Legal provisions of COM(2023)31 - European statistics on population and housing

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dossier COM(2023)31 - European statistics on population and housing.
document COM(2023)31 EN
date January 20, 2023


Contents

Article 1 - Subject matter

This Regulation establishes a common legal framework for the development, production and dissemination of European statistics on population and housing.

Article 2 - Definitions

For the purpose of this Regulation, the following definitions shall apply:

(1) ‘citizenship’ means the particular legal bond between a natural person and his or her State, acquired by birth or naturalisation, whether by declaration, choice, marriage, adoption or other means according to national legislation;

(2) ‘usual residence’ means the place where a person normally spends the daily period of rest, regardless of temporary absences for purposes of recreation, holidays, visits to friends and relatives, business, medical treatment or religious pilgrimage. Only the following persons shall be considered to be usual residents of a specific geographical area:

(a)those who have lived in their place of usual residence most of the time in the 12 months prior to and including the reference date; or

(b)those who arrived at their place of usual residence during the 12 months prior to and including the reference date and for whom there is an intention or expectation of staying there most of the time for at least 12 months after arrival;

(3) ‘signs of life’ means any information indicative of the actual presence and usual residence of a person on the territory of interest. They can be obtained from any appropriate source or combination of them, including digital traces that relate to the person;

(4) ‘rate of stay’ means the proportion of the number of persons arrived in the place of interest during a selected period of time who have remained in the same place for at least 12 months over the total number of persons arrived in the same place during the same period of time;

(5) ‘international migration’ means the event by which a person establishes his or her usual residence in the territory of a Member State or third country, having previously been usually resident in another Member State or a third country;

(6) ‘immigrant’ means a person who underwent international migration during the reference period to establish his or her new usual residence inside the reporting country;

(7) ‘emigrant’ means a person who underwent international migration during the reference period to establish his or her new usual residence outside the reporting country, having previously been usually resident within the reporting country;

(8) ‘internal migration’ means the event by which a person changes his or her place of usual residence within the territory of the reporting country;

(9) ‘living quarter’ means a temporary or permanent structure, shelter or lodging place at which one or more persons reside, irrespective of whether it is designed or intended for human habitation;

(10) ‘conventional dwelling’ means a premise at a fixed location that is designed for permanent human habitation but that is not intended for institutional or collective housing;

(11) ‘building intended for habitation’ means a permanent structure comprised of one or more conventional dwellings or which is intended for institutional or collective housing.

(12) ‘household’ means a group of two or more persons who share living quarters or other specific resources; or an individual person who does not form part of any other household;

(13) ‘family’ means a group of two or more persons who live in the same household and who are related through parenthood or through marital, registered or consensual union partnership;

(14) ‘administrative records’ mean data generated by a non‐statistical source, usually a register hold by a public body, the main aim of which is not the provision of statistics;

(15) ‘domain’ means one or several data sets that covers particular topics;

(16) ‘topic’ means the content of the information to be collected about the statistical units, with each topic covering several detailed topics;

(17) ‘detailed topic’ means the detailed content of the information to be collected about the statistical units related to a topic, each detailed topic covering one or several variables;

(18) ‘data set’ means statistics in the form of one or several variables organised in a structured form;

(19) ‘population and housing census’ means the detailed decennial data sets and metadata to be provided under this Regulation;

(20) ‘statistical unit’ means one member of a universe of entities, namely persons, objects or events about which data are collected and statistics are ultimately compiled;

(21) ‘variable’ means a characteristic of a statistical unit that can assume more than one set of values;

(22) ‘breakdown’ means a predefined discrete, exhaustive and mutually exclusive set of values which can be assigned to a variables characterising statistical units;

(23) ‘national level’ means the territory of a Member State;

(24) ‘regional level’ means the NUTS3 level as set out in Regulation (EC) No 1059/2003;

(25) ‘local level’ means the local administrative unit (LAU) level as set out in Regulation (EC) No 1059/2003;

(26) ‘grid level’ means statistical grid as set out in Regulation (EC) No 1059/2003;

