EN Official Journal of the European Union L 39/12

REGULATION (EU) No 99/2013 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL

of 15 January 2013

on the European statistical programme 2013-17

(Text with relevance for the EEA and for Switzerland)

THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, and in particular Article 338(1) thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the European Commission,

After transmission of the draft legislative act to the national parliaments,

Acting in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure (1),

Whereas:

(1) Solid empirical data and statistics are absolutely essential in order to measure the progress and evaluate the efficiency of the Union’s policies and programmes, especially in the context of the Europe 2020 Strategy set out in the Commission Communication of 3 March 2010 entitled ‘Europe 2020: A strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth’ (Europe 2020).

(2) Pursuant to Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 March 2009 on European statistics (2), a multiannual European statistical programme (the ‘multiannual programme’) should be established, providing a framework for funding Union actions.

(3) In accordance with Regulation (EC) No 223/2009, the multiannual programme should 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 should lay down priorities concerning the needs for information for the purpose of carrying out the activities of the Union. Those needs should be weighed against the resources needed at Union and national level to provide the required statistics, and also against the response burden and the respondents’ associated costs, paying particular attention to cost-effectiveness.

(4) The development, production and dissemination of European statistics within the legislative framework of the multiannual programme should be achieved through close and coordinated cooperation within the European Statistical System (ESS) between the Union statistical authority, which is the Commission (Eurostat), and the national statistical institutes and other national authorities as designated by the Member States (3) (collectively, ‘national statistical authorities’). Professional independence of the national statistical institutes and the Commission (Eurostat) is essential for providing credible and high-quality statistical data.

(5) Closer cooperation between the Commission (Eurostat) and the national statistical institutes is absolutely essential, in order to enhance the quality of European statistics. Such closer cooperation should focus mainly on the provision of further methodological training on statistics and related matters, on the development and dissemination of existing good practices within the ESS, and on the exchange of staff between the Member States and the Commission (Eurostat) in both directions.

(6) The implementation of the multiannual programme is an opportunity to produce harmonised European statistics in order to contribute to the development, production and dissemination of common, comparable and reliable statistical information at Union level.

(7) High-quality statistics developed, produced and disseminated under the multiannual programme are essential for evidence-based decision-making, should be available in a timely manner and should contribute to the implementation of Union policies as reflected in the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) and Europe 2020 and other policies addressed in the Commission’s strategic priorities for 2010-14, namely strengthened and integrated economic governance, climate change, reformed agricultural policy, growth and social cohesion, gender equality, a people’s Europe and globalisation. They should be fostered through actions which are financed under the multiannual programme where the Union can bring a clear added value, and which aim at ensuring that economic, social and environmental indicators are all treated on an equal footing.

(8) When defining statistical areas to be developed, the objectives of Regulation (EU) No 691/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 6 July 2011 on European environmental economic accounts (4), which relate to the development of new environmental economic account modules, should be taken into account.

(9) In addition, particular attention should be paid in statistical studies to the impact of fiscal consolidation programmes on workers and other citizens. Statistical data should be collected in such a way as to ensure the visibility of developments in individual Member States, such as developments regarding unemployment, the amount of and changes to social transfer payments, the number and quality of jobs, labour mobility within the Member States, within the Union and between the Union and third countries, and the related socio-geographical changes in pay structure and training measures.

(10) In recent years, the ESS has been faced with a number of challenges. First, a lack of high-quality national statistics can have detrimental effects on Member States and on the Union in general. Consistently accurate and high-quality statistics, produced by the professionally independent national statistical institutes, are therefore absolutely essential for the purposes of policy-making at national and at Union level, and, in particular, in the context of the euro area’s supervisory mechanisms.

(11) Second, the need for European statistics has been constantly increasing, and this trend is unlikely to change in the future. Economic globalisation represents a specific challenge, requiring the development of new metrics to measure global value chains in an internationally coordinated way, thereby providing a better picture of economic growth and job creation.

(12) Third, the nature of needs is constantly changing, requiring more synergy between statistical domains.

(13) Fourth, appropriate breakdowns of available data can make it easier to monitor the effects of the economic and financial crisis and the impact of implemented policies on citizens, including the most vulnerable.

(14) Fifth, the nature of statistics has changed. They are no longer merely one source of information for policy-making purposes, but are now at the very heart of the decision-making process. Evidence-based decision-making requires statistics that meet high-quality criteria linked to the specific purposes they are serving, and there is an increasing need for complex multidimensional statistics supporting composite policy areas. In order to respond correctly to policy-making requirements, gender disaggregated data is necessary, where appropriate.

(15) Sixth, due to the appearance of new actors on the information market, including those providing information in nearly real time, the priority for the ESS in future is high quality, including timeliness.

(16) Seventh, budget constraints at both national and Union level as well as the need to further reduce the burden on enterprises and citizens make the situation even more challenging.

(17) The Commission Communication of 10 August 2009 on the production method of EU statistics: a vision for the next decade, and the ESS strategy for its implementation, address all those seven challenges by aiming to reengineer the ways of working in the ESS in order to make it more efficient and flexible. The implementation of that Communication constitutes the core of the multiannual programme within the framework of the joint ESS strategy.

(18) To ensure the integrity and quality management of the development, production and dissemination of European statistics under this Regulation, the national statistical institutes and the Commission (Eurostat) should take all necessary measures to maintain public confidence in statistics and to allow for a more rigorous application of the European Statistics Code of Practice in force and of the Commission Communication of 15 April 2011 entitled ‘Towards robust quality management for European Statistics’, while complying with the principles set out therein.

(19) With the aim of better matching the limited resources available to national and European producers for producing European statistics with the increasing needs for statistics, the preparation phase of the Commission’s annual statistical work programmes, which spell out in detail the multiannual programme, should include a systematic and thorough review of statistical priorities that will reduce less important requirements and simplify existing processes, while at the same time improving the reliability and maintaining the high-quality standards of official statistics. Account should also be taken of the burden on respondents, be they businesses, central, regional or local government units, households or individuals. The process should be pursued in close cooperation with both the users and the producers of European statistics.

(20) In this context, reasonable financial burden-sharing between the budgets of the Union and the Member States should be achieved. In addition to the financial allocation set by this Regulation, the national statistical authorities should therefore receive at national level the appropriate funding for carrying out the individual statistical actions decided for the implementation of the multiannual programme.

(21) In view of the compliance burden, particularly on smaller Member States, the Commission (Eurostat) should be able to provide technical assistance and expertise to Member States to help them tackle research constraints and major methodological obstacles, with a view to ensuring compliance and the provision of high-quality data.

(22) The financial envelope of the multiannual programme should also be allocated in such a way as to cover the expenses needed for improving the process for producing high-quality European statistics, and the capacity to do so, and for the training needs of national statisticians.

(23) Financial contributions by the Union should support actions for the development, production and dissemination of European statistics as set out in this Regulation. They should take the form of grants, public procurement contracts or any other interventions needed for the purposes of achieving the objectives of the multiannual programme. In this context, the use of lump sums should be a principal means of simplifying grant management.

(24) Pursuant to Article 15 of Regulation (EC) No 223/2009, an adequate financial structure should be developed to support collaborative networks.

(25) Provision should be made to open the multiannual programme to participation of the countries of the European Free Trade Association participating in the European Economic Area (‘the EEA/EFTA countries’) and to Switzerland. Provision should also be made to open the multiannual programme to participation by other countries, in particular the neighbouring countries of the Union, countries which have applied for membership of the Union and candidate and acceding countries.

(26) In the context of the implementation of the multiannual programme, where appropriate, cooperation with third countries not participating in the multiannual programme should be encouraged, taking into account any relevant agreements, or any envisaged agreements, between those countries and the Union.

