Report from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council on the implementation of the Edicom II programme (2001-2005) {SEC(2009) 527 final}
Date: 2009-04-23
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: activity report, data collection, exchange of information, extra-EU trade, intra-EU trade, statistics, trans-European network

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COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES 

Brussels, 23.4.2009 
COM(2009) 191 final 

REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND 
THE COUNCIL 

on the implementation of the EDICOM II programme 
(2001-2005) 

{SEC(2009) 527 final} 

(presented by the Commission) 

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REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND 
THE COUNCIL 

on the implementation of the EDICOM II programme 
(2001-2005) 

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TABLE OF CONTENTS 

Report from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council on the 
implementation of the EDICOM II programme (2001-2005).................................................... 2 

1. 

2. 

2.1. 

2.2. 

2.3. 

2.4. 

2.5. 

3. 

4. 

5. 

6. 

Introduction .................................................................................................................. 4 

Evaluation according to criteria ................................................................................... 5 

Relevance ..................................................................................................................... 5 

Effectiveness ................................................................................................................ 5 

Efficiency ..................................................................................................................... 8 

Utility ........................................................................................................................... 9 

Sustainability.............................................................................................................. 10 

Recommendations for the future................................................................................ 10 

Management recommendations ................................................................................. 11 

Links with other Community programmes ................................................................ 12 

Conclusions ................................................................................................................ 12 

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1. 

INTRODUCTION 

With  the  creation  of  the  Single  Market  in  1993  customs  formalities  between  EU 
Member States were removed and the Intrastat system was implemented in order to 
continue  to  monitor  the  movement  of  trade  in  goods  between  Member  States.  This 
new system replaced the use of customs data by collecting information directly from 
enterprises through monthly surveys. Statistics in trade between Member States and 
third countries continued to be based primarily on customs information. 

In order to support these changes, the Council adopted Decision No 96/715//EC of 9 
December  1996  on  inter-administration  telematic  networks  for  statistics  relating  to 
the trading of goods between Member States (Edicom I programme1). The Edicom I 
programme  facilitated  the  conversion  towards  an  interoperable  system  at  European 
level  for  the  collection,  production  and  dissemination  of  statistics  on  the  trade  in 
goods. 

At the end of the Edicom I programme, the Community faced an increasing demand 
for  rapid,  reliable  and  accurate  macroeconomic  information.  Eurostat,  in  close 
cooperation  with  the  national  administrations  drafted  a  strategic  document  to 
strengthen and prepare the existing system for the longer term. 

This strategic document was approved by the Statistical Programme Committee and 
the  Committee  on  Statistics  relating  to  the  Trading  of  Goods  between  Member 
States. 

The  European  Parliament  and  the  Council,  on  the  basis  of  the  ex-ante  evaluation 
prepared by the Commission, adopted Decision No 507/2001/EC of 12 March 2001 
concerning a set of actions relating to the trans-European network for the collection, 
production  and  dissemination  of  statistics  on  the  trading  of  goods  within  the 
Community  and  between  the  Community  and  non-member  countries  (Edicom  II 
programme2). 

The general objectives of this new programme were: 

– 

– 

To  encourage  the  organisation  of  the  statistical  network  in  the  most  modern, 
rational  and  effective  manner  possible;  and  to  adopt  measures  necessary  for 
improving and harmonising the methods used; 

To  further  develop  existing  computer  tools  for  the  collection,  production, 
transmission and dissemination of statistical data, taking into account the latest 
technological advances and seeking to optimise cost-effectiveness. 

In  order  to  achieve  the  general  objectives,  6  operational  objectives,  split  into  13 
actions, were identified. 

This report has been written to provide information regarding the implementation of 
the  Edicom  II  programme,  in  accordance  with  article  5  (2)  of  Decision  No 

1 
2 

OJ L 327 of 18.12.1996, p. 34-37. 
OJ L 76 of 16.3.2001, p. 1-4. 

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507/2001/EC.  The  evaluation  has  been  based  on  the  standard  criteria:  relevance, 
effectiveness, efficiency, utility and sustainability. 

2. 

EVALUATION ACCORDING TO CRITERIA 

2.1. 

Relevance 

The decision to launch a second Edicom programme has been very pertinent as the 
programme targeted concrete needs and problems. Particularly: 

– 

– 

– 

– 

The actions implemented during the Edicom I phase considerably enhanced the 
quality  of  the  intra-Community  trade  statistics;  however  further  areas  for 
improvement  were  identified  in  conjunction  with  an  increasing  demand  for 
macroeconomic trade information. 

