Report from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council on the ex-post evaluation of the community statistical programme 2003-2007 {SEC(2009)14}
Date: 2009-01-13
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: EU statistics, Eurostat, data collection, project evaluation, report, statistics

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COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES 

Brussels, 13.1.2009 
COM(2009) 1 final 

REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND 
THE COUNCIL ON THE EX-POST EVALUATION OF THE COMMUNITY 
STATISTICAL PROGRAMME 2003-2007 

{SEC(2009)14} 

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REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND 
THE COUNCIL ON THE EX-POST EVALUATIION OF THE COMMUNITY 
STATISTICAL PROGRAMME 2003-2007 

1. 

INTRODUCTION 

Decision  No  2367/2002/EC  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  on  the 
Community statistical programme 2003 to 2007 (CSP) was adopted on 16 December 
20021.  The  programme  was  to  be  guided  by  the  principal  Community  policy 
priorities  of  economic  and  monetary  union,  European  Union  enlargement  and 
competitiveness,  sustainable  development  and  the  social  agenda.  It  was  structured 
around the objectives of Eurostat's mission statement, of high-quality statistics for all 
EU-policy  purposes  and  of 
the  efficient  use  of  resources  and  budgetary 
implementation. 

Article 4 of the Decision states: “At the end of the period covered by the programme, 
the Commission, after consulting the Statistical Programme Committee, shall present 
an  appropriate  evaluation  report  on  the  implementation  of  the  programme,  taking 
into account the views of independent experts. The report is to be completed by the 
end  of  2008  and  subsequently  submitted  to  the  European  Parliament  and  the 
Council.”2 

This document constitutes the required evaluation report and addresses the obligation 
enshrined in the Financial Regulation3 and its Implementing Rules4 that programmes 
must  be  subject  to  an  evaluation  in  terms  of  human  and  financial  resources  and 
results  obtained  to  verify  that  they  were  consistent  with  the  objectives  set.  The 
evaluation  of  this  programme  should  also  provide  valuable  input  for  developing 
future five-year statistical programmes and for establishing a monitoring system for 
their follow-up. 

The report is based on the mid-term evaluation prepared by Eurostat in 2006 and on a 
report  provided  by  an  external  evaluation  company  as  required  in  Article  4  of  the 
CSP.  Chapter  2  summarises  the  main  findings  concerning  the  achievements  of  the 
objectives stated in the programme and gives an overview of cross-cutting issues and 
new initiatives not originally covered under the programme. Chapter 3 presents the 
main recommendations for future programme planning and implementation. 

The final report of the external consultants can be found in the annexed Commission 
working document. 

2. 

MAIN ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE PROGRAMME 

This chapter focuses on the achievements accomplished during the programme for all 
statistical  domains  under  the  Titles  of  the  programme  and  the  horizontal  objectives 
listed under the implementation strategies. It also reports on activities and initiatives 

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4 

OJ L 358, 16.12.2002 
OJ L 358, 16.12.2002, p. 2. 
Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1995/2006 of 13 December 2006. 
Commission  Regulation  (EC,  Euratom)  No  478/2007  of  23  April  2007  amending  Regulation  EC, 
Euratom) No 2342/2002 

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that were, in part, not included as explicit objectives in the CSP, on others of a cross-
cutting nature and on the use of human and financial resources. 

SUMMARY 

Based  on  the  detailed  achievements  reported  per  Title5  of  the  programme  below  it 
can  be  stated  that  almost  all  the  objectives  were  accomplished.  Worthwhile 
emphasising is the demonstrated ability of the European Statistical System (ESS) to 
ensure  that  new  and  emerging  policy  needs  were  underpinned  with  additional 
statistical  information  as  was  the  case  for  e.g.  data  needs  in  the  context  of  EU 
enlargement  concerning  the  Member  States  joining  the  EU  in  2004  and  2007 
respectively, energy statistics, environment statistics, asylum and migration statistics, 
statistics  on  foreign  affiliates,  flash  GDP  and  HICP  estimates,  European  sector 
indicators  regarding  social  protection  and  others.  Furthermore,  a 
accounts, 
multiannual  programme  on  the  modernisation  of  European  Enterprise  and  Trade 
statistics  was  prepared.  This  progress  was  possible  also  due  to  intensive  work  on 
issuing new or revising legislation (e.g. especially in the areas of economic, business 
and  social  statistics)  but  even  more  by  developing  and  implementing  new 
methodologies  and  tools.  This  is  particularly  illustrated  by  the  fact  that  the 
considerable  number  of  activities  for  producing  new  statistics  was  almost  equal  to 
those  covering  routine  data  production.  A  relatively  large  number  of  activities 
concentrated on quality assurance and on the development of the ESS illustrating its 
capacity to pursue further advancement and improvements. This focus is confirmed 
by the development and implementation of the Code of Practice, the opening of free 
access to all Eurostat statistical data on its web-site as well as actions linked to better 
priority setting and reducing the response burden. 

ACHIEVEMENTS ON STATISTICAL DOMAINS 

Free  Movement  of  Goods:  New  legislation  for  both  Intrastat  and  Extrastat  was 
developed aimed at increasing thresholds of reporting, more efficient use of existing 
information and aligning statistical and custom systems, thus reducing the burden on 
enterprises. 

Agriculture: Substantial support was provided to Member States to further improve 
indicators on agri-environment and rural development as well as for progress on farm 
registers. New legislation was developed in the area of the farm structure survey with 
the aim of reducing the reporting burden. 

Free  Movement  of  Persons,  Services  and  Capital:  New  legislation  and  the 
corresponding  methodological  manual  were  developed  and  a  first  data  collection 
implemented  in  the  field  of  Statistics  on  Foreign  Affiliates  (“inward  and  outward 
FATS”).  Regarding  the  area  of  information  society  a  framework  regulation  was 
developed  followed  by  annual  data  collections  including  a  fixed  and  a  variable 
section of questions thus making for faster reaction to new data needs. 

Visas,  Asylum,  Immigration  and  other  Policies  related  to  Free  Movement  of 
Persons: A new Regulation on Community statistics on migration and international 
protection  was  adopted  in  2007.  The  content  and  structure  of  data  on  residence 
permits  were  revised  in  this  context  and  intensive  discussions  for  harmonising 
statistical  definitions  and  outputs  as  well  as  metadata  were  held  with  the  Member 
States to ensure better comparability for migration and asylum data. 

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According to the Treaties 

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Transport: Data coverage and quality for all modes of transport were improved and 
efforts  deployed  to  regularly  provide  and  improve  the  quality  of  various  indicators 
such as on road-traffic, intermodal transport and performance. 

Economic  and  Monetary  Policy:  In  national  accounts  the  implementation  of  the 
Regulation on the European System of Accounts (ESA95) was pursued by updating 
the  transmission  programme  and  by  monitoring  compliance.  GDP  flash  estimates 
were  produced  in  accordance  with  the  timetable,  and  annual  and  quarterly  sector 
accounts  were  published  for  the  first  time  in  2006  and  2007  respectively.  The 
validation work on own resources GNI and VAT statistics was pursued. A revision 
of the underlying methodology on national accounts was started in the international 
and European context. The methodological framework related to the excessive deficit 
procedure, and more generally, public finance statistics were further developed and 
integrated  government  finance  statistics  on  a  quarterly  and  annual  basis  were 
disseminated.  Statistics  and  corresponding  metadata  on  Foreign  Direct  Investment, 
International Trade in Services and Balance of Payment (BoP), including quarterly 
data  for  the  latter,  were  disseminated  and  quality  reports  produced.  The  data 
collection  system  for  BoP  statistics  was  revised  taking  changed  data  reporting 
thresholds for banks into account. Furthermore, the drafting of  the  IMF Balance of 
Payments and International Investment Position Manual (BPM6) was supported with 
considerable input. Regarding short term statistics the Regulation was amended and 
the  availability  and  timeliness  of  the  indicators  increased  significantly.  Further 
efforts  were  undertaken  to  set  up  and  improve  the  coverage,  length  of  series  and 
timeliness  for  the  Principle  European  Economic  Indicators.  In  price  statistics 
methodological work and improved strategic guidance have led to further improved 
timeliness  and  quality  of  data  on  the  Harmonised  Index  of  Consumer  Prices.  A 
Regulation on purchasing power parities was adopted in 2007. 

Employment:  Key  elements  of  the  integrated  system  of  earnings  and  labour  costs 
were  set  up,  including  the  quarterly  labour  cost  index  and  the  four-yearly  detailed 
structural  surveys  on  labour  costs  and  earnings.  The  continuous  quarterly  Labour 
Force  Survey  was  implemented  in  all  Member  States,  a  new  regulation  on  job 
vacancy statistics was adopted by the European Commission and the labour market 
policy database was further developed. 

Common  Commercial  Policy:  Several  actions  for  improving  the  quality  of  BoP 
data were initiated and a set of sustainable development indicators related to foreign 
trade  was  updated.  Progress  was  made  on  harmonisation  of  BoP  statistics  with 
national accounts and foreign trade statistics. 

Social  Policy,  Education,  Vocational  Training  and  Youth:  Indicators  on  social 
inclusion  and  social  protection  were  revised  and  most  of  the  corresponding  data 
provided. A Framework Regulation on education and lifelong learning statistics was 
adopted and the vocational training survey implemented with data published in 2007 
and  a  pilot  adult  education  survey  as  well.  The  preparation  of  the  European 
Household  Survey  was  launched,  this  being  an  integrated  programme  of  social 
statistics  aimed  at  rationalising  existing  and  planned  European  social  surveys  and 
responding  to  policy  needs  through  ad-hoc  modules.  A  Framework  Regulation  on 
population and housing censuses was prepared and population projections at national 
and regional levels provided. 

Culture:  A  methodological  report  and  a  pocketbook  were  published  including 
several dimensions of culture statistics. 

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Public Health: A proposal for a Framework Regulation on public health and safety 
at  work  was  adopted  by  the  European  Commission  and  activities  commenced  for 
producing  European  Community  Health  indicators.  A  European  Health  Interview 
survey  was  started  as  well  as  different  modules  such  as  on  health  status  prepared. 
First  datasets  for  a  system  of  health  accounts  were  published  and  the  European 
Statistics on Accidents at Work and European Occupational Diseases statistics were 
improved. 

Consumer  Protection:  Several  publications  on  consumers  in  Europe  were  issued 
and  data  on  food  safety  made  available.  Indicators  to  monitor  food  safety  and 
nutrition policy were defined and data sources evaluated to identify EU relevant data. 

Industry:  Development  focused  on  the  services  sector  and  statistics  related  to 
entrepreneurship.  With  the  recast  of  the  legal  basis  for  structural  business  statistics 
business  demography  and  business  services  were  included,  requirements  of  less 
importance  deleted  and  ad-hoc  modules  and  the  European  sample  approach 
introduced. The new Regulation on the Business Register was adopted and works on 
creating a Community register of multinational enterprise groups commenced. New 
classifications  on  economic  activities  and  products  were  adopted.  Intensive 
negotiations took place to prepare a regulation on energy statistics. Furthermore, the 
recast  of  the  price  transparency  directive  was  undertaken,  reporting  obligations  on 
Combined Heat and Power established and important contributions to the EU annual 
CO2 inventory reporting provided. 

Economic and Social Cohesion: The revision of the territorial classification NUTS 
was  completed  following  the  enlargement  and  an  enhanced  data  collection  for  the 
Urban Audit launched. Data required for the cohesion report were provided. 

Research  and  Technological  Development:  Several  methodological  and  research 
projects  were  completed  or  commenced,  such  as  on  new  methods  for  statistical 
disclosure  control,  guidelines  for  seasonal  adjustment,  methodology  for  the 
integration  of  different  sources  in  the  ESS,  while  some  of  those  used  newly 
established  cooperation  instruments.  Several  surveys  on  Community  innovation, 
career  development  of  doctorate  holder  and  research  and  development  were 
implemented and data access was widened. 

Environment: Data on waste statistics were disseminated for the first time under a 
regulation.  A  monitoring  instrument  for  the  new  Community  policy  on  chemicals 
was  developed  together  with  other  services.  A  complete  review  of  the  list  of 
sustainable  development  indicators  was  finalised.  Several  data  collections  were 
implemented  to  produce  environmental  accounts,  and  corresponding  methodology 
work was performed. 

Development  Cooperation  (and  other  External  Actions):  A  wide  range  of 
technical  advice  and  support  for  the  European  Neighbourhood  countries  was 
provided  via  the  relevant  Commission  services.  For  major  statistical  cooperation 
activities  at  regional  level  in  ACP  countries,  Asia  and  Latin  America  Eurostat 
provided  technical  advice  to  Commission  services  and  participated  in  steering 
committees and other high level statistical meetings. 

Some  of  the  programme's  objectives  were  not  entirely  achieved.  This  concerns 
audiovisual  statistics,  this  being  abandoned  due  to  a  change  in  policy,  culture 
statistics,  where  the  objective  was  not  fully  met  due  to  resource  constraints,  and 

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methodological  support  for  injuries  in  the  home,  responsibility  for  which  was 
transferred to another Commission service. 

ACHIEVEMENTS ON HORIZONTAL OBJECTIVES 

Horizontal  objectives  relate  to  Eurostat  being  at  the  service  of  the  Commission,  of 
the  other  European  Institutions  and  the  wider  user  community,  contributing  to  the 
maintenance  and  development  of  the  European  Statistical  System  (ESS),  boosting 
staff  motivation  and  satisfaction,  improving  the quality of its products and services 
and increasing internal productivity. 

