Annexes to SEC(2011)1623 - Executive summary of the impact assessment - Main contents
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This page contains a limited version of this dossier in the EU Monitor.
| dossier | SEC(2011)1623 - Executive summary of the impact assessment. |
|---|---|
| document | SEC(2011)1623  |
| date | December 21, 2011 |
5.COMPARING THE OPTIONS
5.1.Option 1: "zero option" with no European Statistical Programme
Having no five-year statistical programme at European level would implicate the lack of long‑term planning which is an inherent prerequisite of the development, production and dissemination of statistical information.
This option would not ensure at all the achievement of the Objectives defined in Section 3. No legal framework for the production of European statistics would then exist and no operational budget would be provided. The users of statistics (Commission Directorates-General, the ECB, etc.) would have to produce or look for statistics themselves, in an uncoordinated and inefficient way and there would not be a commonly agreed assurance of quality of European statistics. The uncoordinated demand of statistics by the different users would also contribute to an increase in the response burden of individuals, households, enterprises and ESS institutional providers of statistics.
5.2.Option 2: ESP 2013-17 will be a repetition of the CSP 2008-1012
This option would not ensure the achievement of the objectives defined in Section 3 only to a limited extent and would correspond to partially outdated policy priorities. The statistics provided would correspond to policy needs of the period 2008-2012 and would not take into account new developments and needs for priority policies of the European Union such as the Europe 2020 strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth and other policies addressed in the Commission's strategic priorities for 2010-2014. The costs of inadequate statistics would be considerable. In addition, these statistics would be produced according to the stovepipe model3, i.e. without taking advantage of new method of production of European statistics aiming at efficiency gains and quality improvements.
5.3.Option 3: a new five-year European Statistical Programme is established
With this option European statistics will better correspond to users' needs. There will be an agreed assurance of quality and the production of statistics will be more cost-effective as a result of the new method of production.
The objectives defined for the ESP 2013-2017 will be in line with the Commission's strategic priorities and will address the challenges that the European System are faced with in the coming years.
All comments received from stakeholders on the draft ESP have been carefully analysed by Eurostat and taken into account when preparing a revised version of the ESP 2013-2017 for the Inter-Service Consultation.
The ESP reflects the commitment to the strategy-driven priority-setting approach established by Eurostat and presented to the ESSC in 2010. Following this approach, the exercise on negative priorities is an integrated part of the preparation of the annual statistical work programmes and will therefore be carried out for the period of the ESP. In order to serve as a general and flexible planning instrument allowing for new developments to be taken into account, the ESP provides the general framework for the development, production and dissemination of European statistics by fixing the main fields and objectives of actions envisaged for the next five years. These objectives are subject to more detailed definition and planning in the annual statistical work programmes. In this way, a clear link is established between the ESP and the annual statistical work programmes.
5.4.The preferred option
Option 3 of a new five-year ESP 2013-2017 seems to be the best option given the fact that this is the only option that would ensure the achievement of all the objectives defined, i.e. (i) providing quality statistics that correspond to users' needs in term of coverage, timeliness, comparability and reliability; (ii) producing statistical information in a cost-effective way; and (iii) reduction of the response and administrative burden of respondents. Consequently, this is the only out of the 3 options that is able to offer a satisfactory response to all four challenges identified under Section 2.1.
Key: ++ = very positive impact; + = positive impact; 0 = no or neutral impact; - = negative impact; -- = very negative impact
6.MONITORING AND EVALUATION
The ESP 2013-2017 is a framework programme that will be implemented through Annual Statistical Work Programmes and Management Plans. Monitoring the progress will be done as part of the annual SPP cycle and two reports will be produced every year on the progress of achievement of the objectives in the annual and multi-annual programme.
More specifically, (1) the number of values added in to the Eurostat dissemination databases (by statistical domain), (2) the proportion of users rating the overall quality of European statistics as "very good" or "good" and (3) the number of downloads of different publications from Eurostat's website will be monitored and reported on throughout the implementation period of the programme.
The implementation of Communication on the new production method will also be subject to specific monitoring. A first report on progress made in the preparatory phase was presented to the ESSC in May 2011 and will be submitted to the ECOFIN Council in November 2011.
As far as the budgetary and financial execution is concerned, the programme will be implemented in conformity with the Financial Regulation. Eurostat has defined a control strategy 2013-2017 accompanying the implementation of the programme. Reducing complexity (for example, grants awarded for the implementation of the objectives of the programme may take the form of lump sums) and cost-effective monitoring procedures, risk based reinforced ex-ante and ex-post controls will aim to reduce the likelihood/prevent fraud.
It is foreseen that, in line with the Regulation on European statistics, an interim progress report will be prepared and, after consulting the ESS Committee, submitted to the European Parliament and the Council no later than June 2015.
At the end of the period covered by the programme, the ESP will be subject to an ex-post evaluation. The ESS Committee will be consulted on the evaluation report which will be completed by end of 2018 and subsequently submitted to the European Parliament and the Council.
1COM(2009) 433 final
2Report on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress, J.E. Stiglitz, A.Sen, J. ‑P. Fitoussi, 2009 (hereinafter referred to as Stiglitz-Sen-Fitoussi Report)
3In the stovepipe model statistics are traditionally produced in numerous parallel processes, country by country (in some cases even region by region) and domain per domain. In such a model every single product stovepipe corresponds to a specific domain of statistics together with the corresponding production system. For each domain, the whole production process from survey design over data collection and processing to dissemination takes place independently of other domains, and each domain has its own data suppliers and user groups. The stovepipe model is also reflected in the way statistical domains are regulated at the European level.
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