Opinion of the European Central Bank of 23 February 2010 on the establishment of the Hellenic Statistical System and an independent statistical authority (CON/2010/17)
Date: 2010-02-23
Institutions: European Central Bank
Subjects: Greece, disclosure of information, monetary union, national law, statistics

EN 

OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK 

of 23 February 2010 

on the establishment of the Hellenic Statistical System 

and an independent statistical authority 

(CON/2010/17) 

Introduction and legal basis 

On  12  January  2010  the  European  Central  Bank  (ECB)  received  a  request  from  the  Greek  Ministry  of 

Finance for an opinion on a draft law on the Hellenic Statistical System (HSS) and the establishment of 

the  Hellenic  Statistical  Authority  (HSTAT)  as  an  independent  authority  and  legal  person  governed  by 

public law (hereinafter the ‘draft law’). This opinion is based on the text of the draft law received by the 
ECB on 12 January 20101. 

The ECB’s competence to deliver an opinion is based on Articles 127(4) and 282(5) of the Treaty on the 

Functioning of the European Union and the third indent 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  provisions2,  as  the  draft  law  relates  to  a  national  central  bank.  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 

The  draft  law  is  mainly  aimed  at  making  an  institutional  upgrade  of  the  official  statistics  production 

system with a view to ensuring professional independence, scientific impartiality and integrity, as well as 

administrative efficiency. This is to be achieved by the establishment of the HSS, composed of HSTAT 

and  other  public  and  private  sector  entities  (hereinafter  the  ‘other  HSS  entities’)  that  have  the 

responsibility  for  or  the  obligation  to  collect  data  and  produce  the  statistics  required  for  decision  and 

policy  making  at  local,  national,  European  and  international  levels.  Under  the  draft  law  the  General 

1  

2  

In  accordance  with  Chapter  III  of  the  ‘Guide  to  consultation  of  the  European  Central  Bank  by  national  authorities 
regarding draft legislative provisions’ (available on the ECB’s website at www.ecb.europa.eu), ‘The duty to consult the 
ECB on amendments to draft legislative provisions which have already been submitted to the ECB for an opinion applies 
to  substantive  amendments  which  affect  the  essence  of  the  draft  legislation.  It  is  useful  to  distinguish  between  two 
different [cases]. The first is where substantive amendments are proposed at a stage when the ECB has not yet adopted its 
opinion. In such situations the ECB expects the consulting authority to submit the amended draft legislative provision to 
it as soon as possible, so that the opinion can be based on the most recent text. The second situation is where substantive 
new provisions are proposed after adoption of the ECB opinion. In the latter situation, the ECB should be consulted in 
relation  to  those  amendments.  However,  no  further  consultation  is  required  if  the  amendments  in  essence  aim  to 
accommodate the view expressed by the ECB in its opinion. The ECB nevertheless welcomes being kept informed about 
the response to its opinions and receiving details of such amendments for information purposes’. 
OJ L 189, 3.7.1998, p. 42.  

 
 
 
 
                                                 
Secretariat of the National Statistical Service of the Ministry of Finance, which has been subject to direct 

control by the State, is converted into an independent administrative authority, namely HSTAT. HSTAT 

will  operate  as  a  legal  person  governed  by  public  law  and  benefit  from  the  institutional  safeguards 

necessary for its independent functioning. More specifically, Chapter A of the draft law sets out the rules 

of procedure  for the HSS  and  assigns  to HSTAT  the coordination of all  the  activities  of the other HSS 

entities  for  the  production  of  official  national  statistics  and  their  transmission  to  Eurostat,  taking  into 

account the existing Union legal framework and in particular Council Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 on 
European Statistics3, as well as the European Statistics Code of Practice4. Chapter A of the draft law also 
establishes the Hellenic Statistical System Council (HSSC) as an advisory body to HSTAT5. Chapter B of 
the draft law sets out the structure and operational methods of HSTAT6. 

