Opinion of the European Central Bank of 4 May 2009 on the organisation and functioning of official statistics in Romania (CON/2009/42)
Date: 2009-05-04
Institutions: European Central Bank
Subjects: Romania, central bank, exchange of information, national law, statistics

EN 

OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK 

of 4 May 2009 

on the organisation and functioning of official statistics in Romania 

(CON/2009/42) 

Introduction and legal basis 

On  25  March  2009  the  European  Central  Bank  (ECB)  received  a  request  from  the  Romanian  National 

Institute of Statistics (NIS) for an opinion on a draft Law on the organisation and functioning of official 

statistics in Romania (hereinafter the ‘draft law’). 

The  ECB’s  competence  to  deliver  an  opinion  is  based  on  Article  105(4)  of  the  Treaty  establishing  the 

European Community and the third and the fourth indents of Article 2(1) of Council Decision 98/415/EC 

of 29 June 1998 on the consultation of the European Central Bank by national authorities regarding draft 
legislative  provisions1,  as  the  draft  law  contains  both  provisions  on  the  Banca  Naţională  a  României 

(BNR)  and  on  the  collection,  compilation  and  distribution  of  monetary,  financial,  banking,  payment 

systems  and  balance  of  payments  statistics.  In  accordance  with  the  first  sentence  of  Article 17.5  of  the 

Rules of Procedure of the European Central Bank, the Governing Council has adopted this opinion.  

1.  

Purpose of the draft law 

1.1  The  draft  law  establishes  the  legal  framework  for  the  organisation  and  functioning  of  official 

statistics  in  Romania  and  sets  up  the  National  Statistical  System  (NSS).  It  also  repeals  the 
Government  Ordinance  on  the  organisation  of  official  statistics2.  According  to  the  draft  law,  the 

NSS  comprises  the  NIS  and  the  statistical  offices  of  the  central  government,  local  government 
and other public authorities and institutions. The draft law also includes BNR as part of the NSS3, 

but specifies  that BNR,  as an independent public  institution, is responsible for producing official 

statistics in the areas within its field of competence according to Law No 312/2004 on the Statute 
of Banca Naţională a României4. 

1.2  Furthermore, when defining official statistics under Article 2 of the draft law, a clear distinction is 

drawn  between  the  activities  organised  for  the  collection,  processing,  analysis  and  dissemination  of 

statistical  data,  the  development  of  a  statistical  culture,  and  the  creation  and  administration  of  official 

1  
2  

3  
4  

OJ L 189, 3.7.1998, p. 42.  
Government  Ordinance  No  9/1992  on  the  organisation  of  official  statistics,  approved  with  amendments  by  Law 
No 11/1994 republished in Monitorul Oficial, Part One, No 763, 18.10.2002. 
Article 6(1) and (3) of the draft law. 
Published in Monitorul Oficial al României, Part One, No 582, 30.6.2004. 

 
 
 
 
                                                 
statistical data series by the public authorities and institutions, on the one hand, and by BNR, 

on the other hand.  

1.3  The draft law introduces substantial changes to  the current legal framework of the NIS, which is 

the primary producer of the State’s official statistics. According to Article 7, NIS is responsible for 

coordinating  the  statistical  activities  of  the  public  authorities  and  institutions  comprising  the  NSS, 

with  the  exception  of  BNR.  Nevertheless, Article 7(3) specifies that  NIS  and  BNR  must  cooperate 

and coordinate their activities with a view to increasing efficiency, reducing the response burden on 

primary data providers, improving the quality of statistical data and disseminating them at national 

and international level.  

1.4  The National Statistical Council, an advisory board to the NIS, is established by the draft law. Its 

aim is to ensure that official statistics-related activities are objective, transparent and of a scientific 

nature and to minimise the reporting burden on data providers. A representative of BNR will hold a 

seat on the advisory board. Furthermore, Article 6(5) provides that BNR may draw up development 

strategies  and  statistical  implementation  programmes  with  regard  to  official  statistics  in  its  fields of 

competence.  

1.5  The  draft  law  endorses  the  Fundamental  Principles  of  Official  Statistics  adopted  by  the  United 
Nations  Statistical  Commission5.  More  specifically,  Chapter  II  of  the  draft  law  addresses 

professional  independence,  impartiality  and  objectivity,  confidentiality,  quality,  appropriate 

procedures  and  sound  methodology,  accuracy  and  reliability,  and  access  rights.  Chapter  X  of  the 

draft  law  requires  the  NIS  and  other  producers  of  official  statistics  to  adopt  administrative, 

organisational  and  technical  measures  for  the  protection  of  confidential  statistical  data  and  to 

prevent unauthorised access, dissemination, alienation and destruction of these data. 

2. 

General observations  

2.1  Ensuring effective cooperation between a national central bank, as a producer of official statistics, 

and  other  statistical  authorities  is  often  vital  for  guaranteeing  the  availability,  quality  and  cost-

effectiveness of the statistics required by the ECB. Whatever the general institutional setting, the 

specific arrangements should aim to optimise the quality and availability of official statistics, while 

preserving  in  all  respects  the  independence  of  the  central  bank,  which  derives  from  the  central 

bank’s participation in the European System of Central Banks (ESCB) in general and from its duty 
to collaborate with the ECB on statistical matters in particular6. 

2.2  A  significant  feature  of  the  draft  law  refers  to  the  recognition  of  BNR  as  a  producer  of  official 
statistics7. Although the statistical responsibilities of BNR have been established by the Law on the 

Statute of BNR, there was no explicit recognition of this function in the previous legislation, i.e. the 

Government Ordinance on the organisation of official statistics. The ECB welcomes the provisions 

5  
6  
7  

Available on the United Nations Statistics Division website at unstats.un.org. 
See CON/2008/6. 
Article 6(3) of the draft law. 

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of the draft law recognising and preserving BNR’s independence as a participant in the NSS and 

producer of official statistics relating to its areas of competence. In this context, legal certainty is 

provided  that  the  statistical  activities  of  BNR  are  not  coordinated  by  the  NIS  in  its  role  as 

coordinator of the NSS. 

2.3  The ECB welcomes the draft law as it will provide clarity on the Romanian statistical system. This 

should have a positive impact on the quality and availability of official statistics. 

3. 

Specific remarks  

3.1  Article 4(j) of the draft law provides that official statistics are represented by the ‘activities regulated 

…  by  the  Law  on  the  Statute  of  BNR,  in  accordance  with  the  fundamental  principles  of  national 

statistics’. The wording of this provision could be clarified in order to acknowledge that the statistics 

developed,  produced  and  disseminated  by  BNR  as  part  of  the  ESCB  are  governed  by  statistical 
principles that are close but not identical to the principles of Regulation (EC) No 223/20098.  

3.2  Finally,  while  the  ECB  notes  that  the  draft  law  remains  silent  on  the  possibility  to  exchange 

confidential  information  for  the  efficient  compilation  of  European  statistics,  it  understands  that  a 

transmission  of confidential data by the NIS to the  members of the ESCB remains possible in line 

with the enabling clause provided for in Regulation (EC) No 223/2009. 

This opinion will be published on the ECB’s website.  

Done at Frankfurt am Main, 4 May 2009. 

[signed] 

The President of the ECB 

Jean-Claude TRICHET 

8  

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 (OJ L 87, 31.03.2009, p. 164). 

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