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: 2024-09-03
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

EN 

  EN 

   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 3.9.2024  COM(2024) 390 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 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.  INTRODUCTION 

1.1. 

Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 on European statistics 

This  is  the  fourth  report  drawn  up  in  accordance  with  Regulation  (EC)  No  223/2009  on 
European statistics1, in particular Article 11(4), which set outs 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  2  years 
thereafter.’ 

The first report was published in 20182, the second in 20203 and the third in 20224. 

Commitment on Confidence in Statistics 

The Commitments on Confidence in Statistics (the ‘Commitments’) were established as part 
of the objective to strengthen the framework for quality management in the field of statistics. 
They were first presented in a Commission Communication in 20115. The concept serves as a 
mechanism  to  involve  governments  continuously  in  taking  responsibility  for  their  country's 
compliance with the European Statistics Code of Practice (‘the Code of Practice’)6. 

The  Code  of  Practice  created  the  benchmark  for  developing,  producing  and  distributing 
European  statistics.  It  encompasses  16  principles  that  cover  the  institutional  framework, 
statistical  processes  and  output.  Its  major  objective  is  to  ensure  that  the  statistics  produced 
within  the  European  Statistical  System  do  not  only  correspond  to  quality  criteria,  amongst 
which can be mentioned relevance, timeliness and accuracy, but also satisfy the principles of 
professional independence, impartiality and objectivity.  

The  Commitments  are  an  important  link  between  the  Code  of  Practice  and  Member  State 
governments.  

According  to  Article  11(3)  of  Regulation  (EC)  No  223/2009,  the  Commitments  are 
instruments 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.’  

1 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). 
2 COM(2018) 516 final.  
3 COM/2020/278 final.   
4 COM/2022/333 final.  
5 COM (2011) 211 final.  
6 European Statistics Code of Practice – revised edition 2017 - Products Catalogues - Eurostat (europa.eu).  

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Recital  17  of  the  amending  Regulation,  (EU)  No  2015/7597,  states  that  ‘The  quality  of 
European statistics could be strengthened and the confidence of users reinforced, by involving 
national  governments  in  the  responsibility  of  applying  the  European  Statistics  Code  of 
Practice  (the  Code  of  Practice).  To  that  end,  a  ‘Commitment  on  Confidence  in  Statistics’ 
(Commitment)  by  a  Member  State,  taking  account  of  national  specificities,  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. The Commitment, which should be 
updated  as  necessary,  could  include  national  high  quality  assurance  frameworks,  including 
self-assessments, improvement actions and monitoring mechanisms.’ 

European Statistical System (ESS) peer reviews  

The  European  Statistical  System  (ESS),  in  which  Eurostat  and  the  national  statistical 
authorities  of  the  EU  Member  States  and  EFTA  countries  cooperate,  aims  to  produce  high-
quality European statistics. To guarantee good quality statistics, the ESS members  created a 
common  quality  framework  with  the  Code  of  Practice  as  its  cornerstone.  Compliance  by 
national  statistical  authorities  with  the  full  set  of  principles  and  indicators  of  the  Code  of 
Practice plays a major part in ensuring the quality of European statistics. This compliance is 
periodically assessed through ESS peer reviews.  

The  ESS  peer  reviews  follow  a  detailed  methodology  and  involve  evidence-based  self-
assessments,  country  visits  and  peer-review  reports  drawn  up  by  expert  teams.  The  reports 
include  recommendations  for  improvement  and  are  followed  up  by  action  plans  for 
improvement, which Eurostat monitor annually. Previous peer reviews were carried out from 
2006 to 2008, and from 2013 to 2015. The third round of peer reviews, covering the 2021 to 
2023  period,  has  been  finalised  and  the  Commission  presented  its  results  in  a  final  report8. 
The individual peer-review reports can be found on Eurostat´s website9.  

In  that  regard,  the  Commitments  involving  governments  have  a  complementary  role  to  the 
ESS peer reviews involving national statistical authorities. 

2. 

OVERVIEW  OF  COMMITMENTS  ON  CONFIDENCE  AND  REPORTS  BY  MEMBER 
STATES 

2.1. 

General Provisions 

According  to  Article  11  of  Regulation  (EC)  No  223/2009,  Member  States  and  the 
Commission  must  take  all  the  necessary  measures  to  maintain  confidence  in  European 
statistics.  To  this  effect,  ´Commitments  on  Confidence  in  Statistics´  shall  further  aim  to 
ensure public trust in European statistics. In the absence of the publication of a Commitment, 
a Member State is required to submit to the Commission and make public a progress report on 
the implementation of the Code of Practice and, where applicable, on the efforts undertaken 
towards the establishment of a Commitment.  

The  Commission  is  required  to  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.   

7 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). 
8 Register of Commission Documents - SWD(2024)136 (europa.eu). 
9 Current round (2021-2023) - Eurostat (europa.eu).  

2 

 
 
 
 
2.2. 

Form of the Commitment 

The Regulation does not set rules on what form the Commitment should take. However, the 
objective  of  raising  public  trust  by  means  of  governmental  commitment  to  provide  the 
conditions for high-quality statistics must be achieved. 

As  was  presented  in  the  first  report10,  most  Member  States  consider  certain  parts  of  their 
respective legislation to constitute the Commitment. However, over the years, the number of 
Member States which have drawn up ‘stand-alone’ Commitments has increased. This report 
presents a general overview of the current situation, including situations covered in previous 
reports and new developments.  

The  report  is  based  exclusively  on  national  contributions  received  for  the  purpose  of  this 
report.  Eurostat  invited  the  Member  States  to  report  on  the  period  between  1  January  2022 
and 31 December 2023.  

National laws constituting the Commitment 

The  Member  States  that  consider  certain  parts  of  their  national  law  to  constitute  the 
Commitment  have  referred  to  the  legal  provisions  that  are  relevant  for  improving  or 
maintaining  the  conditions  for  the  implementation  of  the  Code  of  Practice  and  reported  on 
relevant developments.  

Austria:  Statistics  Austria  considers  the  Commitment  to  be  constituted  by  national  law, 
namely by the Federal Statistics Act. Austria reported that there were no major changes since 
the previous reporting period.  

Croatia: As also mentioned in the report sent by the Croatian Bureau of Statistics (CBS) to 
Eurostat, the Official Statistics Act that entered into force in 2020 provides for the legal basis 
for  the  Commitment  by  giving  the  national  statistical  institute,  the  CBS,  the  professional 
independence and support to maintain and improve the conditions for implementing the Code 
of Practice. The CBS has overall responsibility for coordinating and developing the national 
statistical  system.  Other  producers  of  official  statistics  are  responsible  for  developing, 
producing  and  disseminating  official  statistics  as  part  of  their  work.  The  CBS  strives  to 
provide  timely  statistical  data  that  will  meet  the  users’  needs.  To  achieve  this,  the  CBS 
conducted the User Satisfaction Survey at the end of 2022. The survey results are used to help 
with future planning of the CBS’s activities.  

Czechia: The Commitment in Czechia11 was published on 28 February 2018 on the national 
statistical  authority’s  website.  The  Commitment  sums  up  the  respective  provisions  of 
Regulation (EC) No 223/2009, and states, as it was confirmed in the report sent by the Czech 
Statistical Office (CZSO) to Eurostat, that it is already fulfilled by valid legislation setting out 
the activities of the Czech statistical service. It first refers to the act No 89/1995 on the state 
statistical  service,  as  well  as  the  Constitution  or  the  rules  of  procedure  of  the  government. 
This  system  of  regulations  provides  the  conditions  necessary  to  fulfil  all  principles  of  the 
European  Statistics  Code  of  Practice  concerning  the  institutional  environment.  The  CZSO 
reported on further developments including improvements in quality management.  

10 COM(2018) 516 final. 
11 Summary of Czech legislation in the context of the Commitment on Confidence on the website of the Czech 
Statistical Office.  

3 

 
 
 
Germany: The Commitment is considered to be constituted by national law. As the German 
Federal Statistical Office (FSO) stated in its report to Eurostat, Germany has a good level of 
compliance with the Code of Practice, confirmed also by the peer-review report. At the same 
time, the peer review identified areas with room for improvement and appropriate measures 
were  recommended  in  the  report.  The  most  important  actions  cover  cooperation  and 
coordination  within  the  German  statistical  system,  introducing  uniform  quality  standards, 
programme planning and innovation. Furthermore, the report sent to Eurostat highlights that 
the addition of new register-related components to the FSO’s business areas represents good 
progress. 

