EUROPEAN COMMISSION

Brussels, 9.12.2016

COM(2016) 786 final

2016/0389(COD)

Proposal for a

REGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL

on integrated farm statistics

and repealing Regulations (EC) No 1166/2008 and (EU) No 1337/2011

(Text with EEA relevance)

{SWD(2016) 429 final}
{SWD(2016) 430 final}

EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM

1.CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL

•Reasons for and objectives of the proposal

•Consistency with existing policy provisions in the policy area

It is necessary for statistics to be reliable and of high quality in order for policymakers, businesses and the general public to be able to take appropriate evidence-based decisions. Providing statistics of that quality is, however, challenging for the European Statistical System (ESS): the ever-increasing demand for data and pressure from respondents to statistical surveys to reduce the burden combine to put pressure on the production of statistics. Recent statistical initiatives have, subsequently, aimed to simplify and improve coordination and collaboration within the ESS, with a view to making the production of European statistics more efficient and reducing the burden on respondents. One example is Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 2 on European statistics which was amended in 2015 to clarify the governance of the ESS and to strengthen means of coordination and collaboration at both the Union and national level. Other modernisation initiatives, such as this proposal, are included in the Commission's REFIT initiative and aim to simplify and streamline the production of European statistics within targeted domains.

A strategy on agricultural statistics that has been drafted by Eurostat and agreed with the European Statistical System Committee (ESSC) has as specific objectives to:

produce high-quality statistics that meet users' needs efficiently and effectively;

increase the flexibility and reaction speed of the agricultural statistics system;

improve the integration between agricultural, forestry, land use and environmental statistics;

develop a responsive and responsible governance structure for agricultural statistics;

improve the harmonisation and coherence of European agricultural statistics;

produce more statistics while lowering the burden on respondents by exploring alternative data sources and possibilities of efficiency improvement.

•Consistency with other Union policies

Provision of quality statistics to support European policies is the main driver of the European Statistical Programme 2013-2017. Environmental and agricultural statistics are one of the three pillars of statistical production under that programme. Among the relevant objectives of the programme is "the review and simplification of the agricultural data collection in line with the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) review post-2013 and the redesign of the agricultural data collection processes, in particular with the objective of improving the quality and timeliness of the provided data." This initiative implements that objective.

The future European Agricultural Statistics System will also contribute to at least four of the ten priorities of the Commission, namely

"1. A new boost for jobs, growth and investment";

"3. A resilient energy union with a forward-looking climate change policy";

"4. A deeper and fairer internal market with a strengthened industrial base"; and

"9. A stronger global actor";

by providing better data for job, growth, investment, prevention and mitigation policies in agriculture, climate change, bio-energy and environmental actions, and a deeper understanding of global food flows, developments and risks, respectively. Agricultural statistics may also be useful to other Union or Member State priorities affecting or affected by agriculture and rural development.

Agricultural statistics provide high-quality statistical evidence for the implementation and monitoring of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) 2014-2020. The CAP is an important driver for jobs and smart, sustainable and inclusive growth in the Union. The rural development policy, being an integral part of the CAP, on top of its social objectives aims to improve the competitiveness and sustainability of agricultural production. The CAP represents more than 37% of the Union total budget in the context of the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) 2014-2020.

Agricultural statistics are also increasingly needed for other key Union policies like social policy, environmental and climate change policies, trade policy, regional policy etc.

2.LEGAL BASIS, SUBSIDIARITY AND PROPORTIONALITY

•Legal basis

Article 338 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) provides the legal basis for European statistics. Acting in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure, the European Parliament and the Council adopt measures for the production of statistics where this is necessary for the Union to carry out its role. Article 338 sets out the requirements relating to the production of European statistics, stating that they must conform to standards of impartiality, reliability, objectivity, scientific independence, cost-effectiveness and statistical confidentiality.

•Subsidiarity (for non-exclusive competence) 

The subsidiarity principle applies insofar as the proposal does not fall within the exclusive competence of the Union. The ESS provides an infrastructure for statistical information. The system is designed to meet the needs of multiple users, for the purpose of decision-making in democratic societies. The proposal for this Regulation has been drafted with a view to protecting core activities of ESS partners while improving efficiency and ensuring that unnecessary changes and duplication of work are avoided as far as possible.

The collection of statistics covered by the proposal currently takes place according to different rules at the Union level. The proposal intends to streamline and modernise the collection of farm-level statistics under one framework while all other agricultural statistics would be included in another framework regulation. It is only possible to provide Union-wide, comparable statistics for policy purposes by acting at the Union level.

One of the main criteria that the statistical data must meet is to be consistent and comparable. The Member States cannot achieve the necessary consistency and comparability without a clear European framework, that is to say, Union legislation laying down the common statistical concepts, reporting formats and quality requirements.

The objective of the proposed action, namely streamlining European agricultural statistics, cannot be achieved satisfactorily by the Member States acting independently. Action can be taken more effectively at the Union level, on the basis of a Union legal act ensuring the comparability of statistical information at the Union level in the statistical domains covered by the proposed act. The data collection itself, meanwhile, can be carried out by the Member States.

The Union may therefore adopt measures in this area in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity as set out in Article 5 of the Treaty on European Union.

•Proportionality

The proposal complies with the proportionality principle, in view of the following:

It will ensure the quality and comparability of European agricultural statistics collected from samples by applying the same principles across Member States. Similarly, it will ensure that European agricultural statistics remain relevant and are adapted to respond to user needs. The Regulation will make the production of statistics more cost-effective while respecting the specificities of Member States' systems.

Current Union legislation concerning agricultural statistics has been developed since the 1950s. An evaluation of the European Agricultural Statistics System (EASS) has shown that a common framework for the process of collecting, processing and disseminating statistical data in agriculture can make the processes more efficient (cost/benefit) and effective, and reduce identified quality issues.

The Regulation is expected to reduce the financial and administrative burden placed on respondents, national, regional and local authorities, businesses, and the general public. It will do so in particular by: standardising concepts and methods, removing duplications, reducing the frequency with which data have to be provided in some areas, and making greater use of a combination of sources in addition to surveys.

In accordance with the principle of proportionality, the proposed Regulation confines itself to the minimum required to achieve its objective and does not go beyond what is necessary for that purpose.

•Choice of the instrument

Proposed instrument: a Regulation.

Given the objectives and content of the proposal, a Regulation is the most appropriate instrument. Important common EU policies such as the CAP inherently depend on comparable, harmonised and high-quality agricultural statistics at European level. These can best be ensured by Regulations, which are directly applicable in Member States and do not need to be transposed into national law first. They allow the collection of data at the same level of detail in all Member States and impose the application of common standards, definitions and methodologies. This ensures the production of high quality comparable statistics at the service of EU policies in an efficient and timely manner. Directives would not be able to ensure a similar level of the desired harmonisation, as data quality would depend on 28 different legislatures' decisions.

