Explanatory Memorandum to COM(2012)724 - Amendment of certain legislative acts in the domain of agricultural and fishery statistics - Main contents
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This page contains a limited version of this dossier in the EU Monitor.
| dossier | COM(2012)724 - Amendment of certain legislative acts in the domain of agricultural and fishery statistics. |
|---|---|
| source | COM(2012)724  |
| date | 05-12-2012 |
The Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) makes a distinction between (a) the powers delegated to the Commission to adopt non-legislative acts of general application to supplement or amend certain non-essential elements of the legislative act as laid down in Article 290 i of the TFEU (delegated acts), and (b) the powers conferred upon the Commission to adopt uniform conditions for implementing legally binding Union acts as laid down in Article 291 i of the TFEU (implementing acts).
The Commission has committed itself i, with regard to Regulation (EU) No 182/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 February 2011 laying down the rules and general principles concerning mechanisms for control by Member States of the Commission’s exercise of implementing powers i, to reviewing legislative acts which currently contain references to the regulatory procedure with scrutiny in the light of the criteria laid down in the Treaty.
The overall objective is by the end of Parliament's seventh term (June 2014), to remove all provisions referring to the regulatory procedure with scrutiny from all legislative instruments.
The aim of this proposal is to modify nine legislative acts in the domain of agricultural and fishery statistics in order to align them with the new institutional context.
For the sake of completeness, the list of instruments to be aligned is:
Council Directive 96/16/EC of 19 March 1996 on statistical surveys of milk and milk products i;
Regulation (EC) No 138/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 December 2003 on the economic accounts for agriculture in the Community i;
Regulation (EC) No 1921/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 December 2006 on the submission of statistical data on landings of fishery products in Member States and repealing Council Regulation (EEC) No 1382/91 i;
Regulation (EC) No 762/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 9 July 2008 on the submission by Member States of statistics on aquaculture and repealing Council Regulation (EC) No 788/96[6];
Regulation (EC) No 1165/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 November 2008 concerning livestock and meat statistics and repealing Council Directives 93/23/EEC, 93/24/EEC and 93/25/EEC[7];
Regulation (EC) No 216/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 March 2009 on the submission of nominal catch statistics by Member States fishing in certain areas other than those of the North Atlantic (recast)[8];
Regulation (EC) No 217/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 March 2009 on the submission of catch and activity statistics by Member States fishing in the north-west Atlantic (recast)[9];
Regulation (EC) No 218/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 March 2009 on the submission of nominal catch statistics by Member States fishing in the north-east Atlantic (recast)[10];
Regulation (EC) No 543/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 June 2009 concerning crop statistics and repealing Council Regulations (EEC) No 837/90 and (EEC) No 959/93[11].
Contents
There was no need for consultation of interested parties or for impact assessment.
· Summary of the proposed action
The objective of this proposal is to modify nine legislative acts in the domain of agricultural and fishery statistics in order to align them to the new institutional context.
In particular, the aim is to identify what powers the Commission has and establish the appropriate procedure for adopting measures on the basis of these powers.
· Streamlining of the European Statistical System
Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 March 2009 on European statistics[12] defined the European Statistical System (ESS) as a partnership between the European statistical authority, which is the Commission (Eurostat), and the national statistical institutes (NSIs) and other national authorities responsible in each Member States for the development, production and dissemination of European statistics.
The European Statistical System Committee (ESSC), established by Article 7 of Regulation (EC) No 223/2009, is regarded as the umbrella committee within the ESS. It assists the Commission in exercising of its implementing powers in certain statistical domains. These exclude agricultural and fishery statistics where the Commission is assisted by the Standing Committee for Agricultural Statistics (SCAS)[13].
The Commission is proposing a new ESS structure aimed at improving coordination and partnership in a clear pyramid structure within the ESS, with the ESSC as highest strategic body. One aspect of this streamlining is to concentrate comitology powers in the hands of the ESSC. In February 2012[14], the ESSC supported this new approach.
The suggestion is therefore to modify the nine legislative acts in order to replace the reference to the SCAS by a reference to the ESSC.
· Legal basis
Article 338 i of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.
· Choice of instrument
Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council.
The proposal has no implications for the EU budget.
5. OPTIONAL ELEMENTS
None