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Document 52021PC0054
Proposal for a REGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL amending Regulation (EC) No 138/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards regional economic accounts for agriculture
Proposal for a REGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL amending Regulation (EC) No 138/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards regional economic accounts for agriculture
Proposal for a REGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL amending Regulation (EC) No 138/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards regional economic accounts for agriculture
COM/2021/54 final
EUROPEAN COMMISSION
Brussels, 12.2.2021
COM(2021) 54 final
Proposal for a
REGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL
amending Regulation (EC) No 138/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards regional economic accounts for agriculture
(Text with EEA relevance)
EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM
1. CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL
• Reasons for and objectives of the proposal
Eurostat has compiled European agricultural statistics on EU agriculture for decades. Today they cover the following aspects: structure of farms, economic accounts for agriculture, animal and crop production, organic farming, agricultural prices, pesticides, nutrients and other agri-environmental aspects. The main aim is to monitor and evaluate the common agricultural policy (CAP) and other important EU policies, and to support policy-making.
These data collections were evaluated in 2016 1 and found to be in need of an update to take account of changes in agriculture, the CAP and other related EU policies. The ‘Strategy for Agricultural Statistics for 2020 and beyond’ 2 is a major programme to modernise European Union agricultural statistics run by the European Commission in close cooperation with Member States. The strategy is supported by the European Statistical System Committee and is part of the Regulatory Fitness and Performance programme (REFIT) whose aim is to streamline and improve the European agricultural statistics system (EASS). The strategy also follows international recommendations, such as the guidelines of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change on reporting greenhouse gas emissions, and the standards of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, and it implements the UN Global Strategy to improve agricultural and rural statistics.
Agriculture is a relatively small sector economically, but covers almost half of the land area of the EU and supplies most of its food, ensuring both food safety and food security. It has a large impact on climate change and the environment, and many rural communities depend on agriculture. The EU needs the most accurate information in this field to design policies that benefit all citizens of Europe by allocating the substantial budget of the CAP and related measures most efficiently and effectively across multiple dimensions. Furthermore, agriculture is at the heart of the Commission Communication on the European Green Deal 3 , in particular in its ‘Farm-to-Fork strategy’.
The performance of the agricultural sector as a whole can be assessed by bringing the information about the volume and price changes for agricultural goods and services under the umbrella of an accounting structure. To this end, the economic accounts for agriculture (EAA) provide a set of comparable data that offers important macroeconomic-level information to key users, in particular the Commission’s Directorate General for Agriculture and Rural Development (DG AGRI).
As a satellite account of the European system of accounts (ESA 2010), the EAA very closely follow the methodology for national accounts. However, their compilation requires the formulation of appropriate rules and methods. Under the current methodology, Member States have been providing Eurostat with national and regional economic accounts for agriculture since 2000. In 2004, Regulation (EC) No 138/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 December 2003 on the economic accounts for agriculture in the Community 4 came into force and formalised the national level economic accounts part; since then it has been amended six times. However, regional level accounts have not been included in the Regulation but have continued to be regularly transmitted by nearly all Member States under a gentlemen’s agreement. This is suboptimal, as the statistics covered by the gentlemen’s agreement are not formally part of the EAA, and there are no binding obligations or guarantee of delivery. Thus as regional economic accounts for agriculture are mature statistics that are important, they should be formalised by being included in the EAA Regulation. This is the only way to ensure their quality. The European Court of Auditors identified this issue in its Special Report SR 01/2016 5 , recommending the formalisation of the regional economic accounts for agriculture. The Commission accepted this finding.
In the same Special Report SR 01/2016, a lack of EAA quality reporting was also identified. Since 2016, Eurostat has been implementing this recommendation, and EAA quality reports have been provided by EU Member States (with very few exceptions) since 2019 with reference to the requirements of Article 12(2) of Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 6 . However, Article 12 provides for the specific inclusion of quality reporting requirements in sectoral legislation, which allows the modalities, structure, periodicity and assessment indicators of the quality reports to be defined, in addition to deadlines for data transmission. At present, the exact quality reporting arrangements are only informal and therefore should be formalised in line with these existing requirements of Regulation (EC) No 223/2009.
Finally, for the EAA, Member States transmit, for national-level data, first estimated data (deadline November of reference year n), second estimated data (deadline January of year n+1) and final data (deadline September of year n+1). The second data follow too soon after the first for quality to be optimally improved, so the data transmission deadlines for the second estimate should be relaxed by 2 months from end January to end March of the year following the reference year.
• Consistency with existing policy provisions in the policy area
For policymakers, businesses and the general public to be able to take appropriate evidence-based decisions, statistics have to be reliable and of high quality.
The 2020 agricultural statistics strategy mentioned above includes the following key objectives:
·produce high quality statistics that meet users' needs efficiently and effectively;
·improve the harmonisation and coherence of European agricultural statistics.
The three areas included in this proposal directly address these objectives.
• Consistency with other Union policies
Providing quality statistics to support European policies is the main driver of the 2013-2017 European statistical programme 7 (extended to 2020 8 ). Environmental and agricultural statistics are one of the three pillars of statistical production under that programme. Among the programme’s relevant objectives is ‘the review and simplification of the agricultural data collection in line with the 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 data’. This initiative implements that objective.
By providing better data for assessing the agricultural sector’s sustainability for the environment, people, regions and the economy, the European agricultural statistics system will also contribute to at least two of the six priorities 9 of the von der Leyen Commission, namely:
·a European Green Deal with the underlying Farm-to-Fork and Biodiversity strategies; and
·an economy that works for people.
However, agricultural statistics are also useful for other Union or Member State priorities affecting or affected by agriculture and rural development.
Beyond this, the proposal for a single market programme 10 currently under interinstitutional discussion provides a framework for financing the development, production and dissemination of European statistics. The implementation of Union policies requires high quality, comparable and reliable statistical information about the economic, social, territorial and environmental situation in the Union. Additionally, European statistics allow European citizens to understand and participate in the democratic process and debate about the present state and future of the Union. In the case of agricultural statistics, the focus is on providing timely and relevant data for the needs of the common agricultural policy, the common fisheries policy and policies related to the environment, food security and animal welfare.
Agricultural statistics provide high quality statistical evidence for the implementation and monitoring of the CAP. The CAP is an important driver for jobs and smart, sustainable and inclusive growth in the Union. On top of its social objectives, rural development policy, being an integral part of the CAP, aims to improve the competitiveness and sustainability of agricultural production. The CAP represents more than 37% of the Union’s total budget in the context of the 2014-2020 multiannual financial framework (MFF).
Agricultural statistics are also increasingly needed for other key Union policies such as the European Green Deal, environmental and climate change policies, trade policy, social 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 producing statistics where this is necessary for the Union to carry out its role. Article 338 sets out the requirements for producing European statistics, stating that they must conform to standards of impartiality, reliability, objectivity, scientific independence, cost-effectiveness and statistical confidentiality.
The legal basis for the quality reports is Article 12 of Regulation (EC) No 223/2009.
• Subsidiarity (for non-exclusive competence)
The subsidiarity principle applies if 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 to protect core activities of ESS partners while better ensuring the quality and comparability of EAA statistics.
One of the main criteria that the statistical data must meet is to be consistent and comparable. 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 comparability requirement is very important for agricultural statistics because of the CAP.
The objective of the proposed action cannot be achieved satisfactorily by the Member States acting independently. Action can be taken more effectively at the Union level, based on a Union legal act ensuring the comparability of statistical information in the statistical domains covered by the proposed act. Meanwhile, the data collection itself can be carried out by the Member States.
• Proportionality
The proposal complies with the proportionality principle, in view of the following:
By applying the same principles across Member States, the proposal will ensure the quality and comparability of European agricultural statistics that have been collected and compiled. 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 taking into account the specific characteristics of Member States' systems.
