EUROPEAN COMMISSION

Brussels, 30.7.2025

COM(2025) 435 final

2025/0246(COD)

Proposal for a

REGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL

on European fisheries and aquaculture statistics and repealing Regulations (EC) No 1921/2006, (EC) No 762/2008, (EC) No 216/2009, (EC) No 217/2009 and (EC) No 218/2009

(Text with EEA relevance)

{SEC(2025) 224 final} - {SWD(2025) 232 final} - {SWD(2025) 233 final}

EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM

Since the inception of the European Economic Community in the 1950s, Eurostat has provided European fisheries statistics 1 on fish catches, landings, Union fishing fleet and aquaculture, which are necessary for the EU’s activities. These statistics are currently covered by five legal acts dating back to the 1990s with recasts in the 2000s 2 . The regulations lay down, among other things, the statistical variables, the fishing areas covered 3 , reference periods, transmission deadlines and statistical quality criteria.

Relevant, reliable, comprehensive and timely official European statistics are necessary to design, implement, monitor and evaluate European Union policies related to fisheries. Those statistics are needed, in particular, for: (i) conservation of marine biological resources’ policies; (ii) the common fisheries policy (CFP) 4 , including aquaculture; (iii) and EU policies and legislation on, for example, the environment, climate change adaptation and mitigation, regions, public health, food safety and the United Nations Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development Goals. Those statistics are also used for monitoring the impact of fisheries on sensitive species and habitats, and of aquaculture on water quality.

European fisheries statistics serve as a basis for other data collections, such as the data collection framework (DCF) 5 , and are relevant for sustainable food production, especially in the context of the European Green Deal.

In recent years, the CFP reforms and new EU initiatives have generated new data demands. Additionally, the number of administrative and other data sources for compiling fisheries statistics has grown. There are also overlaps between fisheries data flows from EU Member States to different departments of the European Commission, and to various international organisations. A new legal act is needed to overcome these challenges.

The Commission proposal for a regulation on European fisheries and aquaculture statistics (EFAS) aims to improve their relevance by more effectively meeting user needs. EFAS: (i) expands the statistical coverage, for example, on organic aquaculture and EU aquaculture establishments; (ii) reduces the volume of confidential data; and (iii) addresses quality issues in the reported data. In addition, in line with the EU priority on simplification, EFAS replaces five existing regulations with a single one, and reduces the administrative burden on Member States.

A key innovative aspect of EFAS is the use of existing databases, set up by EU law and available to the Commission, to produce official European statistics on catches and Union fishing fleet, thus reducing the administrative burden on the Member States. This approach also enables new statistics to be produced on discards, on recreational fisheries and on the impact of catches on sensitive species, without imposing an additional burden on respondents.

In addition, EFAS has been designed to take into account the data requirements of key international organisations, such as the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), as well as regional fisheries management organisations. The proposal enables Eurostat to transmit the data on behalf of Member States to these organisations, thereby reducing duplication of effort and alleviating the administrative burden associated with multiple reporting obligations.

The initiative is part of the REFIT programme 6  and aims to improve the performance of the underlying legislation while reducing the related burdens and costs. The estimated total cost of producing European fishery statistics is around EUR 5.6 million per year for the 27 EU Member States and the European Commission, of which approximately 5% are incurred by the European Commission. The legislative proposal is estimated to reduce the costs for collecting data on catches by EUR 1.2 million annually.

EFAS is linked with other legal acts, such as the CFP Regulation, Control Regulation 7 , which was recently amended 8 , the DCF 9 , the Union fleet register 10 and the Regulation on organic production 11 . The concepts and definitions used in the proposal are consistent with those of the legal acts mentioned above, which ensures a cohesive and comprehensive legal framework for fisheries and aquaculture statistics and EU policies in this domain. It is crucial that this new legislative proposal adheres closely to the definitions and methodologies outlined in the Control Regulation to maintain consistency and precision.

Eurostat also provides European fisheries statistics to the European Market Observatory for Fisheries and Aquaculture Products (EUMOFA) 12 , a service set up by DG MARE to provide weekly, monthly and yearly market information to the fisheries sector to improve production planning and increase production. Furthermore, Eurostat provides European fisheries statistics to the European Marine Observation and Data Network (EMODnet) 13 , a long-term, marine data initiative funded by the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund. EMODnet uses data on catches, landings and aquaculture and presents them coherently and comparably through its online visualisation portal 14 .

Article 338 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (the Treaty) 15 outlines the EU’s competence to adopt measures for the production of statistics where necessary for the performance of its activities.

Official European statistics are essential for the accurate and independent monitoring of the CFP, a policy area where the EU has exclusive competence for conserving marine biological resources (Article 3(d) of the Treaty) and the power to adopt measures on the fixing and allocation of fishing opportunities (Article 43(3) of the Treaty). Such statistics are crucial for ensuring the fair, efficient and effective management and allocation of fishery resources, and for supporting informed decision-making across Member States.

Fisheries are a natural, renewable and movable source of food. In the EU, they are governed by a common policy, the CFP, with common rules adopted at EU level and applied in all Member States. The primary objectives of the CFP are to ensure the long-term sustainability of fisheries and aquaculture from an environmental, economic and social perspective, while providing a stable source of healthy and nutritious food for Europeans.

A common fisheries policy must inherently be based on comparable, timely and high-quality official European statistics, which can be ensured only by action at EU level. This cannot be achieved by the Member States acting in isolation, but only by a common and coordinated approach. European fisheries and aquaculture statistics legislation provides an EU-wide framework for collecting data and supplying fisheries and aquaculture statistics using concepts and definitions that are harmonised across all Member States. It imposes common standards and methodologies that not only produce comparable results needed by the CFP and other EU policies for management and analysis purposes, but also improve efficiency, timeliness and reliability.

In addition, the existence of an EU legal framework ensures quality-control mechanisms and the availability of metadata. For these reasons, national providers of European fisheries statistics and institutional stakeholders have stressed the importance of an EU-wide legal basis.

Section 8 of the impact assessment accompanying this proposal discusses proportionality. The chosen instrument – a new, streamlined legal framework for European fisheries statistics – is a proportional response to achieve the objectives and solve the problems outlined above. It was necessary because it provides a better and more flexible way of meeting user needs than a less comprehensive legislative and organisational reform of European fisheries statistics would have done. Moreover, the new streamlined legal framework for European fisheries statistics will not go beyond what is necessary to modernise the data collections for catches, landings, the Union fishing fleet and aquaculture.