Estonia:  The Commitment  is  laid down in  the Official Statistics Act,  specifically in  Article 
7(1), according to which official statistics are produced in line with statistical principles and 
quality criteria included in Regulation (EC) No 223/2009. The Official Statistics Act entered 
into force in August 2010 and the report sent to Eurostat confirmed that no major amendments 
have been made since then.  

Finland: The Finnish Commitment on Confidence is based on national statistics legislation. 
The  report  sent  to  Eurostat  on  the  current  reporting  period  highlights  that  the  Statistics 
Finland Act was recently amended. One of these amendments included assigning a new task 
to  Statistics Finland, namely collecting and providing micro data for research  and statistical 
analysis purposes. The revised Act also clarifies the rules that apply when providing access to 
data for research and analysis.  

France:  According  to  the  French  National  Statistical  Institute,  the  Annual  Report  of  the 
Official Statistics Authority12 monitors the compliance with the Code of Practice and is made 
public in both French and English versions. The report sent to Eurostat does not refer to any 
stand-alone Commitment by the French government.  

Hungary: As also mentioned in the report sent to Eurostat on the current reporting period, the 
Commitments  drawn  up  by  the  Hungarian  government  have  been  laid  down  in  the  national 
law  on  statistics  that  entered  into  force  on  1 January 2017.  There  have  been  no  major 
amendments since then.  

Italy: There is no stand-alone Commitment established in Italy. The Italian National Institute 
of Statistics (ISTAT) reported about recent developments in the application of the principles 
of  the  Code  of  Practice.  ISTAT  approved  its  new  quality  policy  which  provides  for  the 
compliance  of  traditional  processes,  such  as  surveys,  to  be  evaluated  with  sound 
methodologies and practices. To this end, a checklist was introduced to all ISTAT traditional 
processes in  the period  between October 2022  and January 2023. Each  part of the checklist 
serves  to  identify  weaknesses  and  therefore  to  tailor  the  improvement  actions  to  be 
implemented. Audits are scheduled within a 3-year period, as an updated checklist should be 
drawn up every 3 years.  

Latvia: The Commitment is established in national law  – the Law on Statistics. There have 
been no major changes in the law during this reporting period.  

Lithuania:  The  Commitment  is  established  in  national  law.  The  report  about  the  current 
reporting  period  highlights  some  recent  developments.  On  1 January 2023,  a  new  law  on 
official  statistics  and  state  data  governance  entered  into  force,  expanding  the  role  and 
functions of Statistics Lithuania. According to the new law, Statistics Lithuania has become a 

12 Annual Report of the Official Statistics Authority 2022 .  

4 

 
 
 
State Data Agency, responsible not only for producing official statistics but also for state data 
governance.  The  new  law  retains  the  obligation  to  implement  the  Code  of  Practice  in  the 
preparation of official statistics.  

Luxembourg:  As  confirmed  also  by  the  report  sent  to  Eurostat,  Luxembourg  considers  the 
Commitment to be constituted by the national law. It has no changes to report for the period 
from 1 January 2022 to 31 December 2023. 

Netherlands:  The  Commitment  is  established  in  national  law.  No  major  amendment  to  the 
national law was reported. Since the previous peer review, several improvements have been 
made, in particular those related to stabilising the institutional environment and strengthening 
quality  management  and  assurance.  Further  reforms  were  carried  out  in  the  areas  of  human 
resources  and  performance  measurement.  Statistics  Netherlands  has  started  working  on  the 
recommendations that resulted from the most recent peer review. 

Norway:  The  commitment  to  the  principles  in  the  Code  of  Practice  is  set  out  in  the 
Norwegian  Statistics  Act,  that  entered  into  force  in  January  2021.  The  first  two  reports  on 
compliance  with  the  quality  principles  in  the  Statistics  Act  and  the  Code  of  Practice  were 
published on the Statistics Norway website13. The report sent to Eurostat mentions the action 
plan for improvement following the peer review of the Norwegian statistical system.  

