1. 5. 96 Official Journal of the European Communities No L 108/1 (Acts whose publication is obligatory) COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) No 788/96 of 22 April 1996 on the submission by Member States of statistics on aquaculture production THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 43 thereof, Having regard to the proposal from the Commission, Having regard to the opinion of the European Parli- ament ('), Whereas aquaculture is a rapidly developing sector of the fishing industry with a potential for supplementing the limited supplies from traditional fisheries; Whereas the production from aquaculture has to be monitored and, where necessary, controlled so as to ensure satisfactory marketing conditions; Whereas the impact of aquaculture on regional develop- ment and on the environment results in an increasing demand for statistics to monitor the development of this sector; Whereas the implementation of the Community’s struc- tural policy for fisheries also requires statistics on produc- tion in the aquacultural sector; Whereas the objectives of the proposed action can be achieved only on the basis of a Community legal act which will permit the Commission to coordinate the necessary harmonization of the statistical information at Community level while the collection of aquaculture production statistics and the necessary infrastructure to increase and monitor the reliability of these statistics is first and foremost the responsibility of the Member States; Whereas the specific method of drawing up the relevant Community statistics on aquaculture production, devel- oped by using existing national statistics compiled to meet current national and international obligations, requires particularly close cooperation between the (') Opinion delivered on 27 March 1996 (not yet published in the Official Journal). Commission and the Member States, in particular within the Standing Committee on Agricultural Statistics set up in Decision 72/279/EEC (3), HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION: Article 1 General provisions Each Member State shall submit annually to the Commis- sion statistics on aquaculture production in all waters of that Member State. Article 2 Submission of data Member States shall forward to the Commission the data referred to in Article 1, in the form described in Annex I within nine months of the end of the calendar year to which they refer, together with data declared confidential by the Member States pursuant to domestic legislation or practice concerning statistical confidentiality, in accor- dance with Council Regulation (Euratom, EEC) No 1588/90 of 11 June 1990 on the transmission of data subject to statistical confidentiality to the Statistical Office of the European Communities (°). The data may be submitted on magnetic medium or in a form other than that described in Annex I, the format of such submissions being agreed between the Member State and the Commission (Eurostat). Subject to the measures which are necessary to ensure statistical confidentiality, the Commission (Eurostat) shall make available to Member States the data submitted pursuant to this Regulation. @) OJ No L 179, 7. 8. 1972, p. 1. () OJ No L 151, 15. 6. 1990, p. 1.