3.RESULTS OF EX-POST EVALUATIONS, STAKEHOLDER CONSULTATIONS AND IMPACT ASSESSMENTS

•Ex-post evaluations/fitness checks of existing legislation

•Stakeholder consultations

The main categories of stakeholders of European agricultural statistics are data producers (NSIs and ONAs as well as Eurostat), respondents (farmers, farmers' organisations and businesses) and users (public and private decision makers, in particular other Commission DGs; researchers and journalists). They have been consulted extensively on problems and desired changes in the status quo, their data needs and priorities, possible policy options to solve the problems, impacts of suggested actions, and the formulation of the strategy specifically, as the following overview table shows. The main fora for these consultations have been the meetings and seminars of the Standing Committee for Agricultural Statistics (CPSA) and its successor, the Directors' Group for Agricultural Statistics (DGAS) (for NSI directors of agricultural statistics, international organisations, farmers' organisations, data respondents, data users and others), ESSC meetings (for NSI directors-general), and regularly scheduled consultations and hearings (for Commission DGs).

Overview of stakeholder consultations on the agricultural statistics strategy 2020

The open public consultation was carried out during August-November 2015, and the results are detailed in a specific report 4 .

The main results of the above consultations, forming the core of the agricultural statistics strategy 2020 and subsequently of this regulation, are threefold:

The current Union agricultural statistics legislation does not adequately serve new and emerging data needs because their provision is not included in the legislative acts, and the acts are not flexible and integrated enough to answer to new needs in a timely manner. Moreover, Regulation (EC) No 1166/2008 which is a central piece in the current overall EASS will cease to provide any statistical information as of 2018.

These new data needs mainly stem from new developments in agriculture, revised legislation and changing policy priorities, in particular the recently reformed CAP.

The data collections are not harmonised and coherent because new data needs are emerging, legislation has been developed separately over many years, and partly different definitions and concepts are used in different agricultural statistics areas.

The burden of providing data is perceived as too high because data needs are increasing, data collection is not harmonised, and resources continue to shrink at the Union and national level. That burden was confirmed as jeopardising data collection and data quality.

•Collection and use of expertise

•Impact assessment

(1)new and emerging data needs not adequately served;

(2)data collections not sufficiently harmonised and coherent;

(3)burden of providing data perceived as too high.

Following a detailed assessment of the impacts of the different options, the following conclusions were reached:

Option 1 "Baseline" offers the worst outcomes in almost all dimensions, particularly in the long term as data needs and resource constraints become even more urgent. Option 2 "Prolongation" offers only limited value in the short term and severely damages the functioning of the EASS in the long term as it becomes more outdated and cumbersome. Options 3 "One framework regulation" and 4 "Two-step integration", while requiring some initial investments and new EU Regulations, offer the best chances to achieve the objectives formulated earlier in a cost-efficient manner, present the comparatively lowest risks, have the most positive indirect impacts, and best satisfy stakeholders' requirements. They also fulfil the REFIT initiative's goals of updating the Union legislation to increase its cost-benefit ratio and reduce the burden on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Option 4 also has the added benefits of presenting less timing risk in the legislative process (as a new agricultural census regulation needs to be adopted by the Council and the Parliament at the latest by the end of 2018) and being slightly more flexible due to a less unwieldy legislative architecture. Therefore, Eurostat prefers option 4 over option 3.

•Regulatory fitness and simplification

The same technical specifications for data sets. The specifications will include the number and description of variables; the statistical classifications; the characteristics of the statistical populations, the observation units and the respondents; the reference periods and dates; and the requirements relating to geographical coverage, sample features, technical aspects of the field work editing and imputation, weighting, estimation and variance estimation.

The same standards for submitting data and exchanging and sharing information between Eurostat and the Member States. The standards will cover concepts, processes and products, including data and metadata.

•Fundamental rights

4.BUDGETARY IMPLICATIONS

5.OTHER ELEMENTS

•Implementation plans and monitoring, evaluation and reporting arrangements

Annual compliance monitoring of the statistics produced

Eurostat conducts annual compliance assessments. Those assessments include a review of the data availability, quality and punctuality and follow-up actions in case of non-compliance.

In accordance with the requirements of the Union legislation, Member States are requested to provide the Commission with relevant figures on agricultural statistics. Those figures are subject to strict transmission deadlines which must be respected for the good management, dissemination and usefulness of the Union statistics, as missing or incomplete data lead to shortcomings in the availability of information (that is to say, it is not possible to calculate Union aggregates and to publish data according to planned time schedules).

Regulation (EC) No 223/2009, which is the basic legal framework for the functioning of the European Statistical System and for all sectoral legislation for the production of European statistics, has been amended on 29 April 2015.

While timeliness, punctuality and completeness are already important factors in the annual compliance assessments to ensure a timely dissemination of agriculture statistics, more attention will be paid to those and other quality dimensions in order to ensure confidence in the statistics produced by the ESS.

Continuous improvement of the EASS: identification of new data needs and new data sources, improvement of coherence, reduction of burden

At present, Eurostat conducts annual hearings with other services of the Commission. An important point for those hearings is the exchange of information on the respective work programmes. They provide a formal platform for stating upcoming needs for new statistics, and to review the usefulness of the available statistics.

Further collaboration with other Commission services, NSIs and ONAs will take place at different hierarchical levels in regular Working Group meetings and seminars, Directors' Group meetings, ESSC meetings, and through frequent bilateral exchanges. Particular attention will be focused on the identification of administrative data and other information sources maintained under the Union legislation and the assessment of their suitability for the production of statistics in order to establish agreements for their stability, accessibility and eventual adaptation to better fit statistical requirements. Furthermore, periodic surveys and analyses will be conducted to identify potential for improvement of European agricultural statistics and for burden reduction, for example by abolishing variables with a low cost-benefit ratio. The new, more flexible legal framework will make adjustments possible.

Those adjustments and the overall functioning of the legal framework will be monitored and evaluated in particular against the strategy objectives listed earlier.

Triennial monitoring reports

In order to monitor the functioning of the renewed EASS and to ensure its fulfilment of the REFIT goals of simplification and burden reduction, a regular reporting on the functioning of the overall system will be carried out every three years.

Evaluation

•Detailed explanation of the specific provisions of the proposal

As set out in article 1, the purpose of the Regulation is to establish a framework for European agricultural statistics at farm level and to provide for integration of the structural information with other information, such as production methods, rural development measures, agro-environmental aspects and others. The main definitions are described in Article 2. The scope and coverage are described in Article 3. The proposal allows and promotes the use of new forms of data collection and alternative data sources including administrative data and other sources (Article 4).

The statistics covered by the Regulation are referred to in Articles 5, 6 and 7 for specific reference years and periods (Article 10). It is proposed to empower the Commission to adopt delegated acts to amend the core characteristics listed in Annex III (Article 5), restricted to alignment with administrative registers, and the detailed topics for the modules listed in Annex IV (Article 8) in order to adapt the data collected to future users’ needs; and to meet specific user requirements in ad-hoc surveys (Article 9).

The Commission should also be empowered to adopt implementing measures on the technical specifications required for the data sets (Article 8) and the quality reporting (Article 11). The requirements relating to quality reporting are in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 223/2009, which provides a reference framework and requires Member States to comply with the statistical principles and quality criteria specified in that Regulation.

The data must be transmitted within predefined deadlines (Article 12).

The draft regulation includes the provisions for financial support to the Member States (Articles 13 and 14) for:

complying with data requirements and developing methodologies aiming at higher quality or lower costs, or both, and the administrative burden of collecting and producing integrated farm statistics;

the cost of data collections;

the collection of ad-hoc data.

