REGULATION (EU) 2022/2379 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL

of 23 November 2022

on statistics on agricultural input and output, amending Commission Regulation (EC) No 617/2008 and repealing Regulations (EC) No 1165/2008, (EC) No 543/2009 and (EC) No 1185/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council and Council Directive 96/16/EC

(Text with EEA relevance)

THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, and in particular Article 338(1) thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the European Commission,

After transmission of the draft legislative act to the national parliaments,

Acting in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure (1),

Whereas:

(1) A transparent, comprehensive and reliable statistical knowledge base is necessary to design, implement, monitor, evaluate and review Union policies related to agriculture, in particular the common agricultural policy (CAP), including rural development measures, as well as Union policies relating to, inter alia, the environment, climate change adaptation and mitigation, land use, regions, public health, food safety, plant protection, sustainable use of pesticides, veterinary medicinal usage and the sustainable development goals of the United Nations. Those statistics can also be useful for the purposes of monitoring and assessment of the impact of agriculture on pollinators and vital soil organisms.

(2) The collection of statistical data, in particular on agricultural input and output, should aim, inter alia, to inform an evidence-based decision-making process with updated, high-quality and accessible data, in particular the data necessary for the development of agro-environmental indicators, and to support and evaluate the progress of the European Green Deal with the related Farm to Fork Strategy and the Biodiversity Strategy, the zero pollution action plan and the action plan for organic production in the Union, and future CAP reforms. A key element for the achievement of the European Green Deal objectives is the transition towards multifunctional agriculture capable of producing safe and sufficient food while providing positive environmental outputs.

(3) High-quality harmonised, coherent and comparable statistical data are important for the assessment of the state and trends of agricultural input and output in the Union in order to provide meaningful and precise data on the environmental and economic impact of agriculture and on the pace of the transition to more sustainable agricultural practices. The data collected should also relate to the functioning of markets and food security, so as to ensure access to sufficient and high-quality food, and to the assessment of the sustainability as well as the environmental, economic and social impacts and performance of Union and national policies, as well as to the assessment of the sustainability and impact of the development of new business models. Those data include, but are not limited to, livestock and meat statistics, the production and use of eggs and the production and use of milk and milk products. Statistics on the area, yield and production of arable crops, vegetables, permanent crops and grasslands and commodity balances are also important. Moreover, statistics on the sales and use of plant protection products, fertilisers and veterinary medicinal products, in particular antibiotics in feeding stuffs, are needed.

(4) An international evaluation of agricultural statistics led to the creation of a global strategy of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations for improving agricultural and rural statistics. That global strategy was endorsed by the United Nations Statistical Commission in 2010. European agricultural statistics should, where appropriate, follow the recommendations of that global strategy.

(5) Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council (2) establishes a legal framework for the development, production and dissemination of European statistics based on common statistical principles. That Regulation sets out quality criteria and refers to the need to minimise the response burden on survey respondents and to contribute to the more general objective of reducing the administrative burden.

(6) The Strategy for Agricultural Statistics for 2020 and beyond, endorsed by the European Statistical System Committee (ESSC) in November 2015, envisages the adoption of two framework regulations covering all aspects of Union legislation on agricultural statistics, with the exception of economic accounts for agriculture (EAA). This Regulation is one of those two framework regulations and should complement the framework regulation which has already been adopted, namely Regulation (EU) 2018/1091 of the European Parliament and of the Council (3).

(7) European statistics on agricultural input and output are currently collected, produced and disseminated on the basis of a number of legal acts. The current legal framework does not provide proper consistency across the different statistical domains, nor does it promote an integrated approach towards the development, production and dissemination of agricultural statistics designed to cover the economic and environmental aspects of agriculture. This Regulation should replace those legal acts for the purposes of harmonisation and comparability of information and, to ensure consistency and coordination across European agricultural statistics, facilitate the integration and streamlining of the corresponding statistical processes and enable a more holistic approach. It is therefore necessary to repeal those legal acts, namely Regulations (EC) No 1165/2008 (4), (EC) No 543/2009 (5) and (EC) No 1185/2009 (6) of the European Parliament and of the Council and Council Directive 96/16/EC (7). The numerous related European Statistical System’s (ESS) agreements and ‘gentlemen’s agreements’ between the national statistical institutes (NSIs) and the Commission (Eurostat) on data transmission should be integrated into this Regulation where there has been evidence that the data fulfil user needs, that the agreed methodology works and that the data are of appropriate quality.

(8) The statistics required in accordance with Commission Regulation (EC) No 617/2008 (8) have been collected within the ESS, meeting some but not all of its quality standards. Those statistics support Union and national policies in the longer term and should be integrated as European statistics to ensure the availability and quality of the data. In order to avoid double reporting from the Member States, the statistical requirements under that Regulation should be deleted.

(9) A large part of the agricultural area at Union level consists of grasslands. The production of those areas was not considered to be important in the past, so no production data have been included in crop statistics. As the impact of grasslands and ruminants on the environment has become more important due to climate change, statistics on grassland production including animal grazing are now needed.

(10) For the purposes of European agricultural statistics, the feasibility of maximising the use of pre-existing data collected under CAP obligations, without creating new obligations and administrative burden, should be assessed.

(11) For the purposes of harmonisation and comparability of information on agricultural input and output with information on the structure of agricultural holdings and to further implement the Strategy for Agricultural Statistics for 2020 and beyond, this Regulation should complement Regulation (EU) 2018/1091.

(12) Regulation (EC) No 138/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council (9) does not cover agricultural price statistics, but their availability and coherence with the EAA should be ensured. Statistics on agricultural input and output should therefore cover statistics on agricultural input prices that are coherent with the EAA. In order to allow EAA calculations and comparable price indices, agricultural output price data need to be available in Member States.

(13) In light of the European Green Deal, the CAP and the objective of reducing dependence on pesticides, it is important to provide for high-quality annual statistics on the use of plant protection products in relation to environmental, health and economic issues. The lack of electronic records of the professional use of plant protection products, which could be used for statistical purposes, at Union level is a major obstacle to increasing the periodicity of data collection on the use of plant protection products in agriculture from once every five years to once per year. In order to give the NSIs time to prepare for the production of annual statistics on the use of plant protection products on a permanent basis, provision should be made in this Regulation for a transitional regime.

(14) Data regarding the placing on the market and use of pesticides to be submitted pursuant to Directive 2009/128/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (10) and Regulation (EC) No 1107/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council (11) should be used in accordance with the relevant provisions of that Directive and of that Regulation for the purposes of the requirements of this Regulation. The data disseminated on plant protection products should include the active substances placed on the market and used in agricultural activities by crop and its related treated areas.

(15) Comparable statistics from all Member States on agricultural input and output are important to determine the development of the CAP and to monitor the CAP’s implementation through the national Strategic Plans in view of the CAP’s contribution to the targets of the European Green Deal. Standard classifications and common definitions should therefore be used insofar as possible for variables.

(16) The coherence, comparability and interoperability of the data and the uniformity of the reporting formats are prerequisites for the preparation of European agricultural statistics, in particular as regards the efficiency of the collection, processing and dissemination procedures and the quality of the results.

(17) The data needed to compile statistics should be collected in a manner that minimises costs and administrative burden on respondents, including farmers, small and medium-sized enterprises and Member States. It is therefore necessary to identify possible owners of sources of the required data and ensure that those sources can be used for statistics.

