31.12.2002 Official Journal of the European Communities L 358/1 (Acts whose publication is obligatory) DECISION No 2367/2002/EC OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 16 December 2002 on the Community statistical programme 2003 to 2007 (Text with EEA relevance) 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 thereof, Having regard to the proposal from the Commission ('), Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social Committee (%), Following consultation of the Committee of the Regions, Acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 251 of the Treaty (), Whereas: (1) In accordance with Council Regulation (EC) No 322/97 of 17 February 1997 on Community statistics (*), a Community statistical programme should be established. (2)  Council Regulation (EC) No 322/97 establishes the prin- ciples for the production of Community statistics and applies to this Decision. (3)  Economic and monetary union is imposing substantial demands on the supply of monetary, balance of payments and financial statistics for the Community. (4)  In accordance with Regulation (EC) No 322/97, the Community must have timely access to statistical infor- mation comparable between the Member States which is up to date, reliable, pertinent and produced as efficiently as possible for the formulation, application, monitoring and assessment of its policies. (5)  The availability of up-to-date comparable statistics of good quality is often a necessary condition for imple- menting Community policies. (6)  In order to ensure the consistency and comparability of statistical information in the Community, there is a need to establish a five-year Community statistical programme 0 O] C 75 E, 26.3.2002, p. 274. () 0 C 125, 27.5.2002, p. 17. () Opinion of the European Parliament of 25 April 2002 (not yet published in the Official Journal), Council Common Position of 30 September 2002 (O] C 275 E, 12.11.2002, p. 1) and Decision of the European Parliament of 20 November 2002 (not yet published in the Of%aal Journal). () OJ L 52,22.2.1997, p. 1. (10) (11) (12) which identifies the approaches, the main fields and the objectives of the actions envisaged in respect of these priorities. To this effect, the Community authorities should ensure comparable and high quality statistics. The specific method of drawing up Community statistics requires particularly close cooperation within a devel- oping Community statistical system via the Statistical Programme Committee, set up by Council Decision 89/ 382[EEC, Euratom (°), as regards the adaptation of the system, notably via the introduction of legal instruments necessary to establish the said Community statistics. Account is to be taken of the burden on respondents, be they business, households or individuals. The production of Community statistics within the legis- lative framework of the five-year programme is the responsibility of the national authorities at national level and of the Community authority (Eurostat) at Commu- nity level. In order to achieve this objective, close, coordinated and coherent cooperation between Eurostat and the national authorities is necessary. To this effect, Eurostat should ensure the coordination under various forms of the national authorities in a network representing the European Statistical System (ESS) to assure the timely provision of statistics in support of European Union policy needs. Detailed implementing measures for individual statistical actions may be entrusted to the ESS by the Commission, which should decide the objectives and the measures concerned. In addition, in the implementation of this Programme, in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 322/97, the Commission is entrusted to execute certain imple- menting or execution tasks as they are defined in acts concerning individual statistical actions. () OJ L 181, 28.6.1989, p. 47.