PURPOSE: to align Council Regulation (EC) No 577/98 on the organisation of a labour force sample survey in the Community with the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (delegated and implementing powers of the Commission) and to incorporate into the Regulation a provision on funding.

LEGISLATIVE ACT: Regulation (EU) No 545/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Council Regulation (EC) No 577/98 on the organisation of a labour force sample survey in the Community.

CONTENT: in order to monitor progress towards Union policy objectives, such as the Europe 2020 headline targets, it is necessary to have comparable, reliable and objective statistics on the situation of employed persons, unemployed persons and persons outside the labour market , while respecting statistical confidentiality, privacy and protection of personal data.

This Regulation amends Regulation (EC) No 577/982 to align it with the new institutional context of the Lisbon Treaty, and to allow the EU to make a financial contribution in the form of grants to the national statistical institutes and other national authorities.

Labour Force Survey ad hoc modules for Union policies : the regulation provides that a further set of characteristics may be added to supplement the information described in the Regulation. The Union can award financial support for the implementation of the ad hoc modules. The Union may award grants, without a call for proposals, to those national statistical institutes and other national authorities. The grants may take the form of lump-sum payments and shall be made on condition that Member States actually participate in the implementation of ad hoc modules.

Delegation of power to the Commission : to take account of economic, social and technical developments, the Regulation delegates the power to adopt acts to the Commission in respect of the adjustment of the list of survey variables, specified within the list of 14 groups of survey characteristics referred to in Regulation (EC) No 577/98, to establish a three-year programme of ad hoc modules, specifying, for each ad hoc module the subject, the list and description of the area of specialised information (‘ad hoc sub-modules’) and the reference period.

In addition, the Commission should be empowered to adopt delegated acts in order to adopt the list of structural variables and the survey frequency.

The power to adopt the delegated acts shall be conferred on the Commission for a period of five years (with tacit extension) from 18 June 2014 . The European Parliament or the Council may object to a delegated act within a period of two months from the date of notification (this period can be extended for two months). If the European Parliament or the Council make objections, the delegated act will not enter into force.

The Commission shall duly justify the statistical actions provided for in those delegated acts , using, where appropriate, input from relevant experts based on a cost-effectiveness analysis, including an assessment of the burden on the respondents and of the production costs.

ENTRY INTO FORCE: 18.06.2014.

The European Parliament adopted by 592 votes to 30, with 3 abstentions, a legislative resolution on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Council Regulation (EC) No 577/98 on the organisation of a labour force sample survey in the Community.

Parliament adopted its position at first reading under the ordinary legislative procedure. The amendments adopted in plenary were the result of a compromise between Parliament and Council. They amend the Commission’s proposal as follows:

In line with the wishes expressed by the Members, the Union objective to effectively combat discrimination and to pursue the aim of full employment and social progress as well as the main objectives of the Europe 2020 strategy have been stressed. In this regard, it is necessary to have comparable, reliable and objective statistics on the situation of employed persons, unemployed persons and persons outside the labour market, while respecting statistical confidentiality, privacy and protection of personal data.

Ad hoc modules : the amended text provided for a further set of characteristics to supplement the information described in the Regulation. The sample used to collect information on ad hoc modules should also provide information on structural variables and should fulfil certain conditions laid down in the text.

The Commission should be empowered to adopt delegated acts as regards establishing a programme of ad hoc modules covering three years. This programme should be adopted not later than 24 months before the beginning of the reference period of the programme.

Financial contribution : the Union should award financial support to the national statistical institutes and other national authorities for the implementation of the ad hoc modules. The grants may take the form of lump-sum payments and shall be made on condition that Member States actually participate in the implementation of ad hoc modules.

Structural variables : these should fulfil the condition that the relative standard error (without taking design effect into account) of any yearly estimate representing 1% or more of the working age population does not exceed: (a) 9% for Member States with a population of between 1 million and 20 million inhabitants; and (b) 5% for Member States with a population of 20 million or more.

Member States with less than 1 million inhabitants should be exempted from the requirements regarding the relative standard error and the variables shall be collected for the total sample.

Delegation of power : the delegation of powered conferred on the Commission to adopt delegated acts should be limited to a period of five years (renewable) from the date of entry into force of the Regulation.

The delay to make an objection to a delegated act should be two months. That period could be extended by two months at the initiative of the European Parliament or the Council.

