COUNCIL DECISION of 22 December 1998 on the Community statistical programme 1998 to 2002 (1999/126/EC)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 213 thereof,
Having regard to the draft Decision submitted by the Commission,
Having regard to the opinion of the European Parliament (1),
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social Committee (2),
Whereas, in accordance with Article 3(1) of the Council Regulation (EC) No 322/97 of 17 February 1997 on Community statistics (3) a Community statistical programme should be established;
Whereas economic and monetary union is imposing substantial demands on the supply of monetary, balance of payments and financial statistics for the Community;
Whereas in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 322/97, the Community should be able to have timely access to statistical information comparable between the Member States which is up to date, reliable, pertinent and produced as efficiently as possible for the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of its policies;
Whereas the availability of up-to-date comparable statistics of good quality is often a necessary condition for implementing Community policies;
Whereas, in order to insure the consistency and comparability of statistical information in the Community, there is a need to establish a medium-term Community statistical programme which identifies the approaches, the main fields and the objectives of the actions envisaged in respect of these priorities;
Whereas in certain areas covered by various Community policies a breakdown of data by gender is important;
Whereas the specific method of drawing up Community statistics requires particularly close cooperation within a developing community statistical system via the Statistical Programme Committee, set up by Decision 89/382/EEC, Euratom (4), as regards the adaptation of the system, notably via the introduction of legal instruments necessary to establish the said Community statistics and whereas account is to be taken of the burden on respondents, be they business, households or individuals;
Whereas, in accordance with Article 3(1) of Regulation (EC) No 322/97 before submitting its draft Decision, the Commission has submitted the guidelines for establishing the programme to the Statistical Programme Committee, the European Advisory Committee on Statistical Information in the Economic and Social Spheres and the Committee on Monetary, Financial and Balance of Payment Statistics;
Whereas in the implementation of the programme the principles stated in Article 10 of Regulation (EC) No 322/97, in particular the principles of impartiality and reliability, apply;
Whereas a reference to a statistical action in the annexed framework programme does not affect the powers of the budgetary authority as defined in the Treaty,
HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION:
Article 1
The Community statistical programme for the period from 1998 to 2002 (hereinafter 'the programme`) is hereby set up. The programme is annexed hereto. It defines the approaches, the main fields and the objectives of the actions envisaged during that period.
Article 2
Taking account of the available resources of the national authorities and the Commission, the programme shall cover the principal Community policy priorities of:
- economic and monetary union,
- competitiveness, growth and employment,
- European Union enlargement,
and shall also ensure the continuation of existing statistical support for decisions in current policy areas and the additional requirements arising from new Community policy initiatives.
Article 3
The programme shall be implemented in accordance with the rules and principles laid down in Regulation (EC) No 322/97.
Article 4
During the third year of implementation of the programme the Commission shall prepare an intermediate report showing its stage of development and present it to the Statistical Programme Committee.
At the end of the period covered by the programme the Commission, after consulting the Statistical Programme Committee, shall present an appropriate evaluation report on the implementation of the programme, taking into account the views of independent experts. That report is to be completed by the end of 2003 and subsequently submitted to the European Parliament and the Council.
Article 5
This Decision is addressed to the Member States.
Done at Brussels, 22 December 1998.