21.1.2003 Official Journal of the European Communities L 14/1 (Acts whose publication is obligatory) REGULATION (EC) No 91/2003 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 16 December 2002 on rail transport statistics 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 (%), Having consulted the Committee of the Regions, Acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 251 of the Treaty (), Whereas: (1) Railways are an important part of the Community's transport networks. (2)  The Commission needs statistics on the transport of goods and passengers by rail in order to monitor and develop the common transport policy, as well as the transport elements of policies on the regions and on trans-European networks. (3)  Statistics on rail safety are required by the Commission in order to prepare and monitor Community actions in the field of transport safety. (4)  Community statistics on rail transport are also required in order to fulfil the monitoring tasks provided for in Article 10b of Council Directive 91/440/EEC of 29 July 1991 on the development of the Community's rail- ways (%). () O] C 180 E, 26.6.2001, p. 94. () O] C 221, 30.5.2001, p. 63. (’) Opinion of the European Parliament of 4 September 2001 (O] C 72 E, 21.3.2002, p. 58), Council Common Position of 27 June 2002 (not yet published in the Official Journal) and Decision of the European Parliament of 24 October 2002 (not yet published in the Official Journal). () OJ L 237, 24.8.1991, p. 25. Directive as last amended by Directive 2001/12[EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (O] L 75,15.3.2001, p. 1). (5)  Community statistics on all modes of transport should be collected according to common concepts and stan- dards, with the aim of achieving the fullest practicable comparability between transport modes. (6)  The restructuring of the rail industry under Directive 91/ 440[EEC, as well as changes in the type of information required by the Commission and by other users of Community statistics on rail transport, renders obsolete the provisions of Council Directive 80/1177/EEC of 4 December 1980 on statistical returns in respect of carriage of goods by rail, as part of regional statistics (°) in relation to the collection of statistics from specified administrations of main rail networks. (7)  The coexistence of publicly and privately owned railway undertakings operating in a commercial rail transport market requires an explicit specification of the statistical information which should be provided by all railway undertakings and disseminated by Eurostat. (8)  In accordance with the principle of subsidiarity laid down in Article 5 of the Treaty, the creation of common statistical standards which permit the production of harmonised data is an action which can only be under- taken efficiently at Community level. Such standards should be implemented in each Member State under the authority of the bodies and institutions in charge of producing official statistics. (99 Council Regulation (EC) No 322/97 of 17 February 1997 on Community statistics (°) provides a reference framework for the provisions laid down by this Regula- tion. (10)  The measures necessary for the implementation of this Regulation should be adopted in accordance with Council Decision 1999/468/EC of 28 June 1999 laying down the procedures for the exercise of implementing powers conferred on the Commission (). () OJ L 350, 23.12.1980, p. 23. Directive as last amended by the 1994 Act of Accession. ) OJ L 52,22.2.1997, p. 1. () OJ L 184, 17.7.1999, p. 23.