units for multinational enterprise groups to the Commission (Eurostat) and the transmission of multinational enterprise group data to the Member States, as provided for in Articles 11 and 12.

One should note, that statistical regulations usually, but not always, contain an “implementing measures article”. This is not a must, but it obviously has been deemed useful to have one article listing all the measures. At the same time, the subject matter articles usually, but not always, refer directly to the “committee” article. It would be logical if the sequence of the procedures follows the order in which they are presented in the Committee article.

Dividing implementation measures between scrutiny and non-scrutiny

The real work for the Working Party is to decide which implementation measures are assigned to scrutiny procedure and which to other (usually regulatory) procedures This has effect on the recital, the “subject matter articles” which specify the measure and implementation article if present in the regulation.

We have to inspect every implementing measure against the criteria for scrutiny procedure. In the annex, each implementing measure of the six regulations have been assigned to scrutiny or not scrutiny.

Draft regulations concerned

The following draft regulations (reference below to the corresponding Commission proposal), are under discussion at the Council / the Parliament.

The present format of the “implementing measures” articles of these dossiers are copied in Annex 1 for convenience. However, the “Recitals”, the “Committee” and subject matter articles have not been copied.

The comitology articles of FATS have been reformulated, already in the beginning of September, to include the new procedure with scrutiny. They are copied also in Annex 1 even if they can be thought as settled already.

The following draft regulations do not need any more consideration by the Working Party:

the ESA 95 transmission- COM (2005) 653 i The proposal COM (2005) 653 i contains no provisions for comitology.

DG C I EN

LFS (wages from the main job)- COM (2006) 565 i The proposal COM (2006) 565 i contains no provisions for comitology.

NACE Rev. 2 - COM (2006) 39 i The NACE rev.2 draft regulation has passed the EP with comitology recital and articles which take into account the comitology decision of 17 July. These are copied in Annex 2 of this note for information.

Business registers - COM (2005) 112 i and Landings of Fishery Products COM (2005) 566 i. These two draft regulations have already been discussed and are beyond the Working Party on Statistics.

Presidency proposal as regards discussion at the Working Party

The Presidency proposes that we do not discuss the format of the recitals or the articles, as this is pretty much determined by the above mentioned agreement by the Legal Services.

Instead, we should discuss, where necessary, which implementation measures should be assigned to the regulatory procedure with scrutiny and which to some other procedure (typically the regulatory procedure).

The status of the six dossiers and what needs to be done

Of the six open dossiers:

  • 1) 
    On FATS there is an agreement between the Council and the Parliament,

    including agreement on which measures qualify for scrutiny. The Parliament is voting on this as soon as possible (November), however, the Presidency has not seen the present form of all EP amendments (by 1.11.2006). Therefore, it is possible that formulations prepared by the Presidency and the Council Secretariat in Annex 1 will be changed, without changing the subject matter.

  • 2) 
    On ESSPROS there is an agreement between the Council and the Parliament, but

    comitology has not been addressed yet. The Parliament is voting on this as soon as possible. Measures need to be assigned to procedures and comitology recitals and articles need to be re-formulated.

    • 3) 
      Migration dossier is still discussed (10.11.2006 at WP), and the Parliament has

      formulations for the comitology articles. These are presented in the Annex.

    • 4) 
      SBS is still discussed (10.11.2006 at WP).

      The Parliament awaits the results of the Working Party Meeting on 10 November.

    • 5) 
      Education and Lifelong Learning (LLL) has been unanimously adopted, with

      amendments, at the Working Party except for the comitology recital and articles. So far there is no information from the EP rapporteur.

    • 6) 
      Purchasing Power Parities (PPP) has been adopted , with amendments, at the

      Working Party except for the comitology recital and articles. So far there is no information from the EP rapporteur.

      DG C I EN

The Presidency proposal

The Presidency proposes, that the Working Party approves the assignments made in

Annex 1 except for the FATS regulations, as the assignment of measures in this

draft regulation was already adopted at the meeting of 6 September 2006 and have

been agreed with the Parliament.

The Presidency proposes, that the recitals and the articles presented in Annex for draft regulations are adopted by the Working Party, subject to changes in formulations in the negotiations with the Parliament.

