52005DC0001

Brussels, 13.1.2005

COM(2005) 1 final

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REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE COUNCIL AND THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT

ON THE EVALUATION ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE COMMUNITY STATISTICAL PROGRAMME 1998-2002

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 4

1. Introduction 4

2. Methodology of the evaluation – what and how to evaluate 4

3. The Community Statistical Programme 4

4. Main conclusions 5

4.1. The implementation of the 1998-2002 Community Statistical Programme hasto a large extent been achieved for all priority and current EU policies 5

4.2. User satisfaction 6

4.3. Coordination and work planning 6

4.4. Quality 6

4.5. Effectiveness – Efficiency 7

4.6. Implementation of standards 7

4.7. Response burden 7

4.8. Subsidiarity 7

4.9. Balance of needs and resources 7

4.10. Evaluation and monitoring of progress 7

5. recommendations 7

5.1. Improve priority setting in the CSS 7

5.2. Reduce the time cycle of statistical processes 7

5.3. Find the appropriate method to work with 25 countries in accordance with the objectives of each domain 8

5.4. Improve measurement of Eurostat performance 8

5.5. Identify the management skills and knowledge at CSS level for the implementation of the CSP 8

5.6. Identify centres of excellence in the CSS in order to outsource statistical works 8

5.7. Revision of dissemination policy 8

5.8. Define Eurostat Quality Assurance Plan 9

5.9. Rationalise statistical production 9

MAIN REPORT 10

Introduction 10

Methodology of the evaluation – what and how to evaluate 10

The Community Statistical Programme 12

Evaluation of the implementation of the CSP 1998-2002 13

Evaluation of the Programme strategies 21

Principle of Subsidiarity 26

Balance of needs and resources 27

Recommendations 29

BIBLIOGRAPHY 31

GLOSSARY 33

DETAILED EVALUATION OF POLICIES 37

FREE MOVEMENT OF GOODS 37

AGRICULTURE 41

FREE MOVEMENT OF PERSONS, SERVICES AND CAPITAL 48

TRANSPORT 53

ECONOMIC AND MONETARY POLICY 61

COMMON COMMERCIAL POLICY 67

SOCIAL POLICY, EDUCATION, VOCATIONAL TRAINING AND YOUTH 73

CULTURE 80

PUBLIC HEALTH 82

CONSUMER PROTECTION 86

TRANS-EUROPEAN NETWORKS 88

INDUSTRY 92

ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COHESION 97

RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT 100

ENVIRONMENT 104

DEVELOPMENT COOPERATION 109

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

1. INTRODUCTION

This document represents the evaluation of the Community Statistical Programme (CSP) 1998-2002 as required by Article 4 of the Council Decision of 22 December 1998 on the Community Statistical Programme 1998-2002[1],:

Article 4:

“At the end of the period covered by the Programme the Commission, after consulting the Statistical Programme Committee (SPC), shall present an appropriate evaluation report on the implementation of the Programme, taking into account the views of independent experts. that report is to be completed by the end of 2003 and subsequently submitted to the European Parliament and the Council”

2. METHODOLOGY OF THE EVALUATION – WHAT AND HOW TO EVALUATE

The methodology used in this report, drafted internally, is based upon information which has been gathered using the following methods:

- Compilation and analysis of the existing information on the CSP;

- Use of external reviews from independent experts;

- Use of internal reviews taking into account both the views of users and partners[2]

The evaluation will address the following issues:

- Execution of the CSP in accordance with Community policies regarding implementation of standards and methods, provision of statistical service to EU institutions and Member States, dissemination of statistical information and statistical support;

- Target of the programme strategies;

- Subsidiarity;

- Balance of needs and resources;

3. THE COMMUNITY STATISTICAL PROGRAMME

The mission of Eurostat and, by extension, the whole Community Statistical Programme is “to provide the European Union with a high quality statistical service”.

Council Regulation of 17 February 1997 on Community Statistics[3] requires the preparation of a Community Statistical Programme “which defines the approaches, the main fields and the objectives of the actions envisaged for a period not exceeding five years.”

The five-year programme for 1998 - 2002 is the fifth successive medium term programme prepared by Eurostat. The five-year programmes are supported by annual programmes, which provide more detailed work objectives for each year.

4. MAIN CONCLUSIONS

4.1. The implementation of the 1998-2002 Community Statistical Programme has to a large extent been achieved for all priority and current EU policies

Priority policies:

Enlargement

According to the first draft monitoring and interim evaluation report of the European Union Pre-Accession Instrument PHARE in Statistics which was carried out by an independent consortium, the programme has achieved its general immediate objectives of strengthening the institutions to provide appropriate statistics in general and in the pre-accession context in particular. Furthermore, the programme maintains a network of professionals in statistics, at individual and at institutional levels, which is essential for the production of comparable statistics. However full compliance to the EU statistical standards has not been achieved as of end 2002, but is planned for the accession date. At the end of 2002, data were collected in accordance with EU standards for almost all statistical areas for the Acceding and Candidate Countries.

Economic and monetary Union

Eurostat and the Member States had to respond to an enormous increase in demand for macro-economic statistics linked to the introduction of the Euro: first the convergence criteria for entry into the euro, then a wide range of macro-economic statistics for the formulation and conduct of monetary policy. A benchmark comparison with the USA showed the need to improve the timeliness and number of macro-economic series available for the Eurozone. Most of the new demands focused on short term indicators, significant progress has been made in terms of data availability and quality. However, the situation is not fully satisfactory. Important improvements are expected on data coverage and timeliness except for the harmonised indices of Consumer prices (HICP) which already met major user requirements.

At the end of 2002, Eurostat was in a position to publish the data for Candidate Countries for most of the Euro indicators. All were published in 2003.

Competitiveness, Growth and Employment

The Community Statistical System (CSS) has quickly responded to the new requirements issued for the Lisbon Summit. A battery of structural indicators has been made available and methodological improvements are ongoing.

All policies:

- New methodologies and standards were developed and implemented during the period (50% of current statistical legislation in place s of 16.9.2003 was prepared and adopted during the period).

- The provision of statistical services was significantly improved with an increased volume of available information (+300 million, +215%) and information of better quality. However, new methodologies are not yet fully implemented. Data timeliness is far from being fully satisfactory.

- The improved quality of statistical services has led to an increase in online information services (Website, online databases) and a rationalised publications programme.

- Statistical support was provided not only to Member States to improve the current CSS but also, to a large extent, to Candidate Countries to comply with EU statistical regulations. A significant and essential part of Eurostat work over the period was dedicated to this support.

4.2. User satisfaction

According to external user satisfaction surveys and Rolling Reviews[4], users are globally satisfied with Eurostat and its services. Users think the change in overall quality of the service is good.

4.3. Coordination and work planning

According to the Rolling Reviews carried out over the period, partners consider the planning and co-ordinating structures in the Community Statistical System as adequate even if differences by domains are identified. All partners acknowledge the improvements in the general level of CSS co-operation and co-ordination and the improvements in national statistical production.

4.4. Quality

There has been a change of culture towards quality in the CSS with a better assessment and monitoring of quality. In general, relevance, accuracy, reliability and comparability are the strengths, whereas timeliness and accessibility are the main weaknesses. It is not clear if the investments made by the CSS on improvements to timeliness will be sufficient to meet user expectations.

4.5. Effectiveness – Efficiency

The CSP is considered to be effective since it produces the expected results.

The evaluation tools in place do not allow proper assessment of the efficiency of the CSP. The rapid development of new statistical methodologies and their recent implementation lead to the view that potential efficiency gains would be significant when optimising the statistical processes.

4.6. Implementation of standards

In several statistical areas, joint work with international organisations on classifications has made European statistics more comparable with those of other areas of the world.

4.7. Response burden

In a few statistical domains, there is some evidence that the response burden has been reduced. But due to new statistical requirements, the total response burden may have increased over the period.

4.8. Subsidiarity

The principle of subsidiary has been respected by the CSP 1998-2002.

4.9. Balance of needs and resources

Sufficient additional resources were not allocated to the new priorities defined in statistical activities. No statistical activities were given up.

4.10. Evaluation and monitoring of progress

This has been substantially developed since 2000. Several external and internal evaluations led to recommendations (e.g. Rolling Review on the CSS, Rolling Review on External Trade). According to the follow-up of improvement actions in April 2003, 70% of identified recommendations were implemented or in progress at this date.

5. RECOMMENDATIONS

5.1. Improve priority setting in the CSS

Prioritisation appeared to be very difficult and complex. It is recommended that the CSS approve and use a methodology for prioritisation, taking into account current and new activities and key criteria such as political priorities at EU level, relevance, data quality, finance bases and cost implications which would lead to improved programming.

5.2. Reduce the time cycle of statistical processes

Find the best balance between national and EU needs, leading to the choice of one or two of the following actions:

- Systematically evaluate data collection processes within the CSS from a data quality and costs point of view and when new methodologies are developed;

- Adopt a data collection process based on EU-wide sample when ex-ante evaluation clearly demonstrates major benefits for the CSS in terms of data quality and costs;

- Publish early estimates for EU aggregates as soon as possible.

5.3. Find the appropriate method to work with 25 countries in accordance with the objectives of each domain

In general, appropriate methods should be rapidly defined to work with 25 organisations. The use of information technology or a mandate based representation system is also an alternative to traditional working parties.

