21.11.2002 Official Journal of the European Communities L 317/1 (Acts whose publication is obligatory) REGULATION (EC) No 2056/2002 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 5 November 2002 amending Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 58/97 concerning structural business statistics (Text with EEA relevance) THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE (4  The liberalisation of international trade in financial EUROPEAN UNION, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Commu- nity, and in particular Article 285 thereof, Having regard to the proposal from the Commission (!), Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social Committee (%), Having regard to the opinion of the European Central Bank (), Acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 251 of the Treaty (%), Whereas: (1) Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 58/97 (°) established a common framework for the collection, compilation, transmission and evaluation of Community statistics on the structure, activity, competitiveness and performance of businesses in the Community. (2)  Developments in Community monetary, economic and social integration require the extension of the common framework to credit institutions, pension funds, other financial intermediation and activities auxiliary to finan- cial intermediation. (3)  The operation and development of the internal market has increased the need for information measuring its effectiveness, in particular in the sectors of credit institu- tions, pension funds, other financial intermediation and activities auxiliary to financial intermediation. () O] C 154 E, 29.5.2001, p. 129 and OJ C332E, 27.11.2001, p. 340. () O] C 260, 17.9.2001, p. 54. () 0] C 131, 3.5.2001, p. 5. (*) Opinion of the European Parliament of 13 June 2001 (O] C 53 E, 28.2.2002, p. 213), Council Common Position of 20 June 2002 (O] C 228, 25.9.2002, p. 1) and Decision of the European Parliament of 24 September 2002 (not yet published in the Official Journal). () OJ L 14, 17.1.1997, p. 1. Regulation as last amended by Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 410/98 (OJ L 52, 21.2.1998, p. 1). () OJ L 310, 30.11.1996, p. 1. Regulation as last amended by Reégula— services necessitates business statistics in the financial services area to support the trade negotiations. (5)  The compilation of national and regional accounts according to Council Regulation (EC) No 2223/96 of 25 June 1996 on the European system of national and regional accounts in the Community (°) requires compar- able, complete and reliable business statistics in the financial services area. (6)  The introduction of the single currency will have a major impact on the structure of the financial services industry and the cross-border flows of capital, which stresses the importance of information on competitive- ness, the internal market and internationalisation. (7)  The smooth conduct of policies pursued by the compe- tent authorities relating to prudential supervision of credit institutions and the stability of the financial system implies the need for additional information on credit institutions and related services. (8) A developing pension funds sector could help to boost the capital markets through increasingly taking advan- tage of the liberalisation of investment rules. (9)  Decision No 2179/98/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 September 1998 on the review of the European Community programme of policy action in relation to the environment and sustainable development ‘Towards sustainability’ (') reiterated the need for reliable and comparable data, statistics and indi- cators as a key tool for the evaluation of the cost of compliance with environmental regulations. tion (EC) No 359/2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council (O] L 58, 28.2.2002, p. 1). () OJ L 275,10.10.1998, p. 1.