(18) The data sets to be transmitted cover several statistical domains. In order to maintain a flexible approach that allows the statistics to be adapted when data requirements change, only the domains, topics and detailed topics should be specified in the basic regulation, with the detailed data sets specified by means of implementing acts. The collection of the detailed data sets should not impose significant additional costs which result in a disproportionate and unjustified burden on respondents and on Member States.

(19) A variable in a data set for European statistics on agricultural input and output can include several dimensions, such as organic farming and regional level dimensions. The organic farming dimension refers to production and products in accordance with the principles set out in Regulation (EU) 2018/848 of the European Parliament and of the Council (12). The regional level dimension should be provided in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 1059/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council (13). In order to decrease the burden on Member States when providing data under this Regulation and to ensure predictability as to which data are to be collected, the detailed topics and the applicable dimensions should be specified in the Annex to this Regulation. In that Annex, the word ‘applicable’ should be introduced with respect to the detailed topics for which the organic farming or regional level dimension, or both, is required.

(20) Organic production is becoming increasingly important as an indicator of sustainable agricultural production systems. Statistical data on organic production are essential to monitor progress of the action plan for organic production in the Union. It is therefore necessary to ensure that available statistics on organic production, including data specifying certified or under conversion production areas, are consistent with other agricultural production statistics by integrating those into the data sets. Those organic production statistics should also be coherent with, and use, the administrative data produced under Regulation (EU) 2018/848.

(21) The gross nutrient balance is one of the most widely used agri-environmental indicators. It is described in the Eurostat/OECD common methodology as the calculated difference between the total quantity of nutrient inputs entering an agricultural system and the quantity of nutrient outputs leaving that agricultural system. Despite its importance, not all Member States provide the data on gross nutrient balance voluntarily to the Commission (Eurostat). It is therefore essential for the gross nutrient balance to be incorporated into this Regulation.

(22) Veterinary medicinal products are an important input to agriculture. It is important to avoid duplication of work and to optimise the use of existing information that is capable of being used for statistical purposes. To that end, and with a view to providing easily accessible and useful information to Union citizens and other stakeholders on sales and use of veterinary medicinal products, including the use of antimicrobial medicinal products in food-producing animals, the relevant available statistics, under Regulation (EU) 2019/6 of the European Parliament and of the Council (14), should be disseminated by the Commission (Eurostat). To that effect, appropriate cooperation agreements on statistical activities should be established between the Commission and relevant entities, including at international level.

(23) Biocidal products constitute an important input in agriculture, for instance in veterinary hygiene and animal feed. Active substances authorised in plant protection products are often used in biocidal products. Regulation (EC) No 1185/2009 already identified the need to collect statistics on biocidal products for informed, science-based policies in the areas of agriculture, the environment, public health and food safety. Taking into consideration that the work programme for the systematic examination of all existing active substances contained in biocidal products under Regulation (EU) No 528/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council (15) is still ongoing, with only 35 % of the related work completed, it is still premature to include biocidal products in the scope of this Regulation. As soon as the examination of active substances for use in biocidal products is finalised, the Commission should consider extending the coverage of this Regulation to include such products.

(24) In accordance with Regulation (EC) No 1059/2003, territorial units should be defined in accordance with the Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS) classification. In order to limit the burden on Member States, regional data requirements should not exceed the requirements established by previous Union legislation unless new regional levels have come into existence in the meantime. Consequently, it is appropriate to allow regional statistical data for Germany to be provided for the NUTS 1 territorial units only.

(25) It should be possible to collect data on ad hoc subjects related to agricultural input and output at a specific time in order to supplement the data collected on a regular basis with additional data on subjects that require more information, emerging phenomena or innovations. The need for such additional data should, however, be duly justified.

(26) In order to decrease the administrative burden on Member States, exemptions from certain regular transmissions of data should be allowed if a Member State’s contributions to the EU total for those data are low or the observed phenomenon is insignificant in relation to the total production in that particular Member State.

(27) In order to improve the efficiency of the statistical production processes within the ESS and to reduce the administrative burden on respondents, NSIs and other national authorities should have the right to access and use, promptly and free of charge, any administrative data that are needed for public purposes, irrespective of whether they are held by public, semi-public or private bodies. NSIs and other national authorities should also be able to integrate those administrative data with statistics to the extent that such data are necessary for developing, producing and disseminating European agricultural statistics, in accordance with Article 17a of Regulation (EC) No 223/2009.

(28) Member States or responsible national authorities should endeavour to modernise data collection modes insofar as possible. The use of digital solutions and land monitoring tools, such as the Union’s Earth observation programme Copernicus and remote sensors, should be promoted. Agricultural data are increasingly generated through digital farming practices, where the farmer remains the primary data source.

(29) In order to ensure flexibility and to reduce the administrative burden on respondents, NSIs and other national authorities, Member States should be allowed to use statistical surveys, administrative records and any other sources, methods or innovative approaches, including scientifically-based and well-documented methods such as imputation, estimation and modelling. The quality, and in particular the accuracy, timeliness and comparability of statistics based on those sources, should always be ensured.

(30) Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 includes provisions on the transmission of data from Member States to the Commission (Eurostat) and on the use of such data, including on the transmission and protection of confidential data. Measures taken in accordance with this Regulation are to ensure that confidential data are transmitted and used exclusively for statistical purposes in accordance with Articles 21 and 22 of Regulation (EC) No 223/2009.

(31) Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 provides for a reference framework for European statistics and requires Member States to comply with the statistical principles and quality criteria specified in that Regulation. Quality reports are essential for assessing, improving and communicating the quality of European statistics. The ESSC has endorsed the single integrated metadata structure as the ESS standard for quality reporting, thereby helping to satisfy, through uniform standards and harmonised methods, the statistical quality requirements laid down in Article 12(3) of that Regulation. That ESS standard is to contribute to the harmonisation of quality assurance and reporting under this Regulation.

(32) In accordance with Regulation (EC) No 223/2009, the data collected and the quality reports transmitted by the Member States under this Regulation should be disseminated by the Commission (Eurostat).

(33) In accordance with the objectives of this Regulation and where new data requirements or improvements to data sets covered by this Regulation are needed, the Commission should assess their feasibility by launching feasibility and pilot studies, where necessary.

(34) An impact assessment of the Strategy for Agricultural Statistics for 2020 and beyond was carried out in 2016 in accordance with the principle of sound financial management in order to focus the statistical programme established by this Regulation on the need for effectiveness in achieving the objectives and in order to incorporate budgetary constraints.

(35) Since the objective of this Regulation, namely the systematic production of European statistics on agricultural input and output in the Union, cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States because a coordinated approach is required, but can rather, by reason of consistency and comparability, be better achieved at Union level, the Union may adopt measures, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity as set out in Article 5 of the Treaty on European Union. In accordance with the principle of proportionality as set out in that Article, this Regulation does not go beyond what is necessary in order to achieve that objective.

(36) In order to take into account emerging data needs mainly stemming from new developments in agriculture, from revised legislation and from changing policy priorities, the power to adopt acts in accordance with Article 290 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) should be delegated to the Commission in respect of amending the detailed topics listed in this Regulation, amending the transmission frequencies, reference periods and the applicability of the dimensions of detailed topics, and specifying the information to be provided by Member States on an ad hoc basis for the collection of ad hoc data as laid down in this Regulation. When adopting such delegated acts, the Commission should take into account aspects such as cost and administrative burden on respondents and Member States. It is of particular importance that the Commission carry out appropriate consultations during its preparatory work, including at expert level, and that those consultations be conducted in accordance with the principles laid down in the Interinstitutional Agreement of 13 April 2016 on Better Law-Making (16). In particular, to ensure equal participation in the preparation of delegated acts, the European Parliament and the Council receive all documents at the same time as Member States’ experts, and their experts systematically have access to meetings of Commission expert groups dealing with the preparation of delegated acts.

