Introductory text

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community, and in particular Article 213 thereof;

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission;

Whereas, in order to carry out the tasks entrusted to it under the Treaty, the Commission must have at its disposal up-to-date statistics, comparable as between States, on the structure, importance and development of industry and small craft industries in Member States;

Whereas, when the industrial census was being prepared in 1963, the Commission found it necessary to draw the attention of the Governments of Member States to the fact that the development of the industrial economy in a common market requires that industrial statistics should provide certain minimum data; whereas the information available in the various Member States is inadequate or insufficiently comparable to serve as a reliable basis for the work of the Commission;

Whereas the European Economic Community has in the meantime made substantial progress towards integration; whereas new economic policies and guidelines call for initiatives and decisions based on valid statistics; whereas the statistics available in industry and small craft industries are not yet up to the standards appropriate to this economic situation.

Whereas these deficiencies make it difficult to extract from the industrial statistics now available in the various Member States information which could serve as a reliable basis for the work of the Commission, in particular as regards medium-term economic policy industrial policy, and competition policy;

Whereas comparable information on industrial activity must be obtained from the Member States and whereas for that reason it is necessary to carry out surveys which are coordinated as regards content, coverage, concepts and definitions, methods, and breakdown by industrial activity and size of statistical unit, for the purpose of collecting a body of coherent statistics whereby it will be possible to analyse the situation and economic development of the various branches of industry, and the potential for or obstacles to their growth; whereas these statistics will also provide the data necessary for calculating the contribution of industry and small craft industries to the national product and for other work in the sphere of statistical and economic synthesis;

HAS ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE: