PRESS RELEASE

Subject :

The Governments of the Member States and the European Commission were represented as follows:

The new Directive, which is subject to the co-decision procedure with the European Parliament, seeks in particular to:

Discussions at the meeting focused on the question of defining criminal activity and on ways of including independent legal professions within the scope of the Directive, and reached full agreement on these two problems on the basis of an overall compromise proposal submitted by the Presidency.

The Council completed the definition of "criminal activity" given in the 5th indent of Article 1(E) concerning serious crimes by an addition specifying that within three years the definition should be amended in order to bring it into line with the definition of serious crime in the 3 December 1998 Joint Action. The text is set out below in bold.

"Article 1

Serious crimes are, at least:

– any of the offences defined in Article 3(1)(a) of the Vienna Convention;

With regard to the inclusion of independent legal professions, it emerged from the discussions that their advisory activities will indeed be subject to the obligations of this Directive. The text of the compromise text can be found in point 5 of Article 2a and in Article 6(3), also set out below in bold.

"Article 2a

Member States shall ensure that the obligations laid down in this Directive ( 2) are imposed on the following institutions:

1. credit institutions as defined in point A of Article 1;

2. financial institutions as defined in point B of Article 1;

and on the following legal or natural persons acting in the exercise of their professional activities:

3. auditors, external accountants and tax advisors;

4. real estate agents;

7. deleted

8. casinos."

"Article 6

….

The Presidency indicated that it would prepare draft conclusions and asked the Permanent Representatives Committee to discuss them in preparation for the Council discussions on the matter at its October meeting.

Ministers confirmed the position already adopted at the informal ECOFIN meeting in Versailles that a blanket reduction of taxation on oil products was not an adequate response to the rise in prices.

Ministers also noted the Commission's intention to submit an analysis of the different oil problems to the Council the following week, as requested at the informal meeting in Versailles.

The Council heard presentations by Commissioner SOLBES and Mr DOMINGO SOLANS, member of the Executive Board of the ECB, of the Action Plan on EMU Statistical Requirements ( 4), drafted by the two institutions in close cooperation. It also heard a statement by the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Committee on the outcome of the Committee's discussions on the Action Plan.

The President observed that the Action Plan provided a good basis for continuing work on the statistics necessary for the smooth running of EMU. He also highlighted that the Council supported the recommendations made by the EFC with regard to the Action Plan (see text in the Annex) and that the priorities and timetable seemed acceptable.

The Council asked the various national and Community authorities concerned to make a special effort to ensure the implementation of the Action Plan within the desired timeframe. In that context, it would like to see the dialogue continued at national level between the budgetary and statistical authorities on the question of adequate resources.

Lastly, the President asked the Economic and Financial Committee to submit to the Council in January 2001 a mid-term report on the overall progress achieved particularly with regard to the necessary adjustments to the regulatory framework.

The (Ecofin) Council endorsed on 5 June 2000 the Committee's second progress report on information requirements in EMU. ( 5) The Council, sharing the Committee's concern about progress being slow towards better and more timely statistics, urged Member States to put greater effort into the production of those national series that are required for the timely compilation of reliable key statistics for the EU and the euro area.

It invited the Commission (Eurostat), in close collaboration with the ECB, to establish an action plan identifying for each Member State and for each statistical area where urgent progress should be made, as well as the possible modifications to existing statistical regulations. It invited the EFC to examine this action plan and to report back in September 2000.

The Committee, having examined the EMU Action Plan, has come to the following conclusions:

The action plan responds broadly to the Council's invitation and sets the right priorities for urgent progress in fulfilling the requirements. The Committee is of the opinion that by the end of 2001, a coverage of at least 80% of the euro area should be obtained with the stated required timeliness for main quarterly national accounts aggregates, public finance, external trade statistics and most short-term statistics. Labour market and new orders statistics should meet this target by the end of 2002. Member States should concentrate their efforts on those key statistics where the lack of their national series is most felt.

The Committee welcomes the priority put on having first estimates of quarterly national accounts main aggregates within 70 days, and second estimates within 90 days after the end of the quarter. Particular efforts will be needed on income, saving and net lending data. Quarterly back data to 1980 are also important for analytical purposes; the Committee notes that they are achievable with sufficient coverage subject to a German reservation about funding.

As regards quarterly public finance statistics, Member States should ensure complete implementation of the short-term public finance statistics Regulation (i.e. Commission Regulation (EC) No 264/2000) by the end of 2000. Further effort should be made in producing financial accounts for the central government and the social security funds as of end 2000, which are also needed in the framework of the IMF Special Data Dissemination Standard.

As regards statistics on labour market developments, major efforts must still be undertaken to attain at least 80% coverage of the euro area by 2002 on employment, hours worked and labour costs. To achieve this aim, Italy will need to speed up the provision of ESA employment data. Notably France and Italy need to advance more quickly than presently intended on ESA data on hours worked and on the labour cost index. Finally, considerable effort is needed to implement the continuous Labour Force Survey; in this context, the Commission should examine the temporary use of reliable national proxies for the key aggregates where full results will not be available quickly enough (in particular for Germany and Austria), in order to aim for at least 80% euro area coverage by 2002. Germany and Austria are urged to review their position on the timetable for the implementation of the continuous Labour Force Survey.

As regards short-term statistics, particular efforts must be undertaken to speed up the provision of production indicators for industry (after 45 days) and construction (after 60 days) by 2001. New order information for industry and construction should be implemented by 2002. Several Member States would have to speed up these statistics to get sufficient coverage.

As regards external trade statistics, planned efforts should allow more than 80% euro area coverage by 2001. Priority has to be given to the information needed to compile euro area (and EU) aggregates with the rest of the world.