(37) In order to ensure uniform conditions for the implementation of this Regulation, implementing powers should be conferred on the Commission with a view to specifying the coverage requirements, the data sets linked to the topics and detailed topics listed in the Annex and the technical elements of the data to be provided, to establishing the lists and descriptions of the variables and other practical arrangements for the collection of ad hoc data, further specifying each transmission frequency of the data sets, defining the deadlines for transmitting the data and the transmission frequencies concerned, the variables and the relevant thresholds on the basis of which Member States may be exempted from sending specific data, further specifying the reference periods, setting out the practical arrangements for, and contents of, the quality reports, specifying the coverage requirements as regards the transitional regime for data on the detailed topic of use of plant protection products in agriculture, and granting derogations to Member States. Those powers should be exercised in accordance with Regulation (EU) No 182/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council (17). When exercising those powers, the Commission should take into account aspects such as cost and administrative burden on respondents and Member States.

(38) Where the implementation of this Regulation would require major adaptations to the national statistical system of a Member State, the Commission should, in duly justified cases and for a limited period of time, be able to grant derogations to the Member State concerned. Such major adaptations may arise in particular from the need to adapt the data collection systems to include the new data requirements, including the access to administrative sources and other relevant sources.

(39) Funding should be required from both Member States and the Union in order to support the implementation of this Regulation. Provision should therefore be made for a Union financial contribution in the form of grants.

(40) The financial interests of the Union should be protected through proportionate measures throughout the expenditure cycle, including the prevention, detection and investigation of irregularities, the recovery of funds lost, wrongly paid or incorrectly used and, where appropriate, administrative and financial penalties.

(41) This Regulation should apply without prejudice to Directive 2003/4/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (18) and Regulations (EC) No 1367/2006 (19) and (EC) No 1049/2001 (20) of the European Parliament and of the Council and in compliance with statistical confidentiality in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 223/2009.

(42) Collaboration and coordination between the authorities within the framework of the ESS should be strengthened to ensure coherence and comparability of European agricultural statistics produced in accordance with the principles laid down in Article 338(2) TFEU. Data are also collected by Union bodies other than those referred to in this Regulation and by other organisations. Cooperation between such bodies and organisations and those involved in the ESS should therefore be reinforced in order to take advantage of synergies.

(43) The ESSC has been consulted,

HAVE ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

Subject matter

This Regulation establishes an integrated framework for aggregated European statistics relating to the input and output of agricultural activities, as well as the intermediate use of such output within agriculture and its collection and processing.

Article 2

Definitions

For the purposes of this Regulation, the definitions of ‘agricultural holding’, ‘common land agricultural unit’, ‘livestock unit’ and ‘utilised agricultural area’, as laid down in Article 2, points (a), (b), (d) and (e), of Regulation (EU) 2018/1091, respectively, apply.

In addition, the following definitions shall apply:

(1) ‘agricultural activity’ means the economic activities undertaken in agriculture in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 1893/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council (21) falling within the scope of groups A.01.1, A.01.2, A.01.3, A.01.4, A.01.5 or within the scope of the ‘maintenance of agricultural land in good agricultural and environmental condition’ of group A.01.6 in the economic territory of the Union, either as its primary or secondary activity; regarding activities of class A.01.49, only the activities ‘Raising and breeding of semi-domesticated or other live animals’ with the exception of raising of insects, and ‘Bee-keeping and production of honey and beeswax’ are included;

(2) ‘dairy enterprise’ means an enterprise or agricultural holding that purchases milk or, in certain cases, milk products, in order to transform them into milk products; it includes also enterprises that collect milk or cream in order to transfer it in whole or in part, without any processing, to other dairy enterprises;

(3) ‘slaughterhouse’ means an officially registered and approved enterprise with permission to slaughter and dress animals, the meat of which is intended for human consumption;

(4) ‘hatchery’ means an enterprise for incubating eggs, hatching and supplying chicks;

(5) ‘observation unit’ means an identifiable entity about which data can be obtained;

(6) ‘domain’ means one or several data sets that cover particular topics;

(7) ‘topic’ means the content of the information to be collected about the observation units; each topic covers one or more detailed topics;

(8) ‘detailed topic’ means the detailed content of the information to be collected about the observation units related to a topic; each detailed topic covers one or more variables;

(9) ‘plant protection products’ means products, in the form in which they are supplied to the user, consisting of, or containing, active substances, as referred to in Article 2(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1107/2009, safeners, as referred to in Article 2(3), point (a), of that Regulation or synergists, as referred to in Article 2(3), point (b), of that Regulation, and intended for one of the uses described in Article 2(1) of that Regulation;

(10) ‘data set’ means one or several aggregated variables organised in a structured form;

(11) ‘variable’ means a characteristic of an observation unit that may assume more than one of a set of values;

(12) ‘pre-checked data’ means data verified by the Member States, based on agreed common validation rules, wherever available;

(13) ‘ad hoc data’ means data that are of a particular interest for users at a specific point in time but that are not included in the regular data sets;

(14) ‘administrative data’ means data generated by a non-statistical source, usually held by a public or private body, the main aim of which is not to provide statistics;

(15) ‘metadata’ means information that is needed to use and interpret statistics and which describes data in a structured way;

(16) ‘professional user’ means any person who uses plant protection products in the course of their professional activities, including operators, technicians, employers and self-employed persons, in the farming sector.

Article 3

Statistical population and observation units

1. The statistical population to be described shall consist of statistical units such as agricultural holdings, common land agricultural units, enterprises providing goods and services related to agricultural activities or buying or collecting products from agricultural activities, and enterprises processing those agricultural products, especially hatcheries, dairy enterprises and slaughterhouses.

2. The observation units to be represented in the statistical frame shall be the statistical units referred to in paragraph 1 and, depending on the statistics to be reported, the following:

(a) land used for agricultural activity;

(b) animals used for agricultural activity;

(d) transactions and flows of production factors, of goods and services to and from agricultural activities.

Article 4

Coverage requirements

1. The statistics shall be representative of the statistical population that they describe.

2. For the domain of animal production statistics as referred to in Article 5(1), point (a), the data shall cover 95 % of the livestock units of each Member State and the related activities or outputs.

3. For the domain of crop production statistics as referred to in Article 5(1), point (b), the data shall cover 95 % of the total utilised agricultural area, excluding kitchen gardens, of each Member State and the related production volumes.

4. For the topic of nutrients in fertilisers for agriculture referred to in Article 5(1), point (d)(i), of this Regulation, the data shall cover the fertilising products as defined in Article 2, point (1) of Regulation (EU) 2019/1009 of the European Parliament and of the Council (22) and 95 % of the total utilised agricultural area, excluding kitchen gardens, of each Member State and the related production volumes.