2. 

General observations 

2.1  The ECB welcomes the aim of the draft law to improve the collection, compilation and distribution 

of  European  and  national  statistics  by  the  HSS.  At  the  same  time,  the  ECB  underlines  that, 

irrespective  of  the  general  institutional  setting,  the  specific  arrangements  of  a  national  statistical 

system should aim to optimise the reliability and efficiency of the statistical production process and 

ensure  that  the  statistics  provided  are  of  high  quality,  in  particular  with  a  view  to  preserving  the 

credibility and the sound functioning of monetary union. The achievement of these aims relies on 

the efficient and effective implementation of the arrangements introduced by the draft law.  

2.2  There  are  two  complementary  regimes  for  the  production  of  European  statistics  set  out  in 
Regulation  (EC)  No  223/2009  and  in  Regulation  (EC)  No  2533/987.  The  ECB  notes  that  the 

3  

4  

5  

6  

7  

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, 31.3.2009, p. 164). 
The Code was endorsed by the Commission in its Recommendation of 25 May 2005 on the independence, integrity and 
accountability  of  the  national  and  Community  statistical  authorities  (COM(2005)  217  final).  Articles  1  and  2  of 
Regulation  (EC)  No  223/2009  stipulate  that  the  statistical  principles  set  out  in  Article  338(2)  of  the  TFEU  and  in 
Article 2 of the Regulation are further elaborated in the European Statistics Code of Practice. The Code of Practice is to 
be reviewed and updated as necessary by the European Statistical System Committee (ESS Committee). While the Code 
of  Practice  does  not  form  an  integral  part  of  Regulation  (EC)  No  223/2009,  the  authority  to  further  elaborate  the 
statistical principles in the Code of Practice is clearly specified in Regulation (EC) No 223/2009.  
Under  Article  3  of  the  draft  law,  the  composition  of  the  HSSC,  which  will  be  chaired  by  the  HSTAT  President  (the 
chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors will be its vice-chairman), also includes one member nominated by the 
Bank  of  Greece.  The  HSSC  will  advise  HSTAT  on:  a)  the  Hellenic  Statistical  Programme;  b)  the  Rules  on  Statistical 
Obligations;  c)  the  priorities  of  the  HSS  on  the  basis  of  developments  at  European  and  international  levels  and  on 
measures to reduce the administrative response cost of HSS entities; d) issues relating to the need for coherence in the 
production of statistics by the HSS entities and compliance with statistical principles, as well as further development and 
dissemination  of  the  Code  of  Conduct  for  all  such  entities;  e)  issues  pertaining  to  statistical  confidentiality; 
f) methodology  issues  which  arise  in  the  preparation  and  application  of  statistical  programmes,  especially  issues 
pertaining to statistics at European and international levels. 
Under  Article  9(4)  of  the  draft  law,  HSTAT  will  be  entrusted  with  the  systematic  production  of  official  statistics,  the 
conduct of scientific research and carrying out studies, which: a) concern all areas of activity of the public and private 
sector;  b)  support  decision-making,  as  well  as  the  definition  and  evaluation  of  Government  and  public  sector  policies; 
c) are submitted to international organisations for the purpose of complying with Greece’s obligations; and d) concern the 
general public or specific categories of users of statistics within Greece or abroad. 
Council  Regulation  (EC) No  2533/98  of  23  November  1998 concerning  the  collection  of  statistical  information  by  the 
European Central Bank (OJ L 318, 27.11.1998, p. 8). 

