Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 March 2009 on European statistics and repealing Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1101/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the transmission of data subject to statistical confidentiality to the Statistical Office of the European Communities, Council Regulation (EC) No 322/97 on Community Statistics, and Council Decision 89/382/EEC, Euratom establishing a Committee on the Statistical Programmes of the European Communities (Text with relevance for the EEA and for Switzerland)
Date: 2009-03-11
Institutions: Council of the European Union, European Parliament
Subjects: Eurostat, Switzerland, codification of EU law, confidentiality, data protection, professional secret

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REGULATION (EC) No 223/2009 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL

of 11 March 2009

on European statistics and repealing Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1101/2008 of the European
Parliament and of the Council on the transmission of data subject to statistical confidentiality to the
Statistical Office of the European Communities, Council Regulation (EC) No 322/97 on Community
Statistics, and Council Decision 89/382/EEC, Euratom establishing a Committee on the Statistical
Programmes of the European Communities

(Text with relevance for the EEA and for Switzerland)

THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE
EUROPEAN UNION,

(4)

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Commu-
nity, and in particular Article 285(1) thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,

Having regard to the opinion of the European Central Bank (1),

Having regard to the opinion of the European Data Protection
Supervisor (2),

Acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 251
of the Treaty (3),

Whereas:

(1)

(2)

(3)

To ensure the coherence and comparability of European
statistics produced in accordance with the principles laid
down in Article 285(2) of the Treaty, cooperation and
coordination should be reinforced between the authorities
that contribute to the development, production and
dissemination of European statistics.

To that effect, the cooperation and coordination of those
authorities should be developed in a more systematic and
organised manner with full respect to the national and
Community powers and institutional arrangements and
taking into account the need to revise the existing basic
legal framework in order to adapt it to the current reality, to
better respond to future challenges, and to ensure a better
harmonisation of European statistics.

It is therefore necessary to consolidate the activities of the
European Statistical System (ESS) and to improve its
governance, in particular with a view to further clarifying
the respective roles of
institutes
(NSIs) and other national authorities, and of the Commu-
nity statistical authority.

the national statistical

Because of the specificity of the NSIs and the other national
authorities responsible in each Member State for develop-
ing, producing and disseminating European statistics, they
should be able to receive grants without a call for proposals
in accordance with Article 168(1)(d) of Commission
Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 2342/2002 of 23 December
2002 laying down detailed rules for the implementation of
Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1605/2002 on the
Financial Regulation applicable to the general budget of the
European Communities (4).

(5)

(6)

(7)

Taking into account the financial burden-sharing between
the budgets of the European Union and the Member States
relating to the implementation of the statistical programme,
the Community should also, in accordance with Council
Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1605/2002 of 25 June 2002
on the Financial Regulation applicable to the general budget
of the European Communities (5), make financial contribu-
tions to the NSIs and other national authorities in order to
cover fully the incremental costs that the NSIs and other
national authorities may incur in the execution of the
temporary direct statistical actions decided by the Commis-
sion.

the Member States of

The statistical authorities of
the
European Free Trade Association party to the Agreement
on the European Economic Area (6) and of Switzerland
should, as provided respectively for in the Agreement on
the European Economic Area,
in particular Article 76
thereof and Protocol 30 to that Agreement, and in the
Agreement between the European Community and the
Swiss Confederation on cooperation in the field of
statistics (7),
in particular Article 2 thereof, be closely
associated with the reinforced cooperation and coordina-
tion.

Furthermore, it is important to ensure close cooperation
and appropriate coordination between the ESS and the
European System of Central Banks (ESCB), notably to foster
the exchange of confidential data between the two systems
for statistical purposes, in the light of Article 285 of the
Treaty and of Article 5 of the Protocol (No 18) on the
Statute of the European System of Central Banks and the
European Central Bank annexed to the Treaty.

(1) OJ C 291, 5.12.2007, p. 1.
(2) OJ C 308, 3.12.2008, p. 1.
(3) Opinion of the European Parliament of 19 November 2008 (not yet
Journal) and Council Decision of

published in the Official
19 February 2009.

(4) OJ L 357, 31.12.2002, p. 1.
(5) OJ L 248, 16.9.2002, p. 1.
(6) OJ L 1, 3.1.1994, p. 3.
(7) OJ L 90, 28.3.2006, p. 2.

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(8)

legal

frameworks

European statistics will thus be developed, produced and
disseminated by both the ESS and the ESCB but under
separate
respective
governance structures. This Regulation should therefore
apply without prejudice to Council Regulation (EC)
No 2533/98 of 23 November 1998 concerning the
collection of statistical information by the European Central
Bank (1).

reflecting their

to this Regulation,

(9) Consequently, and although the members of the ESCB do
not participate in the production of European statistics
pursuant
following an agreement
between a national central bank and the Community
respective spheres of
statistical authority, within their
competence and without prejudice to national arrange-
ments between the national central bank and the NSI or
other national authorities, data produced by the national
central bank may, however, be used, directly or indirectly,
by NSIs, other national authorities and the Community
statistical authority,
the production of European
statistics. Similarly, the members of the ESCB may, within
their respective spheres of competence, use, directly or
indirectly, data produced by the ESS, as long as the necessity
has been justified.

for

(15) While European statistics are usually based on national data
produced and disseminated by the national statistical
authorities of all Member States, they may also be produced
from non-published national contributions, subsets of
national contributions,
specifically designed European
statistical surveys or harmonised concepts or methods.

(16)

In those specific cases, and where duly justified, it should be
possible to implement a European approach to statistics,
which consists of a pragmatic strategy to facilitate the
compilation of European statistical aggregates, representing
the European Union as a whole or the euro area as a whole,
which are of particular importance for Community policies.

(17)

structures,

tools and processes

could also be
Joint
further developed through collaborative
established or
networks, involving the NSIs or other national authorities
and the Community statistical authority and facilitating
specialisation by certain Member States in specific statistical
activities for the benefit of the ESS as a whole. These
collaborative networks between partners of the ESS should
aim to avoid duplication of work and therefore increase
efficiency and reduce the response burden on economic
operators.

(10)

the Committee on monetary,

In the general context of the relations between the ESS and
the ESCB,
financial and
balance of payments statistics established by Council
Decision 2006/856/EC (2) plays an important role,
in
particular through the assistance provided to the Commis-
sion in drawing up and implementing work programmes
concerning monetary, financial and balance of payments
statistics.

(11)

International recommendations and best practices should
be taken into account in the development, production and
dissemination of European statistics.

(12)

It is important to ensure close cooperation and appropriate
coordination between the ESS and other actors in the
international statistical system in order to promote the use
of international concepts, classifications and methods, in
particular with a view to ensuring more coherence and
better comparability between statistics at a global level.

(13)

In order to align concepts and methodologies in statistics,
an adequate interdisciplinary cooperation with academic
institutions should be developed.

(14) The operation of the ESS also needs to be reviewed as more
flexible development, production and dissemination meth-
ods of European statistics and clear priority-setting are
required in order to reduce the burden on respondents and
members of
the ESS and improve the availability and
timeliness of European statistics. A European approach to
statistics should be designed to this end.

(1) OJ L 318, 27.11.1998, p. 8.
(2) OJ L 332, 30.11.2006, p. 21.

(18) At the same time, particular attention should be paid to
coherent treatment of data collected from a variety of
interdisciplinary working groups
surveys. To this end,
should be established.

(19) The

improved regulatory environment

for European
statistics should,
in particular, respond to the need to
minimise the response burden on survey respondents and
contribute to the more general objective of a reduction of
in line
administrative burdens arising at European level,
with the Presidency Conclusions of the European Council
of 8 and 9 March 2007. The important role played by the
NSIs and other national authorities in minimising burdens
on European businesses at national level should, however,
also be emphasised.

(20)

In order to enhance trust in European statistics, the national
statistical authorities should in each Member State, as
should the Community statistical authority within the
Commission, enjoy professional independence and ensure
impartiality and high quality in the production of European
statistics, in accordance with the principles laid down in
Article 285(2) of the Treaty as well as the principles further
elaborated in the European statistics Code of Practice
endorsed by the Commission in its Recommendation of
25 May 2005 on the
integrity and
accountability of the national and Community statistical
authorities (incorporating the European statistics Code of
Practice). The Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics
adopted by the United Nations Economic Commission for
Europe on 15 April 1992 and by the United Nations
Statistical Commission on 14 April 1994 should also be
taken into account.

independence,

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(21) This Regulation ensures the right to respect for private and
family life and to the protection of personal data, as set out
in Articles 7 and 8 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of
the European Union (1).

the European Parliament and of the Council of 6 September
2006 on the application of the provisions of the Aarhus
Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation
in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental
Matters to Community institutions and bodies (5).

(22) This Regulation also ensures the protection of individuals as
regards the processing of personal data and specifies, as far
as European statistics are concerned, the rules laid down in
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 in
Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 of the European Parliament
and of the Council of 18 December 2000 on the protection
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).

(23) The confidential

information which the national and
Community statistical authorities collect for the production
of European statistics should be protected, in order to gain
and maintain the confidence of the parties responsible for
information. The confidentiality of data
providing that
should satisfy the same principles in all the Member States.

(24) For that purpose,

it is necessary to establish common
principles and guidelines ensuring the confidentiality of
data used for the production of European statistics and the
access to those confidential data with due account for
technical developments and the requirements of users in a
democratic society.

(25) The availability of confidential data for the needs of the ESS
is of particular importance in order to maximise the
benefits of the data with the aim of increasing the quality of
European statistics and to ensure a flexible response to the
newly emerging Community statistical needs.

(26) The research community should enjoy wider access to
confidential data used for the development, production and
dissemination of European statistics, for analysis in the
interest of
to
confidential data by researchers for scientific purposes
should therefore be improved without compromising the
high level of protection that confidential statistical data
require.

in Europe. Access

scientific progress

(27) The use of confidential data for purposes that are not
exclusively statistical, such as administrative, legal or tax
purposes, or for the verification against the statistical units
should be strictly prohibited.

(28) This Regulation should apply without prejudice to Directive
2003/4/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council
of 28 January 2003 on public access to environmental
information (4) and to Regulation (EC) No 1367/2006 of

(1) OJ C 364, 18.12.2000, p. 1.
(2) OJ L 281, 23.11.1995, p. 31.
(3) OJ L 8, 12.1.2001, p. 1.
(4) OJ L 41, 14.2.2003, p. 26.

(29) Since the objective of this Regulation, namely the establish-
ment of a legal framework for the development, production
and dissemination of European statistics, cannot be
sufficiently achieved by the Member States and can
therefore be better achieved at Community level,
the
Community may adopt measures, in accordance with the
principle of subsidiarity as set out in Article 5 of the Treaty.
In accordance with the principle of proportionality, as set
out in that Article, this Regulation does not go beyond
what is necessary in order to achieve that objective, and is
therefore without prejudice to national modalities, roles,
and conditions specific to national statistics.

(30) The measures necessary for the implementation of this
Regulation should be adopted in accordance with Council
Decision 1999/468/EC of 28 June 1999 laying down the
procedures
implementing powers
the exercise of
conferred on the Commission (6).

for

(31)

In particular, the Commission should be empowered to
adopt measures concerning the quality criteria for European
statistics and to establish the modalities,
rules and
conditions under which access can be given to confidential
data for scientific purposes at Community level. Since those
measures are of general scope and are designed to amend
non-essential elements of this Regulation by supplementing
it with new non-essential elements, they must be adopted in
accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny
provided for in Article 5a of Decision 1999/468/EC.

(32) The measures set out in this Regulation should replace
those in Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1101/2008 of the
the Council (7), Council
European Parliament and of
Regulation (EC) No 322/97 (8) and Council Decision 89/
382/EEC, Euratom (9). Those acts should therefore be
repealed. The implementing measures set out in Commis-
sion 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 (10) and Commission Decision
2004/452/EC of 29 April 2004 laying down a list of bodies
whose researchers may access confidential data for scientific
purposes (11) should continue to apply.

(33) The Statistical Programme Committee has been consulted,

(5) OJ L 264, 25.9.2006, p. 13.
(6) OJ L 184, 17.7.1999, p. 23.
(7) OJ L 304, 14.11.2008, p. 70.
(8) OJ L 52, 22.2.1997, p. 1.
(9) OJ L 181, 28.6.1989, p. 47.
(10) OJ L 133, 18.5.2002, p. 7.
(11) OJ L 156, 30.4.2004, p. 1; corrected by OJ L 202, 7.6.2004, p. 1.

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HAVE ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

CHAPTER I

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1

Subject matter and scope

This Regulation establishes a legal framework for the develop-
ment, production and dissemination of European statistics.

In compliance with the principle of
subsidiarity and in
accordance with the independence, integrity and accountability
of
the national and the Community authorities, European
statistics are relevant statistics necessary for the performance of
the activities of
the Community. European statistics are
determined in the European statistical programme. They shall
be developed, produced and disseminated in conformity with the
statistical principles as set out in Article 285(2) of the Treaty and
further elaborated in the European statistics Code of Practice in
accordance with Article 11. They shall be implemented in
accordance with this Regulation.

Article 2

Statistical principles

1. The development, production and dissemination of Eu-
ropean statistics shall be governed by the following statistical
principles:

(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)

‘professional independence’, meaning that statistics must be
developed, produced and disseminated in an independent
manner, particularly as regards the selection of techniques,
definitions, methodologies and sources to be used, and the
timing and content of all forms of dissemination, free from
any pressures from political or interest groups or from
Community or national authorities, without prejudice to
institutional settings, such as Community or national
institutional or budgetary provisions or definitions of
statistical needs;

‘impartiality’, meaning that statistics must be developed,
produced and disseminated in a neutral manner, and that all
users must be given equal treatment;

‘objectivity’, meaning that statistics must be developed,
produced and disseminated in a systematic, reliable and
unbiased manner; it implies the use of professional and
ethical standards, and that
the policies and practices
followed are transparent to users and survey respondents;

‘reliability’, meaning that
statistics must measure as
faithfully, accurately and consistently as possible the reality
that
they are designed to represent and implying that
scientific criteria are used for the selection of sources,
methods and procedures;

(e)

(f)

confidentiality’, meaning the protection of
‘statistical
confidential data related to single statistical units which
are obtained directly for statistical purposes or indirectly
from administrative or other sources and implying the
prohibition of use for non-statistical purposes of the data
obtained and of their unlawful disclosure;

‘cost effectiveness’, meaning that the costs of producing
statistics must be in proportion to the importance of the
results and the benefits sought, that resources must be
optimally used and the response burden minimised. The
information requested shall, where possible, be readily
extractable from available records or sources.

The statistical principles set out in this paragraph are further
elaborated in the Code of Practice in accordance with Article 11.

2. The development, production and dissemination of Euro-
pean statistics shall take into account international recommen-
dations and best practice.

Article 3

Definitions

For the purposes of this Regulation, the following definitions
shall apply:

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

‘statistics’ means quantitative and qualitative, aggregated
and representative information characterising a collective
phenomenon in a considered population;

‘development’ means the activities aiming at setting up,
strengthening and improving the statistical methods,
standards and procedures used for the production and
dissemination of statistics as well as at designing new
statistics and indicators;

‘production’ means all the activities related to the collection,
storage, processing, and analysis necessary for compiling
statistics;

‘dissemination’ means the activity of making statistics and
statistical analysis accessible to users;

‘data collection’ means surveys and all other methods of
deriving information from different sources,
including
administrative sources;

‘statistical unit’ means the basic observation unit, namely a
natural person, a household, an economic operator and
other undertakings, referred to by the data;

‘confidential data’ means data which allow statistical units
to be identified, either directly or
thereby
disclosing individual information. To determine whether a
statistical unit is identifiable, account shall be taken of all
relevant means that might reasonably be used by a third
party to identify the statistical unit;

indirectly,

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8.

9.

‘use for statistical purposes’ means the exclusive use for the
development and production of statistical
results and
analyses;

without a call for proposals, in accordance with Article 168(1)(d)
of Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 2342/2002.

‘direct identification’ means the identification of a statistical
unit from its name or address, or from a publicly accessible
identification number;

Article 6

Commission (Eurostat)

10.

identification’ means

the identification of a
‘indirect
statistical unit by any other means than by way of direct
identification;

1. The Community statistical authority, as designated by the
Commission to develop, produce and disseminate European
statistics, shall be referred to as ‘the Commission (Eurostat)’ in
this Regulation.

11.

12.

‘officials of the Commission (Eurostat)’ means the officials
of the Communities, within the meaning of Article 1 of the
Staff Regulations of Officials of the European Communities,
working at the Community statistical authority;

the Commission (Eurostat)’ means the
‘other staff of
servants of
the Communities, within the meaning of
Articles 2 to 5 of the Conditions of Employment of Other
Servants of the European Communities, working at the
Community statistical authority.