In addition, the Regulation contains the required provisions on the protection of the financial interests of the Union (Article 15), and on the exercise of the delegation of power (Article 16).

The final Articles refer to the Committee procedure (Article 17) and to the repeal of two existing Regulations that will be replaced in full by the Regulation (Article 18).

The five Annexes set out the detailed information on the livestock unit coefficients, the list of the physical thresholds, the list of characteristics for the core structural data, the characteristics to be covered in the modules, and the requirements related to accuracy.

2016/0389 (COD)

Proposal for a

REGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL

on integrated farm statistics

and repealing Regulations (EC) No 1166/2008 and (EU) No 1337/2011

(Text with EEA relevance)

THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, and in particular Article 338 thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the European Commission,

After transmission of the draft legislative act to the national parliaments,

Acting in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure,

Whereas:

(1)Regulation (EC) No 1166/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council 6 establishes a framework for European statistics on the structure of agricultural holdings up to 2016. Regulation (EC) No 1166/2008 should subsequently be repealed.

(2)The programme of European surveys on the structure of agricultural holdings, which has been carried out in the Union since 1966, should be continued in order to examine the trends in the structure of agricultural holdings at the Union level and to provide the statistical knowledge base necessary for the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of related policies, in particular the Common Agricultural Policy and environmental, climate change adaptation and mitigation policies.

(3)An international evaluation of agricultural statistics led to setting up the Food and Agriculture Organization's (FAO) Global Strategy to Improve Agricultural and Rural Statistics that was endorsed by the United Nations Statistics Committee (UNSC) in 2010. European agricultural statistics should, where appropriate, follow the recommendations of the Global Strategy to Improve Agricultural and Rural Statistics, as well as those of the FAO World Programme for the Census of Agriculture 2020.

(4)A multipurpose survey programme on agricultural holdings should be set up for the next decade to provide the framework for harmonised, comparable and coherent statistics.

(5)The Strategy on Agricultural Statistics 2020 and beyond, set up by the European Statistical System Committee (ESSC) in November 2015, envisages the adoption of two framework Regulations covering all aspects of agricultural statistics, with the exception of the Economic Accounts for Agriculture. This Regulation on integrated farm statistics is one of those framework Regulations.

(6)For the purposes of harmonisation and comparability of information on the structure of agricultural holdings and in order to meet the current needs of the Single Market Organisation and in particular the fruit and wine sector, Regulation (EU) No 1337/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council 7 should be integrated with the structural information at the level of agricultural holdings from 2023 onwards. Regulation (EU) No 1337/2011 should subsequently be repealed.

(7)Comparable statistics from all Member States on the structure of agricultural holdings are important to determine the development of the common agricultural policy. Therefore standard classifications and common definitions should be used insofar as possible for survey characteristics.

(8)For the purposes of updating the basic registers of agricultural holdings and the rest of the information required for the stratification of sample surveys, a census of agricultural holdings should be carried out in the Union at least every ten years. The most recent census took place in 2009/2010.

(9)In order to avoid placing an unnecessary burden on agricultural holdings and national administrations, thresholds that exclude non-relevant survey units from the basic entities in respect of which statistics are to be collected should be established.

(10)The whole areas used for agricultural production should be covered by agricultural statistics, including the land used by several agricultural holdings because common rights apply.

(11)In order to reduce the burden on respondents, the National Statistical Institutes (NSIs) and other national authorities should have access to administrative data, to the extent that those data are necessary for the development, production and dissemination of European statistics.

(12)For the purposes of flexibility to the European agricultural statistical system, and simplification and modernisation of the agricultural statistics, the variables to be collected should be allocated to different collection groups (core data and modules) varying in frequency or representativeness, or both.

(13)The collection of information on nutrient and water use and agricultural production methods applied on agricultural holdings should be improved in order to provide additional statistics for the development of agro-environmental policy and to enhance the quality of agro-environmental indicators.

(14)For geo-reference of holdings, the standard European geographical grid system in accordance with Annex I of Directive 2007/2/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council 8 should be used as the common reference framework.

(15)The Commission is to respect the confidentiality of the data transmitted in line with Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council 9 . The necessary protection of confidentiality of data should be ensured, among other means, by limiting the use of the location parameters to spatial analysis of information and by appropriate aggregation when publishing statistics. For that reason a harmonized approach for the protection of confidentiality and quality aspects for data dissemination should be developed.

(16)Any processing of personal data under this Regulation is subject to Directive 95/46/EC and its national implementing provisions, and/or Regulation 45/2001, as the case may be.

(17)Regulation (EC) No 1893/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council 10 establishes the statistical classification of economic activities in the European Union referred to in this Regulation for the purpose of defining the relevant population of agricultural holdings.

(18)In accordance with Regulation (EC) No 1059/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council 11 , territorial units should be defined in accordance with the Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS) classification.

(19)Funding should be required from both the Member States and the Union over a number of years in order to carry out the survey. Provision should therefore be made for a Union grant to support that programme of surveys through the European Agricultural Guarantee Fund under Regulation (EC) No 1306/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council 12 .

(20)This Regulation establishes a financial envelope for the duration of the relevant multiannual financial framework (MFF) which constitutes the prime reference for the budgetary authority during the annual budgetary procedure, within the meaning of point 17 of the Inter-institutional Agreement of 2 December 2013 between the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission on cooperation in budgetary matters and sound financial management 13 . The Regulation makes a provision for establishing the budget for further surveys in the context of the subsequent financial framework.

(21)Since the objective of this Regulation, namely the systematic production of European statistics on agricultural holdings in the Union, cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States and can therefore, for reasons of consistency and comparability be better achieved at the Union level, the Union should adopt measures in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity, as set out in Article 5 of the Treaty on European Union. In accordance with the principle of proportionality, as set out in that Article, this Regulation does not go beyond what is necessary in order to achieve that objective.

(22)Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 provides a reference framework for European statistics and requires Member States to comply with the statistical principles and quality criteria specified in that Regulation. Quality reports are essential for assessing, improving and communicating on the quality of European statistics. The ESSC has endorsed a European Statistical System (ESS) standard for Quality Reports Structure, in accordance with Article 12 of Regulation (EC) No 223/2009. That ESS standard should contribute to the harmonisation of quality reporting under this Regulation.

(23)An impact assessment has been performed in accordance with the principle of sound financial management, in order to focus the survey programme established by this Regulation on the need for effectiveness in achieving the objectives and in order to incorporate budgetary constraints from the design phase of the survey programme onwards.

(24)In order to ensure uniform conditions for the implementation of this Regulation, implementing powers should be conferred on the Commission in respect of specifying the descriptions of characteristics listed in Annex III and the technical elements of the data to be provided, defining the information to be provided on an ad-hoc basis, as well as setting out the modalities and contents of the quality reports. Those powers should be exercised in accordance with Regulation (EU) No 182/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council 14 of 16 February 2011.

