L 10/28 Official Journal of the European Communities 16. 1. 98 COUNCIL DIRECTIVE 97/77/EC of 16 December 1997 amending Directives 93/23/EEC, 93/24/EEC and 93/25/EEC on the statistical surveys to be carried out on pig, bovine animal and sheep and goat 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 Par- liament (3, Whereas, in order to ensure that the common agricultural policy is properly administered, particulary where the pigmeat, the beef and veal and the sheep- and goatmeat markets are concerned, the Commission requires regular data on trends in livestock and in pigmeat, beef and veal and sheep- and goatmeat production; Whereas Council Directive 93/23/EEC of 1 June 1993 on the statistical surveys to be carried out on pig produc- tion (%), Council Directive 93/24/EEC of 1 June 1993 on the statistical surveys to be carried out on bovine animal production () and Council Directive 93/25/EEC of 1 June 1993 on the statistical surveys to be carried out on sheep and goat stocks (°) regulate the frequency of statis- tical surveys to be carried out on pig, bovine animal and sheep and goat production; Whereas the reference periods should be adapted in order to achieve better use of the resources available for agricul- tural statistical surveys; Whereas the burden of work for agricultural holdings connected with carrying out statistical surveys should be reduced; Whereas the various statistical surveys in the agricultural sector must be synchronised as far as possible; Whereas in some Member States the various livestock populations represent a relatively minor part of the Community’s total livestock population; whereas therefore these Member States may be granted certain derogations, 1 (") OJ C 288, 23. 9. 1997, p. 9. (3 OJ C 339, 10. 11. 1997. () OJ L 149, 21. 6. 1993, p. 1. Directive as amended by the 1994 Act of Accession. ( ( ) Y OJ L 149, 21. 6. 1993, p. S. Directive as amended by the 1994 Act of Accession. ) OJ L 149, 21. 6. 1993, 10. Directive as amended by the 1994 Act of Accession. HAS ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE: Article 1 Directive 93/23/EEC is hereby amended as follows: 1. In Article 1: (a) the second subparagraph of paragraph (2) shall be replaced by the following: ‘Those Member States whose pig population is less than 3 million head may be authorised to carry out the survey once a year in April, May/June, August or November/December. If they decide to carry out the survey in April, May/June or August, they shall forward to the Commission an estimate of the pig population for one of the first days in December of the reference year. G5 paragraphs 4 and 5 shall be added as follows: ‘4. The Commission may authorise the Member States, at their request, to carry out only two surveys a year, at six-month intervals in the months of May/June and November/December. That authorisation may be granted only on condition that the Member States apply appropriate methods which guarantee the quality of the forecasts provided for in Article 12. Appropriate methodo- logical documentation must be submitted by the Member States on submitting such a request. 5.  Those Member States which carry out more than three surveys per year shall be permitted a variance of up to three days on two of the survey dates referred to in paragraph 4 that they fix. 2. In Atrticle 5, the following paragraphs shall be added: ‘3. Those Member States authorised to carry out only two surveys per year shall notify the Commission of the provisional results of the surveys including addi- tional estimates before: — 15 August of the same year for the May/June survey, — 15 February of the following year for the Novem- ber/December survey. Those Member States whose pig population is less than 3 million head and which have been authorised to carry out only one survey per year and which do not undertake this survey in November/December, shall notify the Commission of the estimate for December by 15 February of the following year.