30. 11. 96 Official Journal of the European Communities No L 310/1 (Acts whose publication is obligatory) COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) No 2223/96 of 25 June 1996 on the European system of national and regional accounts in the Community 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 Regulation submitted by the Commission, Having regard to the opinion of the European Parliament ('), Having regard to the opinion of the European Monetary Institute (), Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social Committee (%), (1) Whereas the implementation and supervision of Economic and  Monetary  Union  require comparable, up-to-date and reliable information on the structure and developments in the economic situation of each country and/or region; (2) Whereas the Commission must play a part in the administration of Economic and Monetary Union and, in particular, report to the Council on the progress made by the Member States in fulfilling their obligations for the achievement of Economic and Monetary Union; (3) Whereas economic accounts are a basic tool for analysing the economic situation of a country and/or region on condition that they are drawn up on the basis of a single set of principles that are not open to differing interpretations; (') O] No C 287, 30. 10. 1995, p. 114. (%) Opinion delivered on 21. 6. 1995 (not yet published in the Official Journal). (}) O] No C 133, 31. 5. 1995, p. 2. (4) Whereas the Commission must use aggregates of national accounts for Community administrative and, in particular, budgetary calculations; (5) Whereas in 1970 an administrative document entitled ‘European System of Integrated Economic Accounts’ (ESA) was published, covering the field governed by this Regulation, which had been drawn up solely by the Statistical Office of the European Communities and on its responsibility alone; whereas that document was the outcome of several years’ work by the Statistical Office of the European Communities, together with Member States’ national statistical institutes, to devise a system of national accounts meeting the requirements of the European Communities’ economic and social policy, and whereas it constituted the Community version of the United Nations System of National Accounts which had been used by the Community up to that time; (6) Whereas in order to update the original text a second edition of the document was published in 1979 (hereinafter referred to as ‘ESA Second edition’) (*); (7) Whereas the United Nations Statistical Commission adopted in February 1993 the new System of National Accounts (SNA) so that the results in all member countries of the United Nations should be internationally comparable; (8) Whereas attention should be paid in the case of environmental accounts to the communication from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council of 21 December 1994 entitled ‘Directions  for the European Union on environmental indicators and green national accounting’; ‘ (*) Eurostat: ‘European System of Integrated Economic Accounts’ (ESA), second edition, Statistical Office of the European Communities, Luxembourg, 1979.