(25)In order to take account of emerging data needs mainly stemming from new developments in agriculture, revised legislation and changing policy priorities, the power to adopt acts in accordance with Article 290 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union should be delegated to the Commission in respect of amending the detailed topics listed in Annex IV. In order to provide for compatibility and facilitate the use of other data sources, the power to adopt acts in accordance with Article 290 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union should be delegated to the Commission in respect of amending the characteristics listed in Annex III. It is of particular importance that the Commission carry out appropriate consultations during its preparatory work, including at expert level, and that those consultations are conducted in accordance with the principles laid down in the Interinstitutional Agreement on Better Law-Making of 13 April 2016 15 . In particular, in order to ensure equal participation in the preparation of delegated acts, the European Parliament and the Council should receive all documents at the same time as Member States' experts, and their experts systematically have access to meetings of Commission expert groups dealing with the preparation of delegated acts.

(26)The European Data Protection Supervisor has been consulted.

(27)The European Statistical System Committee has been consulted,

HAVE ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

Subject matter

This Regulation establishes a framework for European statistics at the level of agricultural holdings and provides for the integration of information on the structure with that on production methods, rural development measures, agro-environmental aspects and other related information.

Article 2

Definitions

For the purposes of this Regulation, the following definitions shall apply:

(a)‘agricultural holding’ (‘farm’) means a single unit, both technically and economically, which has a single management and which undertakes economic activities in agriculture in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 1893/2006 belonging to groups A.01.1, A.01.2, A.01.3, A.01.4, A.01.5 or to the “maintenance of agricultural land in good agricultural and environmental condition” of group A.01.6 within the economic territory of the Union, either as its primary or secondary activity. Regarding activities of class A.01.49, only the activities “Raising and breeding of semi-domesticated or other live animals” (with the exception of raising of insects) and “Bee-keeping and production of honey and beeswax” are included;

(b)‘common land agricultural unit’ means an entity of land on which common rights apply and which is used by several agricultural holdings for agricultural production, but is not allocated amongst them;

(c)    ‘region’ means the Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS) territorial unit, defined in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 1059/2003;

(d)    ‘livestock unit’ means a standard measurement unit that allows the aggregation of the various categories of livestock in order to enable them to be compared; the coefficients for establishing the livestock units for individual livestock categories are listed in Annex I.

(e)    ‘survey reference year’ means a calendar year to which the reference periods refer.

(f)    ‘kitchen garden’ means areas used for food production intended for own consumption.

Article 3

Coverage

1.The data required by this Regulation shall cover 98 % of the total utilised agricultural area (UAA) (excluding kitchen gardens) and 98 % of the livestock units of the Member State.

2.In order to meet those requirements, Member States shall provide data representative of the agricultural holdings and common land agricultural units that meet at least one of the physical thresholds listed in Annex II with regard to the size of agricultural land or the number of animals.

3.By way of exception, where the main survey frame specified under paragraph 2 represents more than 98 % of the national agricultural production, measured by the Standard Output in accordance with Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) No 1198/2014 16 , Member States may, subject to prior approval by the Commission (Eurostat), establish higher physical or corresponding economic thresholds to reduce the survey frame, as long as the 98 % coverage of the total utilised agricultural area (excluding kitchen gardens) and 98 % of the livestock units of the Member States is reached.

4.Where the main survey frame specified under paragraph 2 does not represent 98 % of the utilised agricultural area and 98 % of the livestock units, Member States shall extend the frame by establishing lower thresholds than those referred to in paragraph 2, or by establishing additional thresholds, or both.

Article 4

Data sources

1.For the purpose of obtaining the data referred to in this Regulation, Member States shall carry out statistical surveys.

2.Member States may use information from the integrated administration and control system (IACS) established by Regulation (EU) No 1307/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council 17 , the system for the identification and registration of bovine animals established by Regulation (EC) No 1760/2000 of the European Parliament and of the Council [ 18 ] and the system for the identification and registration of ovine and caprine animals established by Council Regulation (EC) No 21/2004 19 , the vineyard register implemented in accordance with Article 145 of Regulation (EC) No 1308/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council 20 , and the organic farming registers set up pursuant to Council Regulation (EC) No 834/2007 21 , provided that information is of at least equal quality to information obtained from statistical surveys. Member States may also use administrative sources associated with specific rural development measures.

3.Member States shall have the right to use other sources of information than those mentioned in paragraph 2 to provide data as long as they are of at least equal quality as the information obtained from statistical surveys. Member States which decide to use other sources shall inform the Commission (Eurostat) during the year preceding the survey reference year and shall provide details concerning the quality of the data obtained from that source and the data collection methods to be used.

4.National authorities responsible for fulfilling the requirements of this Regulation shall have the right to access and use, promptly and free of charge, data, including individual data on agricultural holdings and personal data on their holders contained in administrative files compiled on their national territory pursuant to Article 17a of Regulation (EC) No 223/2009. The national authorities and the owners of the administrative records shall establish the necessary cooperation mechanisms.

Article 5

Core structural data

1.Member States shall collect and provide the core structural data (‘core data’) related to the agricultural holdings referred to in paragraphs (2) and (3) of Article 3, for the survey reference years 2020, 2023 and 2026, as listed in Annex III. The core data collection for the survey reference year 2020 shall be carried out as a census.

2.The core data collections for the survey reference years 2023 and 2026 may be carried out as sample surveys. In that case, Member States shall ensure that the weighted survey results are statistically representative of agricultural holdings within each region and are designed to meet the precision requirements set out in Annex V.

3.When a characteristic listed in Annex III has a low or zero prevalence in a Member State, the characteristic may be excluded from the data collection subject to the Member State concerned providing information duly justifying its exclusion to the Commission (Eurostat) in the calendar year preceding the survey reference year.

4.The Commission shall be empowered to adopt implementing acts for the purpose of specifying the descriptions of characteristics listed in Annex III.

5.The implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 17(2) not later than [Publications Office, please insert the exact date: entry into force of this Regulation+6 months, or 31 December 2018, whichever is the latest] for the survey reference year 2020, not later than 31 December 2021 for the survey reference year 2023, and not later than 31 December 2024 for the survey reference year 2026.

6.The Commission is empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 16 concerning amendments of the information listed in Annex III in case it would be needed for the purpose of harmonisation with the data sources specified in Article 4(2), for the years 2023 and 2026. In exercising its power the Commission shall ensure that such delegated acts only replace characteristics listed in Annex III that can no longer be directly derived from the specified data sources. It shall further ensure that such delegated acts do not impose a significant additional burden or cost on the Member States or on the respondents, and that a maximum of 10%, rounded up to the nearest integer, of the characteristics listed in Annex III are changed.

7.Those delegated acts shall be adopted by 30 September 2021 for the survey reference year 2023 and by 30 September 2024 for the survey reference year 2026.

Article 6

Frame extension

1.Member States that extend the survey frame in accordance with Article 3(4) shall provide core data on the agricultural holdings included in that frame extension for the survey reference year 2020, covering the information specified in Annex III.

2.The data on the agricultural holdings in the frame extension may be collected by carrying out sample surveys. In that case Member States shall ensure that the weighted survey results are statistically representative of agricultural holdings within each region and are designed to meet the precision requirements set out in Annex V.

Article 7

Module data

1.Member States shall collect and provide the module data (‘modules’) on the topics and detailed topics listed in Annex IV for the following survey reference years:

(a) ‘Labour force and other gainful activities’ module for 2020, 2023 and 2026;

(b) ‘Rural development’ module for 2020, 2023 and 2026;

(c) ‘Animal housing and manure management’ module for 2020 and 2026;

(d) ‘Irrigation’ module for 2023;

(e) ‘Soil management practices’ module for 2023;

(f) ‘Machinery and equipment’ module for 2023;

(g) ‘Orchard’ module for 2023;

(h) ‘Vineyard’ module for 2026.

