Regulation (EC) No 1059/2003 of the European Parliament and of the CouncilShow full title

[F1 Article 1 U.K. Subject matter

1. This Regulation establishes a common statistical classification of territorial units (NUTS), in order to enable the collection, compilation and dissemination of European statistics at different territorial levels of the Union.

2. The NUTS classification is set out in Annex I.

3. Local administrative units (LAU), as referred to in Article 4, shall complement the NUTS classification.

4. Statistical grids, as referred to in Article 4a, shall complement the NUTS classification. Those statistical grids shall be used to calculate population-based territorial typologies.

5. Union territorial typologies, as referred to in Article 4b, shall complement the NUTS classification by attributing types to the territorial units.]

Textual Amendments

F1 Substituted by Regulation (EU) 2017/2391 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 December 2017 amending Regulation (EC) No 1059/2003 as regards the territorial typologies (Tercet).

Article 2 U.K. Structure

1. The NUTS classification subdivides the economic territory of the Member States, as defined in Decision 91/450/EEC, into territorial units. It ascribes to each territorial unit a specific code and name.

2. The NUTS classification is hierarchical. It subdivides each Member State into NUTS level 1 territorial units, each of which is subdivided into NUTS level 2 territorial units, these in turn each being subdivided into NUTS level 3 territorial units.

3. However, a particular territorial unit may be classified at several NUTS levels.

4. At the same NUTS level, two different territorial units in the same Member State may not be identified by the same name. If two territorial units in different Member States have the same name, the country identifier is added to the territorial units' names.

F2 5. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Textual Amendments

F2 Deleted by Regulation (EU) 2017/2391 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 December 2017 amending Regulation (EC) No 1059/2003 as regards the territorial typologies (Tercet).

Article 3 U.K. Classification criteria

1. Existing administrative units within the Member States shall constitute the first criterion used for the definition of territorial units.

To this end, ‘administrative unit’ shall mean a geographical area with an administrative authority that has the power to take administrative or policy decisions for that area within the legal and institutional framework of the Member State.

2. In order to establish the relevant NUTS level in which a given class of administrative units in a Member State is to be classified, the average size of this class of administrative units in the Member State shall lie within the following population thresholds:

Level	Minimum	Maximum
NUTS 1	3 million	7 million
NUTS 2	800 000	3 million
NUTS 3	150 000	800 000

If the population of a whole Member State is below the minimum threshold for a given NUTS level, the whole Member State shall be one NUTS territorial unit for this level.

3. For the purpose of this Regulation, the population of a territorial unit shall consist of those persons who have their usual place of residence in this area.

[F1 4. The existing administrative units used for the NUTS classification are set out in Annex II. The Commission shall be empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 7a to amend Annex II on the basis of the changes in the administrative units that have been communicated to it by the Member State concerned in accordance with Article 5(1).]

5. If for a given level of NUTS no administrative units of a suitable scale exist in a Member State, in accordance with the criteria referred to in paragraph 2, this NUTS level shall be constituted by aggregating an appropriate number of existing smaller contiguous administrative units. This aggregation shall take into consideration such relevant criteria as geographical, socio-economic, historical, cultural or environmental circumstances.

The resulting aggregated units shall hereinafter be referred to as ‘non-administrative units’. The size of the non-administrative units in a Member State for a given NUTS level shall lie within the population thresholds referred to in paragraph 2.

[F1 Some non-administrative units may, however, deviate from those thresholds because of particular geographical, socioeconomic, historical, cultural or environmental circumstances, especially in the islands and the outermost regions.]

Textual Amendments

F1 Substituted by Regulation (EU) 2017/2391 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 December 2017 amending Regulation (EC) No 1059/2003 as regards the territorial typologies (Tercet).

[F1 Article 4 U.K. Local administrative units

1. In each Member State, local administrative units (LAU) shall subdivide NUTS level 3 into one or two further levels of territorial units. At least one of the LAU levels shall be an administrative unit as defined in Article 3(1) and as set out in Annex III. The Commission shall be empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 7a to amend the list of LAU in Annex III on the basis of the changes in the administrative units that have been communicated to it by the Member State concerned in accordance with Article 5(1).

2. Within the first six months of each year, Member States shall transmit to the Commission (Eurostat), with reference to 31 December of the previous year, the list of LAU indicating any changes and the NUTS 3 region to which they belong. In doing so it shall follow the electronic data format requested by the Commission (Eurostat).

3. The Commission (Eurostat) shall publish the list of LAU in the dedicated section of its website by 31 December of each year.]

Textual Amendments

F1 Substituted by Regulation (EU) 2017/2391 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 December 2017 amending Regulation (EC) No 1059/2003 as regards the territorial typologies (Tercet).

[F3 Article 4a U.K. Statistical grids

The Commission (Eurostat) shall maintain and publish a system of statistical grids at Union level in the dedicated section of its website. The statistical grids shall conform to the specifications laid down in Commission Regulation (EU) No 1089/2010 (1) .

Textual Amendments

F3 Inserted by Regulation (EU) 2017/2391 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 December 2017 amending Regulation (EC) No 1059/2003 as regards the territorial typologies (Tercet).

Article 4b U.K. Union territorial typologies

1. The Commission (Eurostat) shall maintain and publish in the dedicated section of its website Union typologies composed of territorial units at the levels of NUTS, LAU and grid cells.

2. The grid-based typology shall be established at the 1 km ² grid resolution level as follows:

• ‘ urban centres ’ ,

• ‘ urban clusters ’ ,

• ‘ rural grid cells ’ .

