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 (Text with EEA relevance)

• Coming into Force: 25 February 2004
• End of Effective Date: 31 December 9999
• ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2004/138/oj
• Published date: 05 February 2004
• Date: 05 December 2003
• Official Gazette Publication: Diario Oficial de la Unión Europea, L 33, 05 de febrero de 2004,Journal officiel de l’Union européenne, L 33, 05 février 2004,Gazzetta ufficiale dell’Unione europea, L 33, 05 febbraio 2004

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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 (Text with EEA relevance)

Official Journal L 033 , 05/02/2004 P. 0001 - 0087

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

(Text with EEA relevance)

THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 285(1) thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,

Acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 251 of the Treaty(1),

Whereas:

(1) The monitoring and evaluation of the common agricultural policy requires comparable, up-to-date and reliable information on the economic situation of agriculture, and more specifically on changes in agricultural income.

(2) Agricultural accounts are a basic tool for analysing the economic situation of a country's agriculture, provided that they are drawn up on the basis of a single set of principles. Agricultural accounts also make a valuable contribution to the calculation of the national accounts.

(3) The economic accounts for agriculture are compiled in accordance with the basic concepts and rules of Council Regulation (EC) No 2223/96 of 25 June 1996 on the European system of national and regional accounts in the Community(2).

(4) Council Regulation (EC) No 322/97 of 17 February 1997 on Community statistics(3) provides a reference framework for this Regulation.

(5) Since the objective of the proposed action, namely the creation of common statistical standards which will allow the production of harmonised data, cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States and can therefore, by reason of the scale of the action, be better achieved at Community level, the Community 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.

(6) The measures necessary for the implementation of this Regulation should be adopted in accordance with Council Decision 1999/468/EC of 28 June 1999 laying down the procedures for the exercise of implementing powers conferred on the Commission(4).

(7) The Standing Committee on Agricultural Statistics and the Statistical Programme Committee have been informed,

HAVE ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

Subject matter

1. This Regulation sets up the economic accounts for agriculture in the Community (hereinafter referred to as "EAA"), by providing for:

(a) an EAA methodology (common standards, definitions, classifications and accounting rules), intended to be used for compiling accounts on comparable bases for the purposes of the Community, and for the transmission of data in accordance with Article 3;

(b) time limits for the transmission of the agricultural accounts compiled in accordance with the EAA methodology.

2. This Regulation shall not oblige any Member State to use the EAA methodology in compiling agricultural accounts for its own purposes.

Article 2

Methodology

1. The EAA methodology referred to in Article 1(1)(a) is set out in Annex I.

2. The EAA methodology shall be updated in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 4(2).

Article 3

Transmission to the Commission

1. The Member States shall transmit to the Commission (Eurostat) the data set out in Annex II within the time limits specified for each table.

2. The first transmission of data shall take place in November 2003.

3. The list of variables and the time limits for the transmission of data set out in Annex II shall be updated in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 4(2).

Article 4

Committee pocedure

1. The Commission shall be assisted by the Standing Committee on Agricultural Statistics.

2. Where reference is made to this paragraph, Articles 4 and 7 of Decision 1999/468/EC shall apply, having regard to the provisions of Article 8 thereof.

The period laid down in Article 4(3) of Decision 1999/468/EC shall be set at three months.

3. The Committee shall adopt its Rules of Procedure.

Article 5

Final provision

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, 5 December 2003.

For the European Parliament

The President

P. Cox

For the Council

The President

P. Lunardi

(1) Opinion of the European Parliament of 3 September 2003 (not yet published in the Official Journal), and Council Decision of 17 November 2003.

(2) OJ L 310, 30.11.1996, p. 1. Regulation as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 1267/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council (OJ L 180, 18.7.2003, p. 1).

(3) OJ L 52, 22.2.1997, p. 1.

(4) OJ L 184, 17.7.1999, p. 23.

ANNEX I

ECONOMIC ACCOUNTS FOR AGRICULTURE

(EAA)

CONTENTS

>TABLE>

FOREWORD

The revision of the European system of accounts (ESA 1995) in 1995(1) and the need to adapt to economic and structural developments in agriculture have led to a new basic methodology used for the EAA. The amendments made to the basic EAA methodology had to satisfy two, often conflicting, demands: on the one hand, methodological consistency was needed with the ESA to allow harmonisation of the EAA both between Member States and with the central framework of the national accounts; and on the other hand, the legislator had to ensure that the changes to be made were feasible. This manual has been drawn up with these considerations in mind as, in addition to the concepts, principles and basic rules for compiling the EAA, it also refers to any adaptations to specific characteristics in the field of agriculture.

I. GENERAL FEATURES OF THE ACCOUNTS

A. INTRODUCTION

1.01. A system of integrated economic accounts should provide an overview of economic activities which is systematic, comparable and as complete as possible, to serve as a basis for analyses, forecasts and political measures. The vast number and variety of economic transactions and units covered by the system therefore have to be classified according to general criteria and set out clearly and simply in a coherent system of accounts and tables.

1.02. The European system of integrated economic accounts, which is derived from the United Nations revised system of national accounts (SNA 93)(2), was created in response to the specific needs of the European Union. It lays down concepts, definitions, accounting rules and uniform classifications to be used by the EU Member States.

1.03. The economy of a country is the sum of the activities of a very large number of units engaged in many different types of transaction with a view to producing, financing, insuring, distributing and consuming. Units and groups of units considered in the context of a system of national accounts have to be defined in terms of the economic models under examination. The ESA 95 is characterised by the use of three types of unit and two distinct ways of breaking down the national economy.

1.04. In order to analyse flows involving income, capital, financial transactions and assets, it is essential to select units which depict the interaction between economic operators (institutional units). In order to analyse the production process, it is crucial to select units which illustrate technico-economic relationships (i.e. kind-of-activity units at local level and units of homogeneous production).

1.05. Thus, the economy may be broken down in two different ways:

(i) into institutional sectors or subsectors, which represent groups of institutional units;

(ii) into industries, which comprise groups of kind-of-activity units at local level (industry) or units of homogeneous production (homogeneous branch).

1.06. The main purpose of the EAA is to analyse the production process and primary income generated by it. The accounts are therefore based on the industry concept.

1.07. The EAA are a satellite account providing complementary information and concepts adapted to the particular nature of the agricultural industry. Although their structure very closely matches that of the national accounts, their compilation requires the formulation of appropriate rules and methods.

1.08. A distinction needs to be made between the income generated by agricultural production and the income of agricultural households, the latter including, apart from income from agricultural activity, income from other sources (from property, social transfers, etc.) that agricultural households may have. These two types of income (income generated by agricultural production and the income of agricultural households) are measured for two distinct purposes, which require two distinct methods of breaking down the economy: the first, for the EAA, is based on production units; which are defined by reference to an activity branch, the second is based on households (i.e. institutional units) whose main source of income is independent agricultural activity(3).

B. THE BASIC UNIT AND THE AGRICULTURAL INDUSTRY

1. Basic unit

1.09. In order to analyse flows generated by the production process and the use of goods and services, it is necessary to select units which emphasise relationships of a technico-economic kind. This requirement means that as a rule institutional units must be broken-down into smaller and more homogeneous units with regard to the kind of production. Local kind-of-activity units (local KAUs) are intended to meet this requirement as a first but practically oriented operational approach (ESA 95, 2.105)(4).

1.10. The local KAU is defined as the part of a KAU which corresponds to a local...