Article 1 Subject matter
This Regulation establishes common rules for the collection and compilation of Community statistics on: (a) immigration to and emigration from the Member State territories, including flows from the territory of one Member State to that of another Member State and flows between a Member State and the territory of a third country; (b) the citizenship and country of birth of persons usually resident in the territory of the Member States; (c) administrative and judicial procedures and processes in the Member States relating to immigration, granting of permission to reside, citizenship, asylum and other forms of international protection and the prevention of illegal immigration.
Amendment rationale: CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL Reasons for and objectives of the proposal The Commission (Eurostat) regularly collects statistics on asylum and managed migration, in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 862/2007 of the European Parliament and of the Council 1 . This Regulation and Commission Regulation (EU) No 216/2010 2 , which defines the various categories of reasons for issuing residen ce permits, are the main instruments for mandatory statistics on asylum and managed migration. In addition, the Commission (Eurostat) collects statistics on migration-related administrative events on the basis of other legal instruments under which data co llection is mandatory. These additional statistics refer to data on EU Blue Cards (Directive 2009/50/EC 3 ), single permits (Directive 2011/98/EU 4 ), seasonal workers (Directive 2014/36/EU 5 ), intra-corporate transfers (Directive 2014/66/EU 6 ), and researchers, students, trainees, volunteers, pupils and au pairs (Directive EU 2016/801 7 ). They are provided in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 862/2007. Migration to the EU has changed radically in recent years. To address the challenges this change presents, the Commission has implemented and further developed the comprehensive migration policy presented in the European Agenda on Migration 8 , the purpose of which is to improve the way migratory flows are managed, both within and outside the EU and that includes a mix of immediate actions to respond to the influx of migrants towards Europe and structural reform around four pillars: (i) reducing the incentives for irregular migration; (ii) border management: saving lives and securing external borders; (iii) Europe's duty to protect: a strong common asylum policy; (iv) a new policy on legal migration. In this context, stakeholders have repeatedly argued that there is a need to strengthen the evidence base in these areas. The Commission has regularly acknowledged the n eed to improve the collection of statistics, particularly as regards the figures on the return of third-country nationals staying illegally in the EU 9 , and as regards children 10 . The Eurostat work programme for 2018 already prioritises responding to a new a nd more dynamic policy environment, with particular emphasis on asylum seekers and law enforcement in the migration field (including returns). It states that the existing legislation may be reviewed so as to address user priorities, including new and emerg ing requirements. The content and the quality of the European migration statistics, produced in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 862/2007, meet certain needs. However, their shortcomings are becoming increasingly apparent, especially given recent developments in migration into the EU. Further data on several new types of migration and migrants are needed, and they need to be more precise, more frequent and timelier. The existing legal framework makes no provision for such data. So far, the new needs have been dealt with entirely voluntarily (i.e. with no revision of Regulation (EC) No 862/2007), on the basis of an agreement by the relevant expert group in cooperation with the Member States. Experience with return statistics, for instance, shows that this approach is not always efficient. The implication is that Regulation (EC) No 862/2007 should be revised and improved to ensure that the relevant statistics are more readily available. Under the European Agenda on Migration, the European and national systems administering asylum and managed migration are evolving. Given the changing relevant characteristics of migration and migrants, there is a real need to improve the statistics on both in line with stakeholders' changing needs. This means making them more relevant, so as to build a stronger evidence base for policy-making and evaluation. This is why the Commission's Progress Report on the Eur opean Agenda on Migration 11 mentions a clear need for specific amendments to Regulation (EC) No 862/2007 , pointing to very precise improvements, especially as regards returns (more frequent statistics), resettlements, residence permits and migrant children. The most recent ‘ Progress Report on the Implementation of the European Agenda on Migration’ 12 , which followed it, notes that the Commission is considering amending EU rules on the collection and the regularity of statistics on migration and international p rotection so as to ensure a comprehensive overview and address some of the gaps identified in the statistics available. The issue is even more acute for EU-level policy-makers and policy evaluation. There is a clear demand to improve statistics on migratio n-related administrative events, to reflect recent and forthcoming policy changes and make the European Statistical System (ESS) 13 more receptive to changes in migration itself and related EU-level policies. There is also a need to make sure that voluntary national transmissions of data are more complete and reliable. Moreover, a mechanism for further improving migration statistics needs to be developed, to make the ESS more responsive to any further developments in migration data requirements. Failure to up grade European statistics in this domain is likely to rapidly widen existing gaps between the demand for such statistics and the supply available, especially for policy-making and evaluation, and thus to hold policymakers back from responding to future mig ration-related challenges on the basis of evidence. The aim of this proposal is to support the European Agenda on Migration by providing EU policy and decision-makers with better and timelier policy-relevant statistics, and to strengthen the response to the challenges posed by migration. In particular, the initiative will upgrade European statistics on asylum and managed migration by providing a legal basis for statistics that are currently collected voluntarily. By this token, the revision of Regulation (EC) No 862/2007 would improve completeness, accuracy, timeliness and certainty with respect to the existing voluntary transmissions of data by national authorities. In particular, it will ensure provision of statistics in areas where stakeholders have expressed clear needs - on asylum, returns (higher frequency), resettlement, residence permits and migrant children. Looking beyond these specific and immediate needs, and to support future developments in migration policy in general, the revision will provide an embedded flexibility for further improvements to migration statistics. It will also allow for responsiveness in developing new migration indicators that will better support the ‘Agenda on Migration’ priorities, by providing an evidence base. Such flexibility will improve the quality of European statistics, mainly by making them more relevant.
Revised version (Article 1 Subject matter):
This Regulation establishes common rules for the collection and compilation of Community statistics on: (a) immigration to and emigration from the Member State territories, including flows from the territory of one Member State to that of another Member State and flows between a Member State and the territory of a third country; (b) the citizenship and country of birth of persons usually resident in the territory of the Member States; (c) administrative and judicial procedures and processes in the Member States relating to immigration, granting of permission to reside, citizenship, asylum and other forms of international protection, illegal entry and stay, and returns.
Article 2 Definitions
1. For the purposes of this Regulation, the following definitions shall apply: (a) ‘usual residence’ means the place at which a person normally spends the daily period of rest, regardless of temporary absences for purposes of recreation, holiday, visits to friends and relatives, business, medical treatment or religious pilgrimage or, in default, the place of legal or registered residence; (b) ‘immigration’ means the action by which a person establishes his or her usual residence in the territory of a Member State for a period that is, or is expected to be, of at least 12 months, having previously been usually resident in another Member State or a third country; (c) ‘emigration’ means the action by which a person, having previously been usually resident in the territory of a Member State, ceases to have his or her usual residence in that Member State for a period that is, or is expected to be, of at least 12 months; (d) ‘citizenship’ means the particular legal bond between an individual and his or her State, acquired by birth or naturalisation, whether by declaration, choice, marriage or other means according to national legislation; (e) ‘country of birth’ means the country of residence (in its current borders, if the information is available) of the mother at the time of the birth or, in default, the country (in its current borders, if the information is available) in which the birth took place; (f) ‘immigrant’ means a person undertaking an immigration; (g) ‘emigrant’ means a person undertaking an emigration; (h) ‘long-term resident’ means long-term resident as defined in Article 2(b) of Council Directive 2003/109/EC of 25 November 2003 concerning the status of third-country nationals who are long-term residents ( 8 ) ; (i) ‘third-country national’ means any person who is not a citizen of the Union within the meaning of Article 17(1) of the Treaty, including stateless persons; (j) ‘application for international protection’ means application for international protection as defined in Article 2(g) of Council Directive 2004/83/EC of 29 April 2004 on minimum standards for the qualification and status of third-country nationals or stateless persons as refugees or as persons who otherwise need international protection and the content of the protection granted ( 9 ) ; (k) ‘refugee status’ means refugee status as defined in Article 2(d) of Directive 2004/83/EC; (l) ‘subsidiary protection status’ means subsidiary protection status as defined in Article 2(f) of Directive 2004/83/EC; (m) ‘family members’ means family members as defined in Article 2(i) of Council Regulation (EC) No 343/2003 of 18 February 2003 establishing the criteria and mechanisms for determining the Member State responsible for examining an asylum application lodged in one of the Member States by a third-country national ( 10 ) ; (n) ‘temporary protection’ means temporary protection as defined in Article 2(a) of Council Directive 2001/55/EC of 20 July 2001 on minimum standards for giving temporary protection in the event of a mass influx of displaced persons and on measures promoting a balance of efforts between Member States in receiving such persons and bearing the consequences thereof ( 11 ) ; (o) ‘unaccompanied minor’ means an unaccompanied minor as defined in Article 2(i) of Directive 2004/83/EC; (p) ‘external borders’ means external borders as defined in Article 2(2) of Regulation (EC) No 562/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 March 2006 establishing a Community Code on the rules governing the movement of persons across borders (Schengen Borders Code) ( 12 ) ; (q) ‘third-country nationals refused entry’ means third-country nationals who are refused entry at the external border because they do not fulfil all the entry conditions laid down in Article 5(1) of Regulation (EC) No 562/2006 and do not belong to the categories of persons referred to in Article 5(4) of that Regulation; (r) ‘third-country nationals found to be illegally present’ means third-country nationals who are officially found to be on the territory of a Member State and who do not fulfil, or no longer fulfil, the conditions for stay or residence in that Member State; (s) ‘resettlement’ means the transfer of third-country nationals or stateless persons on the basis of an assessment of their need for international protection and a durable solution, to a Member State, where they are permitted to reside with a secure legal status. 2. Member States shall report to the Commission (Eurostat) on the use and probable effects of estimations or other methods of adapting statistics based on national definitions to comply with the harmonised definitions set out in paragraph 1. 3. For the reference year 2008, the statistics supplied to the Commission (Eurostat) under this Regulation may be based on alternative (national) definitions. In such cases, Member States shall notify the Commission (Eurostat) of these alternative definitions. 4. If a Member State is not bound by one or more of the legal texts referred to in the definitions in paragraph 1, statistics comparable with those required under this Regulation should be provided by that Member State where they can be provided under existing legislative and/or administrative procedures.