(27) ‘frames’ means any list, material or device that delimits and identifies the elements of the target population. Depending on the use, a frame may allow access to, and/ or provide additional characteristics of the elements;

(28) ‘reference date’ means the moment in time to which statistics refer;

(29) ‘reference period’ means the time interval to which statistics on events refer;

(30) ‘reference time’ means either reference date or reference period, depending whether the statistics are on events or on other statistical units;

(31) ‘metadata’ means information that is needed to use and interpret statistics and that describes data sets in a structured way;

(32) ‘pre-checked data sets’ means data sets verified by the Member States, based on agreed common validation rules;

(33) ‘quality report’ means a report conveying information about the quality of a statistical product or process.

Article 3 - Population base

1. For the purpose of this Regulation, the population base consists of all persons having their usual residence within the Union in a specified territorial unit of a Member State at national, regional, local or grid level, at the reference date.

2. The population base shall include all usually resident persons, regardless of citizenship or whether the person is or was formerly stateless, and regardless of whether the person’s residence or stay is authorised or permitted by the relevant authorities.

3. The population base shall exclude persons having their usual residence outside the territory of the Member State regardless of place of birth or citizenship, and regardless of any family, social, economic or property links that the person may have with the Member State.

4. Persons with no usual residence shall be attributed, as place of usual residence, the place at which they are at the reference date.

5. Member States shall apply the definition of usual residence set out in this Regulation to all data sets provided to the Commission (Eurostat) under this Regulation and for national, regional, local and grid level.

6. When applying the definition of usual residence, Member States shall use:

(a)one or a combination of the data sources listed in Article 9(1);

(b)estimation methods such as ‘signs of life’ to correct for actual presence at the presumed place of usual residence during most of the time in the 12 months ending with the reference date, and ‘rate of stay’ to estimate the number of persons who intend or are expected to stay during most of the time in the 12 months after arrival.

Article 4 - Statistical units

Statistics under this Regulation shall be compiled for the following statistical units:

(a)persons;

(b)vital events;

(c)families;

(d)households;

(e)buildings intended for habitation, living quarters and conventional dwellings.

Article 5 - Statistics requirements

1. European statistics on population and housing shall cover the following domains:

(a)demography;

(b)housing;

(c)families and households.

2. Statistics in the domains listed in paragraph 1 shall be organised into data sets following the topics and detailed topics as set out in the Annex.

3. The Commission is empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 17 to amend the list of the detailed topics in the Annex. The delegated acts shall be adopted at least 12 months before the beginning of the relevant reference time.

4. When exercising the power to adopt delegated acts pursuant to paragraph 3 of this Article, the Commission shall ensure that those acts do not impose significant and disproportionate burden on the Member States and survey respondents. Any new detailed topic shall be assessed with respect to its feasibility by means of pilot studies carried out by the Commission (Eurostat) and the Member States in accordance with Article 14.

5. The Commission shall adopt implementing acts to specify the technical properties of the data sets and metadata to be provided to the Commission (Eurostat). Those implementing acts shall specify the following technical elements, where appropriate:

(a)titles of variables, their technical specifications and breakdowns;

(b)detailed specifications of the statistical units and metadata;

(c)statistical classifications to be used;

(d)provision deadlines;

(e)technical formats of data sets and metadata provision;

(f)the content, structure, periodicity, modalities and provision deadlines of the quality reports as well as further specifications when needed and justified.

Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 18(2) at least 12 months before the beginning of the relevant reference time, except for the population and housing census for which the implementing acts shall be adopted at least 24 months before the beginning of the year in which the reference date falls.

Article 6 - Periodicity and reference times

1. Member States shall produce European statistics on population and housing quarterly, every six months, annually and multi-annually, and in a decennial population and housing census.

2. The years ending with “1” shall be the reference years for the decennial population and housing census.

3. The years ending with “1”, “5” and “8” shall be the reference years for multi-annual statistics.

4. The periodicity and reference time (reference period or reference date) for each detailed topic shall be as set out in the Annex.

