63 Statistics
| (27316)
6715/06
COM(06) 66
| Draft Regulation concerning structural business statistics
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| Legal base | Article 285(1) EC; co-decision; QMV
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| Department | Office for National Statistics
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| Basis of consideration | Minister's letter of 19 April 2006
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| Previous Committee Report | HC 34-xxiii (2005-06), para 11 (29 March 2006) and HC 34-xxviii (2005-06), para 8 (10 May 2006)
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| To be discussed in Council | Not known
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| Committee's assessment | Politically important
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| Committee's decision | Cleared
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Background
63.1 Regulation (EC, Euratom) No. 58/97 sets a framework for Community
statistics on the structure, activity, competitiveness and performance
of businesses. The Regulation has since been amended four times.
63.2 The draft Regulation is to consolidate the existing Regulations
and to make a number of amendments to the regime. When we last
considered this proposal we asked, before considering the matter
finally, to know the outcome of a subsidiarity/competence issue
that had been drawn to our attention.[163]
The Minister's letter
63.3 The Financial Secretary to the Treasury (John Healey) now
tells us that the Council Legal Service has not yet advised on
whether the draft Regulation is subject to the Treaty provisions
on subsidiarity because the matter is not within the exclusive
competence of the Community. But he says the Council Legal Service
has advised on this question in relation to two other proposals,
on transmission of national data accounts and classification of
economic activities,[164]
concluding that they are not matters of exclusive competence,
so that the Council Working Party is considering subsidiarity
and whether appropriate recitals are needed in the draft Regulations.
The Minister says that on this basis it is expected that the Council
Legal Service will advise similarly on this draft Regulation and
it is the intention of the Government and other Member States
to seek the inclusion of an appropriate recital.
63.4 The Minister takes this opportunity to inform us of another
matter. The drafting of this proposed Regulation is based on a
common statistical classification of economic activities known
as NACE Rev 1.1 (from Nomenclature general des activités
économiques dans les communautés européennes).
The draft Regulation on classification of economic activities
mentioned above will change the common classification to NACE
Rev 2. Since progress is being made on that proposal, it is probable
that the structural business statistics data to be collected under
this draft Regulation would be under NACE Rev 1.1 for one year
only. Therefore, while the Government maintains its support for
the overall purposes of the proposal it has agreed with the position
of a significant number of Member States that it will not be able
to vote in favour of this draft Regulation while it is cast in
terms of NACE Rev 1.1 The Commission is now considering its response
to this position taken by Member States.
Conclusion
63.5 We are grateful to the Minister for this information and,
having no further questions, clear the document.
163 See headnote. Back
164
(27126) 15947/05: See HC 34-xv (2005-06), para 19 (18 January
2006), (27299) 6374/06: HC 34-xxii (2005-06), para 7 (15 March
2006) and HC 34-xxviii (2005-06), para 17 (10 May 2006). Back
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