Amendment rationale: CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL Reasons for and objectives of the proposal The Commission (Eurostat) regularly collects statistics on asylum and managed migration, in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 862/2007 of the European Parliament and of the Council 1 . This Regulation and Commission Regulation (EU) No 216/2010 2 , which defines the various categories of reasons for issuing residen ce permits, are the main instruments for mandatory statistics on asylum and managed migration. In addition, the Commission (Eurostat) collects statistics on migration-related administrative events on the basis of other legal instruments under which data co llection is mandatory. These additional statistics refer to data on EU Blue Cards (Directive 2009/50/EC 3 ), single permits (Directive 2011/98/EU 4 ), seasonal workers (Directive 2014/36/EU 5 ), intra-corporate transfers (Directive 2014/66/EU 6 ), and researchers, students, trainees, volunteers, pupils and au pairs (Directive EU 2016/801 7 ). They are provided in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 862/2007. Migration to the EU has changed radically in recent years. To address the challenges this change presents, the Commission has implemented and further developed the comprehensive migration policy presented in the European Agenda on Migration 8 , the purpose of which is to improve the way migratory flows are managed, both within and outside the EU and that includes a mix of immediate actions to respond to the influx of migrants towards Europe and structural reform around four pillars: (i) reducing the incentives for irregular migration; (ii) border management: saving lives and securing external borders; (iii) Europe's duty to protect: a strong common asylum policy; (iv) a new policy on legal migration. In this context, stakeholders have repeatedly argued that there is a need to strengthen the evidence base in these areas. The Commission has regularly acknowledged the n eed to improve the collection of statistics, particularly as regards the figures on the return of third-country nationals staying illegally in the EU 9 , and as regards children 10 . The Eurostat work programme for 2018 already prioritises responding to a new a nd more dynamic policy environment, with particular emphasis on asylum seekers and law enforcement in the migration field (including returns). It states that the existing legislation may be reviewed so as to address user priorities, including new and emerg ing requirements. The content and the quality of the European migration statistics, produced in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 862/2007, meet certain needs. However, their shortcomings are becoming increasingly apparent, especially given recent developments in migration into the EU. Further data on several new types of migration and migrants are needed, and they need to be more precise, more frequent and timelier. The existing legal framework makes no provision for such data. So far, the new needs have been dealt with entirely voluntarily (i.e. with no revision of Regulation (EC) No 862/2007), on the basis of an agreement by the relevant expert group in cooperation with the Member States. Experience with return statistics, for instance, shows that this approach is not always efficient. The implication is that Regulation (EC) No 862/2007 should be revised and improved to ensure that the relevant statistics are more readily available. Under the European Agenda on Migration, the European and national systems administering asylum and managed migration are evolving. Given the changing relevant characteristics of migration and migrants, there is a real need to improve the statistics on both in line with stakeholders' changing needs. This means making them more relevant, so as to build a stronger evidence base for policy-making and evaluation. This is why the Commission's Progress Report on the Eur opean Agenda on Migration 11 mentions a clear need for specific amendments to Regulation (EC) No 862/2007 , pointing to very precise improvements, especially as regards returns (more frequent statistics), resettlements, residence permits and migrant children. The most recent ‘ Progress Report on the Implementation of the European Agenda on Migration’ 12 , which followed it, notes that the Commission is considering amending EU rules on the collection and the regularity of statistics on migration and international p rotection so as to ensure a comprehensive overview and address some of the gaps identified in the statistics available. The issue is even more acute for EU-level policy-makers and policy evaluation. There is a clear demand to improve statistics on migratio n-related administrative events, to reflect recent and forthcoming policy changes and make the European Statistical System (ESS) 13 more receptive to changes in migration itself and related EU-level policies. There is also a need to make sure that voluntary national transmissions of data are more complete and reliable. Moreover, a mechanism for further improving migration statistics needs to be developed, to make the ESS more responsive to any further developments in migration data requirements. Failure to up grade European statistics in this domain is likely to rapidly widen existing gaps between the demand for such statistics and the supply available, especially for policy-making and evaluation, and thus to hold policymakers back from responding to future mig ration-related challenges on the basis of evidence. The aim of this proposal is to support the European Agenda on Migration by providing EU policy and decision-makers with better and timelier policy-relevant statistics, and to strengthen the response to the challenges posed by migration. In particular, the initiative will upgrade European statistics on asylum and managed migration by providing a legal basis for statistics that are currently collected voluntarily. By this token, the revision of Regulation (EC) No 862/2007 would improve completeness, accuracy, timeliness and certainty with respect to the existing voluntary transmissions of data by national authorities. In particular, it will ensure provision of statistics in areas where stakeholders have expressed clear needs - on asylum, returns (higher frequency), resettlement, residence permits and migrant children. Looking beyond these specific and immediate needs, and to support future developments in migration policy in general, the revision will provide an embedded flexibility for further improvements to migration statistics. It will also allow for responsiveness in developing new migration indicators that will better support the ‘Agenda on Migration’ priorities, by providing an evidence base. Such flexibility will improve the quality of European statistics, mainly by making them more relevant.
Revised version (Article 2 Definitions):
1. For the purposes of this Regulation, the following definitions shall apply: (a) ‘usual residence’ means the place at which a person normally spends the daily period of rest, regardless of temporary absences for purposes of recreation, holiday, visits to friends and relatives, business, medical treatment or religious pilgrimage or, in default, the place of legal or registered residence; (b) ‘immigration’ means the action by which a person establishes his or her usual residence in the territory of a Member State for a period that is, or is expected to be, of at least 12 months, having previously been usually resident in another Member State or a third country; (c) ‘emigration’ means the action by which a person, having previously been usually resident in the territory of a Member State, ceases to have his or her usual residence in that Member State for a period that is, or is expected to be, of at least 12 months; (d) ‘citizenship’ means the particular legal bond between an individual and his or her State, acquired by birth or naturalisation, whether by declaration, choice, marriage or other means according to national legislation; (e) ‘country of birth’ means the country of residence (in its current borders, if the information is available) of the mother at the time of the birth or, in default, the country (in its current borders, if the information is available) in which the birth took place; (f) ‘immigrant’ means a person undertaking an immigration; (g) ‘emigrant’ means a person undertaking an emigration; (h) ‘long-term resident’ means long-term resident as defined in Article 2(b) of Council Directive 2003/109/EC of 25 November 2003 concerning the status of third-country nationals who are long-term residents ( 1 ); (i) ‘third-country national’ means any person who is not a citizen of the Union within the meaning of Article 17(1) of the Treaty, including stateless persons; (j) ‘application for international protection’ means an application for international protection as defined in point (h) of Article 2 of Directive 2011/95/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 December 2011 on standards for the qualification of third-country nationals or stateless persons as beneficiaries of international protection, for a uniform status for refugees or for persons eligible for subsidiary protection, and for the content of the protection granted ( 2 ); (k) ‘refugee status’ means refugee status as defined in point (e) of Article 2 of Directive 2011/95/EU; (l) ‘subsidiary protection status’ means subsidiary protection status as defined in point (g) of Article 2 of Directive 2011/95/EU; ‘family members’ means family members as defined in point (g) of Article 2 of Regulation (EU) No 604/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 June 2013 establishing the criteria and mechanisms for determining the Member State responsible for examining an application for international protection lodged in one of the Member States by a third-country national or a stateless person ( 3 ); (n) ‘temporary protection’ means temporary protection as defined in Article 2(a) of Council Directive 2001/55/EC of 20 July 2001 on minimum standards for giving temporary protection in the event of a mass influx of displaced persons and on measures promoting a balance of efforts between Member States in receiving such persons and bearing the consequences thereof ( 4 ); (o) ‘unaccompanied minor’ means an unaccompanied minor as defined in point (l) of Article 2 of Directive 2011/95/EU; (p) ‘external borders’ means external borders as defined in point 2 of Article 2 of Regulation (EU) 2016/399 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 9 March 2016 on a Union Code on the rules governing the movement of persons across borders (Schengen Borders Code) ( 5 ); (r) ‘third-country nationals found to be illegally present’ means third-country nationals who are officially found to be on the territory of a Member State and who do not fulfil, or no longer fulfil, the conditions for stay or residence in that Member State; (s) ‘resettlement’ means the transfer of third-country nationals or stateless persons on the basis of an assessment of their need for international protection and a durable solution, to a Member State, where they are permitted to reside with a secure legal status. 2. Member States shall report to the Commission (Eurostat) on the use and probable effects of estimations or other methods of adapting statistics based on national definitions to comply with the harmonised definitions set out in paragraph 1. 4. If a Member State is not bound by one or more of the legal texts referred to in the definitions in paragraph 1, statistics comparable with those required under this Regulation should be provided by that Member State where they can be provided under existing legislative and/or administrative procedures.
Article 3 Statistics on international migration, usually resident population and acquisition of citizenship
1. Member States shall supply to the Commission (Eurostat) statistics on the numbers of: (a) immigrants moving to the territory of the Member State, disaggregated as follows: (i) groups of citizenship by age and sex; (ii) groups of country of birth by age and sex; (iii) groups of country of previous usual residence by age and sex; (b) emigrants moving from the territory of the Member State disaggregated as follows: (i) groups of citizenships; (ii) age; (iii) sex; (iv) groups of countries of next usual residence; (c) persons having their usual residence in the Member State at the end of the reference period, disaggregated as follows: (i) groups of citizenship by age and sex; (ii) groups of country of birth by age and sex; (d) persons having their usual residence in the territory of the Member State and having acquired during the reference year the citizenship of the Member State and having formerly held the citizenship of another Member State or a third country or having formerly been stateless, disaggregated by age and sex, and by the former citizenship of the persons concerned and by whether the person was formerly stateless. 2. The statistics referred to in paragraph 1 shall relate to reference periods of one calendar year and shall be supplied to the Commission (Eurostat) within 12 months of the end of the reference year. The first reference year shall be 2008.
