23.2. 78 Official Journal of the European Communities No L §2/17 COUNCIL DIRECTIVE of 13 February 1978 concerning coordinated statistics on the business cycle in building and civil engineering (78/166/EEC) THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community, and in particular Article 213 thereof, Having regard to Council Directive 72/211/EEC of 30 May 1972 concerning coordinated statistics on the business cycle in industry and small craft indus- tries (!), and in particular Article 4 thereof, Having regard to the draft Directive submitted by the Commission, Whereas, in order to carry out the tasks entrusted to it under the Treaty, the Commission must have at its disposal coherent statistical documentation, compar- able as between States, on the overall short-term economic development of industry and small craft industries in Member States ; Whereas the statistics to be drawn up pursuant to the aforesaid Directive cover only the energy sector, mining and quarrying and the manufacturing indus- tries and exclude building and civil engineering; Whereas building and civil engineering constitute a highly important sector of industry occupying a key position within the economic structure ; Whereas the increasing international involvement and interdependence of business cycles and economic poli- cies require that a body of statistical data should be available whereby short-term developments in all sectors of the economy may be followed and appro- priate and coordinated measures taken within the framework of the short and medium-term economic objectives ; Whereas such data on building and civil engineering ought also to allow analysis of any disturbances or discrepancies and of any intensive growth or recession in partial markets, which presupposes a breakdown of certain statistics into both ‘building’ and ‘civil engi- neering ; Whereas the statistics available in the different Member States on short-term economic developments in building and civil engineering are insufficient or insufficiently comparable to serve as a valid basis for the work of the Commission ; () OJ No L 128, 3. 6. 1972, p. 28. Whereas, in order to facilitate the implementation of the proposed provisions, certain time-limits should be laid down for providing the necessary statistical infor- mation ; Whereas account should be taken of the fact that the regulations and administrative practices pertaining to building permits differ from one Member State to another ; Whereas, in view of the nature of the structure of employment in.building and civil engineering in any given Member State, data obtainable on the volume of work may not be sufficiently significant in assessing the short-term business cycle in the sector in ques- tion, HAS ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE : Article 1 The Member States, in technical cooperation with the Commission, shall take all necessary steps for collecting, on the basis of coordinated definitions and methods, the quantitative statistical data required for the study of the business cycle and economic trends in building and civil engineering. Article 2 The statistics shall cover building and civil engi- neering activities as deftined in Division 5 of the ‘General Industrial Classification of Economic Activi- ties within the European Communities’ (NACE), 1970 edition. They shall be obtained from either statistical surveys covering at least undertakings employing 20 or more persons or administrative records, for example, building permits. In order that results may be promptly available, the data to be supplied by under- takings may be collected on a representative basis. The statistical unit for these statistics shall be the unit of economic activity as defined in Part 1 of NACE. For the purposes of the Communities’ requirements, presentation of the data shall be based on NACE.