CHAPTER II

STATISTICAL GOVERNANCE

Article 4

The European Statistical System

2. At Community level, the Commission (Eurostat) shall ensure
the production of European statistics according to established
rules and statistical principles. In this respect, it shall have the
sole responsibility for deciding on processes, statistical methods,
standards and procedures, and on the content and timing of
statistical releases.

the Community,

the Commission (Eurostat)

3. Without prejudice to Article 5 of the Protocol on the Statute
the European System of Central Banks (ESCB) and the
of
European Central Bank,
shall
coordinate the statistical activities of the institutions and bodies
of
in particular with a view to ensuring
consistency and quality of the data and minimising reporting
burden. To that end, the Commission (Eurostat) may invite any
institution or body of the Community to consult or cooperate
with it for the purpose of developing methods and systems for
statistical purposes in their respective field of competence. Any
those institutions or bodies which propose to produce
of
statistics shall consult the Commission (Eurostat) and take into
account any recommendation that it may make to this effect.

The European Statistical System (ESS) is the partnership between
the Community statistical authority, which is the Commission
(Eurostat), and the national statistical institutes (NSIs) and other
national authorities responsible in each Member State for the
development, production and dissemination of European
statistics.

Article 5

National statistical institutes and other national authorities

1. The national statistical authority designated by each Member
State as the body having the responsibility for coordinating all
activities at national level for the development, production and
dissemination of European statistics (the NSI) shall act as the
contact point
the Commission (Eurostat) on statistical
matters. The Member States shall take the necessary measures
to ensure the application of this provision.

for

2. The Commission (Eurostat) shall maintain and publish on its
website a list of NSIs and other national authorities responsible
for the development, production and dissemination of European
statistics as designated by Member States.

3. The NSIs and the other national authorities included in the
list referred to in paragraph 2 of this Article may receive grants

Article 7

European Statistical System Committee

1. The European Statistical System Committee (ESS Commit-
tee) is hereby established. It shall provide professional guidance
to the ESS for developing, producing and disseminating
European statistics in line with the statistical principles set out
in Article 2(1).

2. The ESS Committee shall be composed of the representa-
tives of the NSIs who are national specialists for statistics. It shall
be chaired by the Commission (Eurostat).

3. The ESS Committee shall adopt its rules of procedure, which
shall reflect its tasks.

4. The ESS Committee shall be consulted by the Commission
in regard to:

(a)

the measures which the Commission intends to take for the
development, production and dissemination of European
statistics, their justification on a cost-effectiveness basis, the
means and timetables for achieving them, the response
burden on survey respondents;

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(b)

proposed developments and priorities in the European
statistical programme;

(c)

initiatives to bring into practice the reprioritisation and
reduction of the response burden;

(d)

issues concerning statistical confidentiality;

Article 12

Statistical quality

1. To guarantee the quality of results, European statistics shall
be developed, produced and disseminated on the basis of
uniform standards and of harmonised methods. In this respect,
the following quality criteria shall apply:

(e)

the further development of the Code of Practice; and

(a)

‘relevance’, which refers to the degree to which statistics
meet current and potential needs of the users;

(f)

any other question, in particular issues of methodology,
implementation of
arising from the establishment or
statistical programmes that are raised by its Chair, either
on its own initiative or at the request of a Member State.

Article 8

Cooperation with other bodies

The European Statistical Advisory Committee and the European
Statistical Governance Advisory Board shall be consulted in
accordance with their respective competence.

Article 9

Cooperation with the ESCB

To minimise the reporting burden and guarantee the coherence
necessary to produce European statistics, the ESS and the ESCB
shall cooperate closely, while complying with the statistical
principles as set out in Article 2(1).

(b)

‘accuracy’, which refers to the closeness of estimates to the
unknown true values;

(c)

(d)

(e)

(f)

to the period between the
‘timeliness’, which refers
availability of the information and the event or phenom-
enon it describes;

‘punctuality’, which refers to the delay between the date of
the release of the data and the target date (the date by which
the data should have been delivered);

‘accessibility’ and ‘clarity’, which refer to the conditions and
modalities by which users can obtain, use and interpret
data;

‘comparability’, which refers to the measurement of the
impact of differences
in applied statistical concepts,
measurement
tools and procedures where statistics are
compared between geographical areas, sectoral domains or
over time;

Article 10

International cooperation

(g)

‘coherence’, which refers to the adequacy of the data to be
reliably combined in different ways and for various uses.