Amendment rationale: CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL Reasons for and objectives of the proposal The Commission (Eurostat) regularly collects statistics on asylum and managed migration, in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 862/2007 of the European Parliament and of the Council 1 . This Regulation and Commission Regulation (EU) No 216/2010 2 , which defines the various categories of reasons for issuing residen ce permits, are the main instruments for mandatory statistics on asylum and managed migration. In addition, the Commission (Eurostat) collects statistics on migration-related administrative events on the basis of other legal instruments under which data co llection is mandatory. These additional statistics refer to data on EU Blue Cards (Directive 2009/50/EC 3 ), single permits (Directive 2011/98/EU 4 ), seasonal workers (Directive 2014/36/EU 5 ), intra-corporate transfers (Directive 2014/66/EU 6 ), and researchers, students, trainees, volunteers, pupils and au pairs (Directive EU 2016/801 7 ). They are provided in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 862/2007. Migration to the EU has changed radically in recent years. To address the challenges this change presents, the Commission has implemented and further developed the comprehensive migration policy presented in the European Agenda on Migration 8 , the purpose of which is to improve the way migratory flows are managed, both within and outside the EU and that includes a mix of immediate actions to respond to the influx of migrants towards Europe and structural reform around four pillars: (i) reducing the incentives for irregular migration; (ii) border management: saving lives and securing external borders; (iii) Europe's duty to protect: a strong common asylum policy; (iv) a new policy on legal migration. In this context, stakeholders have repeatedly argued that there is a need to strengthen the evidence base in these areas. The Commission has regularly acknowledged the n eed to improve the collection of statistics, particularly as regards the figures on the return of third-country nationals staying illegally in the EU 9 , and as regards children 10 . The Eurostat work programme for 2018 already prioritises responding to a new a nd more dynamic policy environment, with particular emphasis on asylum seekers and law enforcement in the migration field (including returns). It states that the existing legislation may be reviewed so as to address user priorities, including new and emerg ing requirements. The content and the quality of the European migration statistics, produced in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 862/2007, meet certain needs. However, their shortcomings are becoming increasingly apparent, especially given recent developments in migration into the EU. Further data on several new types of migration and migrants are needed, and they need to be more precise, more frequent and timelier. The existing legal framework makes no provision for such data. So far, the new needs have been dealt with entirely voluntarily (i.e. with no revision of Regulation (EC) No 862/2007), on the basis of an agreement by the relevant expert group in cooperation with the Member States. Experience with return statistics, for instance, shows that this approach is not always efficient. The implication is that Regulation (EC) No 862/2007 should be revised and improved to ensure that the relevant statistics are more readily available. Under the European Agenda on Migration, the European and national systems administering asylum and managed migration are evolving. Given the changing relevant characteristics of migration and migrants, there is a real need to improve the statistics on both in line with stakeholders' changing needs. This means making them more relevant, so as to build a stronger evidence base for policy-making and evaluation. This is why the Commission's Progress Report on the Eur opean Agenda on Migration 11 mentions a clear need for specific amendments to Regulation (EC) No 862/2007 , pointing to very precise improvements, especially as regards returns (more frequent statistics), resettlements, residence permits and migrant children. The most recent ‘ Progress Report on the Implementation of the European Agenda on Migration’ 12 , which followed it, notes that the Commission is considering amending EU rules on the collection and the regularity of statistics on migration and international p rotection so as to ensure a comprehensive overview and address some of the gaps identified in the statistics available. The issue is even more acute for EU-level policy-makers and policy evaluation. There is a clear demand to improve statistics on migratio n-related administrative events, to reflect recent and forthcoming policy changes and make the European Statistical System (ESS) 13 more receptive to changes in migration itself and related EU-level policies. There is also a need to make sure that voluntary national transmissions of data are more complete and reliable. Moreover, a mechanism for further improving migration statistics needs to be developed, to make the ESS more responsive to any further developments in migration data requirements. Failure to up grade European statistics in this domain is likely to rapidly widen existing gaps between the demand for such statistics and the supply available, especially for policy-making and evaluation, and thus to hold policymakers back from responding to future mig ration-related challenges on the basis of evidence. The aim of this proposal is to support the European Agenda on Migration by providing EU policy and decision-makers with better and timelier policy-relevant statistics, and to strengthen the response to the challenges posed by migration. In particular, the initiative will upgrade European statistics on asylum and managed migration by providing a legal basis for statistics that are currently collected voluntarily. By this token, the revision of Regulation (EC) No 862/2007 would improve completeness, accuracy, timeliness and certainty with respect to the existing voluntary transmissions of data by national authorities. In particular, it will ensure provision of statistics in areas where stakeholders have expressed clear needs - on asylum, returns (higher frequency), resettlement, residence permits and migrant children. Looking beyond these specific and immediate needs, and to support future developments in migration policy in general, the revision will provide an embedded flexibility for further improvements to migration statistics. It will also allow for responsiveness in developing new migration indicators that will better support the ‘Agenda on Migration’ priorities, by providing an evidence base. Such flexibility will improve the quality of European statistics, mainly by making them more relevant.
Revised version (Article 3 Statistics on international migration, usually resident population and acquisition of citizenship):
1. Member States shall supply to the Commission (Eurostat) statistics on the numbers of: immigrants moving to the territory of the Member State, disaggregated as follows: (i) groups of citizenship by age and sex; (ii) groups of country of birth by age and sex; (iii) groups of country of previous usual residence by age and sex; emigrants moving from the territory of the Member State disaggregated as follows: (i) groups of citizenships; (ii) age; (iii) sex; (iv) groups of countries of next usual residence; persons having their usual residence in the Member State at the end of the reference period, disaggregated as follows: (i) groups of citizenship by age and sex; (ii) groups of country of birth by age and sex; persons having their usual residence in the Member State at the end of the reference period, disaggregated as follows: (d) persons having their usual residence in the territory of the Member State and having acquired during the reference year the citizenship of the Member State and having formerly held the citizenship of another Member State or a third country or having formerly been stateless, disaggregated by age and sex, and by the former citizenship of the persons concerned and by whether the person was formerly stateless. 2. The statistics referred to in paragraph 1 shall relate to reference periods of one calendar year and shall be supplied to the Commission (Eurostat) within 12 months of the end of the reference year. The first reference year shall be 2008.
Article 4 Statistics on international protection
1. Member States shall supply to the Commission (Eurostat) statistics on the numbers of: (a) persons having submitted an application for international protection or having been included in such an application as a family member during the reference period; (b) persons who are the subject of applications for international protection under consideration by the responsible national authority at the end of the reference period; (c) applications for international protection having been withdrawn during the reference period. These statistics shall be disaggregated by age and sex, and by the citizenship of the persons concerned. They shall relate to reference periods of one calendar month and shall be supplied to the Commission (Eurostat) within two months of the end of the reference month. The first reference month shall be January 2008. 2. Member States shall supply to the Commission (Eurostat) statistics on the numbers of: (a) persons covered by first instance decisions rejecting applications for international protection, such as decisions considering applications as inadmissible or as unfounded and decisions under priority and accelerated procedures, taken by administrative or judicial bodies during the reference period; (b) persons covered by first instance decisions granting or withdrawing refugee status, taken by administrative or judicial bodies during the reference period; (c) persons covered by first instance decisions granting or withdrawing subsidiary protection status, taken by administrative or judicial bodies during the reference period; (d) persons covered by first instance decisions granting or withdrawing temporary protection, taken by administrative or judicial bodies during the reference period; (e) persons covered by other first instance decisions granting or withdrawing authorisation to stay for humanitarian reasons under national law concerning international protection, taken by administrative or judicial bodies during the reference period. These statistics shall be disaggregated by age and sex, and by the citizenship of the persons concerned. They shall relate to reference periods of three calendar months and shall be supplied to the Commission (Eurostat) within two months of the end of the reference period. The first reference period shall be January to March 2008. 3. Member States shall supply to the Commission (Eurostat) statistics on the numbers of: (a) applicants for international protection who are considered by the responsible national authority to be unaccompanied minors during the reference period; (b) persons covered by final decisions rejecting applications for international protection, such as decisions considering applications as inadmissible or as unfounded and decisions under priority and accelerated procedures, taken by administrative or judicial bodies in appeal or review during the reference period; (c) persons covered by final decisions granting or withdrawing refugee status taken by administrative or judicial bodies in appeal or review during the reference period; (d) persons covered by final decisions granting or withdrawing subsidiary protection status taken by administrative or judicial bodies in appeal or review during the reference period; (e) persons covered by final decisions granting or withdrawing temporary protection taken by administrative or judicial bodies in appeal or review during the reference period; (f) persons covered by other final decisions, taken by administrative or judicial bodies in appeal or review, granting or withdrawing authorisations to stay for humanitarian reasons under national law concerning international protection during the reference period; (g) persons who have been granted an authorisation to reside in a Member State within the framework of a national or Community resettlement scheme during the reference period, where such a scheme is implemented in that Member State. These statistics shall be disaggregated by age and sex, and by the citizenship of the persons concerned. They shall relate to reference periods of one calendar year and shall be supplied to the Commission (Eurostat) within three months of the end of the reference year. The first reference year shall be 2008. 4. Member States shall supply to the Commission (Eurostat) the following statistics on the application of Regulation (EC) No 343/2003 and Commission Regulation (EC) No 1560/2003 of 2 September 2003 laying down detailed rules for the application of Council Regulation (EC) No 343/2003 ( 13 ) : (a) the numbers of requests for taking back or taking charge of an asylum seeker; (b) the provisions on which the requests referred to in point (a) are based; (c) the decisions taken in response to the requests referred to in point (a); (d) the numbers of transfers to which the decisions referred to in point (c) lead; (e) the number of requests for information. These statistics shall relate to reference periods of one calendar year and shall be supplied to the Commission (Eurostat) within three months of the end of the reference year. The first reference year shall be 2008.
