Commission Regulation (EU) No 555/2012 of 22 June 2012 amending Regulation (EC) No 184/2005 of the European Parliament and of the Council on Community statistics concerning balance of payments, international trade in services and foreign direct investment, as regards the update of data requirements and definitions

COMMISSION REGULATION (EU) No 555/2012

of 22 June 2012

amending Regulation (EC) No 184/2005 of the European Parliament and of the Council on Community statistics concerning balance of payments, international trade in services and foreign direct investment, as regards the update of data requirements and definitions

THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,

Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

Having regard to Regulation (EC) No 184/2005 of the European Parliament and of the Council on Community statistics concerning balance of payments, international trade in services and foreign direct investment (¹), and in particular Article 10 thereof,

(1) Regulation (EC) No 184/2005 establishes a common framework for the systematic production of Union statistics on balance of payments, international trade in services and foreign direct investment.

(2) It is necessary to update the data requirements and definitions of Regulation (EC) No 184/2005 taking into account economic and technical changes, bringing them in line with international standards which provide the general rules for compiling statistics on balance of payments, international trade in services, and foreign direct investment.

(3) The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Balance of Payments Committee.

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

The Annexes to Regulation (EC) No 184/2005 are replaced by the text in the Annex to this Regulation.

Article 2

This Regulation shall enter into force on the 20th day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

It shall apply from 1 January 2014.

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.

ANNEX

‘ANNEX I

Table 2

Quarterly Balance of payments and International Investment Position

Periodicity : Quarterly

First reference period : First Quarter 2014

Deadline : T+85 from 2014 to 2016; T+82 from 2017 to 2018 (1) ; T+80 from 2019 (1)

(¹)   Not mandatory for Member States not participating in the Monetary Union.

(²)   The transition to T+82 and T+80 shall not be mandatory for Member States not participating in the Monetary Union.

(³)   Geographical detail shall be mandatory for Member States not participating in the Monetary Union from 2019 onwards.

(⁴)   Institutional Sector Breakdown level 1 (Sec 1), and not Sec 2, shall be mandatory for Member States not participating in the Monetary Union.

Table 4

Foreign direct investments transactions (including income)

Table 4.1  Direct Investment Financial Transactions

Table 4.2  Direct Investment Income

Table 4.3 -  Activity and geographical breakdown

Table 5

Foreign direct investments positions

Table 5.1 –  Direct Investment Positions

Table 5.2:  Direct Investment Positions: Activity and geographical breakdown

Table 6

Geographical breakdown levels

(¹)   Union Member States not in the euro area: individual breakdown by country.

ANNEX II

DEFINITIONS referred to in Article 10

The following definitions are based on the IMF Balance of Payments and International Investment Positions Manual, Sixth Edition. (BPM6), the European System of Accounts, the Manual on Statistics on International Trade in Services 2010, the OECD Benchmark Definition of Foreign Direct Investment (BD4).

A. CURRENT ACCOUNT

The current account shows flows of goods, services, primary and secondary income between residents and non-residents.

1. GOODS

This component covers moveable goods for which a change of ownership occurs between residents and non-residents.

1.1.   General merchandise on a balance of payments basis

General merchandise on a balance of payments (BOP) basis covers goods for which a change of economic ownership occurs between a resident and a non-resident and that are not included in other specific categories, such as goods under merchanting (see 1.2) and nonmonetary gold (see 1.3), or as part of a service. General merchandise should be measured at market value on a free on board (FOB) basis. In the countries’ contribution to the compilation of Union aggregates, imports and exports of goods in quasi-transit trade have to be included and, for intra-Union trade, the partner country should be defined according to the consignment principle.

1.2.   Net exports of goods under merchanting

Merchanting is defined as the purchase of goods by a resident (of the compiling economy) from a non-resident, combined with the subsequent resale of the same goods to another non-resident without the goods being present in the compiling economy. Net exports of goods under merchanting represent the difference between sales over purchases of goods for merchanting. This item includes merchants’ margins, holding gains and losses, and changes in inventories of goods under merchanting.

1.2.1. The goods acquired under merchanting are shown as a negative export/credit of the economy of the merchant.

1.2.2. The sale of goods is shown under goods sold under merchanting as a positive export/credit of the economy of the merchant.