5. The first reference date for which annual statistics on the topic ‘population stocks’ are to be provided shall be 31 December 2025. The first reference time for which any other statistics under this Regulation are to be provided shall be in 2026.

6. The Commission is empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 17 to amend the Annex by updating the periodicities and reference times.

Article 7 - Ad hoc statistics requirements

1. Member States shall provide the Commission (Eurostat) with ad hoc data sets and metadata.

2. The Commission is empowered to adopt delegated acts to supplement this Regulation in accordance with Article 17 by specifying the data sets and metadata to be provided by Member States on an ad hoc basis, where the collection of additional statistics is deemed necessary for the purpose of addressing additional statistical needs under this Regulation.

3. Those delegated acts shall specify:

(a)the detailed topics to be provided in the ad hoc data sets and the reasons for such additional statistical needs;

(b)the reference times.

4. The Commission is empowered to adopt delegated acts referred to in paragraph 2 starting with reference year 2027 and with a minimum of two years between each ad hoc collection.

5. The Commission shall adopt implementing acts to specify the technical properties of the ad hoc data sets and metadata referred to in paragraph 2. Those implementing acts shall specify the following technical elements, where appropriate:

(a)titles of variables, their technical specifications and breakdowns;

(b)detailed specifications of the statistical units and metadata;

(c)statistical classifications to be used;

(d)provision deadlines.

Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 18(2) no later than 12 months before the beginning of the reference time.

Article 8 - Data sets and metadata to be provided to the Commission

1. Member States shall provide pre-checked data sets and metadata using a technical format specified by the Commission (Eurostat). The single entry point services shall be used to provide the data sets and metadata to the Commission (Eurostat).

2. When Member States publish statistics required by this Regulation at national level ahead of the provision deadlines established in accordance with Articles 5(5) and 7(5), they shall provide them to the Commission (Eurostat) as follows:

(a)statistics of quarterly and six-monthly periodicity at the latest by up to one working day after the national publication;

(b)statistics of annual periodicity at the latest by up to three working days after the national publication;

(c)statistics of multi-annual and decennial periodicity at latest by up to seven working days after the national publication.

3. Member States shall provide to the Commission (Eurostat):

(a)revised data sets and metadata if a revision is conducted after the data sets required under this Regulation were initially provided;

(b)revised data sets and metadata for relevant time series if a revision is conducted on data sets that had been provided to the Commission (Eurostat) before the application of this Regulation.

The revised data sets and metadata shall be provided within the deadlines specified in paragraph 2 of this Article and be complemented by quality reporting in accordance with Article 12.

Article 9 - Data sources and methods

1. Member States and the Commission (Eurostat) shall use one or a combination of the following data sources, provided that they allow for producing statistics that meet the quality requirements laid down in Article 12:

(a)administrative data sources;

(b)statistical surveys or other statistical data collections;

(c)other sources including privately held data;

(d)reuse of data derived from data sharing between national statistical authorities and the Commission (Eurostat) within the European Statistical System.

2. Member States shall assess and monitor the quality of their data sources, including of administrative records and other appropriate sources used.

3. Member States shall continuously develop innovative sources and methods and use them to improve statistics compiled under this Regulation provided that they allow for producing statistics that meet the quality requirements laid down in Article 12.

4. The statistics compiled under this Regulation shall be based on statistically sound and well-documented methods taking into account international recommendations and best practice such as ‘signs of life’, ‘rate of stay’ and other scientifically-based statistical estimation methods used for compiling usually resident population in the Member States.

5. When requested for reasons of assessment of statistical quality, Member States shall provide the Commission (Eurostat) with the assessment results of the data sources, the documentation of methods and necessary clarifications.

Article 10 - Timely access and reuse of administrative data

1. National authorities in charge of administrative data sources relevant for the purposes of this Regulation shall allow reuse of these data in time and frequency sufficient to produce and submit statistics within the deadlines and compliant with the specific quality requirements according to this Regulation. The timely access to administrative records, as well as its operational modalities, shall be included in cooperation agreements to be established between those national authorities and the national statistical authorities.

