European statistical system: common classification of territorial units for statistics NUTS

The Council accepted all Parliament's amendments on substance, although the exact wording was not followed in each case. One of the amendments accepted introduced the possibility of expanding the current NUTS classification by including a NUTS Level 4. Additionally, the current wording of the recital explicitly states that Member States are free to add further levels of NUTS details. The Commission must verify whether the introduction of a new hierarchical NUTS Level 4 is deemed desirable after two years from entry into force of this Regulation. The Council has introduced some new elements into the common position. These include: - the shifting of certain technical implementation decisions to a comitolgy procedure; - the Commission is to report to Parliament and to the Council on the implementation of the Regulation three years after its entry into force; - a slight widening of the conditions under which Member States could request a modification of the NUTS classification. The following statements are to entered in the Council minutes: Statement from the Commission and Council: "This Regulation does not impede the right of Member States to determine their own administrative organisation." Statement from the Belgian Delegation re Article 4(2) (on the transmission by Member States of all changes which may affect NUTS Level 3 boundaries): "The cartographic representation of NUTS boundaries and its transmission remain a matter between the Commission and the National Mapping agencies or equivalent. The National Statistical Institutes are not involved in that matter." Statement by the Netherlands re Article 5(4) (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 intervals of less than three years): "A substantial reorganisation of the administrative structure of a Member State should also include an ongoing process of changes in the administrative structure of a Member State as part of a general policy, for example on increasing the scale of the constituent parts of that structure."