Without prejudice to the position and the role of individual
Member States, the position of the ESS as regards issues of
particular relevance to European statistics at international level as
well as the specific arrangements for representation in the
international statistical bodies shall be prepared by the ESS
Committee and coordinated by the Commission (Eurostat).

2.
In applying the quality criteria laid down in paragraph 1 of
this Article to the data covered by sectoral legislation in specific
statistical domains, the modalities, structure and periodicity of
quality reports provided for in sectoral
legislation shall be
defined by the Commission in accordance with the regulatory
procedure referred to in Article 27(2).

Article 11

European statistics Code of Practice

1. The Code of Practice shall aim at ensuring public trust in
European statistics by establishing how European statistics are to
be developed, produced and disseminated in conformity with the
in Article 2(1) and best
statistical principles as
international statistical practice.

set out

legislation. Where sectoral

Specific quality requirements, such as target values and minimum
standards for the statistical production, may be laid down in
sectoral
legislation does not so
provide, measures may be adopted by the Commission. Those
measures, designed to amend non-essential elements of this
Regulation by supplementing it, shall be adopted in accordance
with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny referred to in
Article 27(3).

2. The Code of Practice shall be reviewed and updated as
necessary by the ESS Committee. The Commission shall publish
amendments thereto.

3. Member States shall provide the Commission (Eurostat) with
reports on the quality of the data transmitted. The Commission
(Eurostat) shall assess the quality of data transmitted and shall
prepare and publish reports on the quality of European statistics.

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CHAPTER III

PRODUCTION OF EUROPEAN STATISTICS

Article 13

European statistical programme

1. The European statistical programme shall provide the
framework for the development, production and dissemination
of European statistics, the main fields and the objectives of the
actions envisaged for a period not exceeding five years. It shall be
decided upon by the European Parliament and the Council. Its
involving
impact and cost effectiveness
independent experts.

shall be assessed,

the activities of

2. The European statistical programme shall lay down priorities
concerning the needs for information for the purpose of carrying
the Community. Those needs shall be
out
weighed against
the resources needed at Community and
national level to provide the required statistics, and also against
the response burden and the respondent's associated costs.

3. The Commission shall introduce initiatives to set priorities
and reduce the response burden for all or part of the European
statistical programme.

4. The Commission shall submit the draft European statistical
programme to the ESS Committee for prior examination.

5.
For each European statistical programme, the Commission
shall, after consulting the ESS Committee, present an inter-
mediate progress report and a final evaluation report and shall
submit them to the European Parliament and to the Council.

Article 14

Implementation of the European statistical programme

1. The European statistical programme shall be implemented
by individual statistical actions which shall be decided:

(a)

by the European Parliament and the Council;

(b)

(c)

the data are already available or accessible within the NSIs
and other national authorities responsible, or can be
obtained directly, using the appropriate samples for the
observation of the statistical population at European level
with the adequate coordination with the NSIs and other
national authorities; and

the Community shall, in accordance with Regulation (EC,
Euratom) No 1605/2002 make financial contributions to
the
the NSIs and other national authorities to cover
incremental costs incurred by them.

3.
In putting forward an action to be decided under
paragraph 1(a) or (b), the Commission shall provide information
on:

(a)

the reasons justifying the action, notably in the light of the
aims of the Community policy concerned;

(b)

the objectives for the action and the expected results;

(c)

(d)

a cost-effectiveness analysis, including an assessment of the
burden on respondents and of the production costs; and

the ways in which the action is to be carried out, including
its duration and the role of
the Commission and the
Member States.

Article 15

Collaborative networks

In the individual statistical actions, synergies shall be developed,
when possible, within the ESS through collaborative networks,
by the sharing of expertise and results or by fostering
specialisation on specific tasks. To this end, an adequate financial
structure shall be developed.

The outcome of those actions, such as joint structures, tools,
processes and methods shall be made available throughout the
ESS. The initiatives for the creation of collaborative networks as
well as the outcomes shall be examined by the ESS Committee.

(b)

(c)

by the Commission, in specific and duly justified cases, in
particular to meet unexpected needs, in accordance with
the provisions in paragraph 2; or

Article 16

European approach to statistics

by means of agreement between the NSIs or other national
authorities and the Commission (Eurostat), within their
respective spheres of competence. Such agreements shall be
in writing.

