Steel industry: annual Community statistics on steel for 2003-2009

PURPOSE : to establish a common framework for the systematic production of Community statistics on steel for the reference years 2003-2009. CONTENT : the present Community system for steel statistics rests on the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) Treaty which expired on 23 July 2002. This proposal deals with Community steel statistics from 2003 onwards. Eurostat has carried out user needs studies, and these showed the areas where statistical information was required after the expiry of the ECSC Treaty. The Commission's policy units, national ministries and the industry requested that key statistics on the steel industry should continue to be made available. However the needs for Community policy making will be much less after the end of the ECSC Treaty. For this reason, this proposal implies a very large reduction in official Community steel statistics compared with the ECSC statistical system. The proposed regulation covers data previously collected in four ECSC questionnaires (2-50, 2-58, 2-60 and 2-61). After discussion with users, the list of variables from these questionnaires has been reduced. This list is the annex of Regulation. It covers: iron and steel scrap balance sheets; energy balance sheets; investment by type of plant; and steel making capacity. The present proposal is for a regulation covering the period 2003 to 2009 to allow for a core set of the information in these questionnaires to continue to be collected in all EU States where there is a significant steel industry. The proposed regulation is for a fixed period, with a provision for an intermediate report after four years to evaluate the results and propose possible future actions. �