European system of national and regional accounts in the European Community (ESA 95)

The aim of the draft regulation was to establish: - a methodology on common standards, definitions, classifications and accounting rules, to be known as the European System of Accounts (ESA), which would be used for compiling accounts and tables on comparable bases for the purposes of the Community (Annex A); - a programme for transmitting to the Commission (Eurostat), on precise dates, the accounts and tables compiled according to the ESA (Annex B). The first transmission of data in accordance with the ESA-95 would be undertaken for the years 1995, 1996 and 1997, and as from 1.1.1998 at the latest. The deadline would be extended for certain Member States, and would expire on or before 1.1.2005. The action seeks to harmonize the concepts and nomenclatures used for data collection, and to define the type of information required by the main users: Community institutions, national, regional and local administrations, international organizations, economic operators and research bodies. The collection process itself and the methods used for this collection would be the responsibility of the Member States, all of which are affected by the proposal. The programme also seeks to propose that statistical surveys or statistical processing surveys, based on existing data, be undertaken of the statistical systems operated by Member States, in accordance with the common procedures used in national accounting. �