2 

 
                                                 
explanatory  memorandum  of  the  draft  law  takes  account  of  these  complementary  regimes  by 

expressly  stating  that  the  distinct  institutional  framework  governing  the  collection  of  statistical 

information  by  the  ECB,  assisted  by  the  Bank  of  Greece,  within  its  fields  of  competence,  is  not 

affected  by  the  draft  law  in  any  way.  The  ECB  strongly  recommends  including  in  the  draft  law 

itself,  and  ideally  in  its  Article 1,  an  explicit  statement  that  the  draft  law  is  without  prejudice  to 

Article 5  of  the  Statute  of  the  European  System  of  Central  Banks  and  of  the  European  Central 

Bank. The ECB also strongly recommends that it should be clear in the draft law that, as a member 

of the European System of Central Banks (ESCB), the Bank of Greece has a duty to cooperate with 

the ECB and other Eurosystem central banks on statistical matters and to compile official statistics. 

Such a clarification would be welcome to the extent that the Bank of Greece may also be entrusted 
with the compilation of certain official statistics8 in the context of the HSS9. 

2.3  Furthermore, given the complementary regimes for the production of European statistics, ensuring 

effective  cooperation  between  the  Bank  of  Greece,  as  a  producer  of  European  Statistics  under 

Regulation (EC) No 2533/98, and the HSS entities is very important for cost-effectiveness and, in 

particular,  for  the  quality  of  the  statistics.  The  ECB  would  favour  a  formalisation  of  such 

cooperation  either  by  means  of  the  draft  law  or  by  any  other  means  that  the  relevant  national 

authorities deem appropriate. In addition, for the purposes of such cooperation the ECB emphasises 

the  importance  of  ensuring  that  a  national  statistical  system  should  allow  for  the  transmission  of 

confidential  data  to  ESCB  members,  in  accordance  with  Regulation  (EC)  No  223/2009  and 

Regulation (EC) No 2533/98, while preserving strict confidentiality safeguards.  

3. 

HSS entities’ tasks, statistical principles and quality criteria 

3.1   Without prejudice to the general observations made above, the ECB notes that, for the purpose of 

ensuring that the HSS entities can adequately perform their tasks, Articles 1(4) and (5) of the draft 

law  provide  for  the  application  of  the  statistical  principles  and  quality  criteria  set  out  in 

Regulation (EC)  No 223/2009.  While  the  ECB  welcomes  the  aim  of  the  Greek  legislator  to 

optimise  the  proposed  national  statistical  system,  among  other  things  by  aligning  it  with  the 

European Statistical System framework, it makes the following specific observations.  

3.2  HSS entities’ tasks 

The draft law could benefit from a clearer formulation of the responsibilities and duties of HSTAT 

and  the  other  HSS  entities.  For  example,  Article  1(2)  of  the  draft  law  stipulates  that  the  HSS 

entities will be HSTAT and the other entities in the list of HSS entities determined by a decision of 

HSTAT’s Board in accordance with Article 10(8). At the same time, Article 4(3)(b) of the draft law 

seems to exclude HSTAT from the definition of HSS entities, in particular if read in conjunction 

8  
9  

See Article 55C of the Bank of Greece’s Statute. 
Article 1(2) of the draft law stipulates that the HSS entities will comprise the HSTAT and the other HSS entities, which 
have  the  responsibility  for  or  obligation  to  collect  data  and  which  will  be  included  in  the  list  of  HSS  entities  under 
Article 10(8) of the draft law. At the same time Article 10(5) of the draft law refers to the list of ‘national authorities’ 
within the meaning of Article 5(2) of Regulation (EC) No 223/2009, which includes the Bank of Greece. 

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with  Article 4(3)(a)  thereof,  as  it  states  that  the  Hellenic  Statistical  Programme  is  to  be 

implemented by the HSS entities ‘or HSTAT’. In the light of the above, the ECB recommends the 

use of consistent formulations for, and a clearer delineation of, the responsibilities assigned to HSS 

entities,  since  this  could  contribute  to  ensuring  the  necessary  quality  of  statistics,  as  also 

highlighted in the following paragraphs. The ECB also notes that there is scope for enhancing the 
consistency of the use of terminology in the draft law10.  