Amendment rationale: CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL Reasons for and objectives of the proposal The Commission (Eurostat) regularly collects statistics on asylum and managed migration, in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 862/2007 of the European Parliament and of the Council 1 . This Regulation and Commission Regulation (EU) No 216/2010 2 , which defines the various categories of reasons for issuing residen ce permits, are the main instruments for mandatory statistics on asylum and managed migration. In addition, the Commission (Eurostat) collects statistics on migration-related administrative events on the basis of other legal instruments under which data co llection is mandatory. These additional statistics refer to data on EU Blue Cards (Directive 2009/50/EC 3 ), single permits (Directive 2011/98/EU 4 ), seasonal workers (Directive 2014/36/EU 5 ), intra-corporate transfers (Directive 2014/66/EU 6 ), and researchers, students, trainees, volunteers, pupils and au pairs (Directive EU 2016/801 7 ). They are provided in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 862/2007. Migration to the EU has changed radically in recent years. To address the challenges this change presents, the Commission has implemented and further developed the comprehensive migration policy presented in the European Agenda on Migration 8 , the purpose of which is to improve the way migratory flows are managed, both within and outside the EU and that includes a mix of immediate actions to respond to the influx of migrants towards Europe and structural reform around four pillars: (i) reducing the incentives for irregular migration; (ii) border management: saving lives and securing external borders; (iii) Europe's duty to protect: a strong common asylum policy; (iv) a new policy on legal migration. In this context, stakeholders have repeatedly argued that there is a need to strengthen the evidence base in these areas. The Commission has regularly acknowledged the n eed to improve the collection of statistics, particularly as regards the figures on the return of third-country nationals staying illegally in the EU 9 , and as regards children 10 . The Eurostat work programme for 2018 already prioritises responding to a new a nd more dynamic policy environment, with particular emphasis on asylum seekers and law enforcement in the migration field (including returns). It states that the existing legislation may be reviewed so as to address user priorities, including new and emerg ing requirements. The content and the quality of the European migration statistics, produced in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 862/2007, meet certain needs. However, their shortcomings are becoming increasingly apparent, especially given recent developments in migration into the EU. Further data on several new types of migration and migrants are needed, and they need to be more precise, more frequent and timelier. The existing legal framework makes no provision for such data. So far, the new needs have been dealt with entirely voluntarily (i.e. with no revision of Regulation (EC) No 862/2007), on the basis of an agreement by the relevant expert group in cooperation with the Member States. Experience with return statistics, for instance, shows that this approach is not always efficient. The implication is that Regulation (EC) No 862/2007 should be revised and improved to ensure that the relevant statistics are more readily available. Under the European Agenda on Migration, the European and national systems administering asylum and managed migration are evolving. Given the changing relevant characteristics of migration and migrants, there is a real need to improve the statistics on both in line with stakeholders' changing needs. This means making them more relevant, so as to build a stronger evidence base for policy-making and evaluation. This is why the Commission's Progress Report on the Eur opean Agenda on Migration 11 mentions a clear need for specific amendments to Regulation (EC) No 862/2007 , pointing to very precise improvements, especially as regards returns (more frequent statistics), resettlements, residence permits and migrant children. The most recent ‘ Progress Report on the Implementation of the European Agenda on Migration’ 12 , which followed it, notes that the Commission is considering amending EU rules on the collection and the regularity of statistics on migration and international p rotection so as to ensure a comprehensive overview and address some of the gaps identified in the statistics available. The issue is even more acute for EU-level policy-makers and policy evaluation. There is a clear demand to improve statistics on migratio n-related administrative events, to reflect recent and forthcoming policy changes and make the European Statistical System (ESS) 13 more receptive to changes in migration itself and related EU-level policies. There is also a need to make sure that voluntary national transmissions of data are more complete and reliable. Moreover, a mechanism for further improving migration statistics needs to be developed, to make the ESS more responsive to any further developments in migration data requirements. Failure to up grade European statistics in this domain is likely to rapidly widen existing gaps between the demand for such statistics and the supply available, especially for policy-making and evaluation, and thus to hold policymakers back from responding to future mig ration-related challenges on the basis of evidence. The aim of this proposal is to support the European Agenda on Migration by providing EU policy and decision-makers with better and timelier policy-relevant statistics, and to strengthen the response to the challenges posed by migration. In particular, the initiative will upgrade European statistics on asylum and managed migration by providing a legal basis for statistics that are currently collected voluntarily. By this token, the revision of Regulation (EC) No 862/2007 would improve completeness, accuracy, timeliness and certainty with respect to the existing voluntary transmissions of data by national authorities. In particular, it will ensure provision of statistics in areas where stakeholders have expressed clear needs - on asylum, returns (higher frequency), resettlement, residence permits and migrant children. Looking beyond these specific and immediate needs, and to support future developments in migration policy in general, the revision will provide an embedded flexibility for further improvements to migration statistics. It will also allow for responsiveness in developing new migration indicators that will better support the ‘Agenda on Migration’ priorities, by providing an evidence base. Such flexibility will improve the quality of European statistics, mainly by making them more relevant.
Revised version (Article 4 Statistics on international protection):
1. Member States shall supply to the Commission (Eurostat) statistics on the numbers of: (a) persons having submitted an application for international protection or having been included in such an application as a family member during the reference period; (b) persons who are the subject of applications for international protection under consideration by the responsible national authority at the end of the reference period; (c) applications for international protection having been withdrawn during the reference period. These statistics shall be disaggregated by age and sex, and by the citizenship of the persons concerned. They shall relate to reference periods of one calendar month and shall be supplied to the Commission (Eurostat) within two months of the end of the reference month. The first reference month shall be January 2008. (a) persons covered by first instance decisions rejecting applications for international protection, such as decisions considering applications as inadmissible or as unfounded and decisions under priority and accelerated procedures, taken by administrative or judicial bodies during the reference period; (b) persons covered by first instance decisions granting or withdrawing refugee status, taken by administrative or judicial bodies during the reference period; (c) persons covered by first instance decisions granting or withdrawing subsidiary protection status, taken by administrative or judicial bodies during the reference period; (d) persons covered by first instance decisions granting or withdrawing temporary protection, taken by administrative or judicial bodies during the reference period; (e) persons covered by other first instance decisions granting or withdrawing authorisation to stay for humanitarian reasons under national law concerning international protection, taken by administrative or judicial bodies during the reference period. These statistics shall be disaggregated by age and sex, and by the citizenship of the persons concerned. They shall relate to reference periods of three calendar months and shall be supplied to the Commission (Eurostat) within two months of the end of the reference period. The first reference period shall be January to March 2008. (a) applicants for international protection who are considered by the responsible national authority to be unaccompanied minors during the reference period; (b) persons covered by final decisions rejecting applications for international protection, such as decisions considering applications as inadmissible or as unfounded and decisions under priority and accelerated procedures, taken by administrative or judicial bodies in appeal or review during the reference period; (c) persons covered by final decisions granting or withdrawing refugee status taken by administrative or judicial bodies in appeal or review during the reference period; (d) persons covered by final decisions granting or withdrawing subsidiary protection status taken by administrative or judicial bodies in appeal or review during the reference period; (e) persons covered by final decisions granting or withdrawing temporary protection taken by administrative or judicial bodies in appeal or review during the reference period; (f) persons covered by other final decisions, taken by administrative or judicial bodies in appeal or review, granting or withdrawing authorisations to stay for humanitarian reasons under national law concerning international protection during the reference period; (g) persons who have been granted an authorisation to reside in a Member State within the framework of a national or Community resettlement scheme during the reference period, where such a scheme is implemented in that Member State. These statistics shall be disaggregated by age and sex, and by the citizenship of the persons concerned. They shall relate to reference periods of one calendar year and shall be supplied to the Commission (Eurostat) within three months of the end of the reference year. The first reference year shall be 2008. (a) the numbers of requests for taking back or taking charge of an asylum seeker; (b) the provisions on which the requests referred to in point (a) are based; (c) the decisions taken in response to the requests referred to in point (a); (d) the numbers of transfers to which the decisions referred to in point (c) lead; (e) the number of requests for information. These statistics shall relate to reference periods of one calendar year and shall be supplied to the Commission (Eurostat) within three months of the end of the reference year. The first reference year shall be 2008.
Article 5 Statistics on the prevention of illegal entry and stay
1. Member States shall supply to the Commission (Eurostat) statistics on the numbers of: (a) third-country nationals refused entry to the Member State's territory at the external border; (b) third-country nationals found to be illegally present in the Member State's territory under national laws relating to immigration. The statistics under point (a) shall be disaggregated in accordance with Article 13(5) of Regulation (EC) No 562/2006. The statistics under point (b) shall be disaggregated by age and sex, and by citizenship of the persons concerned. 2. The statistics referred to in paragraph 1 shall relate to reference periods of one calendar year and shall be supplied to the Commission (Eurostat) within three months of the end of the reference year. The first reference year shall be 2008.
