1990R1588 — EN — 20.11.2003 — 002.001 — 1
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►B COUNCILREGULATION(EURATOM,EEC)No1588/90
of11June1990
on the transmission of data subject to statistical confidentiality to the Statistical Office of the
EuropeanCommunities
(OJ L 151, 15.6.1990, p. 1)
Amended by:
Official Journal
No page date
►M1Council Regulation (EC) No 322/97 of 17 February 1997 L 52 1 22.2.1997
►M2Regulation (EC) No 1882/2003 of the European Parliament and of the
Council of 29 September 2003L 284 1 31.10.2003
▼B
COUNCILREGULATION(EURATOM,EEC)No1588/90
of11June1990
on the transmission of data subject to statistical confidentiality to
theStatistical Office oftheEuropeanCommunities
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European EconomicCommunity, and in particular Article 213 thereof,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Atomic Energy
Community, and in particular Article 187 thereof,
Having regard to the draft Regulation submitted by the Commission (
1),
Having regard to the opinion of the European Parliament (2),
Whereas, to enable it to carry out the duties entrusted to it by the Trea-
ties, and especially in the light of the internal market as provided for inArticle 8a of the Treaty establishing the European Economic Commu-
nity, hereinafter referred to as the ‘EEC Treaty’, the Commission must
have full and reliable information; whereas, with a view to efficientmanagement, the Statistical Office of the European Communities, here-inafter referred to asthe ‘SOEC’, mus t be able to obtain all thenational statistical information necessary in order to prepare Commu-nity statistics and carry out the necessary analyses;
WhereasArticle 5 of the EEC Treaty and Article 192 of the Treaty
establishing the European Atomic Energy Community, hereinafter
referred to asthe ‘Euratom Treaty’, require Member Statesto facilitate
the achievement of the Community's tasks; whereas this obligationextends to providing all the requisite information; whereas the absenceof confidential statistical data constitutes for the SOEC a considerableloss of information at Community level and makes it difficult toprepare statistics and carry out analyses on the Community;
WhereasMember Stateswill have no further caus e to invoke provi-
sions on statistical confidentiality once it is established that the SOEC
offers the same data confidentiality guarantees as the national statistical
institutes; whereas these guarantees are already to some extentenshrined in the Community Treaties, notably in Article 214 of theEEC Treaty and Article 194 (1) of the Euratom Treaty, and in the StaffRegulationsof Officialsof the European Communitiesand can bebacked up by appropriate measures under this Regulation;
Whereas, in accordance with Article 214 of the EEC Treaty and Article
194 (1) of the Euratom Treaty, officialsand other s ervantsof theCommunity are required, even after their dutieshave ceas ed, not to
disclose information of the kind covered by the obligation of profes-
sional secrecy;
WhereasArticle 17 of the Staff Regulationsof Officialsof the
European Communitiesrequiresofficialsto res pect the confidentialityof all factsand information coming to their knowledge in the cours eof, or in connection with, the performance of their duties; whereasthey remain bound by thisobligation after leaving the s ervice;
Whereas any violation of statistical confidentiality protected by this
Regulation must be dealt with effectively, whoever the offender maybe;
Whereasany infringement of the rulesbinding officialsand other
servants working for the SOEC, whether committed wilfully or throughnegligence, renders them liable to disciplinary sanctions and, if appro-
priate, legal penalties for violation of professional secrecy, pursuant to
the combined provisions of Articles 12 and 18 of the Protocol on thePrivilegesand Immunitiesof the European Communities ;1990R1588 — EN — 20.11.2003 — 002.001 — 2
(1) OJ No C 86, 7. 4. 1989, p. 12.
(2) OJ No C 291, 20. 11. 1989, p. 27.
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Whereas, in accordance with Article 215 of the EEC Treaty and Article
188 of the Euratom Treaty, the Community shall make good anydamage caused by its institutions or by its servants in the performance
of their duties;
Whereas this Regulation applies only to the transmission to the SOEC
of statistical data which, in the national statistical institutes' field of
competence, are covered by statistical confidentiality, and whereas itdoes not affect special national or Community provisions relating tothe transmission of other types of information to the Commission;
WhereasthisRegulation isto be adopted without prejudice to Article
223 of the EEC Treaty, under which no Member State isrequired tosupply information the disclosure of which it considers contrary to the
essential interests of its security;
Whereas, in accordance with Article 47 of the Treaty establishing the
European Coal and Steel Community, the Commission has adopted in
particular Decision No 1566/86/ECSC (
1) and whereasdecis ionsof that
type are not affected by thisRegulation, in compliance with Article232 of the EEC Treaty;
Whereas the establishment, under this Regulation, of a Committee on
Statistical Confidentiality accords with Council Decision 87/373/EECof 13 July 1987 laying down the proceduresfor the exercis e of theimplementing powers conferred on the Commission (
2);
Whereasimplementation of the provis ionscontained in thisRegulation,
and in particular those designed to ensure the protection of confidential
statistical data transmitted to the SOEC, will require human, technical
and financial resources,
HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:
Article 1
1. The purpose of this Regulation is:
— to authorize national authorities to transmit confidential statistical
data to the Statistical Office of the European Communities (herein-
after referred to asthe ‘SOEC’),
— to provide a guarantee that the Commission will take all necessary
measures to ensure the confidentiality of data thus transmitted.
2. This Regulation shall apply to statistical confidentiality only. It
shall not affect special, Community or national provisions safeguarding
confidentiality other than statistical confidentiality.
