Statistics relating to external trade with non-member countries: Commission delegated and implementing powers

The Council adopted its position at first reading with a view to the adoption of a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Regulation (EC) No 471/2009 on Community statistics relating to external trade with non-member countries as regards the conferral of delegated and implementing powers on the Commission for the adoption of certain measures.

The purpose of the draft regulation is to align the Regulation (EC) No 471/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards conferring of delegated and implementing powers upon the Commission for the adoption of certain measures.

Delegated acts: under the Council position, the Commission shall:

• be empowered to adopt delegated acts adapting the list of customs procedures or customs-approved treatment in order to take account of changes in the Customs Code or provisions deriving from international conventions, changes necessary for methodological reasons and the need to set up an efficient system for the collection of data and the compilation of statistics;
• carry out appropriate consultations during its preparatory work, including at expert level, and that those consultations be conducted in accordance with the principles laid down in the Interinstitutional Agreement of 13 April 2016 on Better Law-Making;
• ensure that those delegated acts do not impose a significant additional burden on the Member States or on the respondents and that they remain as economical as possible.

The power to adopt delegated acts shall be conferred on the Commission for a limited period of five years.

Implementing acts: in order to ensure uniform conditions for the implementation of Regulation (EC) No 471/2009, implementing powers should be conferred on the Commission enabling it to adopt measures relating to the linking of the data and the uniform content and coverage of transmitted statistics.

Transmission of statistics: the position of the Council specifies certain specific obligations for Member States (inter alia transmission deadlines) directly in the basic act. Member States shall transmit to the Commission (Eurostat) the statistics no later than 40 days after the end of each monthly reference period. The Commission shall adopt, by means of implementing acts, measures relating to the uniform technical specifications for the content and coverage of the transmitted statistics. Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure.

European Statistical System Committee (ESSC): the reference to the Extrastat Committee shall be replaced by a reference to the European Statistical System Committee (ESSC), in the framework of the general restructuration and streamlining of the European Statistical System (ESS) structure.