Amendment rationale: CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL Reasons for and objectives of the proposal The Commission (Eurostat) regularly collects statistics on asylum and managed migration, in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 862/2007 of the European Parliament and of the Council 1 . This Regulation and Commission Regulation (EU) No 216/2010 2 , which defines the various categories of reasons for issuing residen ce permits, are the main instruments for mandatory statistics on asylum and managed migration. In addition, the Commission (Eurostat) collects statistics on migration-related administrative events on the basis of other legal instruments under which data co llection is mandatory. These additional statistics refer to data on EU Blue Cards (Directive 2009/50/EC 3 ), single permits (Directive 2011/98/EU 4 ), seasonal workers (Directive 2014/36/EU 5 ), intra-corporate transfers (Directive 2014/66/EU 6 ), and researchers, students, trainees, volunteers, pupils and au pairs (Directive EU 2016/801 7 ). They are provided in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 862/2007. Migration to the EU has changed radically in recent years. To address the challenges this change presents, the Commission has implemented and further developed the comprehensive migration policy presented in the European Agenda on Migration 8 , the purpose of which is to improve the way migratory flows are managed, both within and outside the EU and that includes a mix of immediate actions to respond to the influx of migrants towards Europe and structural reform around four pillars: (i) reducing the incentives for irregular migration; (ii) border management: saving lives and securing external borders; (iii) Europe's duty to protect: a strong common asylum policy; (iv) a new policy on legal migration. In this context, stakeholders have repeatedly argued that there is a need to strengthen the evidence base in these areas. The Commission has regularly acknowledged the n eed to improve the collection of statistics, particularly as regards the figures on the return of third-country nationals staying illegally in the EU 9 , and as regards children 10 . The Eurostat work programme for 2018 already prioritises responding to a new a nd more dynamic policy environment, with particular emphasis on asylum seekers and law enforcement in the migration field (including returns). It states that the existing legislation may be reviewed so as to address user priorities, including new and emerg ing requirements. The content and the quality of the European migration statistics, produced in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 862/2007, meet certain needs. However, their shortcomings are becoming increasingly apparent, especially given recent developments in migration into the EU. Further data on several new types of migration and migrants are needed, and they need to be more precise, more frequent and timelier. The existing legal framework makes no provision for such data. So far, the new needs have been dealt with entirely voluntarily (i.e. with no revision of Regulation (EC) No 862/2007), on the basis of an agreement by the relevant expert group in cooperation with the Member States. Experience with return statistics, for instance, shows that this approach is not always efficient. The implication is that Regulation (EC) No 862/2007 should be revised and improved to ensure that the relevant statistics are more readily available. Under the European Agenda on Migration, the European and national systems administering asylum and managed migration are evolving. Given the changing relevant characteristics of migration and migrants, there is a real need to improve the statistics on both in line with stakeholders' changing needs. This means making them more relevant, so as to build a stronger evidence base for policy-making and evaluation. This is why the Commission's Progress Report on the Eur opean Agenda on Migration 11 mentions a clear need for specific amendments to Regulation (EC) No 862/2007 , pointing to very precise improvements, especially as regards returns (more frequent statistics), resettlements, residence permits and migrant children. The most recent ‘ Progress Report on the Implementation of the European Agenda on Migration’ 12 , which followed it, notes that the Commission is considering amending EU rules on the collection and the regularity of statistics on migration and international p rotection so as to ensure a comprehensive overview and address some of the gaps identified in the statistics available. The issue is even more acute for EU-level policy-makers and policy evaluation. There is a clear demand to improve statistics on migratio n-related administrative events, to reflect recent and forthcoming policy changes and make the European Statistical System (ESS) 13 more receptive to changes in migration itself and related EU-level policies. There is also a need to make sure that voluntary national transmissions of data are more complete and reliable. Moreover, a mechanism for further improving migration statistics needs to be developed, to make the ESS more responsive to any further developments in migration data requirements. Failure to up grade European statistics in this domain is likely to rapidly widen existing gaps between the demand for such statistics and the supply available, especially for policy-making and evaluation, and thus to hold policymakers back from responding to future mig ration-related challenges on the basis of evidence. The aim of this proposal is to support the European Agenda on Migration by providing EU policy and decision-makers with better and timelier policy-relevant statistics, and to strengthen the response to the challenges posed by migration. In particular, the initiative will upgrade European statistics on asylum and managed migration by providing a legal basis for statistics that are currently collected voluntarily. By this token, the revision of Regulation (EC) No 862/2007 would improve completeness, accuracy, timeliness and certainty with respect to the existing voluntary transmissions of data by national authorities. In particular, it will ensure provision of statistics in areas where stakeholders have expressed clear needs - on asylum, returns (higher frequency), resettlement, residence permits and migrant children. Looking beyond these specific and immediate needs, and to support future developments in migration policy in general, the revision will provide an embedded flexibility for further improvements to migration statistics. It will also allow for responsiveness in developing new migration indicators that will better support the ‘Agenda on Migration’ priorities, by providing an evidence base. Such flexibility will improve the quality of European statistics, mainly by making them more relevant.
Revised version (Article 5 Statistics on the prevention of illegal entry and stay):
1. Member States shall supply to the Commission (Eurostat) statistics on the numbers of: (a) third-country nationals refused entry to the Member State's territory at the external border; (b) third-country nationals found to be illegally present in the Member State's territory under national laws relating to immigration. The statistics under point (a) shall be disaggregated in accordance with Article 14(5) of Regulation (EU) 2016/399. The statistics under point (b) shall be disaggregated by age and sex, by citizenship of the persons concerned, by grounds for their apprehension and by place of apprehension. 2. The statistics referred to in paragraph 1 shall relate to reference periods of one calendar year and shall be supplied to the Commission (Eurostat) within three months of the end of the reference year. The first reference year shall be 2008.
Article 6 Statistics on residence permits and residence of third-country nationals
1. Member States shall supply to the Commission (Eurostat) statistics on: (a) the number of residence permits issued to persons who are third-country nationals, disaggregated as follows: (i) permits issued during the reference period whereby the person is being granted permission to reside for the first time, disaggregated by citizenship, by the reason for the permit being issued and by the length of validity of the permit; (ii) permits issued during the reference period and granted on the occasion of a person changing immigration status or reason for stay, disaggregated by citizenship, by the reason for the permit being issued and by the length of validity of the permit; (iii) valid permits at the end of the reference period (number of permits issued, not withdrawn and not expired), disaggregated by citizenship, by the reason for the issue of the permit and by the length of validity of the permit; (b) the number of long-term residents at the end of the reference period, disaggregated by citizenship. 2. Where the national laws and administrative practices of a Member State allow for specific categories of long-term visa or immigration status to be granted instead of residence permits, counts of such visas and grants of status are to be included in the statistics required under paragraph 1. 3. The statistics referred to in paragraph 1 shall relate to reference periods of one calendar year and shall be supplied to the Commission (Eurostat) within six months of the end of the reference year. The first reference year shall be 2008.
Article 7 Statistics on returns
1. Member States shall supply to the Commission (Eurostat) statistics relating to: (a) the number of third-country nationals found to be illegally present in the territory of the Member State who are subject to an administrative or judicial decision or act stating or declaring that their stay is illegal and imposing an obligation to leave the territory of the Member State, disaggregated by citizenship of the persons concerned; (b) the number of third-country nationals who have in fact left the territory of the Member State, following an administrative or judicial decision or act, as referred to in point (a), disaggregated by the citizenship of the persons returned. 2. The statistics referred to in paragraph 1 shall relate to reference periods of one calendar year and shall be supplied to the Commission (Eurostat) within three months of the end of the reference year. The first reference year shall be 2008. 3. The statistics referred to in paragraph 1 shall not include third-country nationals who are transferred from one Member State to another Member State under the mechanism established by Regulations (EC) No 343/2003 and (EC) No 1560/2003.
Article 8 Additional disaggregations
1. The Commission may adopt measures relating to the definition of additional disaggregations as set out below for the following statistics: (a) for statistics required under Article 4 as a whole, disaggregations by: (i) year of submission of the application; (b) for statistics required under Article 4(4), disaggregations by: (i) number of persons concerned by the request, decision and transfer; (c) for statistics required under Article 5(1)(a), disaggregations by: (i) age; (ii) sex; (d) for statistics required under Article 5(1)(b), disaggregations by: (i) grounds for the apprehension; (ii) place of the apprehension; (e) for statistics required under Article 6, disaggregations by: (i) year in which permission to reside was first granted; (ii) age; (iii) sex; (f) for statistics required under Article 7, disaggregations by: (i) reason for the decision or act imposing an obligation to leave; (ii) age; (iii) sex. 2. The additional disaggregations mentioned in paragraph 1 shall be supplied only separately, and not cross-classified with the disaggregations required under Articles 4 to 7. 3. When deciding whether additional disaggregations are required, the Commission shall consider the need for this information for the purposes of developing and monitoring Community policies and shall consider the availability of appropriate data sources and the costs involved. Negotiations on additional disaggregations that may be needed for the application of Articles 4 to 7 shall be initiated not later than 20 August 2009. The earliest reference year for the implementation of additional disaggregations shall be 2010.
