Article 3(2) of Regulation (EC) No 322/97 sets out three types of ‘individual statistical actions’ that can be used to implement the Community statistical programme: first, legislation adopted under the co-decision procedure, which may confer implementation powers on the Commission; second, actions taken directly by the Commission, under very limited circumstances: the action must last for no longer than one year, the data to be gathered must already be available or accessible within the national authorities responsible, and any additional costs incurred at national level as a result of the action must be borne by the Commission; third, agreements between Eurostat and the Member State authorities.
Enactment of legislation in accordance with Treaty provisions should be the preferred choice in most situations where the collection of statistics is necessary. This will be based on a realistic legislative policy in conformity with the Commission’s policy in favour of simpler and well targeted legislation. New legislative initiatives will be exhaustively prepared with the stakeholders and they should address the users’ needs, avoid excessive burden on respondents, and take due account of priorities, costs and the possibilities for delivering.
The objectives for the programme period are to take initiatives to:
replace agreements by Community legislation in certain areas of regular production of Community statistics which have reached sufficient maturity,
recast and simplify the legislation in statistical areas with complex Community legislation, and
repeal or revise the legislation in statistical areas where the Community legislation does not effectively reflect users’ needs, priorities and the socioeconomic and technological context.
The quality of Community statistics comprises – in addition to the scientific requirements – the fundamental requirement of compliance with the principles of the Treaty and the secondary legislation. Therefore, a vigorous and systematic monitoring of the application of the legislation is a priority. A global and coherent compliance strategy structured around the principles of a realistic legislative policy, the obligation of Member States to apply systematically the statistical legislation and a coherent and systematic monitoring of compliance, will be followed. Close contacts with the competent national authorities throughout all of the phases is part of the compliance process.
The objective in the programme period is to:
ensure the systematic monitoring of compliance with Community legislation.
In order to improve the statistical service to users, and in order to improve the efficiency of the ESS as a whole, a stronger focus on the core needs for European policies is necessary. In specific cases this will be based on the ‘European approach to statistics’, a pragmatic strategy to facilitate the compilation of European statistical aggregates which are of particular importance for Community policies. Also, the flexibility of the ESS and its ability to respond promptly to changing user needs must be strengthened.
The objectives for the programme period are to:
improve the coherence across statistical systems, strengthening the ability to respond to users’ needs by combining different statistical sources,
extend the use of ad-hoc modules in Community surveys in specific cases, increasing the responsiveness to new needs,
use differentiation of requirements depending on the weight of countries in European statistical aggregates to a larger extent, reducing significantly the costs for some national authorities and the burden on respondents and also improving the timeliness of EU statistical aggregates, and
use European samples aiming to provide good quality data at European aggregate level in specific cases, improving coherence and comparability and streamlining production processes.
In order to ensure the timely fulfilment of users’ needs, the Commission can support the development of statistics and the build-up of capacity in the ESS by awarding service contracts or concluding grant agreements. Such support will take into account the financial burden-sharing between the EU and the Member State budgets relating to the implementation of the programme (as well as the individual situation of the Member States), in particular in cases where the European approach to statistics is used.
The objectives for the programme period are to:
award service contracts and grant agreements with a view to ensuring the optimum development of statistics and build-up of capacity in the ESS, making best use of available resources, and
make efforts to streamline and simplify the grant-management procedures, without prejudice to Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1605/2002 of 25 June 2002 on the Financial Regulation applicable to the general budget of the European Communities(1).
Achieving the objectives of the ESS and ensuring the necessary improvement of programmes, processes and products to meet increasing user needs not only require sufficient resources but also the creativity and competence of the entire ESS. Therefore, new ways of structuring the practical organisation of certain activities – making use of expertise and best practices where they are available – will be put in place in order to release synergies and improve overall efficiency and quality.
The objective in the programme period is to:
establish or further develop joint structures, tools and processes (e.g. ESSnet – collaborative networks between partners of the ESS with the aim of avoiding duplication of work and, therefore, increasing efficiency) involving national authorities and relevant Community services and facilitating the specialisation of certain Member States in specific statistical activities for the benefit of the ESS as a whole.
The objectives and tools of dissemination will undergo substantial changes during the programme period which will not only significantly change the nature of the dissemination function itself but will also have a significant impact on the other phases of the statistical production process.
The rapid evolution in the capacity and availability of the Internet will make it the prime tool for the dissemination of statistical data in the future. It will significantly increase the potential user community and thus create new opportunities for dissemination. Moreover, it will create the possibility for intensified cooperation between Eurostat and the national statistical institutes. The Internet will, however, also introduce significant new challenges for user-friendly presentation of data that help users to find, display and understand statistics. The existing dissemination of paper publications and offline electronic media will need to evolve as supplementary dissemination tools. Adequate user support structures and communication with user groups are important elements of effective dissemination.
The objectives for the programme period are to:
develop Eurostat’s Internet site in terms of content, ease of use and functionality, ensuring that it corresponds to best practices,
increase cooperation with other dissemination platforms of the ESS and with other Community services in order to facilitate the usage of the Internet sites and enhance the value of the statistical information for users.
The ESS has to maintain a vigilant watch on the balance between the need for information for Community policy purposes and the resources required at EU, national and regional level to provide this information. The provision of adequate resources in the national context is of particular importance in pursuing the statistical information requirements of EU policy decisions. It is, however, also important to maintain sufficient flexibility to allow the national authorities to satisfy Community statistical information needs in the most cost-effective manner.
The setting of priorities will be based on three high-level guiding principles:
assessment of users’ needs, including relevance for policy making at Community level,
assessment of cost implications for respondents, Member States and the Commission using, for example, the EU Net Cost Model or the Standard Cost Model, and
assessment of specific statistical issues of importance for the cost-effectiveness of particular statistics, including the trade-off between different components of statistical quality, e.g. ‘accuracy’ and ‘timeliness’, and possibilities for flexible reporting obligations focusing on core European needs.
In order to maximise overall cost-effectiveness and to pursue a balanced prioritisation of activities within the annual statistical work programmes, these principles will be applied in a transparent way and according to practical guidelines to be developed and maintained by Eurostat in cooperation with the national statistical authorities.
The objectives for the programme period are to:
put in place methods for in-depth step-by-step reviews of existing domains of Community statistics and for the assessment of new or substantially changed user requests. This is important for the continuous improvement of Community statistics, ensuring the identification of requirements which can be reduced or discontinued, and for the introduction of revised or new statistical initiatives,
subject all fields covered by this programme to a cost-effectiveness analysis, starting with a cost-burden estimation, allowing for a systematic reprioritisation before the end of the programme period 2008 to 2012. An action plan for the whole process will be launched within the first six months of the programme period 2008 to 2012,
subject all new statistical projects or major revisions of existing statistics likely to impose a significant additional burden on the data providers, in particular enterprises, to a cost-effectiveness analysis prior to their implementation,
set targets for the limitation or reduction of the overall costs and burdens to guide the review and re-prioritisation process,
ensure that the reporting burden is proportionate to the needs of users and not excessive for respondents, especially in the case of small and medium-sized enterprises. Measures for monitoring the reporting burden will be put in place and ways of minimising the burden put in practice. Increased use of administrative data for statistical purposes will be an important instrument in this regard, and
use, as far as possible, existing data to fulfil new statistical requirements.
OJ L 248, 16.9.2002, p. 1. Regulation as last amended by Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1995/2006 (OJ L 390, 30.12.2006, p. 1).