Those delegated acts shall be adopted only where they are necessary in order to take account of social and economic developments. The Commission shall duly justify the statistical actions provided for in those delegated acts.

The Committee on Employment and Social Affairs adopted the report by Tatjana ŽDANOKA (Greens/EFA, LV) on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Council Regulation (EC) No 577/98 on the organisation of a labour force sample survey in the Community.

The committee recommended that the position of the European Parliament adopted in first reading following the ordinary legislative procedure should amend the Commission proposal as follows:

Members recalled that objectives of the Union which are to effectively combat discrimination, to assist in ensuring compliance with Article 21 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, as well as pursuing the aim of full employment and social progress. In this context, they stressed the need to have comparable, reliable and objective statistics on the situation of employed persons, unemployed persons and persons outside the labour market , while respecting statistical confidentiality, privacy and protection of personal data.

The amended text provided that a further set of variables to supplement the information ("the ‘ad hoc module") may be added. Members proposed that the Union may award grants, without a call for proposals, to the national statistical institutes and other national authorities referred to as designated beneficiaries in Regulation (EC) No 223/2009, for the implementation of the ad hoc modules as referred to under the provisions of Article X of the Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on a European Union Programme for Social Change and Innovation.

Members proposed that the power to adopt delegated acts shall be conferred on the Commission for a period of five years (renewable) from the date of entry into force of the Regulation.

The delay to make an objection to a delegated act has been extended from two to three months .

PURPOSE: to align Council Regulation (EC) No 577/98 on the organisation of a labour force sample survey in the Community to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (the Commission’s delegated and implementing powers) and integrate into the Regulation a provision on financing.

PROPOSED ACT: Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council (amending Council Regulation (EC) No 577/98).

ROLE OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT: the European Parliament decides in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure and on an equal footing with the Council.

BACKGROUND: following the entry into force of the TFEU, the powers delegated to the Commission must be aligned with Article 290 (delegated acts), and Article 291 (implementing acts).

The Commission has made a commitment to review legislative acts which currently contain references to regulatory procedure with scrutiny in the light of the criteria laid down in the

Treaty. The overall objective is to remove all provisions referring to the regulatory procedure with scrutiny from all legislative instruments by the end of Parliament’s seventh term (June 2014).

Council Regulation (EC) No 577/98 on the organisation of a labour force sample survey in the Community contains references to the regulatory procedure with scrutiny and should therefore be reviewed in the light of the criteria laid down in the TFEU.

The EU Labour Force Survey (LFS) is the biggest household survey in Europe. The results produced form the backbone of the statistical information system on labour markets in the European Union. In particular, the LFS provides the indicators for three of the Europe 2020 headline targets.

Each year, the core LFS is supplemented with an ad hoc module, which serves predominantly European policy initiatives, such as the European Employment Strategy, the Youth on the Move flagship initiative, the Strategy for Equality between Women and Men, the European agenda for integration and the Employment Package. The sustainable production of high-quality ad hoc module data is of utmost importance to EU decision-makers, and thus it is proposed that a provision on financing be integrated into the Regulation.

IMPACT ASSESSMENT: there was no need for impact assessment.

LEGAL BASIS: Article 338(1) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.

CONTENT : the main objectives of the proposal are as follows:

1) Amend Regulation (EC) No 577/98 in order to align it to the new institutional context.

The Commission may adopt, by means of delegated acts in accordance with Article 290 of the TFEU: (i) the content of the ad hoc modules, the definitions and any adjustment of the list of survey variables made necessary by the evolution of techniques and concepts; (ii) the list of structural variables, including the minimum sample size and the survey frequency.

Implementing powers are conferred upon the Commission with a view to ensuring uniform conditions concerning the transmission of statistical information, in particular by adopting the rules on the edits to be used, the codification of the variables and the list of principles for the formulation of questions concerning labour status.

2) Allow the Commission to provide for a financial contribution . The contribution by the Union to the financing of the implementation of modules is proposed through grant procedures, without calls for proposals. The grants are to be awarded to the national statistical institutes and other national authorities referred to in Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 on European statistics.

BUDGETARY IMPLICATIONS: the total amount in commitment and payment appropriations (operational appropriations and human resources) is estimated at EUR 15.890 million for the period 2014-2020.

DELEGATED ACTS: the proposal contains provisions empowering the Commission to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 290 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.