15.8.2007 Official Journal of the European Union L 2137 COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 963/2007 of 14 August 2007 implementing Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 58/97 with regard to derogations to be granted for structural business statistics THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, Having regard to Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 58/97 of 20 December 1996 concerning structural business statistics (1), and in particular Article 12(x) thereof, Whereas: (1) Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 58/97 established a common framework for the production of Community statistics on environmental protection expenditures as well as on the structure, activity, performance and competitiveness of pension funds. (20 Article 11 of Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 58/97 provides that derogations from the provisions of the Annexes to that Regulation may be accepted during the transitional periods. In accordance with Section 10 of Annex 2 and Section 10 of Annex 7 to that Regulation, the transitional periods laid down may be extended by a further period in respect of certain characteristics. (3)  Commission Regulation (EC) No 1667/2003 of 1 Sep- tember 2003 (%) granted Member States derogations during a transitional period for the reference years 2001 to 2004 in respect of statistics on environmental protection expenditures and for the reference years 2002 to 2004 in respect of statistics on pension funds. (4)  Some Member States have asked for derogations for an extended transitional period from certain provisions of Annex 2 to Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 58/97 in respect of the characteristics 21 12 0 and 21 14 0 for the reference years 2005 to 2008 in order to put in place the necessary data collection systems or adapt the existing ones so that by the end of the transitional period the provisions of the Regulation will have been met. (') OJ L 14, 17.1.1997, p. 1. Regulation as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 1882/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council (OJ L 284, 31.10.2003, p. 1). () O] L 244, 29.9.2003, p. 1. (5)  Several Member States have asked for derogations for an extended transitional period from certain provisions of Annex 7 to Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 58/97 in respect of pension funds for the reference years 2005 to 2007 in order to put in place the necessary data collection systems or adapt existing ones so that by the end of the transitional period the provisions of the Regu- lation will have been met. (6) It seems justified to grant those derogations, as the Member States’ requests are based on a legitimate need to further adapt their data collection systems. (7)  The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Statistical Programme Committee, HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION: Article 1 Derogations from the characteristics 21 12 0 and 21 14 0 of Section 4 of Annex 2 to Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 58/97 are granted for the reference years 2005 to 2008 as specified in Annex [ to this Regulation. Article 2 Derogations from the list of characteristics contained in Section 4 of Annex 7 to Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 58/97 are granted for the reference years 2005 to 2007 as specified in Annex II to this Regulation. Article 3 This Regulation shall enter into force on the 20th day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.