1. NUTS The European Classification of Regions

2. Structure of my talk Short history
Main features of the NUTS Regulation
What changes compared to the 1999 version
Consequences for data suppliers

3. Chapter 1
History

4. NUTS in the last 3 decades
Over 25 years in use, without legal base
but since 10 years base of Structural Funds
Regulation entered into force 11 July 2003
Favours institutional breakdowns (primarily administrative divisions in force)
i.e. no functional regions
Hierarchical nomenclature with three (five) levels

5. Structure of NUTS 2003 (1999)

6. Content of the Regulation
Chapter 2
Content of the Regulation

7. Objectives Binding regional breakdown for all statistics
Assure comparability of regional statistics
Fix (more or less) the current state of the NUTS in the MS
Set-up objective criteria for the definition of regions
Define clear rules for future amendments
Stability of the classification over time
In the interest of the users

8. Territorial unit Economic territory of EU 3 levels of NUTS
Hierarchy
Code length gives the level
Trailing zeros
GR3 Attiki (level 1)
GR30 Attiki (level 2)
GR300 Attiki (level 3)

9. Administrative unit General purpose regional administration
Budget, personnel
Several or many policy fields
Annex II of NUTS Regulation
Different rules for adm. units and non-adm. unit

10. Population thresholds

11. Changes to regions 3-year moratorium 1% - rule in terms of population
Member States inform Eurostat about changes
Committology procedure

12. Evolution over time

13. Statistical time series
Member States have to re-transmit tables after change of NUTS
Length of time series depends on domain
Regional demography 1990-
Regional accounts 1995-
Regional tourism 1996-

14. Management of NUTS Eurostat unit E4 Co-operation with NSIs
RESCO network
Working Group “Regional statistics”

15. Time table Eurostat 2004 Jan. - Publish lists of LAU by NUTS
2005 July - Report on NUTS level 4
2006 July - Report in implementation of NUTS Regulation

16. Time table NSI:s 2003 Nov. - Send lists of LAU by NUTS
2004 June - Send report on changes in 2003
2005 June - Send report on changes in 2004
2005 July - Re-transmit statistical data for the regions newly created in 2003 (DE, ES, IT, PT, FI)
2006 June - Send report on changes in 2005

17. Chapter 3
The changes 2003

18. Changes compared to 1999
Target = minimise changes in the interest of the users
For 10 countries, no territorial changes at all
For the other 5 countries, the territorial changes are rather small
General change:
all regions have a unique code for each level
a code for extra-regional data was added

19. Which countries change
Germany NUTS level 2 (only Brandenburg) and level 3 (2 mergers)
Italy NUTS level 1 and level 2 (one split)
Finland NUTS level 2 (major reorganisation)
Portugal NUTS level 2 (major reorganisation)
Spain NUTS level 2 (only Ceuta y Melilla)

37. Relevance for data providers
Chapter 4
Relevance for data providers

38. What changes for you with the Regulation?
All regional information sent to Eurostat should respect NUTS-2003
Any statistics disseminated by Eurostat with regional breakdown will respect NUTS-2003
Deviations from NUTS need to be justified
Existing legislation which contains a regional breakdown of data should refer to the NUTS Regulation (when changed anyway)

39. Sources of information
RAMON classifications server at Eurostat
Publication in PDF (2 parts)
(paper copy handed out to you)

40. Thanks for listening !
Any Questions ?