5. For the domain of statistics on plant protection products as referred to in Article 5(1), point (e), the coverage shall be as follows:

(a) for the detailed topic of plant protection products placed on the market as referred to in the Annex to this Regulation, the data shall cover all plant protection products placed on the market as defined in Article 3, point 9, of Regulation (EC) No 1107/2009;

(b) for the detailed topic of use of plant protection products in agriculture as referred to in the Annex to this Regulation, the data shall cover at least 85 % of the use in an agricultural activity by professional users as defined in Article 3, point (1) of Directive 2009/128/EC, in each Member State. The data from each Member State shall relate to a list of crops containing a common part for all Member States. That common part, together with the permanent grasslands, shall cover at least 75 % of the total utilised agricultural area at Union level. As soon as Union legislation requiring professional users of plant protection products to transmit their records on the use of such products in electronic format to national competent authorities becomes applicable, the coverage of the use in an agricultural activity shall increase to 95 %, starting from the reference year following the date on which that Union legislation becomes applicable.

6. The Commission may adopt implementing acts to further specify the coverage requirements referred to in paragraphs 2 to 5 of this Article. In the event that those specifications are updated, the Commission shall take into account economic and technical trends. Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 19(2) at least 12 months before the beginning of the relevant reference year.

Article 5

Regular data requirements

1. The statistics related to the input and output of agricultural activities shall cover the following domains and topics:

(a) animal production statistics

(i) livestock and meat,

(ii) eggs and chicks,

(iii) milk and milk products;

(b) crop production statistics

(i) crop area and production,

(ii) crop balances,

(iii) grasslands;

(i) agricultural price indices,

(ii) absolute input prices,

(iii) agricultural land prices and rents;

(d) statistics on nutrients

(i) nutrients in fertilisers for agriculture,

(ii) nutrient balances;

(e) statistics on plant protection products

(i) plant protection products.

2. The detailed topics, their corresponding transmission frequencies and reference periods as well as their organic and regional dimensions shall be as set out in the Annex.

3. The data shall be transmitted to the Commission (Eurostat) in the form of aggregated data sets.

4. The data on organic production and products that comply with Regulation (EU) 2018/848 shall be integrated into the data sets.

5. Regional data shall be provided at NUTS 2 level as defined in Regulation (EC) No 1059/2003. By way of exception, those data may be provided only by NUTS 1 territorial units for Germany.

6. Where a variable has low or zero prevalence in a Member State, the values of that variable may be excluded from the transmitted data sets, if the Member State concerned has duly justified its exclusion to the Commission (Eurostat).

7. Relevant price information on agricultural input and output, including the characteristics and weights of the goods and services, shall be collected by Member States for compiling comparable price indices and for the variables necessary for the economic accounts for agriculture covered by Regulation (EC) No 138/2004.

8. The Commission is empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 17 amending, in order to add, delete or modify detailed topics, including their description, as set out in the Annex.

When exercising its power to adopt delegated acts referred to in the first subparagraph, the Commission shall ensure that:

(a) the delegated acts are duly justified and do not impose significant additional burden or costs on the Member States or on the respondents;

(b) over a period of five consecutive years, not more than four detailed topics are amended, out of which not more than one is new;

(c) feasibility studies as set out in Article 11 are launched, where necessary, and their results are duly taken into account.

9. The Commission is empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 17 amending the transmission frequencies, reference periods and the applicability of the dimensions of detailed topics as set out in the Annex.

When exercising its power to adopt delegated acts referred to in the first subparagraph, the Commission shall ensure that:

(a) the delegated acts are duly justified and do not impose significant additional burden or costs on the Member States or on the respondents;

(b) feasibility studies as set out in Article 11 are launched, and their results are duly taken into account.

10. The Commission shall adopt implementing acts to define the data sets to be transmitted to the Commission (Eurostat). Those implementing acts shall specify the following technical elements of the data to be provided, where appropriate:

(a) the list of variables;

(b) the description of variables, including:

(i) the characteristics of the observation unit,

(ii) the measurement unit for the characteristics of the observation unit,

(iii) the organic and regional dimensions for the characteristics of the observation unit;

a variable is counted as a combination of a characteristic of an observation unit with the corresponding measurement unit and one of its dimensions;

(d) the precision requirements;

(e) the methodological rules;

(f) the deadlines for transmitting the data, taking into account the necessary time to produce national data complying with the quality criteria defined in Article 12(1) of Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 and the need to minimise the administrative burden and costs on the Member States and the respondents; the deadlines for transmitting the data shall not be modified before 1 January 2030.

Where the Commission identifies the need to modify the deadlines for transmitting the data, it shall launch feasibility studies as set out in Article 11 of this Regulation and the results of those feasibility studies shall be duly taken into account. When modifying the deadlines for transmitting the data, those deadlines shall not be reduced by more than 20 % of the days which separate the end of the reference period from the deadline for transmitting the data as set out in the first implementing act adopted pursuant to this paragraph, unless the reduction of the deadline for transmitting the data is solely due to the introduction of an innovative approach or the use of new digital data sources, such as Earth observation or big data, available in all Member States.

Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 19(2) at least 12 months before the beginning of the relevant reference year.

11. Where the Commission has adopted a delegated act pursuant to paragraph 8 or 9, except a delegated act amending the organic dimension, the implementing act referred to in paragraph 10 may modify, replace or add a maximum of 90 variables in total over a period of five consecutive years. That maximum limit shall not, however, apply to variables related to the domain of statistics on plant protection products.

12. Member States shall transmit pre-checked data and related metadata using a technical format specified by the Commission (Eurostat) for each data set. The single entry point services shall be used to transmit the data to the Commission (Eurostat).

Article 6

Ad hoc data requirements

1. The Commission is empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 17, supplementing this Regulation by specifying the information to be provided by Member States on an ad hoc basis, where, within the scope of this Regulation, the collection of additional information is deemed necessary for the purpose of addressing additional statistical needs. Those delegated acts shall specify:

(a) the topics and detailed topics related to the domains specified in Article 5 to be provided in the ad hoc data collection and the reasons for such additional statistical needs;

(b) the reference periods.

2. When exercising the power to adopt delegated acts referred to in paragraph 1, the Commission shall justify the data needs, shall assess the feasibility of collecting the required data, using input from relevant experts, and shall ensure that no significant additional burden or costs are imposed on the Member States or on the respondents.

3. The Commission is empowered to adopt delegated acts referred to in paragraph 1 starting from the reference year 2024 and with a minimum of two years between each ad hoc data collection, starting from the deadline for transmitting the data of the latest ad hoc data collection.

4. The Commission shall adopt implementing acts to provide:

(a) a list of variables, not exceeding 50 variables;

(b) the description of variables, including all of the following:

(i) the characteristics of the observation unit,

(ii) the measurement unit for the characteristics of the observation unit,

(iii) the organic and regional dimensions for the characteristics of the observation unit;

a variable is counted as a combination of a characteristic of an observation unit with the corresponding measurement unit and one of its dimensions;

(d) the deadlines for transmitting the data;

(e) the observation units;

(f) the description of the reference period as set out in the delegated act referred to in paragraph 1.

Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 19(2) at least 12 months before the beginning of the relevant reference year.

Article 7

Transmission frequency of the data sets

1. The transmission frequency of the data sets shall be as set out in the Annex. The Commission may adopt implementing acts to further specify each transmission frequency.

2. A Member State may be exempted from sending specific data with the transmission frequencies set out in the Annex for predefined variables in the event that the impact of that Member State on the EU total of those variables is limited.

The Commission may adopt implementing acts setting out the deadlines for transmitting the data and the transmission frequencies concerned, the variables and the relevant thresholds on the basis of which the first subparagraph may be applied. Those thresholds shall be set out in such a way that their application does not reduce the information on the expected EU total of the corresponding variable by more than 5 %. The thresholds shall be revised by the Commission (Eurostat) so that they correspond to the trends of EU totals.

3. For production statistics, a Member State may be exempted from transmissions of specific data for predefined variables in the event that the impact of the variable is limited in relation to the agricultural production at national or regional level. The Commission may adopt implementing acts setting out thresholds for those variables.

4. The implementing acts referred to in paragraphs 1, 2 and 3 of this Article shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 19(2) at least 12 months before the beginning of the relevant reference year.

Article 8

Data sources and methods

1. For the purpose of obtaining statistics related to the input and output of agricultural activities, Member States shall use one or more of the following data sources and methods, provided that the data allow for the production of statistics that meet the quality requirements laid down in Article 10:

(a) statistical surveys or other statistical data collection methods;

(b) the administrative data sources specified in paragraph 2 of this Article;

(c) other administrative data sources based on national law, other sources, methods or innovative approaches, such as digital tools and remote sensors.

2. As regards paragraph 1, point (b), of this Article, Member States may use any data from the following sources:

(a) the integrated administration and control system established by Regulation (EU) 2021/2116 of the European Parliament and of the Council (23), the system for the identification and registration of bovine animals established by Regulation (EC) No 1760/2000 of the European Parliament and of the Council (24), the system for the identification and registration of certain species of kept terrestrial animals required under Regulation (EU) 2016/429 of the European Parliament and of the Council (25), the vineyard register established in accordance with Article 145 of Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council (26), the organic farming registers set up pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2018/848 or any other relevant administrative data of adequate quality for statistical purposes as described in Article 10(3) of this Regulation, defined in Union law;

(b) the records kept in electronic format and referred to in Article 67 of Regulation (EC) No 1107/2009; or

(c) any other relevant administrative data sources provided that such data allow for the production of statistics that meet the quality requirements laid down in Article 10 of this Regulation.

3. Member States which decide to use the sources, methods or innovative approaches referred to in paragraph 1, point (c), shall inform the Commission (Eurostat) during the year preceding the reference year during which the source, method or innovative approach will be used, and shall provide details concerning the quality of the data obtained.

4. National authorities responsible for complying with this Regulation shall have the right to access and use, promptly and free of charge, data, including individual data on enterprises and agricultural holdings in administrative records compiled on their national territory pursuant to Article 17a of Regulation (EC) No 223/2009. The national authorities and the owners of the administrative records shall establish the necessary cooperation mechanisms for such access. That access shall also be granted in cases where the competent authority has delegated tasks to be carried out on its behalf to private or semi-public bodies.

Article 9

Reference period

1. The information collected under this Regulation shall refer to a single reference period that is common to all Member States by means of a reference to the situation during a specified timeframe.

2. The reference period for each detailed topic shall be as specified in the Annex. The first reference periods shall begin in calendar year 2025.

3. For the topic of agriculture price indices referred to in Article 5(1), point (c)(i), Member States shall, every five years, rebase the indices using as base years the years ending with a 0 or a 5.

4. The Commission may adopt implementing acts to further specify the reference periods. Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 19(2) at least 12 months before the beginning of the relevant reference period.

Article 10

Quality requirements and quality reporting

1. Member States shall take the necessary measures to ensure the quality of the data and metadata transmitted.

2. Member States shall ensure that the data obtained using the sources and methods laid down in Article 8 give accurate estimates on the statistical population defined in Article 3 at national level, and, where required, at regional level.

3. For the purpose of this Regulation, the quality criteria defined in Article 12(1) of Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 shall apply.

4. The Commission (Eurostat) shall assess the quality of the data and metadata transmitted to it in a transparent and verifiable way.

5. For the purpose of paragraph 4, each Member State shall transmit to the Commission (Eurostat), for the first time by 30 June 2028, and every three years thereafter, quality reports describing the statistical processes for the data sets transmitted during the period, including in particular:

(a) metadata describing the methodology used and how technical specifications were achieved by reference to those laid down by this Regulation;

(b) information on compliance with the coverage requirements set out in Article 4, including their development and update.

6. By way of derogation from paragraph 5 of this Article, for the topic of agricultural price indices referred to in Article 5(1), point (c)(i), the quality reports shall be transmitted every five years together with the weights and rebased indices, as well as the corresponding separate methodological reports. The first transmission for the quality report on the topic of agricultural price indices shall not be before 31 December 2028.

7. The Commission may adopt implementing acts setting out the practical arrangements for the quality reports and their contents. Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 19(2) and shall not impose a significant additional burden or costs on the Member States.

8. Member States shall, where necessary, inform the Commission (Eurostat) about any relevant information or changes with regard to the implementation of this Regulation that could significantly influence the quality of the transmitted data.

9. At the request of the Commission (Eurostat), Member States shall provide necessary additional clarification to evaluate the quality of the statistical data.

Article 11

Feasibility and pilot studies

1. In accordance with the objectives of this Regulation and where new regular data requirements or the need for major improvement in the current regular data requirements are identified, the Commission (Eurostat) may launch feasibility studies in order to evaluate, where necessary:

(a) the availability and quality of appropriate new data sources;

(b) the development and the implementation of new statistical techniques;

2. Within each particular feasibility study, the Commission (Eurostat) shall assess whether the new statistics can be produced by using the information available in the relevant administrative sources at Union level and shall enhance the use of existing data in accordance with Article 17a of Regulation (EC) No 223/2009.

3. Within a particular feasibility study, the Commission (Eurostat) may, where necessary, launch pilot studies, to be carried out by Member States. The objective of those pilot studies shall be to test the implementation of new requirements in Member States with different methods of statistical production by conducting that implementation on a smaller scale.

4. The Commission (Eurostat), in cooperation with experts from the Member States and the main users of the data sets, shall evaluate the results of the feasibility studies and, where applicable, of pilot studies, accompanied, where appropriate, by proposals for introducing new regular data requirements or improvements referred to in paragraph 1. Following that evaluation, the Commission shall prepare a report on the findings of the feasibility and pilot studies. Those reports shall be made public.

5. While preparing a delegated act referred to in Article 5(8) or (9), the Commission shall duly take into account the results of the feasibility and pilot studies, in particular the feasibility of implementation of new data requirements in all Member States.

Article 12

Dissemination of data

1. Without prejudice to Regulation (EC) No 1367/2006 and in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 223/2009, the Commission (Eurostat) shall disseminate online and free of charge the data transmitted to it in accordance with Articles 5 and 6 of this Regulation.

2. The Commission (Eurostat) shall disseminate, in full respect of commercial and statistical confidentiality, aggregated statistics, falling within the scope of this Regulation, on veterinary medicinal products derived from data provided for in Article 55(2) and Article 57(2) of Regulation (EU) 2019/6.

Article 13

Union contribution

1. As regards the implementation of this Regulation, the Union shall provide grants from the Single Market Programme established by Regulation (EU) 2021/690 of the European Parliament and of the Council (27) and in accordance with Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2018/1046 of the European Parliament and of the Council (28) to the NSIs and other national authorities referred to in Article 5(2) of Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 for:

(a) covering the implementation costs of ad hoc data collections;

(b) building the capacity for using administrative sources to compile statistics required by this Regulation;

(c) carrying out sample surveys to collect data on the use of plant protection products in agriculture for the reference year 2026;

(d) developing methodologies and innovative approaches to adapt data collection systems, including digitally-based solutions, to the requirements of this Regulation;

(e) carrying out the feasibility and pilot studies referred to in Article 11;

(f) covering the costs of developing and implementing methods to reduce the deadlines for transmitting the data.