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.
3. RESULTS OF EX POST EVALUATIONS, STAKEHOLDER CONSULTATIONS AND IMPACT ASSESSMENTS
• Ex post evaluations/fitness checks of existing legislation
The evaluation of the ‘Strategy for Agricultural Statistics for 2020 and beyond’ referred to the then ongoing European Court of Auditors’ audit (resulting in Special Report SR 01/2016) as providing indications on the extent to which EAA serves the data needs of the users. As indicated earlier, these findings are an important driver of the proposal.
• Stakeholder consultations
The development, production and dissemination of European agricultural statistics is achieved by Eurostat through close, coordinated and regular cooperation in the ESS, building upon a long partnership between Eurostat and the national statistical institutes (NSIs) as well as all other relevant authorities.
At an overall level and with reference to the ‘Strategy for Agricultural Statistics for 2020 and beyond’, the main categories of stakeholders of European agricultural statistics are data producers (NSIs and other national authorities as well as Eurostat), respondents (farmers, farmers' organisations and businesses) and users (public and private decision makers - in particular other Commission departments - 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. The main fora for these consultations have been: (i) the meetings and seminars of the Standing Committee for Agricultural Statistics (CPSA) and its successor, the Directors' Group for Agricultural Statistics (DGAS) (composed of directors of agricultural statistics of NSIs) where Commission departments, international organisations, farmers' organisations are often heard; (ii) the European Statistical System Committee meetings (composed of the directors-general of the NSI); and (iii) regularly scheduled consultations and hearings within Commission departments.
A public consultation was carried out for the evaluation, and the results are detailed in a specific report 11 .
The main findings of this public consultation, forming the core of the 2020 agricultural statistics strategy and subsequently of this Regulation, are threefold:
The current Union legislation on agricultural statistics does not adequately serve new and emerging data needs because the provision of this data is not included in the legislative acts, and the acts are not flexible and integrated enough to respond to new needs in a timely manner.
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.
As part of the modernisation of European Union agricultural statistics, the EAA have been undergoing their own modernisation since 2016. An input to this has been the findings of the audit carried out by the European Court of Auditors (Special Report SR 01/2016) on farmers’ incomes. The recommendations from this report were brought under the broader modernisation exercise, which contain several improvements to EAA.
Two of these improvements were identified by the Commission as requiring a change to the existing Regulation, i.e. the integration of regional economic accounts for agriculture (REAA) and the relaxation of second estimate deadlines for EAA.
These were discussed extensively with both the Agricultural Accounts and Prices Working Group and with the higher level Directors Group on Agricultural Statistics, both of which are groups comprising experts from the Member States.
As the REAA are long established statistics that have been transmitted to Eurostat for many years, incorporating the REAA into Regulation (EC) No 138/2004 is mainly a case of integrating the existing methodology, as used under the longstanding gentlemen’s agreement. Given that as it stands the methodology is largely satisfactory (EAA/EAF Manual Part VII 12 ), there is no need to rewrite it. The methodology and the chapter on regional economic accounts for agriculture, which is to be included in the Regulation, can reflect what is currently in the existing manual. Nevertheless, some smaller changes are necessary to take account of ESA 2010 and the technical consultations with the Member States.
This proposal has been fully discussed with the Agricultural Accounts and Prices Expert Group and with the Directors Group on Agricultural Statistics, which acknowledged that the Commission (Eurostat) would be proceeding with the proposal based on its own right of initiative. The proposal has also been presented to the European Statistical System Committee set up by Regulation (EC) No 223/2009.
• Collection and use of expertise
Eurostat has held extensive discussions on the content of the proposal with NSIs via specific task forces and via existing expert groups, including at directors’ level.
The proposal was also presented to the European Statistical System Committee in October 2020.
• Impact assessment
The Regulatory Scrutiny Board issued a positive opinion on the impact assessment of the ‘Strategy for Agricultural Statistics for 2020 and beyond’ 13 of which the EAA is part 14 .
The impact assessment was undertaken at the strategy level because of a systematic approach across the whole agricultural statistics system, ensuring that all parts fit together.
The impact assessment found that the EASS should, as a preferred option, ultimately be covered by three regulations. Two of these regulations would be new and would replace several older EU regulations on agricultural statistics. The first of these, Integrated Farm Statistics (IFS), which covers data on farm structure, orchards and vineyards, was adopted as Regulation (EU) 2018/1091 15 . The second of these is a parallel legislative proposal on a regulation on statistics on agricultural input and output (SAIO), which covers inputs to and outputs of the agricultural sector: agricultural production (crops and animals) including organic farming, agricultural prices, nutrients and plant protection products. The third regulation, as referred to in the impact assessment, is Regulation (EC) No 138/2004 on the Economic Accounts for Agriculture (EAA), which is subject to the present proposal for an amending Regulation. As the EAA are a satellite account of the national accounts and macro-economic by nature, their integration into the new framework regulations was not proposed. Instead, it was proposed that these remain under separate legislation, as has been the case since the EAA Regulation first came into force in 2004.
• Regulatory fitness and simplification
The proposal is part of the ‘Strategy for Agricultural Statistics for 2020 and beyond’, a major programme to modernise EU agricultural statistics run by the European Commission in close cooperation with the EU Member States. The strategy is supported by the European Statistical System Committee and is part of the REFIT programme whose aim is to streamline and improve the EASS.
The EAA are mature statistics covered by Regulation (EC) No 138/2004. The new regulation that is being proposed should cover all the components of the EAA in order to ensure the quality of these statistics. The use of gentlemen’s agreements should be abolished. This would help simplify matters, as the reference point will be the new regulation, satisfying all data needs and all quality reporting requirements.
The proposal on what to include under the proposed regulation amendment results from the ongoing actions to modernise the EAA. The REAA are not the only data that have been covered by a gentlemen’s agreement. In the case of EAA ‘unit values’, which are data that have been provided for many years under the same type of agreement, the modernisation exercise determined that the collection of unit values at EU level should be discontinued. As a result, unit values were not proposed for inclusion in the EAA regulation amendment and will be dropped. This represents a small but distinct reduction in the burden for stakeholders.
• Fundamental rights
The proposal has no consequences for the protection of fundamental rights.
4. BUDGETARY IMPLICATIONS
None
5. OTHER ELEMENTS
• Implementation plans and monitoring, evaluation and reporting arrangements
The proposed regulation is expected to be adopted by the European Parliament and the Council in 2021, with the adoption of the Commission’s implementing measure on quality reporting to follow shortly after that. The Regulation will be directly applicable in all EU Member States without the need for an implementation plan.
Member States are expected to start providing data to the Commission under the new regulation in 2022.
The proposed legislative instrument is part of the EASS, which will undergo a comprehensive evaluation in order to assess, among other things, how effective and efficient it has been in achieving its objectives and to decide whether new measures or amendments are needed.
• Compliance monitoring of the statistics produced
Eurostat conducts regular compliance assessments. These assessments include a review of the data availability, quality and punctuality and follow-up actions in case of non-compliance.
In accordance with Union legislation, Member States are required to provide the Commission with relevant figures on agricultural statistics. These figures are subject to strict transmission deadlines which must be observed for the good management, dissemination and usefulness of European 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 publish data according to planned time schedules).
Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 constitutes the basic legal framework for the functioning of the European statistical system and for all sectoral legislation on the production of European statistics.
While compliance assessments already consider timeliness, punctuality and completeness as important factors in ensuring a timely dissemination of agriculture statistics, more attention will be paid to these factors and other quality dimensions in order to ensure confidence in the statistics produced by Eurostat and 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 Commission departments. An important aspect of these hearings is the exchange of information on respective work programmes. They provide a formal platform for discussing upcoming needs for new statistics and reviewing the usefulness of the statistics available.
