12.9.2002 Official Journal of the European Communities L 2447 COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 1614/2002 of 6 September 2002 adjusting Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 58/97 to economic and technical developments and amending Commission Regulations (EC) No 2700/98, (EC) No 2701/98 and (EC) No 2702/98 THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, Having regard to Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 58/97 of 20 December 1996 concerning structural business statis- tics (), as amended by Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 410/98 (3, and in particular Article 12(i), (ii), (iii), (vii) and (viii) thereof, Whereas: (1) It is necessary to regularly update the lists of characteris- tics set out in Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 58/97 as well as the level of breakdown requested in order to meet changing needs due to economic developments. (2)  The provisions in Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 58/97 concerning the collection and statistical processing of data, the processing and the transmission of the results should be adjusted to economic and technical develop- ments. (3)  The addition of some important characteristics and the deletion of other characteristics, which are difficult to collect and costly, should improve the balance between sectoral statistics and especially between the industry and services sectors. (4)  Furthermore, it is appropriate to add some new defini- tions to Commission Regulation (EC) No 2700/98 of 17 December 1998 concerning the definitions of character- istics for structural business statistics (°), and to delete or amend some of the existing definitions in that Regula- tion in order to make them more relevant to the activ- ities concerned. (5)  The reduction of the level of breakdown of series by size-class provided for by Commission Regulation (EC) No 2701/98 of 17 December 1998 concerning the series of data to be produced for structural business statistics (*) should alleviate the statistical burden and improve the quality of the statistics provided. (6)  The technical format for the data concerning the coming years provided for by Commission Regulation (EC) No () OJL 14, 17.1.1997, p. 1. () OJL52,21.2.1998, p. 1. () OJ L 344, 18.12.1998, p. 49. () OJ L 344, 18.12.1998, p. 81. 2702/98 of 17 December 1998 concerning the technical format for transmission of structural business statistics (°) should be adjusted in order to facilitate such transmis- sion. (7)  Regulations (EC) No 2700/98, (EC) No 2701/98 and (EC) No 2702/98 should, therefore, be amended accordingly. (8)  The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Statistical Programme Committee, HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION: Article 1 Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 58/97 is adjusted to economic and technical developments in accordance with Annex I to this Regulation. Atticle 2 The Annex to Regulation (EC) No 2700/98 is amended in accordance with Annex II to this Regulation. Atrticle 3 The Annex to Regulation (EC) No 2701/98 is amended in accordance with Annex III to this Regulation. Atticle 4 The Annex to Regulation (EC) No 2702/98 is amended in accordance with Annex IV to this Regulation. Article 5 This Regulation shall enter into force on the 20th day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Communities. This Regulation shall apply for the data concerning the 2002 reference year. () OJ L 344, 18.12.1998, p. 102.