Europa



E4/REG/2013/04

(Only available in EN)

Working Party on Regional Statistics and Rural Development

to be held in Luxembourg on 30.09.2013 and 01.10.2013

Proposal for new legal base for territorial classifications and typologies

(TERCET)

Item 3.3 of the agenda

Document available on CircaBC:

The members of the Regional Statistics and Rural Development Working Group are asked:

• to take note of the legal initiative of the Commission,

• to inform colleagues in the National Statistical Institutes and other relevant national authorities,

• to comment on the initiative and give feed-back on observations in the Member States

Abstract

The Commission (Eurostat and DG REGIO) is proposing to give the common territorial classifications and typologies for statistics a combined legal basis following a three level structure: (1) basic act, (2) delegated acts and (3) methodological notes. The territorial classifications to be covered are: NUTS, LAU (Local administrative units), and the territorial typologies: Rural-Urban typology, Coastal regions, Metropolitan regions etc. as well as Degree of urbanisation (DEGURBA), Coastal areas (Coastal/Non-coastal), Core cities, Larger urban zones (LUZ), Greater cities, etc.

Introduction

The Commission reviewed recently the set of territorial units and territorial typologies used by the EU for the collection, compilation and dissemination of harmonised regional and local statistics. The review resulted in a proposal for a global methodology based on a 1 km2 population grid ensuring a link to administrative territorial units. This proposal has been widely welcomed both within the Commission and by Member States and in 2012 step by step implemented.

In the course of inter-service discussions expectations were expressed to provide the enhanced set of territorial units and territorial typologies a legal base. The purpose of this note is to provide a concept for the establishment of a legal act covering the main rules and principles for the establishment and maintenance of these territorial units and territorial typologies.

In practical terms the legislative framework shall supplement the current NUTS Regulation ((EC) No 1059/2003 by covering following common statistical classifications and typologies of territorial units:

|Table 1. |

|Classification |Typology |

| |Name |Coverage |Value |Territorial type |

|NUTS (region) |Rural-Urban typology |full |ternary |non-aggregating |

| |Coastal regions |partial | |non-aggregating |

| |Metropolitan regions |partial | |aggregating |

|LAU (area) |Degree of urbanisation |full |ternary |non-aggregating |

| |Coastal areas |partial | |non-aggregating |

| |Core cities |partial | |aggregating |

| |Larger urban zones |partial | |aggregating |

| |Greater city |partial | |aggregating |

Legal architecture

The proposed legal architecture shall have following structure:

3 Legislative act including the articles of the NUTS Regulation enhanced by

a. a reference to typologies of NUTS level 3 regions enabling the distinction between different functional foci of these regions,

b. a clearer reference to Local Administrative Unit (LAU) level 2 areas as components of the NUTS level 3 regions,

c. a reference to typologies of LAU level 2 areas enabling the distinction between different functional foci of these areas, explicitly mentioning LAU level 2 areas being building blocks for aggregates used for European City Statistics.

4 Delegated acts (former comitology) shall

d. specify the provisions for

i. the definitions of the methodologies for the typologies in table 1.,

ii. the maintenance of the LAU areas classification and the typologies mentioned in table 1.,

iii. the annual transmission of tables listing LAU areas and accompanying administrative data,

e. include lists for codes and labels for NUTS regions and aggregating typologies based on NUTS regions (e.g. Metropolitan regions),

f. include lists for codes and labels for aggregating typologies based on based on LAU areas (e.g. Core cities, LUZ, etc.),

g. define a set of indicators that shall be transmitted for the aggregating typologies based on LAU areas (e.g. Core cities, LUZ, etc.)

5 Methodology papers

The exact methodologies of the typologies shall be described in separate methodological notes outside of the legal framework.

The annex provides a first draft of the whereas clauses for the regulation.

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Proposal for a

REGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL

on the system of common territorial classifications and typologies (TERCET)

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 XXX thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the European Commission,

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

Having regard to the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee[1],

Having regard to the opinion of the Committee of the Regions[2],

Acting in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure,

Whereas:

1) In order to function, the internal market requires statistical standards applicable to the collection, transmission and publication of data so that all operators in the single market can be provided with comparable statistics. In this context, territorial classifications and typologies are an important tool for the collection, compilation and dissemination of comparable statistics.

2) Sub-national statistics are a cornerstone of the European Statistical System. They are used for a wide range of purposes. Parts of the European sub-national statistics, namely regional data, have been already collected, compiled and disseminated on the basis of the legally fixed NUTS classification.

3) Both suppliers and consumers of statistics express an increasing need for efficient use of collected data. This demand led in recent years to the establishment of a coherent system of further territorial classifications and typologies complementing the NUTS classification.

4) The classification of local administrative units (LAU) extends the NUTS classification to more detailed administrative structures. A set of territorial typologies has been established on the basis of a large scale population grid and detailed geographical characteristics. These territorial typologies enable the compilation and dissemination of statistical data on EU or national level for areas or regions with distinctive features, be it metropolitan, urban, rural, coastal, mountainous etc. Territorial typologies also support the aggregation of smaller building blocks to units of particular interest, such as cities and agglomerations.

5) It is appropriate to cover the European territorial classifications and typologies in a single legal framework to institute clear and coherent rules and principles in the establishment, the management and the amendment of these classifications and typologies.

6) Objective criteria for the definition of territorial classifications and typologies are necessary in order to ensure impartiality when sub-national statistics are compiled and used.

7) The definitions within the system of common territorial classifications and typologies have to ensure the comparability within the different territorial levels of the classifications and between the different types of areas and regions.

8) Comparability of sub-national statistics requires that the areas and regions be of a comparable size in terms of population. Reference should be made to the definition of the ‘population’ on which the classifications are based.

9) Different levels are needed for sub-national statistics depending on the purpose of these statistics at national and European level. It is appropriate to have two hierarchical levels of detail in the LAU classification and three hierarchical levels of detail in the NUTS classification. The LAU and NUTS classifications must respect the actual political, administrative and institutional situation and form together a consistent hierarchy of five territorial levels. For those LAU and NUTS levels, where corresponding administrative levels do not exist in a Member State non-administrative levels have to be established. Non-administrative units must reflect economic, social, historical, cultural, geographical or environmental circumstances.

10) The LAU and the NUTS classifications are restricted to the economic territory of the Member States and do not provide complete coverage of the territory to which the Treaty on European Union and the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union apply. Their use for EU purposes will therefore need to be assessed on a case-by-case basis. The economic territory of each country, as defined in Commission Decision 91/450/ EEC[3], also includes extra-regio territory, made up of parts of the economic territory that cannot be attached to a certain region (air-space, territorial waters and the continental shelf, territorial enclaves, in particular embassies, consulates and military bases, and deposits of oil, natural gas, etc. in international waters, outside the continental shelf, worked by resident units). The LAU and NUTS classifications must also provide the possibility of statistics for this extra-regio territory.

11) For each territorial typology a common methodology shall be developed by the European Commission in close cooperation with Member States.

12) The European territorial classifications and typologies should not preclude the existence of other subdivisions, classifications and typologies.

13) The rules and principles of amendments in the system of common territorial classifications and typologies have to ensure the temporal stability of the LAU and the NUTS classifications and the related territorial typologies and improve the comparability within the different territorial levels of the classifications and between the different types of areas and regions.

14) Both the LAU and the NUTS classifications have to be adjusted to changes in the territorial administrative structure in the Member States. Territorial modifications, changes in the geographical, socio-economic or environmental features as well as adjustments in the methodologies may lead to amendments in the different typologies. Amendments to the European territorial classifications and typologies will require close consultations with the Member States.

15) Changes on the local administrative level in Member States shall be followed up closely by amendments in the LAU classification and LAU-related typologies provided that the hierarchical link to the NUTS classification is not affected. However, the NUTS classification and NUTS-related typologies should not be amended too frequently to ensure comparability of regional statistics over time.

16) In order to improve comparability within the different territorial levels and groups of areas and regions amendments of the non-administrative units should render the sub-national structure more homogeneous in terms of population size.

17) Accordingly, all Member States' statistics transmitted to the Commission, which are broken down by territorial units, should use the NUTS and LAU classifications and the related territorial typologies, where applicable.

18) In its analysis and dissemination, the Commission should use the NUTS and LAU classifications and the related territorial typologies for all statistics classified by territorial units, where applicable.

19) Since the objective of the proposed action, namely the harmonisation of sub-national statistics, cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States and can therefore be better achieved at level of the European Union, the EU may adopt measures, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity as set out in Article 5 of the Treaty. In accordance with the principle of proportionality, as set out in that Article, this Regulation does not go beyond what is necessary in order to achieve that objective.

HAVE ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

Subject matter

1. The purpose of this Regulation is to establish a system of common territorial classifications and typologies, hereinafter referred to as ‘TERCET’, in order to enable the collection, compilation and dissemination of harmonised sub-national statistics in the European Union.

Article X

This Regulation shall enter into force on the 20th 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

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[1] OJ C , , p. .

[2] OJ C , , p. .

[3]

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