16.2.1999 Official Journal of the European Communities L 4211 (Acts whose publication is not obligatory) COUNCIL COUNCIL DECISION of 22 December 1998 on the Community statistical programme 1998 to 2002 (1999/126/EC) THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 213 thereof, Having regard to the draft Decision submitted by the Commission, Having regard to the opinion of the European Parliament (1), Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social Committee (2), Whereas, in accordance with Article 3(1) of the Council Regulation (EC) No 322/97 of 17 February 1997 on Community  statistics (}) a Community statistical programme should be established; Whereas economic and monetary union is imposing substantial demands on the supply of monetary, balance of payments and financial statistics for the Community; Whereas in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 322/97, the Community should be able to have timely access to statistical information comparable between the Member 1 (') OJ C 328, 26.10.1998, p. 227. () OJ C 235, 27.7.1998, p. 60. () OJ L 52,22.2.1997, p. 1. States which is up to date, reliable, pertinent and produced as efficiently as possible for the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of its policies; Whereas the availability of up-to-date comparable statistics of good quality is often a necessary condition for implementing Community policies; Whereas, in order to unsure the consistency and comparability of statistical information in the Community, there is a need to establish a medium-term Community statistical programme which identifies the approaches, the main fields and the objectives of the actions envisaged in respect of these priorities; Whereas in certain areas covered by various Community policies a breakdown of data by gender is important; Whereas the specific method of drawing up Community statistics requires particularly close cooperation within a developing community statistical system via the Statistical Programme Committee, set up by Decision 89/382/EEC, Euratom (*), as regards the adaptation of the system, notably via the introduction of legal instruments necessary to establish the said Community statistics and (*) OJ L 181, 28.6.1989, p. 47.