No C 56/8 Official Journal of the European Communities 6. 3. 89 
Opinion on a proposal for a Council Decision instituting a specific multiannual programme 
for the research and development of statistical expert systems (DOSES) (*) 
(89/C 56/04) 
On 8 August 1988, the Council of the European Communities decided to consult the Economic 
and Social Committee, under Article 130Q (2) of the Treaty establishing the European 
Economic Community on the abovementioned proposal. 
The Section for Energy, Nuclear Questions and Research, which was responsible for preparing 
the Committee's work on the subject, adopted its Opinion on 2 December 1988. The 
Rapporteur was Mr Black. 
At its 261st plenary session (meeting of 14 December 1988) the Economic and Social Com­
mittee adopted unanimously the following Opinion. 
1. Introduction 
1.1. The aim of the Commission's proposal is to 
improve the flow of statistical information by promot­
ing the development of advanced data processing tech­
niques and expert systems. These developments should 
be of benefit not only to the statisticians who will 
employ them in the production of data but to the users 
of that data and to the Community as a whole. They 
could reduce the time required to make statistical infor­
mation available, make its specification and definition 
more precise and uniform, and improve the methods of 
dissemination to users. 
1.2. The Committee welcomes the Commission's 
proposal and supports its general thrust which is aimed 
at improving the Community's capacity to produce and 
use statistical information. It accepts the view that the 
development of advanced data processing techniques 
will contribute to this objective. 
1.3. While significant improvements have been made 
in the provision of statistics in recent years much 
remains to be done to meet Community needs and 
much work on the development of common statistical 
concepts is required. Community statistical data banks 
are often inadequate and out of date. 
1.4. The Committee takes the view that the pro­
gramme proposed by the Commission can make a con­
tribution to the development of the required statistical 
base, although additional work is also required in other 
areas relating to the provision of statistics if the DOSES 
programme is to have a significant beneficial effect. 
2. General comments 
2.1. In its Decision of 28 September 1987 adopting a 
framework programme for Community activities in the 
(!) OJ No C 203, 4. 8. 1988, p. 5. field of research and development (1987-1991) (2) the 
Council approved the development of statistical tools 
as one of the objectives of the work on 'Forecasting 
and assessment and other back-up measures, (including 
statistics)'. 
2.2. Accurate and up to date statistical information 
is essential for the measurement and monitoring of 
economic activity, a task assigned to the Community 
in Article 2 of the Treaty establishing the European 
Economic Community. 
2.3. In its Opinion on the Draft Council Decision on 
the European stimulation plan for economic science, 
1989-1992 (SPES), the Economic and Social Committee 
drew attention to the need 
'... to construct a statistical data bank on economic 
activities using criteria which can be applied and 
assessed uniformly in all EC countries...'^). 
2.4. It notes, that with a proposed budget of 
4 million ECU, over a period of four years, the pro­
gramme is insufficient in relation to the dimensions of 
the problems. This is one of the consequences of the 
reduced allocation of funds to the 1987-1991 framework 
programme decided by Council, to which the Commit­
tee has already drawn attention. 
2.5. The budget may be appropriate for the explora­
tory projects that are envisaged within the DOSES 
programme but more resources will have to be devoted 
to the use of advanced data processing techniques in 
statistics at some future date. 
3. Specific comments 
3.1. With the modest resources available and the 
need to produce and disseminate results quickly the 
Committee approves the Commission's proposals for 
the division of activities into coordinated projects, 
which should be relatively inexpensive, and a small 
number of jointly funded projects. 
(2) 87/516/Euratom, EEC (OJ No L 302, 24. 10. 1987). 
(3) Doc. CES of 28 September 1988 (paragraph 2.8) (OJ No 
C318, 12. 12. 1988, p. 23). 
6. 3. 89 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 56/9 
3.2. Coordinated projects are designed to encourage 
regular meetings between the various interested parties 
—national statistics institutes, universities, industry and 
the Community—to discuss ways in which data pro­
cessing techniques and expert systems can contribute 
to greater integration in the collection, analysis and 
dissemination of statistics. The Committee urges that 
trade unions and consumer organizations should be 
included in these meetings. Emphasis on coordination is 
essential in view of the continuing diversity of statistical 
traditions in the Member States. 
3.3. Participants will fund their respective shares of 
the work to be done in coordinated projects and the 
Commission will provide financial and logistic assist­
ance for the organization of the projects. 
3.4. Jointly funded projects are intended to encour­
age work of an exploratory nature in areas in which 
information technology may contribute to savings of 
scarce resources, may enable reliable data to be supplied 
more quickly and may facilitate the production of data 
which is of particular interest to public agencies. 
3.5. Theme 1 in the jointly funded projects relates 
to the development of a fully automated information 
processing system in a specific selected field which will 
make possible the collection and validation of data, the 
estimation of missing data, and the documentation, 
processing analysis and dissemination of data. 
3.6. The Committee recognizes that the selection of 
the areas of work in this field will be influenced by the 
extent to which various stages in the process are already 
using advanced processing techniques. To the extent 
that it is possible, however, the Committee urges that 
the chosen area of work should involve statistical 
material that is relevant to a major area of Community 
policy. 
3.7. Theme 2 relates to the documentation of data 
and statistical methods. Accurate and readily accessible 
documentation is essential to the user if he is to be 
able to assess the precise meaning of the data, and 
Done at Brussels, 14 December 1988. particularly if he wishes to use data from different 
sources. 
3.8. Theme 3 is concerned with access to statistical 
information. The Committee thinks that this is a par­
ticularly important area for investigation. The develop­
ment of user-friendly information systems can make 
a major contribution to the wider use of statistical 
information. The production of information which is 
not used is a waste of time and resources. 
3.9. Theme 4 is concerned with forecasting. Here the 
aim is to investigate the extent to which it may be 
possible to capture individual forecasting expertise and 
encapsulate it in a computerized expert system. The 
Committee thinks that this is a desirable objective. It 
takes the view however that there may be formidable 
problems involved in reaching agreement on the charac­
teristics of the required expert systems for complex 
forecasting problems, particularly in the field of econ­
omics. 
3.10. The Committee notes with approval that in its 
management of the programme the Commission will 
be assisted by a group of independent experts selected 
for their expertise in the fields of expert systems and 
statistics. 
4. Conclusions 
4.1. While reiterating its support for the DOSES 
programme, the Committee notes that the production 
of statistics can impose burdens on the ultimate sup­
pliers, whether they are individuals or firms. Small 
and medium-sized enterprises (SME) in particular are 
frequently ill-equipped to meet complex requests for 
information. The Committee would therefore urge that 
in the implementation of the programme the problems 
of data suppliers are borne in mind; information sys­
tems should be producer-friendly as well as user-
friendly. 
4.2. Finally the Committee draws attention to the 
vital importance of ensuring that the use of statistical 
expert systems is regulated by carefully developed con­
trols to guarantee that confidential information about 
individuals is completely safeguarded. 
The Chairman 
of the Economic and Social Committee 
Alberto MASPRONE