Regulation (EC) No 451/2008 of the European Parliament and of the CouncilShow full title

Article 1 Subject matter and scope

1. This Regulation establishes a new common CPA within the Community in order to ensure relevance with respect to the economic reality and comparability between national, Community and international classifications and hence national, Community and international statistics.

2. The term ‘product’ shall refer to outputs of economic activities, whether goods or services.

3. This Regulation shall apply to the use of the classification for statistical purposes only.

Article 2 The levels and the structure of the CPA

1. The CPA shall comprise:

(a) a first level, comprising headings identified by an alphabetical code (sections);

(b) a second level, comprising headings identified by a two-digit numerical code (divisions);

(c) a third level, comprising headings identified by a three-digit numerical code (groups);

(d) a fourth level, comprising headings identified by a four-digit numerical code (classes);

(e) a fifth level, comprising headings identified by a five-digit numerical code (categories); and

(f) a sixth level, comprising headings identified by a six-digit numerical code (subcategories).

2. The CPA is set out in the Annex.

Article 3 Use of the CPA

The Commission shall use the CPA for all statistics classified according to products by activity.

Article 4 National classifications of products by economic activity

1. Member States may use the CPA for aggregated or detailed, national, specific or functional adaptation based on the subcategories of the CPA.

2. Those classifications shall be related to the CPA in accordance with the following rules:

(a) classifications that are more aggregated than the CPA shall comprise precise aggregations of CPA subcategories;

(b) classifications that are more detailed than the CPA shall comprise headings that are wholly contained within CPA subcategories.

The classifications that are derived in accordance with this paragraph may have a different coding.

3. Member States may use a national classification of products by economic activity derived from the CPA. In such a case, they shall forward to the Commission drafts defining their national classification. Within three months after receiving such a draft, the Commission shall verify the conformity of the envisaged national classification with paragraph 2 and shall transmit it to the other Member States for information. The Member States’ national classifications shall include a table of correspondence with the CPA.

Article 5 Commission activities

The Commission, in cooperation with the Member States, shall ensure the dissemination, maintenance and promotion of the CPA, in particular by:

(a)

drafting, updating and publishing explanatory notes relating to the CPA;

(b)

drawing up and publishing guidelines for the application of the CPA;

(c)

publishing tables of correspondence between the new version and the previous version of the CPA; the previous version and the new version of the CPA; and the CPA and the Combined Nomenclature (CN), which is reproduced in Annex I to Council Regulation (EEC) No 2658/87 of 23 July 1987 on the tariff and statistical nomenclature and on the Common Customs Tariff(1); and

(d)

working to improve consistency with other classifications.

Article 6 Implementing measures

1. The following measures, designed to implement and update this Regulation, shall be adopted in accordance with the regulatory procedure referred to in Article 7(2):

(a) decisions required in case of problems arising from implementing the CPA, including the assignment of products to specific classes; and

(b) technical measures ensuring a fully coordinated transition from the previous version of the CPA.

2. The following measures, designed to amend non-essential elements of this Regulation, inter alia, by supplementing it, shall be adopted in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny referred to in Article 7(3):

(a) amendments to the CPA designed to take account of technological or economic developments; and

(b) amendments to the CPA designed to align it with other economic and social classifications.

3. Consideration is to be given to the principle that the benefits of updating the CPA must outweigh its costs, and to the principle that additional costs and burden remain within a reasonable limit.

Article 7 Committee

1. The Commission shall be assisted by the Statistical Programme Committee.

2. Where reference is made to this paragraph, Articles 5 and 7 of Decision 1999/468/EC shall apply, having regard to the provisions of Article 8 thereof.

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

3. Where reference is made to this paragraph, Article 5a(1) to (4) and Article 7 of Decision 1999/468/EC shall apply, having regard to the provisions of Article 8 thereof.

Article 8 Repeal of Regulation (EEC) No 3696/93

Regulation (EEC) No 3696/93 shall be repealed with effect from 1 January 2008.

Article 9 Entry into force

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

It shall apply from 1 January 2008.

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

Done at Strasbourg, 23 April 2008.

For the European Parliament

The President

H.-G. Pöttering

For the Council

The President

J. Lenarčič