The European Central Bank (ECB) expressed the need for timely, reliable and 
accurate  external  trade  statistics  as  key  elements  to  be  included  in  an  Action 
Plan for statistical requirements. 

The simplification of Intrastat had to be pursued in order to reduce the burden 
on  enterprises  and  administrations  without  undermining  the  quality  of  the 
external trade statistics. 

The modernisation of the trans-European network for the collection, processing 
and  dissemination  of  trade  statistics  could  not  be  sufficiently  and  cost 
effectively  achieved  by  Member  States  acting  individually;  therefore  a 
Community programme was necessary for harmonising solutions and obtaining 
economies of scale. 

The Edicom II programme was thus designed to reach a wide range of beneficiaries: 
administrations and enterprises, as well as institutional and private users of external 
trade statistics. 

Considering the difficulties in drafting the strategic guidelines five years in advance, 
it can be stated that the contents of the programme have been devised with strategic 
vision.  The  management  skills  and  the  technical  capacity  of  the  Commission  and 
Member  States  in  running  and  developing  the  programme  contents  also  have  been 
taken into account. 

2.2. 

Effectiveness 

Edicom  II  delivered  some  significant  results  in  accordance  with  the  ex-ante 
evaluation. Difficulties were encountered in establishing a common EU platform for 
the  production  of  external  trade  statistics,  due  to  significant  differences  in  the 
technological and administrative systems in each of the Member States. 

The major achievements in accordance with the general objectives of the EDICOM 
Decision  are  described  hereafter.  For  a  more  detailed  presentation  of  results  please 
refer to the Commission staff working paper "Final report on the implementation of 
the Edicom II programme". 

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Objective  1  “Develop  a  trans-European  network  producing  statistical  information  of  better 
quality,  which  is  less  costly  and  makes  data  available  more  quickly,  in  order  to  satisfy  the 
requirements of Community policies”. 

The  improvement  of  data  availability  and  quality  has  been  the  main  objective  in 
terms of the number of projects realised during the EDICOM II programme. 

The majority of Member States have conducted comparative studies and successfully 
designed  and  implemented  advanced  estimation  techniques.  At  the  end  of  the 
programme  all  Member  States  were  able  to  meet  the  deadline  of  40  days  for  the 
transmission  of  monthly  aggregated  data  to  Eurostat.  However  in  some  cases, 
differences  between  preliminary  and  final  figures  remain  quite  significant, 
highlighting that further work in this area should be pursued. 

At  centralised  level,  Eurostat  developed  methods  and  IT  programs  for  estimating 
intra-EU and extra-EU aggregates for Member States that may not comply with the 
transmission deadline.  

The  provision  of  detailed  data  to  Eurostat  has  also  been  improved  in  terms  of 
timeliness  and  accuracy.  In  2005,  Member  States  transmitted  their  Intrastat  and 
Extrastat  data  at  an  average  of  8  days  and  3  days  in  advance  respectively.  New 
validity  and  credibility  controls  were  developed  and  improvements  to  the 
methodology in estimating below threshold and non-response trade have been made, 
thus  increasing  the  overall  quality  of  external  trade  statistics.  Also,  these  controls 
assisted Eurostat in producing quality reports on the detailed trade data of Member 
States. 

Asymmetries  in  Intra-EU  trade  at  aggregate  level  have  decreased,  however,  at 
detailed level significant discrepancies still remain. Comparison of Intrastat data with 
Value  Added  Tax  (VAT)  and  VAT  Information  Exchange  System  (VIES)  data  is 
now being carried out systematically. 

Objective  2  “Develop  a  trans-European  network  producing  statistical  information  that  is 
relevant  and  appropriate  to  the  new  needs  of  users  within  the  framework  of  Economic  and 
Monetary Union and the changing of the international economic environment”. 

New short-term indicators and statistical products have been generated in response to 
user  needs.  The  management  of  data  confidentiality  at  national  and  European  level 
has been strengthened. 

Eurostat  has  successfully  developed  and  implemented  a  new  application  for  the 
production  of  indices  on  unit  values  and  volume.  Member  States  have  mainly 
focused on import price indices of non-Euro zone in order to meet ECB needs. 

New methods and tools for producing and publishing seasonally adjusted data on a 
monthly basis for the Community (EU and Euro-zone) and Member States have been 
created. 

