Recital 1

(1)The development, production and dissemination of statistical information on the economic activities of Member States' businesses has so far been based on a number of individual legal acts. Those legal acts cover short-term and structural business statistics, statistics on production, intra-Union and extra-Union trade (international trade) in goods and services, foreign affiliates, research and development (R&D), innovation and information and communication technologies (ICT) usage and e‐commerce. Moreover, a common framework for business registers for statistical purposes in the Union was established by Regulation (EC) No 177/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council ³ .