Article 2
For the purposes of this Regulation, the terms given below are defined
asfollows :
1. confidential statistical data: data defined in Article 13 of Council
Regulation (EC) No 322/97 of 17 February 1997 on CommunityStatistics (
3);
2. national authorities: national statistical institutes and other national
bodies responsible for the collection and use of statistics for the
Communities;
3. information on the private lives of natural persons: information on
the private and family livesof natural pers onsasdefined bynational legislation or practices in the various Member States;1990R1588 — EN — 20.11.2003 — 002.001 — 3
(1) OJ No L 141, 28. 5. 1986, p. 1.
(2) OJ No L 197, 18. 7. 1987, p. 33.
(3) OJ No L 52, 22. 2. 1997, p. 1.▼M1
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4. use for statistical purposes: use exclusively for the compilation of
statistical tables or for statistical economic analyses; may not beused for administrative, legal or tax purposes or for verification
against the units surveyed;
5. statistical unit: basic unit covered by statistical data transmitted to
the SOEC;
6. direct identification: identification of a statistical unit from its
name or address, or from an officially allocated and published
identification number;
7. indirect identification: possibility of deducing the identity of a
statistical unit other than from the information mentioned in point
6;
8. officialsof the SOEC: officialsof the Communities , within the
meaning of Article 1 of the Staff Regulationsof Officialsof the
European Communities, working at the SOEC;
9. other staff of the SOEC: servants of the Communities, within the
meaning of Articles2 to 5 of the Conditionsof Employment of
Other Servantsof the European Communities , working at the
SOEC;
10. dissemination: supply of data in any form whatever: publications,
access to databases, microfiches, telephone communications, etc.
Article 3
1. The national authorities shall be authorized to transmit confiden-
tial statistical data to the SOEC.
2. National rules on statistical confidentiality may not be invoked to
prevent the transmission of confidential statistical data to the SOECwhere an act of Community law governing a Community statisticprovides for the transmission of such data.
3. Transmission to the SOEC of confidential statistical data on the
structure and activity of undertakings, collected before the entry into
force of thisRegulation, mus t be carried out in accordance with therules and practices on statistical confidentiality in force in the MemberStates.
Transmission to the SOEC of confidential statistical data, within the
meaning of paragraph 2, shall be carried out in such a way that statis-
tical unitscannot be directly identified. Thisdoesnot preclude theadmissibility of more far-reaching transmission rules in accordancewith the legislation of the Member States.
4. National authorities shall not be obliged to transmit information
on the private livesof natural pers onsto the SOEC if the information
transmitted could enable those persons to be identified either directly orindirectly.
Article 4
1. The Commission shall take all the necessary regulatory, adminis-
trative, technical and organizational measures to ensure the
confidentiality of statistical data transmitted by the competent depart-
mentsof Member Statesto the SOEC in accordance with Article 3.
2. The protection measures referred to in Article 5 shall apply to:
(a) all confidential statistical data the transmission of which to the
SOEC iscovered by an act of Community law governing a
Community statistic,
(b) all confidential statistical data transmitted voluntarily by Member
Statesto the SOEC.
3. The Commission shall establish the procedures for transmitting
confidential statistical data to the SOEC and the principles for protec-tion of such data in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article7.1990R1588 — EN — 20.11.2003 — 002.001 — 4
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Article 5
1. The Commission shall instruct the Director-General of the SOEC
to ensure the protection of data transmitted to the SOEC by the
national departments of the Member States. It shall establish thearrangementsfor the internal organization of the SOEC in order toensure such protection, after consulting the Committee referred to inArticle 7.
2. Confidential statistical data transmitted to the SOEC shall be
accessible only to officials of the SOEC and may be used by themexclusively for statistical purposes.
3. However, the Commission may grant access to confidential statis-
tical data to other staff of the SOEC and other natural persons working
on the premises of the SOEC under contract, in special cases and
exclusively for statistical purposes. The procedures for such accessshall be determined by the Commission in accordance with the proce-dure laid down in Article 7.
4. Confidential statistical data in the SOEC's possession may be
disseminated only when combined with other data in a form which
ensures that statistical units cannot be identified either directly or indir-ectly.
5. Officials and other staff of the SOEC and other natural persons
working on the premises of the SOEC under contract may not use or
distribute these data for purposes other than those laid down in this
Regulation. This prohibition shall continue to apply following transfer,termination of service or retirement.
Article 6
Member States shall, before 1 January 1992, take appropriate measures
to curb any violationsof the obligation to maintain the s ecrecy of
confidential statistical data transmitted in accordance with Article 3.
These measures shall concern at least violations committed in the terri-tory of the Member State concerned, by officialsor other s taff of theSOEC and by the other natural persons working under contract on thepremises of the SOEC.
Member States shall inform the Commission without delay of the
measures taken. The Commission shall pass on this information to theother Member States.
Article 7
1. A Committee on Statistical Confidentiality, hereinafter referred to
as‘the Committee’, ishereby s et up.
2. Where reference ismade to thisArticle, Articles4 and 7 of Deci-
sion 1999/468/EC (
1) shall apply, having regard to the provisions of
Article 8 thereof.
The period laid down in Article 4(3) of Decision 1999/468/EC shall be
set at three months.
3. The Committee shall adopt its rules of procedure.
Article 8
The Committee shall examine questions raised by its chairman, either
on his own initiative or at the request of the representative of aMember State, relating to the implementation of thisRegulation.1990R1588 — EN — 20.11.2003 — 002.001 — 5
(1) Council Decision 1999/468/EC of 28 June 1999 laying down the procedures
for the exercise of implementing powers conferred on the Commission (OJ
L 184, 17.7.1999, p. 23).▼M2
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Article 9
ThisRegulation s hall enter into force on the third day following its
publication in the Official Journal of the European Communities .
ThisRegulation s hall be binding in itsentirety and directly applicable
in all Member States.1990R1588 — EN — 20.11.2003 — 002.001 — 6