The chosen instrument is a new regulation that sets up a streamlined legal framework for European fisheries and aquaculture statistics. This option is preferable to a directive or to non-binding instruments because high-quality official European statistics that are comparable across Member States inherently require technical aspects and quality provisions, for example, to be aligned. A regulation that includes implementing and delegated provisions directly applicable in the Member States is essential to ensure that these requirements are met. This approach guarantees comparability between Member States while allowing them the flexibility to choose their data sources, as long as those sources meet the quality criteria outlined in the proposed regulation.

The main categories of stakeholders of European fisheries statistics are:

·data providers, i.e. fishers, aquaculture producers, etc., that provide fisheries data either as administrative data (e.g. from logbooks and landing declarations) or in surveys and censuses;

·data producers, i.e. national statistical institutes and other national authorities that collect and process fisheries data, and compile official statistics and transmit them to Eurostat and other organisations;

·data users:

·institutional users are the ones that are directly involved in EU policymaking at EU, international and national levels, as well as national research institutes linked to the DCF;

·redistributors of official European fisheries and aquaculture statistics that publicly share information and knowledge products based on European fisheries statistics. EMODnet and EUMOFA are identified as redistributors. At international level, the FAO, OECD and the World Trade Organisation are institutional users and, at the same time, redistributors;

·other professional users that contribute directly or indirectly to the policymaking process at EU level and add value to European fisheries statistics, for example, with scientific or socio-economic analyses. They include EU professional fisheries organisations, advisory councils, NGOs with marine programmes, sea conventions, specialised fisheries media, universities, research institutes, national fisheries organisations, private sector aquaculture organisations and individual private companies;

·the general public and the media have only a relatively low interest in fisheries statistics and very limited influence.

·a workshop with Member States on the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of European fisheries statistics from national statistical institutes’ point of view;

·16 in-depth interviews with key stakeholders, for example policymakers and contributors to the CFP, on their use, needs and expectations of European fisheries statistics. The key stakeholders were redistributors (i.e. organisations that redistribute European fisheries statistics through their own databases and add information from other countries or areas) and regular professional users (organisations that need European fisheries statistics to carry out their main professional activities);

·six national case studies and one cross-country aquaculture case study to provide overviews and detailed analyses of different data collection and collaboration approaches. The purpose of the case studies was to provide an overview of national set-ups for collecting European fisheries statistics and to analyse them in a more detailed manner. They also served as a basis for understanding how various collaborations on fisheries-related data are organised in Member States and how organisations cooperate. In addition, the case studies aimed to analyse how national data users use European fisheries statistics and to assess whether European fisheries statistics are meeting their needs from a national perspective. The national case studies took place in Denmark, Ireland, Greece, France, Italy and Poland. In addition, the supporting cross-cutting case study on aquaculture, which focused in particular on the data confidentiality issue, covered the above-mentioned countries, as well as Germany;

·an online survey was carried out as a targeted expert-oriented consultation with general and specific questions about European fisheries statistics: their utility, ease of use, cost of collection, statistical quality, efficiency, effectiveness and consistency. 135 organisations or individuals out of 353 contacted responded. Responses were received from 33 of 36 countries contacted (including Member States, EEA countries, candidate and potential candidate countries);

·a public consultation to gather information from professional users, individuals and other stakeholders on their experiences with European fisheries statistics. 24 respondents answered the questionnaire.

·The consultation of the general public: (i) focused on whether European fisheries statistics meet respondents’ needs; and (ii) allowed respondents to comment on and rank the objectives and possible options of the impact assessment, and give feedback on the options’ potential impacts. It received 15 responses, with a new streamlined legal framework emerging as the preferred option.

·The consultation of experts focused on data needs and received 35 responses. The respondents gave detailed responses on: (i) their data needs for catches, landings and aquaculture; (ii) their preferences regarding the frequency and timeliness of the data; and (iii) the purposes for which they use European fisheries statistics (e.g. market and traceability analyses).

·The consultation of data producers took place during the annual meeting of the Directors’ Group on Agricultural and Fisheries Statistics (DGAS). It was attended by all Member States and EEA countries, as well as by some candidate and potential candidate countries. The objective was to brainstorm the potential impacts of the draft options, propose other options, rank the options and contribute to the impact assessment.

·several structured meetings, which took place in 2022 and 2023 with institutional personnel, sector organisations, Member State representatives, private producers, sectorial organisations and scientists;

·several Eurostat fisheries statistics working group meetings and one dedicated DGAS meeting, which took place in 2022 and 2023, were pivotal for selecting the most fit-for-purpose option among the different technical approaches and for fine-tuning methodological procedures. Among others, representatives of the United Nations Global Compact 17 and the European Algae Biomass Association 18 participated in these meetings.

The Commission collected and used the various forms of outside expertise highlighted in the ‘stakeholder consultations’ section above in order to shape and develop the European fisheries statistics legislation. A crucial role was played by national statistical institutes, which contributed with their expertise by participating actively in regular domain-specific working groups, task forces, and DGAS. These meetings facilitated extensive discussions and exchanges of views.

An impact assessment for European fisheries statistics was conducted in 2021 and received a positive opinion from the Regulatory Scrutiny Board on 4 June 2021 19 . These documents will be published together with the legal proposal and are available upon request until then.

To achieve the objectives of the proposed Regulation, four options were considered.

1.The baseline scenario; i.e. the continuation of the current European fisheries statistics.

2.The discontinuation of European fisheries statistics.

3.A new, streamlined legal framework for European fisheries statistics.

4.A new legal basis for aquaculture and the compilation of available fisheries statistics from EU-level administrative sources; i.e. a hybrid option between options 2 and 3, in which landing statistics would be discontinued.

In light of the impact assessment, the results of the consultation activities and discussions with stakeholders, the preferred option was option 3; i.e. a new streamlined legal framework for European fisheries statistics. The preferred option was supported by the main data users: the European Commission departments, the OECD, the FAO, the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea, several regional fisheries management organisations, a large majority of the national statistical authorities responsible for fisheries statistics in the European statistical system (ESS) and a majority of the respondents to the consultations.