5.4. Improve measurement of Eurostat performance

Six performance indicators were defined and used to access Eurostat performance. However, no indicator was defined dealing with the annual output of Eurostat and Eurostat resources. This will be very helpful to measure improvement in the efficiency of the organisation and the CSP.

5.5. Identify the management skills and knowledge at CSS level for the implementation of the CSP

In knowledge based organisations such as Eurostat and the CSS, it is strategic that the management of skills and knowledge of staff are in accordance with the work plan and priorities.

In Eurostat, the time needed for developing a methodology corresponds to the normal period of a job. As a consequence, knowledge and skills should be capitalised for the benefit of the CSS and not lost when staff change. The capitalisation of skills and knowledge at team level would increase the sustainability of projects.

5.6. Identify centres of excellence in the CSS in order to outsource statistical works

Some NSIs have developed in depth expertise in very specific domains, with a larger volume of resources than in Eurostat. It would be worth defining the required features of centres of excellence, to list potential ones in Europe and to carry out an in-depth feasibility study from a statistical, administrative and financial point of view.

5.7. Revision of dissemination policy

The revision of the dissemination policy should clearly be focussed on a significant improvement of the access to data through free online services, which means investments into the reference databases. User friendliness, quality of metadata and quality indicators on data should also be upgraded in order to increase user satisfaction.

5.8. Define Eurostat Quality Assurance Plan

The Eurostat Quality Assurance Plan would describe all measures that are in place to manage the quality of data produced by Eurostat on the model of international organisations. It will take into account the process mapping of work procedures and quality records. The document would also aim to identify the potential actions to improve performance and reliability of statistical processes.

5.9. Rationalise statistical production

Rationalise statistical production processes and systems for improving efficiency when common steps (data collection, validation, aggregation, and dissemination) are identified and when common steps may generate economies of scale.

MAIN REPORT

Introduction

This document represents the evaluation of the Community Statistical Programme (CSP) 1998-2002 as required by Article 4 of the Council Decision of 22 December 1998 on the Community Statistical Programme 1998-2002[5]

Article 4:

“At the end of the period covered by the Programme the Commission, after consulting the Statistical Programme Committee (SPC), shall present an appropriate evaluation report on the implementation of the Programme, taking into account the views of independent experts. hat report is to be completed by the end of 2003 and subsequently submitted to the European Parliament and the Council”

The report is structured in 8 chapters, beginning with this introduction.

Chapter 2 describes the methodological approach used to evaluate the implementation of the CSP;

Chapter 3 describes how the CSP works and the links with the annual work programmes;

Chapter 4 and Chapter 5 provide the assessment of the implementation of the CSP;

Chapter 6 deals with the respect of the principle of subsidiary;

Chapter 7 describes the balance between needs and resources over the period;

Chapter 8 presents key recommendations.

Methodology of the evaluation – what and how to evaluate

This chapter outlines methodological approach used to evaluate the implementation of the Community Statistical Programme 1998-2002.

The methodology used in this report, drafted internally, is based upon information which has been gathered using the following methods:

- Compilation and analysis of the existing information on the CSP;

- Use of external reviews from independent experts;

- Authoritative external review of agricultural statistics;

- External mid-term review of MEDSTAT statistics;

- ECB quality report on General Economic Statistics;

- Monitoring and interim evaluation of the European Union Pre-accession instrument PHARE in statistics.

- Use of internal reviews taking into account both the views of users and partners.

The complete bibliography is provided at Annex 1.

Unfortunately, as will be highlighted in this report, the Programme is not structured in such a way as to permit the evaluation to be performed on the basis of standard or commonly accepted procedures. It is necessary to use other methodology than those commonly accepted for the EU expenditure programmes. The 2003-2007 Community Statistical Programme was designed to be evaluated in accordance with Commission evaluation standards.

The evaluation will address the following issues

- Implementation of CSP regarding Community policies;

- Target of the programme strategies;

- Subsidiarity;

- Balance of needs and resources.

- Implementation of CSP regarding Community policies

For each statistical theme and then after consolidation for each EU policy, the level of implementation of CSP has been analysed in 4 basic functions.

- Implementation of standards and methods in order to produce European data that is comparable, reliable and relevant;

- Provision of statistical services to EU institutions and Member States supporting the conception, implementation, follow-up and evaluation of Community policies;

- Dissemination of statistical information for the European public, for businesses and other users, to assess their decision-making;

- Statistical support for developing countries and countries in transition to modern economies.

- Target of the programme strategies

The target of the CSP has been assessed according to the following questions:

Target | Questions |

User satisfaction | To what extent has user satisfaction increased over the period? |

Priorities – Work planning | To what extent has work planning improved over the period? |

Quality | To what extent has data quality improved over the period? |

Co-ordination | To what extent has co-ordination improved over the period |

Effectiveness | To what extent is the programme effective? |

Response burden | To what extent has the response burden been reduced over the period? |

International standards | To what extent are Community statistics now more comparable with those for other areas of the world? |

Subsidiarity

To what extent has the principle of subsidiarity been respected over the period?

Balance of needs and resources

To what extent has the Community Statistical System (CSS[6]) maintained a balance between the needs for information for Community policy purposes and the resources required at both EU, national and regional level?

The Community Statistical Programme

The mission of Eurostat and, by extension, the whole Community Statistical Programme is “to provide the European union with a high quality statistical service”.

Council Regulation of 17 February 1997 on Community Statistics[7] requires the preparation of a Community Statistical Programme “which defines the approaches, the main fields and the objectives of the actions envisaged for a period not exceeding five years.”.

The five-year programme for 1998 - 2002 is the fifth successive medium term programme of work prepared by Eurostat. The five-year programmes are supported by annual programmes, which provide more detailed work objectives for each year.

The formulation of the Community Statistical Programme (CSP) hinges on a Council Regulation on Community Statistics[8], in which a legislative framework for the production of Community statistics is provided. The CSP is the framework programme for all statistics produced at Community level. The rationale for a CSP is clear, as there is a need to produce statistics with a pan-European reach that will help public authorities in their policy-making process.

Irrespective of the different bodies and Working Groups that participate in the various stages of elaboration of the CSP, it is clear that the Council undertakes the approval of the latter. The elaboration and co-ordination of the programme rests largely on the Statistical Programme Committee (SPC) as highlighted by article 2 of Council Decision 89/382/EEC establishing a Committee of the Statistical Programmes of the European Communities[9]: “The Committee shall assist the Commission in the general co-ordination of the multi-annual Statistical Programmes, in order to ensure that the actions to be undertaken are consistent with those decided upon in the national statistical programmes”.

Evaluation of the implementation of the CSP 1998-2002

Conclusion on the implementation of the CSP 1998-2002

The implementation of the 1998-2002 Community Statistical Programme has to a large extent been achieved for all priority and current EU policies.

All policies:

- New methodologies and standards were developed and implemented during the period (58% of current statistical legislation in place as of 16.9.2003 was prepared and adopted during the period).

- The provision of statistical services was significantly improved with an increased volume of available information (+ 300 million; + 215%) and better quality information. However, new methodologies are not yet fully implemented. Data timeliness is far from being fully satisfactory.

- The improved quality of statistical services has led to an increase in online information services (Website, online databases) and a rationalised publications programme.

- Statistical support was provided not only to Member States to improve the current CSS but also, to a large extent, to Candidate Countries to comply with EU statistical regulations. A significant and essential part of Eurostat work over the period was dedicated to this support.

Main statistical objectives of Community policies and achievements

Priorities

Below, the main statistical objectives of each Community policy priorities are given with the assessment of the implementation of the CSP, using, for some areas, the views of independent experts. In annex 2, a detailed evaluation of each policy is presented in accordance with the methodology.

Economic and Monetary Union

Main statistical objectives : meet the statistical requirements of the stability and growth pact, short-term indicators of demand, output, labour market activity and costs.

Achievements : Eurostat and the Member States had to respond to an enormous increase in demand for macro-economic statistics linked to the introduction of the Euro: first the convergence criteria for entry into the euro, then a wide range of macro-economic statistics for the formulation and conduct of monetary policy. A benchmark comparison with the USA showed the need to improve the timeliness and number of macro-economic series available for the Eurozone. Most of the new demands focused on short term indicators, where significant progress has been made in terms of data availability and quality in all areas: National Accounts, Prices, Financial Accounts and Balance of Payments.

To coordinate the countries in responding to the challenge, particularly for the short-term statistics, an EMU Action plan was adopted by the Council. Subsequently the Council made the following overview of progress on the implementation of the EMU action plan (15/01/2003) - Council conclusions.

“The Council endorsed the fifth progress report by the Economic and Financial Committee on information requirements in EMU. The report examines progress on the implementation of the Action Plan on EMU Statistical Requirements (EMU Action Plan), endorsed by the Ecofin Council in September 2000, as well as progress on the original report by the Monetary Committee on Information Requirements in EMU endorsed by the Ecofin Council in January 1999. The Council considers that a number of Member States still need to increase efforts to fulfil their obligations under the EMU Action Plan in order to improve the statistical basis for economic and monetary policy making in EMU/EU. The targets in several statistical areas set for the end of 2001 or 2002 have not yet been met. Even if clear improvements have been recorded, more remains to be done, notably in Spain and Italy, and to a lesser extent in France. To fulfil the needs of a country-by-country analysis, also Greece, Ireland, Luxembourg and Portugal need to do more. Urgent attention should be devoted to the areas of quarterly national accounts by institutional sector (households and companies); quarterly government expenditure and revenue; the requirements in the labour markets; and new orders for industry and external trade data. The Council furthermore considers that in order to meet shortcomings identified in the original Monetary Committee report, there is the need for a re-balancing of statistical priorities, and a number of coordinated actions should be implemented by the Member States, notably in regard to the list of Principal European Economic Indicators established by the Commission, balance of payments statistics, and statistics on services.