Further collaboration with other Commission departments, NSIs and other national authorities will take place at different hierarchical levels in regular Expert Group meetings and seminars, Directors' Group meetings, European Statistical System Committee meetings, and through frequent bilateral exchanges. Particular attention will be paid to the identification of administrative data and other sources of information maintained under 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 any potential for improving European agricultural statistics and reducing the administrative burden.
Those adjustments and the overall functioning of the legal framework will be monitored and evaluated in particular against the strategy objectives listed above.
• Triennial monitoring reports
In order to monitor the functioning of the renewed EASS and ensure that it fulfils the REFIT goals of simplification and burden reduction, a report will be published every 3 years on the functioning of the overall system.
• Evaluation
The second triennial monitoring report will be replaced by a retrospective evaluation of the renewed EASS, conducted according to the Commission's evaluation guidelines. This retrospective evaluation could also form the basis for further revisions of the legislation, if deemed necessary.
• Detailed explanation of the specific provisions of the proposal
The proposed regulation consists of two new articles and the amendment of both Annex I (EAA methodology) and Annex II (Transmission programme of data).
The main changes relate to Annex I and Annex II.
The first main change relates to regional economic accounts for agriculture (REAA). Member States have been providing Eurostat with REAA since 2000 under a gentlemen’s agreement and in line with methodological practices that have been in place since that time. To integrate the REAA into Regulation (EC) No 138/2004, a chapter has been added to Annex I. This takes into account consultations with the expert groups of Member State delegates (the Agricultural Accounts and Prices Working Group and the Directors’ Group on Agricultural Statistics) on including some small updates to the current methodology to ensure that it is up to date and fit for inclusion in the regulation. Annex II has been updated to reflect the corresponding transmission deadlines for the REAA.
Secondly, an article has been added to cover quality reporting requirements (Article 4a). Since 2019, EU Member States (with very few exceptions) have willingly provided EAA quality reports with reference to the requirements of Article 12(2) of Regulation (EC) 223/2009. However, there is no article in Regulation (EC) No 138/2004 on quality reporting. Article 12(2) of Regulation (EC) 223/2009 provides for specific inclusion of quality reporting requirements in sectoral legislation, which allows the modalities, structure, periodicity and assessment indicators of the quality reports to be defined and allows the deadlines for transmission to be set. At present, the exact quality reporting arrangements for the EAA are only informal and therefore would be formalised by the inclusion of Article 4a.
The third main change relates to relaxing the transmission deadlines for the second EAA estimates in order to facilitate improved data quality. For the EAA, Member States transmit, for national data, first estimated data (deadline November of reference year n), second estimated data (deadline January of year n+1) and final data (deadline September of year n+1). The second data follow too soon after the first data for quality to be substantially improved. Therefore transmission deadlines for the second estimates should be relaxed from January of year n+1 to March of year n+1 so that Member States have more time to obtain better quality data. As the timeliness of the crucial first estimates and final data remain unchanged, relaxation of the deadlines of the second estimates for this purpose is deemed appropriate. Annex II has been updated to reflect the proposed change in the transmission deadlines for the EAA second estimates.
The remaining proposed changes to articles are intended to address the following:
–to clarify the first transmission deadline of data for the regional economic accounts for agriculture (Article 3(2));
–to allow possible derogations from regional economic accounts for agriculture requirements (Article 4b);
–to make reference to the Committee procedure (Article 4c) which does not appear in the current legislation but which should be added;
–In Annex I, a very small number of additional changes are proposed (following consultations with the expert groups).
Proposal for a
REGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL
amending Regulation (EC) No 138/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards regional economic accounts for agriculture
(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) Regulation (EU) No 549/2013 of the European Parliament and the Council 16 contains the reference framework of common standards, definitions, classifications and accounting rules for drawing up the accounts of the Member States for the statistical requirements of the Union (‘ESA 2010’).
(2) Regulation (EC) No 138/2004 of the European Parliament and the Council 17 sets up the economic accounts for agriculture (EAA) in the Union by providing for the methodology and the time limits for the transmission of the agricultural accounts. The economic accounts for agriculture are satellite accounts of national accounts, as defined by ESA 2010, with the purpose of obtaining results that are harmonised and comparable between the Member States in order to draw up the accounts for the purposes of the Union.
(3) The regional economic accounts for agriculture (REAA) are a regional-level adaptation of the EAA. National figures alone cannot reveal the full and sometimes complex picture of what is happening at a more detailed level. Therefore, regional-level data help to increase the understanding of the diversity that exists between regions, complementing information for the Union, the euro area and individual Member States. The REAA therefore need to be integrated into Regulation (EC) No 138/2004 both in terms of methodology and appropriate transmission deadlines.
(4) Statistics are no longer considered to be just one among many sources of information for policymaking purposes but instead play a central role in the decision‐making process. Evidence‐based decision‐making requires statistics that meet high‐quality criteria, as set out in Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council 18 , in accordance with the purposes they are serving.
(5) Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 provides the legal framework for European statistics and requires Member States to comply with the statistical principles and quality criteria specified in the Regulation. Quality reports are essential for assessing, improving and communicating on the quality of European statistics. The European Statistical System Committee (ESSC) has endorsed the single integrated metadata structure as the ESS standard for quality reporting, thereby helping to satisfy, through uniform standards and harmonised methods, the statistical quality requirements laid down in Regulation (EC) No 223/2009, in particular those set out in Article 12 (3) thereof.
(6) In order to ensure uniform conditions for the implementation of this Regulation, implementing powers should be conferred on the Commission in respect of the arrangements for and the content of the quality reports. In addition, implementing powers should also be conferred on the Commission in respect of possible derogations from regional economic accounts for agriculture requirements. Those powers should be exercised in accordance with Regulation (EU) No 182/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council.
(7) The EAA provide important annual macroeconomic data to European policymakers three times a year; first and second estimates are followed by the final data. The current transmission deadline for the EAA second estimates does not provide much time after the end of the reference period to collect improved data compared to the data provided for the EAA first estimates. To improve the quality of these second estimates, the transmission deadline needs to be slightly postponed.
(8) Regulation (EC) No 138/2004 should therefore be amended accordingly.
(9) The European Statistical System Committee has been consulted,
HAVE ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:
Article 1
Regulation (EC) No 138/2004 is amended as follows:
(1) In Article 3 (2), the following sentence is added:
‘2. The first transmission of data for the regional economic accounts for agriculture shall take place by 30 June 2022 at the latest.’
(2) The following Articles are inserted:
’Article 4a
Quality assessment
1. Member States shall take the measures necessary to ensure the quality of the data and metadata transmitted.
2. For the purpose of this Regulation, the quality criteria set out in Article 12(1) of Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 shall apply to the data to be transmitted in accordance with Article 3 of this Regulation.
3. The Commission (Eurostat) shall assess the quality of the data transmitted.
4. In applying the quality criteria referred to in paragraph 2 to the data covered by this Regulation, the Commission shall, by means of implementing acts, define the modalities, structure, periodicity and assessment indicators of the quality reports and set the deadline for providing the reports to the Commission (Eurostat). Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 4c(2).
5. Member States shall inform the Commission (Eurostat) as soon as possible of any relevant information or change with regard to the implementation of this Regulation that would influence the quality of the data transmitted.
6. Upon a duly justified request from the Commission (Eurostat), Member States shall provide necessary additional clarification to evaluate the quality of the statistical information.
Article 4b
Derogations
1. Where the application of this Regulation would necessitate major adaptations in a national statistical system of a Member State as regards the implementation of the content of Annex I, point VII. ‘Regional economic accounts for agriculture’ and of the transmission programme of data for regional accounts for agriculture as referred to in Annex II, the Commission may adopt implementing acts granting derogations to that Member State for a maximum duration of two years.
2. The relevant Member State shall submit a duly reasoned request for such a derogation to the Commission within three months of [insert the date of the entry into force of this Regulation].
