28.12.2007 Official Journal of the European Union L 34415 DECISIONS ADOPTED JOINTLY BY THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL DECISION No 1578/2007/EC OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 11 December 2007 on the Community Statistical Programme 2008 to 2012 (Text with EEA relevance) THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 285 thereof, Having regard to the proposal from the Commission, 3) Having regard to the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee (1), After consulting the Committee of the Regions, Acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 251 of the Treaty (?), Whereas: (1)  Pursuant to Council Regulation (EC) No 322/97 of 17 February 1997 on Community statistics (}), a multiannual Community statistical programme should be established. (2)  In accordance with that Regulation, the Community should have timely access to statistical information comparable among the Member States and their terri- () O] C 175, 27.7.2007, p. 8. (3 Opinion of the European Parliament of 12 July 2007 (not yet published in the OJ) and Council Decision of 29 November 2007. () OJ L 52,22.2.1997, p. 1. Regulation as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 18822003 (O] L 284, 31.10.2003, p. 1). torial units, in the light of the constitutional provisions of the Member States, which is up to date, reliable, relevant and produced as efficiently as possible for the formulation, application, monitoring and assessment of its policies. 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 which identifies the approaches, the main fields and the objectives of the actions envisaged in respect of the policy priorities. The specific method of drawing up Community statistics requires  particularly close cooperation within a developing Community ~statistical system via the Statistical Programme Committee, established by Council Decision 89/382[EEC, Euratom (%), as regards the adaptation of the system, notably through the intro- duction of legal instruments necessary to establish the relevant Community statistics. Account should be taken of the burden on respondents, be they businesses, central, regional or local government units, households or indi- viduals. The production of Community statistics within the legis- lative framework of the five-year programme is achieved through the close, coordinated and coherent cooperation between Eurostat and the national authorities. For that purpose, Eurostat should ensure the coordination, in various forms, of the national authorities in a network representing the European Statistical System (ESS) to assure the timely provision of statistics of a standard allowing the necessary comparability among Member States, in support of European Union policy needs. (4 O] L 181, 28.6.1989, p. 47.