2. For the purpose of this Regulation, the Commission (Eurostat) shall be allowed, upon request, to access and reuse in a timely manner relevant data and metadata from databases and interoperability systems maintained by Union bodies and agencies, including under Regulations (EU) No 910/2014, (EU) 2018/1724 and statistical data stored in the central repository for reporting and statistics (CRRS), in accordance with Regulations (EU) 2019/817 and (EU) 2019/818 and the Regulations establishing the systems whose statistical data are stored in CRRS. For that purpose, the Commission (Eurostat) shall further cooperate with the relevant Union bodies and agencies with a view to specifying the customised statistical data and metadata required, where possible under Union law, for European statistics on population and housing, the operational modalities for their provision and the necessary accompanying physical and logical safeguards.

Article 11 - Lists of countries and territories

1. Where data sets include information by countries or territories, Member States shall use specific breakdowns for the purposes of this Regulation and of Regulation (EC) No 862/2007.

2. The Commission shall adopt implementing acts specifying or updating the lists of countries and territorial units that shall apply to breakdowns of statistics compiled under this Regulation. Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 18(2) of this Regulation. These lists shall be specified in accordance with criteria set out in Regulation (EC) No 1059/2003.

3. Implementing acts amending more than one third of the breakdown categories of countries or territories shall apply at the earliest 12 months after their entry into force.

Article 12 - Quality requirements and quality reporting

1. Member States shall take the necessary measures to ensure the quality of the data sets and metadata provided.

2. Member States shall take appropriate and effective measures to:

(a)implement the rules related to the population base as laid down in Article 3 of this Regulation, uniformly and independently of the data sources used;

(b)capture or estimate hard-to-reach population groups;

(c)control the exhaustiveness and accuracy of the population covered in accordance with Article 3 of this Regulation;

(d)establish frames that are fit for the purposes of this Regulation and of Article 12 of Regulation (EU) 2019/1700;

(e)avoid possible risks of undercounting or double counting related to the free movement of persons in the Union, the access of persons to cross-border services linked to vital events and the person rights to buy cross-border, own and use housing property across the Union;

(f)reduce asymmetries of migration flows;

(g)provide all data to the Commission (Eurostat) that are needed to ensure the completeness of published European statistics.

3. Member States shall transmit to the Commission (Eurostat), for the first time by 31 March 2027 and every year thereafter ending with ‘0’, ‘3’ or ‘7’, a quality report describing the quality of the statistics provided and the statistical processes for the data sets provided during the period, including in particular on the data sources and methods used, the application of the concepts and definitions and related possible effects on quality of the selected data sources, data revisions and their reasons and impacts, the statistical disclosure control methods, and detailing how the quality criteria referred to in paragraph 2 are met and if the measures referred to in paragraph 3 were effective.

4. The Commission shall adopt implementing acts setting out the practical arrangements for the quality reports and their contents. Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 18(2).

5. Member States shall inform the Commission (Eurostat) as soon as possible of any relevant information or changes with regard to the implementation of this Regulation that would influence the quality of the statistics provided.

6. At the request of the Commission (Eurostat), Member States shall provide necessary additional clarifications to evaluate the quality of the statistics.

Article 13 - Data sharing

1. Data shall be shared between the competent national authorities of different Member States, and between these competent national authorities and the Commission (Eurostat), exclusively for the purpose of developing and producing European statistics governed by this Regulation and of improving their quality.

2. In the interest of secure data sharing within the ESS, all necessary safeguards with regard to the physical and logical protection of data shall be taken. The Commission (Eurostat) shall set up a secure infrastructure to facilitate data sharing referred to in paragraph 1. Competent national authorities for statistics under this Regulation may use this secure data sharing infrastructure for the purpose specified in paragraph 1.

