Commission Regulation (EC) No 831/2002 of 17 May 2002 implementing Council Regulation (EC) No 322/97 on Community Statistics, concerning access to confidential data for scientific purposes (Text with EEA relevance)
Date: 2002-05-17
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: EU statistics, confidentiality, cross-border cooperation, information system, scientific cooperation, scientific progress

18.5.2002

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Official Journal of the European Communities

L 133/7

COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 831/2002

of 17 May 2002

implementing Council Regulation (EC) No 322/97 on Community Statistics, concerning access to
confidential data for scientific purposes

(Text with EEA relevance)

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European
Community,

Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 322/97 of 17
February 1997 on Community Statistics (1), and in particular
Article 17(2) and Article 20(1) thereof,

Whereas:

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

(5)

There is a growing demand by researchers and the
scientific community in general
to have access for
scientific purposes to confidential data transmitted to
the Community authority.

Access for scientific purposes to confidential data may
be granted either by granting access on the premises of
the Community authority or by releasing anonymised
data to researchers under specific conditions (controlled
access).

This Regulation respects the fundamental rights and
observes the principles recognised in particular by the
Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union.

This Regulation ensures, in particular, full respect for the
right for private life and for the protection of personal
data (Articles 7 and 8 of the Charter of Fundamental
Rights of the European Union).

apply without prejudice

This Regulation shall
to
Directive 95/46/EC of the European Parliament and of
the Council of 24 October 1995 on the protection of
individuals with regard to the processing of personal
data and on the free movement of such data (2) and to
Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 of the European Parliament
and of the Council of 18 December 2000 on the protec-
tion of
individuals with regard to the processing of
personal data by the Community institutions and bodies
and on the free movement of such data (3).

(6)

The measures laid down in this Regulation are in accord-
ance with the opinion of the Committee on Statistical
Confidentiality,

(1) OJ L 52, 22.2.1997, p. 1.
(2) OJ L 281, 23.11.1995, p. 31.
(3) OJ L 8, 12.1.2001, p. 1.

Article 1

Aim

The aim of this Regulation is to establish, for the purpose of
enabling statistical conclusions to be drawn for scientific
purposes, the conditions under which access to confidential
data transmitted to the Community authority may be granted
and the rules of cooperation between the Community and
national authorities in order to facilitate such access.

Article 2

Definitions

For the purposes of this Regulation:

— ‘Community authority’, as defined in Article 2 of Regulation
(EC) No 322/97, shall mean the Commission department
responsible for carrying out the tasks devolving on the
Commission as regards the production of Community stat-
istics (Eurostat),

— ‘Community statistics’, as defined in Article 2 of Regulation
(EC) No 322/97, shall mean quantitative, aggregated and
representative information taken from the collection and
systematic processing of data, produced by the national
authorities and the Community authority in the framework
of
statistical
the
programme,

implementation

Community

of

— ‘Confidential data’

shall mean data which allow only

indirect identification of the statistical units concerned,

— ‘access to confidential data’ shall mean either access on the
premises of the Community authority or release of anony-
mised microdata,

— ‘anonymised microdata’ shall mean individual statistical
records which have been modified in order to minimise, in
accordance with current best practice, the risk of identifica-
tion of the statistical units to which they relate,

— ‘national authorities’, as defined in Article 2 of Regulation
(EC) No 322/97, shall mean national statistical
institutes
and other bodies responsible in each Member State for
producing Community statistics.

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Official Journal of the European Communities

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Article 3

Admissibility of requests ‘ratione personae’

Access to confidential data may be granted by the
1.
Community authority to researchers of bodies falling within
any of the following categories:

(a) universities and other higher education organisations estab-
lished by Community law or by the law of a Member State;

(b) organisations or institutions for scientific research estab-
lished under Community law or under the law of a
Member State;

(c) other agencies, organisations and institutions, after having
received the opinion of the Committee on statistical confi-
dentiality, in accordance with the procedure laid down in
Article 20(2) of Regulation (EC) No 322/97.

2.
Access to confidential data may also be granted by the
Community authority to researchers of bodies commissioned
to carry out research for scientific purposes. The commis-
sioning and commissioned bodies shall fall within any of the
categories of bodies specified in paragraph 1. The commis-
sioned bodies may also be organisations or institutions which
have been commissioned by departments of the Commission
or of the administrations of the Member States to undertake
specific research. Such organisations or institutions shall have
legal personality.

