REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL on the ‘Commitments on Confidence in Statistics’ by Member States as required by Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 March 2009
Date: 2022-07-12
Institutions: European Commission, Eurostat
Subjects: EU Member State, EU statistics, activity report, application of EU law, confidentiality, data collection, data protection, disclosure of information, official statistics, professional secret

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   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 12.7.2022  COM(2022) 333 final  REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL on the ‘Commitments on Confidence in Statistics’ by Member States as required by Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of                     11 March 2009      
 
 
REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND TO THE 
COUNCIL 

on the ‘Commitments on Confidence in Statistics’ by Member States as required by Regulation 
(EC) No 223/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 March 2009 

1. 

1.1. 

INTRODUCTION 

Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 on European statistics 

This is the third report drawn up by the Commission in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 
223/2009 on European statistics1, and in particular Article 11(4) establishing that: 

‘The Commitments by Member States shall be monitored regularly by the Commission on the 
basis of annual reports sent by Member States and shall be updated as necessary. 

… 

The Commission shall report to the European Parliament and the Council on the published 
Commitments and, where appropriate, progress reports, by 9 June 2018 and every two years 
thereafter.’ 

The first report was published in 20182 and the second in 20203. 

1.2. 

Commitment on Confidence in Statistics 

The concept of Commitment on Confidence in Statistics (‘Commitment’) has its roots in the 
aim to improve the quality framework for statistics. It is described for the first time in a 2011  
Commission Communication4. The concept is a means to involve national governments in the 
responsibility  for  the  level  of  a  country's  compliance  with  the  European  Statistics  Code  of 
Practice (‘Code’)5.  

The Code sets the standard for developing, producing and disseminating European statistics. 
It is based on 16 principles concerning the institutional environment, statistical processes and 
outputs.  It  aims to  ensure that  European statistics  are not  only relevant,  timely and accurate 
but  also  comply  with  principles  of  professional  independence,  impartiality  and  objectivity. 
The  Commitment  establishes  a  link  between  the  Code  and  a  Member  State  government, 
which was previously missing.  

According  to  Article  11(3)  of  Regulation  (EC)  No  223/2009,  the  Commitment  is  an 
instrument that ‘shall further aim to ensure public trust in European statistics and progress in 
the  implementation  of  the  statistical  principles  contained  in  the  Code  of  Practice’,  to  be 
adopted by both Member States and the Commission.   

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Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 on European statistics of the European Parliament and of the Council of 
11 March 2009 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). 
COM (2018) 516 final: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-
content/EN/TXT/?qid=1574866259293&uri=CELEX:52018DC0516  
COM(2020) 278 final: EUR-Lex - 52020DC0278 - EN - EUR-Lex (europa.eu) 
COM (2011) 211. 
European statistics Code of Practice -revised edition 2017 

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Recital  17  of  amending  Regulation  (EU)  No  2015/7596  also  states  that  the  Commitment 
‘should include specific undertakings by the government of that Member State to improve or 
maintain the conditions for the implementation of the Code of Practice’. 

1.3. 

European Statistical System (ESS) peer reviews 

Eurostat and the national statistical authorities of all Member States and EFTA countries form 
a partnership to produce European statistics called the European Statistical System (ESS). To 
guarantee  the  quality  of  their  statistics,  the  ESS  members  created  a  common  quality 
framework  with  the  Code  as  the  cornerstone.  Besides  the  Commitments,  the  ESS  peer 
reviews, which are periodically conducted to assess members’ compliance with the Code, is 
an important instrument to ensure the implementation of the common quality framework and 
thus the quality of European statistics. 

The ESS peer reviews are conducted regularly, involving self-assessments, country visits and 
a  peer  review  report  for  each  reviewed  country  containing  recommendations  for 
improvement,  which  are  followed  up  through  improvement  actions  and  their  annual 
monitoring by Eurostat. Two previous rounds of peer reviews were carried out from 2006 to 
2008 and from 2013 to 2015. The current third round runs from 2021 to 2023. 

2. 

OVERVIEW OF COMMITMENTS ON CONFIDENCE AND COUNTRY REPORTS 

2.1. 

General provisions 

According to Article 11 of Regulation (EC) No 223/2009, Member States must establish and 
publish a Commitment, or at least send to the Commission and publish a progress report on 
the implementation of the Code and the efforts made towards establishing a Commitment.  

The Commission monitors the Commitments regularly, on the basis of annual reports sent by 
Member States. 

2.2. 

