Recital 10

(10)In particular, the Commission should be empowered to: update the list of characteristics in the Annexes; establish the frequency of the compilation of the statistics, the rules for flagging data as contributions to European totals only (CETO), the first reference year for the compilation of the results, and the breakdown of results, in particular the classifications to be used and the combination of the size classes; update the periods of time for the transmission of data; adapt the breakdown of activities and products to amendments or revisions of the statistical classification of economic activities in the European Community (NACE) and classification of products by activity (CPA); adopt measures on the basis of the evaluation of pilot studies; change the lower limit for the reference population in Annex VIII; and establish criteria for the evaluation of quality. Since those measures are of general scope and are designed to amend non-essential elements of this Regulation, inter alia , by supplementing it with new non-essential elements, they must be adopted in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny provided for in Article 5a of Decision 1999/468/EC.