3. The following typologies shall be established at LAU level:

(a) degree of urbanisation (DEGURBA):

• (a) ‘ Urban areas ’ :

  • ‘ Cities ’ or ‘ Densely populated areas ’ ,

  • ‘ Towns and suburbs ’ or ‘ Intermediate density areas ’ ,

• ‘ Rural areas ’ or ‘ Thinly populated areas ’ ;

(b) functional urban areas:

• (b) ‘ Cities ’ plus their ‘ Commuting zones ’ ;

(c) coastal areas:

• (c) ‘ Coastal areas ’ ,

• ‘ Non-coastal areas ’ .

If there is more than one administrative level of LAU in a Member State, the Commission (Eurostat) shall consult that Member State to determine the administrative level of LAU that shall be used for the attribution of typologies.

4. The following typologies and labels shall be established at NUTS level 3:

(a) urban-rural typology:

• (a) ‘ Predominantly urban regions ’ ,

• ‘ Intermediate regions ’ ,

• ‘ Predominantly rural regions ’ ;

(b) metropolitan typology:

• (b) ‘ Metropolitan regions ’ ,

• ‘ Non-metropolitan regions ’ ;

(c) coastal typology:

• (c) ‘ Coastal regions ’ ,

• ‘ Non-coastal regions ’ .

5. The Commission shall, by means of implementing acts, set out uniform conditions for the harmonised application of the typologies at Union level. Those conditions shall describe the method according to which the typologies will be assigned to the individual LAU and NUTS level 3 regions. When applying the uniform conditions, the Commission shall take into account geographical, socioeconomic, historical, cultural and environmental circumstances. Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 7.]

Textual Amendments

F3 Inserted by Regulation (EU) 2017/2391 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 December 2017 amending Regulation (EC) No 1059/2003 as regards the territorial typologies (Tercet).

Article 5 U.K. Amendments to NUTS

1. The Member States shall inform the Commission of:

(a) all changes that have occurred in administrative units, in so far as they may affect the NUTS classification, as laid down in Annex I, or the contents of Annexes II and III;

(b) all other changes at the national level that may affect the NUTS classification, in accordance with the classification criteria laid down in Article 3.

2. Changes to NUTS level 3 boundaries due to changes of smaller administrative units as laid down in Annex III:

(a) shall not be considered as amendments of NUTS if they involve a population transfer equal to or less than one percent of the NUTS 3 territorial units concerned;

(b) shall be considered as amendments of NUTS, in accordance with paragraph 3 of this Article, if they involve a population transfer of more than one percent of the NUTS 3 territorial units concerned.

3. Amendments to the NUTS for the non-administrative units in a Member State, as referred to in Article 3(5), may be made if, at the NUTS level in question, the amendment reduces the standard deviation of the size in terms of population of all EU territorial units.

[F1 4. Amendments to the NUTS classification in Annex I shall be adopted in the second half of the calendar year, every three years at the earliest, on the basis of the criteria set out in Article 3. Nevertheless, if there is a substantial reorganisation of the relevant administrative structure of a Member State, such amendments to the NUTS classification may be adopted at shorter intervals.

The Commission shall be empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 7a to amend the NUTS classification referred to in the first subparagraph of this paragraph on the basis of the changes in the territorial units that have been communicated to it by the Member State concerned in accordance with paragraph 1 of this Article. Regional data which the Member States send to the Commission (Eurostat) shall be based on the amended NUTS classification starting from 1 January of the second year after the adoption of that delegated act.]

[F1 5. In the event that the Commission adopts a delegated act as referred to in paragraph 4, the Member State concerned shall transmit to the Commission (Eurostat) the time series for the new regional breakdown, to replace data already transmitted. The Member State concerned shall transmit these time series by 1 January of the fourth year after the adoption of that delegated act.

The Commission shall, by means of implementing acts, set out uniform conditions for time series and their length, taking into account the feasibility of providing them. Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 7.]

Textual Amendments

F1 Substituted by Regulation (EU) 2017/2391 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 December 2017 amending Regulation (EC) No 1059/2003 as regards the territorial typologies (Tercet).

Article 6 U.K. Management

The Commission shall take the necessary measures to ensure the consistent management of the NUTS classification. In particular, such measures may include:

(a)

drafting and updating of explanatory notes on NUTS;

(b)

examination of problems arising from the implementation of NUTS in the Member States' classifications of territorial units.

[F1 Article 7 U.K. Committee procedure

1. The Commission shall be assisted by the European Statistical System Committee. 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.]

Textual Amendments

F1 Substituted by Regulation (EU) 2017/2391 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 December 2017 amending Regulation (EC) No 1059/2003 as regards the territorial typologies (Tercet).

[F3 Article 7a U.K. 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 Articles 3(4), 4(1) and 5(4) shall be conferred on the Commission for a period of five years from 18 January 2018 . 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 Articles 3(4), 4(1) and 5(4) may be revoked at any time by the European Parliament or by the Council. A decision of revocation shall put an end to the delegation of the power specified in that decision. It shall take effect on the day following 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 Articles 3(4), 4(1) and 5(4) 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.]

Textual Amendments

F3 Inserted by Regulation (EU) 2017/2391 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 December 2017 amending Regulation (EC) No 1059/2003 as regards the territorial typologies (Tercet).

F2 Article 8 U.K. [F2 Reporting]

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Textual Amendments

F2 Deleted by Regulation (EU) 2017/2391 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 December 2017 amending Regulation (EC) No 1059/2003 as regards the territorial typologies (Tercet).

Article 9 U.K. Entry into force

This Regulation shall enter into force on the 20th day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

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