No L 183/42 Official Journal of the European Communities 19. 7. 94 COUNCIL DECISION of 11 July 1994 on inter-administration telematic networks for statistics relating to the trading of goods between Member States (Edicom) (94/445/EC) THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 235 thereof, Having regard to the proposal from the Commission ('), Having regard to the- opinion of the European Par- liament (3, Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social Committee (%), Whereas completing the internal market depends on the elimination of physical frontiers between Member States ; whereas a satisfactory level of information on the trading of goods between Member States must therefore be ensured by means other than those involving, checks, even indirect ones, at internal frontiers ; Whereas it will consequently be necessary to collect directly from consignors and consignees the data neces- sary to compile statistics relating to the trading of goods between Member States, using methods and techniques which will ensure that they are exhaustive, reliable and up-to-date, without giving rise for the parties concerned, in particular for small and medium-sized businesses, to a burden out of proportion to the results which users of the said statistics can reasonably expect; Whereas Council Regulation (EEC) No 3330/91 of 7 November 1991 on the statistics relating to the trading of goods between Member States(¥) provides that the conditions should be created for increased use of auto- matic data processing and electronic data transmission for the purpose of facilitating the task of the parties respon- sible for providing information ; Whereas it is necessary to ease the burden which statis- tical returns place on businesses, while at the same time improving the circulation of statistical information with a view to the creation of the European information market ; Whereas an essential objective of the future Council Decision adopting a multiannual Community programme to support the implementation of trans-European infor- mation networks for the interchange of data between administrations (IDA) is to carry out feasibility studies, including validation schemes; whereas that Decision (') OJ No C 105, 16. 4. 1993, p. 10. (® OJ No C 315, 21. 11. 1993, p. 133. Opinion delivered on § May 1994 (not yet published in the Official Journal). () OJ No C 249, 13. 9. 1993, p. 8. () OJ No L 316, 16. 11. 1991, p. 1. should be supplemented by measures of an operational character, particularly in the statistical sphere ; Whereas the compilation of harmonized statistics, in particular with a link between statistics on trade and other economic statistics, should be ensured in order to contri- bute to market transparency and to the evaluation of the competitiveness of businesses ; Whereas the promotion of the use of harmonized stan- dards and concepts at European level will ultimately lead to the elimination of duplication and to economies of scale, while facilitating the emergence of new services in the field of statistical telematics ; Whereas standardization carried out at international level in the sphere of electronic data interchange (EDI) contri- butes to facilitating international trade and to simplifying relations between undertakings and administrative authorities ; Whereas the establishment of common statistical stan- dards for the production of harmonized information is an activity which can be carried out effectively only at Community level, in collaboration with the Member States ; whereas such standards will be implemented in each Member State under the authority of the bodies and institutions responsible for the compilation and dissemi- nation of official statistics ; Whereas the Treaty does not provide for powers other than those in Article 235 for the adoption of this Deci- sion, HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION : Article 1 A set of measures, hereinafter referred to as ‘Edicom’ (Electronic Data Interchange on Commerce), shall be implemented to facilitate the conversion of regional, national and Community sytems towards interoperable systems at European level, as a first stage, for the collec- tion of returns on the trading of goods between Member States from businesses, the validation and pre-processing of such returns and the dissemination of the statistics derived therefrom. These systems shall be based on distributed information systems at regional, national and Community levels, the interoperability of which shall be guaranteed by the development and use of harmonized standards and communication procedures.