No C 86/12 Official Journal of the European Communities 7. 4. 89 
Draft Council Regulation (EEC/Euratom) on the transmission of data subject to statistical 
confidentiality to the Statistical Office of the European Communities 
COM(89) 3 final 
(Submitted by the Commission on 15 March 1989) 
(89/C 86/06) 
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, 
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European 
Economic Community, 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, 
Having regard to the opinion of the European 
Parliament, 
Whereas to enable it to carry out the duties entrusted to 
it by the Treaties, and especially in the light of the 
internal market as provided for in Article 8a of the 
Treaty establishing the European Economic Community, 
the Commission must have full and reliable information; 
whereas, with a view to efficient management, the Stat­
istical Office of the European Communities must be able 
to obtain all the national statistical information necessary 
in order to prepare Community statistics and carry out 
the necessary analyses; 
Whereas Article 5 of the Treaty establishing the 
European Economic Community and Article 192 of the 
Euratom Treaty require the Member States to facilitate 
the achievement of the Community's tasks; whereas this 
obligation extends to providing all the requisite infor­
mation; whereas Member States have hitherto opposed 
the transmission of confidential statistical data to the 
Statistical Office of the European Communities, 
invoking national legislation on statistical confidentiality; 
whereas this results in a considerable loss of information 
at Community level and makes it difficult to prepare 
statistics and carry out analyses on the Community; 
Whereas the Member States will have no further cause to 
invoke national legislation on statistical confidentiality 
once it has been established that the Statistical Office of 
the European Communities offers the same data 
confidentiality guarantees as the national statistical 
institutes; whereas these guarantees are already to some 
extent enshrined in the Community Treaties and in the 
Staff Regulations applicable to officials of the European 
Communities and can be backed up by appropriate 
measures under this Regulation; Whereas, in accordance with Article 214 of the Treaty 
establishing the European Economic Community and 
Article 194 (1) of the Treaty establishing the European 
Atomic Energy Community, the officials and other 
servants of the Community are required, even after their 
duties have ceased, not to disclose information of the 
kind covered by the obligation of professional secrecy; 
Whereas Article 17 of the Staff Regulations of officials 
of the European Communities requires them to respect 
the confidentiality of all facts and information coming to 
their knowledge in the course of or in connection with 
the performance of their duties, and they remain bound 
by this obligation after leaving the service; 
Whereas any infringement of the rules binding officials 
and other servants working for the SOEC, whether 
committed wilfully or through negligence, renders them 
liable to disciplinary sanctions and, if appropriate, legal 
penalties for violation of professional secrecy, pursuant 
to the combined provisions of Articles 12 and 18 of the 
Protocol on the privileges and immunities of the 
European Communities; 
Whereas, in accordance with Article 215 of the Treaty 
establishing the European Economic Community and 
Article 188 of the Treaty establishing the European 
Atomic Energy Community, the Community shall make 
good any damage caused by its institutions or by its 
servants in the performance of their duties; 
Whereas this Regulation applies only to the transmission 
to the Statistical Office of the European Communities of 
statistical data which, in the national statistical institutes' 
field of competence, are covered by statistical confiden­
tiality, and whereas it does not affect special national or 
Community provisions relating to the transmission of 
other types of information to the Commission; 
Whereas this Regulation is without prejudice to the 
provisions of Article 223 of the Treaty establishing the 
European Economic Community, under which no 
Member State is required to supply information, the 
disclosure of which it considers contrary to the essential 
interests os 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 
1566/86/ECSC (') and whereas such decisions are not 
affected by this Regulation, in compliance with Article 
232 of the Treaty establishing the European Economic 
Community; 
(') OJ No L 141, 28. 5. 1986, p. 1. 
7. 4. 89 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 86/13 
Whereas the establishment under this Regulation of an 
Advisory Committee on Statistical Confidentiality 
accords with Council Decision 87/373/EEC of 13 July 
1987 laying down the procedures for the exercise of the 
implementing powers conferred on the Commission ('); 
Whereas implementation of the provisions contained in 
this Regulation, and in particular those designed to 
ensure the protection of confidential statistical data 
transmitted to the Statistical Office of the European 
Communities, will require technical, human and financial 
resources, 
HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION: 
Article 1 
1. The purpose of this Regulation is: 
— to authorize national bodies to transmit confidential 
statistical data to the Statistical Office of the 
European Communities (hereinafter SOEC); 
— to provide a guarantee that the Commission will take 
all the necessary measures to ensure the confiden­
tiality of data thus transmitted. 
2. This Regulation shall apply to statistical confiden­
tiality only. It does not offset special Community or 
national provisions safeguarding confidentiality other 
than statistical confidentiality. 
Article 2 
For the purposes of the Regulation the terms given 
below are defined as follows: 
1. Confidential statistical data: data declared 
confidential by the Member States in line with 
national legislation or practices governing statistical 
confidentiality. 
2. National authorities: national statistical institutes and 
other public bodies responsible for collection of stat­
istics for the Communities. 
3. Information on the private lives of natural persons: 
information on the private and family lives of natural 
persons as defined by national legislation or practices 
in the various Member States. 
