1. Working Group on regional, urban and rural development statistics
Item 5.2 Legal base for territorial classifications ("Tercet")

2. Tercet – Inclusion of territorial typologies into the NUTS Regulation
Why?
How?
When?

3. 1. Why? Establish legal recognition of territorial typologies
- already in use in Union legislation, but lack legislative establishment
- enables specific policy instruments on for instance cities, rural regions, coastal areas and regions etc. to refer to typologies
Lay down core definitions and statistical criteria for the typologies to ensure a harmonised application
Clarify the role of local administrative units

4. 2. How? By amending the NUTS Regulation:
Changed art. 4: from "components of NUTS 3 territorial units in terms of smaller administrative units" to "local administrative units"
Added art. 4a: population data on LAUs requested within 12 months of the end of the reference year (n-1)
Added art. 4b: Statistical grids, to be maintained by Eurostat
Added art. 4c: Territorial typologies

5. Territorial typologies
Established in the Regulation itself:
At NUTS 3 level:
a) Urban/rural typology
Urban regions
Intermediate regions
Rural regions
b) Metropolitan typology
c) Maritime typology

6. Territorial typologies
Established in the Regulation itself:
At LAU level:
a) Degree of urbanisation (DEGURBA)
Cities
Towns and suburbs
Rural areas
b) Functional urban areas (FUA)
c) Coastal areas

7. Territorial typologies
Uniform conditions for the implementation of typologies in a separate implementing act

8. Uniform conditions at NUTS 3 level
Element as established in the NUTS Regulation
Conditions
Labels
Urban-rural typology
NUTS level 3 regions where at least 80% of the population live in urban clusters.
Urban regions
NUTS level 3 regions where at least 50% of the population live in urban clusters.
Intermediate regions
NUTS level 3 regions where at least 50% of the population live in rural grid cells.
Rural regions
Metropolitan typology
NUTS level 3 region(s) representing agglomerations of at least inhabitants based on the Functional Urban Areas.
Metropolitan regions
NUTS level 3 regions without a high share of their population in Functional Urban Areas.
Non-metropolitan regions
Maritime typology
NUTS level 3 regions that have a coastline, or those in which the majority of the population lives within 50 km from the coastline, as well as the NUTS level 3 region of Hamburg (Germany).
Maritime regions
Non-maritime regions are those NUTS 3 regions that have no coastline and where the majority of their population does not live within 50 km from the coastline.
Non-maritime regions

9. Uniform conditions LAU level
Element as established in the NUTS Regulation
Conditions
Labels
Degree of urbanisation (DEGURBA)
LAU level territorial units where at least 50% of the population live in urban centres.
Cities
LAU level territorial units where more than 50% of the population live in urban clusters, but are not 'cities'.
Towns and suburbs
LAU level territorial units where at least 50% of the population live in rural grid cells.
Rural areas
Functional Urban Areas (FUA)
(Aggregations of) LAU level territorial units based on the Degree of urbanisation typology.
(Greater) Cities
Aggregations of LAU level territorial units based on the (greater) cities and their commuting zone.
Functional Urban Areas
Coastal areas
LAU level territorial units that border the sea or that have 50% of their surface within a distance of 10km from the sea.
LAU level territorial units that are not coastal, i.e. which do not border a sea and have less than 50% of their surface within a distance of 10km from the sea.
Non-coastal areas

10. Uniform conditions grid
Element as established in the NUTS Regulation
Conditions
Labels
Grid typology
Contiguous 1 km ² grid cells (without diagonals and with gap filling) with a density of at least inhabitants/km² and a minimum of inhabitants.
Urban centres
Contiguous 1 km² grid cells (including diagonals) with a density of at least inhabitants/km² and a minimum of inhabitants.
Urban clusters
1 km² grid cells outside urban clusters.
Rural grid cells

11. 3. When (indicative)? Action Timing (provisional)
Presentation of the legislative draft to the DIMESA (written consultation)
November - December 2015
Launch of Inter-Service Consultation
January 2016
ESSC Committee
May 2016
Adoption by the Commission
June 2016
Transmission to EP and Council

12. Tercet – Core features
- Eurostat will calculate and allocate the typologies to the regions/areas/grid cells, no impact on resources of Member States;
- Eurostat will manage the grid;
- Member States keep control over the typologies as defined in the Regulation & the implementing act;
- alignment of reference dates for LAU lists to (demography).

13. Exchange of views – remaining issues
- Art. 5 (5) (HTS): implementing instead of delegated acts;
- Art. 4a: inclusion of population data on LAUs (required to calculate the magnitude of changes of NUTS 3 boundaries);
- Art. 3 (4) and 4(1) (delegated acts amending Annexes 2 (existing administrative units) and 3 (local administrative units)): need to clarify that these have to follow corresponding changes in Member States, and that a "group of experts" will be consulted each time;
- keep the old labels of DEGURBA main or as alternative names ("densely populated", "intermediate" and "thinly populated" areas)
- finetuning (correct names of LAU, delete double wording, correct references to annexes 2 and 3, …).
Magnitude of changes in terms of population transfer (<1 % = not considered as amendment of NUTS, more than 1 % = amendment of NUTS)