Poland: The report sent by Statistics Poland to Eurostat confirmed that the national law, more 
precisely,  the  Act  of  29 June  1995  on  Official  Statistics,  is  considered  as  the  Polish 
Commitment. Since the last reporting there has been no revision of the provisions in the Act 
on Official Statistics, which implements the principles of the Code of Practice. 

Portugal: As also mentioned in the report sent to Eurostat, the Commitment is established in 
national law, namely the Decree-Law No 136/2012. This Decree-Law is understood as being 
the  political  commitment  by  the  Portuguese  government.  The  Decree-Law  contains 
provisions, among  other things, to improve or maintain  the conditions  for implementing the 
Code  of  Practice,  and  to  allocate  the  necessary  budget  and  the  powers  to  carry  out  all 
activities provided for under the law.  

Slovakia:  The  report  sent  to  Eurostat  confirmed  that  no  stand-alone  Commitment  was 
the  current  reporting  period  several  normative,  organisational  and 
established.  In 
methodological documents were adopted and implemented by the national statistical system, 
as part of the implementation of the Code of Practice14.  

Spain:  The  report  sent  to  Eurostat  describes  several  steps  taken  in  2022-2023  related  to 
improved implementation of the Code of Practice. The Public Statistical Law was amended, 
by  which  the  commitment  to  comply  with  the  Code  of  Practice  is  extended  to  statistical 
production under the national statistical plan, not limited to the European statistical plan. The 
same  law  recognised  the  Spanish  National  Statistics  Institute  as  the  national  statistical 
authority.  

‘Stand-alone’ Commitments on Confidence 

The  ‘stand-alone’  Commitments  that  have  been  drawn  up  take  different  forms,  each  one 
reflecting the specific features of the national statistical system concerned. 

13 Report on the quality of official statistics, 2022 and Report on the quality of official statistics, 2023.  
14 See also the considerations on the amendments to the Competence Act widening the power of the Government 
to appoint and dismiss heads of certain independent bodies, in the Country Chapter on the rule of law situation in 
Slovakia (SWD(2024) 825 of 24 July 2024). 

5 

 
 
 
The first three Commission reports from 2018, 2020 and 2022 on the Commitments presented 
the following Member States’ ‘stand-alone’ Commitments. 

Belgium: On 31 May 2017, the Belgian Commitment on Confidence15 was approved by the 
Consultation  Committee,  where  the  federal  government  and  the  governments  of  the  regions 
and communities are represented, and subsequently published on the websites of the Belgian 
federal  statistical  institute  and  the  regional  statistical  authorities.  Progress  was  made  in 
implementing the Commitment as part of the improvement actions of the third round of peer 
reviews, carried out in 2022 and 2023. The report sent to Eurostat highlighted achievements 
made  regarding  coordination,  cooperation  and  adequacy  of  resources.  Furthermore,  a 
dissemination and communication strategy was developed, tailored to different users.  

Bulgaria: In its report sent to Eurostat, the National Statistical Institute confirmed its previous 
report stating that on 8 December 2021 the Bulgarian government signed the Commitment16. 
The  government  made  commitments  to,  among  other  things:  (i)  provide  appropriate 
conditions for developing, producing and disseminating statistics; (ii) guarantee the rights and 
obligations of the President of the National Statistical Institute; (iii) give sufficient resources 
to  improve  and  maintain  the  quality  of  official  statistics;  and  (iv)  ensure  access  to 
administrative and other data sources for the National Statistical Institute.  

Cyprus:  The  Commitment  was  approved  by  the  council  of  ministers  in  201817.  The 
Commitment  was  published  along  with  a  citizen’s  summary.  The  report  sent  to  Eurostat 
explained that the new Official Statistics Law of 2021 (Law No. 25(I)/2021) contains explicit 
references  to  the statistical  principles (including professional  independence, impartiality  and 
objectivity),  the  quality  criteria  and  the  implementation  of  the  Code  of  Practice  to  ensure 
public trust in statistics. 

