Explanatory Memorandum to COM(2021)477 - Amendment of Regulation (EU) 2018/1091 as regards the Union contribution for the integrated farm statistics under the 2021-2027 financial framework - Main contents
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This page contains a limited version of this dossier in the EU Monitor.
| dossier | COM(2021)477 - Amendment of Regulation (EU) 2018/1091 as regards the Union contribution for the integrated farm statistics under the ... |
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| source | COM(2021)477  |
| date | 12-08-2021 |
1. CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL
• Reasons for and objectives of the proposal
Regulation (EU) 2018/1091 1 on integrated farm statistics requires that Member States carry out integrated farm surveys in 2020, 2023 and 2026.
Regulation (EU) 2018/1091 establishes the financial envelope (i.e. the budget allocation) for the entire duration of the relevant multiannual financial framework (MFF). It includes a provision for establishing the data collection budget for the surveys to be conducted in 2023 and 2026. Its Article 14 states that following the date of entry into force of the 2021-2027 MFF, the amount for the post-2020 period should be fixed by the European Parliament and the Council based on a proposal by the Commission.
The financial reference of this proposal is Council Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2020/2093 2 which lays down the MFF for 2021-2027.
Member States are to receive a maximum financial contribution of 75% of the eligible costs from the EU (subject to defined maximum amounts indicated in Article 13 i and (5) of Regulation (EU) 2018/1091) towards the cost of carrying out the surveys. The amount for the post-2020 period should be fixed under the provisions of the MFF.
This legislative proposal establishes a budget of EUR 40 000 000.00 for 2021-2027 (of which EUR 36 400 000.00 is for grants for national statistical institutes and other national authorities).
According to Article 13(7) of Regulation (EU) 2018/1091, the EU financial contribution for the grants referred to in paragraph 2 of Article 13 should be provided by the European Agricultural Guarantee Fund under point (d) of Article 4(2) of Regulation (EU) No 1306/2013 or the Regulation on the financing, management and monitoring of the common agricultural policy and repealing Regulation (EU) No 1306/2013.
• Consistency with existing policy provisions in the policy area
Statistics must be reliable and of high quality to enable policymakers, businesses and the general public to take appropriate evidence-based decisions.
·produce high-quality statistics that meet users’ needs efficiently and effectively;
·improve the harmonisation and coherence of European agricultural statistics.
This proposal directly addresses these objectives.
• Consistency with other Union policies
Providing quality statistics to support European policies is a main objective for European statistics under the single market programme 3 . Environmental and agricultural statistics are one of three statistics-gathering areas under the programme. There is also a need for timely and relevant data for the common agricultural policy (CAP).
This initiative implements that objective for the period 2021-2026.
Contents
- The European Agricultural Statistics System will also contribute to at least two of the six priorities of the von der Leyen Commission, namely
- The 2020 agricultural statistics strategy includes the following key objectives:
- The proposal complies with the proportionality principle, in view of the following:
- The evaluation of the agricultural statistics system showed that:
The European Agricultural Statistics System will also contribute to at least two of the six priorities of the von der Leyen Commission, namely
·a European Green Deal with the underlying farm to fork and biodiversity strategies, and
·an economy that works for people
by providing better data for assessing the sustainability of the sector covering the environment, people, regions and the economy. Agricultural statistics are also useful for other EU or Member State priorities affecting or affected by agriculture and rural development.
EU policies need to be backed by high-quality, comparable and reliable statistical information on the economic, social, territorial and environmental situation across the EU. European statistics can also help the broader public understand and participate in the democratic process and debate the current state and the future of the EU. For agricultural statistics, the focus is on providing timely and relevant data for the needs of the CAP, the common fisheries policy and other environmental, food security and animal welfare policies.
Agricultural statistics provide the high-quality evidence needed to implement and monitor the CAP. The CAP is an important driver for jobs and smart, sustainable and inclusive growth in the EU. The rural development policy - an integral part of the CAP - aims to improve the competitiveness and sustainability of agricultural production in addition to its social objectives. The CAP accounted for over 37% of the total EU budget under the 2014-2020 MFF.
Agricultural statistics are also increasingly needed for other key EU policies such as the European Green Deal, environmental and climate change policies, and trade, social and regional policies.
