No L 219/40 Official Journal of the European Communities 4. 8. 92 COMMISSION REGULATION (EEC) No 2256/92 of 31 July 1992 on statistical thresholds for the statistics on trade between Member States THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Economic 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 parti- cular Article 30 thereof, Whereas the burden on intra-Community operators must be lightened as much as possible, either by exmeption them from statistical obligations or by simplifying proce- dures ; Whereas this lightening of the burden must be limited only by the demands of statistics of a satisfactory quality, which must consequently be defined by common accord ; Whereas, once this quality has been defined, all the Member States must have their necessary instruments to ensure it, while taking account of their own economic and commercial structure ; whereas it is for the Member States themselves to strike the most appropriate balance between lightening of the statistical burden and quality on the basis of the information available to them ; Whereas the information to be analysed by the Member States in order to fix their thresholds differs, particularly as regards coverage, depending on whether they are to be introduced in 1993 or to be adapted as from 1994; whereas a distinction should therefore be drawn between the rules to be followed on one single occasion, as in the first case, and those to be followed each year, as in the second case ; Whereas the obligations of the persons responsible for providing information should be defined in such a way as to take maximum account of their interests, particularly if their intra-Community transactions are expanding ; Whereas the measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Committee on Statistics relating to the trading of goods between Member States, HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION : Article 1 The Member States shall set annually, in national currency, the assimilation and simplification thresholds () OJ No L 316, 16. 11. 1991, p. 1. 1 referred to in Article 28 of Regulation (EEC) No 3330/91, hereinafter ‘the Basic Regulation’. They shall ensure when setting these thresholds that, first, they meet the quality requirements laid down in this Regulation and, secondly, they exploit to the full the ensuing opportunities to relieve the burden on intra-Community operators. Article 2 For the purposes of this Regulation : (a) ‘error’ means the discrepancy between the results obtained with and without application of the thre- sholds referred to in Article 1; when a correction procedure is applied to the results obtained following application of the thresholds, the error is calculated in relation to the corrected results ; ‘total value’ means : ® ~— — for the introduction of the thresholds in 1993, the value either of the outgoing goods or of the inco- ming goods, accounted for by intra-Community operators over a period of twelve months, — for the adjustmetn of the thresholds from 1994, the value of either of the outgoing goods or of the incoming goods accounted for by intra- Community operators over a twelve-month period, other than those who are exempt under Article § of the Basic Regulation ; (c) ‘coverage’ means in relation to a given total value, the proportionate value of the outgoing gods or of the incoming goods,  accounted for by the intra- Community operators who lie above the assimilation threshold. ’ Article 3 1.  For the introduction of the assimilation thresholds in 1993, the Member States shall meet the following quality requirements : (a) Results by goods category Each Member State shall ensure that the error in annual values does not exceed 5 % for 90 % of the eight-digit sub-headings of the combined Nomencla- ture which represent 0,005 % or more of the total value of its outgoing or incoming goods.