Greece:  The  Greek  Commitment18  was  signed  on  29 February 2012  by  the  Greek  Prime 
Minister and the Member of the European Commission responsible for taxation and customs 
union, audit and anti-fraud. It is available on the Hellenic Statistical Authority’s website. As 
also reported, there have been no further developments since then. This Commitment is still in 
force and applicable.  

Iceland: A ‘stand-alone’ Commitment was published in November 201919. The report sent to 
Eurostat by Statistics Iceland underlined that the text on the Commitment was inserted in the 
documents of the budget plan 2020-2024 and approved by the Parliament. The Commitment 
reaffirms  that  the  credibility  of  public  statistics  is  one  of  the  prerequisites  for  trust  in 
economic and social statistics used for policy making and to assess the impact of government 
decisions  in  a  neutral  way.  The  Commitment  reaffirms  professional  independence  and  the 
working environment needed to enforce rules to ensure that Statistics Iceland can implement 
new projects, collect data, and process and disseminate official statistics.  

Ireland:  In  2017,  the  government  of  Ireland  adopted  the  Commitment20.  In  doing  so  the 
government  reconfirmed  its  commitment  to:  (i) guarantee  the  independence  of  the  Central 

15 Commitment on Confidence of the Belgian governmenthttps://statbel.fgov.be/en/about-
statbel/quality/commitment-confidence (available in English, French, German and Dutch).  
16 Commitment on Confidence of the Bulgarian government.  
17 Commitment on Confidence of the Cypriot government; Council of Ministers Decision no. 85.964.  
18 Commitment on Confidence of the Greek government. 
19 Commitment on Confidence of the Icelandic government (available in Icelandic).  
20 Commitment on Confidence of the Irish government (available only in English).  

6 

 
 
 
 
Statistical  Office  (CSO);  (ii)  support  the  CSO  in  ensuring  compliance  with  the  Code  of 
Practice; and (iii) help develop the broader Irish Statistical System under the CSO’s direction. 
As also mentioned in the report that the CSO sent to Eurostat, the Commitment approved by 
the government is a further declaration of support for the existing laws and for those policies 
and practices that the CSO established to meet its obligations under the Code of Practice. 

then 

the  government continued 

Malta:  In  Malta,  the  Commitment  was  signed  by  the  Prime  Minister  on  17 May 201821. As 
also outlined in the report that the Maltese National Statistics Office (NSO) sent to Eurostat, 
to  fully  observe the  principle of  professional 
since 
independence of the NSO. Moreover, to  further  strengthen its independence in  line with  the 
Commitment,  the  NSO  has  been  working  on  a  new  act  that  will  repeal  the  current  Malta 
Statistics  Authority  Act.  All  the  changes  being  proposed  aim  to  streamline  statistical 
processes to make the production of statistics more robust, efficient, transparent and timely. 

Romania:  The  Romanian  Commitment  on  Confidence  was  adopted  by  the  Romanian 
government  at  its  meeting  of  9 June 201722.  As  explained  in  the  report  that  the  Romanian 
National  Institute  of  Statistics  sent  to  Eurostat,  the  salaries  of  employees  of  the  national 
statistical system have been improved and dialogues with key stakeholders have continued to 
boost confidence regarding statistics.  

Slovenia:  The  Slovenian  government  adopted  the  Commitment  on  5 January 201723.  It  was 
subsequently published, together with the corresponding citizen’s summary on the Statistical 
Office’s  website.  The  report  sent  to  Eurostat  did  not  include  further  developments  in  this 
regard.  

Sweden: The Commitment was presented in the Swedish government’s budget bill for 2017.24 
Subsequently, it was also published on the website of the Swedish Statistical Office (SCB). -
Furthermore, the SCB reports annually on quality requirements in statistics. As illustrated in 
the report sent to Eurostat by the SCB, the results are mainly positive in the current reporting 
period with some areas identified where there is room for further improvement.  

It is also worth mentioning that, although outside of the ESS, three candidate countries also 
formally  adopted  Commitments:  Albania  on  10 November 2017,  Montenegro  on 
22 February 2018 and North Macedonia on 17 October 2018. 

