NoL 165/12 Official Journal of the European Communities 15. 6. 89 COUNCIL REGULATION (EEC) No 1615/89 of 29 May 1989 establishing a European Forestry Information and Communication System (Efics) Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community, and in particular Article 213 thereof, Having regard to the proposal from the Commission (1), Having regard to the opinion- of the European Parliament (2), Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social Committee (3), Whereas the implementation and monitoring of Regulations (EEC) No 1609/89, (EEC) No 1610/89, (EEC) No 1611/89 and (EEC)No 1612/89, of Decision 89/367/EEC and of Regulations (EEC) No 1613/89 and (EEC) No - 1614/89 (%) on measures relating to the forestry sector call for detailed, consistent and comparable information on the situation of and developments in that sector in the Community; Whereas the forestry data available at Community level is incomplete and covers only part of the information necessary . for taking consistent forestry measures; whereas, however, a considerable amount of information already exists in many - Member States and this should be collected and made comparable; whereas to-that end there should be an - appropriate system. for the collection, processing, analysis and dissemination of the information; Whereas such data must cover not only the present situation of woodlands and their structure and the production and consumption of wood but also developments in the afforestation of agricultural land, the forestry situation in the various regions of the Community and a description of the - exploitation, processing and marketing of . forestry products; Whereas it is necessary to grant assistance to certain Member - States or regions to help them to compile data or improve the availability of comparable data which can be used at Community: level; Whereas the setting-up of this system require close cooperation. between the Commission and the Member (1) O] No C 312, 7. 12. 1988, p. 14. (2) Opinion delivered on 26 May 1989 (not yet published in the Official Journal). s ' (3 OJ No C 139, 5. 6. 1989, p. 15. ) () See pages 1, 3, 5, 6, 14, 8 and 10 respectively, of this Official Journal. : States, and in particular assistance from the relevant bodies within the Member States, in order to facilitate access to the data; ’ Whereas in addition to meeting the Community’s requirements the system should facilitate the implementation of decisions taken at national and regional level concerning the forestry sector and thereby improve knowledge of that sector at all levels; Whereas the system must be set up taking account of existing - information systems at Community level in order to ensure complementarity and achieve consistency and comparability in data collected in the Member States. HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION: Article 1 Iti order to collect comparable and objective information on the structure and operation of the forestry sector in the Community, and thus facilitate ~ implementation and monitoring of the Community forestry provisions in force, in particular the measures which are the subject of Regulations (EEC) No 1609/89, (EEC) No 1610/89, (EEC) No 1611/89, and (EEC)- No 1612/89, of Decision 89/367/EEC and Regulations (EEC) No 1613/89 and (EEC) No 1614/89 a European Forestry Information and- Communication System (Efics), hereinafter called ‘the System’, is hereby set up, the objective of which is to collect;- coordinate, standardize and process data concerning the forestry sector and its development. Article 2 The System shall take account of existing data, and in particular statistics.compiled by the Statistical Office of the European Communities, and shall make use of information available in the Member States, in particular data contained in national forestry -inventories, and -of any database accessible at Community and international level. The data. collected shall . be published subject to its conformity -with the rules of the Commission and the Member States governing information disclosure, specifically with regard to the confidentiality of statistics. Article 3 The Commissionshall set up the System in close cooperation with the Member States during an initial