The Council invites the statistical offices in the Member States to take the necessary action as a matter of priority. A follow-up report, including the Acceding Countries, should be submitted in 2004”.

Regarding Maastricht fiscal convergence criteria, Eurostat regularly monitored the quality of the notified debt and deficit statistics and issued a substantial number of decisions concerning the treatment of important transactions. Moreover, these decisions are codified in the "ESA 95 manual on government deficit and debt", which sets the quality standards for EDP reporting.

Balance of payments statistics are compiled in close coordination with the ECB as an EMU secondary convergence criteria.

The EMU action plan did not cover the Harmonised Indices of Consumer Prices (HICP) because HICP was considered to already be of sufficient quality to meet the needs of its main users. The launch of the Euro-zone HICP (so-called MUICP) in 1998 was considered to be a milestone towards Phase III of the EMU.

Economic, Monetary and Financial statistics for Acceding Countries

- All Acceding Countries compile their national accounts on the basis of ESA 95;

- Starting from January 2001, all Acceding Countries have been publishing detailed HICP;

- On balance of payments, good progress towards the provision of timely and accurate data has been made;

- On government debt and deficit, significant efforts are still required to ensure full compliance of the debt and deficit figures with the ESA 95 accounting rules;

- On external trade, progress still needs to be made to meet Extrastat and Intrastat EU requirements from the moment of accession.

At the end of 2002, data was available for most of Euro indicators. The data was first published in early 2003.

Competitiveness, growth and employment

Main statistical objectives : the structure of the costs and outputs of business enterprises, structure of the labour market.

Achievements: the Community policy requirements on competitiveness, growth and employment touch a wide range of statistical domains. Significant progress has been achieved in most of these domains. One particularly important initiative was set up after the Lisbon summit and defined a set of challenging long-term objectives for the European Union. A list of about 100 Structural Indicators has been specifically designed in cooperation with other Commission services in order to monitor the status of progress in achieving these objectives. It combines key indicators from the statistical domains of general economic development, employment, innovation and research, economic reform, social cohesion and environment in one set of statistical data. The structural indicators have evolved into one of the most consulted parts of the Eurostat web site.

By the end of 2002, Structural Indicators already had had considerable success in providing a quite comprehensive overview on competitiveness, growth and employment. Nevertheless, intensive work is still required to complete the range of indicators, to improve data quality and to provide harmonised definitions in close cooperation with the Commission services and Member States concerned.

European Union enlargement

Main statistical objectives : significant demands for reliable and comparable statistical information for the Candidate Countries.

Achievements: according to the first draft monitoring and interim evaluation report of the European Union Pre-Accession Instrument PHARE in Statistics carried out by an independent consortium, the programme has achieved its general immediate objectives of strengthening the institutions to provide appropriate statistics in general and particularly in the pre-accession context. Furthermore, the programme keeps alive a network of professionals in statistics, at individual and at institutional levels essential for the production of comparable statistics. However the full compliance to the EU statistical standards has not been achieved as of end 2002 but is planned for the accession date. At the end of 2002, data were collected in accordance with EU standards for almost all statistical areas for the Acceding and Candidate Countries.

New EU initiatives in the period 1998-2002

Sustainable development

Achievements : Eurostat contributed to the definitions and methodologies used for the UNCSD set of indicators. A seminar was held in 1998 on testing of UNCSD Sustainable Development Indicators (SDI) list. In 2001, a publication of SDIs based on the UNCSD set was published. A joint seminar was organised with UNECE and Statistics Canada on methodological issues for environmental SDIs. Following the adoption of the EU Sustainable Development strategy at the Gothenburg European Council (June 2001), the SPC created a Task Force to develop an EU specific set of SDIs. All Member States and most acceding countries have drawn up national SD strategies, and identified a set of indicators for these strategies. These reflect the Member States' own priorities, and may differ from those at EU level. A study to be published in 2004 reports the experiences of the 15 EU countries in this area.

Food safety

Achievements: Eurostat has achieved its programme which consisted of beginning to provide an inventory of the existing data and methodologies, developing them and setting up a complete system, avoiding duplication, in order to make good quality, relevant, reliable and well-documented information available to policy makers and consumers. Cooperation with DG SANCO was also set up, notably regarding the exchange of data and definition of priorities.

Social exclusion and poverty

Achievements : The CSS has started to significantly develop work in this policy area, directly influenced by the Cardiff and Luxembourg summits. Eurostat seeks to obtain the resources necessary to assure the continuation of this work.

Work on poverty and social exclusion focus on the consolidation of the methodology on income poverty and its links with deprivation indicators, including longitudinal analysis and absolute poverty. Co-operation with Candidate Countries including data collection has been achieved. From 2000 onwards, 8 Statistics in Focus have been published in this field.

E-Europe – E-Economy

Achievements : This is an area where it has been imperative to make efforts to invest early to anticipate statistical needs. The preparatory work on definitions and methodology was accompanied in 2002 by the necessary investments in the collection of the indicators required to measure the impact of this phenomenon in the economy. Continuing work is needed to ensure that the key macro-economic indicators capture e-commerce activities adequately. Additionally, the increasing use of e-commerce will itself provide rich potential for the direct provision of indicators in processable form to the CSS. Five Statistics in Focus were released in 2002 on the information society.

Euro Indicators and Structural Indicators

Achievements : By creating the Euro Indicators and Structural Indicators web sites, Eurostat has met frequent requests to combine the indicators that are relevant to specific policy areas into a single set of statistical indicators.

The Euroindicators combine infra-annual indicators from the domains of business opinion surveys, national accounts, balance of payments statistics, monetary and financial statistics, price statistics, short-term business statistics as well as labour market statistics in order to give an overview on the various factors important for monetary and economic policy making.

The Structural Indicators combine indicators for general economic development, employment,, innovation and research, economic reform, social cohesion and environment in order to give an overview on competitiveness, growth and employment. Both web sites have significantly improved the accessibility of statistical information to policy makers and the interested public.

Migration/Asylum

Achievements : the work programme has been achieved in the following fields:

- Launch new data collection for monthly asylum and illegal migration data, and extension to CEEC (Peco) countries, Iceland and Norway. Work was undertaken to extend the publication of these data;

- Extensive support given to countries under MED-MIGR programme;

- The joint (UN, UNSD, ILO and CoE) annual migration and demographic data collections now cover EU Member States, EFTA and CEEC countries.

Benchmarking on research and innovation policies

Achievements : Following on from the conclusions of the Lisbon Summit, Eurostat has launched, in close cooperation with the National Statistical Institutes, a major development work of benchmarking indicators, which should lead in the near future to more frequent harmonized statistics in this area.

For an assessment on current Community policies – please see Annex 2

Implementation of new standards and methods

Significant achievements have been made for all priority and current policies in the development of new methodologies in cooperation with international organisations. The progress made is highlighted by the significant number of Commission legislative acts adopted during the period 1998-2002. The following table provides evidence of the importance of the work done to improve the statistical system. The achievements are significant in the fields of social statistics, transport statistics and industry, services and tourism statistics. In the fields of economy and finance, external trade and agriculture statistics, where a lot of work was already done in the former programme, a significant number of new methodologies and improvements were also adopted.

Major areas | Total number of statistical legislative acts in place as of 16/09/2003 | Number of statistical legislative acts adopted and prepared over the period | Percentage of statistical legislative acts adopted and prepared over the period |

General | 15 | 6 | 40% |

Agriculture | 77 | 34 | 44% |

Foreign trade | 29 | 18 | 62% |

Economy and finance | 51 | 34 | 67% |

Energy and environment | 3 | 1 | 33% |

Industry, services, tourism | 27 | 23 | 85% |

Coal and Steel | 11 | 2 | 18% |

Population and social conditions | 24 | 22 | 92% |

Transport | 14 | 11 | 79% |

Research and development | 1 | 1 | 100% |

Committees | 12 | 0 | 0 |

TOTAL | 264 | 152 | 58% |

Provisions of statistical service

Consequently, the significant volume of adopted methodologies led to an increased volume of available information. Over the period 1998-2002, 42 new statistical domains were introduced to meet EU policy requirements. At the end of 2002, about 100 statistical domains were collecting and disseminating data.

The volume of available statistical values was multiplied by 3.15 at just under 300 million available data (Comext excluded). It represents an increase of 215% compared to end of 1997. Most policies benefit from the increase of available data, particularly in the areas which did not exist at the beginning of the period.

Table: Number of available statistical values in the statistical database New Cronos:

31/12/1997 | 31/12/2002 | Difference | Growth in % |

General Statistics | 5.265.519 | 15.232.014 | 9.966.495 | 189% |

Economy and finance | 19.803.181 | 35.874.319 | 16.071.138 | 81% |

Population and social conditions | 17.764.801 | 48.283.943 | 30.519.142 | 172% |

Industry, trade and services | 14.499.062 | 47.523.859 | 33.024.797 | 228% |

Agriculture and fisheries | 34.577.739 | 127.065.650 | 92.487.911 | 267% |

External trade | 127.597 | 5.384.139 | 5.256.542 | 4120% |

Transport | 2.460.414 | 14.216.433 | 11.756.019 | 478% |

Environment and energy | 26.809 | 3.135.949 | 3.109.140 | 11597% |

Science and technology | 69.976 | 1.130.909 | 1.060.933 | 1516% |

94.595.098 | 297.847.215 | 203.252.117 | 215% |

Source: New Cronos Monthly Reports

Concerning external trade data, more than two billion statistical values for EU and more than 600 million statistical values for Candidates Countries have been made available to Internal and External users through Comext on-line until 2002.