Article 4

General Conditions

1.
Subject to the fulfilment of the specific requirements laid
down in Articles 5 and 6, as the case may be, the Community
authority may grant access to confidential data provided that
the following conditions are satisfied:

(a) an appropriate request together with a detailed research
in conformity with current scientific standards

proposal
have been submitted;

(b) the research proposal shall indicate in sufficient detail the
set of data to be accessed, the methods of analysing them
and an indication of the time needed;

(c) a contract specifying the conditions for access, the obliga-
tions of the researchers, the measures for respecting the
confidentiality of statistical data and the sanctions in case
of breach of these obligations has been signed by the
individual researcher, by his/her institution, or by the
organisation commissioning the research, as the case may
be, and by the Community authority;

(d) the national authority, which provided the data, has been

informed before access is granted.

2.
In addition to the conditions laid down in paragraph 1,
the Community authority may grant access to confidential data

on its premises as set out in Article 5 provided that the
following conditions are also satisfied:

(a) the research will be carried out exclusively within the
premises of the Community authority and under the super-
vision of a designated official of that authority;

(b) the results of the research shall not leave the premises of
the Community authority without prior checking to ensure
that they do not include confidential data;

(c) prospective results to be published or otherwise released,
shall be checked by the Community authority to avoid
disclosure of confidential data.

Article 5

Access on the premises of the Community authority

1.
The Community authority may grant access on its prem-
ises to confidential data obtained from the following surveys or
statistical data sources:

— European Community Household Panel,

— Labour Force Survey,

— Community Innovation Survey,

— continuing vocational training survey.

However, on the request of
the national authority which
provided the data, access to data from that national authority
shall not be granted for a specific research project.

2.
Subject to the prior explicit approval of the relevant
national authority, the Community authority may grant access
on its premises to confidential data other than those referred to
in paragraph 1.

Article 6

Release of anonymised microdata

The Community authority may release sets of anony-
1.
mised microdata obtained from the following surveys or statist-
ical data sources:

— European Community Household Panel;

— Labour Force Survey;

— Community Innovation Survey;

— continuing vocational training survey.

the national authority which
However, on the request of
provided the data, release of data from that national authority
shall not be granted for a specific research project.

Prior to such release,

the Community authority shall
2.
ensure in cooperation with the national authorities, that the
methods of anonymisation applied to these microdata sets
minimise in accordance with current best practice the risk of
identification of the statistical units concerned, in accordance
with Regulation (EC) No 322/97.

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Article 7

Bilateral agreements

Article 9

Costs

Each national authority and the Community authority shall
bilaterally agree in writing on the practical arrangements and
conditions referred to in Articles 5 and 6. The bilateral agree-
ments, and any changes to them, shall be reported to the
Committee on Statistical Confidentiality.

The costs related to the access to confidential data in accord-
ance with this Regulation, and in particular, the use of the
Commission facilities, shall be borne by the applicants.
In
determining the costs, the Community authority will ensure
that they do not lead to unfair competition with the national
authorities.

Article 8

Organisation matters

1.
The necessary administrative, technical and organisational
measures shall be taken by the Community authority to ensure
that access to confidential data neither impairs the physical and
logical protection of confidential data nor allows unlawful
disclosure or use outside the purposes for which access had
been granted.

2. Wherever the position of national authorities is required,
technical and organisational measures
shall be taken by
national authorities and the Community authority to ensure
that appropriate cooperation is conducted in an efficient
manner without undue delays and taking into account the
needs of the research project. Every effort shall be made to
ensure that the position of the national authority as required by
Article 5 or Article 6 will be provided not more than six weeks
from the date that the relevant request has been received by the
national authority.

the approval of

Provided that appropriate facilities are in place to protect
3.
the
the confidentiality of data, and that
national
to the
authorities which transmitted the data
Community authority has been granted, access to confidential
data may also be permitted in a secure area on the premises of
a national authority. In such cases, the measures in place to
ensure the physical and logical protection of the data will be
comparable with those in place on the premises of
the
Community authority.

Article 10

Safeguard measures

The Community authority shall ensure that

the data
1.
accessed do not contain information allowing the direct identi-
fication of the statistical units concerned.

The Community authority shall keep a public register

2.
containing all relevant information.

Article 11

Reports

The Commission will report annually to the Committee on
Statistical Confidentiality, on the implementation of this Regu-
lation. The report will contain information such as the names
and addresses of researchers and their institutions, the data
accessed, the costs charged, the description of the research
projects and resulting publications.

Article 12

Entry into force

This Regulation shall enter
into force on the 20th day
following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the
European Communities.

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.

Done at Brussels, 17 May 2002.

For the Commission

Pedro SOLBES MIRA

Member of the Commission