This option responds best to the objectives of the REFIT programme by simplifying and streamlining the five legal acts currently governing European fisheries statistics into one coherent legal framework. The preferred option allows statistical requirements to be aligned flexibly with evolving user needs related to the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the CFP and related EU policies. It also replaces the current partly uncoordinated and duplicated approaches with a coherent Commission-wide strategy and a renewed architecture for European fisheries and aquaculture statistics. This is important for efficient policy delivery and resource use.

Moreover, the option will lead to the reduction of costs and burdens in several ways. Firstly, it will cut double data collection for catch statistics, as the data may be taken directly from EU-level administrative sources. This reduces the administrative and data collection costs and also the time expenditure for respondents, i.e. fishers. Secondly, EFAS is aligned with the needs of the FAO, the OECD and regional fisheries’ management organisations. This will give Member States the option of allowing Eurostat to transmit data, on their behalf and upon their agreement, to those organisations and will, thus, reduce multiple reporting obligations. Thirdly, more data will become available to data users once the data structure for aquaculture has been simplified, resulting in less data being confidential. Fourthly, the simplification of the data reporting mechanisms will ease the burden on data providers and data producers.

The preferred option is expected to make European fisheries statistics more relevant, as the new legal framework would be updated to reflect new user needs, such as:

·total catches, including discards and recreational fisheries, with information on sensitive species;

·landings of the Union fishing fleet globally and those of third country vessels in EU ports;

·organic and regional dimensions of aquaculture.

There is a growing need for more detailed and timely European statistics to support the implementation of various Commission initiatives, including the action plans for organic production, sustainable aquaculture, a sustainable blue economy, algae sector development, energy transition in fisheries and aquaculture and marine ecosystem protection.

European fisheries statistics would become more effective, as they would still provide the existing benefits (e.g. being a one-stop shop for high-quality, comparable fisheries and aquaculture statistics with long time series that are accessible to all), as well as a simpler and more streamlined legal framework that can better integrate and serve new user needs. Reducing double reporting by aligning definitions and reorganising data flows would also reduce discrepancies between different data sources and therefore increase the reliability, accuracy and international comparability of European fisheries statistics.

The main direct costs for stakeholders relate to adapting the statistical and technical systems in the ESS. These adaptation costs are expected to be marginal. Owing to more efficient data use and simplified data flows, the new legal basis for European fisheries statistics is expected to lead in the mid to long term to cost savings of approximately EUR 1.2 million annually (based on an estimated total cost of producing European fisheries statistics of about EUR 5.6 million per year for the 27 Member States and the European Commission). The national statistical authorities should benefit from these cost savings, as a part of the European fisheries statistics would be compiled directly on the basis of EU-level administrative data for the CFP, and multiple data flows would be simplified into a single one encompassing EU-level and international needs.

The estimated total cost of producing European fisheries statistics is about EUR 5.6 million per year for the Member States and the European Commission, of which approximately 5% are incurred by the European Commission. The estimated annual cost-savings for catch data are EUR 1.2 million, i.e. 21% of total costs.

These costs represent 0.05% of the annual value of EU fisheries and aquaculture production, which is very low. The reason for this low cost is the widespread use of available administrative data as source data for catch, landings and fleet statistics.

Member States pay production costs for European fisheries statistics from their budgets, as the national statistical institutes must fulfil EU legal obligations for these statistics and also regularly adapt their systems to new or updated regulations.

As European fisheries statistics are statistical regulations that are directly applicable in EU Member States, no special support or implementation plan is needed.

This legal proposal sets up an integrated framework for aggregated European fisheries and aquaculture statistics related to: (i) the extraction of marine biological resources by fishing activities and their entry into the market; (ii) the structure of the catching vessels; and (iii) the production and structure of aquaculture establishments. It emphasises reusing EU-level administrative data for compiling these statistics and reducing duplications and overlaps of data flows in order to reduce burdens and costs for national data providers and producers.

Following the definition of the subject matter and scope, Article 1 categorises the data to be collected into two main domains: fisheries and aquaculture. Within these domains, it outlines topics and detailed topics, which are further specified in the Annex. Articles 2 and 3 present relevant terms (definitions), and observation units. Article 4 establishes data requirements and sets out the criteria for exempting Member States from submitting data on certain variables to the Commission (Eurostat). It also empowers the Commission to adopt delegated acts for the purposes of adding, deleting or changing topics and detailed topics, and to implement acts to specify the required datasets and their technical components. This structure has the advantage of offering a harmonised basis with the same common aspects for all topics, while handling differences between topics in secondary legislation.

Article 5 lays down that the Commission can adopt delegated acts to collect data on an ad hoc basis if it is deemed necessary to address additional statistical needs. Article 6 clarifies the coverage of statistics under the regulation.

To limit the administrative burden, Article 7 empowers the Commission – unless there is an objection from a Member State – to produce national and European statistics on catches and fleet by reusing the relevant data from the databases or registers set up by EU law that are either maintained by the Commission or set up at national level and to which the Commission has access. Article 7 also provides for the possibility to produce European statistics on landings and aquaculture using the same approach in the future.

Article 8 stipulates the data sources that the Member States must use, provided that they enable European statistics to be produced that meet the quality requirements laid down in Article 11 of this Regulation. Article 9 introduces the possibility and conditions for the Commission (Eurostat), in agreement with the Member State concerned, to transmit the aggregated data covered by this regulation to international, intergovernmental and regional fisheries management organisations.

Articles 10 and 11 refer to the reference periods and quality reporting for which the Commission may adopt implementing acts. Article 12 sets up a transitional regime for transmitting data on catches from recreational fisheries and data on catches of sensitive species, as required under Council Regulation (EC) No 1224/2009, until those data become available.

Article 13 specifies the activities that might be subject to a EU financial contribution. Articles 14-18 set out mechanisms for granting derogations and exercising delegation, as well as the committee procedure, repeals and entry into force.

2025/0246 (COD)

Proposal for a

REGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL

on European fisheries and aquaculture statistics and repealing Regulations (EC) No 1921/2006, (EC) No 762/2008, (EC) No 216/2009, (EC) No 217/2009 and (EC) No 218/2009

(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(1) 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)Reliable, comprehensive, and timely European statistics are essential for designing, implementing, monitoring, and evaluating Union policies and legislation related to fisheries and aquaculture, particularly under the scope of the common fisheries policy (‘CFP’) 20 . Those statistics also help to assess the impact of fisheries and aquaculture on business development, food security, water quality, sensitive species, habitats, climate change and public health, as well as to assess the market functioning and achievement of the UN Agenda 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.

