Activites

• 2003/06/21 Final act published in Official Journal
  • Regulation 2003/1059
  • OJ L 154 21.06.2003, p. 0001-0041
• 2003/05/26 Final act signed
• 2003/05/26 End of procedure in Parliament
• 2003/04/08 Decision by Parliament, 2nd reading
  • T5-0132/2003 summary

    The European Parliament adopted a resolution based on the report by Rosa MIGUELEZ RAMOS (PES, Spain) and approved the Council's common position.�

• 2003/03/19 Vote in committee, 2nd reading
  • A5-0071/2003
• 2002/12/19 Committee referral announced in Parliament, 2nd reading
• #2473
• 2002/12/09 Council Meeting
  • 14052/2/2002 summary

    The Council accepted all Parliament's amendments on substance, although the exact wording was not followed in each case. One of the amendments accepted introduced the possibility of expanding the current NUTS classification by including a NUTS Level 4. Additionally, the current wording of the recital explicitly states that Member States are free to add further levels of NUTS details. The Commission must verify whether the introduction of a new hierarchical NUTS Level 4 is deemed desirable after two years from entry into force of this Regulation. The Council has introduced some new elements into the common position. These include: - the shifting of certain technical implementation decisions to a comitolgy procedure; - the Commission is to report to Parliament and to the Council on the implementation of the Regulation three years after its entry into force; - a slight widening of the conditions under which Member States could request a modification of the NUTS classification. The following statements are to entered in the Council minutes: Statement from the Commission and Council: "This Regulation does not impede the right of Member States to determine their own administrative organisation." Statement from the Belgian Delegation re Article 4(2) (on the transmission by Member States of all changes which may affect NUTS Level 3 boundaries): "The cartographic representation of NUTS boundaries and its transmission remain a matter between the Commission and the National Mapping agencies or equivalent. The National Statistical Institutes are not involved in that matter." Statement by the Netherlands re Article 5(4) (in the case of a substantial reorganisation of the relevant administrative structure of a Member State, the amendments to the NUTS classification may be adopted intervals of less than three years): "A substantial reorganisation of the administrative structure of a Member State should also include an ongoing process of changes in the administrative structure of a Member State as part of a general policy, for example on increasing the scale of the constituent parts of that structure."�

• 2001/10/24 Debate in Parliament
  • Debate in Parliament
  • T5-0551/2001 summary

    The European Parliament adopted the report by Rosa Miguelez Ramos (PES, Spain) on the classification of territorial units for statistics. Many of the amendments made are of a technical nature. Parliament did, however, introduce a requirement on the Commission to provide a communication on the appropriateness of establishing a new level NUTS 4. �

• 2001/10/09 Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading
  • A5-0335/2001
• 2001/02/28 Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
• 2001/02/14 Legislative proposal published
  • COM(2001)0083 summary

    PURPOSE : to establish a common classification of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS). CONTENT : regional statistics are a cornerstone of the European Statistical System, they are used for a wide range of purposes and a wide range of users. The regional data of the EU Member States are inter alia used for allocating structural funds in a rational and consistent way. Hence, regional statistics are the objective statistical base for important political decisions. All regional statistics have been based on a geographical division of the territory studied. Eurostat, in collaboration with the Commission departments, set up the Nomenclature of Statistical Territorial Units (NUTS) at the begining of the 1970s as a single, coherent system for dividing up the European Union's territory in order to produce statistics for the Community. This NUTS classification has gained increasing importance in recent years as the basis for harmonised, and thus comparable, regional data. NUTS is used as a reference for the collection, development, harmonisation and dissemination of Community regional statistics. Recent changes in the NUTS classification gave rise to some tensions between the Commission and the National Statistical Office concerned. Soon several new Member States will join the European Union; for them, a consistent regional breakdown of their territory for statistical purposes also needs to be defined in a suitable way. All these political developments and foreseeable task lead the Commission to the conclusion that it would be appropriate to create a legal base for the Nuts classification. In accordance with the principles of subsidiarity and of proportionality, the objective of creating a harmonised regional classification used for all European regional statistics can only be achieved at Community level. This legal text has been drawn up with several objectives in mind: - to fix the current state of the NUTS breakdown of regions in the Member States, as it has developed since 20 years; - to define objective criteria for the definition of regions, so that candidate countries have a guideline for creating a regional classification for their country; - to assure comparability and impartiality when regional statistics are compiled and used for various policy purposes; - to define clear rules for future amendments of the NUTS breakdown, so as to forestall conflicts of the kind that have occurred in the past. Amendments are inevitable when the administrative structure of a country changes. But also for the non-administrative units occasionally an adaptation to changing needs is mandatory. In the past these amendments were discussed between the Commission and the country concerned without a clear framework of rules. The proposed Regulation shall remedy this unsatisfactory situation; - by ensuring that the NUTS classification is not amended too frequently, so that the users of regional statistics have the requisite stability of data for analysis. �

  • DG [{'url': 'http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/eurostat/home', 'title': 'Eurostat'}],

Documents

• Legislative proposal published: COM(2001)0083
• Committee report tabled for plenary, 1st reading/single reading: A5-0335/2001
• Debate in Parliament: Debate in Parliament
• Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading: T5-0551/2001
• Council position published: 14052/2/2002
• Committee recommendation tabled for plenary, 2nd reading: A5-0071/2003
• Decision by Parliament, 2nd reading: T5-0132/2003
• : Regulation 2003/1059
• : OJ L 154 21.06.2003, p. 0001-0041

History

(these mark the time of scraping, not the official date of the change)