Furthermore, the Commission was informed about the following developments that occurred 
outside the current reporting period: 

Liechtenstein: As also informed by the report sent to Eurostat by the Statistical Authority, the 
government  of  Liechtenstein  confirmed  on  27 February 2024  its  commitment  to  protect 
independent  and  reliable  statistics,  in  line  with  Regulation  (EC)  No  223/200925.  The 
government committed itself to ensure: (i) the independence of the Statistical Authority; (ii) 
the  quality  of  official  statistics  by  implementing  international  and  European  standards  on 
statistical  data;  and  (iii)  that  adequate  and  permanent  resources  are  provided  to  ensure  the 
quality  and  relevance  of  official  statistics.  Furthermore,  the  government  committed  itself  to 

21 Commitment on Confidence of the Maltese government (available only in English).  
22 Commitment on Confidence of the Romanian government (available only in Romanian). 
23 Commitment on Confidence of the Slovenian government (available in English and Slovenian). 
24 Commitment on Confidence of the Swedish government. Published in English in Annual report 2017 of 
Official Statistics of Sweden. 
25 Commitment on Confidence of the government of Liechtenstein.  

7 

 
 
 
provide  access  for  statistical  authorities  to  administrative  data  and  ensure  the  rights  of 
respondents and statistical confidentiality.  

to  Eurostat 

Switzerland:  The  Federal  Statistical  Office  (FSO)  reported 
that  on 
24 January 2024, the Swiss Federal Council adopted and published the federal government's 
public  statistics  programme  for  the  coming  years  (2024-2027).  The  report  provides  an 
overview of the statistical objectives, priorities and activities and includes the Commitment26. 
In  the  Commitment,  the  government  confirms  it  aims  to:  (i)  observe  the  international 
principles  for  collecting,  compiling  and  disseminating  official  statistics;  (ii) guarantee  the 
professional  independence  of  the  FSO  and  other  national  authorities  (ONAs);  (iii) support 
FSO  and  ONAs  in  taking  the  necessary  measures  to  ensure  compliance  with  the  Code  of 
Practice; and (iv) further develop the federal statistical system under the FSO’s leadership of 
the FSO.  

3. 

CONCLUSION 

As stipulated in Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 on European statistics, the Commitments help 
ensure  that  there  is  public  trust  in  European  statistics  and  that  progress  is  made  in 
implementing the statistical principles contained in the Code of Practice.  

A growing number of countries publish stand-alone Commitments. This trend is welcome and 
fully  supported  by  the  Commission.  Many  Member  States  consider  their  national  law,  and 
specific  provisions  contained  within  it,  to  already  constitute  a  Commitment.  In  that  regard, 
some Member States reported that their respective national law strengthened the role of their 
national statistical institute as a central statistical authority. Permanent monitoring of relevant 
developments and adaptation to changing users’ expectations and needs are necessary to meet 
public trust and quality requirements in statistics.  

National  statistical  institutes  implement  various  means  of  quality  management  and 
performance  measurement.  It  has  been  confirmed  during  the  current  reporting  period  that 
external  evaluations  are  indispensable in  objectively  assessing  the performance of statistical 
institutes. Peer reviews remain a key instrument in that regard. They provide valuable insights 
related  to  confidence  in  statistics  from  external  stakeholders  with  relevant  knowledge  and 
experience in the field.  

Maintaining  public  trust  in  official  statistics  is  vitally  important  for  the  relevance  and 
credibility of the ESS as a whole. It also helps the EU and EU Member States’ governments 
respond  to  major  current  and  future  challenges  using  methods  based  on  objective  data  and 
facts,  underpinning  democratic  legitimacy  of  policy  decisions.  The  Commission  follows  up 
instances  where  governments  fail  to  ensure  professional  independence  of  their  respective 
National  Statistical  Institutes,  for  example  by  amending  national  law  in  a  way  that  puts  in 
doubt  its  compliance  with  the  principle  of  professional  independence,  or  by  removing  the 
Head  of  the  Institute  before  the  end  of  mandate  or  without  a  clear  justification.  The 
Commission  will  continue  monitoring  relevant  developments  and  assist  Member  States 
achieve their ambition of maintaining and improving public trust and confidence in statistics.  

26 The programme, including the Commitment on Confidence of the Swiss federal government.  

8