3. When the data concerned are confidential data within the meaning of Article 3, point 7, of Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 or personal data according to Regulations (EU) 2016/679 and (EU) 2018/1725, the sharing of such data shall be allowed and may take place on a voluntary basis provided it is:

(a)based on a request justifying the necessity to share the data in each individual case, in particular with regard to the quality issues to be specifically addressed;

(b)based preferably on privacy enhancing technologies that are specifically designed to implement the principles of Regulations (EU) 2016/679 and (EU) 2018/1725, with particular regard to purpose limitation, data minimisation, storage limitation, integrity and confidentiality;

(c)without prejudice to Chapter V of Regulation (EC) No 223/2009.

4. The Commission (Eurostat) and the Member States shall test and assess by means of pilot studies the fitness of relevant privacy enhancing technologies for data sharing.

5. Where the pilot studies under paragraph 4 of this Article identify effective and secure data sharing solutions for the purposes referred to in paragraph 1, the Commission may adopt implementing acts laying down technical specifications for the data sharing and measures for the confidentiality and security of information. These implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 18(2).

Article 14 - Pilot and feasibility studies

1. The Commission (Eurostat) shall, where necessary and appropriate for the purposes of this Regulation, launch pilot and feasibility studies that aim at:

(a)assessing the availability of data sources and their quality, including of publicly and privately held data in Member States and at Union level;

(b)developing and assessing the feasibility of implementing new topics, detailed topics, statistical units, variables and their breakdowns;

(c)developing new methodologies and statistical techniques to reinforce quality;

(d)reducing asymmetries of migration flows;

(e)testing and assessing the fitness of relevant privacy enhancing technologies for secure data sharing within the ESS in accordance with Article 13(4);

2. Member States may participate in those studies but shall, together with the Commission (Eurostat), ensure the representativeness of those studies at Union level.

3. The results of those studies shall be evaluated by the Commission (Eurostat) in cooperation with Member States. The Commission (Eurostat) shall prepare in cooperation with the Member States reports on the findings of those studies.

Article 15 - Financing

1. Financial contribution may be provided from the general budget of the Union to the national statistical institutes and other national authorities referred to in Article 5(2) of Regulation (EC) No 223/2009, for:

(a)the development and implementation of new or enhanced data sources, methodologies, data sharing, statistical units, topics, detailed topics, variables and their breakdowns;

(b)the participation of the Member States in representative pilot and feasibility studies referred to in Article 14 of this Regulation.

2. The Union financial contribution shall not exceed 90% of the eligible costs.

Article 16 - Protection of the financial interests of the Union

Where a third country participates in the actions financed under this Regulation by means of a decision adopted pursuant to an international agreement or on the basis of any other legal instrument, the third country shall grant the necessary rights and access required for the authorising officer responsible, the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF), the Court of Auditors and the EPPO to comprehensively exercise their respective competences. In the case of OLAF, such rights shall include the right to carry out investigations, including on-the-spot checks and inspections, as provided for in Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 883/2013.

Article 17 - Exercise of the delegation

1. The power to adopt delegated acts is conferred on the Commission subject to the conditions laid down in this Article.

2. The power to adopt delegated acts referred to in Articles 5(3), 6(6) and 7(2) shall be conferred on the Commission for an indeterminate period of time from [Publications Office: please insert exact date of entry into force of the Regulation].

3. The delegation of power referred to in Articles 5(3), 6(6) and 7(2) may be revoked at any time by the European Parliament or by the Council. A decision to revoke shall put an end to the delegation of the power specified in that decision. It shall take effect on the day following the publication of the decision in the Official Journal of the European Union or at a later date specified therein. It shall not affect the validity of any delegated acts already in force.

4. Before adopting a delegated act, the Commission shall consult experts designated by each Member State in accordance with the principles laid down in the Interinstitutional Agreement of 13 April 2016 on Better Law-Making.

5. As soon as it adopts a delegated act, the Commission shall notify it simultaneously to the European Parliament and to the Council.