Time-series analyses and statistical value adjustments have been carried out only by 
some Member States. The task of evaluating the best practices in Member States for 

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reaching a trade balance coherent with the balance of payments and national accounts 
still remains incomplete. 

A  methodological  framework  for  the  collection  and  presentation  of  External  Trade 
and  Structural  Business  Statistics  jointly  has  been  created  at  European  level.  The 
results  of  pilot  studies  carried  out  by  several  Member  States  have  been  published 
enabling analysis of external trade by enterprise characteristics. 

Encouraging results for the further development of EU statistics have been obtained 
by some Member States in the field of Intra-firm trade statistics. 

Objective 3 “Incorporate statistics on the trading of goods more effectively into the general 
statistical  system  at  Community  and  international  level  and  adapt  them  to  changes  in  the 
administrative environment”. 

Most  Member  States  have  completed  projects  aimed  at  improving  the  availability 
and quality of their trader registers. Almost half of Member States do not maintain an 
Extrastat register, as this is not mandatory. 

The  cooperation  between  Statistical  Offices  and  Customs  Administrations  was 
strengthened  in  several  Member  States.  Interactive  corrections  of  Extrastat 
declarations  have  been  set  up  and  the  possibility  to  collect  additional  information 
from customs documents at minimal cost was investigated. 

Surveys  were  carried  out  to  evaluate  user  needs  and  the  burden  of  the  Intrastat 
system  on  the  Providers  of  Statistical  Information  (PSIs).  Studies  on  the  possible 
simplification  of  the  system  focused  on  the  adoption  of  a  Single  Flow  System, 
simplification thresholds and in decreasing the level of product detail. Seminars on e-
learning applications for PSIs have been undertaken in order to enhance the quality 
and completeness of Intrastat declarations. 

Objective  4  “Improve  the  services  offered  to  administrations,  suppliers  and  users  of 
information, by providing them with all the available statistics and metadata relating to the 
trading of goods”. 

Resources have been deployed to create a well-structured and exhaustive information 
system in Eurostat and the Member States. 

Based  on  new  automated  procedures,  the  publication  of  macroeconomic  and 
seasonally  adjusted  data  was  advanced  by  five  days,  to  meet  user  demands, 
especially the ECB. The dissemination of detailed data was the objective of further 
developments.  The  Eurostat  Comext  database  system  was  upgraded  in  terms  of  its 
contents and technology. A new dissemination system (Easy Comext) was developed 
enabling the general public to view and extract detail trade data from Member States. 

Specific tools for rapid and user-friendly access to classifications, explanatory notes, 
metadata  and  other  related  products  were  developed  at  a  centralised  level  and 
provided  to  Member  States.  Monthly  Comext  training  courses  were  given  to  civil 
servants from the European Commission and Member States. 

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Objective 5: “Develop and promote tools for collecting information on the trading of goods, 
by  taking  into  account  the  latest  technological  advances  in  order  to  improve  the  functions 
available to statistical information providers”.  

Eurostat  and  the  Member  States  succeeded  in  developing  and  implementing  new 
tools and standardised transmission formats for data collection. Increased focus was 
put on the development of web-based systems and this was welcomed by European 
businesses. This resulted in a significant reduction in the costs and improvements to 
data  quality  and  timeliness.  Around  100,000  PSIs  were  submitting  Intrastat 
declarations  on  a  monthly  basis  via  the  web,  thus  decreasing  the  use  of  paper 
declarations by 30%. 

The  off-line  IDEP/CN8  package  for  Intrastat  data  collection  was  maintained  at 
centralised level up until 2004; thereafter some Member States continued its upgrade 
while others developed alternative systems. 

Objective  6:  “Implement  the  EDICOM  actions  in  the  framework  of  an  integrated  project. 
Ensure  the  interoperability  of  the  various  developed  tools  by  using  common  norms  and 
standards. The various modules of the system should be able to be put in networks enabling 
the various interested parties to use all or part of them”.  

Specific  measures  were  launched  to  modernise  various  elements  of  the  trans-
European  network  within 
the  Commission  and  Member  States.  Several 
interconnected  tools  were  developed,  within  the  framework  of  the  XT/NET  project 
and placed at the disposal of Member States. 

The  XT/NET  project  was  envisaged  as  a  starting  point  for  developing  a  single  and 
fully  integrated  information  system.  Based  on  an  established  set  of  common  rules, 
the system enables the transfer of the responsibility for validating data from Eurostat 
to the Member States. 