3.3 

Independence of HSTAT 

3.3.1  The  draft  law  establishes  HSTAT  as  an  independent  authority  and  ensures  that  the  HSS  entities 

comply with the quality criteria set out in Article 12 of Regulation (EC) No 223/2009. The ECB 

notes that under the draft law HSTAT has functional independence and administrative and financial 

autonomy, not being subject to control by any government body or other administrative authority 
but, rather, being supervised by the Hellenic Parliament11. To the extent that the concept and scope 

of supervision cannot  be  clearly derived from  the  draft law,  for the  purposes  of safeguarding the 

independent  nature  of  HSTAT  and  avoiding  any  misunderstanding,  the  ECB  would  welcome  the 

use  of  the  formulation  ‘is  accountable  to’  rather  than  ‘supervised  by’  in  Article  9(2)  of  the  draft 

law.  Furthermore,  the  ECB  recommends  specifying  in  Article  9  of  the  draft  law  how  such 

accountability towards the Hellenic Parliament will be carried out.    

3.3.2  HSTAT  will  be  governed  by  its  President  and  Board.  Under  Article 12  of  the  draft  law,  the 

composition of HSTAT’s Board comprises seven members, each appointed by the Speaker of the 

Hellenic  Parliament  for  a  four-year  term  of  office,  renewable  once.  The  Board  will  comprise: 

(i) the  HSTAT  president  as  its  chairman  to  be  selected  by  the  Conference  of  Presidents  of  the 

Hellenic  Parliament;  (ii)  four  members,  including  the  vice-chairman,  also  to  be  selected  by  the 

Conference of Presidents of the Hellenic Parliament; (iii) one representative from the Ministry of 

Finance, to be nominated by the Minister of Finance; and (iv) one member to be nominated by the 

HSTAT’s staff union. To further enhance HSTAT’s independence, the ECB recommends that the 

chairman and members of HSTAT’s Board should be appointed for longer terms of office and that 

the  terms  of  office  for  different  Board  members  should  be  staggered,  with  a  view  to  ensuring 

continuity  in  policymaking.  Furthermore,  the  use  of  the  term  ‘representative’  in  relation  to  the 

Board member nominated by the Minister of Finance seems to be incompatible with Article 15(1) 

of  the  draft  law,  on  the  safeguards  of  HSTAT’s  independence,  according  to  which  the  chairman 

and members of HSTAT’s Board enjoy personal independence in the performance of their duties 

and are bound only by the law and their consciences. Moreover, under the same Article, HSTAT’s 

President must be employed by HSTAT on a full-time basis, while the other Board members may 

not  hold  any  remunerated  or  non-remunerated  public  office  or  engage  in  any  other  professional 

activities  of  a  business  or  other  nature,  which  are  incompatible  with  their  status  and  duties  as 

10  

11  

See  e.g.  the  different  terms  used  in  Articles  6(3)  and  7(1)  of  the  Greek  version  of  the  draft  law  in  relation  to  the 
identification  of  reporting  agents  in  the  context  of  statistical  confidentiality;  these  terms  are  not  in  line  with  the  term 
introduced in Article 1(3) of the draft law for the same concept. 
See Articles 9(1) and (2) of the draft law. 

4 

                                                 
members of HSTAT’s Board. While the ECB welcomes the independence safeguards in Article 15, 

it is  of the  view that the draft law  leaves  broad  discretion  as to  which types  of  activities  may be 
considered incompatible with such persons’ status and duties12 and recommends that also the vice-

chairman  of  HSTAT  should  be  employed  by  HSTAT  on  a  full-time  basis.  Furthermore,  under 

Article  15(2)  of  the  draft  law,  the  chairman  and  members  of  the  Board  may  be  dismissed  by  a 

decision of the body appointing them on serious grounds relating to the performance of their duties 

or for failure to perform their duties due to illness or disability. The ECB recommends that these 

serious grounds should be further specified in the draft law.   

