19.3.2004 Official Journal of the European Union L 81/1 (Acts whose publication is obligatory) REGULATION (EC) No 501/2004 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 10 March 2004 on quarterly financial accounts for general government (Text with EEA relevance) THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 285 thereof, Having regard to the proposal from the Commission, Having regard to the opinion of the European Central Bank (Y), Acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 251 of the Treaty (3), Whereas: 1 Council Regulation (EC) No 2223/96 of 25 June 1996 on the European system of national and regional accounts in the Community (°) contains the reference framework of common standards, definitions, classifica- tions and accounting rules for drawing up the accounts of the Member States for the statistical requirements of the Community, in order to obtain comparable results between Member States. The report by the Monetary Committee on information requirements, endorsed by the ECOFIN Council on 18 January 1999, underlined that, for the proper func- tioning of Economic and Monetary Union and the single market, effective surveillance and coordination of economic policies are of major importance and that this requires a comprehensive statistical information system providing policy-makers with the necessary data on which to base their decisions. That report also stated that high priority should be given to short-term public finance statistics for Member States, in particular those participating in Economic and Monetary Union, and that the objective was the compilation of quarterly govern- ment financial accounts following a step-by-step approach. () O] C 165, 16.7.2003, p. 6. (*) Opinion of the European Parliament of 21 October 2003 (not yet published in the Official Journal), Council Common Position of 22 December 2003 (not yet published in the Official Journal) and Posi- tion of the European Parliament of 10 February 2004 (not yet published in the Official Journal). () OJ L 310, 30.11.1996, p. 1. Regulation as last amended by Regu- lation (EC) No 1267/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council (OJ L 180, 18.7.2003, p. 1). 3) Quarterly national data of financial accounts (transac- tions and balance sheets) for the government sector make up a large proportion of all financial transactions and financial balance sheets in the euro area and provide important information to support the conduct of mone- tary policy. In this respect and for its own purpose the Governing Council of the European Central Bank has adopted regulations and guidelines to safeguard the transmission of infra-annual data on financial statistics and national financial accounts to the European Central Bank. Counterpart sector information on government financial transactions and balance sheets is required to enable comprehensive analysis of government financing and financial investment by counterpart sector and by instru- ment. Commission Regulation (EC) No 264/2000 of 3 February 2000 on the implementation of Council Regu- lation (EC) No 2223/96 with respect to short-term public finance statistics () and Regulation (EC) No 1221/ 2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council, of 10 June 2002 on quarterly non-financial accounts for general government (°) specify the non-financial quar- terly data for general government that is to be trans- mitted to the Commission (Eurostat) by Member States. Articles 2 and 3 of Regulation (EC) No 2223/96 lay down the conditions under which the Commission may adopt amendments to the methodology of the European System of Accounts in order to clarify and improve its contents. The compilation of government quarterly financial accounts will require additional resources in Member States, and cannot therefore be dealt with by a Commission Decision but should rather be adopted by a specific Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council. () OJ L 29, 4.2.2000, p. 4. () OJ L 179, 9.7.2002, p. 1.