Regional statistics and NUTS Policy Group on Statistical Cooperation 16 October 2008 Torbioern.Carlquist@ec.europa.eu 16-JOct-2008

Basic rules for NUTS EU Regulation 1059/2003 Annexes amended, but the main legal text remains stable Statistical regions in (potential) candidate countries No legal base, but (P)CC:s need to be compliant 3 hierarchical levels (NUTS levels 1 - 3) Criteria: population thresholds Administrative regions – average size within country Non-administrative regions – size of individual region must comply 16 Oct 2008 Regional statistics and NUTS

Population thresholds Level Minimum Maximum NUTS 1 3 million 7 million NUTS 2 800 000 NUTS 3 150 000 16 Oct 2008 Regional statistics and NUTS

Manage the changes of NUTS NUTS regions are frozen in order to keep stable statistical time series Possibility to review NUTS regions every 3 years First general review took place in 2006 and was implemented 01/01/2008 In case of change, statistical data are re-calculated by Member States Enlargements: separate amendments of Annexes of the NUTS Regulation. Long lead times (12-18 months). 16 Oct 2008 Regional statistics and NUTS

Latest enlargement Discussions during 2006 – several changes of previous statistical regions in order to become compliant Bulgaria and Romania 1 January 2007 Amending annexes I, II, III of the NUTS Regulation through co-decision procedure during 2007 Published in Official Journal on 5 March 2008 This amendment was done separately from the NUTS 2006 revision, which took place in parallel Statistical data could be transmitted from 1/1/2007 with new codes from BG, RO 16 Oct 2008 Regional statistics and NUTS

Statistical regions in candidate countries Revised regions for Croatia agreed in March 2007 Final proposal agreed with the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia in 2007 Turkey – no change in the statistical regions since the regions were agreed in 2002 New publication “Statistical Regions in EFTA and candidate countries” was published January 2008 Discussions have started with potential candidate countries – no agreement yet 16 Oct 2008 Regional statistics and NUTS

Review of statistical regions before accession It is possible and it may be necessary to review the statistical regions before accession No three-year moratorium, but everyone has an interest in keeping the regions stable over time A proposal to change statistical regions can be initiated by the Commission (Eurostat) or the NSI of the country Reasons for a review can be: Administrative reform in the candidate country Deviation from the NUTS rules due to rapid population increase/decrease in some regions A revised set of statistical regions is agreed through an exchange of letters between Eurostat and the NSI 16 Oct 2008 Regional statistics and NUTS

16 Oct 2008 Regional statistics and NUTS

16 Oct 2008 Regional statistics and NUTS

16 Oct 2008 Regional statistics and NUTS

The procedure to change NUTS Commission initiates any EU legislation Informal discussion NSO - Eurostat Written notification of changes from Permanent Representation of the Member State to the Secretariat General of Commission Commission (Eurostat) analyses the notifications and makes a proposal (draft amendment Regulation) Comitology procedure with votes in SPC, the Statistical Programme Committee Commission Regulation is adopted and published 16 Oct 2008 Regional statistics and NUTS

Statistical data for regions Legal obligations and gentleman’s agreements Decentralised structure of Eurostat Details are in “Reference Guide for Regional and Urban Statistics” (annual Eurostat publication) Sample surveys – pay attention to the need for a sufficient sample size in every region Back-calculation of data after a change in NUTS The length of time-series depends on statistical domain 16 Oct 2008 Regional statistics and NUTS

Usage of NUTS and statistical regions Eurostat database on-line contains many regional tables, of which around 80-90% hold data at NUTS level 2 DG Regional Policy – regional GDP per capita determines the eligibility for structural funds Rural development policy – eligibility depends on NUTS level 1 or NUTS level 2 DG Competition - state aid is allowed in a limited number of regions Research projects funded by EU are coded according to NUTS 16 Oct 2008 Regional statistics and NUTS

Thanks for listening ! Any Questions ? 16 Oct 2008 Regional statistics and NUTS