Carriage of goods and passangers by sea: statistical returns
PURPOSE: to amend Directive 2009/42/EC in order to make the collection of data by type of goods mandatory for maritime transport statistics.
PROPOSED ACT: Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council.
BACKGROUND: the collection of data by type of goods is mandatory for road (Council Regulation (EC) No 1172/98), rail (Regulation (EC) No 91/2003), and inland waterways (Regulation (EC) No 1365/2006) transport European statistics. European statistics on all modes of transport should be collected according to common concepts and standards, with the aim of achieving the fullest practicable comparability between transport modes. More particularly, the provision of comprehensive and homogeneous statistics by type of goods for all the modes of transport will provide a general framework for monitoring policies for promoting co-modality, i.e. the possibility of combining various modes of transport within the same transport chain in the best way, and the modernisation of freight transport logistics.
More generally, the proposed amendment, in combination with other initiatives, will adapt the statistical output to current and foreseeable users' needs. Under current legislation, (Directive 2009/42/EC, Annex VIII, data set B1), data are collected on a voluntary basis.
IMPACT ASSESSMENT: two options were considered:
- Option 1 : the current legislation is maintained
- Option 2: the current legislation is amended.
The second option was selected, in order secure a complete and continuous provision of statistical data on maritime transport by type of goods.
LEGAL BASIS: Article 338 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. The objectives of this proposal, namely the establishment of a common framework for the systematic production of European statistics on seaborne goods using the same classification by type of goods as for the other relevant transport statistics, cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States via a voluntary collection. They can be achieved more readily at European level since only the Commission can coordinate the necessary harmonisation of statistical information at European level, whereas the collection of data and compilation of comparable statistics on maritime transport can be organised by Member States.
CONTENT: the objective of the Regulation is to ensure a complete and continuous provision of statistical data on maritime transport by type of goods, consistent and harmonised with the statistics already available for the other relevant modes of transport.
According to the second paragraph of Annex VIII of Directive 2009/42/EC, the conditions for collecting data set B1 (data concerning "Seaborne transport in the main European ports, by port, type of cargo, goods and relation") shall be decided by the Council in the light of the results of the pilot study carried out during a three-year transitional period, as provided for in Directive 95/64/EC. Subsequently, the Commission reported that the collection of detailed information appeared feasible and at reasonable cost for bulk and semi-bulk cargo. Remaining difficulties have been solved since more experience has been gained with collecting the current variables and by the introduction of the NST 2007 (Standard Goods Classification for Transport Statistics, 2007) as the unique classification for transported goods in maritime, road, rail and inland waterways transport, applicable from the reference year 2008, covering the 2008 data.
The proposal states that the first reference year for the obligation to provide data set B1 will be 2011, covering the 2011 data.
Accordingly, the second paragraph of Annex VIII to Directive 2009/42/EC is deleted.
BUDGETARY IMPLICATION: the proposal has no implications for the Community budget.