Regulation 2008/295 - Structural business statistics (recast) - Main contents

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 97/13

Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 58/97 of 20 December 1996 concerning structural business statistics (3) has been significantly amended on several occasions (4). Now that new amendments are being made to that Regulation, it is desirable, for reasons of clarity and rationalisation, that the provisions in question should be recast.

Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 58/97 established a common framework for the collection, compilation, transmission and evaluation of Community statistics on the structure, activity, competitiveness and performance of businesses in the Community.

Decision No 2367/2002/EC of the European Parliament and the Council of 16 December 2002 on the Community statistical programme 2003 to 2007 (5) adopted the programme to be guided by the principal Community policy priorities of economic and monetary union, European Union enlargement and competitiveness, regional policy, sustainable development and the social agenda. Statistics on the economic activity of enterprises form an essential part of this programme.

This Regulation should provide for the continuation of existing statistical support for decisions in current policy areas and to satisfy the additional requirements arising from new Community policy initiatives, and from the ongoing review of statistical priorities and of the relevance of the statistics produced, with a view to making best use of available resources and minimising response burdens. Special attention should be paid to the impact on business caused by Community energy and environmental policies, such as those embodied by the REACH Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 (6). Cooperation and the exchange of best practices between national statistical institutes should be encouraged in order to ensure a more efficient use of administrative data sources.

There is an increasing need for data on services, in particular business services. Statistics are needed for the economic analysis and policy formulation on what is the most dynamic sector of modern economies, especially in terms of its potential for growth and employment creation. The Lisbon European Council meeting of 23 and 24 March 2000 highlighted the importance of services. The measurement of turnover broken down to detailed service products is a necessary prerequisite for a true understanding of the services’ role in the economy. The Stockholm European Council meeting of 23 and 24 March 2001 concluded that the creation of effectively functioning internal markets for services is one of Europe’s highest priorities. Statistics by detailed service products on cross-border trade are essential for monitoring the functioning of internal markets for services, evaluating the competitiveness of services and assessing the impact of barriers on trade in services.

There is a need for data on business demography, particularly since they are an element of the structural indicators established for monitoring the achievements concerning the goals set by the Lisbon Strategy. In addition, harmonised data on business demography and on its impact on employment are necessary to substantiate policy recommendations for the support of...