Amendment rationale: CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL Reasons for and objectives of the proposal The Commission (Eurostat) regularly collects statistics on asylum and managed migration, in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 862/2007 of the European Parliament and of the Council 1 . This Regulation and Commission Regulation (EU) No 216/2010 2 , which defines the various categories of reasons for issuing residen ce permits, are the main instruments for mandatory statistics on asylum and managed migration. In addition, the Commission (Eurostat) collects statistics on migration-related administrative events on the basis of other legal instruments under which data co llection is mandatory. These additional statistics refer to data on EU Blue Cards (Directive 2009/50/EC 3 ), single permits (Directive 2011/98/EU 4 ), seasonal workers (Directive 2014/36/EU 5 ), intra-corporate transfers (Directive 2014/66/EU 6 ), and researchers, students, trainees, volunteers, pupils and au pairs (Directive EU 2016/801 7 ). They are provided in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 862/2007. Migration to the EU has changed radically in recent years. To address the challenges this change presents, the Commission has implemented and further developed the comprehensive migration policy presented in the European Agenda on Migration 8 , the purpose of which is to improve the way migratory flows are managed, both within and outside the EU and that includes a mix of immediate actions to respond to the influx of migrants towards Europe and structural reform around four pillars: (i) reducing the incentives for irregular migration; (ii) border management: saving lives and securing external borders; (iii) Europe's duty to protect: a strong common asylum policy; (iv) a new policy on legal migration. In this context, stakeholders have repeatedly argued that there is a need to strengthen the evidence base in these areas. The Commission has regularly acknowledged the n eed to improve the collection of statistics, particularly as regards the figures on the return of third-country nationals staying illegally in the EU 9 , and as regards children 10 . The Eurostat work programme for 2018 already prioritises responding to a new a nd more dynamic policy environment, with particular emphasis on asylum seekers and law enforcement in the migration field (including returns). It states that the existing legislation may be reviewed so as to address user priorities, including new and emerg ing requirements. The content and the quality of the European migration statistics, produced in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 862/2007, meet certain needs. However, their shortcomings are becoming increasingly apparent, especially given recent developments in migration into the EU. Further data on several new types of migration and migrants are needed, and they need to be more precise, more frequent and timelier. The existing legal framework makes no provision for such data. So far, the new needs have been dealt with entirely voluntarily (i.e. with no revision of Regulation (EC) No 862/2007), on the basis of an agreement by the relevant expert group in cooperation with the Member States. Experience with return statistics, for instance, shows that this approach is not always efficient. The implication is that Regulation (EC) No 862/2007 should be revised and improved to ensure that the relevant statistics are more readily available. Under the European Agenda on Migration, the European and national systems administering asylum and managed migration are evolving. Given the changing relevant characteristics of migration and migrants, there is a real need to improve the statistics on both in line with stakeholders' changing needs. This means making them more relevant, so as to build a stronger evidence base for policy-making and evaluation. This is why the Commission's Progress Report on the Eur opean Agenda on Migration 11 mentions a clear need for specific amendments to Regulation (EC) No 862/2007 , pointing to very precise improvements, especially as regards returns (more frequent statistics), resettlements, residence permits and migrant children. The most recent ‘ Progress Report on the Implementation of the European Agenda on Migration’ 12 , which followed it, notes that the Commission is considering amending EU rules on the collection and the regularity of statistics on migration and international p rotection so as to ensure a comprehensive overview and address some of the gaps identified in the statistics available. The issue is even more acute for EU-level policy-makers and policy evaluation. There is a clear demand to improve statistics on migratio n-related administrative events, to reflect recent and forthcoming policy changes and make the European Statistical System (ESS) 13 more receptive to changes in migration itself and related EU-level policies. There is also a need to make sure that voluntary national transmissions of data are more complete and reliable. Moreover, a mechanism for further improving migration statistics needs to be developed, to make the ESS more responsive to any further developments in migration data requirements. Failure to up grade European statistics in this domain is likely to rapidly widen existing gaps between the demand for such statistics and the supply available, especially for policy-making and evaluation, and thus to hold policymakers back from responding to future mig ration-related challenges on the basis of evidence. The aim of this proposal is to support the European Agenda on Migration by providing EU policy and decision-makers with better and timelier policy-relevant statistics, and to strengthen the response to the challenges posed by migration. In particular, the initiative will upgrade European statistics on asylum and managed migration by providing a legal basis for statistics that are currently collected voluntarily. By this token, the revision of Regulation (EC) No 862/2007 would improve completeness, accuracy, timeliness and certainty with respect to the existing voluntary transmissions of data by national authorities. In particular, it will ensure provision of statistics in areas where stakeholders have expressed clear needs - on asylum, returns (higher frequency), resettlement, residence permits and migrant children. Looking beyond these specific and immediate needs, and to support future developments in migration policy in general, the revision will provide an embedded flexibility for further improvements to migration statistics. It will also allow for responsiveness in developing new migration indicators that will better support the ‘Agenda on Migration’ priorities, by providing an evidence base. Such flexibility will improve the quality of European statistics, mainly by making them more relevant.
Article 9 Data sources and quality standards
1. The statistics shall be based on the following data sources according to their availability in the Member State and in accordance with national laws and practices: (a) records of administrative and judicial actions; (b) registers relating to administrative actions; (c) registers of the population of persons or of a particular sub-group of that population; (d) censuses; (e) sample surveys; (f) other appropriate sources. As part of the statistics process, scientifically based and well documented statistical estimation methods may be used. 2. Member States shall report to the Commission (Eurostat) on the data sources used, the reasons for the selection of these sources and the effects of the selected data sources on the quality of the statistics, and on the estimation methods used, and shall keep the Commission (Eurostat) informed of changes thereto. 3. At the request of the Commission (Eurostat), Member States shall provide it with all the information necessary to evaluate the quality, comparability and completeness of the statistical information. 4. Member States shall inform the Commission (Eurostat) without delay of revisions and corrections to the statistics supplied under this Regulation, and of any changes in the methods and data sources used. 5. The measures relating to the definition of the appropriate formats for the transmission of data shall be adopted in accordance with the regulatory procedure referred to in Article 11(2).
Amendment rationale: CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL Reasons for and objectives of the proposal The Commission (Eurostat) regularly collects statistics on asylum and managed migration, in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 862/2007 of the European Parliament and of the Council 1 . This Regulation and Commission Regulation (EU) No 216/2010 2 , which defines the various categories of reasons for issuing residen ce permits, are the main instruments for mandatory statistics on asylum and managed migration. In addition, the Commission (Eurostat) collects statistics on migration-related administrative events on the basis of other legal instruments under which data co llection is mandatory. These additional statistics refer to data on EU Blue Cards (Directive 2009/50/EC 3 ), single permits (Directive 2011/98/EU 4 ), seasonal workers (Directive 2014/36/EU 5 ), intra-corporate transfers (Directive 2014/66/EU 6 ), and researchers, students, trainees, volunteers, pupils and au pairs (Directive EU 2016/801 7 ). They are provided in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 862/2007. Migration to the EU has changed radically in recent years. To address the challenges this change presents, the Commission has implemented and further developed the comprehensive migration policy presented in the European Agenda on Migration 8 , the purpose of which is to improve the way migratory flows are managed, both within and outside the EU and that includes a mix of immediate actions to respond to the influx of migrants towards Europe and structural reform around four pillars: (i) reducing the incentives for irregular migration; (ii) border management: saving lives and securing external borders; (iii) Europe's duty to protect: a strong common asylum policy; (iv) a new policy on legal migration. In this context, stakeholders have repeatedly argued that there is a need to strengthen the evidence base in these areas. The Commission has regularly acknowledged the n eed to improve the collection of statistics, particularly as regards the figures on the return of third-country nationals staying illegally in the EU 9 , and as regards children 10 . The Eurostat work programme for 2018 already prioritises responding to a new a nd more dynamic policy environment, with particular emphasis on asylum seekers and law enforcement in the migration field (including returns). It states that the existing legislation may be reviewed so as to address user priorities, including new and emerg ing requirements. The content and the quality of the European migration statistics, produced in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 862/2007, meet certain needs. However, their shortcomings are becoming increasingly apparent, especially given recent developments in migration into the EU. Further data on several new types of migration and migrants are needed, and they need to be more precise, more frequent and timelier. The existing legal framework makes no provision for such data. So far, the new needs have been dealt with entirely voluntarily (i.e. with no revision of Regulation (EC) No 862/2007), on the basis of an agreement by the relevant expert group in cooperation with the Member States. Experience with return statistics, for instance, shows that this approach is not always efficient. The implication is that Regulation (EC) No 862/2007 should be revised and improved to ensure that the relevant statistics are more readily available. Under the European Agenda on Migration, the European and national systems administering asylum and managed migration are evolving. Given the changing relevant characteristics of migration and migrants, there is a real need to improve the statistics on both in line with stakeholders' changing needs. This means making them more relevant, so as to build a stronger evidence base for policy-making and evaluation. This is why the Commission's Progress Report on the Eur opean Agenda on Migration 11 mentions a clear need for specific amendments to Regulation (EC) No 862/2007 , pointing to very precise improvements, especially as regards returns (more frequent statistics), resettlements, residence permits and migrant children. The most recent ‘ Progress Report on the Implementation of the European Agenda on Migration’ 12 , which followed it, notes that the Commission is considering amending EU rules on the collection and the regularity of statistics on migration and international p rotection so as to ensure a comprehensive overview and address some of the gaps identified in the statistics available. The issue is even more acute for EU-level policy-makers and policy evaluation. There is a clear demand to improve statistics on migratio n-related administrative events, to reflect recent and forthcoming policy changes and make the European Statistical System (ESS) 13 more receptive to changes in migration itself and related EU-level policies. There is also a need to make sure that voluntary national transmissions of data are more complete and reliable. Moreover, a mechanism for further improving migration statistics needs to be developed, to make the ESS more responsive to any further developments in migration data requirements. Failure to up grade European statistics in this domain is likely to rapidly widen existing gaps between the demand for such statistics and the supply available, especially for policy-making and evaluation, and thus to hold policymakers back from responding to future mig ration-related challenges on the basis of evidence. The aim of this proposal is to support the European Agenda on Migration by providing EU policy and decision-makers with better and timelier policy-relevant statistics, and to strengthen the response to the challenges posed by migration. In particular, the initiative will upgrade European statistics on asylum and managed migration by providing a legal basis for statistics that are currently collected voluntarily. By this token, the revision of Regulation (EC) No 862/2007 would improve completeness, accuracy, timeliness and certainty with respect to the existing voluntary transmissions of data by national authorities. In particular, it will ensure provision of statistics in areas where stakeholders have expressed clear needs - on asylum, returns (higher frequency), resettlement, residence permits and migrant children. Looking beyond these specific and immediate needs, and to support future developments in migration policy in general, the revision will provide an embedded flexibility for further improvements to migration statistics. It will also allow for responsiveness in developing new migration indicators that will better support the ‘Agenda on Migration’ priorities, by providing an evidence base. Such flexibility will improve the quality of European statistics, mainly by making them more relevant.
