(1)

The second paragraph of Annex VIII to Directive 2009/42/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (2) provides that the conditions for collecting data set B1 (data concerning ‘Seaborne transport in the main European ports, by port, type of cargo, goods and relation’) are to be decided by the Council on a proposal from the Commission in the light of the results of the pilot study carried out during a three-year transitional period, as provided for in Article 10 of Council Directive 95/64/EC of 8 December 1995 on statistical returns in respect of carriage of goods and passengers by sea (3).

(2)

According to the Report from the Commission to the Council and to the European Parliament on experience acquired in the work carried out pursuant to Directive 95/64/EC (‘Commission Report’), the collection of detailed information appeared feasible and to be at a reasonable cost for bulk and semi-bulk cargo. However, the main difficulty occurred in compiling such data for containers and ro-ro traffic. It was appropriate to explore the possibility to extend the scope of Directive 95/64/EC to other items of information listed in Article 10(2)(a) of that Directive only when more experience had been gained with collecting the current variables and when the current system was well established. As regards the collection of commodity information, the potential revisions of the NST/R classification (Standard Goods Classification for Transport Statistics/Revised, 1967) should be taken into account.

(3)

The functioning of the current collection system is well established, including the implementation of the modifications introduced by Commission Decision 2005/366/EC of 4 March 2005 implementing Council Directive 95/64/EC on statistical returns in respect of carriage of goods and passengers by sea and amending Annexes thereto (4) and the geographical extension of the system due to the 2004 and 2007 enlargements of the Union.

(4)

A large number of Member States transmitting data to the Commission (Eurostat) within the scope of Directive 95/64/EC have been regularly providing the Commission (Eurostat) with data set B1 on a voluntary basis in accordance with the NST/R classification.

(5)

Commission Regulation (EC) No 1304/2007 of 7 November 2007 with respect to the establishment of NST 2007 as the unique classification for transported goods in certain transport modes (5) introduced NST 2007 (Standard Goods Classification for Transport Statistics, 2007) as the unique classification for transported goods in maritime, road, rail and inland waterways transport. That classification is applicable as from the reference year 2008, covering 2008 data. The main problems in compiling data by type of goods in accordance with NST/R classification, as mentioned in the Commission Report, have been solved by the introduction of NST 2007. Therefore, for the most part, the collection of data set B1 will not impose any additional burden on respondents.

(6)

In accordance with Council Regulation (EC) No 1172/98 of 25 May 1998 on statistical returns in respect of the carriage of goods by road (6), Regulation (EC) No 91/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 December 2002 on rail transport statistics (7) and Regulation (EC) No 1365/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 6 September 2006 on statistics of goods transport by inland waterways (8), the collection of data by type of goods is mandatory for European statistics on road, rail, and inland waterways transport respectively, while it is voluntary for maritime transport. European statistics on all modes of transport should be collected in accordance with common concepts and standards, with the aim of achieving the fullest practicable comparability between transport modes.

(7)

The introduction in 2011 of the obligation to provide the Commission (Eurostat) with data set B1, provides Member States with an adequate period of time during which a voluntary compilation could be used for the necessary tests and adaptations.

(8)

The Commission should be empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 290 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union in respect of certain detailed rules for implementing Directive 2009/42/EC. It is of particular importance that the Commission carry out appropriate consultations during its preparatory work, including at expert level.

(9)

Directive 2009/42/EC should therefore be amended accordingly,

(1)

in Article 3(4), the second subparagraph is replaced by the following:

‘The Commission may adopt those measures by means of delegated acts in accordance with Article 10a and subject to the conditions of Articles 10b and 10c.’;

(2)

in Article 4(1), the second subparagraph is replaced by the following:

‘The Commission may adopt those measures by means of delegated acts in accordance with Article 10a and subject to the conditions of Articles 10b and 10c.’;

(3)

in Article 5, the third paragraph is replaced by the following:

‘The Commission may adopt those measures by means of delegated acts in accordance with Article 10a and subject to the conditions of Articles 10b and 10c.’;

(4)

in Article 10, paragraph 3 is deleted;

(5)

the following Articles are inserted:

(6)

the second paragraph of Annex VIII is deleted.

(1)

Article 355 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) allows the European Council, on the initiative of the Member State concerned and acting unanimously after consulting the Commission, to adopt a decision amending the status, with regard to the Union, of a Danish, French or Netherlands country or territory referred to in paragraphs 1 and 2 of Article 355.

(2)

In a letter from the French President dated 30 June 2010, the French Republic (hereinafter ‘France’) asked the European Council to take such a decision as regards the island of Saint-Barthélemy which is referred to in Article 355(1) of the TFEU. France has requested that the status of this island should change from that of outermost region, covered by Article 349 of the TFEU, to that of overseas country or territory, covered by Part Four of the TFEU.

(3)

France’s request reflects the desire expressed by the elected representatives of the island of Saint-Barthélemy, which is a French overseas collectivity, governed by Article 74 of the French Constitution, with autonomy, to obtain a status with regard to the Union which would be better suited to its status under national law, particularly given its remoteness from the mainland, its small insular economy largely devoted to tourism and subject to difficulties in obtaining supplies which hamper the application of some Union standards.

(4)

France has undertaken to conclude the agreements necessary to ensure that the interests of the Union are preserved when this change takes place. These agreements should relate firstly to monetary matters, as France intends to retain the euro as the sole currency on Saint-Barthélemy and it must be ensured that the application of the law of the Union in the essential fields of the good functioning of economic and monetary union is maintained. Secondly, such agreements should relate to taxation and aim to guarantee that the mechanisms of Council Directive 77/799/EEC of 19 December 1977 concerning mutual assistance by the competent authorities of the Member States in the field of direct taxation and taxation of insurance premiums (1) and Council Directive 2003/48/EC of 3 June 2003 on taxation of savings income in the form of interest payments (2), which aim in particular at combating fraud and cross-border tax evasion, will continue to apply in future to the territory of Saint-Barthélemy. The citizens of Saint-Barthélemy should remain citizens of the Union and should enjoy the same rights and freedoms within the Union as other French citizens, just as all citizens of the Union should continue to benefit from the same rights and freedoms in Saint-Barthélemy as they do now.

(5)

As a result, the change in the status with regard to the Union, of the island of Saint-Barthélemy, in response to the democratically expressed request of its elected representatives, should not jeopardise the Union’s interests and should be consistent with the access of the island to autonomous status under national law,

1.

in the first paragraph of Article 349, the words ‘Saint-Barthélemy’ shall be deleted;

2.

in Article 355(1), the words ‘Saint-Barthélemy’ shall be deleted;

3.

in Annex II, an indent shall be inserted, between that relating to ‘Saint Pierre and Miquelon’ and that relating to ‘Aruba’, which shall read as follows: