Legal provisions of COM(2007)625 - European Statistics - Main contents
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This page contains a limited version of this dossier in the EU Monitor.
| dossier | COM(2007)625 - European Statistics. |
|---|---|
| document | COM(2007)625  |
| date | March 11, 2009 |
CHAPTER I
GENERAL PROVISIONS
Article 1
Subject matter and scope
This Regulation establishes a legal framework for the development, production and dissemination of European statistics.
In compliance with the principle of subsidiarity and in accordance with the independence, integrity and accountability of the national and the Community authorities, European statistics are relevant statistics necessary for the performance of the activities of the Community. European statistics are determined in the European statistical programme. They shall be developed, produced and disseminated in conformity with the statistical principles as set out in Article 285(2) of the Treaty and further elaborated in the European statistics Code of Practice in accordance with Article 11. They shall be implemented in accordance with this Regulation.
Article 2
Statistical principles
1. The development, production and dissemination of European statistics shall be governed by the following statistical principles:
| (a) | ‘professional independence’, meaning that statistics must be developed, produced and disseminated in an independent manner, particularly as regards the selection of techniques, definitions, methodologies and sources to be used, and the timing and content of all forms of dissemination, free from any pressures from political or interest groups or from Community or national authorities, without prejudice to institutional settings, such as Community or national institutional or budgetary provisions or definitions of statistical needs; |
| (b) | ‘impartiality’, meaning that statistics must be developed, produced and disseminated in a neutral manner, and that all users must be given equal treatment; |
| (c) | ‘objectivity’, meaning that statistics must be developed, produced and disseminated in a systematic, reliable and unbiased manner; it implies the use of professional and ethical standards, and that the policies and practices followed are transparent to users and survey respondents; |
| (d) | ‘reliability’, meaning that statistics must measure as faithfully, accurately and consistently as possible the reality that they are designed to represent and implying that scientific criteria are used for the selection of sources, methods and procedures; |
| (e) | ‘statistical confidentiality’, meaning the protection of confidential data related to single statistical units which are obtained directly for statistical purposes or indirectly from administrative or other sources and implying the prohibition of use for non-statistical purposes of the data obtained and of their unlawful disclosure; |
| (f) | ‘cost effectiveness’, meaning that the costs of producing statistics must be in proportion to the importance of the results and the benefits sought, that resources must be optimally used and the response burden minimised. The information requested shall, where possible, be readily extractable from available records or sources. |
The statistical principles set out in this paragraph are further elaborated in the Code of Practice in accordance with Article 11.
2. The development, production and dissemination of European statistics shall take into account international recommendations and best practice.
Article 3
Definitions
For the purposes of this Regulation, the following definitions shall apply:
| 1. | ‘statistics’ means quantitative and qualitative, aggregated and representative information characterising a collective phenomenon in a considered population; |
| 2. | ‘development’ means the activities aiming at setting up, strengthening and improving the statistical methods, standards and procedures used for the production and dissemination of statistics as well as at designing new statistics and indicators; |
| 3. | ‘production’ means all the activities related to the collection, storage, processing, and analysis necessary for compiling statistics; |
| 4. | ‘dissemination’ means the activity of making statistics and statistical analysis accessible to users; |
| 5. | ‘data collection’ means surveys and all other methods of deriving information from different sources, including administrative sources; |
| 6. | ‘statistical unit’ means the basic observation unit, namely a natural person, a household, an economic operator and other undertakings, referred to by the data; |
| 7. | ‘confidential data’ means data which allow statistical units to be identified, either directly or indirectly, thereby disclosing individual information. To determine whether a statistical unit is identifiable, account shall be taken of all relevant means that might reasonably be used by a third party to identify the statistical unit; |
| 8. | ‘use for statistical purposes’ means the exclusive use for the development and production of statistical results and analyses; |
| 9. | ‘direct identification’ means the identification of a statistical unit from its name or address, or from a publicly accessible identification number; |
| 10. | ‘indirect identification’ means the identification of a statistical unit by any other means than by way of direct identification; |
| 11. | ‘officials of the Commission (Eurostat)’ means the officials of the Communities, within the meaning of Article 1 of the Staff Regulations of Officials of the European Communities, working at the Community statistical authority; |
| 12. | ‘other staff of the Commission (Eurostat)’ means the servants of the Communities, within the meaning of Articles 2 to 5 of the Conditions of Employment of Other Servants of the European Communities, working at the Community statistical authority. |
CHAPTER II
STATISTICAL GOVERNANCE
Article 4
The European Statistical System
The European Statistical System (ESS) is the partnership between the Community statistical authority, which is the Commission (Eurostat), and the national statistical institutes (NSIs) and other national authorities responsible in each Member State for the development, production and dissemination of European statistics.