New methodologies have also had an impact on the quality of statistical information, which is now more relevant, more comparable and more accurate. For recently implemented methodologies, data timeliness is a big issue as processes and resources are not stabilised and optimised. For domains which were in place at the beginning of the programme, Eurostat significantly improved by 1.32 years the average timeliness of annual data at 3.89 years. Though improved, the average timeliness is still too high and is not in accordance with user expectations.

Dissemination

The improved quality of statistical service consequently led to increased dissemination of statistical information.

The significant growth of database extractions from New Cronos and Comext which contains all Eurostat available data from 1998 has demonstrated an increasing interest for Eurostat information inside the European Institutions.

Number of Database Extractions

31/12/1997 | 31/12/2002 | Difference | Difference % |

General Statistics | 8943 | 38122 | 29179 | 326% |

Economy and finance | 11765 | 79434 | 67669 | 575% |

Population and social conditions | 5980 | 47375 | 41395 | 692% |

Industry, trade and services | 2793 | 28882 | 26089 | 934% |

Agriculture and fisheries | 7436 | 21941 | 14505 | 195% |

External trade | 581 | 4379 | 3798 | 654% |

Transport | 2136 | 3912 | 1776 | 83% |

Environment and energy | 1520 | 6849 | 5329 | 351% |

Science and technology | 414 | 4476 | 4062 | 981% |

41568 | 235370 | 193802 | 466% |

Source: New Cronos Monthly Reports

Extraction from Comext Database

Year | 1988 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 |

Number of extractions | 84956 | 92124 | 80267 | 83749 | 69354 |

Number of extracted records (millions) | 7411 | 13697 | 13484 | 26565 | 74952 |

Source: Comext Support

The Index of Demand, developed by Eurostat to measure the development of the demand for Eurostat products and services, grew by 40% from December 2000 to December 2002.

In order to meet user requirements for fresh and understandable statistical information, the publications programme was significantly overhauled in 1998 and 1999 and focused on press releases, Statistics in Focus and some key Panorama of the EU. The number of Statistics in Focus increased by 62% from 126 in 1998 to 204 in 2002 covering all statistical areas. Due to their timeliness but also their accessibility to the non-initiated reader, SIF are very useful for improving understanding and uses of available data sources.

In 2000, the launch of the new Eurostat web site followed by the Euro indicators web site has significantly improved the accessibility of main statistical data with an increasing number of online free indicators: Structural indicators, Set of indicators per theme, Euro indicators…

Regarding the punctuality of publication, pre-announced publication dates for short-term indicators have been strictly adhered to over the period.

The Data Shop network has also contributed to the dissemination of detailed data and services, by answering to around 20 000 questions in 1997 and 52 000 in 2002.

Statistical Support

With the significant introduction of new methodologies and the statistical requirements due to Enlargement, Eurostat dedicated a lot of resources to statistical support. While time consuming, statistical support was provided through large working groups and country visits aimed at improving and strengthening the national statistical systems. The overall value of working groups rated by Member States and Candidate Countries participants stand at a high level over the period 2000-2002.

Average overall value of meetings according to participants’ rates:

2000 | 2001 | 2002 |

0,75 | 0,69 | 0,71 |

Max: 1; Min: -1

Evaluation of the Programme strategies

a) User satisfaction

- According to an external user satisfaction survey carried out over the period, users are on the whole satisfied with Eurostat’s services (75% in February 2003) and consider that the information provided by Eurostat is always or often reliable (88% in February 2003)

- According to the 9 Rolling Reviews carried out over the period and to the authoritative review on agricultural statistics, users in European institutions are rather satisfied with Eurostat services and think that the change in the overall quality of the service is good.

b) Co-ordination – working planning – priorities

According to the Rolling reviews carried out over the period, partners consider the planning and co-ordinating structures in the Community Statistical System as adequate even if differences by domains are identified. All partners acknowledge the improvements in the general level of CSS co-operation and co-ordination and the improvements in national statistical production.

Partners are rather satisfied with:

- Eurostat’s multi-annual and annual planning system;

- SPC’s role in coordinating the CSS;

- The way goals are defined inside the CSS;

- Responsiveness and cooperation of Eurostat staff as well as with the account taken of NSI’s needs and problems.

Partners are not satisfied with:

- The use of the multi-annual programme from a national point of view;

- The lack of clear definition of priorities in the Annual Work Programme and indication of subjects that deserve the biggest deployment of resources;

- The way the programme is approved without knowing the full financial position;

- The coordination of large statistical areas that remain outside the CSS such as agricultural statistics.

c) Quality

There have been development of Quality Management policies in several NSIs and Eurostat who participate in formulating the Statistical Programme in accordance with user needs to define the processes in place to monitor statistical quality. In addition to the long-standing efforts of the working groups, there have recently been several more centralised quality initiatives:

- The Quality Declaration of the CSS (signed by all NSIs and Eurostat);

- The Leadership Group on Quality (LEG on Quality) and its Implementation Group;

- Working Group on Quality Assessment in Statistics;

- The Eurostat framework for delivering quality, named Qualistat (Quality in Statistics). About 30 quality reports including Member States contributions were made over the period.

The overall assessment of data quality may be very different from one domain to another. In general, relevance, accuracy, reliability and comparability are the strengths of Eurostat data whereas timeliness and accessibility are the main weaknesses.

Strengths

1. Relevance

Relevance of Eurostat data is very much appreciated by an increasing number of sophisticated users. In its statistical work for 2002 Eurostat has shown its capacity to cope with the main EU priorities.

2. Comparability

An element of Eurostat's core business is to make data comparable over space and time. The harmonisation process of the CSS ensures data comparability. For 2002, Eurostat has shown its capacity to cope with Enlargement and to provide an increasing quantity of data relating to Candidate Countries comparable with EU Member States. When conceptual differences between sets of data remain, they are described and documented.

3. Accuracy and reliability

The key areas for accuracy are government deficit, GNP, regional GDP, HICP and unemployment that are used for politically visible, decision-making processes. In these fields, data quality controls are the most strict and sophisticated. Data processing is not outsourced; these strategic fields and short-term statistics are dealt with strictly in house. However should data processing be outsourced in other less sensible domains, work is carried out in accordance with published harmonised methodologies and validated by Eurostat experts.

Weaknesses

4. Timeliness

The situation is improving but is far from being fully satisfactory.

Short term data

For the Principle European Economic Indicators, a comparison of the delays for publishing between EU Member States and the USA was presented in June 2002. For HICP, quarterly national accounts and external trade, the delays for publication are the same or close to those of the US. For business and social statistics, the gap between the USA and the EU is still wide.

The development of flash estimates for quarterly national accounts has brought the delay to a level comparable with US [final] results, and with the development of the HICP flash estimate for the Euro-zone, Eurostat has produced an indicator that gives an early indication of the over-all final figure on the last working day of the reference month. The full regular HICP data set is published on average 17 days after the end of the reference month. The timeliness of short term data has significantly improved with the implementation plan of the EMU Action Plan, but user expectations are still greater.

Annual data

At the end of 2002, the average delay between the most recent available annual data and 31.12.2002 amounted to 3.84 years. Over the period 1998-2002, significant progress has been made with a gain of over one-year. This improvement is remarkable when you consider the introduction of 42 new domains with new information during this period. Generally, new domains come up against a series of problems in data collection and data structure and generally give a worse timeliness indicator than current data.

5. Accessibility

An increasing number of EU data with documentation will be made accessible free of charge on the Eurostat web site in the following months. User friendliness should also be improved.

Conclusion – Quality

There has been a change of culture towards quality in the CSS with a better assessment and monitoring of quality. In general, relevance, accuracy, reliability and comparability are the strengths whereas timeliness and accessibility are the main weaknesses. In general, it is not clear if the investments made by the CSS on improvements to timeliness will be sufficient to meet user expectations.

d) Effectiveness

According to the rolling review on the functioning of the CSS, partners are rather satisfied with the effectiveness of the CSP 1998-2002. Partners interviewed in other sectoral rolling reviews also share this view.

The CSP is considered as effective since it produces the results expected and generates improvements in data quality. To assure effectiveness, Eurostat still relies today on individual competencies available within the office and the Member States and on too large a number of statistical production systems (according to the report of the “Life Cycle of Data and improved efficiency). A better structured organisation supported by CSS macro processes, the management of skills and a better monitoring of projects at Eurostat and CSS level would enable to improve the effectiveness of the CSP and to reduce risks of malfunction.

e) International standards

In several statistical areas, joint work with international organisations on classifications has made European statistics more comparable with those of other areas of the world. The following actions have been achieved:

- Introduction of the European System of Accounts (ESA 95) in all EU and Candidate Countries, which is entirely consistent with the world-level System of National Accounts N`SNA95);

- NACE and CPA have been implemented in all Candidate Countries;

- 30 countries are now using the same classifications;

- Cooperation is undertaken with the rest of the world;

- Since 2000, convergence of NACE and NAICS (North American classification) has been studied. A detailed table of correspondence is now available;

- The Eurostat concepts and definitions database is now available on the web in 3 languages;

- Development of the reference classifications and concepts for cross border trade (EBOPS[10]) and trade via commercial presence, i.e. FATS (ICFA[11]).