2. The Union financial contribution under this Article shall not exceed 95 % of the eligible costs.

3. The amount of the Union financial contribution under this Article shall be established in accordance with the rules of the Single Market Programme as part of the annual budgetary procedure, subject to the availability of funding. The budgetary authority shall determine the appropriation available each year.

Article 14

Transitional regime for data on the detailed topic of use of plant protection products in agriculture

1. For the years 2025, 2026 and 2027, the following transitional rules shall apply for the detailed topic of use of plant protection products in agriculture as referred to in the Annex:

(a) by way of derogation from Article 7(1) and Article 9(2), there shall be only one transmission of data for the reference year 2026;

(b) by way of derogation from Article 4(5), point (b), the data shall cover a common list of crops for all Member States providing information on the use of plant protection products in support of the relevant Union policies; that common list of crops shall, together with the permanent grasslands, cover 75 % of the utilised agricultural area at Union level.

The Commission shall adopt implementing acts further specifying the coverage requirements referred to in point (b) of the first subparagraph of this paragraph. Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 19(2) at least 12 months before the beginning of the relevant reference year.

2. From the reference year 2028 onwards, in the absence of Union legislation requiring professional users of plant protection products to keep records on the use of such products in electronic format, that is applicable 12 months before the beginning of a reference year for which data are to be transmitted, the following applies:

(a) by way of derogation from Article 7(1), the transmission frequency shall be every two years;

(b) by way of derogation from Article 4(5), point (b), transitional rules referred to in paragraph 1, point (b), of this Article shall continue to apply.

Article 15

Protection of the financial interests of the Union

1. The Commission shall take appropriate measures to ensure that, when actions financed under this Regulation are implemented, the financial interests of the Union are protected by preventive measures against fraud, corruption and any other illegal activities, by effective checks and, if irregularities are detected, by the recovery of the amounts wrongly paid and, where appropriate, by effective, proportionate and dissuasive administrative and financial penalties.

2. The Commission or its representatives and the Court of Auditors shall have the power of audit, on the basis of documents and on-the-spot checks, over all grant beneficiaries, contractors and subcontractors who have received Union funds under this Regulation.

3. The European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) may carry out investigations, including on-the-spot checks and inspections, in accordance with the provisions and procedures laid down in Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 883/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council (29) and Council Regulation (Euratom, EC) No 2185/96 (30) with a view to establishing whether there has been fraud, corruption or any other illegal activity affecting the financial interests of the Union in connection with a grant agreement or grant decision or contract funded under this Regulation.

4. Without prejudice to paragraphs 1, 2 and 3, cooperation agreements with third countries and with international organisations, contracts, grant agreements and grant decisions resulting from the implementation of this Regulation shall contain provisions expressly empowering the Commission, the Court of Auditors and OLAF to conduct such audits and investigations, in accordance with their respective competences.

Article 16

Derogations

1. Where the application of this Regulation or of the implementing measures and delegated acts adopted pursuant to it necessitates major adaptations of a national statistical system of a Member State, the Commission may adopt implementing acts granting derogations to the Member State concerned for a maximum duration of three years. No derogation shall be granted from the transitional rules for the detailed topic of use of plant protection products in agriculture referred to in Article 14(1).

The relevant Member State shall submit a duly reasoned request for such a derogation to the Commission within three months of the date of the entry into force of the act concerned, explaining what major adaptations of the national statistical system are needed and providing an estimated timeline for such adaptations.

The impact of derogations granted under this Article on the comparability of Member States’ data or on the calculation of the required timely and representative European aggregates shall be kept to a minimum. The burden on respondents and Member States shall be taken into account by the Commission when granting the derogation.

2. The implementing acts referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 19(2).

Article 17

Exercise of the delegation

1. The power to adopt delegated acts is conferred on the Commission subject to the conditions laid down in this Article.

2. The power to adopt delegated acts referred to in Article 5(8) and (9) and Article 6(1) shall be conferred on the Commission for a period of five years from 27 December 2022. The Commission shall draw up a report in respect of the delegation of power not later than nine months before the end of the five-year period. The delegation of power shall be tacitly extended for periods of an identical duration, unless the European Parliament or the Council opposes such extension not later than three months before the end of each period.

3. The delegation of power referred to in Article 5(8) and (9) and Article 6(1) may be revoked at any time by the European Parliament or by the Council. A decision to revoke shall put an end to the delegation of the power specified in that decision. It shall take effect on the day following that of the publication of the decision in the

Official Journal of the European Union

or at a later date specified therein. It shall not affect the validity of any delegated acts already in force.

4. Before adopting a delegated act, the Commission shall consult experts designated by each Member State in accordance with the principles laid down in the Interinstitutional Agreement of 13 April 2016 on Better Law-Making.

5. As soon as it adopts a delegated act, the Commission shall notify it simultaneously to the European Parliament and to the Council.

6. A delegated act adopted pursuant to Article 5(8) and (9) and Article 6(1) shall enter into force only if no objection has been expressed either by the European Parliament or by the Council within a period of two months of notification of that act to the European Parliament and the Council or if, before the expiry of that period, the European Parliament and the Council have both informed the Commission that they will not object. That period shall be extended by two months at the initiative of the European Parliament or of the Council.

Article 18

Reporting

By 31 December 2029 and every five years thereafter, the Commission shall submit a report on the implementation of this Regulation to the European Parliament and the Council.

Article 19

Committee procedure

1. The Commission shall be assisted by the European Statistical System Committee established by Regulation (EC) No 223/2009. That committee shall be a committee within the meaning of Regulation (EU) No 182/2011.

2. Where reference is made to this paragraph, Article 5 of Regulation (EU) No 182/2011 shall apply.

Article 20

Amendments to Regulation (EC) No 617/2008

Regulation (EC) No 617/2008 is amended as follows:

(1) in Article 8, paragraphs 3, 4 and 5 are deleted;

(2) Article 11 is deleted;

(3) Annexes III and IV are deleted.

Article 21

Repeal

1. Regulations (EC) No 1165/2008, (EC) No 543/2009 and (EC) No 1185/2009 and Directive 96/16/EC are repealed with effect from 1 January 2025 without prejudice to the obligations set out in those legal acts concerning the transmission of data and metadata, including quality reports, with regard to reference periods that fall, in whole or in part, before that date.

2. References to the repealed acts shall be construed as references to this Regulation.

Article 22

Entry into force

This Regulation shall enter into force on the twentieth day following that of its publication in the

Official Journal of the European Union

It shall apply from 1 January 2025.

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

Done at Strasbourg, 23 November 2022.

For the European Parliament

The President

R. METSOLA

For the Council

The President

M. BEK

(1) Position of the European Parliament of 4 October 2022 (not yet published in the Official Journal) and decision of the Council of 8 November 2022.

