General government: quarterly financial accounts, ESA 95 categories

The Council's common position, adopted unanimously, introduces seven new measures that the Commission approves of: - shifting the date of the first transmission from 31 December 2003 to 30 June 2004; - changing the extent of derogations from 2 years to 18 months; - adding a possibility of derogation (18 months) for the starting date of transmission of "some data" for the sub-sector central government (S.1311) and social security funds (S.1314) that shall be transmitted no later than 30 June 2004; - adding a possibility of derogation (6 months) for the starting date of transmission of transactions in financial assets and financial liabilities for the sub-sector state government (S.1312) and the sub-sector local government (S.1313) that are to be transmitted no later than 30 June 2005; - adding a possibility of derogation (6 months) for the starting date of transmission of data for the general government sector (S.13) to be transmitted no later than 30 June 2005; - adding a possibility of derogation (6 months) for the starting date of transmission of data for other accounts receivable/payable (F.7 and AF.7) for the general government sector (S.13) and its sub-sectors to be transmitted no later than 30 June 2005. The Council considers that the modifications introduced in its common position are fully in line with the objectives of the proposed Regulation. They provide for the absolute minimum of derogations necessary for the implementation of the Regulation in all Member States, while ensuring that the quality of data is not significantly adversely affected.