2.The scope of those data collections shall include the agricultural holdings referred to in Article 3(2) and Article 3(3).

3.The modules may be collected by carrying out sample surveys. In that case Member States shall ensure that the weighted survey results are statistically representative of agricultural holdings within each region and are designed to meet the precision requirements set out in Annex V.

4.The modules shall be collected from sub-samples of the agricultural holdings surveyed for the core data for the same reference year. In any case each record providing information on modules shall be accompanied by the core data listed in Annex III.

5.Member States with less than 1000 hectares of any of the individual crops, referred to under the detailed topics of the ‘Orchard’ module in Annex IV, producing entirely or mainly for the market, are exempted from carrying out the ‘Orchard’ module for that particular crop.

6.Member States with less than 1000 hectares of vineyards planted with vines with grapes for wine, producing entirely or mainly for the market, are exempted from carrying out the ‘Vineyard’ module.

7.Member States with less than 2 % irrigable area of the UAA, and with no NUTS 2 level regions with at least 5% of irrigable area of the UAA, are exempted from carrying out the ‘Irrigation’ module.

8.The Member States shall inform the Commission (Eurostat) of cases in paragraphs 5, 6 and 7 by the end of June of the year preceding the respective survey reference year.

9.When a characteristic has a low or zero prevalence in a Member State, the characteristic may be excluded from the data collection subject to providing information duly justifying the exclusion to the Commission (Eurostat) in the calendar year preceding the survey reference year.

Article 8

Technical specification concerning the module data

1.The Commission shall be empowered to adopt implementing acts for the purpose of specifying the following technical elements of the data to be provided for each module and the corresponding topic and detailed topic listed in Annex IV:

(a) the list of characteristics and the corresponding measurement units;

(b) the descriptions of characteristics.

2.Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 17(2) not later than [Publications Office, please insert the exact date: entry into force of this Regulation+6 months, or 31 December 2018, whichever is the latest] for the survey reference year 2020, not later than 31 December 2021 for the survey reference year 2023 and not later than 31 December 2024 for the survey reference year 2026.

3.For the years 2023 and 2026 the Commission is empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 16 concerning amendments of the detailed topics listed in Annex IV. In exercising its power the Commission shall ensure that such delegated acts do not impose a significant additional burden or cost on the Member States or on the respondents, and that a maximum of 25%, rounded up to the nearest integer, of the detailed topics listed in Annex IV are changed for each module by delegated acts.

4.Those delegated acts shall be adopted by 30 September 2021 for the survey reference year 2023 and by 30 September 2024 for the survey reference year 2026.

Article 9

Ad-hoc data

1.The Commission shall be empowered to adopt implementing acts for the purpose of specifying the information to be provided on an ad-hoc basis by providing:

(a) a list of characteristics not exceeding 40 variables to be transmitted to the Commission (Eurostat) and the corresponding measurement units;

(b) the descriptions of characteristics;

(c) the precision requirements;

(d) the survey reference year;

(e) the reference periods;

(f) the possible data sources and other methodological aspects;

(g) the transmission dates.

2.Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 17(2) not later than 12 months before the beginning of the survey reference year.

Article 10

Reference periods

The collected information shall refer to a single reference year that is common to all Member States by referring to the situation during a specified timeframe as follows:

(a) For characteristics on farm land: (i) the main use of the land shall refer to the survey reference year; (ii) a reference day within the survey reference year shall be established by each Member State for identification of the land parcels.

(b) For characteristics on irrigation and soil management practices, the reference period is a 12-month period ending within the survey reference year, to be established by each Member State with a view to covering the related production cycles.

(c) For characteristics on livestock, animal housing and manure management, a common reference day within the survey reference year shall be established by each Member State. The characteristics on manure management shall refer to the 12-month period ending at that date.

(d) For characteristics on labour force, a 12-month reference period ending on a reference day within the survey reference year shall be established by each Member State.

(e) For characteristics on rural development measures implemented in the individual agricultural holdings, the reference period shall be the three-year period ending on 31 December of the survey reference year.

(f) For all other characteristics, a common reference day within the survey reference year shall be established by each Member State.

Article 11

Quality

1.Member States shall take the necessary measures in order to ensure the quality of the transmitted data and metadata.

2.For the purposes of this Regulation, the quality criteria defined in Article 12(1) of Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 shall apply.

3.The Commission (Eurostat) shall assess the quality of the data and metadata transmitted.

4.For that purpose, Member States shall transmit, for each survey reference year covered by this Regulation, a quality report describing the statistical process and in particular:

(a) the quality criteria referred to in paragraph 2;

(b) the inclusion and exclusion criteria applied to meet the coverage requirements specified in this Regulation;

(c) the organisation and methodology applied;

(d) the sampling frame for surveys;

(e) the levels of precision achieved for sample surveys;

(f) the reference periods in accordance with Article 10;    

(g) information on the quality of data sources other than statistical surveys used;

(h) information on the validation of the data carried out by the Member State in advance of submitting the dataset to the Commission (Eurostat).

The Commission shall be empowered to adopt implementing acts setting out the modalities and contents of the quality reports. Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 17(2).

5.Member States shall inform the Commission (Eurostat) as soon as possible about any relevant information or change with regard to the implementation of this Regulation that could influence the quality of the data transmitted.

6.At the request of the Commission (Eurostat), Member States shall provide additional information necessary to evaluate the quality of the statistical information.

Article 12

Data and metadata transmission

1.For the survey reference year 2020, Member States shall transmit validated core and module data and a quality report to the Commission (Eurostat) within 15 months after the end of the survey reference year.

2.For the survey reference years 2023 and 2026, Member States shall transmit validated core data, labour force and other gainful activities module data and a quality report to the Commission (Eurostat) within 9 months after the end of the survey reference year. Data for other modules and related metadata shall be submitted within 12 months after the end of the survey reference year.

3.The data transmitted to the Commission (Eurostat) shall be at the level of individual agricultural holdings. The module and the ad-hoc data shall be linked to the core data listed in Annex III at the individual holding level for the same reference year. The records provided shall include the extrapolation factors.

4.Member States shall transmit the data and metadata using a technical format specified by the Commission (Eurostat). The data and metadata shall be provided to the Commission (Eurostat) through the single entry point services.

   Article 13

Union contribution

1.For the implementation of this Regulation, the Union may provide grants to the national statistical institutes and other national authorities referred to in Article 5(2) of Regulation (EC) No 223/2009, for

(a)    developing or implementing data requirements, or both;

(b)    developing methodologies aiming at higher quality or lower costs and the administrative burden of collecting and producing integrated farm statistics, or both.

2.Member States may receive grants from the Union towards covering the cost of data collections specified in Articles 5, 6 and 7, within the scope of the financial envelope specified in Article 14.

3.The Union financial contribution shall not exceed 75% of the eligible costs, subject to the maximum amounts specified in paragraphs 4 and 5.

