14 Statistics
| (a)
(32414)
5053/11
+ ADDs 1-26
COM(10) 774
(b)
(32808)
10632/11
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Draft Regulation on the European system of national and regional accounts in the European Union (Text with EEA relevance)
ECB Opinion on a draft Regulation on the European system of national and regional accounts in the European Union (CON/2011/44)
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| Legal base | (a) Article 338 TFEU; co-decision; QMV
(b) —
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| Department | Office for National Statistics
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| Basis of consideration | Minister's letter of 24 January 2013
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| Previous Committee Reports | (a) HC 428-xv (2010-11), chapter 6 (2 February 2011), HC 428-xxxv (2010-12), chapter 7 (7 September 2011) and HC 428-xliii (2010-12), chapter12 (7 December 2011);
(b) HC 428-xxxv (2010-12), chapter 7 (7 September 2011) and HC 428-xliii (2010-12), chapter12 (7 December 2011)
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| Discussion 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
14.1 Each Member State's National Accounts and Regional Accounts
are compiled in line with definitions, accounting rules and classifications
as laid out by the European System of Accounts, ESA 1995, established
by Regulation (EC) No 2223/96. The ESA 1995 system was set up
to meet the requirements of the economic, social and regional
policy of the EU. And it allows monitoring of the economies of
the Member States and of the economic and monetary union, through
the use of comparable, up-to-date and reliable information on
the structure and developments in the economic situation of each
Member State or region.
14.2 The draft Regulation, document (a), presented
by the Commission in December 2010, is to revise the existing
EU guidelines for producing National Accounts and Regional Accounts
to reflect the new economic environment, advances in methodological
research and needs of users. The proposal is to embody an updated
European System of Accounts, ESA 2010, revising ESA 1995 to reflect
changes since 1995. ESA 2010 follows on from a revised International
System of National Accounts, SNA 2008, published in 2009 by the
IMF, the OECD, the UN Statistical Division, the World Bank and
Eurostat. It reflects developments such as new industries and
products, the impact of globalisation and the expansion of financial
services.
14.3 The draft Regulation has an annex providing
a methodology on common standards, definitions, classifications
and accounting rules. The annex has 24 chapters, dealing with
overarching points, such as "general features and basic principles"
(Chapter 1) or "quarterly national accounts" (Chapter
12), and a range of more detailed matters, such as "distributive
transactions" (Chapter 4) or "contracts, leases and
licences" (Chapter 15). A second annex sets out the programme
required from Member States for transmitting for EU purposes the
accounts, data and tables compiled according to the methodology
to specified deadlines.
14.4 The draft Regulation:
- would be extended to the European
Economic Area;
- is expected to be implemented by Member States
by September 2014 — ESA 2010 will gradually replace all
other systems as a reference framework of common standards, classifications
and accounting rules for drawing up accounts of the Member States,
so that results are comparable between Member States; and
- would empower the Commission to adopt delegated
acts for the purposes of amending the two annexes — the
Commission would carry out appropriate consultations during its
preparatory work, including at expert level.
14.5 The European Central Bank (ECB) Opinion,
document (b), comments on the draft Regulation, document (a).
In it the ECB welcomes the intended consistency of the statistical
concepts and definitions described within the proposed Regulation
with, for example, the UN's SNA 2008, the sixth edition of the
IMF's Balance of Payments and International Investment Position
Manual, the fourth edition of the OECD Benchmark Definition of
Foreign Direct Investment Position Manual and with the EU industrial
activity classification, NACE Rev.2. It also welcomes the proposed
consistency and harmonisation of methodologies. In consequence
of more detailed technical comments the ECB proposes nine amendments
to the draft Regulation.
14.6 In December 2011, when we last considered
this matter in the light of a report on Council working group
discussion, we said that:
- before considering the documents
further we wanted to have another report of the working group
discussions, towards the end of the Danish Presidency (or earlier
if they were concluded before then); and
- we continued to want to hear in particular whether
developments have undermined the Government's original welcome
for the proposal or whether the text emerging still meets the
UK's interests.
Meanwhile the documents remained under scrutiny.[61]
THE
MINISTER'S
LETTER
14.7 The Minister for the Cabinet Office (Mr
Francis Maude) only writes now with the further information we
requested. He first recapitulates the reasons for, and content
of, the draft Regulation and reminds us that the proposed implementation
date for the new ESA 2010 for Member States is by September 2014.
14.8 The Minister then tells us of progress since
September 2011 and the implications for the UK, saying that:
- the Council Working Party on
Statistics has met roughly on a monthly basis in 2012;
- the Government has continued to make significant
contributions to the development of the proposal;
- the Working Party meetings have discussed and
finalised the articles and recitals of the draft Regulation, Annex
A on methodology and Annex B on the data transmission programme
to the Commission (Eurostat);
- during this time, Eurostat has also initiated
various task forces to help develop and improve the methodology;
- 26 Member States submitted derogations covering
the proposed transmission programme;
- due to the extent of the changes and long lead
time to collect new statistics, the Government has sought derogations
allowing for delayed delivery of parts of the detailed data transmission
programme beyond the implementation date of September 2014 —
the last derogation being sought is for 2020;
- derogations for each Member State will only be
formally agreed via an Implementing Act after the draft Regulation
has been adopted;
- the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has
set up governance structures and appropriate workstreams and is
making progress to meet the proposed implementation date of September
2014;
- the proposal will affect a range of economic
statistics produced by ONS covering the National Accounts, Regional
Accounts, Balance of Payments, Public Sector Finance and Environmental
Accounts;
- given the integrated manner in which many economic
statistics are produced by ONS, this change forms a major programme
of work;
- the impact of data changes will affect ONS customers
and suppliers including other government departments — it
will have close regard to these interactions, as part of the work
programme; and
- the ONS is working to secure the necessary resources
to deliver the programme — shifting production of the UK's
National Accounts as defined by the new ESA 2010 is seen as a
strategic priority.
14.9 The Minister tells us that the draft Regulation
has now passed from the Council Working Party on Statistics and
is advancing through the final stages of agreement between the
Council and the European Parliament, with adoption by the latter
scheduled for March. He says that the Government believes the
emerging text still meets the UK's interests and will provide
for national economic indicators that are in line with recent
fundamental changes in the global economy and ensure EU-wide comparability
of those indicators as well as other key statistical developments
following the credit crisis.
CONCLUSION
14.10 WE ARE
GRATEFUL TO
THE MINISTER
FOR THIS
LATEST, ALBEIT
VERY BELATED,
ACCOUNT OF
DEVELOPMENTS ON
THE DRAFT
REGULATION. WE
NOTE THAT
THE GOVERNMENT
IS CONTENT
WITH THE
WAY THE
PROPOSAL HAS
DEVELOPED AND
HAVING NO
FURTHER QUESTIONS
TO ASK
CLEAR THE
DOCUMENTS FROM
SCRUTINY.
61 See headnote. Back
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