(27) In order to be considered as financing decisions according to Article 84(3) of Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 966/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2012 on the financial rules applicable to the general budget of the Union (5) (‘the Financial Regulation’), the annual work programmes adopted by the Commission for the implementation of the multiannual programme have to set out the objectives pursued, the expected results, the method of implementation and their total amount. They must also contain a description of the actions to be financed, an indication of the amount allocated to each action and an indicative implementation timetable. It is desirable that they also set out the relevance of the objectives pursued to the users’ needs and a project plan. For grants, they should include the priorities, the essential evaluation criteria and the maximum rate of co-financing. Moreover, the annual work programmes should include appropriate indicators for monitoring outcomes.

(28) Since the objective of this Regulation, namely to establish the multiannual programme, cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States and can therefore be better achieved at Union level, the Union may adopt measures, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity as set out in Article 5 of the Treaty on European Union. In accordance with the principle of proportionality, as set out in that Article, this Regulation does not go beyond what is necessary in order to achieve that objective.

(29) An ex-ante evaluation has been performed in accordance with the principle of sound financial management, in order to focus the multiannual programme on the need for effectiveness and efficiency in achieving its objectives and in order to incorporate budgetary constraints from the design phase of the multiannual programme onwards. The value and impact of the measures taken under the multiannual programme should be regularly monitored and evaluated, including by independent external evaluators. For the purpose of evaluating the multiannual programme, measurable objectives have been formulated and indicators developed.

(30) For 2013, this Regulation lays down a financial envelope for the multiannual programme, which, in the framework of the annual budgetary procedure, is to be the prime reference for the budgetary authority within the meaning of point 37 of the Interinstitutional Agreement of 17 May 2006 between the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission on budgetary discipline and sound financial management (6).

(31) In addition to the financial envelope set by this Regulation, the individual statistical actions aimed at implementing the multiannual programme, including actions taking the form of an agreement between the national statistical authorities and the Commission (Eurostat), should receive, to the extent possible, appropriate funding at national level.

(32) The impact assessment for this Regulation, indicating cost savings for the Union and the Member States, is the basis for the commitment of finances to the multiannual programme. Cost savings will result, in particular, from new methods of production of European statistics resulting from developments in the areas of information and communication technology.

(33) The financial interests of the Union should be protected through proportionate measures throughout the expenditure cycle, including the prevention, detection and investigation of irregularities, the recovery of funds lost, wrongly paid or incorrectly used and, where appropriate, penalties.

(34) In order to ensure the continuity of statistical operations under the ESS for the entire calendar year of 2013, and for the purpose of legal certainty, this Regulation should enter into force on the day of its publication and should apply from 1 January 2013. The date of application of this Regulation should, in particular, serve to justify payments to contract staff as well as all activities under the programme.

(35) In accordance with Regulation (EC) No 223/2009, the draft multiannual programme has been submitted for prior examination to the European Statistical System Committee, to the European Statistical Advisory Committee established by Decision No 234/2008/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (7) and to the Committee on Monetary, Financial and Balance of Payments Statistics established by Council Decision 2006/856/EC (8),

HAVE ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

Establishment of the European statistical programme

The European statistical programme for the period from 2013 to 2017 (‘the programme’) is hereby established.

Article 2

Added value

The programme represents the added value of ensuring that European statistics are focused on the information needed to design, implement, monitor and evaluate Union policies. In addition, it contributes to the effective use of resources by fostering actions which provide an essential contribution to the development, production and dissemination of harmonised, comparable, reliable, user-friendly and accessible statistical information based on uniform standards and common principles set out in the European Statistics Code of Practice (‘Code of Practice’), as adopted by the European Statistical System Committee (ESSC), in particular the quality criteria of relevance, accuracy and reliability, timeliness and punctuality, accessibility and clarity, and coherence and comparability.

Article 3

Scope

1. This Regulation provides the programming framework for the development, production and dissemination of European statistics, the main fields and the objectives of the actions envisaged for the period from 2013 to 2017, in accordance with Articles 13 and 14 of Regulation (EC) No 223/2009.

2. The programme does not cover measures provided for by the Programme for the Modernisation of European Enterprise and Trade Statistics (‘the MEETS Programme’), established by Decision No 1297/2008/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (9), until the end of the MEETS Programme on 31 December 2013, but includes objectives in the area of enterprise and trade statistics planned to be implemented from 2014 to 2017.