4.For the combined costs of the 2020 core data and module data collections, the Union financial contribution shall be limited to the maximum amounts specified below:

(a) EUR 50 000 each for Luxembourg and Malta;

(b) EUR 1 000 000 each for Austria, Croatia, Ireland and Lithuania;

(c) EUR 2 000 000 each for Bulgaria, Germany, Hungary, Portugal and the United Kingdom;

(d) EUR 3 000 000 each for Greece, Spain and France

(e) EUR 4 000 000 each for Italy, Poland and Romania;

(f) EUR 300 000 each for all other Member States.

5.For the core data and module data collections in 2023 and 2026, the maximum amounts specified in paragraph 4 shall be reduced by 50%, subject to the provisions under the Multiannual Financial Framework post-2020.

6.For the collection of the ad-hoc data specified in Article 9, the Union may provide grants to the national statistical institutes and other national authorities referred to in Article 5(2) of Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 towards covering the cost of the implementation of an ad-hoc data collection. That Union financial contribution shall not exceed 90% of the eligible costs.

7.    The Union financial contribution is provided by the European Agricultural Guarantee Fund under Article 4(2), point (d) of Regulation (EU) No 1306/2013.

Article 14

Financial envelope

1.The Union financial envelope for the implementation of the programme of data collections for the survey reference year 2020, including the appropriations necessary for the management, maintenance and development of the database systems used within the Commission to process the data supplied by the Member States under the provisions of this Regulation, shall be EUR 40 000 000 for the period 2018-2020, covered by the Multiannual Financial Framework 2014-2020.

2.Following the date of entry into force of the multiannual financial framework after 2020, the amount for the period post-2020 shall be fixed by the budgetary and legislative authority on a proposal from the Commission.

Article 15

Protection of the financial interests of the Union

1.The Commission shall take appropriate measures ensuring that, when actions financed under this Regulation are implemented, the financial interests of the Union are protected by the application of preventive measures against fraud, corruption and any other illegal activities, through consistent and effective checks and, if irregularities are detected, through the recovery of the amounts wrongly paid and, where appropriate, through effective, proportionate and dissuasive administrative and financial penalties.

2.The Commission or its representatives and the Court of Auditors shall have the power of audit, on the basis of documents and on-the-spot checks, over all grant beneficiaries, contractors and subcontractors and third parties who have, directly or indirectly, received Union funds under the Programme.

3.The European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) may carry out investigations, including on-the-spot checks and inspections on economic operators concerned directly or indirectly by such funding in accordance with the procedures laid down in Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 883/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council 22 and in Council Regulation (Euratom, EC) No 2185/96 23 with a view to establishing whether there has been fraud, corruption or any other illegal activity affecting the financial interests of the Union in connection with a grant agreement or grant decision or contract funded, directly or indirectly, within the framework of this Regulation.

4.Cooperation agreements with third countries and international organisations and grant agreements and grant decisions resulting from the implementation of this Regulation shall expressly empower the Commission, the Court of Auditors and OLAF to conduct such audits, on-the-spot checks and inspections.

5.Where the implementation of an action is outsourced or sub-delegated, in whole or in part, or where it requires the award of a procurement contract or financial support to be given to a third party, the contract, grant agreement or grant decision shall include the contractor's or beneficiary's obligation to impose on any third party involved explicit acceptance of those powers of the Commission, the Court of Auditors and OLAF.

6.Paragraphs 4 and 5 shall apply without prejudice to paragraphs 1, 2 and 3.

Article 16

Exercise of delegation

1.The power to adopt delegated acts is conferred on the Commission subject to the conditions laid down in this Article.

2.The power to adopt delegated acts referred to in Article 5(6) and Article 8(3) shall be conferred on the Commission for an undetermined period of time from [Publications Office: please insert exact date of entry into force of the Regulation].

3.The delegation of power referred to in Article 5(6) and Article 8(3) may be revoked at any time by the European Parliament or by the Council. A decision to revoke shall put an end to the delegation of the power specified in that decision. It shall take effect the day following the publication of the decision in the Official Journal of the European Union or at a later date specified therein. It shall not affect the validity of any delegated acts already in force.

4.Before adopting a delegated act, the Commission shall consult experts designated by each Member State in accordance with the principles laid down in the Interinstitutional Agreement on Better Law-Making of 13 April 2016.

5.As soon as it adopts a delegated act, the Commission shall notify it simultaneously to the European Parliament and to the Council.

6.A delegated act adopted pursuant to Article 5(6) or Article 8(3) shall enter into force only if no objection has been expressed either by the European Parliament or by the Council within a period of two months of notification of that act to the European Parliament and the Council or if, before the expiry of that period, the European Parliament and the Council have both informed the Commission that they will not object. That period shall be extended by two months at the initiative of the European Parliament or of the Council.

Article 17

Committee procedure

1.The Commission shall be assisted by the European Statistical System Committee established by Regulation (EC) No 223/2009. That Committee shall be a committee within the meaning of Regulation (EU) No 182/2011.

2.Where reference is made to this paragraph, Article 5 of Regulation (EU) No 182/2011 shall apply.

Article 18

Repeal

1.Regulation (EU) No 1337/2011 is repealed with effect from 1 January 2022.

2.Regulation (EC) No 1166/2008 is repealed with effect from 1 January 2019.

3.References to the repealed Regulations shall be construed as references to this Regulation.

Article 19

Entry into force

This Regulation shall enter into force on the twentieth day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.

Done at Brussels,

LEGISLATIVE FINANCIAL STATEMENT

1.FRAMEWORK OF THE PROPOSAL/INITIATIVE 

1.1.Title of the proposal/initiative

1.2.Policy area(s) concerned in the ABM/ABB structure

1.3.Nature of the proposal/initiative

1.4.Objective(s)

1.5.Grounds for the proposal/initiative

1.6.Duration and financial impact

1.7.Management mode(s) planned

2.MANAGEMENT MEASURES 

2.1.Monitoring and reporting rules

2.2.Management and control system

2.3.Measures to prevent fraud and irregularities

3.ESTIMATED FINANCIAL IMPACT OF THE PROPOSAL/INITIATIVE 

3.1.Heading(s) of the multiannual financial framework and expenditure budget line(s) affected

3.2.Estimated impact on expenditure 

3.2.1.Summary of estimated impact on expenditure

3.2.2.Estimated impact on operational appropriations

3.2.3.Estimated impact on appropriations of an administrative nature

3.2.4.Compatibility with the current multiannual financial framework

3.2.5.Third-party contributions

3.3.Estimated impact on revenue

LEGISLATIVE FINANCIAL STATEMENT

1.FRAMEWORK OF THE PROPOSAL/INITIATIVE 

1.1.Title of the proposal/initiative 

1.2.Policy area(s) concerned in the ABM/ABB structure 24  

1.3.Nature of the proposal/initiative 

◻ The proposal/initiative relates to a new action 

◻ The proposal/initiative relates to a new action following a pilot project/preparatory action 25  

◻ The proposal/initiative relates to the extension of an existing action 

X The proposal/initiative relates to an action redirected towards a new action 

1.4.Objective(s)

1.4.1.The Commission's multiannual strategic objective(s) targeted by the proposal/initiative 

1.4.2.Specific objective(s) and ABM/ABB activity(ies) concerned 

1.4.3.Expected result(s) and impact

Specify the effects which the proposal/initiative should have on the beneficiaries/groups targeted. 

1.4.4.Indicators of results and impact 

Specify the indicators for monitoring implementation of the proposal/initiative.