Form of the Commitment 

Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 does not set out rules on the form the Commitment should take. 
However, the Commitments must include specific policy commitments and be presented and 
drafted in a way to ensure the right conditions for high-quality statistics. 

Member  States  that  consider  certain  parts  of  their  respective  legislation  to  constitute  the 
Commitment generally refer to the specific legal provisions that are relevant for improving or 
maintaining  the  conditions  for  the  implementation  of  the  Code  and  report  on  recent 
developments.  Member  States that  have established stand-alone Commitments  have notified 
the Commission of them and made the Commitments public.  

Section  2.2.1.  below  provides  an  overview  of  existing  Commitments  for  which  significant 
developments were reported during 2020 and 2021: 

2.2.1.  National laws constituting the Commitment 
Croatia:  The  new  Official  Statistics  Act  entered  into  force  in  March  20207.  It  gives  the 
Croatian  Bureau  of  Statistics  the  professional  independence  and  the  support  it  needs  to 
maintain and improve the conditions for implementing the Code. 

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Regulation (EU) 2015/759 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2015 amending 
Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 on European statistics (OJ L 123,19.5.2015, p. 90). 
Official Gazette No 25/20 

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The provisions on the appointment and dismissal of the Director-General were improved, and 
provisions on co-operation and co-ordination within the statistical system and a new funding 
basis  were  drawn  up.  Significant  progress  was  reported  preparing  the  planned  stand-alone 
Commitment. 

Czechia:  The  Commitment  was  published  on  28  February  20188.  In  2020  and  2021,  the 
government continued to fully respect the principle of professional independence of the Czech 
Statistical  Office, which in  turn  actively promoted  professional  independence principles  and 
acted in accord with them.  

Denmark:  In  2020  and  2021,  the  National  Statistician  prepared  new  mandatory  quality 
guidelines based on the Code which include monitoring and reporting to the government and 
form the basis of a national enforcement procedure. 

Finland:  The  relevant  national  statistical  act  is  being  revised  and  will  be  presented  to 
Parliament in the course of 2022.  

France: The process to enshrine in law the professional independence of statistics progressed 
well. The Ministry for Culture has already amended the decree accordingly. On the adequacy 
of resources, a multi-year contract was signed, providing assurance that the objectives would 
be achieved and internal management improved. The ESS peer review visit already took place 
in 20219. 

Italy: The ESS peer review visit will take place  in late 2022. In 2020 and 2021, the quality 
policy of the statistical institute was updated, the quality committee was re-constituted and the 
second edition of the Italian Statistics Code of Practice was approved. Efforts in preparing a  
‘self-standing’ Commitment continued. 

Netherlands: Many steps were taken in 2020 and 2021 to improve compliance with the Code. 
For  instance,  in  2020,  Statistics  Netherlands  released  a  new  human  resources  strategy  for 
2020-2025 and acquired several ISO certifications. 

Spain: The Commitment is implemented as part of the 2021-2024 National Statistics Plan and 
the  subsequent  annual  programmes.  A  specific  website  hosted  by  the  national  statistical 
institute includes a citizens’ summary of the Commitment, with links to all multiannual plans 
and annual programmes since 201610. 

Slovakia: The ‘Act on State Statistics’11 constitutes the Commitment. It was amended in 2021 
to clarify this and to implement the principles of the Code. 

Other  Member  States  considering  the  Commitment  to  be  constituted  by  national  law  that 
reported no major changes in the last 2  years include: Austria, Germany, Estonia, Latvia, 
Lithuania, Luxembourg, Hungary, Poland and Portugal. 

2.2.2. 

Stand-alone Commitments 

Bulgaria:  

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https://www.czso.cz/csu/czso/commitment-on-confidence-in-statistics-in-the-czech-republic  
Document available on: europa.eu 
INE  -  MetodologiaYEstandares  -  Initiatives  of  promotion  and  application  of  the  European  statistics 
Code of Practice 
Article No. 540/2001 

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The  only  new  stand-alone  Commitment  since  the  last  report  was  adopted  by  the  Bulgarian 
government  in  December  202112.  It  proclaims  that  the  national  statistical  system  complies 
with  the  principles  of  the  Code,  guarantees  the  independence  of  official  statistics  and 
expresses  the  government’s  commitment  to  the  quality  of  statistical  data  produced  by  the 
national statistical institute, which will increase the credibility of Bulgarian statistics. 

Stand-alone Commitments described in previous reports:  

Greece: The Commitment13 was signed in 2012. 

Sweden: The Commitment14 was presented in the government’s budget bill for 2017. 

Slovenia: The government adopted the Commitment15 in 2017. 