Article 4

Objectives

1. The general objective of the programme is for the European Statistical System (ESS) to continue to be the leading provider of high-quality statistics on Europe.

2. Bearing in mind the available resources both at national and Union level as well as the response burden, the following specific objectives shall be pursued in statistical actions undertaken for the implementation of the programme:

— Objective 1: provide statistical information, in a timely manner, to support the development, monitoring and evaluation of the policies of the Union properly reflecting priorities, while keeping a balance between economic, social and environmental fields and serving the needs of the wide range of users of European statistics, including other decision-makers, researchers, businesses and European citizens in general, in a cost-effective manner without unnecessary duplication of effort,

— Objective 2: implement new methods of production of European statistics aiming at efficiency gains and quality improvements,

— Objective 3: strengthen the partnership within the ESS and beyond in order to further enhance its productivity and its leading role in official statistics worldwide, and

— Objective 4: ensure that delivery of such statistics is kept consistent throughout the whole duration of the programme, provided that this does not interfere with the priority-setting mechanisms of the ESS.

3. The general and specific objectives referred to in paragraphs 1 and 2 are elaborated further in the Annex, together with the indicators used for monitoring the implementation of the programme. In accordance with Articles 13 and 14 of Regulation (EC) No 223/2009, the programme shall be subject to detailed annual planning which will include a priority-setting mechanism as an integral part of the process. The objectives of the programme shall be achieved through close and coordinated cooperation in the ESS. The programme shall include the development of appropriate instruments resulting in enhanced quality, a greater flexibility of the ESS and the increased ability to satisfy users’ needs in a timely manner. It shall also pioneer the development of reliable indicators able to meet the challenges of the 21st century, namely measuring environmental sustainability, quality of life and social cohesion, and record economic activity in the tertiary sector and the social economy.

Article 5

Statistical governance, independence, transparency and quality

1. European statistics shall be produced in a professionally independent and transparent manner.

2. The programme shall be implemented in accordance with the principles of the Code of Practice with a view to producing and disseminating high-quality, harmonised and comparable European statistics in accordance with Article 12 of Regulation (EC) No 223/2009, and ensuring the proper functioning of the ESS as a whole. The national statistical institutes and the Union statistical authority (Commission (Eurostat)) shall ensure, through their professional independence, that European statistics comply with the Code of Practice.

3. The national statistical institutes and other national authorities as designated by the Member States (collectively, ‘national statistical authorities’), and the Commission (Eurostat), which are responsible for the development, production and dissemination of European statistics, shall:

— aim to reinforce an institutional and organisational environment which promotes the coordination, effectiveness and credibility of national statistical authorities and the Commission (Eurostat) producing and disseminating European statistics,

— place emphasis on the statistical principles set out in Article 2(1) of Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 and the needs of users,

— serve the needs of Union institutional users in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 223/2009, and seek to develop statistics which serve a wide range of users of European statistics, including other decision-makers, researchers, businesses and European citizens in general, and

— cooperate with statistical bodies at international level in order to promote the use of international concepts, classifications, methods and other standards, in particular, with a view to ensuring more coherence and better comparability at global level.

4. Each Member State shall endeavour to ensure that its statistical production processes are set up in a standardised manner and are enhanced, to the extent possible, by audit mechanisms.

5. In the interest of transparency, the Commission (Eurostat) shall, where appropriate, disclose publicly its assessment of the quality of national contributions to European statistics as part of the quality reporting and compliance monitoring exercise.

6. The Commission (Eurostat) shall consider how to make its publications, particularly those which are accessible via its website, more user-friendly to non-professionals, and shall allow easy access to complete data series and include intuitive comparative graphs in order to give more added value to citizens. The periodic updates of the Commission (Eurostat) shall provide, where possible, information on each Member State and shall offer annual, monthly and long-term data series, where appropriate, and where the benefits are greater than the costs of collection.