- Eurostat, together with the United Nations, IMF, OECD, UNCTAD and WTO have produced a Manual on Statistics of International Trade in Services.

In the field of Economy and Finance statistics and in many other areas, the EU has been a pioneer in setting international standards.

Conclusion – Implementation of standards

In several statistical areas, joint work with international organisations on classifications has made European statistics more comparable with those of other areas of the world.

f) Response burden

In a few domain statistics, there is some evidence that the response burden has been reduced. But due to new statistical requirements, the response burden may have increased over the period.

However a lot of effort has been made for a better use of administrative sources and developed joint questionnaires with international questionnaires to limit the increase of response burden. With the exception of foreign trade, there is still little evidence of economies of scale with the introduction of new technologies.

Principle of Subsidiarity

In all statistical domains, the principle of subsidiarity has been respected over the period.

Balance of needs and resources

a) Evolution of resources

Human resources

Evolution of Eurostat staff in number of posts

Officials[12] |

1999 | 569 |

2000 | 581 |

2001 | 585 |

2002 | 584 |

Over the years 2001 and 2002, Eurostat requested a total of 46 posts (23 in 2001, 23 in 2002) and received no additional posts (-1 in 2001, 1 in 2002).

Training

At the end of 2002, Eurostat staff members spent an average of 7,9 days per year on training compared to 6,5 days in 2001. The Eurostat training programme covers statistical, administration and management topics with a particular focus on these last two.

Evolution of financial resources

The Activity Based Management system was only introduced in 2001.

Evolution of budget line B5-60:

Commitment appropriations Mio € | Outturn of commitment appropriations - % | Total commitments made € Mio |

2001* | 36.152.413,36 | 90,05% | 32.556.808,60 |

2002+ | 39.746.897,53 | 88,34% | 35.112.778,08 |

*Source – Annual Accounts, Volume 2, year 2001

+Source – Provisional Annual Accounts, Volume 2, year 2002

Over the last three years, budget spending remained stable at about 32 million Euro.

b) Evolution of needs

The role of statistics is two-fold:

- Providing a common assessment framework enabling policy co-ordination;

- A more sophisticated tool used for the political decision-making and eligibility processes: Convergence criteria, management of Stability and growth Pact, Eligibility of regions for assistance, definitions of national contributions to the EU budget.

A lot of new initiatives arose over the period 1998-2002. For some such as the EMU action, the work was relatively well planned. For others such as structural indicators or food safety, Eurostat had to react very quickly and to provide short term solutions.

According to the rolling review on CSS functioning, the major problem identified by CSS partners is the way Eurostat and the CSS face and manage new statistical needs of the Commission. “Partners complain that there is a lack of balance in the CSS between the users (the Commission and the ECB) and the providers, NSIs. “Statistics are a “free” good for the Commission, since they do not bear the ongoing production costs; therefore there are no cost controls on their demands, as exist in the national context in all countries. The demands made by users in Brussels are excessive, especially in the context of detail”. They forget that the information has to be collected and paid for”. Partners are not satisfied with the way priorities are set inside the CSS. Partners complain about too many priority changes over time and about the increasing interference of politics.

Partners point to the fact that there is a continuous expansion in statistics required, without adequate justification, without adequate consideration of NSI resource availability, with no effort made at saving resources by limiting programmes that are no longer a high priority.

In several areas for Candidate Countries, the implementation of methodologies is not fully achieved due to resource constraints and, consequently, a limited amount of support.

Conclusion – Balance of needs and resources

There were not sufficient additional resources allocated to the new priorities defined in statistical activities. The very time-consuming task of statistical support to deal with enlargement was underestimated. In addition, no statistics were given up.

Evaluation and monitoring of progress

This has been substantially developed since 2000. Several external and internal evaluations led to recommendations (e.g. Rolling Reviews on the CSS, Rolling Review on External trade). According to the follow-up of improvement actions in April 2003, 70% of identified recommendations were implemented or in progress at this date.

The conclusions and recommendations of the interim report and rolling review have, to a certain extent, been taken into account for defining of the 2003-2007 CSP. Priorities and allocation of resources have been broken down at project level and quantitative objectives have been set up. While some significant projects have been evaluated, there is still room for more regular and systematic ex ante and ex-post evaluation.

Recommendations

Improve priority setting in the CSS

In the light of EU developments over the period, prioritisation appeared to be very difficult and complex. It is recommended that the CSS approves and uses a methodology for prioritisation, taking into account current and new activities and criteria such as relevance, data quality, finance bases, cost implications.

The interface with policy users should be improved, especially within the Commission, in order to respond more efficiently and more quickly to users’ needs and priorities.

Reduce the time cycle of statistical processes

Find the best balance between national and EU needs leading to the choice of one or two of the following actions:

- Systematically evaluate data collection processes within the CSS from a data quality and costs point of view and when new methodologies are developed;

- Adopt a data collection process based on EU-wide sample when ex-ante evaluation clearly demonstrates major benefits for the CSS in terms of data quality and costs;

- Publish early estimates for EU aggregates as soon as possible.

Find the appropriate method to work with 25 countries in accordance with the objectives of each domain

In general, appropriate methods should be rapidly defined to work with 25 organisations. The use of information technology or a mandate based representation system is also an alternative to traditional working parties. An increased use of task forces with precise mandates on topics rather than traditional large workings groups is also recommended. In addition, regular ‘phone conference calls with all network participants would be an efficient solution to monitor progress on the implementation of the work programme. These conference calls are commonly used in multi-national organisations for short discussions.

Improve measurement of Eurostat performance

Six performance indicators were defined and used to assess Eurostat performance. However, no indicator was defined dealing with the annual output of Eurostat and Eurostat resources. This will be very helpful to measure the improvement of the efficiency of the organisation and the CSP.

Identify and manage skills and knowledge at CSS level for the implementation of the CSP

In knowledge based organisations such as Eurostat and the CSS, it is strategic that the management of skills and knowledge of staff are in accordance with the work plan and priorities.

In Eurostat, the time needed for developing a methodology corresponds to the normal period of a job. As a consequence, knowledge and skills should be capitalised for the benefit of the CSS and not lost when staff change. The capitalisation of skills and knowledge at team level would increase the sustainability of projects.

Identify centres of excellence in the CSS in order to outsource statistical work

Some NSIs have developed in depth expertise into very specific domains with a larger volume of resources than in Eurostat. It would be worth defining the required features of centres of excellence, to list potential ones in Europe and to carry out an in-depth feasibility study from a statistical, administrative and financial point of view.

Revision of dissemination policy

The revision of the dissemination policy should clearly be focussed on a significant improvement of the access to data through free online services which means investments into the reference databases. User friendliness, quality of metadata and quality indicators on data should also be upgraded in order to increase user satisfaction.

Define Eurostat Quality Assurance Plan

The Eurostat Quality Assurance plan would describe all measures that are in place to manage the quality of data it produced on the model of international organisations. It will take into account the process mapping work procedures and quality records. The document would also aim to identify the potential actions to improve performance and reliability of statistical processes.

Rationalise statistical production

Rationalise statistical production processes and systems for improving efficiency when common steps (data collection, validation, aggregation, and dissemination) are identified and when common steps may generate economies of scales.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Regarding the bibliography used in the report, the main documents are the following:

External reviews

- Report on Mid-Programme evaluation of the Community Statistical Programme 1998-2002. (IDOM Report)

- First draft monitoring and interim revaluation report of the European Union Pre-accession Instrument PHARE in Statistics

- Fifth report on the Implementation of the EMU Action Plan

- Authoritative external review of agricultural statistics

- External mid-term review of MEDSTAT statistics

- EBC quality report on General Economic Statistics – August 2003 – Draft

- Conclusions of ECOFIN Council – 15.01.2003 – Overview of progress on the Implementation of the EMU Action Plan

Internal Reviews

- Council Decision on the Community Statistical Programme 1998-2002 on the Community Statistical Programme and the Accompanying Document

- Statistical Programmes of the Commission for 1998, 1999 and 2000, 2001, 2002

- Execution reports on the annual work programmes. Years 1998, 1999 and 2000, 2001, 2002

- Quality Work and Quality Assurance within Statistics

- Several articles published in SIGMA Newsletter (1999-2001)

- Minutes of several meetings of the Working Group on the Annual Statistical Programme

- Compte de gestion et bilan financier. Afférents aux opérations du budget de l´éxercise 2000

- Minutes of the meetings of the Statistical Programme Committee

- Information about the Quality Reports

- Eurostat Rolling Reviews: External trade, National Accounts, Labour Force Survey, European Community Household Panel, R&D and innovation, Community Statistical System, Balance of payments

- Data Life Cycle Object Model for statistical information systems

- Action plans to implement the conclusions and recommendations from the Rolling Reviews

- The Directors-General of the NSIs’ conferences

- Annual Policy Strategy Circular 2002, 2003

- Several guides for the evaluation of EU programmes

- Partners’ Survey Forms on the European Community Household Panel, Labour force statistics, CSS, Trade in goods, National Accounts and R&D innovation statistics

- Collection of comments from Eurostat’s Partners Satisfaction Survey, survey which was run by Eurostat Internal Evaluation Sector between December 2000 and May 2001

- CSS Partner Satisfaction Survey, Pilot exercise 1998

- New Cronos Monthly reports

- User Satisfaction surveys.