In specific and duly justified cases and within the framework
1.
of the European statistical programme, the European approach
to statistics aims at:

2. The Commission may decide on a temporary direct
statistical action in accordance with the regulatory procedure
referred to in Article 27(2) provided that:

(a) maximising the availability of statistical aggregates at
European level and improving the timeliness of European
statistics;

(a)

the action does not provide for data collection covering
more than three reference years;

(b)

reducing the burden on the respondents, the NSIs and other
national authorities based on a cost-effectiveness analysis.

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2. The cases where the European approach to statistics is
relevant include:

CHAPTER IV

DISSEMINATION OF EUROPEAN STATISTICS

(a)

the production of European statistics by use of:

(i)

non-published national contributions or national
contributions from a subset of Member States;

(ii)

specifically designed survey schemes;

(iii) partial information by modelling techniques;

(b)

the dissemination of statistical aggregates at European level
by applying specific statistical disclosure control techniques
without national dissemination provisions being impaired.

Article 18

Dissemination measures

1. The dissemination of European statistics shall be undertaken
in full compliance with the statistical principles, as set out in
Article 2(1), particularly in respect of protecting statistical
confidentiality and ensuring equality of access as required under
the principle of impartiality.

2. The dissemination of European statistics shall be carried out
by the Commission (Eurostat), the NSIs and other national
authorities, within their respective spheres of competence.

3. Member States and the Commission, within their respective
spheres of competence, shall provide the necessary support to
ensure equality of access to European statistics for all users.

3. Measures to implement the European approach to statistics
shall be carried out with the full involvement of Member States.
The measures for the implementation of the European approach
to statistics shall be laid down in the individual statistical actions
referred to in Article 14(1).

Article 19

Public use files

If necessary, a coordinated release and revision policy shall

4.
be established in cooperation with Member States.

Data on individual statistical units may be disseminated in the
form of a public use file consisting of anonymised records which
have been prepared in such a way that the statistical unit cannot
be identified, either directly or indirectly, when account is taken
of all relevant means that might reasonably be used by a third
party.

Article 17

Annual work programme

If the data have been transmitted to the Commission (Eurostat)
the explicit approval of the NSI or other national authority which
provided the data is required.

Each year, before the end of May, the Commission shall submit to
the ESS Committee its work programme for the following year.
The Commission shall take the utmost account of the comments
of the ESS Committee. That work programme shall be based on
the European statistical programme and shall
in
particular:

indicate,

(a)

the actions which the Commission considers to have
priority, bearing in mind Community policy needs and
both national and Community financial constraints as well
as the response burden;

(b)

initiatives
reduction of the response burden; and

regarding the review of priorities and the

(c)

the procedures and any legal instruments envisaged by the
Commission for implementation of the programme.

CHAPTER V

STATISTICAL CONFIDENTIALITY

Article 20

Protection of confidential data

1. The following rules and measures shall apply to ensure that
confidential data are exclusively used for statistical purposes and
to prevent their unlawful disclosure.

2. Confidential data obtained exclusively for the production of
European statistics shall be used by the NSIs and other national
authorities and by the Commission (Eurostat) exclusively for
statistical purposes unless the statistical unit has unambiguously
given its consent to the use for any other purposes.

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Statistical results which may make it possible to identify a
3.
statistical unit may be disseminated by the NSIs and other
national authorities and the Commission (Eurostat)
in the
following exceptional cases:

(a) where specific conditions and modalities are determined by
an act of the European Parliament and of the Council acting
in accordance with Article 251 of the Treaty and the
statistical results are amended in such a way that their
dissemination does not prejudice statistical confidentiality
whenever the statistical unit has so requested; or

(b) where the statistical unit has unambiguously agreed to the

disclosure of data.

4. Within their respective spheres of competence, the NSIs and
other national authorities and the Commission (Eurostat) shall
take all necessary regulatory, administrative,
technical and
organisational measures to ensure the physical and logical
protection of confidential data (statistical disclosure control).

The NSIs and other national authorities and the Commission
(Eurostat) shall
take all necessary measures to ensure the
harmonisation of principles and guidelines as regards the
physical and logical protection of confidential data. Those
measures shall be adopted by the Commission in accordance
with the regulatory procedure referred to in Article 27(2).

5. Officials and other staff of the NSIs and other national
authorities having access to confidential data shall be subject to
compliance with such confidentiality, even after cessation of their
functions.