3. These implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 4c.
Article 4c
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.’
(3) Annex I is amended in accordance with Annex I to this Regulation.
(4) Annex II is amended in accordance with Annex II to this Regulation.
Article 2
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,
For the European Parliament For the Council
The President The President
Regulation (EU) 2017/1951 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2017 amending Regulation (EU) No 99/2013 on the European statistical programme 2013-17, by extending it to 2020 (OJ L 284, 31.10.2017, p. 1).
EUROPEAN COMMISSION
Brussels, 12.2.2021
COM(2021) 54 final
ANNEXES
to the Proposal for a
REGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL
amending Regulation (EC) No 138/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards regional economic accounts for agriculture
ANNEX I
Annex I is amended as follows:
(1) in the ‘Contents’ section, the following point VII. Regional economic accounts for agriculture is added:
‘VII. Regional economic accounts for agriculture
A.General principles
1.Introduction
2.Regional economy, regional territory
3.Basic unit in the compilation of the regional economic accounts for agriculture
4.Methods of compiling the REAA
5.Concepts of residence and territory
6.Agricultural industry and characteristic units
B.Transactions in products
1.Output
2.Intermediate consumption
3.Gross capital formation
C.Distributive transactions and other flows
1.General rules
2.Value added
3.Consumption of fixed capital
4.Subsidies
5.Taxes
6.Compensation of employees
7.Operating surplus, net
8.Interest, rents
9.Agricultural entrepreneurial income: general calculation rules
D.A brief look at implementation
1.Introduction
2.Defining regional agriculture
3.Measuring agricultural output
4.Inseparable non-agricultural secondary activities
5.Intermediate consumption’;
(2) In point 1.27. the third indent is replaced by the following:
‘— by convention, they may not include production of GFCF of non-agricultural products (such as buildings or machines) for own account. This production for own final use is presumed to be a separable activity and is recorded as the production of an identifiable local KAU. Accommodation services made available to employees as remuneration in kind must be treated in a similar manner (they are recorded as remuneration in kind in the generation of income account),’;
(3) Point 2.006. is replaced by the following:
‘2.006 In the EAA, prices should be recorded either to the nearest whole number or correct to one or two decimal places, depending on the statistical reliability of the price data available. Relevant price information on input and output is necessary to compile the EAA.’;
(4) in point 2.108., point g) is replaced by the following:
‘g) remuneration for services contained in gross premiums of insurance taken out to provide the enterprise with coverage for risks such as the loss of livestock, damage by hail, frost, fire and gales, etc. The remainder, i.e. the net premium, is the component of the gross premium paid which is available to insurance companies for settling claims.
An accurate breakdown of the gross premiums into the two components can only be done for the national economy as a whole, as is done for the national accounts. The allocation of the service component between production branches is generally done using adequate breakdown keys, in connection with the construction of input-output tables. Reference should therefore be made to national accounts when completing this item in the EAA (for the recording of subsidies related to insurance services, see 3.063., footnote 1);’
(5) in point 2.136., the third indent is replaced by the following:
‘— changes in classification or structure of fixed assets: e.g. changes in the economic purpose of agricultural land, dairy livestock intended for meat production (cf. 2.149., footnote 1) or agricultural buildings which have been altered for private or other economic use.’;
(6) The following Chapter VII. Regional economic accounts for agriculture is added:
‘VII. REGIONAL ECONOMIC ACCOUNTS FOR AGRICULTURE
A. GENERAL PRINCIPLES
1. Introduction
7.01. Regional accounts play an important role in the formulation, implementation and evaluation of regional policies. Objective, reliable, consistent, relevant and harmonised regional statistical indicators provide a firm foundation for policies aimed at reducing economic and social disparities between the European regions.
7.02. The regional economic accounts for agriculture (REAA) are a regional-level adaptation of the economic accounts for agriculture (EAA).
7.03. The REAA comprise the same set of accounts as the EAA, but conceptual and measurement problems result in a set of accounts for regions which are more limited in scope and detail than EAA at national level.
7.04. As regional accounts, the REAA shall be compiled on the basis of regional data collected directly and national data that have regional breakdowns based on assumptions. The lack of sufficiently complete, timely and reliable regional information requires assumptions in compiling regional accounts. This implies that some differences between regions are not necessarily reflected in regional accounts (ESA 2010, 13.08).
2. Regional economy, regional territory
7.05. Any compilation of regional accounts, whether they refer to industries or institutional sectors, needs a strict definition of the regional economy and regional territory. In theory, the agricultural industry in a region covers the units (agricultural holdings) engaged in agricultural activities (cf. 1.60. to 1.66.) on the regional territory.
7.06. A regional economy of a country is part of the total economy of that country. The total economy is defined in terms of institutional units and sectors. It consists of all the institutional units that have a centre of predominant economic interest in the economic territory of a country. The economic territory does not coincide exactly with the geographic territory (cf. 7.08.). The economic territory of a country is divided into regional territories and the extra-regio territory (ESA 2010, 13.09).
7.07. The regional territory consists of that part of the economic territory of a country that is directly assigned to a region as defined in the ESA 2010. Free zones, including bonded warehouses and factories under customs control, are attached to the regions where they are located.
7.08. However, this division of territory is not totally consistent with the concept of national economic territory as used by the national accounts. The extra-regio territory is made up of parts of the economic territory of a country which cannot be attached directly to a single region, and which are excluded from the REAA, i.e.:
(a) the national air-space, territorial waters and the continental shelf lying in international waters over which the country enjoys exclusive rights;
(b) territorial enclaves (i.e. geographic territories situated in the rest of the world and used, under international treaties or agreements between States, by general government agencies of the country (embassies, consulates, military bases, scientific bases, etc.);
(c) deposits of oil, natural gas etc. in international waters, outside the continental shelf of the country, worked by resident units.
7.09. The Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS)( 1 ) classification provides a single, uniform breakdown of the economic territory of the European Union. For national purposes, regional accounts may also be compiled at a more detailed regional level (ESA 2010, 13.12).
3. Basic unit in the compilation of the regional economic accounts for agriculture
7.10. The units used for the regional accounts by industry are local kind-of-activity units (local KAUs). The local KAU is the observable form of the production unit.
7.11. The statistical approach (industry) ‘makes do’ with an observable unit even if this means deviating from the single activity. As with the 2008 SNA, the ESA 2010 prefers the statistical approach and advocates the local KAU for the compilation of national accounts by industry. They thus define the same unit for the industries whether these are covered at regional or national level.
7.12. Like the EAA, the REAA use the agricultural holding – ‘adapted’ in line with certain conventions to comply with the objectives in question - as the basic unit for the agricultural industry. There are two crucial reasons for this choice. On the one hand, the ‘agricultural holding’ unit is the local kind-of-activity unit for agriculture (cf. 1.09. to 1.17.), defined as that part of a kind-of-activity unit (KAU) which refers to the local level. The local KAU is also the most appropriate unit for the agricultural industry, even if it includes non-agricultural secondary activities, which cannot be shown separately from the agricultural activities (cf. 1.15. and 1.16, 1.25. to 1.32.).
7.13. Using the agricultural holding as the basic unit means including the non-agricultural secondary activities of those holdings in the regional accounts for agriculture (cf. 7.12.). Since the purpose of the EAA is to measure, describe and analyse the formation of income from agricultural economic activity, it excludes units that produce solely a leisure activity (e.g. kitchen gardens and private livestock rearing). In contrast, units engaged in subsistence farming are included in the EAA (cf. 1.24.).
7.14. The agricultural holding is the reference unit for statistical surveys relating to agriculture, whether these are national or regional. This has the advantage that evaluations of output in quantity terms may be based directly on the statistical systems for measuring areas, yields, herd sizes, etc. The choice of the agricultural holding also makes for better accounting consistency.
