21 BUSINESS STATISTICS
(26479)
7857/05
COM(05) 112
| Draft Regulation establishing a common framework for business registers for statistical purposes and repealing Regulation (EEC) No. 2186/93
|
| Legal base | Article 285 EC; co-decision; QMV
|
| Department | Office for National Statistics
|
| Basis of consideration |
Minister's letter of 30 January 2006 |
| Previous Committee Report |
HC 34-i (2005-06), para 30 (4 July 2005) |
| To be discussed in Council
| Not known |
| Committee's assessment | Politically and legally important
|
| Committee's decision | Clear
|
Background
21.1 The Business Registers Regulation of 1993, (EEC) No. 2186/93,
provides a framework for the creation and maintenance in each
Member State of a business register for statistical purposes.
In the UK the Government maintains this business register using
administrative data supplied from the VAT and PAYE systems within
HM Revenue and Customs, supplemented by data from statistical
surveys of the Office for National Statistics and the Department
for Enterprise, Trade and Industry in Northern Ireland. The Commission
and Member States agree the existing Regulation is outdated and
needs replacing. Accordingly this draft Regulation would extend
coverage of Member State business registers to include the agriculture
and fishing and public administration sectors, require recording
and exchange of data on financial links in enterprise groups,
including trans-national enterprises and require transmission
of data to Eurostat and allow its onward transmission to other
Member States. When we considered this document in July 2005 we
said we shared the Government's concern about the potential threat
to UK requirements as to the confidentiality of certain data and
noted a potential subsidiarity issue if control of this matter
were to move out of the hands of Government and Parliament to
an EU comitology committee. We looked to a robust approach by
the Government on this and asked to be kept informed of developments.[44]
The Minister's letter
21.2 The Financial Secretary to the Treasury (John Healey) writes
now to say that the UK Presidency secured agreement on a compromise
text for this draft Regulation that:
- addresses concerns expressed on the inclusion
of agriculture, public administration and enterprise group structures
through providing an extended period for implementation and through
clearer rules governing interchange of data;
- states explicitly the conditions under which
data may be shared with Eurostat and with national statistical
offices. The data relate only to multinational enterprise groups.
Within the UK, this information comes from the company registration
service of Companies House supplemented by data supplied under
a contract between the Office for National Statistics and a commercial
supplier of such data, currently Dun and Bradstreet. The Government
holds that these sources, which can be shared under existing legislation,
meet the data sharing requirements of the compromise, and therefore
meets the concern on this count;
- addresses, by requiring a full impact assessment
before any change, concerns about the cost to both Government
and businesses of implementing the proposed Regulation; and
- an extended period for implementation for agriculture
aligns the change with the farms census planned for 2010 so ensuring
there is no increase in regulatory burden through the draft Regulation.
21.3 On the transmission of data issue the Minister
adds that the Government, along with other Member States, feels
strongly that the Commission should provide an assurance that
a review will be undertaken of the Regulation on Community Statistics,
No. (EC)322/97, which provides the framework for sharing of confidential
data for statistical purposes. In that context he notes that the
European Central Bank (ECB) has recently made a strong request
for access to national data for statistical purposes. But the
compromise text lays down clear procedures that prevent access
by the ECB and national banks beyond the limits of existing national
legislation.
21.4 Finally the Minister says that the compromise
proposal will be carried forward during the Austrian Presidency.
Conclusion
21.5 We are grateful to the Minister for this
information and note the improvements to the text, which meet
earlier concerns. We have no further questions and clear the document.
44 See headnote. Back
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