6. A delegated act adopted pursuant to Articles 5(3), 6(6) and 7(2) shall enter into force only if no objection has been expressed either by the European Parliament or by the Council within a period of two months of notification of that act to the European Parliament and the Council or if, before the expiry of that period, the European Parliament and the Council have both informed the Commission that they will not object. That period shall be extended by two months at the initiative of the European Parliament or the Council.

Article 18 - Committee procedure

1. The Commission shall be assisted by the European Statistical System Committee established by Article 7 of Regulation (EC) No 223/2009. That committee shall be a committee within the meaning of Regulation (EU) No 182/2011.

2. Where reference is made to this paragraph, Article 5 of Regulation (EU) No 182/2011 shall apply.

Article 19 - Derogations

1. Where the application of this Regulation, or the delegated or implementing acts adopted pursuant thereto, requires major adaptations to be made to a Member State’s national statistical system, the Commission may grant, by means of implementing acts, derogations to Member State, for a maximum duration of two years.

2. When granting the derogations, the Commission shall take into account the comparability of Member States’ statistics and the timely calculation of the required representative and reliable European aggregates. When granting the derogations, the Commission shall also ensure that the requirements related to statistics, metadata and quality covered by this Regulation and previously covered by Regulation (EU) No 1260/2013 or by Article 3 of Regulation (EC) No 862/2007 are continued without interruption.

3. The Member State shall submit a duly justified request for derogation to the Commission within two months of the date of the entry into force of the act concerned.

4. The Commission shall adopt the implementing acts referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 18(2).

Article 20 - Amendments to Regulation (EC) No 862/2007

Regulation (EC) No 862/2007 is amended as follows:

(1) the title is replaced by the following: ‘Regulation (EC) No 862/2007 of 11 July 2007 on European statistics on asylum and administrative and judicial procedures related to immigration legislation and repealing Council Regulation (EEC) No 311/76 on the compilation of statistics on foreign workers’;

(2) In Article 1, points (a) and (b) are deleted;

(3) in Article 2(1), points (a), (b), (c), (f) and (g) are deleted;

(4) Article 3 is deleted;

(5) the following Article 9c is inserted:

“Article 9c
Timely access and reuse of administrative data

1. National authorities in charge of administrative data sources relevant for the purposes of this Regulation shall allow reuse of these data in time and frequency sufficient to produce and submit statistics within the deadlines and compliant with the specific quality requirements according to this Regulation. The timely access to administrative records, as well as its operational modalities, shall be included in cooperation agreements to be established between those national authorities and the national statistical authorities.

2. For the purpose of this Regulation, the Commission (Eurostat) shall be allowed, upon request, to access and reuse in a timely manner relevant data and metadata from databases and interoperability systems maintained by Union bodies and agencies, including under Regulations (EU) No 910/2014, (EU) 2018/1724 and statistical data stored in the central repository for reporting and statistics (CRRS), in accordance with Regulations (EU) 2019/817 and (EU) 2019/818 and the Regulations establishing the systems whose statistical data are stored in CRRS. For that purpose, the Commission (Eurostat) shall further cooperate with the relevant Union bodies and agencies with a view to specifying the customised statistical data and metadata required, where possible under Union law, for European statistics on population and housing, the operational modalities for their provision and the necessary accompanying physical and logical safeguards.”

(6) the following Article 10a is inserted:

“Article 10a
Lists of countries and territories

The lists of countries and territories referred to in Article 11 of [Publications Office: please insert correct reference to this Regulation] shall be applied for the compilation of statistics under this Regulation to ensure comparability of country and territories specific details across European statistics. Member States shall apply these lists for the first time to compile statistics due under this Regulation starting with data transmissions for the reference year 2026.”

Article 21 - Repeal

Regulations (EC) No 763/2008 and (EU) No 1260/2013 are repealed with effect from 1 January 2026 without prejudice to the obligations set out in those legal acts with regard to reference periods that fall, in whole or in part, before that date.

References to the repealed Regulations shall be construed as references to this Regulation.

Article 22 - Entry into force and application

This Regulation shall enter into force on the twentieth day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

It shall apply from 1 January 2026.

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.