7.

The following Articles are inserted after Article 8: ‘Article 8a Exchange of confidential statistical information between the ESCB and the ESS 1. Without prejudice to national provisions on the exchange of confidential statistical information other than information covered in this Regulation, the transmission of confidential statistical information between an ESCB member that collected the information and an ESS authority may take place provided that this transmission is necessary for the efficient development, production or dissemination, 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. 2. Any further transmission beyond the first transmission must be explicitly authorised by the authority that collected the information. 3. The confidential statistical information which is transmitted between an ESS authority and an ESCB member shall not be used for purposes that are not exclusively statistical, such as for administrative or tax purposes or legal proceedings or for the purposes referred to in Articles 6 and 7. 4. Statistical information which the ESCB members receive from ESS authorities and which was obtained from sources lawfully available to the public and which remains available to the public according to national legislation shall not be considered confidential for the purpose of dissemination of statistics obtained from this statistical information. 5. Within their respective spheres of competence, the ESCB members shall take all necessary regulatory, administrative, technical and organisational measures to ensure the physical and logical protection of confidential statistical information (statistical disclosure control) provided by the ESS authorities. 6. Confidential statistical information provided by the ESS authorities shall only be accessible to staff working in statistical activities within their specific domain of work. These persons shall use these data exclusively for statistical purposes. They shall be subject to this restriction even after the cessation of their functions. 7. Member States and the ECB shall take appropriate measures to prevent and sanction any violations of the protection of confidential statistical information provided by the ESS authorities. Article 8b Confidentiality report The ECB shall publish an annual confidentiality report on the measures adopted to safeguard the confidentiality of the statistical information referred to in Articles 8 and 8a. Article 8c Protection of confidential information on individuals This Regulation shall apply without prejudice to Directive 95/46/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 October 1995 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data (9) and Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 December 2000 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data by the Community institutions and bodies and of the free movement of such data (10). Article 8d Access to administrative records To reduce the burden on respondents, the national central banks and the ECB shall have access to relevant sources of administrative data within their respective public administration systems, 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 ECB, within their respective spheres of competence. These data shall be used by the ESCB members exclusively for statistical purposes.