DG C I EN

A n n e x 1 :

P r o p o s a l f o r t h e c o m i t o l o g y r e c i t a l s a n d a r t i c l e s o f o p e n d o s s i e r s

Foreign Affiliate Trade Statistics (FATS) - COM (2005) 88 i (The Presidency compromise proposal, adopted at the meeting on 6 September 2006, )

State of play: The Working Party meeting on 6 September decided the division between the two procedures in Article 9. Since then recitals and articles 9 and 10 have been reformulated to take into account the new comitology procedure. The Parliament has accepted the division of measures between the two procedures and has worked on the formulations.

Presidency proposal:

The division of measures between the two procedures is already decided. Further re-formulation of the recital and articles may have to be done in order to reach a first reading agreement with the Parliament. The formulation of article 9 presented below has been made by the Parliament.

New recital

(11a) In particular power should be conferred on the Commission to adapt the definitions and level of classifications and to amend the regulation on the basis of the conclusions of the pilot studies. These measures of general scope designed to amend non-essential elements or supplement this Regulation by the addition of new non essential elements should be adopted in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny laid down to in Article 5a of Council Decision 1999/468/EC i. Footnote in recital 11 needs to be amended: “OJ L 184, 17.7.1999, p. 23. Decision as amended by Decision 2006/512/EC i (OJ L 200, 22.7.2006, p. 11).”

Article 9

Implementing measures

  • 1. 
    Measures implementing this Regulation that shall be adopted in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny referred to in Article 10(1a), shall comprise measures:
    • a) 
      adapting the definitions in Annexes I and II and the level of detail listed in Annex III as well as making any consequential changes in Annexes I and II; and
  • b) 
    implementing the results of the pilot studies provided for in Article 5.

    DG C I EN

  • 2. 
    Measures implementing this Regulation that shall be adopted in accordance with the regulatory procedure referred to in Article 10(2), shall comprise measures:
    • a) 
      defining the proper common quality standards and the contents and periodicity of the quality reports, pursuant to Article 6(3);
    • b) 
      setting out the appropriate format and procedure for the transmission of results by Member States; and
    • c) 
      granting derogations to Member States when their national systems require major adaptations, including granting further derogations from any new requirements following the pilot studies provided for in Article 5, pursuant to Article 8(2).
  • 3. 
    Particular consideration shall be given to the principle that the benefits of such measures must outweigh their cost, and to the principle that any additional financial burden on Member States or enterprises should remain within a reasonable limit.

NOTE: art 9 and art 10 are not yet synchronised.

Article 10

Committee

  • 1. 
    The Commission shall be assisted by the Statistical Programme Committee, established by

Decision 89/382/EEC i, Euratom, hereinafter referred to as «the Committee».

  • 2. 
    Where reference is made to this paragraph, the regulatory procedure laid down in Articles 5 and 7 of Decision 1999/468/EC i shall apply, having regard to the provisions of Article 8 thereof.

The period laid down in Article 5 (6) of Decision 1999/468/EC i shall be set at three months

  • 3. 
    Where reference is made to this paragraph the regulatory procedure with scrutiny laid down in Article 5a (1) to (4) and Article 7 of Council Decision 1999/468/EC i shall apply, having regard to the provisions of Article 8 thereof.
  • 4. 
    The Committee shall adopt its rules of procedure.
  • 5. 
    The European Central Bank and the national central banks may attend the meetings of the

Committee as observers.

DG C I EN

Esspros - COM (2006) 11 i (outcome of proceedings 29.5.2006)

State of play: On ESSPROS there is an agreement between the Council and the Parliament, but comitology has not been addressed yet. The Parliament is voting on this draft regulation as soon as possible.

“Article 7

Arrangements for implementation

The arrangements for implementing this Regulation shall take into account the results of a costbenefit

analysis and shall concern the first year for which data shall be collected, the detailed

classification of data covered, the definitions to be used, the formats for the transmission of data,

the results to be transmitted, the criteria for the measurement of quality, the updating of the rules for

dissemination. The arrangements shall be laid down in accordance to the regulatory procedure set

out in Article 8, for:

(a) the ESSPROS core system (Annex I),

(b) the module on pension beneficiaries (Annex II),

(c) the module on Net Social Protection Benefits (Article 5).”

There are candidates both for scrutiny and for not scrutiny among the “arrangements”. Below the

article is formulated as list to have a clearer picture (this is NOT a proposal for formulation).

Article 7

Arrangements for implementation

The arrangements for implementing this Regulation shall take into account the results of a cost-benefit analysis and shall concern

  1) the first year for which data shall be collected, scrutiny

 2) the detailed classification of data covered, scrutiny

 3 ) the definitions to be used, scrutiny

  • 4) 
    the formats for the transmission of data, not scrutiny

DG C I EN

 4) the results to be transmitted not scrutiny

 5) the criteria for the measurement of quality, not scrutiny

 6) the updating of the rules for dissemination. scrutiny

The arrangements shall be laid down in accordance to the regulatory procedure set out in Article 8, [...] for:

  (a) the ESSPROS core system (Annex I),

  (b) the module on pension beneficiaries (Annex II),

  (c) the module on Net Social Protection Benefits (Article 5).

Measure 1) has a potential to change the regulation text. Measures 2) and 3) could have been elements in the initial regulation, as these elements are found in many regulations and they mould the end result, the statistics to be produced, of this regulation. Measure 6) has a potential to change the text of the regulation (Annexes).

Presidency proposal:

The Presidency proposes that the Working Party approves the suggested division of measures between the two procedures and the new formulation of article 7 presented below. Further reformulation of the recital and articles may have to be done in order to reach a first reading agreement with the Parliament.

New recital

(8a) In particular, the Commission should be empowered to decide on the first year for which data shall be collected, detailed classifications and the definitions to be used. These measures of general scope designed to amend non-essential elements or supplement this Regulation by the addition of new non essential elements should be adopted in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny laid down to in Article 5a of Council Decision 1999/468/EC i.

DG C I EN

Article 7

Arrangements for implementation

The arrangements for implementing this Regulation shall take into account the results of a costbenefit

analysis and shall concern the ESSPROS core system (Annex I), the module on pension

beneficiaries (Annex II) and the module on Net Social Protection Benefits (Article 5).

The measures relating to the formats for the transmission of data, the results to be transmitted and

the criteria for the measurement of quality shall be adopted in accordance with the regulatory

procedure referred to in Article 8(2).

The measures relating to the first year for which data shall be collected, the detailed classification of

data covered, the definitions to be used and the updating of the rules for dissemination shall be

adopted in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny referred to in Article 8(3).

Article 8

Procedure

  • 1. 
    The Commission shall be assisted by the Statistical Programme Committee, established by

Decision 89/382/EEC i, Euratom.

  • 2. 
    Where reference is made to this paragraph, the regulatory procedure laid down in Articles 5 and 7

of Decision 1999/468/EC i shall apply, having regard to the provisions of Article 8 thereof.

The period laid down in Article 5 (6) of Decision 1999/468/EC i 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.

  • 4. 
    The Committee shall adopt its rules of procedure.

    DG C I EN

Migration and international protection statistics - COM (2005) 375 i (4th Presidency

compromise version 26.4.2006)

State of play: Migration dossier is still discussed (10.11.2006 at WP), and the Parliament has formulations for the comitology articles. These are presented below

Article 10

Implementing measures

The measures necessary for the implementation of this Regulation, including measures to take account of economic and technical changes, shall be adopted in accordance with the regulatory procedure referred to in Article 11(2). Such measures shall include in particular comprise:

(a) the adaptation update of the definitions and adoption of additional

definitions as provided for in Article 2 scrutiny

(a1) the categories of groups of country of birth, groups of country of previous and next residence and groups of citizenship as provided scrutiny for in Article 3 paragraph 1 (NB should be paragraph 2a)

(a2) the categories of the reasons for the permit as provided for in scrutiny

Article 6 paragraph 2a

(b) the additional disaggregations and the levels of disaggregations to

be applied to the variables as provided for in Article 8 scrutiny

(c) time limits for data transmission to the Commission

(d) rules laying down the accuracy and quality standards not scrutiny

(e) rules laying down the appropriate formats for the transmission of not scrutiny

data as provided for in Article 9.

The parliament has already assigned these measures to scrutiny and not scrutiny. There is no reason to change that. Measures (a1) and (a2) may be in the grey area, but as these groupings dictate to a large extent the contents of the statistics, they should be elements in the regulation itself.

Presidency proposal:

The Presidency proposes that the Working Party approves the suggested division of measures between the two procedures and the new formulation of article 10 presented below. These formulations have been presented by the Parliament. Further re-formulation of the recital and

articles may have to be done in order to reach a first reading agreement with the Parliament.

DG C I EN

New recital

(13a) In particular, the Commission should be empowered to update the definitions and to decide on the groupings of data and on additional disaggregations. These measures of general scope designed to amend non-essential elements or supplement this Regulation by the addition of new non essential elements should be adopted in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny laid down to in Article 5a of Council Decision 1999/468/EC i.

Article 10

Implementing measures

  • 1. 
    The following measures necessary for the implementation of this Regulation shall be

adopted in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny referred to in Article 11,

paragraph 1:

(a) the update of the definitions as provided for in Article 2

(b) the categories of groups of country of birth, groups of country of previous and next

residence and groups of citizenship as provided for in Article 3 paragraph 1

(c) the categories of the reasons for the permit as provided for in Article 6 paragraph 2a

(d) the additional disaggregations and the levels of disaggregations to be applied to the variables as provided for in Article 8

  • 2. 
    The following measures necessary for the implementation of this Regulation shall be

    adopted in accordance with the regulatory procedure referred to in Article 11, paragraph 2:

    (a) rules laying down the accuracy and quality standards

    (b) rules laying down the appropriate formats for the transmission of data as provided for in Article 9

Article 11

Procedures

  • 1. 
    In adopting the implementing measures, the Commission shall be assisted by the Statistical Programme Committee, established by Article 1 of Decision 89/382/EEC i, Euratom.
  • 2. 
    Where reference is made to this paragraph, the regulatory procedure with scrutiny laid down in Articles 5a (1) to (4) and 7 of Decision 1999/468/EC i shall apply, having regard to the provisions of Article 8 thereof.
  • 3. 
    Where reference is made to this paragraph, the regulatory procedure laid down in Articles

    thereof.

14695/06 LDH/bw 17

DG C I EN

The period laid down in Article 5 (6) of Decision 1999/468/EC i shall be set at three

months.

  • 4. 
    The Committee shall adopt its rules of procedure.

    DG C I EN

    SBS (recast) - COM (2006) 66 i (Presidency compromise proposal doc no. 12823/06)

    State of play: The Presidency compromise text was discussed at the WP on Statistics meeting on 2 October; it was noted that comitology articles will have to be adapted to the new comitology procedure later. The EP rapporteur awaits the outcome of Working Party discussion.

    The new CETO flag paragraph provides for “review” after 5 years, and this measure needs

    to be inserted in Article 11

    Article 11

Implementing measures

The procedures for implementing this Regulation including the measures for adjustment to economic and technical developments concerning the collection and statistical processing of data, the processing and the transmission of the results, shall be determined in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 12 (2) taking into consideration the principle that the benefits of the measure must outweigh its cost and provided that major additional resources are not involved either for the Member States or for enterprises as compared with the original provisions of this Regulation. Implementing measures concern in particular:

(a) the updating of the lists of characteristics, and preliminary results in so far as such scrutiny updating, after a quantitative assessment, does not imply an increase in the number of

units surveyed nor a burden on the units which is disproportionate to the anticipated results (Articles 3 and 8 and Annex I, Section 6, Annex III, Section 6, Annex IV, Section 6, and Annex IX, Section 10 );

(a1) the rules for flagging data as contribution to European totals only (Article 8) scrutiny

 (b) the frequency of the compilation of the statistics (Article 3 and Annex III, Section 3, scrutiny paragraph 3, and Annex IV, Section 3, paragraph 3 );

(c) the definitions of the characteristics and their relevance for certain activities (Article 3 not scrutiny and Annex I, Section 4, paragraph 1);

(d) the definition of the reference period (Article 3 ); not scrutiny

(e) the first reference year for the compilation of the preliminary results (Article 8 and scrutiny

Annex I, Section 5 ;

(f) criteria for the evaluation of quality (Article 6 and Annex II, Section 6 ); not scrutiny

(g) the breakdown of results, in particular the classifications to be used and the scrutiny combinations of the size classes (Article 7 and Annex VIII, Section 4, paragraphs 2

and 3, and Annex IX, Section 8, paragraphs 2 and 3 ;

(h) the appropriate technical format for the transmission of results (Article 8 and Annex I, not scrutiny

Section 9, paragraph 2, and Annex VI, Section 8 );

(i) the updating of the periods of time for the transmission of data (Article 8 and Annex I, scrutiny

Section 9, paragraph 1, and Annex VI, Section 7 ;

(j) the transitional period and derogations from the provisions of this Regulation granted not scrutiny

during that period (Article 10 and Annex I, Section 11,Annex II, Section 10, Annex III section 9, Annex VII, Section 10, Annex VIII, Section 8 and Annex IX section 13

DG C I EN

);

(k) the adaptation of the breakdown of activities to amendments or revisions of the scrutiny

NACE.

(l) use of the flexible module referred to in Articles 3 (2)j and 3(4); not scrutiny

(m) the procedures to be followed in relation to the ad hoc data collections referred to in not scrutiny

Annex II, Sections 3 and 4, Annex III, Section 3, paragraph 3, and Annex IV, Section 3, paragraph 3.

The assignment of measures to scrutiny and not scrutiny takes into account which measures(=results) actually amend (change) the text of the regulation and which could be thought to be part of the regulation itself. It also takes into account the margin of appreciation the Commission has when taking the measure. Problematic ones might be

(c) does not change the regulation, small margin of appreciation (definitions come from other regulations or from practice), could not be thought to be part of the original regulation

(d) does not change the regulation

(e) this measure has a potential to change the regulation (Annex)

(l) and (m) do not change the regulation and can not be thought to be part of the initial regulation. Moreover, each use of flexible module and each procedure to collect ad hoc data are “one-off” exercises and therefore not “of general scope”.

Presidency proposal:

The Presidency proposes that the Working Party approves the suggested division of measures between the two procedures and the new formulations presented below. These formulations will then be presented to the Parliament. Further re-formulation of the recital and articles may have to be

done in order to reach a first reading agreement with the Parliament.

Recital 9a (new)

In particular power should be conferred on the Commission to update the list of characteristics in the Annexes as well as the periods of time for the transmission of data, to decide on the breakdown of results, rules for submitting data as contributions to European totals only and to adapt the breakdown of activities to amendments or revisions of the NACE. These measures of general scope designed to amend non-essential elements or supplement this Regulation by the addition of new non essential elements should be adopted in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny laid down to in Article 5a of Council Decision 1999/468/EC i.

Footnote in recital 9 needs to be amended: “OJ L 184, 17.7.1999, p. 23. Decision as

amended by Decision 2006/512/EC i (OJ L 200, 22.7.2006, p. 11).”

DG C I EN

Article 11

 Implementing measures

  • 1. 
    The following measures necessary for implementation of this Regulation shall be adopted in accordance with the regulatory procedure referred to in Article 12(2):

(a) the definitions of the characteristics and their relevance for certain activities (Article 3 and Annex I, Section 4, paragraph 1, and Annex II, Section 6);

(b) the definition of the reference period (Article 3);

(c) criteria for the evaluation of quality (Article 6);

(d) the appropriate technical format for the transmission of results (Article 8 and Annex I, Section 9, paragraph 2, and Annex VI, Section 8);

(e) the transitional period and derogations from the provisions of this Regulation granted during that period (Article10 and Annex I, Section 11, Annex II, Section 10, Annex III, Section 9, Annex VII, Section 10, and Annex VIII, Section 8 and Annex IX, Section 13)

(f) use of the flexible module referred to in Article 3 (2) j and 3(4) ;

(g) the procedures to be followed in relation to the ad hoc data collections referred to in Annex II, Sections 3 and 4, Annex III, Section 3, paragraph 3, and Annex IV, Section 3, paragraph 3.

  • 2. 
    The following measures shall be adopted in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny referred to in Article 12(3):

(a) the updating of the lists of characteristics and preliminary results in so far as such updating, after a quantitative assessment, does not imply an increase in the number of units surveyed nor a burden on the units which is disproportionate to the anticipated results (Articles 3 and 8 and Annex I, Section 6, Annex III, Section 6, Annex IV, Section 6, and Annex IX, Section 10 );

(b) the rules for flagging data as contribution to European totals only (Article 8)

(c) the frequency of the compilation of the statistics (Article 3 and Annex III, Section 3, paragraph 3, and Annex IV, Section 3, paragraph 3);

(d) the first reference year for the compilation of the preliminary results (Article 8 and Annex I, Section 5);

(e) the breakdown of results, in particular the classifications to be used and the combinations of the size classes (Article 7 and Annex VIII, Section 4, paragraphs 2 and 3, and Annex IX, Section 8, paragraphs 2 and 3);

(f) the updating of the periods of time for the transmission of data (Article 8 and Annex I,

Section 9, paragraph 1, and Annex VI, Section 7 ).