Ireland: The government adopted the Commitment16 in 2017.  

Belgium: The Commitment17 was published in 2017.  

Romania: The government adopted the Commitment18 in 2017. Romania reported that in 2020 
and 2021 it took further  steps to ensure the independence of the statistical institute, allocate 
adequate  resources,  and  introduced  new  polices  and  methodologies  on  digitalisation,  data 
protection and the better use of administrative data. 

Malta: The Commitment19 was signed in 2018. 

Cyprus:  The  Commitment  was  signed  in  2018  and  published20  together  with  a  citizens' 
summary. Cyprus  reported that following  a  revision  of the national  statistics law in 2021,  a 
revision of the Commitment is planned. 

EEA, EFTA and Candidate Countries:  

Iceland, which participates in the ESS in its capacity as a European Economic Area country, 
has also established a stand-alone Commitment21. Switzerland, which participates in the ESS 
on  a  bilateral  basis,  reported  in  detail  about  the  national  measures  which  guarantee 
compliance with the Code. It is also currently clarifying how a formal Commitment could be 
produced. Three Western Balkans countries formally adopted Commitments: Albania in 2017, 

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https://nsi.bg/en/content/19201/basic-page/commitment-confidence-statistics 
https://www.statistics.gr/documents/20181/c5b9264e-815e-4f74-9955-467d14cad474  (Available  only 
in English). 
https://www.scb.se/contentassets/bbe78b2a144143c7955b165f76fb4d52/regeringens-atagande-om-att-
skapa-fortroende-for-statistiken.pdf and https://www.scb.se/om-scb/samordning-av-europeisk-statistik-
i-sverige/regeringens-atagande-om-att-skapa-fortroende-for-statistiken/ (Available only in Swedish).  
See also pages 28 and 29 of the Official Statistics of Sweden– Annual report 2017 
https://www.scb.se/contentassets/fd60f41a3abc4d2c8a791e425357ba5b/ov9999_2017a01_br_x43br180
2.pdf (Description of commitment in English). 
https://www.stat.si/StatWeb/en/News/Index/6458 (Available only in English and Slovenian). 
https://www.cso.ie/en/media/csoie/aboutus/documents/CoCS.pdf (Available only in English).  
https://statbel.fgov.be/en/about-statbel/quality/commitment-confidence  (Available  in  English,  French, 
German and Dutch).  
https://insse.ro/cms/files/eurostat/angajament_de_sprijinirea_credibilitatii_statisticii_oficiale_nationale.pdf 
(Available only in Romanian). 
https://nso.gov.mt/en/nso/Pages/Commitment-on-Confidence.aspx and 
https://msa.gov.mt/en/public_information/Pages/Commitment-on-Confidence.aspx (Available only in 
English).  
Commitment on Confidence in Statistics (cystat.gov.cy) 
https://www.stjornartidindi.is/Advert.aspx?RecordID=de627e49-2146-45cb-b1eb-969072b8deac  
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Montenegro in 2018 and North Macedonia in 2018. 

3. 

CONCLUSION 

The  establishment  of  the  Commitments  has  clearly  had  the  desired  effect  of  committing 
Member State governments to adhering to the Code and resulted in enhanced public trust in 
official  statistics  throughout  the  EU  and  in  the  European  Economic  Area  and  neighbouring 
countries. Governments have made significant improvements to their statistical legislation and 
have  publicly  issued  their  Commitments  to  guarantee  that  the  principles  of  the  Code  are 
respected. 

An increasing number of countries have  established  stand-alone Commitments or  are in  the 
process of doing so, though a majority still considers the Commitment to be inherent in their 
statistical legislation. It is clear that the preparation process takes time, in particular due to the 
need of a political decision.  

The ongoing third round of ESS peer reviews, to be carried out by 2023, is currently the most 
important  action  to  support  compliance  with  the  Code  and  demonstrate  the  high  quality  of 
European  statistics  as  well  as  to  identify  further  improvements.  The  ESS  peer  review 
mechanism can be seen as another pillar of support for the Commitments, since it periodically 
evaluates  the  self-commitment  by  the  national  statistical  authorities  to  adhere  to  the  Code. 
Given the strong link between the two processes, developments for the Commitments can be 
expected from the current round of peer reviews, and the reporting will most likely again be 
linked.   

Overall,  it  is  clear  that  awareness  of  the  importance  of  ensuring  public  trust  in  European 
statistics through better compliance with the Code’s principles is high among governments as 
well as national statistical authorities throughout the EU. It is also apparent that the conditions 
for implementing the Code are continuously being improved. 

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