Revised version (Article 9 Data sources and quality standards):
1. The statistics shall be based on the following data sources according to their availability in the Member State and in accordance with national laws and practices: (a) records of administrative and judicial actions; (b) registers relating to administrative actions; (c) registers of the population of persons or of a particular sub-group of that population; (d) censuses; (e) sample surveys; (f) other appropriate sources. As part of the statistics process, scientifically based and well documented statistical estimation methods may be used. 1a. Member States shall take the measures necessary to ensure the quality of the data and metadata transmitted under this Regulation. 1b. The quality criteria listed in Article 12(1) of Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council ( 7 ) shall apply for the purposes of this Regulation. 2. Member States shall report to the Commission (Eurostat), in the form of quality reports, on the data sources used, the reasons for the selection of those sources, the effects of the selected data sources on the quality of the statistics, the technical and organisational measures used to ensure the protection of personal data and the estimation methods used, and shall keep the Commission (Eurostat) informed of any changes thereto. 3. At the request of the Commission (Eurostat), Member States shall provide it with the necessary additional clarification to evaluate the quality of the statistical information. 4. Member States shall inform the Commission (Eurostat) without delay of any revisions or corrections to the statistics supplied under this Regulation, of any changes in the methods and data sources used, and of any relevant information or change with regard to the implementation of this Regulation that could influence the quality of the data transmitted. 5. The Commission may adopt implementing acts: (a) setting out the practical arrangements for, and the content of, the quality reports referred to in paragraph 2 of this Article; (b) regarding the measures relating to the definition of appropriate formats for the transmission of data under this Regulation. The acts referred to in point (a) shall not impose significant additional burdens or costs on the Member States. The implementing acts referred to in this paragraph shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 11(2).
Article 10 Implementing measures
1. The measures necessary for the implementation of this Regulation laying down the rules on the appropriate formats for the transmission of data as provided for in Article 9 shall be adopted in accordance with the regulatory procedure referred to in Article 11(2). 2. The following measures necessary for the implementation of this Regulation and designed to amend its non-essential elements, inter alia , by supplementing it, shall be adopted in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny referred to in Article 11(3): (a) updating the definitions set out in Article 2(1); (b) defining the categories of groups of country of birth, groups of country of previous and next usual residence and groups of citizenship as provided for in Article 3(1); (c) defining the categories of the reasons for the permit as provided for in Article 6(1)(a); (d) defining the additional disaggregations and the levels of disaggregations to be applied to the variables as provided for in Article 8; (e) laying down the rules on accuracy and quality standards.
Amendment rationale: CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL Reasons for and objectives of the proposal The Commission (Eurostat) regularly collects statistics on asylum and managed migration, in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 862/2007 of the European Parliament and of the Council 1 . This Regulation and Commission Regulation (EU) No 216/2010 2 , which defines the various categories of reasons for issuing residen ce permits, are the main instruments for mandatory statistics on asylum and managed migration. In addition, the Commission (Eurostat) collects statistics on migration-related administrative events on the basis of other legal instruments under which data co llection is mandatory. These additional statistics refer to data on EU Blue Cards (Directive 2009/50/EC 3 ), single permits (Directive 2011/98/EU 4 ), seasonal workers (Directive 2014/36/EU 5 ), intra-corporate transfers (Directive 2014/66/EU 6 ), and researchers, students, trainees, volunteers, pupils and au pairs (Directive EU 2016/801 7 ). They are provided in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 862/2007. Migration to the EU has changed radically in recent years. To address the challenges this change presents, the Commission has implemented and further developed the comprehensive migration policy presented in the European Agenda on Migration 8 , the purpose of which is to improve the way migratory flows are managed, both within and outside the EU and that includes a mix of immediate actions to respond to the influx of migrants towards Europe and structural reform around four pillars: (i) reducing the incentives for irregular migration; (ii) border management: saving lives and securing external borders; (iii) Europe's duty to protect: a strong common asylum policy; (iv) a new policy on legal migration. In this context, stakeholders have repeatedly argued that there is a need to strengthen the evidence base in these areas. The Commission has regularly acknowledged the n eed to improve the collection of statistics, particularly as regards the figures on the return of third-country nationals staying illegally in the EU 9 , and as regards children 10 . The Eurostat work programme for 2018 already prioritises responding to a new a nd more dynamic policy environment, with particular emphasis on asylum seekers and law enforcement in the migration field (including returns). It states that the existing legislation may be reviewed so as to address user priorities, including new and emerg ing requirements. The content and the quality of the European migration statistics, produced in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 862/2007, meet certain needs. However, their shortcomings are becoming increasingly apparent, especially given recent developments in migration into the EU. Further data on several new types of migration and migrants are needed, and they need to be more precise, more frequent and timelier. The existing legal framework makes no provision for such data. So far, the new needs have been dealt with entirely voluntarily (i.e. with no revision of Regulation (EC) No 862/2007), on the basis of an agreement by the relevant expert group in cooperation with the Member States. Experience with return statistics, for instance, shows that this approach is not always efficient. The implication is that Regulation (EC) No 862/2007 should be revised and improved to ensure that the relevant statistics are more readily available. Under the European Agenda on Migration, the European and national systems administering asylum and managed migration are evolving. Given the changing relevant characteristics of migration and migrants, there is a real need to improve the statistics on both in line with stakeholders' changing needs. This means making them more relevant, so as to build a stronger evidence base for policy-making and evaluation. This is why the Commission's Progress Report on the Eur opean Agenda on Migration 11 mentions a clear need for specific amendments to Regulation (EC) No 862/2007 , pointing to very precise improvements, especially as regards returns (more frequent statistics), resettlements, residence permits and migrant children. The most recent ‘ Progress Report on the Implementation of the European Agenda on Migration’ 12 , which followed it, notes that the Commission is considering amending EU rules on the collection and the regularity of statistics on migration and international p rotection so as to ensure a comprehensive overview and address some of the gaps identified in the statistics available. The issue is even more acute for EU-level policy-makers and policy evaluation. There is a clear demand to improve statistics on migratio n-related administrative events, to reflect recent and forthcoming policy changes and make the European Statistical System (ESS) 13 more receptive to changes in migration itself and related EU-level policies. There is also a need to make sure that voluntary national transmissions of data are more complete and reliable. Moreover, a mechanism for further improving migration statistics needs to be developed, to make the ESS more responsive to any further developments in migration data requirements. Failure to up grade European statistics in this domain is likely to rapidly widen existing gaps between the demand for such statistics and the supply available, especially for policy-making and evaluation, and thus to hold policymakers back from responding to future mig ration-related challenges on the basis of evidence. The aim of this proposal is to support the European Agenda on Migration by providing EU policy and decision-makers with better and timelier policy-relevant statistics, and to strengthen the response to the challenges posed by migration. In particular, the initiative will upgrade European statistics on asylum and managed migration by providing a legal basis for statistics that are currently collected voluntarily. By this token, the revision of Regulation (EC) No 862/2007 would improve completeness, accuracy, timeliness and certainty with respect to the existing voluntary transmissions of data by national authorities. In particular, it will ensure provision of statistics in areas where stakeholders have expressed clear needs - on asylum, returns (higher frequency), resettlement, residence permits and migrant children. Looking beyond these specific and immediate needs, and to support future developments in migration policy in general, the revision will provide an embedded flexibility for further improvements to migration statistics. It will also allow for responsiveness in developing new migration indicators that will better support the ‘Agenda on Migration’ priorities, by providing an evidence base. Such flexibility will improve the quality of European statistics, mainly by making them more relevant.
Article 11 Committee
1. In adopting the implementing measures, the Commission shall be assisted by the Statistical Programme Committee, established by Decision 89/382/EEC, Euratom. 2. Where reference is made to this paragraph, Article 5 and Article 7 of Decision 1999/468/EC shall apply, having regard to the provisions of Article 8 thereof. The period laid down in Article 5(6) of Decision 1999/468/EC shall be set at three months. 3. Where reference is made to this paragraph, Article 5a(1) to (4) and Article 7 of Decision 1999/468/EC shall apply, having regard to the provisions of Article 8 thereof.