(g) the adaptation of the breakdown of activities to amendments or revisions of the NACE.

DG C I EN

These measures shall be annexed to this Regulation.

  • 3. 
    Consideration is to be given to the principle that the benefits of updating must outweigh its cost and that major additional resources are not involved either for the Member States or for enterprises as compared with the original provisions of this Regulation.

Article 12

Committee

  • 1. 
    The Commission shall be assisted by the Statistical Programme Committee set up by

Decision 89/382/EEC i, EURATOM, hereinafter referred to as «the Committee».

shall apply, having regard to the provisions of Article 8 thereof.

The period laid down in Article 5(6) of Decision 1999/468/EC i shall be set at three months.

  • 3. 
    Where reference is made to this paragraph the regulatory procedure with scrutiny laid

    11

    down in Article 5a (1) to (4) and Article 7 of Council Decision 1999/468/EC i shall apply, having regard to the provisions of Article 8 thereof

    • 4. 
      The Committee shall adopt its rules of procedure.

11 OJ L 184, 17.7.1999, p. 23. Decision as amended by Decision 2006/512/EC i (OJ L 200,

22.7.2006, p. 11).

DG C I EN

Education and Lifelong Learning (LLL) statistics - COM (2005) 625 i (Presidency final compromise proposal 19.05.2006)

State of play: The Presidency final compromise proposal has been communicated to the EP rapporteur. No discussion between the Council and the Parliament has taken place since May 2006.

Article 6 Implementing measures

1 The measures necessary for the implementation of this Regulation, including measures to take account of economic and technical developments concerning the collection, transmission and processing of the data, shall be adopted in accordance with the regulatory procedure referred to in Article 7 (2) with a view to ensuring the transmission of high quality data.

1a. If these measures lead to the requirement for a significant enlargement of existing data collections or for new data collections or surveys, implementing decisions shall be based on a cost benefit analysis as part of a comprehensive analysis of the effects and implications, taking into account the benefit of the measures, the costs for the Member States and the burden on respondents.

  • 2. 
    The implementing measures concerning the statistical

    actions provided for in Article 4 (1) shall concern:

    • a) 
      the selection and specification of subjects

      covered by the domains and their scrutiny

      characteristics;

    • b) 
      the breakdowns of characteristics; scrutiny
    • c) 
      the periodicity observation period and scrutiny

      deadlines for transmission of results,

    • d) 
      the quality requirements, including the not scrutiny

      required precision,

    • e) 
      the quality reporting framework, not scrutiny
    • f) 
      and if necessary, limited derogations for Member States and transition periods, both to

      be based upon objective criteria. not scrutiny

      DG C I EN

      (a), (b) and (c) are obvious candidates for the scrutiny procedure. As for paragraph 1, there are no implementing measures “hidden” even if the wording might lead to think so.

Presidency proposal:

The Presidency proposes that the Working Party approves the suggested division of measures between the two procedures and the new formulations presented below. These formulations will then be presented to the Parliament. Further reformulation of the recital and articles may have to be done in order to reach a first reading agreement with the Parliament.

Recital 12b (new)

In particular power should be conferred on the Commission to select and specify the subjects of these statistics and their characteristics, the breakdown of characteristics and the observation period and timetables for transmission of results. These measures of general scope designed to amend non-essential elements or supplement this Regulation by the addition of new non essential elements should be adopted in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny laid down to in Article 5a of Council Decision 1999/468/EC i.

A footnote needs to be inserted to recital (12a): “OJ L 184, 17.7.1999, p. 23. Decision as amended by Decision 2006/512/EC i (OJ L 200, 22.7.2006, p. 11).”

Article 6

 Implementing measures

1 The measures necessary for the implementation of this Regulation, including measures to take account of economic and technical developments concerning the collection, transmission and processing of the data, shall be adopted as laid down in paragraphs 2 and 3 with a view to ensuring the transmission of high quality data.

  • 2. 
    The following measures necessary for implementation of this Regulation shall be adopted in accordance with the regulatory procedure referred to in Article 7(2):

(a) the quality requirements, including the required precision,

(b) the quality reporting framework,

(c) and if necessary, limited derogations for Member States and transition periods, both to be based upon objective criteria.