4. Methods of compiling the REAA
7.15. The ESA (ESA 2010, 13.24 to 13.32) proposes two methods, applying to either industries or institutional sectors: the bottom-up and the top-down methods. The first consists in collecting the data at the level of the units (local KAUs, institutional units) and then summing them to obtain the regional value for the different aggregates. The top-down method reconstructs the regional values by breaking down the national figure, using an indicator that reflects as closely as possible the regional distribution of the variable in question. These two methods may also be combined in various ways, combinations which the ESA refers to as ‘a mixture of bottom-up and top-down methods’. Priority is given to the bottom-up methods, although it is realised that in many cases ‘a mixture of bottom-up and top-down methods’ is actually used.
5. Concepts of residence and territory
7.16. Economic transactions of both enterprises and households may cross regional boundaries. Enterprises may also operate in more than one region, either at permanent sites or on a temporary basis, e.g. big farms may undertake work in different regions. Therefore a clear principle is needed to help Member States to consistently allocate this interregional activity to a region.
7.17. The regional accounts of the industries are based on the criterion of residence of the production unit. Each industry at a regional level refers to the group of local KAUs of the same or similar principal economic activity, which have their centre of economic interest in that regional territory. More often than not, this centre of interest is associated with a specific long-term location in the region, like the institutional units to which the local KAUs belong.
7.18. However, the regional accounts have a number of distinct features. For certain activities, it is not always easy to define the region as a specific area. The relationship between the location of the head office and the physical location of the holding can create a problem, as factors of agricultural production may be managed by a head office in another region. For the REAA, it is important to split the two entities, and for this reason a holding must be assigned to the region where its factors of production are situated and not to the region where its headquarters are located. One head office may therefore give rise to several units within the meaning of the REAA - as many units as there are regions of residence for local KAUs that are away from the region of the head office.
7.19. An alternative concept, which is generally not applied in the national and regional accounts, would be strictly territorial. This concept implies that activities are allocated to the territory where they actually take place, regardless of the residence of the units involved in the activity.
7.20. Though the residential approach takes precedence for the regional allocation of transactions of resident units, ESA 2010 gives some limited scope for the application of the territorial approach (ESA 2010, 13.21). This occurs where notional units are created for land and buildings in the region or country in which the land or buildings are located.
7.21. In the hypothetical case where units resident in a region only have activities within their regional territory, the residence concept coincides with the territory concept. This is also the case for the regional allocation based on notional units created for land and buildings and for unincorporated enterprises in other countries or in regions that are different from the region of residence of the owner.
6. Agricultural industry and characteristic units
7.22. The industry consists of all the local kind-of-activity units, which carry out an identical or similar economic activity (cf. 1.59.). The agricultural industry, as described in the EAA, corresponds, in principle, to Division 01 in NACE Revision 2, with differences shown in paragraphs 1.62. to 1.66. The scope of the REAA is defined on the basis of the list of characteristic activities drawn up for the EAA. There are some differences between the agricultural industry in the EAA, and thus in the REAA, and the industry established for the central framework of the national accounts (cf. 1.93.).
B. TRANSACTIONS IN PRODUCTS
7.23. Valuing agricultural output poses a number of specific problems. The most important relate to seasonal products, livestock production and the timing of the entries in the accounts. The EAA methodology puts forward precise rules governing how the effects of the storage of seasonal products should be taken into account, how the output of livestock should be measured and how products on which work is in progress must be recorded. These principles must be complied with when the REAA are compiled. However, this does not rule out certain adaptations at regional level, for example for livestock production. It should be stressed that the total of the regional valuation must be identical with the EAA valuations.
1. Output
a) Measurement of output
7.24. In the REAA, output of a region represents all products within the scope of EAA produced over the accounting period in that region by all the units of the agricultural industry, whether it is intended for marketing outside the industry, for sale to other holdings or, in certain cases, for use by the same holding. Consequently:
(a) any agricultural product leaving a holding in the region should be recorded as part of the output of the region, irrespective of its destination or the unit buying it;
(b) certain agricultural products used as intermediate consumption by the same holding should be included in the output of the region (cf. 2.056.).
7.25. The production process of livestock generally takes several years. When livestock is valued, a distinction must be made between animals classified as fixed assets (breeding and draught animals, dairy cows, etc.) and those classified as stocks (animals intended mainly for meat). Thus, in order to avoid double counting, transactions involving the movement of animals between holdings (which are taken to be ‘positive’ sales for the holdings selling the livestock and ‘negative’ sales for the purchasing holdings), are dealt with as set out below.
(a) Transactions between holdings in the same region involving animals classified as fixed assets cancel each other out, apart from the transfer of ownership costs ( 2 ). They are not entered as the holdings’ sales and are therefore not included in the output of the region in question.
(b) Animals classified as stock and which are the subject of a transaction between regions are treated as positive sales (along with exports) for the region of origin and animals bought from other regions as negative sales (along with imports)( 3 ).
(c) When ownership transfer costs (transport, trade margins, etc.) relate to trade in animals classified as stock, they are deducted from output. This happens automatically when purchases from holdings in other regions are involved, since the costs are part of ‘negative’ sales, whereas an adjustment must be made in sales, and thus in output, for trade in animals between holdings in the same region.
b) Valuation of output
7.26. Output should be valued at basic prices (cf. 2.082.), i.e. including subsidies on products, less taxes on products. This method of calculation means that taxes and subsidies on products need to be broken down by region.
2. Intermediate consumption
a) Definition
7.27. Intermediate consumption consists of the goods (other than fixed assets) and market services consumed during the production process to produce other goods (cf. 2.097. to 2.109.).
7.28. When the REAA are compiled, intermediate consumption includes:
(a) agricultural products purchased for consumption during the production process from other holdings (whether in the same region or in another region);
(b) certain products used as intra-unit consumption and entered as output ( cf. 2.054. to 2.058. and 7.24.).
7.29. The particular case of financial intermediation services indirectly measured (FISIM) is treated in regional accounts in the same way as in national accounts. If the estimation of stocks of loans and deposits is available by region, the bottom-up method can be followed. However, usually estimates of stocks of loans and deposits are not available by region. Where this is the case, the allocation of FISIM to the user industry is made with a second-best method: regional gross output or gross value added by industry are used as distribution indicators (ESA 2010, 13.40).
b) Valuation of intermediate consumption
7.30. All products and services used for intermediate consumption should be valued at the acquisition price (excluding deductible VAT) (cf. 2.110. to 2.114.).
3. Gross capital formation
7.31. Gross capital formation for agriculture is subdivided into:
(a) gross fixed capital formation;
(b) changes in inventories.
a) Gross fixed capital formation (GFCF)
7.32. There is fixed capital formation in agriculture whenever a holder acquires or produces fixed assets which are intended to be used for a period of more than 1 year as a means of production in the agricultural production process. The allocation criterion for the recording of GFCF refers to the user industries and not to the industry to which the legal owner belongs.
7.33. Fixed assets owned by a multiregional unit are allocated to the local KAUs where they are used. Fixed assets used under an operating lease are recorded in the region of the owner of the assets, and those used under a financial lease are recorded in the region of the user (ESA 2010, 13.33).
7.34. New assets being included in fixed capital are entered gross, i.e. without deducting the consumption of fixed capital. In addition, the consumption of fixed capital is generally calculated on these assets. Net capital formation is obtained by deducting the consumption of fixed assets from gross capital formation.
7.35. Production units can sell existing assets to each other, e.g. second-hand machinery. When assets move between industries and regions, the total price paid should be included in the GFCF in one industry or region and the price received should be deducted from GFCF in the other industry or region. Transaction costs of ownership of assets, such as legal fees on sales of land and existing buildings, are counted as additional GFCF by the acquirer, even if some of the costs are paid by the seller.