GLOSSARY

CSP | Community Statistical Programme |

SPC | Statistical Programme Committee |

PHARE | Action Plan for coordinated aid to Poland and Hungary (subsequently extended to the remainder of the Central and East European Countries) |

HICP | Harmonised Indices of Consumer Prices |

CSS | Community Statistical System |

MEDSTAT | Mediterranean Statistics |

EMU | Economic and Monetary Union |

ESA | European System of Integrated Economic Accounts |

EDP | Excessive Debt Procedure |

ECB | European Central Bank |

UNCSD | United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development |

SDI | Sustainable Development Indicators |

UNECE | United Nations Economic Commission for Europe |

CEC | Commission of the European Communities |

UN | United Nations |

UNSD | United Nations Statistics Division |

ILO | International Labour Organisation |

COMEXT | Database for statistics on the European Union's external trade and trade between Member States |

New Cronos | Macroeconomic and social database |

NSI | National Statistical Institutes |

LEG | Leadership Group |

GNP | Gross National Product |

GDP | Gross Domestic Product |

NACE | General Industrial Classification of Economic Activities in the European Commission |

CPA | Classification of Products by Activity |

NAICS | Northern American Industry Classification System |

FATS | Foreign Affiliates Trade Statistics |

ICFA | ISIC Categories for Foreign Affiliates |

ISIC | International Standard Industrial Classification of all Economic Activities |

IMF | International Monetary Fund |

OECD | Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development |

UNCTAD | United Nations Conference on Trade and Development |

WTO | World Trade Organisation |

SLIM | Simpler Legislation for Internal Market |

TACIS | Technical Assistance to the Commonwealth of Independent States |

MED | Mediterranean |

TAPAS | Technical Action Plan for Improving Agricultural Statistics |

CAP | Common Agricultural Policy |

LUCAS | Land use/Cover Area Frame Statistical Survey |

EAA | Economic Accounts for Agriculture |

ITS | International Trade in Services |

FDI | Foreign Direct Investment |

NST-2000 | Standard international classification for goods in transport |

AWP | Annual Work Programme |

PDU | Unit Development Plan |

FISIM | Financial intermediation services indirectly measured |

NCBs | National Central Banks? |

GES | General Economic Statistics |

BOP | Balance of payments |

LFS | Labour Force Survey |

ISCED97 | International Standard Classification of Education |

TF MLLL | Task Force “Measuring Life Long Learning” |

ESSPROS | European System of Social Protection Statistics |

ESAW | European Statistics on Accidents at Work |

HBS | Household Budget Survey |

ECHP | European Community Household Panel |

CEDEFOP | Centre européen pour le développement de la formation professionnelle |

IDA-CARE | International Development Association – système communutaire sur les accidents de la route en Europe |

MEHM | Minimum European Health Module |

EU-SILC | European Union – Statistics in Income and Living Conditions |

EHSS | European Health Survey System |

ECHIS | European Core Health Interview Survey |

SHA | System of Health Accounts |

EODS | European Occupational Diseases Statistics |

COD | Causes of Death |

HIS | Health and health-related survey |

CES | Conference of European Statisticians |

PRODCOM | The EU-wide harmonised classification of products produced by the industrial sector specified in Council Regulation No. 3924/91 |

SBS | Structural Business Statistics |

STS | Short-term Statistics |

SSIS | Structural Statistics for Industry and Services |

SEC | EN: System of National Accounts |

NUTS | Classification of territorial units |

STI | Science, Technology and Innovation |

CIS 3 | Third Community Innovation Survey |

EEA | European Environment Agency |

IRENA | Indicator Reporting on the Integration of Environmental Concerns into Agricultural Policy |

SEEA | System of integrated Environmental and Economic Accounts |

CARDS | Cooperation with the Western Balkan countries |

ACP | Countries of Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific |

EU-CAN | European Union-Canada |

MED NSO | Mediterranean National Statistical Offices |

DETAILED EVALUATION OF POLICIES

FREE MOVEMENT OF GOODS

Treaty title TITLE I: FREE MOVEMENT OF GOODS | Eurostat work themes |

Principal themes of work necessary for this policy area | 53 – Trade in goods 57 – Other economic statistics (statistics on the internal market) |

Other important contributory themes | 44 – Industry 45 – Energy and raw materials 47 – Distributive trades 48 – Transport 64 – Crop production 65 – Animal production 66 – Agro-industry statistics |

Principal objectives of the statistical work to be carried out for this specific policy

- Improve the operation of the Intrastat system and the quality of its results in terms of precision and availability, in particular to respond to the requirement to produce national accounts;

- Reduce its burden on respondents via alternative and simplification proposals;

- Analyse in depth the statistical implications of a possible change to the VAT system and the requirement to produce timely, accurate figures at macro level, and propose alternative statistical developments.

Achievements : The CSP objectives in the field of free movements of goods have been met. In 1999, Eurostat has adopted a long-term strategic plan that was the subject of extensive consultation; it dealt with all statistics relating to the trading of goods and its specific aims were to improve the reliability of results, speed up the availability of statistics and add to the range of statistics on offer in order to respond better to changing demand. Most of the actions to be carried out were included in a five-year programme (Edicom) adopted through a European Parliament and Council decision in 2001. Considerable improvements have already been achieved over the period, in particular as regards the timeliness and the on timeliness and availability of new indicators (seasonally adjusted data and indices). However, the global level of asymmetries has not been reduced significantly.

Concerning the simplification of Intrastat, the collection system was simplified on two occasions in 1999 and 2000 in the frame of the SLIM initiative (Simpler Legislation for Internal Market). Additional studies were carried out, in particular an opinion poll of information providers in six Member States. In the light of the results of these studies, it did not appear opportune to bring radical changes. However, a new legislation was prepared (still in discussion) with the aim to improving the existing system.

To what extent has the Statistical Programme 1998-2002 been implemented?

Introduction of new methods and standards

The definition and start of a strategic plan for 2001-2005, including all aspects of methodologies, organisations and IT (Edicom II) is a major achievement to cope with the statistical requirements of the EMU action plan.

Provision of statistical services

The provision of statistical services in the field of trade of goods made significant improvements in the following areas:

- Data quality: early estimates, quality controls and analysis of asymmetries are regularly performed;

- Timeliness of macro indicators, in particular within the framework of the EMU action plan;

- Development of links between external trade registers with business registers in order to measure intra business trade;

- Implementation of the data collection network for foreign trade data with Candidate and TACIS Countries. With Central European countries, data collection covers all monthly periods since 1995. TACIS data provision refers to the quarter since 1998 while MED Countries have been providing monthly data since 2000.

Most of the data collected are coherent to standards set up by Eurostat in order to improve data quality and comparability.

According to the 5th progress report on the implementation of the EMU action plan, "In 2002; first estimates of Euro area trade with the rest of the world are released after 50-53 days, showing a slight improvement (about 3 days in average). Further improvements in timeliness of first estimates are still necessary for Ireland (which currently provides data within 60 days), Austria (64 days), and Greece (106 days). Due to the implementation of a new methodology, analysis of external trade for the Euro area has suffered in 2002 from the temporary lack of volume and unit value indices . First results for the period from January 2000 to July 2002 have become available recently using the improved method for calculating the indices. So as to ensure a consistent basis for comparison of trade developments over time, longer historical series starting earlier than January 2000 will urgently be needed due to the changes in the method of their calculation.

Dissemination

- The publications programme was streamlined in order to focus on priorities and online dissemination;

- About 366,000 pages on external trade were consulted on the Eurostat web site from 2000 to 2002;

- Data are published regularly and on a timely basis according to pre-established schedules;

- The Comext database was accessed over the period more than 400.000 times.

System improvements permitted integration of data, massive extractions and better remote access. Average internal access decreased (-37%) while external accesses increased (610%) over the period. In terms of extracted records, considerable increases are observed (817% and 3816% respectively).

Statistical support

Statistical support was provided to Candidate, TACIS and Mediterranean Countries to extend the collection system and to integrate quarterly data.

Conclusion

Community Statistical Programme objectives in the field of free movement of goods policy have been met. Considerable improvements have been achieved over the period but important progress on timeliness and historical series is still needed.

Programme targets

a) Users

According to the rolling review on trade of goods, users think that the change in the overall quality of the service is good and extensively use Comext data for the establishment and follow up of main EU policies.

b) Priorities – work planning

According to the rolling review on trade of goods:

- partners are satisfied with the functioning, organisation and effectiveness of planning and co-ordinating structures in the area of trade of goods;

- partners are globally satisfied with the functioning of the CSS except from the capability of the CSS to learn from best statistical practices.

c) Quality

According to the rolling review on trade of goods, users are satisfied with accuracy, reliability, coherence, accessibility, completeness and timeliness of data. While the services provided by the online system, CD ROM and paper publications are considered sufficient by regular users, improvements in terms of access facilities through WEB and derived information (confidential treatment, links to tariff and other information) is needed.

