L 87/164 Official Journal of the European Union 31.3.2009 REGULATION (EC) No 223/2009 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 11 March 2009 on European statistics and repealing Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1101/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the transmission of data subject to statistical confidentiality to the Statistical Office of the European Communities, Council Regulation (EC) No 322/97 on Community Statistics, and Council Decision 89/382/EEC, Euratom establishing a Committee on the Statistical Programmes of the European Communities (Text with relevance for the EEA and for Switzerland) 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, Having regard to the opinion of the European Central Bank (1), Having regard to the opinion of the European Data Protection Supervisor (), Acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 251 of the Treaty (%), Whereas: o) —_——~ — 2> = To ensure the coherence and comparability of European statistics produced in accordance with the principles laid down in Article 285(2) of the Treaty, cooperation and coordination should be reinforced between the authorities that contribute to the development, production and dissemination of European statistics. To that effect, the cooperation and coordination of those authorities should be developed in a more systematic and organised manner with full respect to the national and Community powers and institutional arrangements and taking into account the need to revise the existing basic legal framework in order to adapt it to the current reality, to better respond to future challenges, and to ensure a better harmonisation of European statistics. It is therefore necessary to consolidate the activities of the European Statistical System (ESS) and to improve its governance, in particular with a view to further clarifying the respective roles of the national statistical institutes (NSIs) and other national authorities, and of the Commu- nity statistical authority. O] C 291, 5.12.2007, p. 1. OJ C 308, 3.12.2008, p. 1. ) Opinion of the European Parliament of 19 November 2008 (not yet published in the Official Journal) and Council Decision of 19 February 2009. 4 Because of the specificity of the NSIs and the other national authorities responsible in each Member State for develop- ing, producing and disseminating European statistics, they should be able to receive grants without a call for proposals in accordance with Article 168(1)(d) of Commission Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 2342/2002 of 23 December 2002 laying down detailed rules for the implementation of Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1605/2002 on the Financial Regulation applicable to the general budget of the European Communities (). Taking into account the financial burden-sharing between the budgets of the European Union and the Member States relating to the implementation of the statistical programme, the Community should also, in accordance with Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1605/2002 of 25 June 2002 on the Financial Regulation applicable to the general budget of the European Communities (°), make financial contribu- tions to the NSIs and other national authorities in order to cover fully the incremental costs that the NSIs and other national authorities may incur in the execution of the temporary direct statistical actions decided by the Commis- sion. The statistical authorities of the Member States of the European Free Trade Association party to the Agreement on the European Economic Area () and of Switzerland should, as provided respectively for in the Agreement on the European Economic Area, in particular Article 76 thereof and Protocol 30 to that Agreement, and in the Agreement between the European Community and the Swiss Confederation on cooperation in the field of statistics (7), in particular Article 2 thereof, be closely associated with the reinforced cooperation and coordina- tion. Furthermore, it is important to ensure close cooperation and appropriate coordination between the ESS and the European System of Central Banks (ESCB), notably to foster the exchange of confidential data between the two systems for statistical purposes, in the light of Article 285 of the Treaty and of Article 5 of the Protocol (No 18) on the Statute of the European System of Central Banks and the European Central Bank annexed to the Treaty. OJ L 357, 31.12.2002, p. 1. OJ L 248, 16.9.2002, p. 1. OJ L1, 3.1.1994, p. 3. OJ L 90, 28.3.2006, p. 2.