2.3. 

Efficiency 

The  modalities  under  which  the  Edicom  programme  was  implemented  were  in  line 
with  the  ones  fixed  by  Decision  No  507/2001/EC.  The  Commission  had  the 
responsibility  of  managing  the  programme,  with  the  assistance  of  the  Intrastat  and 
Extrastat Committees. 

Eurostat's  foreign  trade  statistics  units  were  responsible  for  the  programme,  except 
for  the  actions  related  to  centralised  IT  developments.  These  were  assigned  to  the 
unit responsible for “IT systems for statistical production”. 

The total expenditure for the implementation of the Edicom programme amounted to 
31,2 million Euro, or 61% of the budget. The smooth running of the programme was 
in partly affected by the crisis at Eurostat, leading to a significant slowdown in the 
centralised activities during 2003 and 2004. Since the EU Enlargement in May 2004, 
new  Member  States  became  beneficiaries,  without  any  modifications  to  the  initial 
budget. 

In  total,  393  centralised  and  decentralised  projects,  were  carried  out  by  private 
companies  (on  behalf  of  Eurostat)  and  by  Member  States.  In  addition,  19  projects 

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were  abandoned,  mostly  by  Member  States,  due  to  the  lack  of  human  resources 
and/or to the extreme complexity of the objectives to be reached. 

Member  States  completed  72%  of  the  total  number  of  projects.  However,  financial 
resources were spent almost equally between decentralised and centralised projects. 
Grants covered approximately 90% of the total cost of decentralised projects, while 
centralised projects were attributed to private companies via tenders. 

Referring  to  the  contents,  the  programme  mainly  focused  on  two  axes  of 
intervention:  the  enhancement  of  quality  (objective  1)  and  the  development  of 
information-gathering  tools  (objective  5).  These  two  objectives  resulted  in  the 
completion of 124 and 84 projects respectively, accounting for 21% and 25% of total 
expenditure. 

The share of expenditure per objective is coherent with estimations made in annex II 
of  the  Edicom  Decision,  with  the  exception  of  objective  3  and  5.  Technical  and 
administrative  assistance  and  support  measures  accounted  for  5%  of  the  total 
expenditure budget. 

Edicom  projects  were  evaluated  on  the  basis  of  intermediate  and  final  reports 
submitted  to  the  Commission.  With  an  average  of  160  reports  per  year,  Eurostat 
project managers closely monitored all the activities, in most of the cases without the 
possibility  of  assessing  the  work  done  by  Member  States  on  site.  Progress  in 
centralised contracts was evaluated via monthly meetings with the contractors. 

Project reports were uploaded into the public CIRCA system of the Commission and 
were  made  available  on-line 
registered  users.  This  enabled  national 
administrations  to  view  findings  and  solutions  adopted  by  others  and  use  this 
information  as  starting  point  for  their  own  studies.  The  sharing  of  knowledge  has 
been gained via study visits and seminars on selected topics. 

to 

This programme has considerably assisted in enhancing the trans-European network 
for the collection, production and dissemination of statistics on the trade in goods. In 
some areas, Member States faced difficulties to change their national systems, which 
hampered the opportunities provided by this programme to be fully utilised. 

The  overall  results  of  the  Edicom  programme  were  attained  at  reasonable  cost. 
Contrary  to  what  may  be  expected  in  the  light  of  the  degree  of  specialisation, 
contractors  working  in  the  area  of  trade  statistics  charged  considerable  lower  fees 
than those in more general areas of competence (e.g. tax, finance, HR…). Many of 
the projects were carried out by civil servants in the Member States at local (hence 
lower), rather than international staff rates. 

2.4. 

Utility 

The Edicom programme was an indispensable instrument for improving timeliness, 
accuracy, availability and harmonisation of external trade statistics produced by the 
Member States. 

Initial  elements  of  an  interrelated  trans-European  network  of  information  were 
created,  as  Member  States  were  encouraged  to  adopt  common  rules  and  standards. 

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Progress in this area would lead to storing national data only at Member States level, 
avoiding the current duplication at Eurostat level. 

In few cases, the implementation of standard methods in all Member States could not 
be  achieved,  especially  when  significant  differences  existed  in  technological  and 
administrative environments. 