1.3.   Nonmonetary gold

Nonmonetary gold covers all gold other than monetary gold. Monetary gold is owned by monetary authorities and held as a Reserve asset (see 6.5.1). Nonmonetary gold can be in the form of bullion (i.e. coins, ingots, or bars with a purity of at least 995 parts per 1 000, including such gold held in allocated gold accounts), gold powder, and gold in other unwrought or semi-manufactured forms.

1.4.   Branding - Quasi-transit trade adjustment

Quasi-transit trade is a term used to define goods imported into a Member State, cleared through customs for free circulation within the Union (and submitted to import duties) by an entity that is not considered as a resident institutional unit, and are then dispatched to another Member State. Branding must be recorded by the Member States affected by the “quasi-transit trade” to report the gap between the value of General merchandise declared when the goods are initially imported from a third country and their value when dispatched to another Member State. The geographical breakdown should be compiled on the basis of the country of residence of the parent enterprise controlling the company that manages the customs procedure related to these goods in the reporting economy.

2. SERVICES

Services are the result of a production activity that changes the conditions of the consuming units, or facilitates the exchange of products or financial assets. Services are not generally separate items over which ownership rights can be established and cannot generally be separated from their production.

2.1.   Manufacturing services on physical inputs owned by others

Manufacturing services on physical inputs owned by others covers processing, assembly, labelling, packing, and so forth undertaken by enterprises that do not own the goods concerned. The manufacturing is undertaken by an entity that receives a fee from the owner. Since the ownership of the goods does not change, no general merchandise transaction is recorded between the processor and the owner. The value of fees charged for manufacturing on physical inputs owned by others is not necessarily the same as the difference between the value of goods sent for processing and the value of goods after processing. Excluded are the assembly of prefabricated construction (included in Construction) and labelling and packaging incidental to transport (included in Transport).

2.2.   Maintenance and repair services not included elsewhere

Maintenance and repair services not included elsewhere cover maintenance and repair work by residents on goods that are owned by non-residents (and vice versa). The repairs may be performed at the site of the repairer or elsewhere. The value of maintenance and repairs includes any parts or materials supplied by the repairer and included in the charges. Parts and materials charged separately should be included in general merchandise. Repairs and maintenance on ships, aircraft, and other transport equipment are included in this item. Cleaning of transport equipment is excluded as it is included in Transport services. Construction maintenance and repairs are excluded as they are included under Construction. Maintenance and repairs of computers are excluded as they are included under Computer services.

2.3.   Transport

Transport is the process of carriage of people and objects from one location to another as well as related supporting and auxiliary services. Transport also includes postal and courier services. Transport services are recorded in balance of payments when provided by residents of one economy for the benefit of those of another. Transport can be classified according to:

(a)mode of transport, namely sea, air, or other. “Other” may be further broken down into rail, road, internal waterway, pipeline, and space transport, as well as electricity transmission;

(b)what is carried, namely passengers or freight or other (which covers supporting and auxiliary services like loading and unloading of containers, storage and warehousing, packing and repackaging, cleaning of transport equipment performed in ports and airports).

2.3.1.   Sea transport

Cover all transportation services by sea. A breakdown is required for Passenger sea transport, Freight sea transport and Other sea transport.

2.3.2.   Air transport

Cover all transportation services provided by air. A breakdown is required for Passenger air transport, Freight air transport and Other air transport.

2.3.3.   Other modes of transport

Cover all transportation services not provided by sea or air. A breakdown is required for Passenger, Freight and Other. An extended classification for Other transport is required as follows:

2.3.3.1. Space transport includes satellite launches undertaken by commercial enterprises for the owners of the satellites (such as telecommunication enterprises) and other operations performed by operators of space equipment, such as transport of goods and people for scientific experiments. Also included is space passenger transport and payments made by an economy in order to have its residents included on the space vehicles of another economy.

2.3.3.2. Rail transport covers transport by trains. A further sub-division between Passenger rail, Freight rail and Other is required.

2.3.3.3. Road transport covers transport by lorries, trucks, buses and coaches. A further sub-division between Passenger road transport, Freight road transport and Other road transport is required.

2.3.3.4. Inland waterway transport relates to international transportation on rivers, canals and lakes. Included are waterways that are internal to one country and those that are shared among two or more countries. A further sub-division between Passenger inland waterway Transport, Freight inland waterway transport and Other inland waterway transport is required.

2.3.3.5. Pipeline transport covers international transport of goods in pipelines, such as the transport of petroleum and related products, water and gas. Excluded are distribution services, typically from substations to the consumer (included in Other business services n.i.e.) and the value of the products transported (included in General merchandise).