Article 5
National statistical institutes and other national authorities
1. The national statistical authority designated by each Member State as the body having the responsibility for coordinating all activities at national level for the development, production and dissemination of European statistics (the NSI) shall act as the contact point for the Commission (Eurostat) on statistical matters. The Member States shall take the necessary measures to ensure the application of this provision.
2. The Commission (Eurostat) shall maintain and publish on its website a list of NSIs and other national authorities responsible for the development, production and dissemination of European statistics as designated by Member States.
3. The NSIs and the other national authorities included in the list referred to in paragraph 2 of this Article may receive grants without a call for proposals, in accordance with Article 168(1)(d) of Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 2342/2002.
Article 6
Commission (Eurostat)
1. The Community statistical authority, as designated by the Commission to develop, produce and disseminate European statistics, shall be referred to as ‘the Commission (Eurostat)’ in this Regulation.
2. At Community level, the Commission (Eurostat) shall ensure the production of European statistics according to established rules and statistical principles. In this respect, it shall have the sole responsibility for deciding on processes, statistical methods, standards and procedures, and on the content and timing of statistical releases.
3. Without prejudice to Article 5 of the Protocol on the Statute of the European System of Central Banks (ESCB) and the European Central Bank, the Commission (Eurostat) shall coordinate the statistical activities of the institutions and bodies of the Community, in particular with a view to ensuring consistency and quality of the data and minimising reporting burden. To that end, the Commission (Eurostat) may invite any institution or body of the Community to consult or cooperate with it for the purpose of developing methods and systems for statistical purposes in their respective field of competence. Any of those institutions or bodies which propose to produce statistics shall consult the Commission (Eurostat) and take into account any recommendation that it may make to this effect.
Article 7
European Statistical System Committee
1. The European Statistical System Committee (ESS Committee) is hereby established. It shall provide professional guidance to the ESS for developing, producing and disseminating European statistics in line with the statistical principles set out in Article 2(1).
2. The ESS Committee shall be composed of the representatives of the NSIs who are national specialists for statistics. It shall be chaired by the Commission (Eurostat).
3. The ESS Committee shall adopt its rules of procedure, which shall reflect its tasks.
4. The ESS Committee shall be consulted by the Commission in regard to:
| (a) | the measures which the Commission intends to take for the development, production and dissemination of European statistics, their justification on a cost-effectiveness basis, the means and timetables for achieving them, the response burden on survey respondents; |
| (b) | proposed developments and priorities in the European statistical programme; |
| (c) | initiatives to bring into practice the reprioritisation and reduction of the response burden; |
| (d) | issues concerning statistical confidentiality; |
| (e) | the further development of the Code of Practice; and |
| (f) | any other question, in particular issues of methodology, arising from the establishment or implementation of statistical programmes that are raised by its Chair, either on its own initiative or at the request of a Member State. |
Article 8
Cooperation with other bodies
The European Statistical Advisory Committee and the European Statistical Governance Advisory Board shall be consulted in accordance with their respective competence.
Article 9
Cooperation with the ESCB
To minimise the reporting burden and guarantee the coherence necessary to produce European statistics, the ESS and the ESCB shall cooperate closely, while complying with the statistical principles as set out in Article 2(1).
Article 10
International cooperation
Without prejudice to the position and the role of individual Member States, the position of the ESS as regards issues of particular relevance to European statistics at international level as well as the specific arrangements for representation in the international statistical bodies shall be prepared by the ESS Committee and coordinated by the Commission (Eurostat).
Article 11
European statistics Code of Practice
1. The Code of Practice shall aim at ensuring public trust in European statistics by establishing how European statistics are to be developed, produced and disseminated in conformity with the statistical principles as set out in Article 2(1) and best international statistical practice.
2. The Code of Practice shall be reviewed and updated as necessary by the ESS Committee. The Commission shall publish amendments thereto.
