(9)

the following Articles are inserted: ‘Article 9a Pilot studies 1. In accordance with the objectives of this Regulation, the Commission (Eurostat) shall establish pilot studies, to be carried out on a voluntary basis by the Member States, in order to test the feasibility of new data collections or disaggregations within the scope of this Regulation, including the availability of appropriate data sources and production techniques, statistical quality and comparability and the costs and burdens involved. Member States shall, together with the Commission (Eurostat), ensure the representativeness of those pilot studies at Union level. 2. Before launching each particular pilot study, the Commission (Eurostat) shall assess whether the new statistics can be based on the information available in the relevant administrative sources at Union level in order to harmonise the concepts used, where possible, and in order to minimise additional burdens on national statistical institutes and other national authorities and enhance the use of existing data in accordance with Article 17a of Regulation (EC) No 223/2009. The Commission (Eurostat) shall also take into account the burden resulting from other ongoing pilot studies in order to limit the number of concurrent pilot studies during the same period of time. 3. The pilot studies referred to in this Article shall relate to the following matters: (a) for statistics required under Article 4 as a whole, disaggregations by month of submission of the application for international protection; (b) for statistics required under Article 4(1): (i) the number of persons having submitted an application for international protection or having been included in such an application as a family member and who: — were exempted from an accelerated procedure or a border procedure or had their applications for international protection processed under such border procedure, — were not registered in Eurodac, — presented documentary evidence which could aid in the establishment of their identity, — were in detention, disaggregated by duration of stay in detention and by the grounds for detention, or were subject to an administrative or judicial decision or act ordering their detention or an alternative to detention, disaggregated by type of alternative and by the month such decision or act was issued, — benefited from free legal assistance, — benefited from material reception conditions as specified under point (g) of Article 4(1), disaggregated by age, by sex, by citizenship and by unaccompanied minors, and the possibility to relate these statistics to reference periods of one month, — were unaccompanied minors to whom a representative was appointed, were unaccompanied minors who were granted access to the education system or were unaccompanied minors who were placed in accordance with Article 31(3) of Directive 2011/95/EU; — underwent an age assessment, including the results of such assessments; (ii) the average number of unaccompanied minors having submitted an application for international protection per representative; (c) for statistics required under Article 4(2) and (3): (i) for persons covered by point (a) of Article 4(2) or point (b) of Article 4(3), disaggregations by decisions rejecting applications for international protection: — as inadmissible, by ground for inadmissibility, — as unfounded, — as manifestly unfounded under the regular procedure, by grounds for rejection; — as manifestly unfounded under an accelerated procedure, by grounds for rejection and acceleration, — on the ground that the applicant is eligible for protection within his or her country of origin; (ii) for persons covered by points (b) and (c) of Article 4(2) and points (c) and (d) of Article 4(3), disaggregations by decisions on cessation or exclusion, further disaggregated by ground for cessation or exclusion; (iii) the number of persons in respect of whom decisions were taken following a personal interview; (iv) the number of persons in respect of whom first instance decisions or final decisions reducing or withdrawing material reception conditions were taken; (d) for statistics required under Article 4(3), the duration of appeals; (e) for statistics required under Article 4(4), disaggregations by age and by citizenship; (f) for statistics required under Article 6, the number of: (i) applications and rejected applications for first-time residence permits made by third-country nationals during the reference period, disaggregated by citizenship, by the reason for the permit being requested, by age and by sex; (ii) rejected applications for residence permits on the occasion of a third-country national changing immigration status or reason for stay; (iii) residence permits issued for family reasons, disaggregated by the reason for the issue of the permit and by status of the sponsor of the third-country national; (g) for statistics required under Article 7, disaggregations by: (i) the reasons for the decisions or acts referred to in point (a) of paragraph 1 of that Article; (ii) the number of persons referred to in point (a) of paragraph 1 of that Article who were subject to an entry ban; (iii) the number of persons in return procedures subject to an administrative or judicial decision or act ordering their detention, further disaggregated by duration of stay in detention, or an alternative to detention, disaggregated by type of alternative, and by the month such decision or act was issued; (iv) the number of persons returned, further disaggregated by country of destination and by the type of decision or act as follows: — in accordance with a formal Union readmission agreement, — in accordance with an informal Union readmission arrangement, — in accordance with a national readmission agreement. 4. The Commission (Eurostat) shall evaluate the results of the pilot studies in close cooperation with the Member States and shall make the results publicly available. The evaluation shall include an assessment of the added value of the new data collections under the pilot studies at Union level and a cost-effectiveness analysis, including an assessment of the burden on respondents and of the production costs in accordance with Article 14(3) of Regulation (EC) No 223/2009. 5. Taking account of the positive evaluation of the results of the pilot studies, the Commission may adopt implementing acts regarding the matters referred to in paragraph 3. Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 11(2). 6. In order to facilitate the carrying out of the pilot studies referred to in this Article, the Commission (Eurostat) shall provide the appropriate financing in accordance with Article 9b to Member States that carry out those pilot studies. 7. By … [two years after the entry into force of this amending Regulation] and every two years thereafter, the Commission (Eurostat) shall report on the overall progress made regarding the matters referred to in paragraph 3. The report shall be made publicly available. Article 9b Financing 1. For the implementation of this Regulation, financial contributions shall be provided from the general budget of the Union to the national statistical institutes and other relevant national authorities referred to in Article 5(2) of Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 for: (a) the development of new methodologies for statistics under this Regulation, including the participation of the Member States in pilot studies as referred to in Article 9a; (b) the development or implementation of new data collections and disaggregations within the scope of this Regulation, including upgrading of data sources and IT systems, for a period of up to five years. 2. Union financial contributions as referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article shall be provided in accordance with Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2018/1046 of the European Parliament and of the Council (*7). (*7) Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2018/1046 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 July 2018 on the financial rules applicable to the general budget of the Union, amending Regulations (EU) No 1296/2013, (EU) No 1301/2013, (EU) No 1303/2013, (EU) No 1304/2013, (EU) No 1309/2013, (EU) No 1316/2013, (EU) No 223/2014, (EU) No 283/2014, and Decision No 541/2014/EU and repealing Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 966/2012 (OJ L 193, 30.7.2018, p. 1).’;"