  • 3. 
    The following measures shall be adopted in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny referred to in Article 7(3):

(a) the selection and specification of subjects covered by the domains and their characteristics;

(b) the breakdowns of characteristics;

(c) the observation period and deadlines for transmission of results,

DG C I EN

  • 4. 
    When those measures are adopted, particular account shall be taken of the following:

a1) for all Domains, the potential burden on educational institutions and individuals;

a2) for all Domains, the results of the pilot studies referred to in Article 4 (3).

  • a) 
    for Domain 1, the latest agreements between UIS, OECD and the Commission (Eurostat) on concepts, definitions, data collection format, and data processing, periodicity and deadlines for transmission of results.
  • b) 
    for Domain 2, the results from the first implementation of the Adult Education Pilot Survey performed between in 2005 and 2007 and further development needs;
  • c) 
    for Domain 3, the availability, suitability and the legal context of existing Community data sources after an exhaustive examination of all existing data sources.

Article 7

Committee

  • 1. 
    The Commission shall be assisted by the Statistical Programme Committee set up by

Decision 89/382/EEC i, EURATOM, hereinafter referred to as «the Committee».

shall apply, having regard to the provisions of Article 8 thereof.

The period laid down in Article 5(6) of Decision 1999/468/EC i shall be set at three months.

  • 3. 
    Where reference is made to this paragraph the regulatory procedure with scrutiny laid

    11

    down in Article 5a (1) to (4) and Article 7 of Council Decision 1999/468/EC i shall apply, having regard to the provisions of Article 8 thereof

    • 4. 
      The Committee shall adopt its rules of procedure.

11 OJ L 184, 17.7.1999, p. 23. Decision as amended by Decision 2006/512/EC i (OJ L 200,

22.7.2006, p. 11).

DG C I EN

Purchasing Power Parities (PPP) - COM (2006) 135 i (Presidency compromise proposal after meeting on 6 September 2006, dated 18 October 2006)

State of play: The Presidency has communicated the result of the 6 September meeting of the Working Party to the EP rapporteur. No discussion between the institutions has taken place so far. The document, a presidency compromise proposal, is being circulated to Member States for information.

Article 12

Implementing measures

The measures necessary for the implementation of the provisions of this Regulation, including measures to take account of economic and technical changes, shall be laid down, insofar as this does not involve a disproportionate increase in costs for the Member States, in accordance

with the procedure specified in Article 11(2). scrutiny

Such measures shall concern in particular be: not scrutiny

(a) adaptation of the definitions;

(b) a set of minimum standards in order to achieve the

essential comparability and representativity of the data as not scrutiny

specified under subheadings 5.1 and 5.2 of Annex I;

(c) precise requirements as to the methodology to be used as scrutiny

specified in Annex I;

(d) adjustment of the list of basic headings (as specified in not scrutiny

Annex II) and the

(d1) establishment and adjustment of detailed descriptions of

the content of basic headings, provided that these remain not scrutiny

compatible with ESA95 or any succeeding system.

 (e) Definition of quality criteria and the structure of the quality reports, pursuant to Article 7 (4)

Measure (d) needs to be divided in two because the detailed descriptions are not suitable for

scrutiny procedure Measures (a) and the new (d) can change the text of the regulations, other

measures do not.

Presidency proposal:

The Presidency proposes that the Working Party approves the suggested division of measures between the two procedures and the new formulation of article X presented below. These formulations will then be presented to the Parliament. Further re-formulation of the recital and articles may have to be done in order to reach a first reading agreement with the Parliament.

DG C I EN

Recital (7(1)) (new)

In particular power should be conferred on the Commission to adapt the definitions and adjust the basic headings in Annex II. These measures of general scope designed to amend non-essential elements or supplement this Regulation by the addition of new non essential elements should be adopted in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny laid down to in Article 5a of Council Decision 1999/468/EC i.

Reference in recital 7 needs to be amended to “OJ L 184, 17.7.1999, p. 23. Decision as amended by Decision 2006/512/EC i (OJ L 200, 22.7.2006, p. 11).”

Article 12

 Implementing measures

1 The measures necessary for the implementation of this Regulation, including measures to take account of economic and technical changes, shall be adopted, insofar as this does not involve a disproportionate increase in costs for the Member States, as laid down in paragraphs 2 and 3.

  • 2. 
    The following measures necessary for implementation of this Regulation shall be adopted in accordance with the regulatory procedure referred to in Article 11(2):

(a) a set of minimum standards in order to achieve the essential comparability and representativity of the data as specified under subheadings 5.1 and 5.2 of Annex I;

(b) precise requirements as to the methodology to be used as specified in Annex I;

(c) establishment and adjustment of detailed descriptions of the content of basic headings, provided that these remain compatible with ESA95 or any succeeding system;

(d) Definition of quality criteria and the structure of the quality reports, pursuant to Article 7 (4).