1.5.Grounds for the proposal/initiative 

1.5.1.Requirement(s) to be met in the short or long term 

1.5.2.Added value of EU involvement

1.5.3.Lessons learned from similar experiences in the past

1.5.4.Compatibility and possible synergy with other appropriate instruments

1.6.Duration and financial impact 

X Proposal/initiative of limited duration

–X    Proposal/initiative in effect until 31/12/2028

–X    Financial impact from 2019 to 2020 (with possible financial impact extended up to 2028 depending on new MFF)

◻ Proposal/initiative of unlimited duration

–Implementation with a start-up period from YYYY to YYYY,

–followed by full-scale operation.

1.7.Management mode(s) planned 26  

X Direct management by the Commission

–X by its departments, including by its staff in the Union delegations;

–◻    by the executive agencies

◻ Shared management with the Member States

◻ Indirect management by entrusting budget implementation tasks to:

–◻ third countries or the bodies they have designated;

–◻ international organisations and their agencies (to be specified);

–◻the EIB and the European Investment Fund;

–◻ bodies referred to in Articles 208 and 209 of the Financial Regulation;

–◻ public law bodies;

–◻ bodies governed by private law with a public service mission to the extent that they provide adequate financial guarantees;

–◻ bodies governed by the private law of a Member State that are entrusted with the implementation of a public-private partnership and that provide adequate financial guarantees;

–◻ persons entrusted with the implementation of specific actions in the CFSP pursuant to Title V of the TEU, and identified in the relevant basic act.

–If more than one management mode is indicated, please provide details in the ‘Comments’ section.

Comments

2.MANAGEMENT MEASURES 

2.1.Monitoring and reporting rules 

Specify frequency and conditions.

2.2.Management and control system 

2.2.1.Risk(s) identified 

2.2.2.Information concerning the internal control system set up

2.2.3.Estimate of the costs and benefits of the controls and assessment of the expected level of risk of error 

2.3.Measures to prevent fraud and irregularities 

Specify existing or envisaged prevention and protection measures.

3.ESTIMATED FINANCIAL IMPACT OF THE PROPOSAL/INITIATIVE 

3.1.Heading(s) of the multiannual financial framework and expenditure budget line(s) affected 

Existing budget lines

In order of multiannual financial framework headings and budget lines.

New budget lines requested

In order of multiannual financial framework headings and budget lines.

3.2.Estimated impact on expenditure 

3.2.1.Summary of estimated impact on expenditure 

EUR million (to three decimal places)

If more than one heading is affected by the proposal / initiative:

EUR million (to three decimal places)

EUR million (to three decimal places)

3.2.2.Estimated impact on operational appropriations 

–◻    The proposal/initiative does not require the use of operational appropriations

–X The proposal/initiative requires the use of operational appropriations, as explained below:

Commitment appropriations in EUR million (to three decimal places)

3.2.3.Estimated impact on appropriations of an administrative nature

3.2.3.1.Summary 

–◻    The proposal/initiative does not require the use of appropriations of an administrative nature

–X    The proposal/initiative requires the use of appropriations of an administrative nature, as explained below:

EUR million (to three decimal places)

The appropriations required for human resources and other expenditure of an administrative nature will be met by appropriations from the DG that are already assigned to management of the action and/or have been redeployed within the DG, together if necessary with any additional allocation which may be granted to the managing DG under the annual allocation procedure and in the light of budgetary constraints    

.

3.2.3.2.Estimated requirements of human resources

–◻    The proposal/initiative does not require the use of human resources.

–X The proposal/initiative requires the use of human resources, as explained below:

Estimate to be expressed in full time equivalent units

XX is the policy area or budget title concerned.

The human resources required will be met by staff from the DG who are already assigned to management of the action and/or have been redeployed within the DG, together if necessary with any additional allocation which may be granted to the managing DG under the annual allocation procedure and in the light of budgetary constraints.

Description of tasks to be carried out:

3.2.4.Compatibility with the current multiannual financial framework 

–X    The proposal/initiative is compatible the current multiannual financial framework.

–◻    The proposal/initiative will entail reprogramming of the relevant heading in the multiannual financial framework.

–◻    The proposal/initiative requires application of the flexibility instrument or revision of the multiannual financial framework.

3.2.5.Third-party contributions 

–The proposal/initiative does not provide for co-financing by third parties.

–The proposal/initiative provides for the co-financing estimated below:

Appropriations in EUR million (to three decimal places)

3.3.Estimated impact on revenue 

–X The proposal/initiative has no financial impact on revenue.

–◻    The proposal/initiative has the following financial impact:

–◻    on own resources

–◻    on miscellaneous revenue

EUR million (to three decimal places)

For miscellaneous ‘assigned’ revenue, specify the budget expenditure line(s) affected.

Specify the method for calculating the impact on revenue.

(1) Regulation (EC) No 1166/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 November 2008 on farm structure surveys and the survey on agricultural production methods and repealing Council Regulation (EEC) No 571/88 (OJ L 321, 1.12.2008, p. 14).

(2) Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 March 2009 on European statistics and repealing Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1101/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the transmission of data subject to statistical confidentiality to the Statistical Office of the European Communities, Council Regulation (EC) No 322/97 on Community Statistics, and Council Decision 89/382/EEC, Euratom establishing a Committee on the Statistical Programmes of the European Communities (OJ L 87, 31.3.2009, p. 164).

(3) See http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/quality/evaluation  

(4) Eurostat public consultation webpage: http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/about/opportunities/consultations/eass Open public consultation report:http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/documents/10186/6937766/Agricultural-Statistics-Strategy-2020-Report.docx

(5) Directive 95/46/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 October 1995 (OJ L 281, 23.11.1995, p. 31) and Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 December 2000 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data (OJ L 8, 12.1.2001, p. 1)

(6) Regulation (EC) No 1166/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 November 2008 on farm structure surveys and the survey on agricultural production methods and repealing Council Regulation (EEC) No 571/88 (OJ L 321, 1.12.2008, p. 14).

(7) Regulation (EU) No 1337/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 December 2011 concerning European statistics on permanent crops and repealing Council Regulation (EEC) No 357/79 and Directive 2001/109/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (OJ L 347, 30.12.2011, p. 7).

(8) Directive 2007/2/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 March 2007 establishing an Infrastructure for Spatial Information in the European Community (INSPIRE) (OJ L 108, 25.4.2007, p. 1).

(9) Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 March 2009 on European statistics and repealing Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1101/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the transmission of data subject to statistical confidentiality to the Statistical Office of the European Communities, Council Regulation (EC) No 322/97 on Community Statistics, and Council Decision 89/382/EEC, Euratom establishing a Committee on the Statistical Programmes of the European Communities (OJ L 87, 31.3.2009, p. 164).

(10) Regulation (EC) No 1893/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 December 2006 establishing the statistical classification of economic activities NACE Revision 2 and amending Council Regulation (EEC) No 3037/90 as well as certain EC Regulations on specific statistical domains (OJ L 393, 30.12.2006, p. 1).

(11) Regulation (EC) No 1059/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 May 2003 on the establishment of a common classification of territorial units for statistics (NUTS) (OJ L 13, 18.01.2011, p. 3).

