The Commission shall be assisted by the Committee on the Statistical Programmes of the European Communities, hereinafter referred to as ‘the Committee’.

The representative of the Commission shall submit to the Committee a draft of the measures to be taken. The Committee shall deliver its opinion on the draft within a time limit which the Chairman may lay down according to the urgency of the matter. The opinion shall be delivered by the majority laid down in Article 148 (2) of the Treaty in the case of decisions which the Council is required to adopt on a proposal from the Commission. The votes of the representatives of the Member States within the Committee shall be weighted in the manner set out in that Article. The Chairman shall not vote.

The Commission shall adopt measures which shall apply immediately. However, if these measures are not in accordance with the opinion of the Committee, they shall be communicated by the Commission to the Council forthwith. In that event:

• the Commission shall defer application of the measures which it has decided for a period of three months from the date of communication.

• the Council, acting by a qualified majority, may take a different decision within the time limit referred to in the previous indent.