(2)European fisheries and aquaculture statistics should be designed to support evidence-based decision-making and to monitor progress towards Union strategic objectives, such as the European Green Deal 21 .

(3)European fisheries and aquaculture statistics are currently collected on the basis of five legal acts that do not provide full consistency across the statistical domains. A common legal framework is needed to ensure consistency, streamline statistical processes and enable a more holistic approach.

(4)There is a growing need for more detailed and timely European statistics to support implementing EU policies, legislation 22 , as well as various Commission initiatives, including the action plans for organic production 23 , sustainable aquaculture 24 , 25 , a sustainable blue economy 26 , algae sector development 27 , energy transition in fisheries and aquaculture 28 , and marine ecosystem protection 29 .

(5)The Resolutions from the Parliament also highlighted the importance for European statistics on fisheries and aquaculture 30 , 31 .

(6)The Union, as a signatory to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea 32 , is committed to promoting sustainable fishing, and exercises its powers in the conservation of marine biological resources and fishing that are set under Articles 3(1), point (d) and 4(2), point (d) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU).

(7)The FAO Coordinating Working Party on Fishery Statistics (CWP) 33 sets international standards for fisheries statistics, including concepts and classifications, such as the fishing areas for statistical purposes and the Aquatic Sciences and Fisheries Information System (ASFIS) list of species. European fisheries and aquaculture statistics should follow these standards where applicable.

(8)Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council 34  sets up a common framework for European statistics, emphasising quality criteria, and minimising respondent and administrative burden.

(9)The coherence, comparability and interoperability of data, as well as uniform reporting formats, are essential for the efficiency of the data collection and the quality of the European fisheries and aquaculture statistics.

(10)This Regulation should align its data requests, definitions, methodologies, and reporting formats with those of the FAO and the OECD to enhance coherence, comparability and interoperability, and to reduce the administrative burden.

(11)European aquaculture statistics should be based on a clear definition of ‘aquaculture establishments’ that: (i) further distinguishes them from statistics under Union Animal Health Law 35 ; and (ii) takes the unique characteristics of aquaculture (including the production of plants, algae and cyanobacteria) and the coexistence of various production lines into account.

(12)Statistics on organic aquaculture production are essential to monitor the progress of the EU action plan for organic production. To ensure coherence and comparability, administrative data from Regulation (EU) 2018/848 of the European Parliament and of the Council 36 should be used to the maximum extent possible.

(13)Regulation (EC) No 1059/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council 37 should be applied to data on terrestrial territorial units.

(14)To meet emerging information demands, ad hoc data on fisheries and aquaculture can be collected. Such an additional data request should be duly substantiated and should not impose a disproportionate burden on respondents and national authorities.

(15)The data structure used in this Regulation should be comparable with the data collection framework (DCF) set out in Regulation (EU) No 2017/1004 of the European Parliament and of the Council 38 .

(16)Data collection methods should minimise costs and the administrative burden on respondents, including small and medium-sized enterprises and Member States.

(17)To avoid multiple reporting by Member States, statistics on catches and Union fishing fleet should be produced by the Commission (Eurostat) from EU-level administrative data collected under Council Regulation (EC) No 1224/2009 39 and Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2017/218) 40 , as far as possible.

(18)To make producing statistics more efficient, Member States should be allowed to use various data sources and methods, including administrative sources, surveys, imputation, estimation, and modelling. Digital solutions, monitoring tools 41 and remote sensors should also be promoted, while ensuring the quality, accuracy, timeliness and comparability of the statistics.

(19)Measures should be set out under this Regulation to ensure that confidential data are used in accordance with Articles 21 and 22 of Regulation (EC) No 223/2009.

(20)The Commission (Eurostat) may transmit aggregated data to international organisations strictly for statistical or scientific purposes, with the aim of reducing the reporting burden.

(21)Statistics and quality reports compiled under this Regulation should be disseminated by the Commission (Eurostat) in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 223/2009.

(22)The European Statistical System Committee (‘ESSC’) has endorsed the Single Integrated Metadata Structure (‘SIMS’) 42 as the European statistical system (ESS) standard for quality reporting, contributing to uniform standards and harmonised methods.

(23)Commission Recommendation (EU) 2023/397 43 invites Member States to apply the SIMS statistical concepts when compiling reference metadata and quality reports, and to implement the Recommendation insofar as it is relevant for fisheries and aquaculture statistics.

(24)The Commission evaluation of European fishery statistics (from 2019) 44 recommended revising the existing legal framework to meet current and future statistical needs.

(25)The Commission impact assessment on European fishery statistics (from 2021) recommended that the new legal framework should prioritise the effectiveness and relevance of fisheries and aquaculture statistics.

(26)Since the objective of this Regulation, namely the establishment of a common framework for European statistics on fisheries and aquaculture, cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States, a coordinated and harmonised approach is required. Therefore, for reasons of coherence and comparability, the objective can be better achieved at Union level, where the Union should be able to adopt measures in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity, as set out in Article 5 TFEU. In accordance with the principle of proportionality, as set out in the same Article, this Regulation should not exceed what is necessary to achieve that objective.

(27)To address emerging data needs in fisheries and aquaculture, and changing policy priorities, the power to adopt acts in accordance with Article 290 TFEU should be delegated to the Commission in respect of amending the detailed topics listed in this Regulation and in respect of specifying data requirements for ad hoc data collections. When adopting delegated acts, the Commission should consider the costs and administrative burdens. It is of particular importance that the Commission carries out appropriate consultations during 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 45 . In particular, 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 the Member States’ experts, and their experts should systematically have access to the meetings of the Commission expert groups dealing with the preparation of delegated acts.

(28)To ensure uniform conditions for the implementation of this Regulation, implementing powers should be conferred on the Commission in respect of specifying, for both regular data and ad hoc data: (i) the technical elements of the datasets to be transmitted and their technical formats; (ii) the list of variables; (iii) the descriptions of the variables; (iv) the measurement units; (v) the variables on sensitive species; (vi) the variables on organic production; (vii) the variables at regional level; (viii) the thresholds for identifying exempted variables; (ix) the observation units; (x) the precision requirements; (xi) the methodological rules; and (xii) and the deadlines for transmitting the data. In addition, to ensure uniform conditions for the implementation of this Regulation, implementing powers should be conferred on the Commission for specifying practical arrangements for the quality reports and their contents and for granting derogations to Member States. Those powers should be exercised in accordance with Regulation (EU) No 182/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council 46 . When exercising those powers, the Commission should take into account aspects such as the cost and administrative burden on respondents and Member States.

(29)In duly substantiated cases, the Commission should be able to grant derogations to Member States for a limited period of time if significant adjustments to their national statistical systems are necessary to implement this Regulation and, in particular, to adapt data collection systems to new requirements, including the use of administrative sources.

(30)To support the implementation of this Regulation, both Member States and the Union should be required to provide funding. Provision should therefore be made for a Union financial contribution in the form of grants.

(31)Coordination within the ESS should be strengthened to ensure the coherence and comparability of fisheries and aquaculture statistics.

(32)The measures set out in this Regulation should replace those set by Regulations (EC) No 1921/2006 47 , (EC) No 762/2008 48 , (EC) No 216/2009 49 , (EC) No 217/2009 50  and (EC) No 218/2009 51 of the European Parliament and of the Council. Those regulations should therefore be repealed.

(33)The ESSC has been consulted,

HAVE ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

Subject matter and scope

1.This Regulation sets up an integrated framework for European statistics related to the extraction of marine biological resources by fishing activities and their placing on the market, and to the Union catching fleet, aquaculture production and aquaculture establishments.

2.The statistics related to fisheries and aquaculture shall cover the following domains and topics:

(1)fisheries statistics:

(a)catches;

(b)landings;

(c)catching fleet;

(2)Aquaculture statistics:

(a)aquaculture production excluding hatcheries and nurseries;

(b)flows in aquaculture;

(c)aquaculture establishments.

Article 2

Definitions

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

(1)‘Union waters’, ‘marine biological resources’, ‘fishing vessel’, ‘Union fishing vessel’, ‘discards’, ‘aquaculture’, ‘fishing activity’, ‘fishery products’ and ‘aquaculture products’, shall have the meaning that it has under the corresponding definitions set out in Article 4(1), points (1), (2), (4), (5), (10), (25), (28), (29) and (34)  respectively of Regulation (EU) No 1380/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council 52 ;

(2)‘Union fishing fleet’ shall have the meaning that it has under the corresponding definition set out in Article 2(c) of Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2017/218;

(3)‘sensitive species’ shall have the meaning that it has under the corresponding definitions set out in Article 6, point (8) of Regulation (EU) No 2019/1241 53 ;

(4)‘catches’ and ‘landings’, shall have the meaning that it has under the corresponding definitions set out in Article 2, points (15) and (16) of Commission Regulation (EC) No 1639/2001 54 ;

(5)‘fishing licence’, ‘recreational fisheries’ and ‘catching vessel’ shall have the meaning that it has under the corresponding definitions set out in Article 4, points (9), (28) and (33) of Regulation (EC) No 1224/2009;

(6)‘organic production’ shall have the meaning that it has under the corresponding definitions set out in Article 3, point (1) of Regulation (EU) 2018/848 55 ;

(7)‘placing on the market’ shall have the meaning that it has under the corresponding definitions set out in Article 5, point (f) of Regulation (EU) 1379/2013 56 .

(8)‘species’ means taxa of organisms identified by the international 3-alpha code 57 , as established by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (‘FAO’) (Aquatic Sciences and Fisheries Information System list of species for fishery statistics purposes), or – where this is absent – by the 3-alpha code for aggregates of taxa;

(9)‘FAO fishing areas’ means the geographical fishing areas identified using the international numerical code, as established by the FAO 58 for statistical purposes;

(10)‘commercial fishing’ means commercial exploitation of marine biological resources performed by a catching vessel with a valid fishing licence, or, by a natural or legal person holding a licence or registered in an alternative system to fish without a vessel;

(11)‘commercial catches’ means catches obtained by commercial fishing excluding discards;

(12)‘recreational catches’ means catches of species under conditions provided for in Article 55 of Regulation (EC) No 1224/2009 taking place on Union territory and in Union waters;

(13)‘first sale of landed marine biological resources’ means the initial financial transaction where landed fishery products are placed on the market for the first time;

(14)‘aquaculture establishment’ means any administratively delimited or identified premises where aquaculture takes place, with the exception of aquarium and ornamental species production. The same aquaculture establishment may have several production lines;

(15)‘capture-based aquaculture’ means the practice of collecting ‘seed’ materials - from early life stages to adults - from the wild and their subsequent on-growing in captivity to marketable size, using aquaculture techniques;

(16)‘first sale’ in aquaculture means the initial financial transaction where aquaculture products are placed on the market for the first time;

(17)‘hatcheries and nurseries’ means places for the artificial breeding, hatching and rearing through the early life stages of aquatic organisms. For statistical purposes, hatcheries are limited to the production of fertilised eggs. The first juvenile stages of aquatic animals are produced in nurseries;

(18)‘aquaculture production’ means the output from aquaculture, including production from hatcheries and nurseries, offered for sale;

(19)‘released to the wild’ means the intentional release of aquatic organisms for the restocking – other than for aquaculture purposes – of rivers, lakes and other waters;

(20)‘observation unit’ means an identifiable entity about which data can be obtained;

(21)‘domain’ means one or several datasets that cover particular topics;

(22)‘topic’ means the content of the information to be compiled about the observation units, where each topic covers one or more detailed topics;

(23)‘detailed topic’ means the detailed content of the information to be compiled about the observation units related to a topic; each detailed topic covers one or more variables;

(24)‘dataset’ means one or several aggregated variables organised in a structured form;

(25)‘variable’ means a characteristic of an observation unit that may have more than one set of values;

(26)‘ad hoc data’ means data that are of particular interest for users at a specific point in time but that are not included in the regular datasets;

(27)‘administrative data’ means data generated by a non-statistical source and usually held by public or private bodies, the main aim of which is not to provide statistics;

(28)‘metadata’ means information that is needed to use and interpret statistics and which describes data in a structured way.