As regards the publication of statistical data, the Committee welcomes the action Member States intend to take so as to ensure that, by end-2000, they will all be in a position to transmit the requested data to Eurostat at the latest at the time of publication at the national level.

The Committee also welcomes the points on which the Commission intends to act and urges the Commission to make euro area and EU aggregates electronically available in Euro-SICS with the shortest delay possible.

To underpin the improvement in statistics, the Committee welcomes the modifications to existing statistical regulations proposed in the EMU Action Plan and recommends the authorities to work towards their adoption as quickly as observance of the necessary procedures allows. The Committee urges the Member States concerned to take action to improve their statistics even before the changes to the regulations will have come into effect.

The third EFC progress report due in January 2001 will cover developments in the areas mentioned above including the necessary legal preparations.

________________________

(Decisions for which statements for the Council minutes have been made available to the public are asterisked; the statements in question may be obtained from the Press Office.)

In accordance with Article 209 of the Treaty, the Council adopted a Decision on the composition and the statutes of the Economic Policy Committee (EPC) in order to update and adapt the statutes of the Committee in the light of the developments since 1974, in particular following the beginning of the third stage of EMU.

The new statutes of the EPC reflect the new institutional environment created by entry into the third stage of Economic and Monetary Union. The basic structure of the Committee has been maintained while making the necessary adjustments to improve its functioning. Its tasks are also described more precisely.

The purpose of the Committee is to contribute to the preparation of the work of the Council by coordinating the economic policies of the Member States and of the Community, and to advise the Commission and Council by providing economic analyses, opinions on methodologies and draft formulations for policy recommendations, particularly on structural polices for improving the growth potential and employment in the Community.

In this context, it should focus in particular on:

In the areas mentioned above, the Committee will provide support for the work of the Council, in particular in the formulation of the Broad Economic Policy Guidelines, and contribute to the multilateral surveillance procedure. In this context, the Committee will conduct regular country reviews focused in particular on structural reforms in Member States. The Committee will also contribute to the work of the Council under the Employment Title of the Treaty.

In the fulfilment of its tasks, the Committee will work in close cooperation with the Economic and Financial Committee.

The Committee will provide the framework within which the macro-economic dialogue involving representatives of the Committee (including the ECB), the Economic and Financial Committee, the Employment Committee, the Commission and social partners will take place at technical level.

With regard to the composition of the EPC, the Member States, the Commission and the European Central Bank will each appoint four members of the Committee, selected from among senior officials possessing outstanding competence in the field of economic and structural policy. The Committee will elect, by a majority of its members, a President and up to three Vice-Presidents for a period of two years. The Committee will be assisted by a Secretariat, supplied by the Commission, under the direction of a Secretary. Opinions or reports will be adopted by a majority of members if a vote is requested.

The Council adopted a Decision on the system of the EU's own resources, replacing Council Decision 94/728 EC/EURATOM.

The Council also approved the revised Commission working document on the calculation, financing, payment and entry in the budget of the correction of budgetary imbalances in accordance with Articles 4 and 5 of the Council Decision on the system of the EU's own resources, as it appears in Addendum II to this document.

Lastly, the Council approved the minutes of the conciliation meeting held with the European Parliament on 20 July 2000, as recorded in Addendum III to this document.

The Council Decision on own resources reflects the conclusions of the Berlin Summit on 24 and 25 March 1999, which asked the Commission to prepare a new own resources decision, taking into account its conclusions on the financing of the European Union for the period 2000-2006.

The Council decision contains the following provisions implementing the European Council conclusion relating to the structure of the EU financing system:

Furthermore, with a view to improving the accuracy of own-resources calculations, Article 2(7) of the Council Decision defines GNP as gross national income or GNI (new statistical concept) for own-resources purposes. The Decision also simplifies the calculation of the UK corrector.

The Council adopted a Common Position extending and amending Common Position 1999/206/CFSP concerning Ethiopia and Eritrea as regards the embargo on arms for Ethiopia and Eritrea.

It is highlighted that:

The Council noted a preliminary report on Romania concerning the adoption, application and implementation of the Community acquis in the field of Justice and Home Affairs.

The Council adopted the Regulation amending Regulation (EC) No 119/97 imposing a definitive anti-dumping duty on imports of ring binder mechanisms originating in the People's Republic of China.

In January 1997, by Regulation (EC) No 119/97, the Council imposed definitive anti-dumping duties on imports of ring binder mechanisms ("RBMs") originating, inter alia, in the People' s Republic of China. The rate of the definitive duty applicable to the net, free-at Community frontier price, was 32,5% for World Wide Stationery, which obtained individual treatment, and 39,4% for all other companies in the People's Republic of China.

On 7 December 1998, a request for a review of the abovementioned measures was lodged on behalf of the Community producers whose collective output of RBMs constituted a major proportion of the total Community production of that product.

Following the review, and taking into account the re-assessment of export prices, the Commission recalculated the dumping margin applicable to the Chinese producers/exporters concerned. Consequently this Regulation provides for the following new level of duties:

( 1) Identification of customers, reporting of suspicious transactions, prohibition of carrying out suspicious transactions, keeping documents, staff training and internal control procedures.

( 2) See footnote on p. 4.

( 3) The Bahamas, the Cayman Islands, the Cook Islands, Dominica, Israel, Lebanon, Liechtenstein, the Marshall Islands, Nauru, Niue, Panama, the Philippines, Russia, Saint Kitts and Nevis and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.

( 4) See text at: http://ue.eu.int/uem

( 5)

and

.

( 6) OJ L 72, 18.3.1999, p. 1. Common Position as last extended by Common Position 2000/230/CFSP (OJ L 73, 22.3.2000, p. 1).