3.3.3  Article  16  of  the  draft  law  provides  for  a  multitude  of  income  sources  for  HSTAT,  including 
Union,  public  and  private  funds13.  Article  4  of  the  draft  law,  on  the  production  of  statistics, 

stipulates  that  the  production  of  statistics  that  need  to  be  compiled  is  weighed  against  the 

availability  of  human  and  financial  resources.  The  ECB  emphasises  the  importance  of  the 

availability of adequate resources  at  all times for  the  appropriate fulfilment  of HSTAT’s tasks in 

line  with  Union  legal  obligations.  In  this  respect,  the  ECB  draws  the  consulting  authority’s 

attention to the need to ensure the adequacy of regular and secure resources. The need to ensure the 

availability  of  resources  is  also  underlined  by  the  European  Statistics  Code  of  Practice,  which 

stipulates that staff, financial and computing resources, adequate both in magnitude and in quality, 

should be available to meet European statistics needs.  

3.4  Quality and confidentiality of statistics under the HSS  

3.4.1  Article 5(1) of the draft law stipulates that, in order to safeguard the quality of the HSS’s results, 

HSS entities must develop, produce and disseminate statistics on the basis of uniform standards and 

harmonised methods, applying the evaluation criteria of Article 1(5) of the draft law, which in turn 

refers to the quality benchmarks set out in Article 12 of Regulation (EC) No 223/2009. The ECB 

emphasises the importance of the high quality of statistics and recommends that the ‘certification’ 

procedure, which is referred to in Articles 1(6) and 10(9) of the draft law and which will be set out 

in detail in the HSTAT’s Rules of Operation and  Administration, should allow for thorough data 

validation to ensure the quality of the statistics produced. In view of the above, the ECB draws the 

consulting  authority’s  attention  to  the  need  for  HSS  entities  to  provide  HSTAT  with  all  relevant 

statistical information required for the purposes of data validation as promptly as possible. In this 

respect,  and  in  order  to  provide  a  practical  safeguard  for  ensuring  compliance  with  the 

abovementioned principles and quality standards, the ECB recommends that, without prejudice to 

Article  5(2)  of  the  draft  law,  each  HSS  entity  should  submit  a  quality  report  to  HSTAT  at  least 

once a year. As a minimum, such quality reports should address the completeness of the data, their 

compliance  with  relevant  definitions  and/or  accounting  rules,  their  internal  consistency,  their 

timeliness and their reliability. HSS entities should also properly document any cases of reporting 

12  

13  

The  explanatory  memorandum  states  that  this  provision  is  intended  to  prevent  cases  of  e.g.  the  engagement  of  Board 
members  in  companies  conducting  public  opinion  surveys.  However,  the  current  formulation  of  the  draft  law  remains 
unclear as to the scope of activities. 
E.g. State budget funds, own asset management, sales of HSTAT’s statistical products to third parties, grants, donations 
and other contributions from public or private sector entities, administrative fines etc. 

5 

                                                 
agents’  non-compliance  with  their  obligations  to  provide  the  required  data,  as  well  as  any  major 

data revisions. Moreover, the quality reports should provide HSTAT with a detailed inventory of 

the  methods,  procedures  and  sources  used  to  collect  data  and  produce  statistics.  The  ECB  would 

also welcome a clarification of the access rights provided for in the first sentence of Article 2(3) of 

the  draft  law.  In  particular,  HSTAT’s  access  rights  should  not  be  limited  to  ‘statistics’,  as  the 

current formulation suggests; HSTAT should also have access to primary information.  