(2) Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 March 2009 on European statistics and repealing Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1101/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the transmission of data subject to statistical confidentiality to the Statistical Office of the European Communities, Council Regulation (EC) No 322/97 on Community Statistics, and Council Decision 89/382/EEC, Euratom establishing a Committee on the Statistical Programmes of the European Communities (

OJ L 87, 31.3.2009, p. 164

(3) Regulation (EU) 2018/1091 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 July 2018 on integrated farm statistics and repealing Regulations (EC) No 1166/2008 and (EU) No 1337/2011 (

OJ L 200, 7.8.2018, p. 1

(4) Regulation (EC) No 1165/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 November 2008 concerning livestock and meat statistics and repealing Council Directives 93/23/EEC, 93/24/EEC and 93/25/EEC (

OJ L 321, 1.12.2008, p. 1

(5) Regulation (EC) No 543/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 June 2009 concerning crop statistics and repealing Council Regulations (EEC) No 837/90 and (EEC) No 959/93 (

OJ L 167, 29.6.2009, p. 1

(6) Regulation (EC) No 1185/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 November 2009 concerning statistics on pesticides (

OJ L 324, 10.12.2009, p. 1

(7) Council Directive 96/16/EC of 19 March 1996 on statistical surveys of milk and milk products (

OJ L 78, 28.3.1996, p. 27

(8) Commission Regulation (EC) No 617/2008 of 27 June 2008 laying down detailed rules for implementing Regulation (EC) No 1234/2007 as regards marketing standards for eggs for hatching and farmyard poultry chicks (

OJ L 168, 28.6.2008, p. 5

(9) Regulation (EC) No 138/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 December 2003 on the economic accounts for agriculture in the Community (

OJ L 33, 5.2.2004, p. 1

(10) Directive 2009/128/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 October 2009 establishing a framework for Community action to achieve the sustainable use of pesticides (

OJ L 309, 24.11.2009, p. 71

(11) Regulation (EC) No 1107/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 October 2009 concerning the placing of plant protection products on the market and repealing Council Directives 79/117/EEC and 91/414/EEC (

OJ L 309, 24.11.2009, p. 1

(12) Regulation (EU) 2018/848 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2018 on organic production and labelling of organic products and repealing Council Regulation (EC) No 834/2007 (

OJ L 150, 14.6.2018, p. 1

(13) 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) (

OJ L 154, 21.6.2003, p. 1

(14) Regulation (EU) 2019/6 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 December 2018 on veterinary medicinal products and repealing Directive 2001/82/EC (

OJ L 4, 7.1.2019, p. 43

(15) Regulation (EU) No 528/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 May 2012 concerning the making available on the market and use of biocidal products (

OJ L 167, 27.6.2012, p. 1

(16)

OJ L 123, 12.5.2016, p. 1

(17) Regulation (EU) No 182/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 February 2011 laying down the rules and general principles concerning mechanisms for control by Member States of the Commission’s exercise of implementing powers (

OJ L 55, 28.2.2011, p. 13

(18) Directive 2003/4/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 28 January 2003 on public access to environmental information and repealing Council Directive 90/313/EEC (

OJ L 41, 14.2.2003, p. 26

(19) Regulation (EC) No 1367/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 6 September 2006 on the application of the provisions of the Aarhus Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters to Union institutions and bodies (

OJ L 264, 25.9.2006, p. 13

(20) Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2001 regarding public access to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents (

OJ L 145, 31.5.2001, p. 43

(21) Regulation (EC) No 1893/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 December 2006 establishing the statistical classification of economic activities NACE Revision 2 and amending Council Regulation (EEC) No 3037/90 as well as certain EC Regulations on specific statistical domains (

OJ L 393, 30.12.2006, p. 1

(22) Regulation (EU) 2019/1009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 June 2019 laying down rules on the making available on the market of EU fertilising products and amending Regulations (EC) No 1069/2009 and (EC) No 1107/2009 and repealing Regulation (EC) No 2003/2003 (

OJ L 170, 25.6.2019, p. 1

(23) Regulation (EU) 2021/2116 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 2 December 2021 on the financing, management and monitoring of the common agricultural policy and repealing Regulation (EU) No 1306/2013 (

OJ L 435, 6.12.2021, p. 187

(24) Regulation (EC) No 1760/2000 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 July 2000 establishing a system for the identification and registration of bovine animals and regarding the labelling of beef and beef products and repealing Council Regulation (EC) No 820/97 (

OJ L 204, 11.8.2000, p. 1

(25) Regulation (EU) 2016/429 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 9 March 2016 on transmissible animal diseases and amending and repealing certain acts in the area of animal health (Animal Health Law) (

OJ L 84, 31.3.2016, p. 1

(26) Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 December 2013 establishing a common organisation of the markets in agricultural products and repealing Council Regulations (EEC) No 922/72, (EEC) No 234/79, (EC) No 1037/2001 and (EC) No 1234/2007 (

OJ L 347, 20.12.2013, p. 671

(27) Regulation (EU) 2021/690 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 28 April 2021 establishing a programme for the internal market, competitiveness of enterprises, including small and medium-sized enterprises, the area of plants, animals, food and feed, and European statistics (Single Market Programme) and repealing Regulations (EU) No 99/2013, (EU) No 1287/2013, (EU) No 254/2014 and (EU) No 652/2014 (

OJ L 153, 3.5.2021, p. 1

(28) Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2018/1046 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 July 2018 on the financial rules applicable to the general budget of the Union, amending Regulations (EU) No 1296/2013, (EU) No 1301/2013, (EU) No 1303/2013, (EU) No 1304/2013, (EU) No 1309/2013, (EU) No 1316/2013, (EU) No 223/2014, (EU) No 283/2014, and Decision No 541/2014/EU and repealing Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 966/2012 (

OJ L 193, 30.7.2018, p. 1

(29) Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 883/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 September 2013 concerning investigations conducted by the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) and repealing Regulation (EC) No 1073/1999 of the European Parliament and of the Council and Council Regulation (Euratom) No 1074/1999 (

OJ L 248, 18.9.2013, p. 1

(30) Council Regulation (Euratom, EC) No 2185/96 of 11 November 1996 concerning on the-spot checks and inspections carried out by the Commission in order to protect the European Communities’ financial interests against fraud and other irregularities (

