EN 
 
 
OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK 
of 6 January 2010  
on a new legal framework for the production of national statistics 
(CON/2010/2) 
 
Introduction and legal basis  
On 3 December 2009 the European Central Bank (ECB) received a request from the Ministry of Finance 
of Estonia for an opinion on the draft law on nati onal statistics (hereinafter the ‘draft law’). 
The ECB’s competence to deliver an  opinion is based on Articles 127(4) and 282(5) of the Treaty on the 
Functioning of the European Union and the third and f ourth indents of Article 2(1) of Council Decision 
98/415/EC of 29 June 1998 on the consultation of  the European Central Bank by national authorities 
regarding draft legislative provisions1, as the draft law relates to Eesti Pank and the collection, 
compilation and distribution of monetary, financial, banking, payment systems and balance of payments 
statistics. In accordance with the fi rst sentence of Article 17.5 of the Rules of Procedure of the European 
Central Bank, the Governing Council has adopted this opinion. 
 1.  Purpose of the draft law 
The Law on national statistics was adopted in 1997. The draft law is aimed at improving the general 
functioning of national statistic s production and at ensuring cons istency with Regulation (EC) 
No 223/2009 on European statistics
2. Eesti Pank and the Statistikaamet  (the National Statistical Institute 
of Estonia (NSI)) will continue to be the producer s of national statistics and the national statistics 
programme will consist of: (a) the list of statistical work approved by the G overnment of the Republic; 
and (b) the list of statistical work approved by the Governor of Eesti Pank. 
 2. General observations 2.1  The ECB welcomes the aim of the draft law to ensure consistency with the framework of European 
statistics and to improve the production of national statistics. 
                                                 
1  OJ L 189, 3.7.1998, p. 42.  
2  Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 March 2009 on European statistics 
and repealing Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1101/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the 
transmission of data subject to statistical confidentiality to  the Statistical Office of the European Communities, Council 
Regulation (EC) No 322/97 on Community Statistics, a nd Council Decision 89/382/EEC,  Euratom establishing a 
Committee on the Statistical Programmes of the European Communities (OJ L 87, 31.3.2009, p. 164).  
2 2.2 As of the date of abrogation of the derogation for Estonia under Ar ticle 140(2) of Treaty, the clause 
referred to in Article 8(1) of the draft law w ill require amendment. This  could be avoided by 
making a more general reference or taking the pot ential replacement of this clause into account. 
2.3  According to the draft law, the NSI’s Director  General is responsible for cooperation with other 
producers of national statistics. The ECB emphasise s that ensuring effective cooperation between 
Eesti Pank and NSI is very important for the quality and cost-effectiveness of statistics. At the same 
time, such cooperation must be without prejudice to Eesti Pank’s independence and to its tasks 
within the statistical framework of the European System of Central Banks (ESCB); the ECB would 
recommend addressing this issue in the draft law.  
2.4  According to the draft law, the national statis tics programme covers dem ographic, social, economic 
and environmental statistics and is based on national or international statistical needs. One part of 
the programme will be the list of statistical work approved by the Governor of Eesti Pank. The ECB 
understands that the monetary and financal statistic al work of Eesti Pank is covered by the concept 
of ‘economic statistics’.  
 3. Statistical principles and independence of the NSI 3.1 The draft law provides that national statistics mu st be produced in accordance with the statistical 
principles and quality criteria set out in Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 or in the legal instruments on 
statistics regulating the ECB’s activities. In additi on, the ECB notes that the recent amendment of 
Council Regulation (EC) No 2533/98 of 23 Novemb er 1998 concerning the collection of statistical 
information by the European Central Bank
3 introduces a list of statistical principles governing the 
production of European Statistics by the ESCB. The se principles are similar to those laid down in 
Regulation 223/2009 and are defined and publis hed by the ECB on its website as a public 
commitment concerning European statistics produced by the ESCB.  
3.2 Related to the above principles, according to Ar ticle 2 of Regulation (EC)  No 223/2009, statistics 
must be developed, produced and disseminated in an independent manner, free from any pressures 
from national authorities. The ECB notes the decl aration in the draft law that the NSI is 
professionally independent. However, several provisions  of the draft law indicate that the Ministry 
of Finance has extensive powers to interfere in th e production of national statistics. In general, the 
ECB stresses the importance of securing the indepe ndence of the NSI as this is of particular 
importance for statistics required for assessing conv ergence and for the smooth functioning of the 
EMU framework following the adoption of euro. 
 
                                                 
3  OJ L 318, 27.11.1998, p. 8 as amended by Council Regulation (EC) No 951/2009 of 9 October 2009 amending 
Regulation (EC) No 2533/98 concerning the collection of st atistical information by the European Central Bank  
(OJ L 269, 14.10.2009, p. 1) . 
3 4. Confidential data 
Article 35(3) of the draft law provides that confidential  data which allow direct or indirect identification 
can be disseminated to another producer of nationa l statistics as well as to Eurostat and the ECB in 
accordance with their respective sphe res of competence. However, in order to ensure an efficient 
collection, compilation and dissemination of European Statistics, the ECB would find it useful to extend 
the scope of the exchange of confidential data to cover all authorities belonging to the European 
Statistical System and to ESCB members and not rest ricting it only to the ECB and Eurostat. This would 
be in line with the recent amendments to the statistical regulations4. 
 This opinion will be published on the ECB’s website.   Done at Frankfurt am Main, 6 January 2010. 
 
[signed] 
 
The President of the ECB 
Jean-Claude TRICHET  
 
                                                 
4  Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 and Regulation (EC) No 951/2009.