On average, intra-trade data are transmitted 7.5 days before the 6 weeks mandatory delay. From 1999 to 2001 it had improved by 9 days. For extra trade data, the improvement amounts to 4 days but is still over the 6 weeks limit by 2.2 days.

d) Effectiveness

Over the period, effectiveness of the programme improved as delays of data transmission were reduced and new indicators were made available (seasonally adjusted data and indices).

e) International standards

Community concepts are globally consistent with the United Nations concepts.

f) Response burden

The increase of electronic trade declarations from 68% in 1998 to 74% in 2000 contributed to reduce the response burden.

Conclusion:

All programme strategies have been improved over the period.

Principle of subsidiarity

57 % for the period 98-99 (Edicom 1) and 42 % for the period 2001-2002 (Edicom II) were granted to Member States.

Balance of needs and resources

When starting to revise the system for trade of goods statistics between Member States collected through Intrastat, studies undertaken in 2002 showed that there was no need for a substantial change in the system.

The collection of trade of goods statistics with non-EU Member States (Extrastat), based on customs declarations represents a limited burden on Member States.

Summary of ratings for all statistical themes

Theme/ Objectives | Implementation of new standards and methods | Provision of statistical services | Dissemination | Statistical support |

53 | Achieved | Improved | Improved | Provided |

57 | Achieved | Significantly improved | Significantly improved | Provided |

References

-Detailed statistical themes evaluation

-Economic and monetary policy evaluation

-Fifth progress report on the implementation of information requirements in EMU

-ECB quality report on general economic statistics.

AGRICULTURE

Treaty title TITLE II: AGRICULTURE | Eurostat work themes |

Principal themes of work necessary for this policy area | 61 - Land use and countryside 62 – Agricultural structures 63 – Agricultural incomes and prices 64 – Crop production 65 – Animal production 66 – Agro-industry statistics 67 – Reforming agricultural statistics 68 – Forestry statistics 69 – Fisheries statistics 53 – Trade in goods |

Other important contributory themes | 72 – Regional and geographical information |

Principal objectives of the statistical work to be carried out for this specific policy

- Apply the TAPAS scheme for progressive improvements to the existing set of agricultural statistics, mainly as far as quality, comparability, efficiency savings, simplification and timeliness is concerned;-plan the development of agricultural statistics with the aim of meeting the future needs of the CAP, in particular of rural development;

- assist in the development of comparable data for negotiations on the enlargement of the Union;

- consolidate and improve the quality of fishery statistics.

Achievements : The implementation of new methods was not achieved to the same level in all areas. In land use and landscape, agriculture structures and agricultural incomes and prices, the objective was achieved. In crop and animal production, agro industry statistics, forestry and fishery statistics, it was only partially achieved.

To what extent has the Statistical Programme 1998-2002 been implemented?

Introduction of new methods and standards

The introduction of new methods was different, depending on the areas concerned. In land use and landscape, crop and animal products, agriculture structures, agricultural incomes and prices and fishery statistics the objective was achieved. In forestry, it was only partially achieved.

General

Decision N°1919/2002/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 October 2002 amending Council Decision 96/411/EC on improving Community agricultural statistics extending the TAPAS programme to the period 2003-2007 was adopted.

Land use and landscape

-Methodological improvements for the second LUCAS pilot survey (2003) were developed;

-Commission Decision 2002/750/EC on the continued application of a real survey and remote sensing techniques to agricultural statistics for 2002-2003 was adopted.

Agricultural structures

-Commission’s Decision n° 98/377/CE of 18.5.1998 and Commission’s Regulation n°143/2002 which defined the list of characteristics for the 1999-2000, 2003, 2005 and 2007 farm structure surveys were adopted.

Agricultural incomes and prices

-New methodological manual on price statistics was developed.

-Development of agricultural labour input data (alignment to new EAA methodology).

Crop production

-An amendment of Council Regulation N°959/93 was completed;

-Progress has been made on the elaboration of an inventory concerning statistical methodology;

-The basic survey in 2000 on vineyards was carried out;

-The survey of orchards was launched in 2002;

-Publication of statistical methodology.

Animal production

-Inventory of methods on live stock surveys, meat production and milk production in Member States and Candidate Countries;

-Agreement has been reached on two main sensitive domains: the protein content of milk and milk products and the regional production of cows’ milk. For both domains, methods of measurement and/or estimation have been agreed;

-Draft revision to Council Directive 96/16/EC was prepared.

Agro industry statistics

-Proposed measures to revise NACE and CPA in 2007;

-The food safety statistics were launched;

Reforming agricultural statistics

Adoption of Commission Communication (COM (2001) 144) on statistical information needs for agri-environmental indicators.

Provision of statistical services

The provision of statistical service in the field of agricultural statistics has improved over the period. The implementation of new Commission and Council regulations led to an increased volume of available data and data of better quality.

Land use and landscape

-The first round of Lucas (Land use/Cover Area Frame Statistical Survey) pilot surveys was completed by the analysis of the results.

Agricultural structures

-Collection and dissemination of the 1997 survey data;

-Reports on Eurofarm were transmitted to Council in 1999 and 2002.

Agricultural incomes and prices

-Collection, analysis and publication of the EAA data;

-Internalisation and standardisation of the EAA production database (FAME-based);

-Collection of Candidate Countries’ data;

-Development of a comprehensive Agricultural Information System (AgrIS) and distribution to Member States.

Crop production

-Collection and processing of EU Member States and Candidate Countries data and early estimates;

-Implementation of the TAPAS action plan.

Animal production

-Collection and analysis of EU Member States and Candidate Countries data;

-Final implementation of TAPAS actions on poultry meat and milk production data.

Agro-industry statistics

-Implementation of food supply balance sheets;

-Co-operation with DG SANCO and DG ENTR;

-In the field of food safety, inventory of available data has been achieved.

Reforming agricultural statistics

Authoritative review of agricultural statistics was completed and the implementation of recommendations has started.

Forestry statistics

-Collect and process data for Member States and Candidate Countries;

-Improvement of a set of economic, social and environment related forestry indicators.

Fishery statistics

-Implementation of the Council Regulations on catch, landings and aquaculture production;

-Improved data quality;

-Study of employment data in the fisheries sector in Member States.

In all agricultural statistics, the volume of available data rose by 92 million values over the period which represents an increase by 267% compared to end of 1997.

Dissemination

The dissemination of agricultural statistics made significant progress over the period. However, accessibility to online detailed information is still an issue.

Agriculture pages on the web site were consulted about 500.000 times from January 2000, which represents 8% of web consultations. Databases extractions increased by 195% over the period.

The publications programme was streamlined with a focus on Statistics in focus. About 120 Statistics in Focus were released from 2000 on key topics of agricultural statistics:

- Agricultural price trends

- Areas under cereals

- Structure of agriculture holdings

- Cattle population

- Agricultural incomes

- Women and men in agriculture

- Thirty years of agriculture

- Milk collection

- Fishery statistics: EU catches

- Land use-Land cover: Lucas 2001 primary results

- European aquaculture.

In addition, more than 30 detailed tables published including CD-ROM were released to provide users with all relevant tables.

Statistical support

Strong statistical support was provided to Candidate Countries to improve the statistical system and to enable them to carry surveys following EU standards.

Conclusion

The Community Statistical Programme objectives in the field of agricultural statistics have been met. Considerable improvements have been achieved over the period.

Programme targets

An authoritative review of agricultural statistics was completed in 2002 by an external consultant.

a) Users

According to the authoritative review, “Users are rather satisfied with Eurostat's services in the field of agricultural statistics. Delivery time, assistance and relationships are well appreciated”.

If we take into account the volume of processed information, the quality of statistical data meets user needs well. According to users, improvements are expected in terms of freshness, completeness and coherence.

b) Priorities – work planning

According to the authoritative review, priorities and strategies stated in the 5 year programme are not strictly speaking deployed in the agricultural statistical field in a structured and systematic way and but are implemented in an empirical way. Due to Commission procedures, it takes too much time to adopt legal bases that are required at CSS level to organise data collection. The agricultural statistical system works rather well from the initial request to the delivery of harmonised data. The strong relationships between Eurostat, the Agriculture DG and Member States led to improved coordination of the agricultural statistical system.

c) Quality

According to the authoritative review, “users acknowledge Eurostat’s efforts to improve the quality of statistics”. Annual data timeliness improved by 22% over the period. Data quality has been assessed in quality reports on farm structure survey and crop and animal products.

Improvements in terms of timeliness, coherence, accessibility and clarity are expected by users.

d) Effectiveness

According to the authoritative review, the agricultural statistical system is relatively effective since it produces the results expected. To assure effectiveness, Eurostat still relies today on individual competencies available within the office and the Member States.

A better-structured organisation supported by CSS macro processes would enable Eurostat to reduce dysfunction, prevent risks and optimise the system.

e) International standards

Agricultural statistics do not use standard NACE and CPA classifications. Proposed measures to revise NACE and CPA in 2007 have been introduced.

There is a part of forest products statistics which is common with the UN/ECE requirements through the "joint questionnaire". Little progress has been made to make EU statistics more comparable with those of other areas of the world.

f) Response burden

According to the authoritative review, Member States judge the volume of data required by Eurostat as being too high, survey questionnaires too dense and the burden on respondents too heavy.

Conclusion

All programme strategies except for response burden and international standards have been improved over the period.

Principle of subsidiarity

The principle of subsidiarity is fully respected in agricultural statistics.

Balance of needs and resources

According to the authoritative review, Eurostat demand for national data does not take into account Member States' constraints and limits (resources, burdens on farmers). Sustainability of resources is also questioned for start-up projects.