Article 6

Statistical priority-setting

1. The programme shall ensure statistical initiatives underpinning the development, implementation and monitoring of current Union policies and shall provide statistical support for important requirements resulting from new Union policy initiatives.

2. The Commission shall, in the preparation of the annual work programmes referred to in Article 9, ensure effective priority-setting and an annual review of, and report on, statistical priorities. The annual work programmes will thereby aim to ensure that European statistics can be produced within the available resources at the national and the Union level. Prioritisation shall contribute to the reduction of costs and burdens for new statistical requirements by reducing statistical requirements in existing domains of European statistics and shall be pursued in close cooperation with the Member States.

3. The Commission shall ensure the development and implementation of instruments to annually review the priorities of statistical activities in order to contribute to the reduction of costs and burdens on data providers and producers of statistics.

4. When putting forward new actions or introducing major revisions of existing statistics, the Commission shall duly justify such actions or revisions and shall provide information with input from Member States on response burden and production costs in accordance with Article 14(3) of Regulation (EC) No 223/2009.

Article 7

Financing

1. The Union financial envelope for the implementation of the programme for 2013 is set at EUR 57,3 million, covered by the programming period 2007 to 2013.

2. Not later than three months after the adoption of the multiannual financial framework for the years 2014-20 (‘MFF 2014 to 2020’), the Commission is invited to submit to the European Parliament and to the Council a legislative proposal introducing the financial allocation for the period 2014 to 2017.

3. The Commission shall implement the Union financial support in accordance with the Financial Regulation.

4. The Commission shall adopt its decision on annual appropriations in compliance with the prerogatives of the budgetary authority.

Article 8

Administrative and technical assistance

The financial allocation for the programme may cover expenses pertaining to preparatory, monitoring, control, audit and evaluation activities which are required for the management of the programme and the achievement of its objectives; in particular, studies, meetings of experts, expenses linked to the reimbursement of statistical experts, information and communication actions, expenses linked to IT networks focusing on information processing and exchange, together with all other technical and administrative assistance expenses incurred by the Commission for the management of the programme. The allocation may also cover technical assistance and expertise provided to Member States which are unable to produce certain European statistics or statistics of the required quality due to specific circumstances.

Article 9

Annual work programmes

In order to implement the programme, the Commission shall adopt annual work programmes which shall satisfy the requirements laid down in Article 17 of Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 and which shall set out the objectives pursued by them and their expected results, in accordance with the general and specific objectives referred to in Article 4(1) and (2) of this Regulation. Each annual work programme shall be communicated to the European Parliament for information purposes.

Article 10

Types of intervention

Financial contributions by the Union may take the form of grants, public procurement contracts or any other interventions needed for the purposes of achieving the general and specific objectives referred to in Article 4(1) and (2).

Article 11

Eligible actions

1. A financial contribution by the Union shall support actions for the development, production and dissemination of European statistics needed for the purposes of achieving the general and specific objectives referred to in Article 4(1) and (2). Priority shall be given to actions with high added value for the Union in accordance with Article 2.

2. A financial contribution to support collaborative networks as referred to in Article 15 of Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 may take the form of grants for an action and may cover up to 95 % of the eligible costs.

3. Where appropriate, operating grants, not exceeding 50 % of the eligible costs, may be awarded for the functioning of organisations referred to in Article 12(3).

4. As a contribution to expenses incurred by the Member States in carrying out actions based on data collection, a lump sum per set of data, the complete results of which are to be forwarded to the Commission, may be paid up to a maximum threshold defined per data collection. The amount of the lump sum shall be defined by the Commission taking due account of the complexity of the data collection.

Article 12

Beneficiaries eligible for grants

1. In accordance with the second subparagraph of Article 128(1) of the Financial Regulation, grants to the national statistical authorities identified in Article 5(2) of Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 may be awarded without a call for proposals.

2. Collaborative networks may involve beneficiaries referred to in paragraph 1 and other bodies without a call for proposals in accordance with Article 128(1) of the Financial Regulation.

