EN Official Journal of the European Union L 264/3

COMMISSION DECISION

of 22 July 2005

granting derogations to certain Member States with respect to the statistics to be compiled for the reference years 2003, 2004 and 2005 pursuant to Regulation (EC) No 753/2004

(notified under document number C(2005) 2773)

(Only Dutch, English, Estonian, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Maltese and Swedish texts are authentic)

(Text with EEA relevance)

(2005/686/EC)

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community,

Having regard to the Commission Regulation (EC) No 753/2004 of 22 April 2004 implementing Decision No 1608/2003/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards statistics on science and technology (1), and in particular section 1 and section 2 of the Annex thereto,

Whereas,

(1) Regulation (EC) No 753/2004 contains the reference framework of common standards, definitions and classifications for compiling Community statistics on science and technology in order to obtain high quality statistical results from Member states in accordance with these standards, definitions and classifications.

(2) Section 1, point 3 of the Annex to the Regulation (EC) No 753/2004 provides that, in so far as national statistical systems require major adaptations, the Commission may grant derogations to Member States with respect to the statistics on research and development compiled for the first reference year 2003. In very exceptional cases, this derogation period may be extended for the regional breakdowns of certain variables.

(3) Section 2, point 3 of the Annex to the Regulation (EC) No 753/2004 provides that, in so far as national statistical systems require major adaptations, the Commission may grant derogations to Member States with respect to the statistics on government budget appropriations or outlays on research and development (GBAORD) compiled for the first reference year 2004.

(4) Such derogations have been requested by the respective authorities of Belgium, Estonia, Greece, France, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Hungary, Malta, the Netherlands, Austria, Sweden and the United Kingdom.

(5) According to the information received by the Commission (Eurostat), the requests from the Member States concerned are due to the fact that they need to make important changes to their statistical system.

(6) The requested derogations should therefore be granted,

HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION:

Article 1

Derogations are granted to Belgium, Estonia, Greece, France, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Hungary, Malta, the Netherlands, Austria, Sweden and the United Kingdom as laid down in the annex to this Decision.

Article 2

This Decision is addressed to the Kingdom of Belgium, the Republic of Estonia, the Hellenic Republic, the French Republic, Ireland, the Italian Republic, the Republic of Latvia, the Republic of Lithuania, the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, the Republic of Hungary, the Republic of Malta, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the Republic of Austria, the Kingdom of Sweden and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Done at Brussels, 22 July 2005. For the Commission Joaquín ALMUNIA Member of the Commission

(1) OJ L 118, 23.4.2004, p. 23.