  • 3. 
    The following measures shall be adopted in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny referred to in Article 11(3):

(a) adaptation of the definitions;

(b) adjustment of the list of basic headings (as specified in Annex II).

Article 11

Committee

  • 1. 
    The Commission shall be assisted by the Statistical Programme Committee set up by Decision 89/382/EEC i, EURATOM.
  • 2. 
    Where reference is made to this paragraph , Articles 5 and 7 of Decision 1999/468/EC i shall apply, having regard to the provisions of Article 8 thereof.

The period laid down in Article 5(6) of Decision 1999/468/EC i shall be set at three months.

DG C I EN

  • 3. 
    Where reference is made to this paragraph the regulatory procedure with scrutiny laid down in

    11

Article 5a (1) to (4) and Article 7 of Council Decision 1999/468/EC i shall apply, having regard to the provisions of Article 8 thereof

  • 4. 
    The Committee shall adopt its rules of procedure.

______________

11 OJ L 184, 17.7.1999, p. 23. Decision as amended by Decision 2006/512/EC i (OJ L 200,

22.7.2006, p. 11).

DG C I EN

Annex 2

Comitology recital and articles in NACE Rev. 2 draft regulation, as adopted by the Coreper on 29.9.2006 (document 13003/06) and voted in Parliament on 12 October.

NACE Rev. 2 - COM (2006) 39 i

Recital 13

The measures necessary for the implementation of this Regulation should be adopted in

accordance with Council Decision 1999/468/EC i of 28 June 1999 laying down the procedures

4

for the exercise of implementing powers conferred on the Commission .

Recital 13(a)

In particular, it is necessary to follow the regulatory procedure with scrutiny as regards

measures of general scope designed to amend non-essential elements of this Regulation, inter

alia by deleting some of those elements or by supplementing this Regulation by addition of new

non-essential elements; such measures are referred to in Article 6(2) of this Regulation.

Article 6

Implementing measures

  • 1. 
    The following measures for implementing NACE Rev. 2 shall be adopted in accordance with the regulatory procedure referred to in Article 7(2):
    • a) 
      decisions required in case of problems arising from implementation of NACE Rev. 2, including the assignment of economic activities to specific classes and
    • b) 
      technical measures ensuring a fully coordinated transition from NACE Rev. 1.1 to NACE Rev. 2, especially with respect to issues related to breaks in time series, including double reporting and back-casting of time series.

4 OJ L 184 of 17.7.1999, p.23. Decision amended by Decision 2006/512/EC i (OJ L200 of 22.7.2006,

p.11).

DG C I EN

  • 2. 
    The following measures shall be adopted in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny referred to in Article 7(3):

    amendments to NACE Rev. 2 designed to:

    • a) 
      take account of technological or economic developments;
    • b) 
      align with other economic and social classifications.

    These measures shall be annexed to this Regulation.

  • 3. 
    Consideration is to be given to the principle that the benefits of updating must outweigh its costs, and to the principle that additional costs and burden remain within a

    reasonable limit.

    Article 7

    Committee

  • 1. 
    The Commission shall be assisted by the Statistical Programme Committee, established by Decision 89/382/EEC i, Euratom, hereinafter referred to as «the Committee».
  • 2. 
    Where reference is made to this paragraph, the regulatory procedure laid down in

    Articles 5 and 7 of Decision 1999/468/EC i shall apply, having regard to the provisions of Article 8 thereof.

    The period laid down in Article 5(6) of Decision 1999/468/EC i shall be set at three months.

  • 3. 
    Where reference is made to this paragraph, the regulatory procedure with scrutiny laid down in Article 5a(1) to (4) and Article 7 of Council Decision 1999/468/EC i shall apply, having regard to the provisions of Article 8 thereof.
  • 4. 
    The Committee shall adopt its rules of procedure.

    ________________

    DG C I EN

 
 
 
 

3.

EU Monitor

The EU Monitor enables its users to keep track of the European process of lawmaking, focusing on the relevant dossiers. It automatically signals developments in your chosen topics of interest. Apologies to unregistered users, we can no longer add new users.This service will discontinue in the near future.