Article 21

Transmission of confidential data

1. Transmission of confidential data from an ESS authority, as
referred to in Article 4, that collected the data to another ESS
authority may take place provided that this transmission is
necessary for
efficient development, production and
dissemination of European statistics or for increasing the quality
of European statistics.

the

2. Transmission of confidential data between an ESS authority
that collected the data and an ESCB member may take place
provided that this transmission is necessary for the efficient
development, production and dissemination of European
statistics or for increasing the quality of European statistics,
within the respective spheres of competence of the ESS and the
ESCB, and that this necessity has been justified.

3. Any further transmission beyond the first transmission shall
require the explicit authorisation of the authority that collected
the data.

4. National rules on statistical confidentiality shall not be
invoked to prevent the transmission of confidential data under
paragraphs 1 and 2 where an act of the European Parliament and

of the Council acting in accordance with Article 251 of the
Treaty provides for the transmission of such data.

5. Confidential data transmitted in accordance with this Article
shall be used exclusively for statistical purposes and only
accessible to staff working in statistical activities within their
specific domain of work.

6. The provisions on statistical confidentiality provided for in
this Regulation shall apply to all confidential data transmitted
within the ESS and between the ESS and the ESCB.

Article 22

Protection of confidential data in the Commission
(Eurostat)

1. Confidential data shall be accessible,
to the
exceptions laid down in paragraph 2, only to officials of the
Commission (Eurostat) within their specific domain of work.

subject

2. The Commission (Eurostat) may in exceptional cases grant
access to confidential data to its other staff and to other natural
persons working for the Commission (Eurostat) under contract
within their specific domain of work.

3.
Persons having access to confidential data shall use these
data exclusively for statistical purposes. They shall be subject to
this restriction even after cessation of their functions.

Article 23

Access to confidential data for scientific purposes

indirect
Access to confidential data which only allow for
identification of
the statistical units may be granted to
researchers carrying out statistical analyses for scientific purposes
by the Commission (Eurostat) or by the NSIs or other national
authorities, within their respective spheres of competence. If the
data have been transmitted to the Commission (Eurostat) the
approval of the NSI or other national authority which provided
the data is required.

The modalities, rules and conditions for access at Community
level shall be established by the Commission. Those measures,
designed to amend non-essential elements of this Regulation by
supplementing it, shall be adopted in accordance with the
regulatory procedure with scrutiny referred to in Article 27(3).

Article 24

Access to administrative records

In order to reduce the burden on respondents, the NSIs and
other national authorities and the Commission (Eurostat) shall
have access to administrative data sources, from within their
respective public administrative system, to the extent that these
the development, production and
data are necessary for
dissemination of European statistics.

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The practical arrangements and the conditions for achieving
effective access shall be determined where necessary by each
Member State and the Commission, within their respective
spheres of competence.

3. Where reference is made to this paragraph, Article 5a(1) to
(4) and Article 7 of Decision 1999/468/EC shall apply, having
regard to the provisions of Article 8 thereof.

Article 25

Data from public sources

Article 28

Repeal

Data obtained from sources lawfully available to the public and
which remain available to the public according to national
legislation shall not be considered confidential for the purpose of
dissemination of statistics obtained from those data.

Article 26

Violation of statistical confidentiality

Member States and the Commission shall
take appropriate
measures to prevent and sanction any violations of statistical
confidentiality.

CHAPTER VI

FINAL PROVISIONS

Article 27

Committee

1. Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1101/2008 is hereby repealed.

References to the repealed Regulation shall be construed as
references to this Regulation.

References
to the Committee on Statistical Confidentiality
established under the repealed Regulation shall be construed as
references to the ESS Committee established by Article 7 of this
Regulation.

2. Regulation (EC) No 322/97 is hereby repealed.

References to the repealed Regulation shall be construed as
references to this Regulation.

3. Decision 89/382/EEC, Euratom is hereby repealed.

References to the Statistical Programme Committee shall be
construed as references to the ESS Committee established by
Article 7 of this Regulation.

1. The Commission shall be assisted by the ESS Committee.

2. Where reference is made to this paragraph, Articles 5 and 7
of Decision 1999/468/EC shall apply, having regard to the
provisions of Article 8 thereof.

Article 29

Entry into force

The period laid down in Article 5(6) of Decision 1999/468/EC
shall be set at three months.

This Regulation shall enter into force on the day following its
publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

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

Done at Strasbourg, 11 March 2009.

For the European Parliament

The President

H.-G. PÖTTERING

For the Council

The President

A. VONDRA