Commission Regulation (EU) 2015/359 of 4 March 2015 implementing Regulation (EC) No 1338/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards statistics on healthcare expenditure and financing  Text with EEA relevance

6.3.2015 EN Official Journal of the European Union L 62/6
COMMISSION REGULATION (EU) 2015/359
of 4 March 2015
implementing Regulation (EC) No 1338/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards statistics on healthcare expenditure and financing
(Text with EEA relevance)
THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION
,
Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,
Having regard to Regulation (EC) No 1338/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 December 2008 on Community statistics on public health and health and safety at work (1), and in particular Article 9(1) and Annex II, point (d), thereof,
Whereas:
(1) Regulation (EC) No 1338/2008 establishes a common framework for the systematic production of European statistics on public health and health and safety at work.
(2) Implementing measures determine the data and metadata to be supplied on healthcare expenditure and financing and the reference periods, intervals and time limits for the data provision.
(3) In accordance with Article 6(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1338/2008, a cost-benefit analysis, taking into account the benefits of the availability of data on healthcare expenditure and financing in relation to the cost of the data collections, which Member States have been conducting on a voluntary basis since 2005 according to the principles set out by the System of Health Accounts, and the burden on Member States, has been carried out. Pursuant to Article 6(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1338/2008, in 2013 and 2014, the Commission instituted pilot studies that were completed on a voluntary basis by the Member States. The Commission has discussed user needs with Member States at various meetings. The availability of EU-wide data is likely to be of great benefit for decisions relating to health and social policy.
(4) In order to ensure relevance and comparability of data, the System of Health Accounts 2011 manual (2), which was produced jointly by the Commission (Eurostat), the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the World Health Organisation (WHO) and sets out the concepts, the definitions and the methods for data processing relating to healthcare expenditure and financing, should form the basis for the detailed questionnaire and the accompanying guidelines used in the joint annual data collection exercise carried out by these three bodies.
(5) The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the European Statistical System Committee,