7.36. The GFCF for breeding stock and draught animals of a region corresponds to the difference between purchases outside the region (including imports) and sales to other regions (including exports), account being taken of the ownership transfer costs of sales within the region. When all the regions are aggregated, it is important to make sure that interregional flows cancel each other out (excluding ownership transfer costs) so that the sum of all the regional GFCFs is the same as the GFCF of the national agricultural accounts. When the fixed capital is made up of livestock, such as draught animals or breeding stock, or of dairy animals, they must be valued ‑ when the bottom-up method is used ‑ in line with the following convention: sales of animals to holdings in other regions constitute negative GFCF whereas purchases from other regions are positive GFCF.
b) Changes in inventories
7.37. Inventories comprise all the assets which are not part of fixed capital and which, at a given moment, are held temporarily by production units. A distinction is made between two types of inventories: input inventories and output inventories (cf. 2.171.).
7.38. For animals classified as inventories, the trade to be taken into account in the calculation of changes in inventories includes sales to and purchases from other regions as well as imports and exports.
C. DISTRIBUTIVE TRANSACTIONS AND OTHER FLOWS
7.39. The practical difficulties of obtaining reliable regional information on distributive transactions in certain cases, in particular when units carry out activities in more than one region, or when the region is not always a clearly defined area in which certain activities are carried out, explain why the ESA covers the regional accounts of the agricultural industry only with respect to a few aggregates: value added, subsidies, taxes, compensation of employees, rents and other income, interest and GFCF.
1. General rules
7.40. The distributive transactions are recorded on an accrual basis, i.e. at the time an economic value, amount due or claim is created, transformed or cancelled or ceases to exist, and not when payment is actually made. This recording principle (based on rights and obligations) is applied to all flows, irrespective of whether they are monetary flows, or whether they occur between units or within a single unit.
7.41. However, when the date on which the claim (debt) is acquired cannot be determined precisely, the payment date or another acceptable approximation of the accrual basis may be used (cf. 3.007.).
2. Value added
a) General rules
7.42. Value added is the result of the production activity of an economy or of one of its industries during a given period, and it is the balancing item of the production account. It is the difference between the value of output and the value of intermediate consumption. It is a key item in measuring the productivity of an economy or industry (cf. 3.013.) or a region or industry within a region.
b) Valuation of value added
7.43. Value added may be entered gross (gross value added at basic prices) or net (net value added at basic prices), i.e. before or after the deduction of the consumption of fixed capital. In line with the method for valuing output (basic price) and intermediate consumption (purchaser prices), value added is measured at basic prices (cf. 3.013.).
7.44. The use of basic prices means that the taxes on products and subsidies on products must be assigned to specific goods and services, which then have to be allocated among the regions.
7.45. By deducting other taxes on production from the value added at basic prices, and adding other subsidies on production, the value added at factor cost is obtained. Net value added at factor cost constitutes the income of the factors of production (cf. 3.014.).
3. Consumption of fixed capital
7.46. In the REAA, goods and services which make up the holding’s fixed capital (such as plantations yielding repeat products, machinery and buildings, major improvements to land, software, costs of ownership transfer of non-produced assets, etc.) suffer wear and tear and obsolescence as means of production in the production process. Such wear and tear and obsolescence are measured as the consumption of fixed capital. Similar to the EAA, the consumption of fixed capital should not be calculated for productive animals.
4. Subsidies
7.47. The REAA applies the same rules as the EAA: flows that are classified as operating subsidies in the EAA are classified in the same way in the REAA, a similar treatment applying for flows in the form of capital transfers.
5. Taxes
7.48. The REAA applies the same rules as the EAA: the different kind of taxes are classified in the same way in REAA as they are classified in EAA.
6. Compensation of employees
7.49. For producers, compensation of employees is allocated to the local KAUs where the people are employed. Where this data are not available, compensation of employees is allocated as a second best method based on the hours worked. If neither compensation of employees nor hours worked are available, the number of employees by local KAU is used (cf. ESA 2010, 13.42).
7. Net operating surplus
7.50. Net operating surplus is obtained from net value added at basic prices by deducting the compensation of employees and other taxes on production and by adding other subsidies on production.
8. Interest, rents
7.51. The REAA applies the same rules as the EAA: flows that are classified as interest, rents in the EAA are classified in the same way in the REAA.
9. Agricultural entrepreneurial income: general calculation rules
7.52. Directly payable property income arising from agricultural activities and non-agricultural secondary activities, i.e. interest paid on loans taken out in connection with these activities, including for the purchase of agricultural land, and rents paid to landowners, is deducted from operating surplus (cf. 3.070. to 3.087.).
D. A BRIEF LOOK AT IMPLEMENTATION
1. Introduction
7.53. This section aims to highlight some aspects of the methodology, in particular the choice of agricultural holding and the measure of output.
7.54. The agricultural holding is the reference unit for statistical surveys on agriculture, at both national and sub‑national level. This is a major advantage for the REAA because it means that the valuation of output quantities can be based directly on statistical systems for measuring land areas, yields, herd sizes etc. Choosing the holding also has the advantage of enabling accounts to be more consistent. Output and costs relate, in fact, to identical sets of units, even if the extrapolation methods vary from one source to another. Lastly, choosing the holding, together with the concepts of characteristic activities and units, avoids having to make adjustments that might be contentious, as could be the case for kitchen gardens and private non-holder livestock rearing. This convention makes it easier to make comparisons between countries. Indeed, the link with statistical data in physical quantities, which are crucial for agriculture and guarantee that measurements of accounting entries will be consistent because adjustments or ‘extra‑statistical’ corrections are thus restricted, obviously simplifies and improves the calculations. These aspects are also consistent with the aim of giving priority to the bottom-up approach in the REAA.
2. Defining regional agriculture
7.55. For each region, the agricultural industry consists of all the holdings whose factors of production are located in the region. This principle, which is consistent with the concept of the residence of production units, may pose a few problems: agricultural statistics usually define the location of holdings according to their headquarters and not directly according to the location of the factors of production. These two locations are not always the same and this phenomenon is likely to be more frequent as holdings get larger. When the REAA are compiled, therefore, some holdings should be reclassified between regions and even, in some cases, split up. This is likely to be difficult in practice, in which case it may be preferable to keep the same location for the holdings as in the statistical surveys. This proposal, however, depends on two conditions: firstly, the method of defining the location must be identical for all the regions in the country and secondly the accounting entries must all be valued from sources that use the same rules for defining the location of the holdings.
3. Measuring agricultural output
7.56. Agricultural output includes certain crop products that are used again by the same holding in the form of intermediate consumption; this concerns mainly products for animal feedingstuffs. For arable crops in particular, regional output may often be determined on the basis of the quantities harvested in each region, these then being given a value via prices. In this case, all output is valued, whether it is intended for marketing outside the industry, sale to other holdings or use by the same holding. The output of each region is thus obtained directly, in line with the concept adopted in the EAA and the REAA. The prices by which output forming intra-unit consumption is valued may also be based on regional data, corresponding to the prices at which output is marketed. However, the lack of regional price data poses a general problem when it comes to valuing output, both (regional) output which is marketed and output which forms intra-unit consumption. Thus the REAA valuation of products forming intra-unit consumption raises the same difficulties as the valuation of products that are marketed. Obviously, it is a different matter when the quantities cannot be valued at regional level. In this case, a top-down method based on national-level valuations is generally the only one that can be used ( 4 ).
7.57. As regards animals, whether these are classified as inventories or fixed capital, the following points should be taken into account:
·valuations at regional level of changes in inventories and in GFCF relating to animals, these two flows being in fact components of the indirect method of calculating output;
·valuations of trade in animals between regions, this trade also being a component of the indirect method of calculating output;
·the breakdown between regions of the import and export flows of animals;
·the appropriate treatment of ownership transfer costs;
·the method of adjusting the REAA against the EAA.
7.58. In certain cases, the indirect method of calculating animal output can be too difficult at regional level. In such cases, it is better to calculate output on the basis of a model using physical data and then adjust the values to those in the EAA.
4. Inseparable non‑agricultural secondary activities
7.59. There are various ways of incorporating inseparable non‑agricultural secondary activities into the REAA, depending on the type of activity. Indeed, some of these secondary activities are highly concentrated at regional level - agricultural product processing, for example. In this case, output valuations of both quantities and prices can rely on local statistical data. For this output, the values in the EAA are de facto the same as those in the REAA. Other cases, however, may be more difficult. For example, there may be no regional source for some activities, especially if they are not concentrated in particular regions from the outset. For other activities, regional data are provided by statistical surveys or micro‑economic accounts information (the farm accountancy data network (FADN), for example) but there is no guarantee that these are regionally representative. Furthermore, data may be old with no sources available for reliable updating. Lastly, it is only sometimes that there are qualitative indicators at regional level. In all these cases, the values of the EAA are the starting point for the REAA and top-down methods must often be used.
5. Intermediate consumption
7.60. Intermediate consumption in the REAA includes agricultural products used by holdings, whether these are directly traded between holders in the same region or different regions or change hands via intermediaries who may or may not become the owners of the products before they are resold, etc. Moreover, some agricultural products of intra-unit consumption are also entered as intermediate consumption, essentially certain crops used as animal feed. No purchases of animals ‑ even those imported ‑ are to be entered as intermediate consumption.
7.61. The first method of calculating the intermediate consumption of agricultural products at the regional level is to calculate the difference between the output of the REAA and that part of the output which is intended to leave the industry, on a product-by-product basis ( 5 ). However, it is not a totally accurate representation of the intermediate consumption of agricultural products in each region, because while agricultural products intended for intermediate consumption by holdings in other regions are included, agricultural products which come from holdings in other regions are not included. Intermediate consumption must, therefore, be adjusted in line with the values in the EAA.
7.62. Another calculation method is also possible, using the FADN as a source of information. This source enables the intermediate consumption of agricultural products to be valued, irrespective of whether they come from sales by other holdings or from other sources such as imports. However, the FADN does not cover in exactly the same way the products that are used as intermediate consumption by the same holding, and thus corrections are necessary. Similarly, therefore, intermediate consumption must be adjusted in line with the values in the EAA.’
ANNEX II
Annex II is replaced by the following:
‘ANNEX II
TRANSMISSION PROGRAMME OF DATA
For each of the output items (items 01 to 18, including sub-items), the value at basic prices as well as its components (value at producer prices, subsidies on products and taxes on products) have to be transmitted.
The data for production account and for gross fixed capital formation (GFCF) have to be transmitted at both current prices and the prices of the previous year.
All values should be expressed in millions of units of the national currency. Labour input should be expressed in 1 000 annual work units (AWUs).
The data for regional accounts for agriculture have to be transmitted at current prices only.
1. Production account
|
Transmission concerning reference year n |
|||||
|
a |
b |
c |
d |
||
|
Item |
List of variables |
November
year n
|
March
year n+1
|
September
|
June
|
|
01 |
CEREALS (including seeds) |
X |
X |
X |
X |
|
01.1 |
Wheat and spelt |
X |
X |
X |
X |
|
01.1/1 |
Soft wheat and spelt |
— |
— |
X |
X |
|
01.1/2 |
Durum wheat |
— |
— |
X |
X |
|
01.2 |
Rye and meslin |
X |
X |
X |
X |
|
01.3 |
Barley |
X |
X |
X |
X |
|
01.4 |
Oats and summer cereal mixtures |
X |
X |
X |
X |
|
01.5 |
Grain maize |
X |
X |
X |
X |
|
01.6 |
Rice |
X |
X |
X |
X |
|
01.7 |
Other cereals |
X |
X |
X |
X |
|
02 |
INDUSTRIAL CROPS |
X |
X |
X |
X |
|
02.1 |
Oil seeds and oleaginous fruits (including seeds) |
X |
X |
X |
X |
|
02.1/1 |
Rape and turnip rape seed |
— |
— |
X |
X |
|
02.1/2 |
Sunflower |
— |
— |
X |
X |
|
02.1/3 |
Soya |
— |
— |
X |
X |
|
02.1/4 |
Other oleaginous products |
— |
— |
X |
X |
|
02.2 |
Protein crops (including seeds) |
X |
X |
X |
X |
|
02.3 |
Raw tobacco |
X |
X |
X |
X |
|
02.4 |
Sugar beet |
X |
X |
X |
X |
|
02.5 |
Other industrial crops |
X |
X |
X |
X |
|
02.5/1 |
Fibre plants |
— |
— |
X |
— |
|
02.5/2 |
Hops |
— |
— |
X |
— |
|
02.5/3 |
Other industrial crops: others |
— |
— |
X |
— |
|
03 |
FORAGE PLANTS |
X |
X |
X |
X |
|
03.1 |
Fodder maize |
— |
— |
X |
X |
|
03.2 |
Fodder root crops (including forage beet) |
— |
— |
X |
X |
|
03.3 |
Other forage plants |
— |
— |
X |
X |
|
04 |
VEGETABLES AND HORTICULTURAL PRODUCTS |
X |
X |
X |
X |
|
04.1 |
Fresh vegetables |
X |
X |
X |
X |
|
04.1/1 |
Cauliflower |
— |
— |
X |
— |
|
04.1/2 |
Tomatoes |
— |
— |
X |
— |
|
04.1/3 |
Other fresh vegetables |
— |
— |
X |
— |
|
04.2 |
Plants and flowers |
X |
X |
X |
X |
|
04.2/1 |
Nursery plants |
— |
— |
X |
— |
|
04.2/2 |
Ornamental plants and flowers (including Christmas trees) |
— |
— |
X |
— |
|
04.2/3 |
Plantations |
— |
— |
X |
— |
|
05 |
POTATOES (including seeds) |
X |