The  programme  achieved  results,  which  would  have  been  impossible  to  reach  if 
Member  States  had  carried  out  the  work  themselves.  Member  States  on  their  own 
would  hesitate  to  invest  large  sums  in  future  technologies  or  in  changing  their 
national systems. 

2.5. 

Sustainability 

Overall  progress  achieved  by  the  Edicom  programme  should  provide  long-term 
benefit.  Tangible  short-term  results  are  already  visible  and  its  positive  impact  is 
likely to continue for the mid to long term.  

Various  types  of  results  have  been  achieved,  in  accordance  to  the  sustainability 
criterion. The first group of actions composed  of pilot studies, quality  assessments, 
evaluation of needs and satisfaction, produced short-term results by serving decision 
makers.  

Research in statistical methods and the development of new statistical tools produced 
solutions,  which  have  been  implemented  by  the  Commission  and  Member  States, 
thus  obtaining  long-term  benefits  without  the  need  for  additional  resources. 
Development  of  electronic  data  collection  and  dissemination  tools  as  well  as 
standardisation  messages  might  require  further  financial  support  in  the  mid-term  in 
order to reach similar standards and a level of use in all Member States.  

The  highly  strategic  XT  NET  project  for  the  achievement  of  a  fully  integrated 
European  network  should  be  the  object  of  a  specific  programme  to  ensure  its 
implementation in the European Union. 

As  a  general  remark,  it  should  be  noted  that  statistics  are  produced  in  an  evolving 
environment,  thus  the  necessity  to  monitor  continuously  and  closely  the  statistical 
system, especially on coverage and data quality. Changes in the economy, new users 
needs and  evolution of technologies require regular adaptation of  the  system  in  the 
mid to long term. 

3. 

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THE FUTURE 

Significant  results  were  achieved  in  the  framework  of  Edicom  II  but  the 
enhancement of the statistical system should be an on-going process. The following 
points should support any future programme: 

–  Member States did not participate in all Edicom actions due to lack of staff; 

– 

Further improvements to systems and methodology can still be achieved; 

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– 

– 

– 

All new Member States need to work on similar projects to improve their data 
quality and to integrate better into the European Statistical System; 

Actions  aimed  at  reaching  greater  automatisation  of  data  collection  tools 
should be pursued; 

The framework for a fully integrated European network for the production of 
external trade statistics was created but it is not yet fully operational. 

Main areas for future intervention could be: 

– 

Continuation  of  work  on  estimation  techniques  and  now-casting  methods,  on 
management of confidentiality, statistical value, trade registers, intra-firm trade 
and globalisation. 

–  Measures for improving cooperation between Member States and Eurostat for 
the  collection  and  transmission  of  basic  information  should  be  implemented 
through a secure network. 

– 

– 

Studies on the adoption of future technologies. 

Further harmonisation of collection systems at EU level and the adaptation of 
tools in order to achieve a totally integrated and harmonized statistical system. 

4. 

MANAGEMENT RECOMMENDATIONS 

Experience of the Edicom II programme has shown that long-term programmes can 
function smoothly only if financial resources are assessed correctly and are available 
on  time.  The  late  adoption  of  the  Commission  financing  decision  in  2003  and  the 
postponement  of  certain  2003  Edicom  actions  following  instructions  of  the 
Commission have highlighted how dependent the programme was on external events 
or decisions. 

Although the programme was planned for five years, it lasted longer considering the 
time  for  strategic  planning,  realisation  of  tasks  and  the  administrative  closure  of 
projects. 

During  the  course  of  this  program  a  large  amount  of  information  needed  to  be 
managed.  The  flow  of  information  resulted  in  the  handling  of  many  official 
documents, reports and communications. Also, the financial procedures for assigning 
the grants to Member States and awarding contracts to companies were burdensome. 

The high turnover of Commission personnel partially affected the management of the 
programme, especially when the transfer of know-how and responsibilities was not 
sufficiently  organised.  This  impacted  on  the  evaluators  experiencing  difficulties  in 
collecting only partial and in some cases, inaccessible, information. 

In  order  to  avoid  these  problems  in  the  future,  the  Commission  should  adopt  a 
complete  project  management  system,  accessible  to  selected  users  with  different 
degrees of competencies. 

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In  most  cases,  Eurostat  managers  and  staff  of  national  administrations  worked  on 
Edicom  projects  in  addition  to  their  daily  tasks.  Member  States  were  frequently 
confronted with a lack of human resources for carrying out further Edicom projects. 
In  some  member  States  internal  rules  prohibited  the  employment  of  short-term 
personnel. 

The  usefulness  of 
technical  and  administrative  assistance  should  not  be 
underestimated and should accompany the whole duration of long-term programmes. 
The same applies for evaluation activities, as it would be extremely difficult to assess 
results if performance indicators were not collected and monitored regularly. The ex-
post evaluation should start only when all technical and administrative information is 
available, i.e. about three years after the approval of the last annual work programme. 

5. 

LINKS WITH OTHER COMMUNITY PROGRAMMES  

According  to  art.  5  of  the  Edicom  Decision,  the  evaluation  should  verify  synergy 
with other Community activities. Interrelations clearly existed with the DSIS project 
(Distributed  Statistical  Information  Services)  and  eDAMIS  project  (electronic 
the  “IDA  programme” 
Dataflow  Management  and  Information  System)  of 
(Programme for the electronic data interchange between administrations). 

Eurostat  and  Member  States  used  components  developed  under  IDA  projects  for 
improving  data  transmission,  administration  and  storage  of  external  trade  statistics. 
The adoption of new standardised protocols facilitated the sharing and dissemination 
of  structured  data  across  different  information  systems  and  users.  In  addition,  the 
IDA  generic  service  CIRCA  has  been  used  as  a  common  platform  for  storing  and 
sharing  among  Eurostat  and  Member  States  reports  and  tools  generated  by  the 
EDICOM studies. 

The  Edicom  II  results  might  be  considered  in  line  with  the  objectives  of  the 
“eGovernment”  theme  promoted  by  the  “eTEN  programme”,  which  supported  the 
deployment  of  trans-European  e-services.  Examples  of  this  are  development  of 
Intrastat  web  forms  and  the  free  web  dissemination  of  trade  statistics  data  through 
national websites and the Eurostat Easy Comext database. 

6. 

CONCLUSIONS 

Results obtained in the framework of the Edicom II programme enabled a noticeable 
modernisation  of  the  trans-European  network  for  the  collection,  production  and 
dissemination  of  statistics  on  the  trading  of  goods  within  the  Community  and 
between the Community and non-member countries. 

The programme covered the period 2001-2005, however administrative tasks lasted 
until  2008.  In  total  393  projects  were  implemented  by  Eurostat  and  the  Member 
States accounting for an expenditure of 31.2 million Euro, or 61% of the total budget 
approved in the Edicom Decision. 

The  Commission  and  Member  States  successfully  developed  new  IT  technologies 
and  Web-based  solutions,  thus  benefiting  the  PSIs,  relevant  administrations  and 
users. 

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Trade statistics of high quality are provided faster and cost effectively, new statistical 
products  were  generated,  satisfying  the  needs  of  institutional  and  private  users. 
Statistical information has been made available, free of charge, to all users. Resource 
efficiencies were achieved at both Eurostat and national level. 

Studies  carried  out  on  the  simplification  of  Intrastat  have  highlighted  that  PSIs 
consider the burden caused by Intrastat reporting as acceptable. Future simplification 
efforts should focus on the maintenance or improvement of data quality for the users. 

IT  tools  have  been  developed  centrally  and  have  been  made  available  to  Member 
States  for  setting  up  the  basis  of  a  fully  integrated  and  interoperable  European 
system.  Its  implementation  has  not  yet  been  fully  achieved,  due  to  difficulties  of 
Member States to change their national systems. 

There have been many encouraging results but there still remain some shortcomings, 
which will need support from future programmes. 

Ex-Ante 
evaluation

EP/Council
Decision

Proposed annual 
Working Program
with approval of
Commitees

Commission 
decision on 
annual budget

Approved annual 
Work Program

Statistical 
Programme 
Committee

Programme Management System

Eurostat Budget Unit

Edicom Budget

Other Budget
Lines

Circa

Restricted acces
documentation 
database

Option 1

Option 2

« De-commitment »

Decentralised 
projets

Call for 
proposals

Grant 
agreements

Commission 
grants

Contributions from 
Applicants MSs

Centralised 
projets

Call 
for tender

Contract

Financial flow     Reporting flow

1) (Pre- financing)

2) (Invoice at 

intermediate 
report)

3) Balance invoice 
at delivery of 
final report

1) Intermediate

report

2) Final report

(Project totally or partially abandoned)

Fig. 1 Proposal for a programme management system 

EN 

13 

   EN