THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,
Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,
Having regard to Regulation (EC) No 452/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 April 2008 concerning the production and development of statistics on education and lifelong learning, and in particular Article 6(3) thereof,
Having regard to the requests made by the Kingdom of Belgium, Ireland, the French Republic, the Republic of Malta and the Republic of Finland,
Whereas:
(1)
Regulation (EC) No 452/2008 establishes a common framework for the systematic production of European statistics on education and lifelong learning. It applies to the production of statistics on the participation of adults in lifelong learning.
(2)
Article 6(3) of Regulation (EC) No 452/2008 provides that, if necessary, limited derogations may be adopted for Member States, to be based upon objective grounds.
(3)
The Kingdom of Belgium, Ireland, the French Republic, the Republic of Malta and the Republic of Finland made requests for derogations due to the need for major adaptations to their national statistical systems in order to comply in full with Regulation (EC) No 452/2008.
(4)
Such derogations should therefore be granted to those Member States.
(5)
The measures set out in this Decision are in accordance with the opinion of the European Statistical System Committee,
HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION: