LeX-Ray

The statistical information on Member States′ trade flows with non-member countries is of essential importance for the Community’s economic and trade policies and for analysing market developments for individual goods. The transparency of the statistical system should be improved to enable it to react to the changing administrative environment and to satisfy new user requirements. Council Regulation 1995/1172 of 22 May 1995 on the statistics relating to the trading of goods by the Community and its Member States with non-member countries ( 3 ) should therefore be replaced by a new Regulation in conformity with the requirements set out in Article 285(2) of the Treaty.

External trade statistics are based on data obtained from customs declarations, as provided for in Council Regulation (EEC) No 2913/92 of 12 October 1992 establishing the Community Customs Code ( 4 ) (hereinafter referred to as the Customs Code). Progress in European integration and the resulting changes in customs clearance, including single authorisations for the use of the simplified declaration or the local clearance procedure, as well as centralised clearance, which will emanate from the current process of modernisation of the Customs Code as laid down in Regulation 2008/450 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 April 2008 laying down the Community Customs Code (Modernised Customs Code) ( 5 ) (hereinafter referred to as the Modernised Customs Code) warrant a number of changes. In particular, they make it necessary to adjust the way external trade statistics are compiled, to reconsider the concept of the importing or exporting Member State, and to define more precisely the data source for compiling Community statistics.

Simplifications of customs formalities and controls under the Modernised Customs Code can lead to customs declarations not being available. In order to keep the compilation of external trade statistics complete, measures should be adopted which ensure that those economic operators who benefit from the simplification provide statistical data.

Decision No 70/2008/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 January 2008 on a paperless environment for customs and trade ( 6 ) will set up an electronic customs system for the exchange of data contained in customs declarations. In order to record the physical trade flow of goods between Member States and non-member countries and to ensure that data on imports and exports is available in the Member State concerned, arrangements between customs and statistical authorities are necessary and should be specified. This includes rules on the exchange of data between Member States′ administrations. This data exchange system should benefit as far as possible from the infrastructure established by the customs authorities.

In order to allocate Community exports and imports to a given Member State, it is necessary to compile data on the ‘Member State of destination’, for imports, and the ‘Member State of actual export’, for exports. In the medium term, those Member States should become the importing and the exporting Member State for external trade statistics purposes.

For the purposes of this Regulation, goods for external trade purposes should be classified in accordance with the Combined Nomenclature established by Council Regulation (EEC) No 2658/87 of 23 July 1987 on the tariff and statistical nomenclature and on the Common Customs Tariff ( 7 ) (hereinafter referred to as the Combined Nomenclature).

To meet the needs of the European Central Bank and of the Commission for information on the share of the euro in international trade in goods, the invoicing currency of exports and imports should be reported at an aggregated level.

For the purposes of trade negotiations and internal market management, the Commission should be provided with detailed information on the preferential treatment of goods imported into the Community.

External trade statistics provide data for the compilation of balance of payments and national accounts. The characteristics which make it possible to adapt them to balance of payments purposes should become part of the mandatory and standard data set.

Member States’ statistics on customs warehouses and free zones are not the subject of harmonised provisions. However, the compilation for national purposes of these statistics remains optional.

Member States should provide Eurostat with annual aggregated data on trade broken down by business characteristics, one of the uses of which is to facilitate the analysis of how European companies operate in the context of globalisation. The link between business and trade statistics is established by merging data on the importer and the exporter available on the customs declaration with data requested by CFBRSPR of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 February 2008 establishing a common framework for business registers for statistical purposes ( 8 ) .

ESR of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 March 2009 on European statistics ( 9 ) provides a reference framework for the provisions laid down in this Regulation. However, the very detailed level of information on trade in goods requires specific confidentiality rules if these statistics are to be relevant.

The transmission of data subject to statistical confidentiality is governed by the rules set out in ESR and in Council Regulation (Euratom, EEC) No 1588/90 of 11 June 1990 on the transmission of data subject to statistical confidentiality to the Statistical Office of the European Communities ( 10 ) . Measures which are taken in accordance with those Regulations ensure the physical and logical protection of confidential data and ensure that no unlawful disclosure and non-statistical use occur when Community statistics are produced and disseminated.

In the production and dissemination of Community statistics under this Regulation, the national and Community statistical authorities should take account of the principles set out in the European Statistics Code of Practice, which was adopted by the Statistical Programme Committee on 24 February 2005 and appended to the Recommendation of the Commission of 25 May 2005 on the independence, integrity and accountability of the national and Community statistical authorities.

Specific provisions should be formulated to remain in force until such time as changes in customs legislation result in additional data on the customs declaration and until Community legislation requires the electronic exchange of customs data.

Since the objective of this Regulation, namely establishing the common framework for the systematic production of Community external trade statistics, cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States and can therefore, by reason of the scale and effects of the action, be better achieved at Community level, the Community may adopt measures, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity as set out in Article 5 of the Treaty. In accordance with the principle of proportionality, as set out in that Article, this Regulation does not go beyond what is necessary in order to achieve that objective.

The measures necessary for the implementation of this Regulation should be adopted in accordance with Council Decision 1999/468/EC of 28 June 1999 laying down the procedures for the exercise of implementing powers conferred on the Commission ( 11 ) .

In particular, the Commission should be empowered to adapt the list of customs procedures or customs-approved treatment or use which determine an export or import for external trade statistics; to adopt different or specific rules for goods or movements which, for methodological reasons, call for specific provisions; to adapt the list of goods and movements excluded from external trade statistics; to specify the data sources other than the customs declaration for records on imports and exports of specific goods or movements; to specify the statistical data, including the codes to be used; to establish requirements for data related to specific goods or movements; to establish requirements on the compilation of statistics; to specify the characteristics of samples; to establish the reporting period and the level of aggregation for partner countries, goods and currencies; and also to adapt the deadline for transmitting statistics, content, coverage and revision conditions for statistics already transmitted; and to establish the deadline for transmitting statistics on trade by business characteristics and statistics on trade broken down by invoicing currency. Since those measures are of general scope and are designed to amend non-essential elements of this Regulation, inter alia by supplementing it with new non-essential elements, they must be adopted in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny provided for in Article 5a of Decision 1999/468/EC,