25.11.2005 Official Journal of the European Union L 309/1 (Acts whose publication is obligatory) REGULATION (EC) No 1888/2005 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 26 October 2005 amending Regulation (EC) No 1059/2003 on the establishment of a common classification of terri- torial units for statistics (NUTS) by reason of the accession of the Czech Republic, Estonia, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Slovenia and Slovakia to the European Union THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Com- munity, and in particular Article 285(1) thereof, Having regard to the proposal from the Commission, Having regard to the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee (%), After consulting the Committee of the Regions, Acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 251 of the Treaty (3, Whereas: (1) Regulation (EC) No 1059/2003 (*) constitutes the legal framework for the regional classification in order to enable the collection, compilation and dissemination of harmonised regional statistics in the Community. (2)  All Member States’ statistics transmitted to the Commis- sion, which are broken down by territorial units, should use the NUTS classification, where applicable. (3) It is necessary to adapt the Annexes to Regulation (EC) No 1059/2003 to take into account the accession of the Czech Republic, Estonia, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Slovenia and Slovakia to the European Union. (4)  Regulation (EC) No 1059/2003 should therefore be amended accordingly, HAVE ADOPTED THIS REGULATION: Article 1 Regulation (EC) No 1059/2003 is amended as follows: 1. Annex I is amended in accordance with the text shown in Annex I to this Regulation. 2. Annexes II and III are replaced by the text appearing in Annex Il and in Annex III to this Regulation. Atticle 2 This Regulation shall enter into force on the day following its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union. This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States. Done at Strasbourg, 26 October 2005. For the European Parliament The President J. BORRELL FONTELLES () O C 157, 28.6.2005, p. 149. (*) Opinion of the European Parliament of 12 April 2005 (not yet published in the Official Journal) and Council Decision of 19 September 2005. () OJ L 154, 21.6.2003, p. 1. For the Council The President D. ALEXANDER