(12) Regulation (EU) No 1306/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 December 2013 on the financing, management and monitoring of the common agricultural policy and repealing Council Regulations (EEC) No 352/78, (EC) No 165/94, (EC) No 2799/98, (EC) No 814/2000, (EC) No 1290/2005 and (EC) No 485/2008 (OJ L 347, 20.12.2013, p. 549).

(13) OJ C 373, 20.12.2013, p. 1.

(14) Regulation (EU) No 182/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 February 2011 laying down the rules and general principles concerning mechanisms for control by the Member States of the Commission's exercise of implementing powers (OJ L 55, 28.2.2011, p. 13).

(15) OJ L 123, 12.5.2016, p. 1.

(16) Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) No 1198/2014 of 1 August 2014 supplementing Council Regulation (EC) No 1217/2009 setting up a network for the collection of accountancy data on the incomes and business operation of agricultural holdings in the European Union (OJ L 321, 7.11.2014, p. 2).

(17) Regulation (EU) No 1307/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 December 2013 establishing rules for direct payments to farmers under support schemes within the framework of the common agricultural policy and repealing Council Regulation (EC) No 637/2008 and Council Regulation (EC) No 73/2009 (OJ L347, 20.12.2013, p. 608).

(18) Regulation (EC) No 1760/2000 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 July 2000 establishing a system for the identification and registration of bovine animals and regarding the labelling of beef and beef products and repealing Council Regulation (EC) No 820/97 (OJ L204, 11.8.2000, p. 1).

(19) Council Regulation (EC) No 21/2004 of 17 December 2003 establishing a system for the identification and registration of ovine and caprine animals and amending Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003 and Directives 92/102/EEC and 64/432/EEC (OJ L 5, 9.1.2004, p. 8).

(20) Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 December 2013 establishing a common organisation of the markets in agricultural products and repealing Council Regulations (EEC) No 922/72, (EEC) No 234/79, (EC) No 1037/2001 and (EC) No 1234/2007(OJ L 347, 20.12.2013, p. 671).

(21) Council Regulation (EC) No 834/2007 of 28 June 2007 on organic production and labelling of organic products and repealing Regulation (EEC) No 2092/91 (OJ L189, 20.7.2007, p. 1).

(22) Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 883/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 September 2013 concerning investigations conducted by the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) and repealing Regulation (EC) No 1073/1999 of the European Parliament and of the Council and Council Regulation (Euratom) No 1074/1999 (OJ L 248, 18.9.2013, p. 1).

(23) Council Regulation (Euratom, EC) No 2185/96 of 11 November 1996 concerning on-the-spot checks and inspections carried out by the Commission in order to protect the European Communities’ financial interests against fraud and other irregularities (OJ L 292, 15.11.1996, p. 2.)

(24) ABM: activity-based management; ABB: activity-based budgeting.

(25) As referred to in Article 54(2)(a) or (b) of the Financial Regulation.

(26) Details of management modes and references to the Financial Regulation may be found on the BudgWeb site: https://myintracomm.ec.europa.eu/budgweb/en/man/budgmanag/Pages/budgmanag.aspx  

(27) Diff. = Differentiated appropriations / Non-diff. = Non-differentiated appropriations.

(28) EFTA: European Free Trade Association.

(29) Candidate countries and, where applicable, potential candidate countries from the Western Balkans.

(30) Year N is the year in which implementation of the proposal/initiative starts.

(31) Technical and/or administrative assistance and expenditure in support of the implementation of EU programmes and/or actions (former ‘BA’ lines), indirect research, direct research.

(32) Outputs are products and services to be supplied (e.g.: number of student exchanges financed, number of km of roads built, etc.).

(33) As described in point 1.4.2. ‘Specific objective(s)…’

(34) Technical and/or administrative assistance and expenditure in support of the implementation of EU programmes and/or actions (former ‘BA’ lines), indirect research, direct research.

(35) AC= Contract Staff; AL = Local Staff; END= Seconded National Expert; INT = agency staff; JED= Junior Experts in Delegations.

(36) Sub-ceiling for external staff covered by operational appropriations (former ‘BA’ lines).

(37) As regards traditional own resources (customs duties, sugar levies), the amounts indicated must be net amounts, i.e. gross amounts after deduction of 25 % for collection costs.

EUROPEAN COMMISSION

Brussels, 9.12.2016

COM(2016) 786 final

ANNEXES

to the Proposal for a

REGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL

on integrated farm statistics and repealing Regulations (EC) No 1166/2008 and (EU) No 1337/2011

{SWD(2016) 429 final}
{SWD(2016) 430 final}

ANNEXES

to the Proposal for a

REGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL

on integrated farm statistics and repealing Regulations (EC) No 1166/2008 and (EU) No 1337/2011

ANNEX I - Livestock unit coefficients

Annex II – List of the physical thresholds 1

Annex III – Core data: Information to be provided

Annex IV – Topics and detailed topics within the module data

Annex V – Precision requirements

The core data (in 2023 and 2026) and the module data shall be statistically representative for the relevant populations of agricultural holdings as defined in the precision table below at the level of NUTS 2 regions in terms of the size and the type of the agricultural holdings, in accordance with Council Regulation (EC) No 1217/2009 5 , Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) No 1198/2014 and Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/220 6 .

The precision requirements apply to the characteristics in the table below.

The data in the frame extension in 2020 shall be statistically representative for the relevant population at the level of NUTS 2 regions as defined in the precision table below.

In addition, the precision requirements defined in the table apply to all NUTS 2 regions with at least:

5 000 holdings in the relevant population for the ''Orchard'' and "Vineyard'' modules;

10 000 holdings in the relevant population for the core data, for all other modules and for the data in the frame extension.

For NUTS 2 regions with fewer holdings the precision requirements defined in the table apply to the associated NUTS 1 regions with at least:

500 holdings in the relevant population for the ''Orchard'' and "Vineyard'' modules;

1 000 holdings in the relevant population for core data, all other modules and the data in the frame extension.

A national precision of maximum 5% relative standard error is required for those characteristics of the "Orchard" and "Vineyard" modules with no applicable precision requirement for any NUTS 2 and NUTS 1 regions.

A national precision of maximum 7,5% relative standard error is required for all characteristics of the other modules with no applicable precision requirement for any NUTS 2 and NUTS 1 regions for any characteristic.

Precision table

(1) The thresholds are applicable to the group of items as listed.

(2) L - Areas other than mountain areas facing significant natural constraints; M- less-favoured mountainous area; O - Other areas affected by specific constraints; N- normal area (non-LFA) This classification may be adapted in the future in the light of developments on CAP.

(3) Annual Work Unit (AWU) percentage band 2: (> 0-< 25), (≥ 25-< 50), (≥ 50-< 75), (≥ 75-< 100), (100)

(4) Percentage bands: (≥ 0-≤ 10), (> 10-≤ 50), (> 50-< 100)

(5) Council Regulation (EC) No 1217/2009 of 30 November 2009 setting up a network for the collection of accountancy data on the incomes and business operation of agricultural holdings in the European Community (OJ L 328, 15.12.2009, p. 27).

(6) Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/220 of 3 February 2015 laying down rules for the application of Council Regulation (EC) No 1217/2009 setting up a network for the collection of accountancy data on the incomes and business operation of agricultural holdings in the European Union (OJ L 46, 19.02.2015, p. 1).