Article 3

Observation units

For the purpose of this Regulation, data shall be obtained for the following observation units:

(a)the Union fishing fleet;

(b)other non-Union fishing fleets landing fisheries products in the Union;

(c)natural or legal persons holding a licence or registered in an alternative system to fish without a vessel;

(d)shipowners, wholesalers, registered buyers, registered auctions and producer organisations authorised by Member States;

(e)natural persons engaged in recreational fisheries in the Union;

(f)Union aquaculture establishments.

Article 4

Data requirements

1.The detailed topics, transmission frequencies, reference periods and the dimensions related to sensitive species, organic production and regional breakdown on fisheries and aquaculture statistics referred to in Article 1, shall be as set out in the Annex.

2.Marine regional data shall be transmitted at the level of the most detailed statistical fishing regions used in the FAO fishing areas. Inland regional data shall be transmitted at the NUTS 2 level, as defined in Regulation (EC) No 1059/2003.

3.In order to limit the administrative and financial burden, a Member State may be exempted from submitting data on a certain variable to the Commission (Eurostat) if:

(a)the variable has zero or low prevalence in that Member State; or

(b)the variable accounts for a small proportion of the aquaculture production at national or regional level (the FAO area or NUTS 2 level).

4.The Commission is empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 15 for the purposes of amending the Annex, by adding, deleting or changing detailed topics, including their descriptions, and by changing the transmission frequencies, reference periods and applicable dimensions of detailed topics as set out in the Annex.

5.The Commission shall adopt implementing acts to specify the following technical items, and where applicable, of the individual datasets to be transmitted to the Commission (Eurostat):

(a)the list of variables;

(b)the descriptions of the variables;

(c)the measurement units;

(d)the variables for sensitive species;

(e)the variables for organic production;

(f)the variables at regional level;

(g)the thresholds for the identification of exempted variables;

(h)the precision requirements;

(i)the methodological rules;

(j)the deadlines for transmitting the data.

Those implementing acts shall be adopted under the examination procedure referred to in Article 16(2) at least nine months before the beginning of the relevant reference year.

6.Member States shall transmit data and related metadata using a technical format specified by the Commission (Eurostat) for each dataset. The single-entry point services shall be used to transmit the data to the Commission (Eurostat).

Article 5

Ad hoc data collection

1.The Commission is empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 15, supplementing this Regulation by specifying the data to be transmitted by Member States on an ad hoc basis, where, within the scope of this Regulation, the collection of additional information is deemed necessary for the purpose of addressing additional statistical needs. Those delegated acts shall specify:

(a)the topics and detailed topics related to the domains specified in Article 1 to be included in the ad hoc data collection and the reasons for such additional statistical needs;

(b)the reference periods.

2.The Commission is empowered to adopt the delegated acts referred to in paragraph 1 starting from the reference year [two years after the date of entry into force of this Regulation]. There shall be at least a two-year interval between the deadlines for transmitting consecutive ad hoc data collections.

3.For the purpose of the ad hoc data collections referred to in paragraph 1, the Commission shall adopt implementing acts specifying the following technical elements of the data to be transmitted, where appropriate:

(a)the list of variables;

(b)the descriptions of the variables;

(c)the measurement units;

(d)the variables for sensitive species;

(e)the variables for organic production;

(f)the variables at regional level;

(g)the thresholds for the identification of exempted variables;

(h)the precision requirements;

(i)the methodological rules;

(j)the deadlines for transmitting the data;

(k)the observation units.

Those implementing acts shall be adopted under the examination procedure referred to in Article 16(2) at least nine months before the beginning of the relevant reference year.

Article 6

Coverage

1.The statistics shall be representative of the statistical population that they describe.

2.In order to reduce the administrative burden and the burden on statistical respondents, the data on fisheries and aquaculture referred to in Article 1(2) shall cover in each Member State at least:

95% of the weight of commercial catches;

90% of the Union catching fleet, for the weight of discards;

90% of the natural persons engaged in recreational fisheries;

95% of the weight of landings;

95% of the Union catching fleet;

95% of the aquaculture production.

Article 7

Production of European statistics on fisheries and aquaculture

1.For the production of European statistics on catches and Union catching fleet, the Commission (Eurostat) shall reuse the relevant data from the databases or registers set up by Union law, as referred to in Article 8(2), that are either maintained by the Commission or set up at national level and to which the Commission has access. Before disseminating those statistics, the Commission (Eurostat) shall consult the relevant national statistical authorities to ensure that statistical confidentiality requirements are met. If a Member State objects to the reuse of their national data by the Commission (Eurostat), it shall transmit to the Commission (Eurostat) data on catches and catching fleet in the form of aggregated datasets. Such an objection shall be duly substantiated and notified by the Member State concerned to the Commission (Eurostat) no later than 12 months before the start of the reference year.

2.For the production of European statistics on landings and aquaculture, Member States shall transmit to the Commission (Eurostat) statistics on landings and aquaculture in the form of aggregated datasets.

3.If relevant data on landings or on aquaculture from any other databases or registers set up by Union law become available, the Commission (Eurostat) shall reuse those data to produce statistics following the same procedures as laid down in paragraph 1, provided that such data meet the quality requirements laid down in Article 11.

Article 8

Data sources and methods

1.Member States shall use one or more of the following data sources and methods, provided that they enable statistics to be produced that meet the quality requirements referred to in Article 11:

(a)administrative data sources specified in paragraph 2;

(b)administrative data sources based on national law;

(c)statistical surveys;

(d)innovative methods and sources, such as digital tools and remote sensors.

2.As regards paragraph 1, point (a), of this Article, Member States may use the data from the following sources:

(a)electronic databases set up under Council Regulation (EC) No 1224/2009;

(b)computerised databases set up under Regulation (EU) 2017/1004;

(c)Union fishing fleet register set up under Commission implementing Regulation (EU) 2017/218;

(d)registers set up under Regulation (EU) 2018/848;

(e)any other relevant administrative data sources set up under Union law.

Article 9

Data-sharing with international organisations

The Commission (Eurostat) may transmit the aggregated data covered by this Regulation to international, intergovernmental and regional fisheries management organisations, subject to the establishment of an arrangement between the Commission (Eurostat) and the concerned organisation to ensure the data are used strictly for statistical or scientific purposes. This arrangement shall also implement appropriate measures: (i) to protect the data, in particular, to ensure the physical and logical protection of confidential data; and (ii) to monitor and prevent the risk of unlawful disclosure or any use beyond the purposes for which the data were transmitted. The transmission of confidential data in this context shall be in agreement with the Member State concerned.

