Intra and extra-Community trading of goods: trans-European network for the collection of statistics, Edicom II

The main objective of the evaluation presented in this report is to "submit to the European Parliament and the Council a mid-term report of activities financed under the new programme so as to enable, if appropriate, a review of the actions implemented under the Edicom Decision. This report was drawn up by Eurostat. This evaluation is focused on the work programmes for the years 2001 to 2003. Not all the actions carried out within these work programmes were completed by the end of 2003. The Edicom Decision 507/2001/EC of 12 March 2001 adopted by the Council and the European Parliament set the goal of encouraging a modern, rational and effective organisation of the transeuropean collection, treatment and distribution network for intra and extra-Community statistics, accompanied by the improvement and harmonisation of statistical methods. The objectives of the 2001, 2002 and 2003 work programmes were coherent with those of the overall programme. The design of the programmes made it possible to apportion the activities efficiently between Member States and Eurostat. In most of the projects the expected results were clearly defined, facilitating their attainment and monitoring. The implementation of the work programme has been particularly efficient, mainly thanks to the assistance of specific Working Groups. Progress has been achieved across a wide range of fields, from data collection to dissemination. Most of the projects managed to achieve significant results and many applications have been developed.