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Common framework for business registers for statistical purposes

2005/0032(COD)

PURPOSE: to improve and update the existing Business Registers Regulation (BR).

LEGISLATIVE ACT: Regulation (EC) No 177/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing a common framework for business registers for statistical purposes and repealing Council Regulation (EEC) No 2186/93.

BACKGROUND:  in 1993, the EU adopted legislation concerning the setting up of business registers for statistical purposes with harmonised definitions characteristics, scope and updating procedures (see Regulation (EEC) No 2186/93). Business registers are one method by which to reconcile the conflicting requirements for collating increased information on enterprises with lightening their administrative burden. Statistics thus gathered are the main source for business demography given that they keep track of business creations/closures, as well as any economic structural changes brought about by mergers, takeovers, break ups, split offs and restructuring. They also provide the basic information needed to develop rural development policies. However, in order to maintain the development of business registers in a harmonised framework it is necessary to update and modernise the basic provisions relating to business registers for statistical purposes (BR).

CONTENT: the purpose of this Regulation, therefore, is the establishment of a common framework for business registers for statistical purposes in the Community. Member States will be expected to set up one or more harmonised registers for statistical purposes, as a tool for the preparation and coordination of surveys. The scope of the Regulation extends to:

  • all enterprises carrying on economic activities and that contribute to the gross domestic product (GDP) and their local units;
  • the legal units of which those enterprises consist;
  • truncated enterprise groups and multinational enterprise groups; and
  • all-resident enterprise groups.

The Regulation also provides for measures relating to quality standards and reports; deadlines for the submission of data; transmission reports; the exchange of confidential data between the Member States, the Commission and central banks; and confidentiality and access to data.

Following Parliamentary amendments, the implementing powers as set out in the Regulation states that any non-essential elements of the Regulation – including supplementing it will done in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny. This includes: coverage of the smallest enterprises and all-resident enterprise groups; updating the list of register characteristics in the Annex; the establishment of common quality standards and the content of reports; and rules for updating registers.

Any other measures will be adopted according to the regulatory procedure. This includes: the transmission of information arising from the statistical analyses of registers; the transmission of data on individual units for multi-national enterprise groups between the Commission and the Member States; and the transmission of multinational enterprise group data between the Commission and central banks.

ENTRY INTO FORCE: 25 March 2008.