Article 12
Statistical quality
1. To guarantee the quality of results, European statistics shall be developed, produced and disseminated on the basis of uniform standards and of harmonised methods. In this respect, the following quality criteria shall apply:
| (a) | ‘relevance’, which refers to the degree to which statistics meet current and potential needs of the users; |
| (b) | ‘accuracy’, which refers to the closeness of estimates to the unknown true values; |
| (c) | ‘timeliness’, which refers to the period between the availability of the information and the event or phenomenon it describes; |
| (d) | ‘punctuality’, which refers to the delay between the date of the release of the data and the target date (the date by which the data should have been delivered); |
| (e) | ‘accessibility’ and ‘clarity’, which refer to the conditions and modalities by which users can obtain, use and interpret data; |
| (f) | ‘comparability’, which refers to the measurement of the impact of differences in applied statistical concepts, measurement tools and procedures where statistics are compared between geographical areas, sectoral domains or over time; |
| (g) | ‘coherence’, which refers to the adequacy of the data to be reliably combined in different ways and for various uses. |
2. In applying the quality criteria laid down in paragraph 1 of this Article to the data covered by sectoral legislation in specific statistical domains, the modalities, structure and periodicity of quality reports provided for in sectoral legislation shall be defined by the Commission in accordance with the regulatory procedure referred to in Article 27(2).
Specific quality requirements, such as target values and minimum standards for the statistical production, may be laid down in sectoral legislation. Where sectoral legislation does not so provide, measures may be adopted by the Commission. Those measures, designed to amend non-essential elements of this Regulation by supplementing it, shall be adopted in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny referred to in Article 27(3).
3. Member States shall provide the Commission (Eurostat) with reports on the quality of the data transmitted. The Commission (Eurostat) shall assess the quality of data transmitted and shall prepare and publish reports on the quality of European statistics.
CHAPTER III
PRODUCTION OF EUROPEAN STATISTICS
Article 13
European statistical programme
1. The European statistical programme shall provide the framework for the development, production and dissemination of European statistics, the main fields and the objectives of the actions envisaged for a period not exceeding five years. It shall be decided upon by the European Parliament and the Council. Its impact and cost effectiveness shall be assessed, involving independent experts.
2. The European statistical programme shall lay down priorities concerning the needs for information for the purpose of carrying out the activities of the Community. Those needs shall be weighed against the resources needed at Community and national level to provide the required statistics, and also against the response burden and the respondent's associated costs.
3. The Commission shall introduce initiatives to set priorities and reduce the response burden for all or part of the European statistical programme.
4. The Commission shall submit the draft European statistical programme to the ESS Committee for prior examination.
5. For each European statistical programme, the Commission shall, after consulting the ESS Committee, present an intermediate progress report and a final evaluation report and shall submit them to the European Parliament and to the Council.
Article 14
Implementation of the European statistical programme
1. The European statistical programme shall be implemented by individual statistical actions which shall be decided:
| (a) | by the European Parliament and the Council; |
| (b) | by the Commission, in specific and duly justified cases, in particular to meet unexpected needs, in accordance with the provisions in paragraph 2; or |
| (c) | by means of agreement between the NSIs or other national authorities and the Commission (Eurostat), within their respective spheres of competence. Such agreements shall be in writing. |
2. The Commission may decide on a temporary direct statistical action in accordance with the regulatory procedure referred to in Article 27(2) provided that:
| (a) | the action does not provide for data collection covering more than three reference years; |
| (b) | the data are already available or accessible within the NSIs and other national authorities responsible, or can be obtained directly, using the appropriate samples for the observation of the statistical population at European level with the adequate coordination with the NSIs and other national authorities; and |
| (c) | the Community shall, in accordance with Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1605/2002 make financial contributions to the NSIs and other national authorities to cover the incremental costs incurred by them. |
3. In putting forward an action to be decided under paragraph 1(a) or (b), the Commission shall provide information on:
| (a) | the reasons justifying the action, notably in the light of the aims of the Community policy concerned; |
| (b) | the objectives for the action and the expected results; |
| (c) | a cost-effectiveness analysis, including an assessment of the burden on respondents and of the production costs; and |
| (d) | the ways in which the action is to be carried out, including its duration and the role of the Commission and the Member States. |
Article 15
Collaborative networks
In the individual statistical actions, synergies shall be developed, when possible, within the ESS through collaborative networks, by the sharing of expertise and results or by fostering specialisation on specific tasks. To this end, an adequate financial structure shall be developed.
