Legal provisions of COM(2010)117 - European statistics on tourism

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dossier COM(2010)117 - European statistics on tourism.
document COM(2010)117 EN
date July  6, 2011

Article 1 - Subject matter

This Regulation establishes a common framework for the systematic development, production and dissemination of European statistics on tourism.

For this purpose, Member States shall collect, compile, process and transmit harmonised statistics on tourism supply and demand.

Article 2 - Definitions

1. For the purposes of this Regulation:

(a)‘reference period’ means a period to which data refer;

(b)‘reference year’ means a reference period of 1 calendar year;

(c)‘NACE Rev. 2’ means the common statistical classification of economic activities within the Union, as established by Regulation (EC) No 1893/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council (5);

(d)‘NUTS’ means the common classification of territorial units for the production of regional statistics within the Union, as established by Regulation (EC) No 1059/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council (6);

(e)‘usual environment’ means the geographical area, though not necessarily a contiguous one, within which an individual conducts his regular life routines and shall be determined on the basis of the following criteria: the crossing of administrative borders or the distance from the place of usual residence, the duration of the visit, the frequency of the visit, the purpose of the visit;

(f)‘tourism’ means the activity of visitors taking a trip to a main destination outside their usual environment, for less than a year, for any main purpose, including business, leisure or other personal purpose, other than to be employed by a resident entity in the place visited;

(g)‘domestic tourism’ means visits within a Member State by visitors who are residents of that Member State;

(h)‘inbound tourism’ means visits to a Member State by visitors who are not residents of that Member State;

(i)‘outbound tourism’ means visits by residents of a Member State outside that Member State;

(j)‘national tourism’ means domestic and outbound tourism;

(k)‘internal tourism’ means domestic and inbound tourism;

(l)‘tourist accommodation establishment’ means a local kind-of-activity unit, as defined in the Annex to Council Regulation (EEC) No 696/93 of 15 March 1993 on the statistical units for the observation and analysis of the production system in the Community (7), providing as a paid service — although the price might be partially or fully subsidised — short-stay accommodation services as described in groups 55.1 (hotels and similar accommodation), 55.2 (holiday and other short-stay accommodation) and 55.3 (camping grounds, recreational vehicle parks and trailer parks) of NACE Rev. 2;

(m)‘non-rented accommodation’ means, inter alia, accommodation provided without charge by family or friends and accommodation in owner-occupied vacation homes, including time share properties;

(n)‘same-day visits’ means visits without overnight stay made by residents outside their usual environment and which originated from the place of usual residence.

2. The Commission shall be empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 11 concerning amendments to the definitions in paragraph 1 of this Article for the purpose of adapting those definitions to changes to international definitions.

Article 3 - Subjects covered and characteristics of the required data

1. For the purposes of this Regulation, the data to be transmitted by the Member States in accordance with Article 9 shall relate to:

(a)internal tourism, in terms of the capacity and occupancy of tourist accommodation establishments, for the variables, periodicity and breakdowns laid down in Sections 1, 2 and 3 of Annex I;

(b)internal tourism, in terms of tourism nights spent in non-rented accommodation, for the variables, periodicity and breakdowns laid down in Section 4 of Annex I;

(c)national tourism, in terms of the tourism demand, which concerns the participation in tourism and the characteristics of tourism trips and visitors, for the variables, periodicity and breakdowns laid down in Sections 1 and 2 of Annex II;

(d)national tourism, in terms of the tourism demand, which concerns the characteristics of same-day visits, for the variables, periodicity and breakdowns laid down in Section 3 of Annex II.

2. The Commission shall be empowered to adopt, where necessary, delegated acts in accordance with Article 11 concerning adaptation of the Annexes, except for the optional nature of the required data and to the limitation of the scope as defined in the Annexes in order to take account of economic, social or technical developments. In exercising its power pursuant to this provision, the Commission shall ensure that any delegated acts adopted do not impose significant additional administrative burdens on the Member States and on the respondents.

Article 4 - Scope of observation

The scope of observation for the requirements laid down in:

(a)Article 3(1)(a) shall be all tourist accommodation establishments as defined in Article 2(1)(l), unless otherwise specified in Annex I;

(b)Article 3(1)(b) shall be all tourism nights by residents and non-residents spent in non-rented accommodation;

(c)Article 3(1)(c), as regards the data on participation in tourism, shall be all individuals residing in the territory of the Member State, unless otherwise specified in Section 1 of Annex II;

(d)Article 3(1)(c), as regards the data on characteristics of tourism trips and visitors, shall be all tourism trips with at least one overnight stay outside the usual environment by the resident population and which ended during the reference period, unless otherwise specified in Section 2 of Annex II;

(e)Article 3(1)(d), as regards the characteristics of same-day visits, shall be all same-day visits as defined in Article 2(1)(n), unless otherwise specified in Section 3 of Annex II.

Article 5 - Pilot studies

1. The Commission shall draw up a programme for pilot studies which may be carried out by Member States on a voluntary basis in order to prepare the development, production and dissemination of harmonised tables for tourism satellite accounts and to assess the benefits in relation to the cost of the compilation.

2. The Commission shall also draw up a programme for pilot studies which may be carried out by Member States on a voluntary basis in order to develop a system for the compilation of data showing the effects of tourism on the environment.

Article 6 - Quality criteria and reports

1. Member States shall ensure the quality of the data transmitted.

2. For the purposes of this Regulation, the quality criteria as laid down in Article 12(1) of Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 shall apply.

3. Every year, Member States shall provide the Commission (Eurostat) with a report on the quality of the data relating to the reference periods in the reference year, and on any methodological changes that have been made. The report shall be provided within 9 months after the end of the reference year.

4. In applying the quality criteria referred to in paragraph 2 to the data covered by this Regulation, the arrangements for and structure of the quality reports shall be defined by the Commission in the form of implementing acts. Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 12(2).

Article 7 - Evaluation report

By 12 August 2016 and every 5 years thereafter, the Commission shall submit an evaluation report to the European Parliament and to the Council on the statistics compiled pursuant to this Regulation and, in particular, on their relevance and the burden on business.

Article 8 - Data sources

As regards the basis on which the data is collected, Member States shall take any measures they deem appropriate to maintain the quality of the results. Member States may produce the necessary statistical data by using a combination of the following different sources:

(a)surveys, where reporting units are asked to give timely, accurate and complete data;

(b)other appropriate sources, including administrative data, if these are appropriate in terms of timeliness and relevance;

(c)appropriate statistical estimation procedures.

Article 9 - Transmission of data

1. Member States shall transmit the data, including confidential data, to the Commission (Eurostat), in accordance with Article 21 of Regulation (EC) No 223/2009.

2. Member States shall transmit the data listed in Annex I and in Sections 1 and 3 of Annex II in the form of aggregate tables, in accordance with an interchange standard specified by the Commission (Eurostat). The data shall be transmitted or uploaded by electronic means to the single entry point for data at the Commission (Eurostat). The practical arrangements for the transmission of the data shall be adopted by the Commission in the form of implementing acts. Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 12(2).

3. Member States shall transmit the data listed in Section 2 of Annex II in the form of micro-data files — with each observed trip being an individual record in the transmitted dataset — which shall be fully checked, edited and, where necessary, imputed, in accordance with an interchange standard specified by the Commission (Eurostat). The data shall be transmitted or uploaded by electronic means to the single entry point for data at the Commission (Eurostat). The practical arrangements for the transmission of the data shall be adopted by the Commission in the form of implementing acts. Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 12(2).

4. Member States shall transmit:

(a)the annual data listed in Sections 1 and 2 of Annex I within 6 months after the end of the reference period, unless otherwise specified in Annex I;

(b)the monthly data listed in Section 2 of Annex I within 3 months after the end of the reference period;

(c)the rapid key indicators relating to nights spent by residents and non-residents in tourist accommodation establishments, as listed in Section 2 of Annex I, within 8 weeks after the end of the reference period;

(d)the data listed in Section 4 of Annex I within 9 months after the end of the reference period, if the Member State concerned opts in favour of transmitting them;

(e)the data listed in Annex II within 6 months after the end of the reference period.

5. The Commission shall be empowered to adopt, where necessary, delegated acts in accordance with Article 11 concerning amendments to the transmission deadlines laid down in paragraph 4 of this Article in order to take account of economic, social or technical developments. Any such amendments shall take into account the existing data collection practices in the Member States.

6. For all data required by this Regulation, the first reference period, unless otherwise specified, shall begin on 1 January 2012.

Article 10 - Methodological manual

The Commission (Eurostat) shall, in close cooperation with the Member States, draw up and regularly update a methodological manual which shall contain guidelines on the statistics produced pursuant to this Regulation, including definitions to be applied to the characteristics of the required data and common standards designed to ensure the quality of the data.

Article 11 - Exercise of the delegation

1. The power to adopt the delegated acts is conferred on the Commission subject to the conditions laid down in this Article.

2. The delegation of power referred to in Articles 2(2), 3(2) and 9(5) shall be conferred on the Commission for a period of 5 years from 11 August 2011. The Commission shall draw up a report in respect of the delegation of power not later than 9 months before the end of the 5-year period. The delegation of power shall be tacitly extended for periods of an identical duration, unless the European Parliament or the Council opposes such extension not later than 3 months before the end of each period.

3. The delegation of power referred to in Articles 2(2), 3(2) and 9(5) may be revoked at any time by the European Parliament or by the Council. A decision to revoke shall put an end to the delegation of the power specified in that decision. It shall take effect the day following the publication of the decision in the Official Journal of the European Union or at a later date specified therein. It shall not affect the validity of any delegated acts already in force.

4. As soon as it adopts a delegated act, the Commission shall notify it simultaneously to the European Parliament and to the Council.

5. A delegated act adopted pursuant to Articles 2(2), 3(2) and 9(5) shall enter into force only if no objection has been expressed either by the European Parliament or the Council within a period of 2 months of notification of that act to the European Parliament and the Council or if, before the expiry of that period, the European Parliament and the Council have both informed the Commission that they will not object. That period shall be extended by 2 months at the initiative of the European Parliament or the Council.

Article 12 - Committee

1. The Commission shall be assisted by the European Statistical System Committee established by Regulation (EC) No 223/2009. That committee shall be a committee within the meaning of Regulation (EU) No 182/2011.

2. Where reference is made to this paragraph, Article 5 of Regulation (EU) No 182/2011 shall apply.

Article 13 - Repeal

Directive 95/57/EC is hereby repealed.

Member States shall provide results in accordance with Directive 95/57/EC for all reference periods for 2011.

Article 14 - Entry into force

This Regulation shall enter into force on the 20th day following its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.