The European Parliament adopted a resolution drafted by Wolf KLINZ (ALDE, DE) by 615 votes in favour to 13 against with 20 abstentions and made some amendments to the proposal:
- a new clause states that exports, imports, intra-group exports and intra-group imports shall be broken down into goods and services. Goods and services must be categorised separately;
- on comitology, the following measures are designed to modify non essential elements of the regulation, including by supplementing it by adding new non essential elements, and shall be adopted in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny : adapting definitions in Annexes I and II and adaptation of the level of detail listed in Annex III, as well as any consequential changes for Annexes I and II; implementing the results of the pilot studies; defining proper common quality standards and the contents and periodicity of the quality reports;
- the Commission must draw up a programme for pilot studies to be carried out by national authorities on a voluntary basis on additional variables and breakdowns for inward and outward statistics on foreign affiliates;
- on the basis of the conclusions of the pilot studies, the Commission shall adopt the necessary implementation measures for inward and outward statistics on foreign affiliates. On the basis of the results of the pilot studies the Commission, in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 10, shall adopt implementation measures on both, inward and outward FATS. Parliament felt that a new legislative procedure for the implementation of outward FATS seemed disproportionate and would lead to further, considerable delays in the implementation of outward FATS;
- Member States shall compile the data according to the implementation timetable as specified in Annexes I and II (rather than Annex II);
- during a transitional period that shall not exceed four years from the first reference year, derogations from the provisions of this regulation may be granted for a limited period by the Commission to Member States in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny referred to in Article 10(2 ) when their national systems require major adaptations;
- particular consideration shall be given to the principle that the benefits of measures must overweigh their costs, and to the principle that any additional financial burden on Member States or enterprises should remain within a reasonable limit;
- both Annexes have been amended with regard to characteristics to be compiled. There is a new clause on the first reference year and periodicity. The results shall be transmitted within 20 months from the end of the calendar year of the reference year. Parliament specified which data on outward FATS might be the subject of pilot studies.