The outcome of those actions, such as joint structures, tools, processes and methods shall be made available throughout the ESS. The initiatives for the creation of collaborative networks as well as the outcomes shall be examined by the ESS Committee.
Article 16
European approach to statistics
1. In specific and duly justified cases and within the framework of the European statistical programme, the European approach to statistics aims at:
| (a) | maximising the availability of statistical aggregates at European level and improving the timeliness of European statistics; |
| (b) | reducing the burden on the respondents, the NSIs and other national authorities based on a cost-effectiveness analysis. |
2. The cases where the European approach to statistics is relevant include:
| (a) | the production of European statistics by use of:
|
| (b) | the dissemination of statistical aggregates at European level by applying specific statistical disclosure control techniques without national dissemination provisions being impaired. |
3. Measures to implement the European approach to statistics shall be carried out with the full involvement of Member States. The measures for the implementation of the European approach to statistics shall be laid down in the individual statistical actions referred to in Article 14(1).
4. If necessary, a coordinated release and revision policy shall be established in cooperation with Member States.
Article 17
Annual work programme
Each year, before the end of May, the Commission shall submit to the ESS Committee its work programme for the following year. The Commission shall take the utmost account of the comments of the ESS Committee. That work programme shall be based on the European statistical programme and shall indicate, in particular:
| (a) | the actions which the Commission considers to have priority, bearing in mind Community policy needs and both national and Community financial constraints as well as the response burden; |
| (b) | initiatives regarding the review of priorities and the reduction of the response burden; and |
| (c) | the procedures and any legal instruments envisaged by the Commission for implementation of the programme. |
CHAPTER IV
DISSEMINATION OF EUROPEAN STATISTICS
Article 18
Dissemination measures
1. The dissemination of European statistics shall be undertaken in full compliance with the statistical principles, as set out in Article 2(1), particularly in respect of protecting statistical confidentiality and ensuring equality of access as required under the principle of impartiality.
2. The dissemination of European statistics shall be carried out by the Commission (Eurostat), the NSIs and other national authorities, within their respective spheres of competence.
3. Member States and the Commission, within their respective spheres of competence, shall provide the necessary support to ensure equality of access to European statistics for all users.
Article 19
Public use files
Data on individual statistical units may be disseminated in the form of a public use file consisting of anonymised records which have been prepared in such a way that the statistical unit cannot be identified, either directly or indirectly, when account is taken of all relevant means that might reasonably be used by a third party.
If the data have been transmitted to the Commission (Eurostat) the explicit approval of the NSI or other national authority which provided the data is required.
CHAPTER V
STATISTICAL CONFIDENTIALITY
Article 20
Protection of confidential data
1. The following rules and measures shall apply to ensure that confidential data are exclusively used for statistical purposes and to prevent their unlawful disclosure.
2. Confidential data obtained exclusively for the production of European statistics shall be used by the NSIs and other national authorities and by the Commission (Eurostat) exclusively for statistical purposes unless the statistical unit has unambiguously given its consent to the use for any other purposes.
3. Statistical results which may make it possible to identify a statistical unit may be disseminated by the NSIs and other national authorities and the Commission (Eurostat) in the following exceptional cases:
| (a) | where specific conditions and modalities are determined by an act of the European Parliament and of the Council acting in accordance with Article 251 of the Treaty and the statistical results are amended in such a way that their dissemination does not prejudice statistical confidentiality whenever the statistical unit has so requested; or |
| (b) | where the statistical unit has unambiguously agreed to the disclosure of data. |
4. Within their respective spheres of competence, the NSIs and other national authorities and the Commission (Eurostat) shall take all necessary regulatory, administrative, technical and organisational measures to ensure the physical and logical protection of confidential data (statistical disclosure control).
The NSIs and other national authorities and the Commission (Eurostat) shall take all necessary measures to ensure the harmonisation of principles and guidelines as regards the physical and logical protection of confidential data. Those measures shall be adopted by the Commission in accordance with the regulatory procedure referred to in Article 27(2).
