The 4^th meeting of the Council Working Party on Statistics under the Lithuanian Presidency was held in Brussels on Friday, 8 November 2013.

The 1^st issue on the meeting agenda was the Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Council Regulation (EC) No 577/98 on the organisation of a Labour force sample survey in the Community. The examination of the European Parliament's report and preparation for the first trilogue took place. Having received the MS support and instructions, the Presidency is preparing for the Coreper I (on 20 November) seeking permission to start negotiations with the European Parliament (the 1^st trilogue was initially agreed for 27 November).

The 2^nd issue was the Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Council Regulation (EC) No 638/2004 on Community statistics relating to trading of goods between Member States as regards the conferring of delegated and implementing powers upon the Commission for the adoption of certain measures, the communication of information by the customs administration, the exchange of confidential data between Member States and the definition of statistical value (Intrastat). An introduction was made by the Commission, and the initial exchange of views took place, most of which in general complied with the Commission position. Given the political importance attributed to the dossier, the article-by-article examination is provisionally foreseen for the 11 December CWPS meeting.

The 3^rd issue was the Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Council Regulation (EC) No 471/2009 on Community statistics relating to external trade with non-member countries as regards the conferring of delegated and implementing powers upon the Commission for the adoption of certain measures (Extrastat). An introduction of the Proposal was made by the Commission, the initial exchange of views took place, and an agreement was reached that both dossiers are similar in nature and should follow the experience of recently adopted legislation wording and approach (e.g. Omnibus I on Agriculture).

The afternoon session started with the 4^th issue – the Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the provision and quality of statistics for the macroeconomic imbalances procedure (MIP). An article-by-article examination was started from Chapter I. Examination concentrated on the terminology and the scope, so the Commission was invited to table a redraft of Art.1 par. 1. MS also expressed their support for the inclusion of the annex as regards MIP relevant data in the regulation.

Under the AOB, recent information on the outcome at the 7 November Coreper on Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 on European statistics was presented, followed by information on the Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Regulation (EU) No 99/2013 on the European statistical programme 2013-17 (ESP 2013–2017), the Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Regulation (EU) No 691/2011 on European environmental economic accounts (EEEA), and, finally, on the newly submitted proposal for a Regulation amending Regulation (EC) No 1166/2008 on farm structure surveys and the survey on agricultural production methods, as regards the financial framework for the period 2014–2018) (Farm Structure Survey).

The next CWPS meeting under the Lithuanian Presidency is scheduled for 11 December 2013. The Agenda will be issued at the beginning of December.

The progress on different legislative dossiers is published online eu2013.stat.gov.lt.