European Regulation on European Statistics

Regulation – Main Act

Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 March 2009 on European statistics and repealing Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1101/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the transmission of data subject to statistical confidentiality to the Statistical Office of the European Communities, Council Regulation (EC) No 322/97 on Community Statistics, and Council Decision 89/382/EEC, Euratom establishing a Committee on the Statistical Programmes of the European Communities (OJ L 87, 31.3.2009, p. 164–173).

Successive amendments to Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 have been introduced by Regulation (EU) 2015/759 and Regulation (EU) 2024/3018 of the European Parliament and of the Council. All EU legislation and regulations are available on the EUR-Lex – EU Law.

Purpose

The purpose of the Regulation is to establish a legal framework for the development, production and dissemination of European statistics in accordance with the following principles:

professional independence* ·
impartiality·
objectivity·
reliability·
statistical confidentiality· and
cost effectiveness.

*Professional independence: the process of developing, producing and disseminating statistics using techniques, definitions, methodologies and sources without any pressure from political groups or interest groups, or from EU or national authorities.

Key Points of the Regulation

Statistics are important for the implementation of the activities of the European Union (EU). The Regulation establishes a set of rules for better management of the statistical compilation process.

Statistical governance is exercised by the following bodies:

Eurostat, a Directorate-General of the European Commission, is the European authority responsible for coordinating statistical activities in EU agencies.
EU countries designate National Statistical Institutes (NSI's) acting as national contact points for Eurostat.
At the same time, the European Statistical System (ESS) is a partnership between Eurostat, the National Statistical Institutes (NSI's) and other national authorities. This Regulation also establishes the ESS Committee, composed of representatives of the NSI's and chaired by Eurostat. It cooperates with the Commission, inter alia, on the European Statistical Program, on issues related to statistical confidentiality and on the further development of the Code of Practice for European Statistics (also updated by the ESS Committee). In addition, the ESS works closely with the European system of central banks.

Eurostat, NSI's and other national authorities disseminate European statistics to ensure broad and non-discriminatory access for all users.

Access to confidential data is only permitted if they are used for statistical purposes, unless certain conditions apply (eg granting access to researchers for scientific purposes). Confidential information may be transmitted from one ESS authority to another provided that such transmission is recognized as necessary for the development, production and dissemination of European statistics.

Regulation (EU) 2015/759 amended Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 reinforcing:

the role of NSI's in coordinating statistical activities·
the professional independence of the heads of the NSI's and the Director-General of Eurostat· and
the implementation of the Code of Practice.

Regulation (EU) 2024/3018 amended Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 reinforcing:

the continuous access to data held by businesses and public administrations for statistical purposes·
the exploitation of digital data sources and technologies·
the obligation for private data holders to make data available for the development, production and dissemination of European statistics.
the statistical response to crisis situations by establishing a dedicated mechanism.

Implementation of Regulation

It is applied from 1 April 2009.

Frame

The previous European Statistics System has been modified to address the challenges and policy needs of the post-global financial crisis. In this context, better coordination of European statistics and greater flexibility in their dissemination had to be ensured. Therefore, this Regulation redefines the framework of European Statistics by consolidating the activities of the ESS and clarifying the roles of Eurostat, the NSΙ's and other national authorities.