Recital 9

(9)In accordance with Council Regulation (EC) No 322/97 of 17 February 1997 on Community statistics ⁸ , which constitutes the reference framework for the provisions of this Regulation, it is necessary for the collection of statistics to conform to the principles of impartiality, meaning in particular objectivity and scientific independence, as well as transparency, reliability, relevance, cost-effectiveness and statistical confidentiality.