Article 10

Reference period

The first reference period shall begin in the calendar year [insert the year starting on 1 January following 18 months after adoption].

Article 11

Quality requirements and quality reporting

1.For the purpose of this Regulation, the quality criteria set out in Article 12(1) of Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 shall apply.

2.Member States shall take the necessary measures to ensure the quality of the data and metadata transmitted to the Commission.

3.The Commission (Eurostat) shall assess the quality of the data and metadata transmitted to it or obtained from Union-level administrative sources.

4.For the purpose of paragraph 3, each Member State shall transmit to the Commission (Eurostat), for the first time by [to be filled appropriately], and every three years thereafter, a quality report describing the statistical processes for the data transmitted during the period, including in particular:

(a)metadata describing the methodology used and how the technical specifications laid down by this Regulation were achieved;

(b)information on the quality of the data obtained from the sources set out in Article 8(1) and used to produce statistics under this Regulation;

(c)information on compliance with the coverage requirements set out in Article 6.

5.The Commission (Eurostat) shall publish every three years a quality report on statistics on fisheries and aquaculture compiled according to the procedures mentioned in Article 7.

6.The Commission shall adopt implementing acts setting out the practical arrangements for the quality reports and their contents. Those implementing acts shall be adopted under the examination procedure referred to in Article 16(2).

7.Member States shall, where necessary, inform the Commission (Eurostat) about any relevant information or changes regarding the implementation of this Regulation that could influence the quality of the data transmitted.

8.Following a duly substantiated request from the Commission (Eurostat), Member States shall provide any necessary additional information that is required to evaluate the quality of the data and metadata transmitted.

Article 12

Transitional regime for data on catches of sensitive species and of

recreational fisheries

By way of derogation from Article 7, Member States shall be exempted from transmitting data related to catches of sensitive species and of recreational fisheries until the data become available as required by Articles 14 and 55 of the Council Regulation (EC) No 1224/2009.

Article 13

Union contribution

1.For the implementation of this Regulation, a financial contribution may be provided from the general budget of the Union to the national statistical institutes and other national authorities included in the list referred to in Article 5(2) of Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 to cover the costs of the following activities:

(a)ad hoc data collections referred to in Article 5 of this Regulation;

(b)the use of innovative methods and approaches, such as digital tools and remote sensors, referred to in Article 8(1)(d) of this Regulation.

2.The Union financial contribution under this Article shall not exceed 90% of the eligible costs.

3.The amount of the Union financial contribution under this Article shall be set under the rules of the relevant funding programme, subject to the availability of funding.

Article 14

Derogations

1.Where the application of this Regulation, or of the implementing and delegated acts adopted pursuant to this Regulation, necessitates major adaptations in a Member State’s statistical system, the Commission may adopt implementing acts that grant derogations to that Member State for a maximum duration of two years. The relevant Member State shall submit a duly reasoned request for such a derogation to the Commission within three months of the date of the entry into force of the act concerned.

The impact of such derogations on the comparability of Member States’ data or on the calculation of the required timely and representative European aggregates shall be kept to a minimum. The burden on respondents shall be taken into account when granting the derogation.

2.The implementing acts referred to in paragraph 1, first subparagraph shall be adopted under the examination procedure referred to in Article 16(2).

Article 15

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 4(4) shall be conferred on the Commission for an indeterminate period of time following the date of entry into force of this Regulation.

3.The power to adopt delegated acts referred to in Article 5(1) shall be conferred on the Commission for an indeterminate period of time from [two years after the date of entry into force of this Regulation].

4.The delegation of power referred to in Articles 4(4) and 5(1) may be revoked at any time by the European Parliament or by the Council. A decision to revoke a delegation of power shall put an end to the delegation of the power specified in that decision. The decision shall take effect on the day following that of its publication 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.

5.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 of 13 April 2016 on Better Law-Making.

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

7.A delegated act adopted pursuant to Articles 4(4) or  5(1) 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 the 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 16

Committee procedure

1.The Commission shall be assisted by the ESSC, which was set up 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 17

Repeals

1.Regulations (EC) No 1921/2006, (EC) No 762/2008, (EC) No 216/2009, (EC) No 217/2009, and (EC) No 218/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council shall be repealed with effect from 1 January [of the year following 18 months after adoption] without prejudice to the obligations set out in those legal acts on the transmission of data and metadata, including quality reports, for reference periods that fall, in whole or in part, before that date.

2.References to the repealed acts shall be construed as references to this Regulation.

Article 18

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.

It shall apply from 1 January [of the year following 18 months after adoption]

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

Done at Brussels,

LEGISLATIVE FINANCIAL AND DIGITAL STATEMENT

1.FRAMEWORK OF THE PROPOSAL/INITIATIVE3

1.1.Title of the proposal/initiative3

1.2.Policy area(s) concerned3

1.3.Objective(s)3

1.3.1.General objective(s)3

1.3.2.Specific objective(s)3

1.3.3.Expected result(s) and impact3

1.3.4.Indicators of performance3

1.4.The proposal/initiative relates to4

1.5.Grounds for the proposal/initiative4

1.5.1.Requirement(s) to be met in the short or long-term including a detailed timeline for roll-out of the implementation of the initiative4

1.5.2.Added value of EU involvement (it may result from different factors, e.g. coordination gains, legal certainty, greater effectiveness or complementarities). For the purposes of this section ‘added value of EU involvement’ is the value resulting from EU action, that is additional to the value that would have been otherwise created by Member States alone.5

1.5.3.Lessons learned from similar experiences in the past5

1.5.4.Compatibility with the multiannual financial framework and possible synergies with other appropriate instruments5

1.5.5.Assessment of the different available financing options, including scope for redeployment5

1.6.Duration of the proposal/initiative and of its financial impact6

1.7.Method(s) of budget implementation planned6

2.MANAGEMENT MEASURES7

2.1.Monitoring and reporting rules7

2.2.Management and control system(s)7

2.2.1.Justification of the budget implementation method(s), the funding implementation mechanism(s), the payment modalities and the control strategy proposed7

