EUROSTAT
Directorate E: Sectoral and regional statistics
Unit E-4: Regional statistics and geographical information
E4/REG/2012/10
(Only available in EN)
Working Party on Regional Statistics and Rural Development
to be held in Luxembourgon 1/2.10.2012
Spatial references
NUTS revision - Opening of the next revision round and reflection on the implementation of the last revision
Item 9.1 of the agenda
Document available on Circa:
The members of the Regional Statistics and Rural Development Working Group are asked:
- to takenote of the opening of the next NUTS revision (NUTS 2013),
- toinform their management in the NSI and the relevant authorities in its country about the start of the NUTS 2013 revision round,
- to ensure that their Member State sends notifications of any amendments to the annexes to the NUTS Regulation to the Commission before 1st February 2013. (Member States that intend to make no changes are requested to send Eurostat appropriate confirmation in writing.)
Abstract
Eurostat opens officially the next NUTS revision round (NUTS 2013). Official proposals for NUTS amendments shall be sent by 1st February 2013. Eurostat relies on the National Statistical Institutes (NSI) which are requested to ensure an effective cooperation within Member States for the preparation of proposals. NSIs play also a crucial role in the informal discussions about potential proposals with Eurostat.
1Introduction
The Nomenclature of territorial units for statistics (NUTS) is the hierarchical system for dividing up the economic territory of the EU for the purpose of the collection, development and harmonisation of EU regional statistics, socio-economic analyses of the regions, and the framing of EU regional policies. Principles and rules of the NUTS classification are specified in the Regulation (EC) No 1059/2003.
The administrative territorial breakdown of EU Member States is the basis of the NUTS classification. For the reason that national administrative regions may change time to time, a procedure has been specified to adjust the NUTS classification to such changes.Details of the procedure are defined in the above mentioned regulation. One of the main features of the procedure amending the NUTS classification is its periodic application that ensures a stability period of the NUTS classification for a minimum of three years.
After three years of stability (2012-2014) the NUTS classification can be amended next as of 1st January 2015. Due to several recent changes in the administrative breakdown in Member States it is desirable to aim at the next possible amendment of the NUTS classification. Given that the total length of the legal procedure takes up to 22 months, Eurostat decided to open the new NUTS revision round (NUTS 2013) in the Working Party on Regional statistics and Rural development on 1-2 October 2012.In the first phase of the NUTS 2013 revision round Member States are requested to inform Eurostat about changes in their regional breakdown and propose amendments to the NUTS classification. The deadline for official proposalsis set on the 1st February 2013.
2Basic rules and key players
Changes in the national administrative regions lead virtually automatically to an amendment of the NUTS classification. In addition, the NUTS classification also consists of non-administrative units defined for the completeness of the three-level hierarchical classification. Non-administrative regions can also be amended, however, changes must entail a reduction of the standard deviation in the size (measured in population) of the regions.
Eurostat relies on information from the NSIs about any changes in regional structure in the Member States which could affect the NUTS classification. The relevant notifications shall be sent by the Permanent Representations to the Secretariat-General of the Commission.
Eurostat is the DG within the Commission that manages the NUTS classification.Only the Commission can initiate any amendment to Community legislation. This means that the Member States cannot formally propose any change to the NUTS Regulation.
The European Statistical System Committee (ESSC) plays a key role, as the proposed amendment will be voted on in the ESSC in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny.
The European Parliament and the Council carry out a check prior to the final adoption of the amending regulation by the Commission.
3The role of the NSI
The NSI is requested to inform the relevant authorities in its country about the start of the NUTS 2013 revision round and the details of the procedure. In addition, the NSI shall liaise with the relevant authorities in its country concerning the preparation of the official proposal.
It is strongly recommended to discuss proposals with Eurostat informally before any official request is filed. The NSI is the preferred contact for informal discussions with Eurostat.
Please note that any territorial changes of NUTS regions should be reported. However, if a small area is transferred between two NUTS regions, the NUTS Regulation does not have to be updated if the population in the transferred area is less than 1 % of the total population in the smallest NUTS 3 region involved.
If the names of NUTS regions are changed, but the territory is kept intact, the name changes should also be communicated to Eurostat in order to keep the list of region names up to date. Eurostat has made every effort to ensure that the spelling of regions is correct. Should there nevertheless still be some misspellings, please request a correction. The names of the NUTS regions should be in the language(s) of the country or region concerned but it is possible to have names in more than one language.
4The Procedure
4.1Sending a proposal
If a Member State needs to make changes to the regions in the NUTS classification, it should send a notification in writing from its Permanent Representation to the EU to the Secretariat-General of the Commission with a copy to Eurostat Unit E4 by 1st February 2013.
The notification has to stateclearly the proposed changes andthe annexe(s) of the Regulation concerned. In case annex I (NUTS regions) is concerned, the proposal shall include lists of regions before and after the change, names and population figures for individual regions and preferably maps showing the territory of the proposed regions compared with the existing regions. It is also recommended to explain the reasons for the proposal (e.g. administrative re-organisation or improvement of comparability between regions).
Please note that Eurostat also requests a specific informal confirmation from each Member State that does not intend to propose any changes to its regional breakdown.
4.2The legal procedure
The legislative process follows the ‘comitology procedure’, more specifically the ‘regulatory procedure with scrutiny’.
Eurostat will, on the basis of the official proposals received from the Member States prepare a draft proposal for an amendment of the NUTS Regulationand consult other services of the Commission on the content. Once the consultation is finalised Eurostat will submit the draft Regulation to the European Statistical System Committee (ESSC) requesting its opinion.
The ESSC willexpress its opinion by voting whereas a qualified majority is required for a positive opinion. Next, the draft regulation will be transmitted to the European Parliament and to the Council.
If the ESSC opinion was favourable the European Parliament and the Council will have three months to raise an objection to the adoption of the draft. In case the three month scrutiny period surpasses without objection the draft regulation will be adopted by the Commission and published in the Official Journal. The new classification will enter into force on 1st January 2015 and will then be legally binding for the delivery of regional statistics from the Member States to Eurostat.
If the proposal fails to gain the support of the ESSC, the Council can take a decision on the proposal (for or against it) within two months, whereas the European Parliament may issue only an adverse opinion within four months.
If the Council is against the proposal, it is not adopted and the Commission may submit to the Council either an amended proposal or a legislative proposal in accordancewith the co-decision procedure.If the Council plans to adopt the proposal, it submits it to the European Parliament.If the Council does not act, the Commission submits the proposal to the European Parliament.
If the European Parliamentopposes the proposal, it will not be adopted. In this case, the Commission may submit to the ESSC either an amended draft or a legislative proposal in accordance with the co-decision procedure. If the four-month deadline expires and the European Parliament has not opposed the proposal, it will be adopted by the Council or the Commission, as appropriate.
1 January 2012 the new version of the NUTS Regulation will enter into force and will then be legally binding for the delivery of regional statistics from the Member States to Eurostat. Member States will also be required to send retrospective data for the revised regional structure for a certain period (which will depend on the domain).
5Recommendations
The NUTS 2006 and 2010 revision rounds led to considerable improvements considering the comparability of regions. However, there are still numerous non-administrative NUTS regions that do not comply with the population thresholds specified in Article 3(2) of the NUTS Regulation. Therefore, in particular with regard to the non-administrative breakdown, Member States are invited to propose amendments that lead to NUTS regions of more uniform size at each level.
Proposals should take into account that breaks in statistical time series must be avoided if possible. For that reason, Eurostat strongly recommends considering, before submitting an official proposal, whether it will be feasible to supply historical data in line with the envisaged regional classification.
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