ESTP course on International Trade in Goods Statistics

1. ESTP course on International Trade in Goods Statistics 22-26 April 2013 Point 2 of the agendaLegal framework for EU trade statistics

2. Main topics • Primary law • Secondary law (general; ITGS relevance) • Subsidiarity • Co-ordination Eurostat - Member States • Comitology • Effect of the Lisbon Treaty on ITGS-legislation • CIRCABC (IT-tool)

3. “Hierarchy” • Primary law • Secondary legislation[relating to ITGS: • Basic acts • Implementing provisions] • Co-ordination between Member States and Eurostat

4. Primary law = The supreme source of law of the EU(it prevails over all other sources of law) • It consists mainly of the Treaties of the EU • formal and substantive provisions • framing the implementation of EU policies • determining the division of competences between the EU and the Member States • Reference to Statistics: Article 338 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU: “… European Parliament and the Council shall adopt measures for the production of statistics..”

5. Primary law (2) • Principle of subsidiarity • established in Article 5 of the Treaty on the EU • fundamental to European decision-making • determines when the EU is competent to legislate • Three criteria: • Does the action have transnational aspects that cannot be resolved by Member States? • Would national action or an absence of action be contrary to the requirements of the Treaty? • Does action at European level have clear advantages?

6. Secondary law • Directive • Obliges Member States to achieve a result • Leaving MSs the choice how to obtain the result • Legislation with view to harmonise national legislations • Regulation • legislation of general application, • binding in their entirety • directly applicable in all Member States • (Decisions) • (Opinions) • (Recommendations) = Legal instruments based on the Treaties

7. Secondary law relating to ITGS • Two different domains: • Statistics on trade with non-Member countries (Extra-EU trade statistics) • Statistics on trade between Member States(Intra-EU trade statistics) • “Regulation” as appropriate legal instrument to achieve the required results

8. Secondary law relating to ITGS (2) Approach for presentlegislation on Extra- and Intra-EU trade statistics Basic Regulation • Lays down fundamental rules (e.g. scope, basic definitions) • Proposed by the Commission (drafted by Eurostat) • Decided by European Parliament and Council • right to modify the proposal • common agreement -> adoption • publication in the Official Journal of the EU • Provides for possibility to set up Implementing Regulations • Provides for Comitology(= formal “cooperation Commission - Member States”)

9. Secondary law relating to ITGS (3) Approach for presentlegislation on Extra- and Intra-EU trade statistics • Implementing Regulation • Separate act that • Complements or amends the rules of the Basic act • Contains provisions of a more specific or technical nature • Proposal by the Commission (drafted by Eurostat) • Decided (voted) by the Member States (Comitology)

10. Secondary law relating to ITGS (4) Legislation on Extra- and Intra-EU trade statistics

11. Secondary law with relevance for ITGS • Geonomenclature “2013” Commission Regulation (EU) No 1106/2012;nomenclature of countries and territories for ITGS • Statistical Law Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 of the European Parliament and Council on the European Statistical System • Combined Nomenclature Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 927/2012; nomenclature of goods for customs and statistics • Community Customs Code and its IPs Council Regulation (EEC) No 2913/92; (CC)Commission Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93 (CCIP) • VAT directiveCouncil Directive 2006/112/EC

12. Co-ordination Member States / Eurostat Approach for presentlegislation on Extra- and Intra-EU trade statistics • Comitology • Committee is established in the Basic Act (-> Intrastat Committee, -> Extrastat Committee) • Committee is composed of representatives of MSs • Role of the committee • assist the Commission in preparing implementing acts • vote (majority) on the Commission’s proposal for such act • Committee has rules of procedure • Committees offer a forum for discussionbetween the Commission and the national administrationsof MS with view to seeking the most satisfactory solution

13. Co-ordination Member States / Eurostat (2) Approach for presentlegislation on Extra- and Intra-EU trade statistics • Working Group • Set up after an agreement of the Committee (Intrastat / Extrastat Committee) • It has a clearly defined technical mandate/scope • Its role is to report results back to the Committee • It is composed of technical experts from Member States’ statistical administrations

14. Co-ordination Member States / Eurostat (3) Example of Working Groups • 'Linking Trade and Business Statistics‘ • Coordination of data collection on trade by enterprise characteristics • Methodological development of linking trade and business statistics • Coordination of legal framework • Methodological framework for trade globalisation indicators • ‘Collection and Processing of Foreign Trade’ • data validation, data collection, standardisation of messages, data submission to Eurostat

15. Co-ordination Member States / Eurostat (4) Example of Working Groups (continued) • ‘Methods in Foreign Trade Statistics‘ • Preparation of the legal framework for the imple-mentation of the Intrastat and Extrastat systems • Development of guidelines for the implementation of Extrastat and Intrastat Regulations • Development of best practices and solutions to the problems raised by Member States • 'Quality‘ • Quality aspects in legislation, quality assessment, monitoring and reporting

16. NEW – Lisbon Treaty • Treaty of Lisbon . • Entered into force on 1 December 2009 • Amended the Treaty on European Union (TEU) • Amended the Treaty establishing the European Community (TEC) • Renamed the TEC to Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU)

17. NEW – Legal norms The Treaty of Lisbon newly introduced a hierarchy of norms within the secondary legislation: • Legislative acts Legal acts adopted by European Parliament and Council • Delegated actsNon-legislative acts of general application to supplement or amend the legislative act; EP and Council may delegate the power to adopt this type of act to the Commission • Implementing actsActs generally adopted by the Commission under the Comitology procedure

18. NEW – ITGS aspects Alignment of ITGS-basic acts to the Lisbon Treaty (~2014) (to reflect the changes in the conferral of power to the Commission) • Delegated acts • To supplement or amend the basic acts • Adopted by the Commission • No Comitology, but consultation of MS in expert groups • Right of Parliament / Council to revoke empowerment • Implementing acts • To adopts acts of technical nature (e.g. coding) • To be voted under Comitology

19. NEW – Consequences on ITGS • Replacement of the Extrastat and Intrastat Committees by the ESS Committee (~2014) • Extrastat/Intrastat Committees likely to be transformed into a working group • New working structure for the co-operation Eurostat-Member States

20. Useful practical tool CIRCABCCommunication and Information Resource Centre for Administrations, Businesses and Citizens) • Open source software • Tool used by the European Institutions • Internet based https://circabc.europa.eu • For ITGS: https://circabc.europa.eu/w/browse/158a338e-5c32-48df-b778-61bd6ecee62b • closed space to share and exchange information (files / newsgroups) • user account required (id and password for ECAS) • reflects working structure of Eurostat’s units G4/G5

21. Thanksforyourattention