The  objectives  were  accomplished  to  a  large  extent  through  developing  the  IT 
infrastructure,  designing  and 
implementing  a  quality  assurance  framework, 
improving  working  conditions  following  the  results  of  staff  opinion  surveys, 
internal 
launching  a  European  Statistical  Training  Programme,  developing 
information and external dissemination strategies and enhancing the ESS governance 
structure. 

ACHIEVEMENTS ON CROSS-CUTTING ISSUES 

Enlargement 

During  the  programme  period  the  integration  of  the  new  Member  States  into  the 
Community  statistical  mechanisms,  both  in  terms  of  data  collection/dissemination 
and  working  structures,  was  broadly  accomplished.  Technical  assistance  was 
provided in an efficient way to reinforce this integration but also to prepare current 
candidate  countries  for  supporting  the  negotiation  process  with  relevant  statistical 
data and for future accession. 

Reduction of Response Burden 

Various  activities  were  implemented  focusing  on  improved  annual  statistical 
programming,  priority-setting  and  on  the  measurement  of  burden  and  costs  in 
selected statistical fields (transport statistics, short-term statistics, Intrastat, business 
statistics). The results of this work led to the Communication from the Commission 
on  the  reduction  of  the  response  burden,  simplification  and  priority-setting  in  the 
field of Community statistics, published in November 2006. Measurement of burden 
and costs continued by launching an exercise covering all Member States and legal 
acts currently in force and through other initiatives in selected statistical areas (better 
use of existing data, European samples). First results gained in the context of better 
regulation  also  indicate  that  the  administrative  burden  stemming  from  statistical 
reporting is relatively low. 

Development of the ESS 

In  2006  Eurostat  and  the  Member  States  decided  to  launch  a  reflection  exercise 
concerning the functioning of the ESS (the Krakow Action Plan) targeting the legal 
and institutional framework, statistical challenges and ESS resource management and 
programming. High-level task forces were established. The first outcome resulted in 
a  proposal  for  a  revised  European  statistical  law.  Furthermore,  a  new  network 
mechanism  to  channel  knowledge  and  resources  in  the  ESS  was  established,  the 
ESSnets. They encompass project work performed by some Member States, with the 
results being made available for use by all partners in the ESS. 

Implementation of the Code of Practice 

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Ensuring  adequate  practices,  resources  and  capabilities  to  produce  high-quality 
statistics with a view to enhancing the independence, integrity and accountability of 
national  statistical  offices  and  Eurostat  is  the  foundation  on  which  the  European 
Statistics  Code  of  Practice  was  adopted  in  2005.  Comprehensive  self-assessments 
were complemented by peer reviews carried out over the period 2006-2008, the latter 
specifically addressing the institutional environment and dissemination practices and 
the  NSIs  coordination  function  in  the  national  statistical  systems.  Results  from  all 
reviews  were  summarised  in  a  report  from  the  Commission.  The  setting-up  of  a 
European  Statistical  Governance  Advisory  Body  to  oversee  the  implementation  of 
the CoP was completed. 

Quality Management 

A  wide  range  of  activities  was  implemented,  such  as  the  regularly  held  quality 
conferences  and  quality  management  initiatives  throughout  the  ESS,  including 
development  of  the  assessment  checklist  for  statistical  processes  and  outputs 
(DESAP)  and  of  the  handbook  on  data  quality  assessment  methods  and  tools 
(DATQAM), although the monitoring of data quality aspects and the harmonisation 
of  quality  reporting  could  be  further  enhanced.  Support  was  provided  to  Member 
States for their quality initiatives, and the resulting good practices disseminated. 

User Dialogue and Dissemination 

A major achievement was the start of free dissemination of Eurostat's statistical data 
on the website as from 1 October 2004. As a result, a significant increase in access to 
the portal, much greater recognition in the media and complete coverage of metadata 
were observed. The publication programme and the release calendar were improved 
and  different  kinds  of  user  surveys  implemented.  A  cooperation  scheme  for  user 
support in the Member States was developed and user feedback regularly monitored. 
Finally, the European Statistical Advisory Committee (ESAC) was set up to promote 
dialogue with users. 

Infrastructure Development 

A  new  website  was  opened  and  a  revised  reference  database  implemented  for 
improving  access  to  data  and  the  functionalities  of  the  website.  Infrastructure 
development  was  performed  in  such  a  way  that  the  Single  Entry  Point  was 
increasingly used by Member States for their data transmissions, thus increasing their 
efficiency and security. Furthermore, the initiative to develop common standards and 
guidelines  for  electronic  data  exchange  and  metadata  (SDMX)  in  the  international 
context benefited from Eurostat's leading role. 

