CHAPTER III

The European statistical programme shall provide the framework for the development, production and dissemination of European statistics, the main fields and the objectives of the actions envisaged for a period not exceeding five years. It shall be decided upon by the European Parliament and the Council. Its impact and cost effectiveness shall be assessed, involving independent experts. The European statistical programme shall lay down priorities concerning the needs for information for the purpose of carrying out the activities of the Community. Those needs shall be weighed against the resources needed at Community and national level to provide the required statistics, and also against the response burden and the respondent's associated costs. The Commission shall introduce initiatives to set priorities and reduce the response burden for all or part of the European statistical programme. The Commission shall submit the draft European statistical programme to the ESS Committee for prior examination. For each European statistical programme, the Commission shall, after consulting the ESS Committee, present an intermediate progress report and a final evaluation report and shall submit them to the European Parliament and to the Council. The European statistical programme shall be implemented by individual statistical actions which shall be decided: by the European Parliament and the Council; by the Commission, in specific and duly justified cases, in particular to meet unexpected needs, in accordance with the provisions in paragraph 2; or by means of agreement between the NSIs or other national authorities and the Commission (Eurostat), within their respective spheres of competence. Such agreements shall be in writing. The Commission may decide on a temporary direct statistical action in accordance with the regulatory procedure referred to in Article 27(2) provided that: the action does not provide for data collection covering more than three reference years; the data are already available or accessible within the NSIs and other national authorities responsible, or can be obtained directly, using the appropriate samples for the observation of the statistical population at European level with the adequate coordination with the NSIs and other national authorities; and the Community shall, in accordance with Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1605/2002 make financial contributions to the NSIs and other national authorities to cover the incremental costs incurred by them. In putting forward an action to be decided under paragraph 1(a) or (b), the Commission shall provide information on: the reasons justifying the action, notably in the light of the aims of the Community policy concerned; the objectives for the action and the expected results; a cost-effectiveness analysis, including an assessment of the burden on respondents and of the production costs; and the ways in which the action is to be carried out, including its duration and the role of the Commission and the Member States. In the individual statistical actions, synergies shall be developed, when possible, within the ESS through collaborative networks, by the sharing of expertise and results or by fostering specialisation on specific tasks. To this end, an adequate financial structure shall be developed. The outcome of those actions, such as joint structures, tools, processes and methods shall be made available throughout the ESS. The initiatives for the creation of collaborative networks as well as the outcomes shall be examined by the ESS Committee. In specific and duly justified cases and within the framework of the European statistical programme, the European approach to statistics aims at: maximising the availability of statistical aggregates at European level and improving the timeliness of European statistics; reducing the burden on the respondents, the NSIs and other national authorities based on a cost-effectiveness analysis. The cases where the European approach to statistics is relevant include: the production of European statistics by use of: non-published national contributions or national contributions from a subset of Member States; specifically designed survey schemes; partial information by modelling techniques; the dissemination of statistical aggregates at European level by applying specific statistical disclosure control techniques without national dissemination provisions being impaired. Measures to implement the European approach to statistics shall be carried out with the full involvement of Member States. The measures for the implementation of the European approach to statistics shall be laid down in the individual statistical actions referred to in Article 14(1). If necessary, a coordinated release and revision policy shall be established in cooperation with Member States. Each year, before the end of May, the Commission shall submit to the ESS Committee its work programme for the following year. The Commission shall take the utmost account of the comments of the ESS Committee. That work programme shall be based on the European statistical programme and shall indicate, in particular: the actions which the Commission considers to have priority, bearing in mind Community policy needs and both national and Community financial constraints as well as the response burden; initiatives regarding the review of priorities and the reduction of the response burden; and the procedures and any legal instruments envisaged by the Commission for implementation of the programme.

← art_12__para_3__text_1 · All articles · Article 13 →

Source: EUR-Lex (Cellar) · retrieved 2026-11-05 · Text as adopted (Official Journal); later amendments are not incorporated in this text.