Considerations on COM(1999)488 - Clarification of Council Regulation (EC) No 2223/96 as concerns principles for recording taxes and social contributions

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dossier COM(1999)488 - Clarification of Council Regulation (EC) No 2223/96 as concerns principles for recording taxes and social contributions.
document COM(1999)488 EN
date November  7, 2000
 
(1) Council Regulation (EC) No 2223/96 of 25 June 1996 on the European System of national and regional accounts in the Community (ESA 95) 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 European Community, in order to obtain comparable results between Member States;

(2) Article 2 of Regulation (EC) No 2223/96 sets the conditions under which the Commission may adopt amendments to the ESA 95 methodology which are intended to clarify and improve its content;

(3) The condition according to which the Commission cannot change underlying concepts is not, in the present case, clearly respected;

(4) It is therefore necessary to refer the clarifications concerning the recording of taxes and social contributions in ESA 95 to the European Parliament and to the Council;

(5) Article 2 of the protocol on the excessive deficit procedure relating to Article 104 of the Treaty states that the government deficit means net borrowing of the general government sector as defined in the European System of Integrated Economic Accounts (ESA);

(6) In cases in which ESA 95 can not ensure a comparable and transparent solution across the Member States, reference should be made to the principles of economic accounts as outlined in the world-wide System of National Accounts (SNA 93), in the case the relevant SNA paragraphs being 7.60 and 8.50;

(7) The Statistical Programme Committee, set up by Decision 89/382/EEC, Euratom, and the Committee on Monetary, Financial and Balance of Payments Statistics (CMFB), set up by Decision 91/115/EEC, have been consulted.