5. Officials and other staff of the NSIs and other national authorities having access to confidential data shall be subject to compliance with such confidentiality, even after cessation of their functions.
Article 21
Transmission of confidential data
1. Transmission of confidential data from an ESS authority, as referred to in Article 4, that collected the data to another ESS authority may take place provided that this transmission is necessary for the efficient development, production and dissemination of European statistics or for increasing the quality of European statistics.
2. Transmission of confidential data between an ESS authority that collected the data and an ESCB member may take place provided that this transmission is necessary for the efficient development, production and dissemination of European statistics or for increasing the quality of European statistics, within the respective spheres of competence of the ESS and the ESCB, and that this necessity has been justified.
3. Any further transmission beyond the first transmission shall require the explicit authorisation of the authority that collected the data.
4. National rules on statistical confidentiality shall not be invoked to prevent the transmission of confidential data under paragraphs 1 and 2 where an act of the European Parliament and of the Council acting in accordance with Article 251 of the Treaty provides for the transmission of such data.
5. Confidential data transmitted in accordance with this Article shall be used exclusively for statistical purposes and only accessible to staff working in statistical activities within their specific domain of work.
6. The provisions on statistical confidentiality provided for in this Regulation shall apply to all confidential data transmitted within the ESS and between the ESS and the ESCB.
Article 22
Protection of confidential data in the Commission (Eurostat)
1. Confidential data shall be accessible, subject to the exceptions laid down in paragraph 2, only to officials of the Commission (Eurostat) within their specific domain of work.
2. The Commission (Eurostat) may in exceptional cases grant access to confidential data to its other staff and to other natural persons working for the Commission (Eurostat) under contract within their specific domain of work.
3. Persons having access to confidential data shall use these data exclusively for statistical purposes. They shall be subject to this restriction even after cessation of their functions.
Article 23
Access to confidential data for scientific purposes
Access to confidential data which only allow for indirect identification of the statistical units may be granted to researchers carrying out statistical analyses for scientific purposes by the Commission (Eurostat) or by the NSIs or other national authorities, within their respective spheres of competence. If the data have been transmitted to the Commission (Eurostat) the approval of the NSI or other national authority which provided the data is required.
The modalities, rules and conditions for access at Community level shall be established by the Commission. Those measures, designed to amend non-essential elements of this Regulation by supplementing it, shall be adopted in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny referred to in Article 27(3).
Article 24
Access to administrative records
In order to reduce the burden on respondents, the NSIs and other national authorities and the Commission (Eurostat) shall have access to administrative data sources, from within their respective public administrative system, to the extent that these data are necessary for the development, production and dissemination of European statistics.
The practical arrangements and the conditions for achieving effective access shall be determined where necessary by each Member State and the Commission, within their respective spheres of competence.
Article 25
Data from public sources
Data obtained from sources lawfully available to the public and which remain available to the public according to national legislation shall not be considered confidential for the purpose of dissemination of statistics obtained from those data.
Article 26
Violation of statistical confidentiality
Member States and the Commission shall take appropriate measures to prevent and sanction any violations of statistical confidentiality.
CHAPTER VI
FINAL PROVISIONS
Article 27
Committee
1. The Commission shall be assisted by the ESS Committee.
2. Where reference is made to this paragraph, Articles 5 and 7 of Decision 1999/468/EC shall apply, having regard to the provisions of Article 8 thereof.
The period laid down in Article 5(6) of Decision 1999/468/EC shall be set at three months.
3. Where reference is made to this paragraph, Article 5a(1) to (4) and Article 7 of Decision 1999/468/EC shall apply, having regard to the provisions of Article 8 thereof.
Article 28
Repeal
1. Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1101/2008 is hereby repealed.
References to the repealed Regulation shall be construed as references to this Regulation.
References to the Committee on Statistical Confidentiality established under the repealed Regulation shall be construed as references to the ESS Committee established by Article 7 of this Regulation.
2. Regulation (EC) No 322/97 is hereby repealed.
References to the repealed Regulation shall be construed as references to this Regulation.
3. Decision 89/382/EEC, Euratom is hereby repealed.
References to the Statistical Programme Committee shall be construed as references to the ESS Committee established by Article 7 of this Regulation.
Article 29
Entry into force
This Regulation shall enter into force on the day following its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.
This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.