X |
X |
X |
|
06 |
FRUITS |
X |
X |
X |
X |
|
06.1 |
Fresh fruit |
X |
X |
X |
X |
|
06.1/1 |
Dessert apples |
— |
— |
X |
— |
|
06.1/2 |
Dessert pears |
— |
— |
X |
— |
|
06.1/3 |
Peaches |
— |
— |
X |
— |
|
06.1/4 |
Other fresh fruit |
— |
— |
X |
— |
|
06.2 |
Citrus fruits |
X |
X |
X |
X |
|
06.2/1 |
Sweet oranges |
— |
— |
X |
— |
|
06.2/2 |
Mandarins |
— |
— |
X |
— |
|
06.2/3 |
Lemons |
— |
— |
X |
— |
|
06.2/4 |
Other citrus fruits |
— |
— |
X |
— |
|
06.3 |
Tropical fruit |
X |
X |
X |
X |
|
06.4 |
Grapes |
X |
X |
X |
X |
|
06.4/1 |
Dessert grapes |
— |
— |
X |
— |
|
06.4/2 |
Other grapes |
— |
— |
X |
— |
|
06.5 |
Olives |
X |
X |
X |
X |
|
06.5/1 |
Table olives |
— |
— |
X |
— |
|
06.5/2 |
Other olives |
— |
— |
X |
— |
|
07 |
WINE |
X |
X |
X |
X |
|
07.1 |
Table wine |
— |
— |
X |
— |
|
07.2 |
Quality wine |
— |
— |
X |
— |
|
08 |
OLIVE OIL |
X |
X |
X |
X |
|
09 |
OTHER CROP PRODUCTS |
X |
X |
X |
X |
|
09.1 |
Vegetable materials used primarily for plaiting |
— |
— |
X |
— |
|
09.2 |
Seeds |
— |
— |
X |
— |
|
09.3 |
Other crop products: others |
— |
— |
X |
— |
|
|
CROP OUTPUT (01 TO 09) |
X |
X |
X |
X |
|
11 |
ANIMALS |
X |
X |
X |
X |
|
11.1 |
Cattle |
X |
X |
X |
X |
|
11.2 |
Pigs |
X |
X |
X |
X |
|
11.3 |
Equines |
X |
X |
X |
X |
|
11.4 |
Sheep and goats |
X |
X |
X |
X |
|
11.5 |
Poultry |
X |
X |
X |
X |
|
11.6 |
Other animals |
X |
X |
X |
X |
|
12 |
ANIMAL PRODUCTS |
X |
X |
X |
X |
|
12.1 |
Milk |
X |
X |
X |
X |
|
12.2 |
Eggs |
X |
X |
X |
X |
|
12.3 |
Other animal products |
X |
X |
X |
X |
|
12.3/1 |
Raw wool |
— |
— |
X |
— |
|
12.3/2 |
Silkworm cocoons |
— |
— |
X |
— |
|
12.3/3 |
Other animal products: others |
— |
— |
X |
— |
|
13 |
ANIMAL OUTPUT (11+12) |
X |
X |
X |
X |
|
14 |
AGRICULTURAL GOODS OUTPUT (10+13) |
X |
X |
X |
X |
|
15 |
AGRICULTURAL SERVICES OUTPUT |
X |
X |
X |
X |
|
15.1 |
AGRICULTURAL SERVICES |
— |
— |
X |
— |
|
15.2 |
RENTING OF MILK QUOTA |
— |
— |
X |
— |
|
16 |
AGRICULTURAL OUTPUT (14+15) |
X |
X |
X |
X |
|
17 |
NON-AGRICULTURAL SECONDARY ACTIVITIES (INSEPARABLE) |
X |
X |
X |
X |
|
17.1 |
PROCESSING OF AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS |
X |
X |
X |
X |
|
17.2 |
OTHER INSEPARABLE SECONDARY ACTIVITIES (GOODS AND SERVICES) |
X |
X |
X |
X |
|
18 |
OUTPUT OF THE AGRICULTURAL INDUSTRY (16+17) |
X |
X |
X |
X |
|
|
TOTAL INTERMEDIATE CONSUMPTION |
X |
X |
X |
X |
|
19.01 |
SEEDS AND PLANTING INVENTORY |
X |
X |
X |
X |
|
19.02 |
ENERGY; LUBRICANTS |
X |
X |
X |
X |
|
19.02/1 |
- electricity |
— |
— |
X |
— |
|
19.02/2 |
- gas |
— |
— |
X |
— |
|
19.02/3 |
- other fuels and propellants |
— |
— |
X |
— |
|
19.02/4 |
- other |
— |
— |
X |
— |
|
19.03 |
FERTILISERS AND SOIL IMPROVERS |
X |
X |
X |
X |
|
19.04 |
PLANT PROTECTION PRODUCTS AND PESTICIDES |
X |
X |
X |
X |
|
19.05 |
VETERINARY EXPENSES |
X |
X |
X |
X |
|
19.06 |
ANIMAL FEEDINGSTUFFS |
X |
X |
X |
X |
|
19.06/1 |
- feedingstuffs supplied by other agricultural holdings |
X |
X |
X |
X |
|
19.06/2 |
- feedingstuffs purchased from outside the agricultural industry |
X |
X |
X |
X |
|
19.06/3 |
- feedingstuffs produced and consumed by the same holding |
X |
X |
X |
X |
|
19.07 |
MAINTENANCE OF MATERIALS |
X |
X |
X |
X |
|
19.08 |
MAINTENANCE OF BUILDINGS |
X |
X |
X |
X |
|
19.09 |
AGRICULTURAL SERVICES |
X |
X |
X |
X |
|
19.10 |
FINANCIAL INTERMEDIATION SERVICES INDIRECTLY MEASURED (FISIM) |
X |
X |
X |
X |
|
19.11 |
OTHER GOODS AND SERVICES |
X |
X |
X |
X |
|
20 |
GROSS VALUE ADDED AT BASIC PRICES (18-19) |
X |
X |
X |
X |
|
21 |
FIXED CAPITAL CONSUMPTION |
X |
X |
X |
X |
|
21.1 |
EQUIPMENT |
— |
— |
X |
— |
|
21.2 |
BUILDINGS |
— |
— |
X |
— |
|
21.3 |
PLANTATIONS |
— |
— |
X |
— |
|
21.4 |
OTHERS |
— |
— |
X |
— |
|
22 |
NET VALUE ADDED AT BASIC PRICES (20-21) |
X |
X |
X |
X |
2. Generation of income account
|
Transmission concerning reference year n |
|||||
|
a |
b |
c |
d |
||
|
Item |
List of variables |
November
year n
|
March
|
September
|
June
|
|
23 |
COMPENSATION OF EMPLOYEES |
X |
X |
X |
X |
|
24 |
OTHER TAXES ON PRODUCTION |
X |
X |
X |
X |
|
25 |
OTHER SUBSIDIES ON PRODUCTION |
X |
X |
X |
X |
|
26 |
FACTOR INCOME (22-24+25) |
X |
X |
X |
X |
|
27 |
OPERATING SURPLUS / MIXED INCOME (22-23-24+25) |
X |
X |
X |
X |
3. Entrepreneurial income account
|
Transmission concerning reference year n |
|||||
|
a |
b |
c |
d |
||
|
Item |
List of variables |
November
year n
|
March
|
September
|
June
|
|
28 |
RENTS AND OTHER REAL ESTATE RENTAL CHARGES TO BE PAID |
X |
X |
X |
X |
|
29 |
INTEREST PAYABLE |
X |
X |
X |
X |
|
30 |
INTEREST RECEIVABLE |
X |
X |
X |
X |
|
31 |
ENTREPRENEURIAL INCOME (27-28-29+30) |
X |
X |
X |
X |
4. Elements of the capital account
|
Transmission concerning reference year n |
|||||
|
a |
b |
c |
d |
||
|
Item |
List of variables |
November
year n
|
March
|
September
|
June
|
|
32 |
GFCF IN AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS |
— |
— |
X |
X |
|
32.1 |
GFCF IN PLANTATIONS |
— |
— |
X |
— |
|
32.2 |
GFCF IN ANIMALS |
— |
— |
X |
— |
|
33 |
GFCF IN NON-AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS |
— |
— |
X |
X |
|
33.1 |
GFCF IN MATERIALS |
— |
— |
X |
— |
|
33.2 |
GFCF IN BUILDINGS |
— |
— |
X |
— |
|
33.3 |
OTHER GFCF |
— |
— |
X |
— |
|
34 |
GROSS FIXED CAPITAL FORMATION (EXCLUDING DEDUCTIBLE VAT) (32+33) |
— |
— |
X |
X |
|
35 |
NET FIXED CAPITAL FORMATION (EXCLUDING DEDUCTIBLE VAT) (34-21) |
— |
— |
X |
X |
|
36 |
CHANGES IN INVENTORIES |
— |
— |
X |
X |
|
37 |
CAPITAL TRANSFERS |
— |
— |
X |
X |
|
37.1 |
INVESTMENT GRANTS |
— |
— |
X |
— |
|
37.2 |
OTHER CAPITAL TRANSFERS |
— |
— |
X |
— |
5. Agricultural labour input
|
Transmission concerning reference year n |
||||
|
a |
b |
C |
||
|
Item |
List of variables |
November
year n
|
March
|
September
|
|
38 |
TOTAL AGRICULTURAL LABOUR INPUT |
X |
X |
X |
|
38.1 |
NON-SALARIED AGRICULTURAL LABOUR INPUT |
X |
X |
X |
|
38.2 |
SALARIED AGRICULTURAL LABOUR INPUT |
X |
X |
X |
’