2.3.3.6. Electricity transmission comprises services for transmission of electric energy at high voltage over an interconnected group of lines and associated equipment between points of supply and the points at which it is transformed to low voltage for delivery to consumers or delivery to other electric systems. Included are charges for the transmission of electricity when this is separate from the production and distribution process. The provision of electricity itself is excluded. Also excluded are distribution services of electricity (included in Other business services, Other business services n.i.e.).

2.3.3.7. Other supporting and auxiliary transport services cover all other transportation services that cannot be allocated to any of the components of transportation services described above.

2.3.4.   Postal and courier services

Postal and courier services cover the pick-up, transport, and delivery of letters, newspapers, periodicals, brochures, other printed matter, parcels, and packages, including post office counter and mailbox rental services.

2.4.   Travel

Travel credits cover goods and services for own use or to give away, acquired from an economy by non-residents during visits to that economy. Travel debits cover goods and services for own use or to give away, acquired from other economies by residents during visits to these other economies. Travel includes local transport (i.e. transport within the economy being visited and provided by a resident of that economy), but excludes international transport (which is included in Passenger transport). Also excluded are goods purchased by a traveller for resale in the traveller’s own economy or in any other economy. Travel is divided in two main sub-components: Business travel and Personal travel.

2.4.1.   Business travel

Business travel covers the acquisition of goods and services by business travellers. Also includes the acquisition of goods and services for personal use by seasonal, border and other workers who are not resident in the economy in which they are employed. Business travel is further disaggregated into Acquisition of goods and services by border and seasonal or other short-term workers and Other business travel.

2.4.1.1. Acquisition of goods and services by border, seasonal, and other short-term workers includes the acquisition of goods and services for personal use by seasonal, border and other workers, who are not resident in the economy in which they are employed and whose employer is resident in that economy.

2.4.1.2. Other business travel covers all Business travel expenditure not made by border workers and seasonal or other short-term workers.

2.4.2.   Personal travel

Personal travel covers goods and services acquired by travellers going abroad for purposes other than business, such as holidays, participation in recreational and cultural activities, visits with friends and relations, pilgrimage, and education- and health-related purposes. Personal travel is divided in three sub-components: Health-related expenditure, Education-related expenditure and Other personal travel).

2.4.2.1. Health-related expenditure is defined as the total expenditure by those travelling for medical reasons.

2.4.2.2. Education-related expenditure is defined as the total expenditure by students.

2.4.2.3. Other personal travel covers all Personal travel not included in Health-related expenditure or Education-related expenditure.

2.5.   Construction

Construction covers the creation, renovation, repair, or extension of fixed assets in the form of buildings, land improvements of an engineering nature, and other engineering constructions (including roads, bridges, dams, etc). It includes related installation and assembly work, site preparation and general construction, specialised services such as painting, plumbing, and demolition, and management of construction projects. The construction contracts covered in international trade in services are generally of a short-term nature. A large-scale construction project contracted by a non-resident enterprise that takes a year or more to be completed will usually give rise to a resident branch.

Construction can be disaggregated into Construction abroad and Construction in the compiling economy.

2.5.1.   Construction abroad

Construction abroad comprises the construction services provided to non-residents by enterprises resident in the compiling economy (credit/exports) and the goods and services purchased in the host economy by these enterprises (debit/imports).

2.5.2.   Construction in the compiling economy

Construction in the compiling economy comprises construction services provided to residents of the compiling economy by non-resident construction enterprises (debit) and the goods and services purchased in the compiling economy by these non-resident enterprises (credit).

2.6.   Insurance and pension services

Insurance and pension services comprises: Direct insurance, Reinsurance, Auxiliary insurance services, Pension and standardised guarantee services. Direct insurance is further broken down in Life, Freight and Other direct insurance. Pension and standardised guarantees are further broken down into pension services and standardised guarantee services. These services are estimated or valued by the charges included in total premiums rather than by the total value of the premiums.

2.6.1.   Life insurance

Holders of life insurance policies make regular payments to an insurer (there may be just a single payment), in return for which the insurer guarantees to pay the policy holder an agreed minimum sum or an annuity, at a given date or at the death of the policy holder, if this occurs earlier. Term life insurance, where benefits are provided in the case of death but in no other circumstances, is excluded here and included in Other direct insurance.