18.12.2003 Official Journal of the European Union L 330/15 COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 2207/2003 of 17 December 2003 amending Regulation (EC) No 1901/2000, by simplifying the concept of net mass THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, Having regard to Council Regulation (EEC) No 3330/91 of 7 November 1991 on the statistics relating to the trading of goods between Member States ('), and in particular Article 23(4) thereof, Whereas: (1)  The quantity of goods is a reliable and stable item of information which is necessary for comparisons on international trade. (2)  The units of quantity are used for checking the reliability of the data collected and for calculating indices. (3)  Pursuant to Commission Regulation (EC) No 1901/ 2000 (), laying down certain provisions for the imple- mentation of Council Regulation (EEC) No 3330/91, of the units of quantity, net mass, in kilograms, is the main indicator and should in principle be mentioned for every type of goods; however, for certain products, it is not the most appropriate unit of measurement; the party responsible for providing information should therefore be exempted from indicating net mass in such cases. (4)  Regulation (EC) No 1901/2000 has drawn up a list of products for which the parties responsible for providing information are exempted from indicating net mass; that list must be adapted to take account of the changes deriving from the annual update of the Combined Nomenclature. (5)  For the sake of clarity, adaptations of this type should henceforth be implemented in each case by means of a regulation amending Regulation (EC) No 1901/2000. (6)  Regulation (EC) No 1901/2000 must therefore be amended. (7)  The measures provided for in this Regulation are conso- nant with the opinion of the Committee on Statistics relating to the Trading of Goods between Member States, HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION: Atrticle 1 Regulation (EC) No 1901/2000 shall be amended as follows: 1. In Article 23(a), the sentence ‘In order to inform the party responsible for providing the information about possible updates of the Annex, resulting from the annual changes in the Combined Nomenclature, an explanatory note will be published in the Official Journal of the European Communities (C series)’ shall be deleted. 2. Annex II shall be replaced by the text appearing in the Annex to this Regulation. Article 2 This Regulation shall enter into force on the third day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union. It shall apply from 1 January 2004. This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States. Done at Brussels, 17 December 2003. () OJ L 316, 16.11.1991, p. 1. Regulation as last amended by Regu- lation (EC) No 1624/2000 of the European Parliament and of the Council (OJ L 187, 26.7.2000, p. 1). (* OJ L 228, 8.9.2000, p. 28. Regulation as last amended by the Act of Accession of 2003. For the Commission Pedro SOLBES MIRA Member of the Commission