30.12.2011 Official Journal of the European Union L 347/7 REGULATION (EU) No 1337/2011 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 13 December 2011 concerning European statistics on permanent crops and repealing Council Regulation (EEC) No 357/79 and Directive 2001/109/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (Text with EEA relevance) THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, and in particular Article 338(1) thereof, Having regard to the proposal from the European Commission, After transmission of the draft legislative act to the national parliaments, Acting in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure (1), Whereas: (1) Council Regulation (EEC) No 357/79 of 5 February 1979 on statistical surveys of areas under vines (3 and Directive 2001/109/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 December 2001 concerning the statistical surveys to be carried out by the Member States in order to determine the production potential of plantations of certain species of fruit trees (’) have been amended several times. As further amendments and simplifications are now necessary, those acts should, for reasons of clarity and in accordance with the new approach to the simplification of Union legis- lation and better regulation, be replaced by one single act. 20 In order to perform the task conferred upon it by the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) and by Union legislation governing the common organi- sation of agricultural markets, the Commission needs to be kept accurately informed about the production potential of plantations of certain species of permanent crops within the Union. In order to ensure that the common agricultural policy is properly administered, the Commission requires data on permanent crops to be regularly provided on a five-year basis. (3)  Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 March 2009 on (1) Position of the European Parliament of 15 November 2011 (not yet published in the Official Journal) and Decision of the Council of 1 December 2011. () OJ L 54, 5.3.1979, p. 124. () OJ L 13, 16.1.2002, p. 21. European statistics (¥) provides a reference framework for European statistics on permanent crops. In particular, that Regulation requires conformity with principles of professional independence, impartiality, objectivity, relia- bility, statistical confidentiality and cost-effectiveness. (4) It is necessary to strengthen cooperation between the authorities involved in the drawing up and the publi- cation of European statistics. (5)  When preparing and drawing up European statistics, account should be taken of international recommen- dations and best practices. (6)  Structural statistics on permanent crops should be available in order to ensure that the production potential and the market situation can be monitored. In addition to the information provided in the context of the single Common Market Organisation, information on the regional breakdown of statistics is essential. The Member States should therefore be required to collect this information and send it to the Commission on certain fixed dates. ) Structural statistics on permanent crops are essential for the management of markets at Union level. It is also essential for structural statistics on permanent crops to be covered in addition to the annual statistics on areas and production governed by other Union legislation concerning statistics. (8)  To avoid placing an unnecessary burden on farms and administrations, thresholds should be established that exclude non-relevant entities from the basic entities in respect of which statistics on permanent crops are to be collected. (9 To guarantee the harmonisation of data, it is necessary to clearly state the most important definitions, the reference periods and the precision requirements to be applied in the production of statistics on permanent crops. (10) To guarantee the availability of these statistics to users within the necessary timeframe, a time schedule for transmitting the data to the Commission should be estab- lished. () O] L 87, 31.3.2009, p. 164.