3. The operating grants referred to in Article 11(3) may be awarded to organisations which comply with both of the following criteria:

(a) they are non-profit making, are independent of industry, commercial and business or other conflicting interests, and have as their primary objectives and activities the promotion and support of the implementation of the Code of Practice and the implementation of new methods of production of European statistics aiming at efficiency gains and quality improvements at Union level; and

(b) they have provided the Commission with satisfactory accounts of their membership, internal rules and sources of funding.

Article 13

Protection of the financial interests of the Union

1. The Commission shall take appropriate measures to ensure that, when actions financed under this Regulation are implemented, the financial interests of the Union are protected by the application of preventive measures against fraud, corruption and any other illegal activities, by consistent and effective checks and, if irregularities are detected, by the recovery of the amounts wrongly paid and, where appropriate, by effective, proportionate and deterrent penalties.

2. The Commission or its representatives and the Court of Auditors shall have the competence to audit, on the basis of documents and on-the-spot checks, all grant beneficiaries, contractors and subcontractors who have received funding within the framework of this Regulation.

The European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) shall, where appropriate, carry out on-the-spot checks and inspections of economic operators concerned directly or indirectly by such funding in accordance with the procedures laid down in Council Regulation (Euratom, EC) No 2185/96 of 11 November 1996 concerning on-the-spot checks and inspections carried out by the Commission in order to protect the European Communities’ financial interests against fraud and other irregularities (10), with a view to establishing whether there has been fraud, corruption or any other illegal activity affecting the financial interests of the Union in connection with a grant agreement, grant decision or contract funded pursuant to this Regulation.

Without prejudice to the first and second subparagraphs, cooperation agreements with third countries and international organisations, and grant agreements, grant decisions and contracts resulting from the implementation of this Regulation shall expressly empower the Commission, the Court of Auditors and OLAF to conduct such audits, on-the-spot checks and inspections.

Article 14

Participation in the programme by third countries

Participation in the programme shall be open to:

(a) the EEA/EFTA countries, in accordance with the conditions established in the Agreement on the European Economic Area;

(b) Switzerland, in accordance with the conditions established in the Agreement of 26 October 2004 between the European Community and the Swiss Confederation on cooperation in the field of statistics (11); and

(c) countries to which the European Neighbourhood Policy applies, countries which have applied for membership of the Union, candidate and acceding countries, and the western Balkan countries included in the stabilisation and association process, in accordance with the conditions laid down in the respective bilateral or multilateral agreements with those countries establishing the general principles for their participation in Union programmes.

Article 15

Evaluation and review of the programme

1. The Commission shall, after consulting the ESSC, submit an intermediate progress report on the implementation of the programme to the European Parliament and to the Council by 30 June 2015.

2. No later than 31 December 2016, the Commission may, on the basis of the intermediate progress report referred to in paragraph 1, and after consulting the ESSC, submit to the European Parliament and to the Council a proposal for the extension of the programme for the period from 2018 to 2020, while complying with the MFF 2014 to 2020.

3. By 31 December 2018, the Commission shall, after consulting the ESSC and the European Statistical Advisory Committee, submit a final evaluation report on the implementation of the programme to the European Parliament and to the Council.

Article 16

Entry into force

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

It shall apply from 1 January 2013.

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States. Done at Strasbourg, 15 January 2013. For the European Parliament The President M. SCHULZ For the Council The President L. CREIGHTON

(1) Position of the European Parliament of 12 December 2012 (not yet published in the Official Journal) and decision of the Council of 20 December 2012.

(2) OJ L 87, 31.3.2009, p. 164.

(3) Without prejudice to Article 5 of Protocol No 4 on the Statute of the European System of Central Banks and of the European Central Bank.

(4) OJ L 192, 22.7.2011, p. 1.

(5) OJ L 298, 26.10.2012, p. 1.

(6) OJ C 139, 14.6.2006, p. 1.

(7) OJ L 73, 15.3.2008, p. 13.

(8) OJ L 332, 30.11.2006, p. 21.

(9) OJ L 340, 19.12.2008, p. 76.

(10) OJ L 292, 15.11.1996, p. 2.

(11) OJ L 90, 28.3.2006, p. 2.