Amendment rationale: CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL Reasons for and objectives of the proposal The Commission (Eurostat) regularly collects statistics on asylum and managed migration, in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 862/2007 of the European Parliament and of the Council 1 . This Regulation and Commission Regulation (EU) No 216/2010 2 , which defines the various categories of reasons for issuing residen ce permits, are the main instruments for mandatory statistics on asylum and managed migration. In addition, the Commission (Eurostat) collects statistics on migration-related administrative events on the basis of other legal instruments under which data co llection is mandatory. These additional statistics refer to data on EU Blue Cards (Directive 2009/50/EC 3 ), single permits (Directive 2011/98/EU 4 ), seasonal workers (Directive 2014/36/EU 5 ), intra-corporate transfers (Directive 2014/66/EU 6 ), and researchers, students, trainees, volunteers, pupils and au pairs (Directive EU 2016/801 7 ). They are provided in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 862/2007. Migration to the EU has changed radically in recent years. To address the challenges this change presents, the Commission has implemented and further developed the comprehensive migration policy presented in the European Agenda on Migration 8 , the purpose of which is to improve the way migratory flows are managed, both within and outside the EU and that includes a mix of immediate actions to respond to the influx of migrants towards Europe and structural reform around four pillars: (i) reducing the incentives for irregular migration; (ii) border management: saving lives and securing external borders; (iii) Europe's duty to protect: a strong common asylum policy; (iv) a new policy on legal migration. In this context, stakeholders have repeatedly argued that there is a need to strengthen the evidence base in these areas. The Commission has regularly acknowledged the n eed to improve the collection of statistics, particularly as regards the figures on the return of third-country nationals staying illegally in the EU 9 , and as regards children 10 . The Eurostat work programme for 2018 already prioritises responding to a new a nd more dynamic policy environment, with particular emphasis on asylum seekers and law enforcement in the migration field (including returns). It states that the existing legislation may be reviewed so as to address user priorities, including new and emerg ing requirements. The content and the quality of the European migration statistics, produced in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 862/2007, meet certain needs. However, their shortcomings are becoming increasingly apparent, especially given recent developments in migration into the EU. Further data on several new types of migration and migrants are needed, and they need to be more precise, more frequent and timelier. The existing legal framework makes no provision for such data. So far, the new needs have been dealt with entirely voluntarily (i.e. with no revision of Regulation (EC) No 862/2007), on the basis of an agreement by the relevant expert group in cooperation with the Member States. Experience with return statistics, for instance, shows that this approach is not always efficient. The implication is that Regulation (EC) No 862/2007 should be revised and improved to ensure that the relevant statistics are more readily available. Under the European Agenda on Migration, the European and national systems administering asylum and managed migration are evolving. Given the changing relevant characteristics of migration and migrants, there is a real need to improve the statistics on both in line with stakeholders' changing needs. This means making them more relevant, so as to build a stronger evidence base for policy-making and evaluation. This is why the Commission's Progress Report on the Eur opean Agenda on Migration 11 mentions a clear need for specific amendments to Regulation (EC) No 862/2007 , pointing to very precise improvements, especially as regards returns (more frequent statistics), resettlements, residence permits and migrant children. The most recent ‘ Progress Report on the Implementation of the European Agenda on Migration’ 12 , which followed it, notes that the Commission is considering amending EU rules on the collection and the regularity of statistics on migration and international p rotection so as to ensure a comprehensive overview and address some of the gaps identified in the statistics available. The issue is even more acute for EU-level policy-makers and policy evaluation. There is a clear demand to improve statistics on migratio n-related administrative events, to reflect recent and forthcoming policy changes and make the European Statistical System (ESS) 13 more receptive to changes in migration itself and related EU-level policies. There is also a need to make sure that voluntary national transmissions of data are more complete and reliable. Moreover, a mechanism for further improving migration statistics needs to be developed, to make the ESS more responsive to any further developments in migration data requirements. Failure to up grade European statistics in this domain is likely to rapidly widen existing gaps between the demand for such statistics and the supply available, especially for policy-making and evaluation, and thus to hold policymakers back from responding to future mig ration-related challenges on the basis of evidence. The aim of this proposal is to support the European Agenda on Migration by providing EU policy and decision-makers with better and timelier policy-relevant statistics, and to strengthen the response to the challenges posed by migration. In particular, the initiative will upgrade European statistics on asylum and managed migration by providing a legal basis for statistics that are currently collected voluntarily. By this token, the revision of Regulation (EC) No 862/2007 would improve completeness, accuracy, timeliness and certainty with respect to the existing voluntary transmissions of data by national authorities. In particular, it will ensure provision of statistics in areas where stakeholders have expressed clear needs - on asylum, returns (higher frequency), resettlement, residence permits and migrant children. Looking beyond these specific and immediate needs, and to support future developments in migration policy in general, the revision will provide an embedded flexibility for further improvements to migration statistics. It will also allow for responsiveness in developing new migration indicators that will better support the ‘Agenda on Migration’ priorities, by providing an evidence base. Such flexibility will improve the quality of European statistics, mainly by making them more relevant.
Revised version (Article 11 Committee procedure):
1. The Commission shall be assisted by the European Statistical System Committee established by Regulation (EC) No 223/2009. That committee shall be a committee within the meaning of Regulation (EU) No 182/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council ( 9 ). 2. Where reference is made to this paragraph, Article 5 of Regulation (EU) No 182/2011 shall apply.
Article 12 Report
By 20 August 2012 and every three years thereafter, the Commission shall submit a report to the European Parliament and the Council on the statistics compiled pursuant to this Regulation and on their quality.
Article 14 Entry into force
This Regulation shall enter into force on the 20th day following its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union .
Amendment rationale: CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL Reasons for and objectives of the proposal The Commission (Eurostat) regularly collects statistics on asylum and managed migration, in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 862/2007 of the European Parliament and of the Council 1 . This Regulation and Commission Regulation (EU) No 216/2010 2 , which defines the various categories of reasons for issuing residen ce permits, are the main instruments for mandatory statistics on asylum and managed migration. In addition, the Commission (Eurostat) collects statistics on migration-related administrative events on the basis of other legal instruments under which data co llection is mandatory. These additional statistics refer to data on EU Blue Cards (Directive 2009/50/EC 3 ), single permits (Directive 2011/98/EU 4 ), seasonal workers (Directive 2014/36/EU 5 ), intra-corporate transfers (Directive 2014/66/EU 6 ), and researchers, students, trainees, volunteers, pupils and au pairs (Directive EU 2016/801 7 ). They are provided in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 862/2007. Migration to the EU has changed radically in recent years. To address the challenges this change presents, the Commission has implemented and further developed the comprehensive migration policy presented in the European Agenda on Migration 8 , the purpose of which is to improve the way migratory flows are managed, both within and outside the EU and that includes a mix of immediate actions to respond to the influx of migrants towards Europe and structural reform around four pillars: (i) reducing the incentives for irregular migration; (ii) border management: saving lives and securing external borders; (iii) Europe's duty to protect: a strong common asylum policy; (iv) a new policy on legal migration. In this context, stakeholders have repeatedly argued that there is a need to strengthen the evidence base in these areas. The Commission has regularly acknowledged the n eed to improve the collection of statistics, particularly as regards the figures on the return of third-country nationals staying illegally in the EU 9 , and as regards children 10 . The Eurostat work programme for 2018 already prioritises responding to a new a nd more dynamic policy environment, with particular emphasis on asylum seekers and law enforcement in the migration field (including returns). It states that the existing legislation may be reviewed so as to address user priorities, including new and emerg ing requirements. The content and the quality of the European migration statistics, produced in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 862/2007, meet certain needs. However, their shortcomings are becoming increasingly apparent, especially given recent developments in migration into the EU. Further data on several new types of migration and migrants are needed, and they need to be more precise, more frequent and timelier. The existing legal framework makes no provision for such data. So far, the new needs have been dealt with entirely voluntarily (i.e. with no revision of Regulation (EC) No 862/2007), on the basis of an agreement by the relevant expert group in cooperation with the Member States. Experience with return statistics, for instance, shows that this approach is not always efficient. The implication is that Regulation (EC) No 862/2007 should be revised and improved to ensure that the relevant statistics are more readily available. Under the European Agenda on Migration, the European and national systems administering asylum and managed migration are evolving. Given the changing relevant characteristics of migration and migrants, there is a real need to improve the statistics on both in line with stakeholders' changing needs. This means making them more relevant, so as to build a stronger evidence base for policy-making and evaluation. This is why the Commission's Progress Report on the Eur opean Agenda on Migration 11 mentions a clear need for specific amendments to Regulation (EC) No 862/2007 , pointing to very precise improvements, especially as regards returns (more frequent statistics), resettlements, residence permits and migrant children. The most recent ‘ Progress Report on the Implementation of the European Agenda on Migration’ 12 , which followed it, notes that the Commission is considering amending EU rules on the collection and the regularity of statistics on migration and international p rotection so as to ensure a comprehensive overview and address some of the gaps identified in the statistics available. The issue is even more acute for EU-level policy-makers and policy evaluation. There is a clear demand to improve statistics on migratio n-related administrative events, to reflect recent and forthcoming policy changes and make the European Statistical System (ESS) 13 more receptive to changes in migration itself and related EU-level policies. There is also a need to make sure that voluntary national transmissions of data are more complete and reliable. Moreover, a mechanism for further improving migration statistics needs to be developed, to make the ESS more responsive to any further developments in migration data requirements. Failure to up grade European statistics in this domain is likely to rapidly widen existing gaps between the demand for such statistics and the supply available, especially for policy-making and evaluation, and thus to hold policymakers back from responding to future mig ration-related challenges on the basis of evidence. The aim of this proposal is to support the European Agenda on Migration by providing EU policy and decision-makers with better and timelier policy-relevant statistics, and to strengthen the response to the challenges posed by migration. In particular, the initiative will upgrade European statistics on asylum and managed migration by providing a legal basis for statistics that are currently collected voluntarily. By this token, the revision of Regulation (EC) No 862/2007 would improve completeness, accuracy, timeliness and certainty with respect to the existing voluntary transmissions of data by national authorities. In particular, it will ensure provision of statistics in areas where stakeholders have expressed clear needs - on asylum, returns (higher frequency), resettlement, residence permits and migrant children. Looking beyond these specific and immediate needs, and to support future developments in migration policy in general, the revision will provide an embedded flexibility for further improvements to migration statistics. It will also allow for responsiveness in developing new migration indicators that will better support the ‘Agenda on Migration’ priorities, by providing an evidence base. Such flexibility will improve the quality of European statistics, mainly by making them more relevant.
Revised version (Article 14 Entry into force):
This Regulation shall enter into force on the 20th day following its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union . This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.