The basis for this delegated act is the empowerment granted to the Commission in Article 2(3) of Regulation (EC) No 184/2005 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 January 2005 on Community statistics concerning balance of payments, international trade in services and foreign direct investment3 as amended by Regulation (EU) 2016/1013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 8 June 2016.

To prepare for the United Kingdom being a third country as of 30 March 2019, this delegated act updates Table 6 ‘Geographical breakdown levels’ of Annex I to Regulation (EC) 184/2005 as follows:

The United Kingdom is included as a separate counterpart country in column GEO 45, which lays down the geographical breakdown level required for certain items of Member States’ data on:

(a) Quarterly balance of payments and international investment position (table 2 of Annex I);

(b) Activity breakdown of annual direct investment transactions (including income) and annual direct investment positions (tables 4.3 and 5.2 of Annex I).

The United Kingdom is moved under geographical aggregate ‘Other European Countries’ in columns GEO 5 and GEO 6, which lay down the geographical breakdown level required for certain items of Member States’ annual data on international trade in services, annual direct investment transactions (including income) and annual direct investment positions submitted to Eurostat.

The rationale for the proposed update is as follows:

Changes to geographical breakdown level GEO 4

Presently, the United Kingdom features in GEO 4 as one of the countries comprising counterpart area “Union Member States not in the Euro Area” for which the Commission (Eurostat) receives Member States’ data with an individual breakdown by country. Given the intense trade and economic relationship between the EU and the United Kingdom, it is essential to ensure the continuity of Member States’ submission of data with counterpart United Kingdom also after its withdrawal from the EU. The importance of balance of payments statistics in ensuring informed economic policymaking and accurate economic forecasting further strengthens this argument. It is therefore necessary to update the geographical breakdown level GEO 4 set out in Table 6 of Annex I to Regulation (EC) No 184/2005 and to have the United Kingdom listed therein as a separate counterpart country.

Changes to geographical breakdown levels GEO 5 and GEO 6

The United Kingdom is currently listed in GEO 5 and GEO 6 as a separate counterpart country under geographical aggregate ‘Europe’, together with all EU Member States.

The composition of aggregate ‘Europe’ consists of all EU Member States, the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) countries and other European countries. Aggregate ‘Other European Countries’ includes all European countries that are neither EU nor EFTA Member States.

With the United Kingdom expected to becoming a third country on 30 March 2019, its positioning in GEO 5 and GEO 6 needs to be changed accordingly. Counterpart country ‘United Kingdom’ is therefore moved under geographical aggregate ‘Other European Countries’. The countries comprising this aggregate are listed in alphabetical order in English, hence the proposed re-positioning of the United Kingdom under Turkey in GEO 5 and under Ukraine in GEO 6.

This update neither affects the reporting burden nor modifies the applicable underlying conceptual framework. The delegated act has no implications for the EU budget. It concerns a matter relating to the European Economic Area, and its application should therefore extend to the European Economic Area.

Contact McMahon Legal 

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