L 347/42 Official Journal of the European Communities 20.12.2002 (Acts whose publication is not obligatory) COMMISSION COMMISSION DECISION of 17 December 2002 further clarifying Annex A to Council Regulation (EC) No 2223/96 as concerns the principles for measuring prices and volumes in national accounts (notified under document number C(2002) 5054) (Text with EEA relevance) (2002/990/EC) THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 2223/96 of 25 June 1996 on the European system of national and regional accounts in the Community (!), as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 359/2002 of the European Parliament and the Council (}), and in particular Article 2(2) thereof, Whereas: 1 Regulation (EC) No 2223/96 contains the reference framework of common standards, definitions, classifica- tions and accounting rules for drawing up the accounts of the Member States for the statistical requirements of the European Community, in order to obtain compar- able results between Member States. It is necessary to improve the comparability between the Member States in the data for changes in real Gross Domestic Product (GDP), both with a view to the appli- cation of Article 2 of the Council Regulation (EC) No 1467/97 of 7 July 1997 on speeding up and clarifying the implementation of the excessive deficit procedure (*) and the Resolution of the European Council on the Stability and Growth Pact of 16 June 1997 (*) and for the purpose of multilateral surveillance more generally. 310, 30.11.1996, p. 1. L L 58, 28.2.2002, p. 1. L 209, 2.8.1997, p. 6. C 236, 2.8.1997, p. 1. 3) The implementation and supervision of Economic and Monetary Union require comparable, up-to-date and reli- able information on the structure and developments in the economic situation of each Member State. The economic accounts in real terms, ie. adjusted for price changes, are a fundamental tool for analysing a country's economic and budgetary situation, provided they are compiled on the basis of unique principles that are not open to different interpretations. To this end, the recommendations for the calculation of data at constant prices in the framework of Council Regulation (EC) No 2223/96 should be deepened and strengthened. Commission Decision 98/715/EC of 30 November 1998 () clarifies Annex A to Regulation (EC) No 2223/ 96 as concerns the principles for measuring prices and volumes. It defines a classification of methods for certain types of products into most appropriate methods, alter- natives which may be used if the appropriate methods cannot be applied and methods which shall not be used. Decision 98715/EC establishes a research programme for those products for which this classification is not stated. The results of the research programme, carried out jointly with the Member States, are now available. This Decision defines the classification in question taking into account the results of the research programme. () OJ L 340, 16.12.1998, p. 33.