Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1287/2003Show full title

Chapter III U.K. Procedures and checks on the calculation of GNI

Article 4 U.K.

1. The Commission shall be assisted by a committee, hereinafter referred to as the "GNI Committee", composed of representatives of the Member States and chaired by the representative of the Commission.

2. Where reference is made to this paragraph, Articles 5 and 7 of Decision 1999/468/EC shall apply.

The period laid down in Article 5(6) of Decision 1999/468/EC shall be set at three months.

3. The Committee shall adopt its rules of procedure.

Article 5 U.K.

1. The Commission shall verify the sources and methods used by Member States to calculate GNI. Measures to make GNI data more comparable, reliable and exhaustive shall be adopted in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 4(2).

2. The GNI Committee shall examine questions raised by its Chairman, either on his own initiative or at the request of the representative of a Member State, relating to the implementation of this Regulation, in particular with regard to:

(a) compliance each year with the definitions referred to in Article 1;

(b) the examination each year of the data forwarded under the terms of Article 2(2) and the information forwarded under the terms of Article 2(3) concerning the statistical sources and the procedures for calculating GNI and its components. This examination shall lead to a GNI Committee opinion on the appropriateness of Member States' GNI data for own resource purposes with respect to reliability, comparability and exhaustiveness. This opinion will indicate the main documents on which the examination is based. Reliability, comparability and exhaustiveness of GNI and its components must be assessed taking account of the cost-benefit principle.

In this context, the cost-benefit principle entails a judgment on the potential size and significance of specific activities or transactions based on whatever information is available. This information is often qualitative, though it may be quantitative in some cases. The Commission (Eurostat) examines the comparability in the treatment of similar cases in the Member States and reports to the GNI Committee on all cases where the cost-benefit principle is considered to apply. The application of this principle should avoid committing disproportionate resources to calculate insignificant items;

(c) expressing its views, without prejudice to Article 4, on Commission proposals aiming to improve GNI calculations, including interpreting ESA 95 definitions where necessary and quantifying the impact of these proposals on GNI.

3. The GNI Committee shall dedicate particular efforts to the improvement of Member States' GNI compilation practices and to the dissemination of best practices in this domain.

It shall also deal with questions relating to the revision of GNI data and the problem of the exhaustiveness of GNI.

It shall, if necessary, suggest to the Commission measures to make GNI data more comparable and more reliable.

Article 6 U.K.

Without prejudice to the inspections provided for in Article 19 of Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1150/2000(1), joint GNI information visits may, where deemed appropriate, be carried out in Member States by the Commission's services and representatives from other Member States in consultation with the Member States visited. The participation of Member States in these visits is voluntary.

(1)

OJ L 130, 31.5.2000, p. 1.