WHAT IS THE AIM OF THE REGULATION?
Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 aims to establish a legal framework for the development, production and dissemination of European statistics that complies with the principles of:
- professional independence1,
- impartiality,
- objectivity,
- reliability,
- statistical confidentiality,
- cost-effectiveness.
KEY POINTS
Statistics are important for the performance of European Union (EU) activities. With this regulation, a set of rules is laid out to better manage the statistical process.
Statistical governance is exercised by the following bodies:
- Eurostat (see summary), a directorate-general of the European Commission, is the authority responsible for coordinating statistical activities in the bodies of the EU;
- EU Member States designate national statistical institutes (NSIs) to serve as the national contact points for Eurostat.
Meanwhile, the European Statistical System (ESS) is a partnership between Eurostat, NSIs and other national authorities. The ESS also cooperates closely with the European System of Central Banks.
Under this regulation, the ESS Committee is established, which is composed of NSI representatives and is chaired by Eurostat. It works with the Commission on, among other things, the European statistical programme (see summary), issues concerning statistical confidentiality and the further development of the European Statistics Code of Practice (which is also updated by the ESS Committee).
Eurostat, the NSIs and other national authorities disseminate European statistics so as to guarantee a wide and impartial access to all users.
Unless certain conditions apply (e.g. access by researchers for scientific purposes), confidential data can only be used for statistical purposes. Confidential data can be transmitted by an authority of the ESS to another authority of the ESS or to a member of the European System of Central Banks as long as this is recognised as being necessary for the development, production or dissemination of European statistics.
Regulation (EU) 2015/759 amended this regulation by strengthening:
- the role of the NSIs in coordinating statistical activities;
- the professional independence of the heads of the NSIs and Eurostat’s director-general; and
- the implementation of the code of practice.
Regulation (EU) 2024/3018 further amends this regulation by:
- allowing Eurostat, in cooperation with NSIs, to launch urgent statistical actions during recognised EU crisis situations;
- enabling NSIs and Eurostat to request access to data held by private entities when necessary for the production of European statistics;
- strengthening access to administrative and public sector data, including EU-level databases;
- introducing a new category of statistics under development to support innovation;
- facilitating the sharing of non-confidential data within the ESS and with the European System of Central Banks;
- allowing Eurostat to publish national statistics as soon as they are released nationally; and
- clarifying conditions for access to confidential data by researchers.
FROM WHEN DOES THE REGULATION APPLY?
It has applied since 1 April 2009.
BACKGROUND
The European Statistical System established by this regulation was amended to address challenges and policy needs that developed following changes in society at the time. This was to ensure the improved coordination of European statistics and greater flexibility in their production. This regulation, therefore, redefined the framework for European statistics by consolidating the activities of the ESS and clarifying the roles of Eurostat, the NSIs and other national authorities. It was first amended in 2015 to strengthen the governance of the ESS, and was further amended in 2024 to improve access to data, enable faster responses in crisis situations and support the development of new statistical outputs.
KEY TERMS
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Professional independence. The process of developing, producing and disseminating statistics using techniques, definitions, methodologies and sources that are free from any pressures from political or interest groups, or from EU or national authorities, including as regards when and what to disseminate.
MAIN DOCUMENT
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 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, pp. 164–173).
Successive amendments to Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 have been incorporated into the original text. This consolidated version is of documentary value only.
RELATED DOCUMENTS
Regulation (EU) 2021/690 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 28 April 2021 establishing a programme for the internal market, competitiveness of enterprises, including small and medium-sized enterprises, the area of plants, animals, food and feed, and European statistics (Single Market Programme) and repealing Regulations (EU) No 99/2013, (EU) No 1287/2013, (EU) No 254/2014 and (EU) No 652/2014 (OJ L 153, 3.5.2021, pp. 1–47).