4. Use for statistical purposes: use exclusively for the 
compilation of statistical tables or for statistical economic analyses; may not be used for adminis­
trative, 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: immediate identification of a 
statistical unit from its name or address. 
7. Indirect identification: possibility of working out the 
identity of one or more statistical units from stat­
istical data, even when aggregated. 
8. Officials of the SOEC: officials of the Communities, 
within the meaning of Article 1 of the Staff Regu­
lations for officials of the European Communities, 
working for the SOEC. 
9. Other servants of the SOEC: servants of the 
Communities, within the meaning of Articles 2 and 5 
of the Regulations governing other servants of the 
European Communities, working for the SOEC. 
10. Dissemination: supply of data in any form whatever; 
publication, access to data bases, microfiches, 
telephone communications, etc. 
Article 3 
1. The national authorities shall be authorized to 
transmit confidential statistical data to the SOEC. 
2. National rules on statistical secrecy shall not apply 
to the transmission of statistical data to the SOEC where 
there is a Community legal act relating to Community 
statistics and providing for such transmission. 
3. Confidential data shall be transmitted to the SOEC 
in a form precluding direct identification of the units 
surveyed, unless a Community legal act decides 
otherwise. 
4. National authorities shall not be obliged to forward 
information on the private lives of natural persons to the 
SOEC if this could enable these persons to be identified 
either directly or indirectly. 
Article 4 
1. The Commission shall take all the necessary regu­
latory, administrative, technical and organizational 
measures to ensure the confidentiality of data trans­
mitted by the Member States in accordance with Article 
3. 
(') OJ No L 197, 18. 7. 1987, p. 33. 2. The protection measures referred to in Article 5 
shall apply: 
No C 86/14 Official Journal of the European Communities 7. 4. 89 
(a) to all confidential statistical data, the transmission to 
the SOEC of which is covered by a Community legal 
act; 
(b) to all confidential statistical data transmitted volun­
tarily by Member States to the SOEC. 
3. The Commission shall establish the procedures for 
transmitting confidential statistical data to the SOEC 
after consultation with the Advisory Committee on Stat­
istical Confidentiality provided for in Article 7. 
Article 5 
1. The Commission shall instruct the 
Director-General of the SOEC to ensure the confiden­
tiality of data transmitted to the SOEC by national auth­
orities, and shall establish the procedures for this after 
consultation with the Committee on Statistical Confiden­
tiality provided for by Article 7. 
2. Confidential statistical data transmitted to the 
SOEC shall only be accessible to officials of the SOEC 
and may only be used for exclusively statistical purposes. 
3. However, the Commission may grant access to 
confidential statistical data to other servants 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 access shall be laid down by the Commission 
after consulting the Committee on Statistical Confiden­
tiality provided for by Article 7. 
4. Confidential statistical data in the SOEC's 
possession may not be disseminated unless it can be 
guaranteed that the statistical units concerned cannot be 
identified either directly or indirectly. 
5. Officials or other servants of and other natural 
persons working for the SOEC under contract may not 
use these data for purposes other than those laid down in 
this Regulation. This prohibition shall also apply 
following transfer, termination of service or retirement. 
Article 6 
Member States shall, by 1 January 1991, take appro­
priate measures to deal with any violations of the obli­
gation to maintain secrecy on confidential statistical data 
transmitted in accordance with Article 3. 
Member States shall inform the Commission without 
delay of the measures taken, and the Commission shall 
pass on this information to the other Member States. Article 7 
1. An Advisory Committee on Statistical Confiden­
tiality shall be set up, composed of representatives of the 
Member States and chaired by a representative of the 
Commission (the Director-General of the SOEC or 
another person designated by him). 
2. The Chairman shall submit to the Committee a 
draft of the measures to be taken. The Committee shall 
deliver its opinion on the draft within a time limit which 
the Chairman may lay down according to the urgency of 
the matter, if necessary by taking a vote. 
3. The opinion of the Committee shall be recorded in 
the minutes. Each Member State shall have the right to 
ask to have its position recorded in the minutes. 
4. The Commission shall take the utmost account of 
the opinion delivered by the Committee. It shall inform 
the Committee of the manner in which its opinion has 
been taken into account. 
Article 8 
1. The Committee may be consulted by the 
Commission on all questions concerning this Regulation. 
2. The Committee shall be consulted by the 
Commission prior to adopting the measures provided for 
in Article 4 (3) and in Article 5 (1) and (3). 
3. The Committee may, at the request of the 
Chairman or one of its members, examine the 
procedures implemented to guarantee statistical 
confidentiality where confidential statistics have been 
transmitted to the SOEC. 
4. The Committee shall lay down its rules of 
procedure. 
Article 9 
The financial resources to be allocated in the general 
budget of the European Communities, estimated as 
necessary for the Commission to implement this Regu­
lation, are: 
— ECU 1 million for the year 1990 
— ECU 500 000 for each year 1991, 1992 and 1993. 
Article 10 
This Regulation shall enter into force on the third day 
following that of its publication in the Official Journal of 
the European Communities. 
However, Article 3 shall apply from 1 January 1991. 
This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and 
directly applicable in all Member States.