USE OF HUMAN AND FINANCIAL RESOURCES 

As for human resources, over the period there was a steady increase of about 15%, 
mainly due to the enlargement. Around 82% of the human resources are involved in 
statistical production, the rest being employed for administrative and policy support. 
This  ratio  has  remained  relatively  stable  over  the  years,  with  a  slight  increase  in 
recent  years.  The  total  budget  for  programme  implementation  for  the  period 
amounted to € 220.6 million. 

The  resource  situation  was  in  general  satisfactory  over  the  programme  period 
because  new  statistical  tasks,  such  as  enlargement  and  new  policy  demands,  were 
balanced by productivity gains and limited provision of extra resources. 

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3. 

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THE FUTURE 

The recommendations listed in the ex-post evaluation report on the 1998-2002 CSP 
were taken on board to a large extent in implementation of the CSP dealt with here. 
On  two recommendations  some  work  started  but  was  not completed. They concern 
the recommendation to improve the measurement of Eurostat's performance and the 
recommendation to identify and manage skills and knowledge at ESS level. 

The  following  recommendations  were  drawn  up  by  the  independent  experts  during 
the evaluation of this CSP (more details can be found in the annexed report). 

IMPROVE THE LINK BETWEEN THE CSP AND ANNUAL WORK PROGRAMMES 

The CSP is designed to be a framework programme formulating a strategic vision for 
five  years  and  ensuring,  together  with  the  annual  work  programmes,  the  CSP's 
flexibility and relevance over the entire period. In using the CSP as a reference, the 
annual  work  programmes  should  make  explicit  mention  of  and  be  based  on  the 
respective  CSP.  Key  objectives  included  in  the  CSP  should  be  reflected  in 
corresponding  hierarchical  objectives  in  the  annual  programmes.  This  will  make  it 
possible  to  use  the  full  potential  of  both  kinds  of  programme  and  ensure  better 
monitoring of the strategic objectives. 

IMPROVE THE MONITORING OF CSP IMPLEMENTATION 

A number of monitoring instruments already exist in Eurostat, such as monitoring of 
data  quality,  the  website,  compliance  with  legal  acts,  user  satisfaction  surveys  and 
staff  opinion  surveys.  However,  these  instruments  are  not  part  of  an  integrated 
system yet and, moreover; there is no monitoring of the CSP in terms of objectives. 
Overall  monitoring  of  the  CSP  should  be  implemented  by  defining  a  key  set  of 
indicators that provide sufficient information on the achievement of operational and 
strategic objectives over the programme period. Monitoring activities in place should 
be streamlined and integrated into a system of monitoring. 

BALANCE DEMAND AND RESOURCES 

Eurostat  has  the  task  of  being  the  intermediary  between  the  main  users  at  the 
European level (mainly other Commission services) and NSIs and other providers of 
national  information.  Together  with  those,  many  instruments  were  put  in  place  to 
increase  the  efficiency  of  working  together.  The  demand  for  frequent  and  detailed 
data  expressed  by  users  will  increase  in  the  future  because  of  the  launch  of  new 
policies  and  the  monitoring  needs  for  implementation  and  evaluation  of  ongoing 
policies. However, there is a limit to using further productivity gains in the ESS to 
continuously  fulfil  the  increasing  demand  for  sophisticated  and  complex  data.  This 
situation 
regarding  demand,  combined  with 
modernization  of  production  systems  and  further  harmonisation  of  processes  and 
possibly an increase in (human and financial) resources throughout the ESS. Efforts 
should be deployed to address this ESS-wide challenge by improving priority-setting, 
simplifying  legislation,  evaluating  the  impacts  of  new  demand  beforehand  and 
reviewing resource needs. 

reflection 

strategic 

requires 

FURTHER ENHANCE TRUST AND PARTNERSHIP IN THE ESS 

Trust  and  partnership  between  the  different  stakeholders  is  crucial  for  the  well-
functioning  of  the  ESS.  Eurostat  as  the  intermediary  between  the  NSIs  and  the 
Commission services is faced with sometimes opposing  interests  from the  different 
actors  in  the  system.  Several  bodies  and  institutionalised  instruments  exist  to 

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stimulate dialogue among all actors and thus create trust and foster partnership. This 
trust  and  partnership  form  the  cornerstone  of  the  system  and  Eurostat  should 
continue to reinforce them in the future.  

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