3.4.2  On  the  confidentiality  of  statistics,  the  ECB  notes  that  under  Article  7(2)  of  the  draft  law  HSS 

entities  may  refuse  to  transmit  confidential  data  if  such  data  relate  to  national  defence,  State 

security  and  Greece’s  international  relations.  This  provision  is  not  in  line  with  Regulation  (EC) 

No 223/2009 or Council Regulation (EC) No 479/2009 of 25 May 2009 on the application of the 

Protocol  on  the  excessive  deficit  procedure  annexed  to  the  Treaty  establishing  the  European 
Community14.  Against  this  background,  arrangements  should  be  put  in  place  that  allow  for  the 

proper  recording  of  all  government  expenditure,  including  military  expenditure,  in  the  national 

accounts without compromising secret State information. 

4. 

Statistics used for administrative purposes 

4.1 

It is also important to ensure the highest quality of statistics used for administrative purposes, such 

as the statistics on the  Harmonized Index  for Consumer Prices (HICP)  and the Excessive  Deficit 

Procedure  (EDP).  In  particular,  the  credibility  of  budgetary  surveillance  in  the  European  Union 

and,  ultimately,  as  stated  above,  the  credibility  and  the  sound  functioning  of  monetary  union, 

depend on the reliable and timely compilation of EDP statistics, independently of political cycles. 

Although the draft law aims to ensure the independence of HSTAT, the independence of the other 

HSS entities under the draft law is not ensured. Indeed, the current formulation of Article 2(3) of 

the  draft  law  seems  to  allow,  in  practice,  one  or  more  of  these  HSS  entities  in  the  private  or  the 

public  sector  to  be  entrusted  with  the  compilation  of  EDP  statistics.  However,  the  ECB 

recommends  that  the  draft  law  should  expressly  stipulate  that  HSTAT  is  responsible  for  the 

compilation  of  EDP  statistics,  and  that  the  other  HSS  entities  should  provide  HSTAT  with  the 

administrative source data necessary for such compilation.  

4.2  Furthermore,  the  ECB  recommends  that  the  other  HSS  entities  should  provide  HSTAT  with  all 

information  necessary  for  verifying  the  plausibility  of  the  source  data  feeding  into  the  EDP 

statistics as promptly as possible. Such verification should be made by comparing these source data 

14  

OJ L 145, 10.6.2009, p. 1. Article 8(2) of Regulation (EC) No 479/2009 stipulates that: ‘Member States shall provide the 
Commission (Eurostat), as promptly as possible, with the relevant statistical information requested for the needs of data 
quality  assessment,  without  prejudice  to  the  provisions  relating  to  the  statistical  confidentiality  in  Council 
Regulation (EC)  322/97’.  Article  21(1)  of  Regulation  223/2009,  which  has  replaced  Regulation  (EC)  No  322/97, 
stipulates that the transmission of confidential data from an ESS authority, as referred to in Article 4 of that Regulation, 
that  has  collected  the  data  to  another  ESS  authority  may  take  place  if  this  information  is  necessary  for  the  efficient 
development, production and dissemination of European statistics, and Article 21(4) further specifies that national rules 
on statistical confidentiality may not be invoked to prevent the transfer of confidential data, where an act of the European 
Parliament  and  of  the  Council  in  accordance  with  Article  294  of  the  Treaty  provides  for  the  transmission  of  the  data. 
Article  8(2)  of  Regulation  (EC)  No  479/2009  is  such  a  provision  on  the  transmission  of  confidential  information  for 
quality assessment and improvement purposes. 

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with monetary and financial statistics collected by the Bank of  Greece. The quality of the source 

data would also be improved by the establishment of an independent budget office to monitor the 
execution of the budget, as envisaged in the updated Hellenic Stability and Growth Programme15. 

The ECB recommends that HSTAT, the Bank of Greece and the relevant HSS entities should draw 

up  a  memorandum  of  understanding  to  define  their  various  responsibilities  in  the  field  of  EDP 

statistics. 

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

Done at Frankfurt am Main, 23 February 2010. 

[signed] 

The President of the ECB 

Jean-Claude TRICHET 

15  

See Annex D of the Updated Hellenic Stability and Growth Programme (January 2010), available on the website of the 
Ministry of Finance (www.mnec.gr). 

7