2.2.2.Information concerning the risks identified and the internal control system(s) set up to mitigate them7

2.2.3.Estimation and justification of the cost-effectiveness of the controls (ratio between the control costs and the value of the related funds managed), and assessment of the expected levels of risk of error (at payment & at closure)7

2.3.Measures to prevent fraud and irregularities7

3.ESTIMATED FINANCIAL IMPACT OF THE PROPOSAL/INITIATIVE8

3.1.Heading(s) of the multiannual financial framework and expenditure budget line(s) affected8

3.2.Estimated financial impact of the proposal on appropriations10

3.2.1.Summary of estimated impact on operational appropriations10

3.2.1.1.Appropriations from voted budget10

3.2.2.Estimated output funded from operational appropriations17

3.2.3.Summary of estimated impact on administrative appropriations19

3.2.3.1.Appropriations from voted budget19

3.2.4.Estimated requirements of human resources19

3.2.4.1.Financed from voted budget20

3.2.5.Overview of estimated impact on digital technology-related investments21

3.2.6.Compatibility with the current multiannual financial framework22

3.2.7.Third-party contributions22

3.3.Estimated impact on revenue23

4.Digital dimensions24

4.1.Requirements of digital relevance24

4.2.Data25

4.3.Digital solutions29

4.4.Interoperability assessment30

4.5.Measures to support digital implementation33

1.FRAMEWORK OF THE PROPOSAL/INITIATIVE

1.1.Title of the proposal/initiative

1.2.Policy area(s) concerned

1.3.Objective(s)

1.3.1.General objective(s)

1.3.2.Specific objective(s)

1.3.3.Expected result(s) and impact

1.3.4.Indicators of performance

1.4.The proposal/initiative relates to:

 a new action

 a new action following a pilot project / preparatory action 59

 the extension of an existing action

 a merger or redirection of one or more actions towards another/a new action

1.5.Grounds for the proposal/initiative

1.5.1.Requirement(s) to be met in the short or long-term including a detailed timeline for roll-out of the implementation of the initiative

1.5.2.Added value of EU involvement (it may result from different factors, e.g. coordination gains, legal certainty, greater effectiveness or complementarities). For the purposes of this section ’added value of EU involvement’ is the value resulting from EU action, that is additional to the value that would have been otherwise created by Member States alone.

1.5.3.Lessons learned from similar experiences in the past

1.5.4.Compatibility with the multiannual financial framework and possible synergies with other appropriate instruments

1.5.5.Assessment of the different available financing options, including scope for redeployment

1.6.Duration of the proposal/initiative and of its financial impact

 limited duration

–    in effect from [DD/MM]YYYY to [DD/MM]YYYY

–    financial impact from YYYY to YYYY for commitment appropriations and from YYYY to YYYY for payment appropriations.

 unlimited duration

–Implementation with a start-up period from 2027 to 2030,

–followed by full-scale operation.

1.7.Method(s) of budget implementation planned 60

 Direct management by the Commission

– 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 European Investment Bank and the European Investment Fund

– bodies referred to in Articles 70 and 71 of the Financial Regulation

– public law bodies

– bodies governed by private law with a public service mission to the extent that they are provided with 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 are provided with adequate financial guarantees

– bodies or persons entrusted with the implementation of specific actions in the common foreign and security policy pursuant to Title V of the Treaty on European Union, and identified in the relevant basic act

–bodies established in a Member State, governed by the private law of a Member State or Union law and eligible to be entrusted, in accordance with sector-specific rules, with the implementation of Union funds or budgetary guarantees, to the extent that such bodies are controlled by public law bodies or by bodies governed by private law with a public service mission, and are provided with adequate financial guarantees in the form of joint and several liability by the controlling bodies or equivalent financial guarantees and which may be, for each action, limited to the maximum amount of the Union support.

2.MANAGEMENT MEASURES

2.1.Monitoring and reporting rules

2.2.Management and control system(s)

2.2.1.Justification of the budget implementation method(s), the funding implementation mechanism(s), the payment modalities and the control strategy proposed

2.2.2.Information concerning the risks identified and the internal control system(s) set up to mitigate them

2.2.3.Estimation and justification of the cost-effectiveness of the controls (ratio between the control costs and the value of the related funds managed), and assessment of the expected levels of risk of error (at payment & at closure)

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

·Existing budget lines

In order of multiannual financial framework headings and budget lines.

The financial impact of the proposal will not be known at the time of the adoption of the regulation. The EU contribution does not apply to regular statistical data collection, but only to ad hoc data collections, as specified in Article 5 of the draft regulation. The first ad hoc data can be collected at the earliest two years after the first reference year if a duly substantiated, unexpected data need is identified. Because of this, it is not possible to identify the financial impact.

·New budget lines requested

In order of multiannual financial framework headings and budget lines.

3.2.Estimated financial impact of the proposal on appropriations

3.2.1.Summary of estimated impact on operational appropriations

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

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

3.2.1.1.Appropriations from voted budget

EUR million (to three decimal places)

EUR million (to three decimal places)

EUR million (to three decimal places)

EUR million (to three decimal places)

3.2.2.Estimated output funded from operational appropriations (not to be completed for decentralised agencies)

Commitment appropriations in EUR million (to three decimal places)

3.2.3. Summary of estimated impact on administrative appropriations

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

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

3.2.3.1. Appropriations from voted budget

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.

3.2.4.Estimated requirements of human resources

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

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

3.2.4.1.Financed from voted budget

Estimate to be expressed in full-time equivalent units (FTEs) 7214

The staff required to implement the proposal (in FTEs):

Description of tasks to be carried out by:

3.2.5.Overview of estimated impact on digital technology-related investments

Compulsory: the best estimate of the digital technology-related investments entailed by the proposal/initiative should be included in the table below.

Exceptionally, when required for the implementation of the proposal/initiative, the appropriations under Heading 7 should be presented in the designated line.

The appropriations under Headings 1-6 should be reflected as ‘Policy IT expenditure on operational programmes’. This expenditure refers to the operational budget to be used to re-use/ buy/ develop IT platforms/ tools directly linked to the implementation of the initiative and their associated investments (e.g. licences, studies, data storage etc.). The information provided in this table should be consistent with details presented under Section 4 ‘Digital dimensions’.