Corrigendum to Commission Decision 2004/452/EC of 29 April 2004 laying down a list of bodies whose researchers may access confidential data for scientific purposes (OJ L 156, 30.4.2004)
Date: 2004-06-07
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: EU statistics, European Central Bank, access to information, confidentiality, scientific profession, statistical method

7.6.2004

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 202/1

CORRIGENDA

Corrigendum to Commission Decision 2004/452/EC of 29 April 2004 laying down a list of bodies whose
researchers may access confidential data for scientific purposes

(Official Journal of the European Union L 156 of 30 April 2004)

Decision 2004/452/EC should read as follows:

COMMISSION DECISION

of 29 April 2004

laying down a list of bodies whose researchers may access confidential data for scientific purposes

(notified under document number C(2004) 1664)

(Text with EEA relevance)

(2004/452/EC)

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

under Community law or under the law of a Member
State.

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Com-
munity,

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

Whereas:

(1)

(2)

(3)

Commission Regulation (EC) No 831/2002 of 17 May
2002 implementing Council Regulation (EC) No 322/97
on Community statistics concerning access to confiden-
tial data for scientific purposes (2) aims at establishing,
for the purpose of enabling statistical conclusions to be
the conditions under
drawn for scientific purposes,
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.

important sources are particularly referred to,
Four
which are the following:
the European Community
Household Panel (ECHP); the Labour Force Survey (LFS);
the Community Innovation Survey (CIS); the continuing
vocational training survey (CVTS).

Access to confidential data may be granted by the Com-
munity authority to researchers of universities and other
higher education organisations established by Com-
munity law or by the law of a Member State or of orga-
nisations or institutions for scientific research established

(1) OJ L 52, 22.2.1997, p. 1.
(2) OJ L 133, 18.5.2002, p. 7.

(4)

(5)

(6)

(7)

agencies, organisations

this
Additionally and according to Article 3(1)(c) of
Regulation, access may also be granted to researchers of
other
and institutions after
having received the opinion of the Committee on statis-
tical confidentiality,
in accordance with the procedure
laid down in Article 20(2) of Regulation (EC) No
322/97.

to an evaluation that

It is therefore necessary to establish a list of such bodies
further
takes into account a
number of conditions such as the primary purpose of
the body, the internal organisational arrangements for
research, the safeguards in place or the arrangements for
dissemination of results of research.

An established record or reputation of
the body of
producing quality research and making it publicly avail-
able is a consideration in favour of granting access. A
secondary consideration is whether the body is well-
established and well-recognised as an authoritative body
in its particular sphere, perhaps with reputable sponsors,
partners or shareholders.

Research in the body is to be in a well-defined unit with
no organisational or management links to policy areas
of the body and the research unit should be seen to be a
separate, self-contained unit headed by a senior manager
with no direct responsibility for policy or implementa-
tion of the body's purpose.

L 202/2

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

7.6.2004

(8)

(9)

(10)

Adequate guarantees from the head of the body are also
necessary covering various aspects such as preventing
the staff of the research unit from passing information
obtained from the data supplied to any staff outside the
unit other than summary and aggregated research results
with the permission of the head of the research unit or
ensuring that it would be a major disciplinary offence
for any staff of the body to ask members of the research
unit for any information concerning individual records
in the dataset provided.

Physical security of the premises of the body and its
computer systems have to be outlined; descriptions of
the safekeeping of the data in computer systems should
be given, including details of how authorised access is
made and unauthorised access is prevented and how the
systems are protected from unauthorised access from
outside the body; safekeeping of documents, including
paper documents, containing information from the
dataset should also be described.

The reason for access being scientific purposes,
it
implies that results will be made freely and quickly avail-
able to the scientific community. Use of the datasets for
purely internal reports or purposes would appear to be
contrary to the objective of Regulation (EC) No
831/2002. The policy of the body on dissemination of
research from its research unit has to be an open policy
with publication in the relevant
scientific literature
encouraged and making results from research freely
available on the body's website or other appropriate
website.

(11)

The European Central Bank (ECB) has to be regarded as
a body fulfilling the conditions mentioned above and
therefore is added to the list of agencies, organisations

(12)

(13)

(14)

and institutions referred to in Article 3(1)(c) of Regu-
lation (EC) No 831/2002.

This list will be updated as more agencies, organisations
and institutions have to be regarded as admissible
bodies.

It remains that specific access requests submitted by
to be processed
subsequently
those bodies have
according to the rules and procedures laid down by
Regulation (EC) No 831/2002.

The measures provided for in this Decision are in
accordance with the opinion of the Committee on Statis-
tical Confidentiality,

HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION:

Article 1

The list of bodies whose researchers may access confidential
data for scientific purposes, as referred to in Article 3(1)(c) of
Regulation (EC) No 831/2002, is attached in the Annex.

This Decision is addressed to the Member States.

Article 2

Done at Brussels, 29 April 2004.

For the Commission

Pedro SOLBES MIRA

Member of the Commission

7.6.2004

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Official Journal of the European Union

L 202/3

BODIES WHOSE RESEARCHERS MAY ACCESS CONFIDENTIAL DATA FOR SCIENTIFIC PURPOSES

ANNEX

European Central Bank