4.6.2008 Official Journal of the European Union L 145/65 REGULATION (EC) No 451/2008 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 23 April 2008 establishing a new statistical classification of products by activity (CPA) and repealing Council Regulation (EEC) No 3696/93 (Text with EEA relevance) THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EURO- PEAN UNION, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Commu- nity, and in particular Article 285(1) thereof, Having regard to the proposal from the Commission, Acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 251 of the Treaty (), Whereas: 1 Regulation (EEC) No 3696/93 (2) established the statistical classification of products by activity (CPA) in the European Economic Community. In order to reflect the technological development and structural changes of the economy, an up-to-date CPA should be established. The structuring of a product classification in accordance with the production activity involved avoids proliferation of unrelated coding schemes, and facilitates the identifica- tion by producers of relevant markets. There is a need to create a reference framework within which statistical data on production, consumption, exter- nal trade and transport can be compared. An up-to-date CPA is central to the Commission’s ongo- ing efforts to overhaul Community statistics; it is expected to convey, through more comparable and relevant data, better economic governance at Community and national level. In order to function, the internal market requires statistical standards applicable to the collection, transmission and publication of national and Community statistics so that enterprises, financial institutions, governments and all other operators in the internal market can be provided with reliable and comparable statistical data. To this end, it is vital that the various categories of the CPA be inter- preted uniformly in all the Member States. (") Opinion of the European Parliament of 10 July 2007 (not yet pub- lished in the Official Journal) and Council Decision of 14 February 2008. (3 OJ L 342, 31.12.1993, p. 1. Regulation as last amended by Regula- tion (EC) No 1882/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Coun- cil (O] L 284, 31.10.2003, p. 1). ) (1) Reliable and comparable statistics are necessary to enable enterprises to assess their competitiveness, and are useful to the Community institutions in preventing distortions of competition. The establishment of a common statistical classification of products by economic activity does not per se oblige Mem- ber States to collect, publish or supply data. Only if the Member States use product classifications linked to the Community classification is it possible to provide inte- grated information with the reliability, speed, flexibility and degree of detail required for the management of the internal market. Provision should be made to enable the Member States, in order to meet their national requirements, to integrate into their national classifications additional categories based on the CPA. The international comparability of economic statistics requires that the Member States and the Community insti- tutions use classifications of products which are directly linked to the Central Product Classification (CPC) Ver. 2, as adopted by the United Nations Statistical Commission. Use of the CPA requires that the Commission be assisted by the Statistical Programme Committee established by Coun- cil Decision 89/382EEC, Euratom (3) in particular as regards examining problems arising from the implementation of the CPA and incorporating amendments to the CPA. The establishment of a new statistical classification of products implies a need to amend specifically references to the CPA. It is therefore necessary to repeal Regulation (EEC) No 3696/93. The measures necessary for the implementation of this Regulation should be adopted in accordance with Council Decision 1999/468/EC of 28 June 1999 laying down the procedures for the exercise of implementing powers con- ferred on the Commission (4). In particular, the Commis- sion should be empowered to amend the CPA in order to take account of technological or economic developments and align it with other economic and social classifications. Since those measures are of general scope and are designed to amend non-essential elements of this Regulation, inter alia, by supplementing it with new non-essential elements, they must be adopted in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny provided for in Article 5a of Deci- sion 1999/468/EC. () OJ L 181, 28.6.1989, p. 47. (*) O] L 184, 17.7.1999, p. 23. Decision as amended by Decision 2006/512/EC (O] L 200, 22.7.2006, p. 11).