2. LEGAL BASIS, SUBSIDIARITY AND PROPORTIONALITY
• Legal basis
Article 338 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) provides the legal basis for European statistics. Acting in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure, the European Parliament and the Council adopt measures on the production of statistics where they are necessary for the EU to carry out its role. Article 338 sets out the requirements for European statistics, stating that they must conform to standards of impartiality, reliability, objectivity, scientific independence, cost-effectiveness and statistical confidentiality. Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council 4 establishes a legal framework for the development, production and dissemination of European statistics.
• Subsidiarity (for non-exclusive competence)
The subsidiarity principle applies as the proposal does not fall within the exclusive competence of the EU. The European Statistical System (ESS) provides an infrastructure for statistical information. The system is designed to meet the needs of multiple users and support the decision-making process in democratic societies. The proposal for this Regulation has been drafted to protect core activities of ESS partners while better ensuring and assuring the quality and comparability of agricultural statistics.
Key criteria for the statistical data include consistency and comparability. Member States cannot achieve the necessary consistency and comparability without a clear European framework, i.e. EU legislation laying down the common statistical concepts, reporting formats and quality requirements. The comparability requirement is particularly important for agricultural statistics because of the CAP.
The objectives cannot be fully achieved by Member States acting alone. Action would be more effective if taken at EU level, based on an EU legal act ensuring the comparability of statistical information in the statistical areas covered by the proposed act. The data collection itself, meanwhile, is best carried out by the Member States.
• Proportionality
It will ensure the quality and comparability of European agricultural statistics collected and compiled by applying the same principles across Member States. Similarly, it will ensure that European agricultural statistics remain relevant and are adapted to respond to user needs. The Regulation will make the production of statistics more cost-effective while respecting the specific characteristics of Member States’ systems.
In line with the proportionality principle, the proposed Regulation confines itself to the minimum required to achieve its objective and does not go beyond what is necessary for that purpose.
• Choice of the instrument
Proposed instrument: Regulation.
Given the objectives and content of the proposal, an amendment to the existing Regulation is the most appropriate instrument.
Key EU policies such as the CAP depend on comparable, harmonised and high-quality agricultural statistics at European level. These can best be ensured by regulations, which are directly applicable in Member States and do not need to be turned into national law first. Article 14 of Regulation (EU) 2018/1091 already provides for an amendment.
3. RESULTS OF EX-POST EVALUATIONS, STAKEHOLDER CONSULTATIONS AND IMPACT ASSESSMENTS
• Ex-post evaluations / fitness checks of existing legislation
The evaluation of the European Agricultural Statistics System for the strategy for agricultural statistics for 2020 and beyond (SWD (2017) 96 final) indicated the need of a more systematic approach in this area.
·Current legislation on agricultural statistics does not adequately meet new and emerging data needs because such statistics are not included as a requirement in the legal acts. The acts are also not flexible and integrated enough to respond promptly to emerging needs.
·The European Agricultural Statistics System is not sufficiently flexible and does not react quickly enough to emerging needs. This is partly due to the nature of statistics-gathering, but also to the way the regulations have been set up, and the lack of budgetary and human resources.
·The data collection is not harmonised or coherent enough. This is because new data needs are emerging, legislation has been developed separately over many years, and definitions and concepts differ somewhat between agricultural areas.
·The statistics could be produced more efficiently if the legislation is adapted to encompass various sources of information and if Member States adapt to modern technology.
A public consultation was conducted as part of the preparation of Regulation (EU) 2018/1091, and the results are detailed in a specific report 5 .
The related strategy on agricultural statistics concluded that agricultural statistics need to be designed and function as a system, where the parts fit together and make the output more significant than their sum. Agricultural statistics also need to fit seamlessly into the entire ESS, and data sources need to be diversified with other data sources being used where possible. Information and communications technology and other new technologies (e.g. big data and researched-based innovations) have to be integrated into data collection, and the effectiveness and efficiency of data collection methods must be assessed against the data needs and the quality criteria, and the existing silos should be broken.
• Stakeholder consultations
Eurostat develops, produces and disseminates European agricultural statistics thanks to close, coordinated and regular cooperation within the European Statistical System and its long partnership with the national statistical institutes (NSIs) and all other relevant authorities.