OJ L 292, 15.11.1996, p. 2

ANNEX

DOMAINS, TOPICS AND DETAILED TOPICS, AND TRANSMISSION FREQUENCIES, REFERENCE PERIODS AND DIMENSIONS PER DETAILED TOPIC

(a) Animal production statistics

Topic	Detailed topics	Transmission frequencies	Reference periods	Dimensions
Topic	Detailed topics	Transmission frequencies	Reference periods	Organic farming	Regional level
Livestock and meat	Livestock populations The data shall cover the number of animals held by agricultural holdings on the territory of a Member State on the reference date or on average over the reference period.	Twice per year	Date in the period May/June
		Twice per year	Date in the period November/December	Applicable	Applicable
		Annually	Date in the period November/December	Applicable	Applicable
		Annually	Year	Applicable	Applicable
		Three times per decade	Year
	Meat production The data shall cover the weights of the carcasses and numbers of the animals slaughtered on the territory of a Member State during the reference period, whether in slaughterhouses or not, and that are fit for human consumption.	Monthly	Month
		Annually	Year	Applicable
	Animal delivery The data shall cover the gross indigenous production (GIP) forecast, meaning the number of animals expected to be delivered by the framework of agricultural holdings of a Member State, either abroad or to the slaughterhouses in the Member State.	Twice per year	Four quarters
		Twice per year	Three half years
		Annually	Two half years
Eggs and chicks	Eggs for consumption The data shall cover the number of eggs for consumption collected on the agricultural holdings in a Member State during the reference period. Those eggs may be delivered to packing centres, directly sold to consumers or agri-food industry, consumed on the agricultural holding or lost after leaving the agricultural holding.	Annually	Year	Applicable
		Three times per decade	Year	Applicable
	Eggs for hatching and farmyard poultry chicks The data shall cover the number of eggs placed in incubation and the number of chicks produced in the hatcheries of a Member State with a capacity of over 1 000 eggs and during the reference period, as well as the numbers of chicks imported to or exported by that Member State.	Monthly	Month
	Structure of hatcheries The data shall cover the structure of the hatcheries, described by the numbers of hatcheries in a Member State and their capacity broken down by capacity classes during the reference period.	Annually	Year
Milk and milk products	Milk produced and used on the agricultural holdings The data shall cover the quantity of milk from cows, ewes, goats and buffaloes produced on, and the quantities of dairy products directly used (not delivered to a dairy enterprise in the Member State), by the agricultural holdings of a Member State during the reference period.	Annually	Year	Applicable	Applicable
	Milk availabilities to the dairy sector The data shall cover the quantity of milk collected by the dairy enterprises of a Member State during the reference period from agricultural holdings, whether or not they are located in that Member State. They shall also cover the quantity of milk and dairy materials available to the dairy sector, such as the quantities of collected milk, of imported milk and dairy materials, and of other dairy products collected from agricultural holdings, by the dairy enterprises of a Member State during the reference period.	Annually	Year	Applicable
	Uses of milk and dairy materials by the dairy sector and resulting products The data shall cover the quantities of whole and skimmed milk used by the dairy enterprises of a Member State during the reference period for processing the various dairy products or, in the case of dairy material, of the quantities of whole and skimmed milk equivalent. Those quantities may be directly measured or estimated based on the milk fat and milk protein contents of the dairy products (output) or on the milk fat and milk protein contents of the dairy materials (input).	Annually	Year	Applicable
	Monthly uses of cows’ milk by the dairy sector The data shall cover the quantities of dairy products (or of butter equivalent, in the case of total butter and other yellow fat dairy products) processed from cows’ milk that were produced by the dairy enterprises in a Member State during the reference period, excluding dairy materials.	Monthly	Month
	Structure of the dairy enterprises The data shall cover the number of dairy enterprises in a Member State in operation on 31 December of the reference year, classified according to the volumes of the relevant products collected, treated or produced.	Three times per decade	Year

(b) Crop production statistics

Topic	Detailed topics	Transmission frequencies	Reference periods	Dimensions
Topic	Detailed topics	Transmission frequencies	Reference periods	Organic farming	Regional level
Crop area and production	Arable crops and permanent grassland The data shall cover early estimates and final statistics on the areas, production and yield of the arable agricultural crops and permanent grasslands, grown to be harvested mainly in the reference period, on the agricultural holdings in the Member States.	Sub-annually	Year
		Annually	Year	Applicable	Applicable
	Horticulture excluding permanent crops The data shall cover early estimates and final statistics on the areas, production and yield of the horticultural crops grown to be harvested in the reference period on the agricultural holdings in the Member States.	Sub-annually	Year
		Annually	Year	Applicable
	Permanent crops The data shall cover early estimates and final statistics on the areas, production and yield of the permanent agricultural crops grown to be harvested mainly in the reference period on the agricultural holdings in the Member States.	Sub-annually	Year
		Annually	Year	Applicable	Applicable
Crop balances	Cereal balances The data shall cover the supplies, uses and stocks of the main cereals and the first level resulting products in the Member States during the reference period.	Annually	Year
Crop balances	Oil seed balances The data shall cover the supplies, uses and stocks of the main oil seeds in the Member States during the reference period.	Annually	Year
Grasslands	Management of grasslands The data shall cover the areas of permanent and temporary grasslands classified by age, cover, and management in the Member States during the reference period.	Three times per decade	Year

(c) Agricultural price statistics

Topic	Detailed topics	Transmission frequencies	Reference periods	Dimensions
Topic	Detailed topics	Transmission frequencies	Reference periods	Organic farming	Regional level
Agricultural price indices	Early and achieved indices The data shall provide agricultural price indices that represent the changes in the absolute prices of agricultural products and inputs in the Member State during the reference period, by comparison with the base year.	Quarterly	Quarter
		Annually	Year
	Weights and rebased indices The data necessary to allow early and achieved indices to be rebased.	Every five years	Quarter
		Every five years	Year

Absolute input prices	Fertilisers The data set shall cover the average purchase prices for the fertiliser products and the related country weighting values.	Annually	Year
		Every five years(1)	Year
	Feeding stuff The data set shall cover the purchase prices for feeding stuffs and the related country weighting values.	Annually	Year
		Every five years(1)	Year
	Energy The data set shall cover the purchase prices for energy products used in agriculture and the related country weighting values.	Annually	Year
		Every five years(1)	Year
Agricultural land prices and rents	Agricultural land prices The data set shall cover the average selling price of agricultural land as reflected in transactions in the Member State during the reference period.	Annually	Year
Agricultural land prices and rents	Agricultural land rents The data set shall cover the average rental price for agricultural land in the Member State over the reference period.	Annually	Year

(d) Statistics on nutrients

Topic	Detailed topics	Transmission frequencies	Reference periods	Dimensions
Topic	Detailed topics	Transmission frequencies	Reference periods	Organic farming	Regional level
Nutrients in fertilisers for agriculture	Inorganic fertilisers for agriculture The data shall cover the quantities of nutrients in the inorganic fertilisers used in agriculture during the reference period in a Member State.	Annually	Year
Nutrients in fertilisers for agriculture	Organic fertilisers for agriculture The data shall cover the organic fertilisers (excluding animal manure) used in agriculture during the reference period in a Member State and the respective nutrient content coefficients.	Every three years	Year
Nutrient balances	Crop and forage nutrient contents coefficients The data shall cover the nutrient content coefficients representing the average amount of nutrients in a tonne of harvested produce of a crop.	Every five years	Year
	Crop residue volumes and nutrient content coefficients The data shall cover the average annual quantities of crop residues and the respective nutrient content coefficients.	Every five years	Year
	Biological nitrogen fixation coefficients The data shall cover the biological nitrogen fixation coefficients for leguminous crops and legume grass mixtures.	Every five years	Year
	Atmospheric nitrogen deposition coefficients The data shall cover the atmospheric nitrogen deposition coefficients per hectare of utilised agricultural area.	Every five years	Year
	Seed nutrient content coefficients The data shall cover the nutrient content coefficients in the seeds per hectare of planted area.	Every five years	Year
	Livestock nutrient excretion coefficients The data shall cover the coefficients of nutrients excreted by animals used for agricultural activity.	Every five years	Year
	Livestock manure withdrawal volumes and nutrient content coefficients The data shall cover the average annual manure withdrawals and the respective nutrient content coefficients.	Every five years	Year

(e) Statistics on plant protection products

Topic	Detailed topics	Transmission frequencies	Reference periods	Dimensions
				Organic farming	Regional level
Plant protection products	Plant protection products placed on the market The data shall cover all active substances in all plant protection products placed on the market in a Member State during the reference period, including those that are placed on the market under a parallel trade permit and/or under emergency authorisations.	Annually	Year
	Use of plant protection products in agriculture The data shall cover the crop areas on agricultural holdings in a Member State treated with plant protection products and the quantities of all active substances used during the reference period, including those used under an emergency authorisation.	Annually	Year	Applicable

(1) This refers to the transmission frequency of the related country weighting values.