L 218/14 Official Journal of the European Union 13.8.2008 REGULATION (EC) No 763/2008 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 9 July 2008 on population and housing censuses (Text with EEA relevance) THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN 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: () The Commission (Eurostat) needs to be in possession of sufficiently reliable, detailed and comparable data on the population and housing, in order to enable the Community to fulfil the tasks assigned to it, in particular by Articles 2 and 3 of the Treaty. Sufficient comparability must be ensured at Community level as regards methodology, definitions and the programme of the statistical data and the metadata. Periodic statistical data on the population and the main family, social, economic and housing characteristics of persons are necessary for the study and definition of regional, social and environmental policies affecting particular sectors of the Community. In particular, there is a need to collect detailed information on housing in support of various Community activities, such as the promotion of social inclusion and the monitoring of social cohesion at regional level, or the protection of the environment and the promotion of energy efficiency. In view of methodological and technological developments, best practices should be identified and the enhancement of the data sources and methodologies used for censuses in the Member States should be fostered. In order to ensure the comparability of the data provided by the Member States and for reliable overviews to be drawn up at Community level, the data used should refer to the same reference year. Opinion of the European Parliament of 20 February 2008 (not yet published in the Official Journal) and Council Decision of 23 June 2008. A ) () In accordance with Council Regulation (EC) No 322/97 of 17 February 1997 on Community Statistics (¥, which constitutes the reference framework for the provisions of this Regulation, it is necessary for the collection of statistics to conform to the principles of impartiality, in particular objectivity and scientific independence, as well as transpar- ency, reliability, relevance, cost-effectiveness and statistical confidentiality. The transmission of data subject to statistical confidentiality is governed by Regulation (EC) No 322/97 and Council Regulation (Euratom, EEC) No 1588/90 of 11 June 1990 on the transmission of data subject to statistical confidenti- ality to the Statistical Office of the European Commu- nities (*). Measures that are taken in accordance with those Regulations ensure the physical and logical protection of confidential data and that no unlawful disclosure or non- statistical use occurs when Community statistics are produced and disseminated. In the production and dissemination of Community statistics under this Regulation, the national and Commu- nity statistical authorities should take account of the principles set out in the European Statistics Code of Practice adopted on 24 February 2005 by the Statistical Programme Committee, established by Council Decision 89/382/EEC, Euratom (*) and attached to the Recommendation of the Commission on the independence, integrity and account- ability of the national and Community statistical author- ities. Since the objectives of this Regulation, namely the collection and compilation of comparable and comprehen- sive Community statistics on population and housing, cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States, due to the absence of common statistical features and quality requirements as well as a lack of methodological transparency, and can therefore, by way of a common statistical framework, be better achieved at Community level, the Community may adopt measures, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity as set out in Article 5 of the Treaty. In accordance with the principle of proportion- ality, as set out in that Article, this Regulation does not go beyond what is necessary in order to achieve those objectives. OJ L 52,22.2.1997, p. 1. Regulation as amended by Regulation (EC) No 1882/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council (O] L 284, 31.10.2003, p. 1). OJL151,15.6.1990, p. 1. Regulation as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 1882/2003. OJ L 181, 28.6.1989, p. 47.