Commission Regulation (EU) No 868/2014 of 8 August 2014 amending the annexes to Regulation (EC) No 1059/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the establishment of a common classification of territorial units for statistics (NUTS)

THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,

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

Having regard to Regulation (EC) No 1059/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 May 2003 on the establishment of a common classification of territorial units for statistics (NUTS) (1), and in particular Articles 3(4), 4(1) and 5(4) thereof,

Whereas:

(1) Regulation (EC) No 1059/2003 establishes a common classification of territorial units in order to enable the collection, compilation and dissemination of harmonised regional statistics in the Union.

(2) The Annexes to Regulation (EC) No 1059/2003 list the territorial units to be used for statistics.

(3) In accordance with Article 5(4) of Regulation (EC) No 1059/2003, amendments to the NUTS classification may be adopted, in the case of a substantial reorganisation of the relevant administrative structure of a Member State, at intervals of less than three years.

(4) The NUTS classification was last amended by Commission Regulation (EU) No 1319/2013 (2).

(5) According to the information provided to the Commission, the administrative territorial division of Portugal has undergone a substantial reorganisation.

(6) Regulation (EC) No 1059/2003 should therefore be amended accordingly.

(7) The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the European Statistical System Committee,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

The Annexes to Regulation (EC) No 1059/2003 are replaced by the text in the Annex to this Regulation.

Article 2

This Regulation shall apply, with regard to the transmission of data to the Commission (Eurostat), from 1 January 2016.

Article 3

This Regulation shall enter into force on the twentieth day following 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, 8 August 2014.

For the Commission The President José Manuel BARROSO

(1) OJ L 154, 21.6.2003, p. 1.

(2) Commission Regulation (EU) No 1319/2013 of 9 December 2013 amending annexes to Regulation (EC) No 1059/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the establishment of a common classification of territorial units for statistics (NUTS) (OJ L 342, 18.12.2013, p. 1).