Overall, and in line with the strategy for agricultural statistics for 2020 and beyond, the main groups and individuals concerned by or involved in European agricultural statistics are: data producers (NSIs, other national authorities and Eurostat); respondents (farmers, farmers’ organisations and businesses); and users (public and private decision makers, in particular other Commission departments, researchers and journalists). These stakeholders have been consulted extensively about the problems they face, the changes they would like to see, their data needs and priorities, possible policy solutions, impacts of suggested actions, and on the strategy itself.
Stakeholders' views have been gathered at meetings and seminars of the Standing Committee for Agricultural Statistics (CPSA) and its successor, the Directors’ Group for Agricultural Statistics (DGAS) (for directors of agricultural statistics) where Commission departments, international organisations and farmers’ organisations are often heard, European Statistical System Committee meetings (for NSI directors-general), and regularly scheduled consultations and hearings (for Commission departments).
The results of these consultations were taken into account in the evaluation mentioned above.
In addition, a consultation on the roadmap for the proposal ran for 4 weeks on the European Commission’s ‘Have your say’ webpage.
• Collection and use of expertise
To prepare Regulation (EU) 2018/1091, Eurostat held extensive discussions on the content of the proposal with NSIs within the relevant expert groups, including at directors’ level.
• Impact assessment
An impact assessment of the strategy for agricultural statistics for 2020 and beyond ( SWD (2016)430 ) of which integrated farm statistics are an integral part, received a positive opinion from the Regulatory Scrutiny Board 6 .
Statistical legislation primarily concerns administrative-level data users (e.g. the Commission's policy departments), data producers (NSIs), and data respondents (farmers), so its direct economic, social and environmental effects are limited. The main direct costs for stakeholders relate to adapting to new statistical and technical systems. In the mid- to long‑ term, the modernisation measures were expected to slightly reduce the administrative burden as well as costs. Most of the cost savings would be due to the lowered coverage requirements of Regulation (EU) 2018/1091. The cost of gathering statistics must be weighed against their societal benefits but also against the cost of having low-quality statistics or none at all.
• Regulatory fitness and simplification
The proposal is part of the strategy for agricultural statistics for 2020 and beyond, a major programme to modernise EU agricultural statistics produced by the European Commission in close cooperation with Member States. The strategy is supported by the European Statistical System Committee and is part of the REFIT programme, aiming to streamline and improve the European Agricultural Statistics System (EASS).
This proposal covers the funding of integrated farm statistics for 2021-2027, in line with Regulation (EU) 2018/1091.
• Fundamental rights
The proposal has no consequences for the protection of fundamental rights.
4. BUDGETARY IMPLICATIONS
The financial impact of the proposal is of limited duration, and refers to the co-funding of data collection on integrated farm statistics for the period 2021-2027 (the 2023 and 2026 data collection exercises).
Article 13 of Regulation (EU) 2018/1091 establishes the EU financial contribution for the implementation of that Regulation. This proposal establishes a budget of EUR 40 000 000.00 for 2021-2027 (of which 36 400 000.00 is for NSI grants).
The EU financial contribution for the grants referred to in Article 13 (2) of Regulation (EU) 2018/1091 will be provided by the European Agricultural Guarantee Fund under point (d) of Article 4(2) of Regulation (EU) No 1306/2013 or Regulation on the financing, management and monitoring of the common agricultural policy and repealing Regulation (EU) No 1306/2013.
5. OTHER ELEMENTS
• Implementation plans and monitoring, evaluation and reporting arrangements
The proposed Regulation is expected to be adopted by the European Parliament and the Council as soon as possible, and the Commission is expected to adopt the implementing measures shortly afterwards. The Regulation will be directly applicable in all Member States without the need for an implementation plan.
Member States will need to provide data to the Commission in 2024 and 2027.
In accordance with Regulation (EU) 2018/1091, the Commission should, after consulting the ESSC, submit a report on the implementation and achievement of its objectives to the European Parliament and to the Council by 31 December 2024.
• Explanatory documents (for directives)
Not applicable.
• Detailed explanation of the specific provisions of the proposal
The proposed amendment applies to Articles 13 i (5) and (7) and 14(1) of Regulation (EU) 2018/1091, establishing the maximum amounts to be assigned to each Member State and the amount and source of the financial envelope for 2021-2027.