Summary of ratings for all statistical themes

Theme/ Objectives | Introduction of new standards and methods | Provision of statistical services | Dissemination | Statistical support |

61 | Achieved | Improved | Improved | Support provided |

62 | Achieved | Improved | Improved | Strong support provided |

63 | Achieved | Improved | Improved | Strong support provided |

64 | Partially achieved | Improved | Improved | Strong support provided |

65 | Partially achieved | Improved | Improved | Strong support provided |

66 | Partially achieved | Not improved | Not improved | Support provided |

67 | Partially achieved | Improved | Improved | Support provided |

68 | Partially achieved | Improved | Improved | Support provided |

69 | Achieved | Improved | Improved | Support provided |

53 | Achieved | Improved | Improved | Provided |

References

-Detailed statistical themes evaluation.

FREE MOVEMENT OF PERSONS, SERVICES AND CAPITAL

Treaty title TITLE III: Free movement of persons, services and capital | Eurostat work themes |

Principal themes of work necessary for this policy area | 31 – Population 47 – Distributive trades 48 – Transport 49 – Communication 50 – Tourism 51 – Services 54 – Balance of payments |

Principal objectives of the statistical work to be carried out for this specific policy

- Harmonisation of concepts used in the area of migration, and as used in censuses, social surveys and administrative registers;

- Analysis of available data;

Services and capital:

- pilot surveys will be launched and the structural business survey will be implemented on a progressive basis;

- pilot studies will be launched and the Short-term Statistics Regulation will be implemented with particular focus on the service sector;

- studies will be realised to determine the needs for statistics in the field of communication and of the information society;

- users requirement analyses, sources assessment, data collection and testing of methods by pilot studies in the audio-visual sectors will be undertaken;

- implementing the Directive adopted in 1995 will further develop existing tourism statistics;

- the Regulations on structural business statistics, short-term statistics and business registers for statistical purposes will be implemented.

Achievements : In all statistical themes, population, distributive trades, transport, communication, tourism, services, and balance of payments, new methodologies were developed to further improve the quality of statistics. These improvements led to a large increase of available data in terms of times series, variables and geographical coverage and a better data quality. Some projects in the field of balance of payments, distributive trades and tourism statistics were not achieved due to resource constraints.

To what extent has the Statistical Programme 1998-2002 been implemented?

Introduction of new methods and standards

In all statistical themes, population, distributive trades, transport, communication, tourism, financial services, business services, audio-visual and balance of payments, new methodologies were developed to further improve the quality of statistics.

Some examples:

-a new methodology was developed to calculate harmonised demographic indicators;

-joint Eurostat-ECE recommendations for the 2001 census data collection have been prepared and used for data collection which covers 32 countries;

-a harmonised methodology for business demography was developed. Business demography data are now collected on a voluntary basis from 11 countries;

-business services statistics are now covered by voluntary data collection for a majority of Member States;

-statistics on foreign affiliates were collected from a majority of Member States and the drafting of regulation has begun;

-publication of methodological work on intermodal freight transport;

-adaptation of transport statistics of Candidate countries;

-methodological work was carried out to include major changes and new items in communication statistics (including audio visual statistics);

-methodological follow up on examining adaptations of national statistical systems to comply with the directive;

-an implementation manual for Tourism Satellite Accounts was prepared and adopted by the Working group;

-services to businesses/new questionnaires have been designed in the field of informatics, human resources management, consultancy services and advertising services;

-services to businesses/new questionnaires have been designed in the field of informatics, human resources management, consultancy services and advertising services.

Development of the revision of EU Member States Balance of payments collection systems, due to the implementation of the Commission Regulation on cross border holdings (introducing an exemption reporting threshold);

-Advanced state of the draft Regulation on Balance of payments statistics, International Trade in Services (ITS) and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) flows and positions and kick off of the draft regulation on the structure and activity of foreign affiliates (FATS);

-Implementation of the new methodology on goods and on portfolio income in Balance of payments statistics;

-Final report from Technical Group “Travel” on the revision of the collection systems for the travel item of the balance of payments of EU Member States following stage three of the EMU.

Provision of statistical services

In all statistical themes related to free movements of persons, services and capital policy, significant improvements have been achieved in the provision of statistical services. These improvements led to a large increase of available data in terms of times series, variables and geographical coverage.

Main directives and regulations were implemented such as:

-In business structural statistics, the regulation 58/97 was implemented with a strong focus on the quality of the data, which has been significantly improved.

In short term business statistics, the implementation of Regulation 1165/98 was started and progressed for a number of good quality key indicators. Regular and timely publications of a series of key indicators by Eurostat and the ECB were issued.

-Full implementation of the Directive on maritime statistics.

-On audio-visual services statistics, implementation of the Council Decision, launch of pilot studies and methodological work on film, TV, radio and audio-visual balance of payments among other topics. A comprehensive database has been implemented also potentially covering the non-Member States including, for 2002, 106 main indicators and 418 variables.

-Implementation of the Directive on tourism statistics. The report to the Council relating to the implementation of the Directive was adopted in January 2001.

Dissemination

Consultations of databases and publications of the statistical themes increased significantly over the period:

-Transport statistics database consultation growth +83%

-Business statistics database consultation growth +934%.

Statistical support

Support was provided to Candidate Countries in all themes and also to Mediterranean countries in some areas such as transport and population.

Conclusion:

The Community statistical objectives in the field of free movements of persons, services and capital have been achieved.

Programme targets

a) Users

No information available.

b) Priorities – work planning – coordination

No information available.

c) Quality

Data quality has been improved in general in all domains. Timeliness, completeness and comparability have been improved.

d) Effectiveness

The Statistical Programme is relatively effective since it produces the expected data and an improvement of data quality.

e) International standards

No information available.

f) Response burden

Joint work with international organisations led to reduced response burdens for Member States in several areas: Population, Tourism, Services and Balance of payments.

Conclusion:

Data quality made significant progress over the period.

Principle of subsidiarity

The principle of subsidiarity has been fully respected in all statistical themes of this policy

Balance of needs and resources

Some projects in the field of balance of payments, distributive trades and tourism statistics were not achieved due to resource constraints.

Summary of ratings for all statistical themes for free movement of persons, services and capital

Theme/ Objectives | Introduction of new standards and methods | Provision of statistical services | Dissemination | Statistical support |

31 | Achieved | Improved | Improved | Support provided |

47 | Achieved | Improved | Improved | Support provided |

48 | Achieved | Improved | Improved | Support provided |

49 | Achieved | Improved | Improved | Support provided |

50 | Achieved | Improved | Improved | Support provided |

51 | Achieved | Improved | Improved | Support provided |

54 | Achieved | Significantly improved | Significantly improved | Support provided |

References

-Detailed statistical themes evaluation

TRANSPORT

Treaty title TITLEV: TRANSPORT | Eurostat work themes |

Principal themes of work necessary for this policy area | 48 – Transport |

Other important contributory themes | 49 – Communication 50 – Tourism 71 - Environment |

Principal objectives of the statistical work to be carried out for this specific policy

- Further implementation of the legal bases recently adopted by the Council in the field of transport statistics;

- adaptation of the legal bases currently in force as a result of the liberalisation of various modes of transport in Europe;

- development of a statistical system on intermodal transport based on existing data available in the Member States.

Achievements : Continuous progress has been achieved towards the goal of a comprehensive statistical information system on Community transport. At the start of the period, there were significant gaps in transport statistics in terms of data coverage, series and quality. During the period, with the introduction of new methods and regulations, the provision of statistical services was progressively extended to all modes of transport:

- Road transport;

- Rail transport;

- Inland waterways transport;

- Air transport;

- Maritime transport;

- Oil pipeline transport;

- Multimodal transport;

- Road data.

Considerable improvements have been achieved over the period but important progress on timeliness is still needed, together with continued work to ensure the coverage of passenger transport and intermodal transport.

To what extent has the Statistical Programme 1998-2002 been implemented?

Introduction of new methods and standards

Continuous progress towards the goal of a comprehensive statistical information system on Community transport has been achieved. Eurostat developed a new standard international classification for goods in transport (NST-2000), adopted by the Conference of European Statisticians (CES) in 2002.

-The Directive on maritime statistics was fully implemented;

-The 1980 Directive on road transport statistics was replaced with a new Council Regulation;

-Parliament and Council approved two new Regulations, on rail and aviation statistics;

-The Commission adopted six implementing acts for road and maritime statistics;

-Methodological work and key indicators on intermodal freight transport were published;

-Transport statistics of Candidate Countries were adapted to EU regulations.

The objective to introduce new standards and methods has been met.

Provision of statistical services

At the start of the period, the provision of statistical services in the field of transport was embryonic in terms of data coverage, series and quality. During the period, with the introduction of new methods and regulations, the provision of statistical services was progressively extended to all areas of transport:

- Road transport;

- Rail transport;

- Inland waterways transport;

- Air transport;

- Maritime transport;

- Oil pipeline transport;

- Multimodal transport;

- Road data.

A set of transport and environment indicators in cooperation with the EEA was also published.

About 12 million data were collected over the period. At the end of 2002, annual data lateness was 3.96 years, which requires further improvements.

The provision of statistical services has been significantly improved over the period.

Several improvements were achieved in the field of dissemination, including the complete restructuring of transport statistics in New Cronos and a large increase in the amount of data available, together with the publication of a Panorama of Transport and a full range of Statistics in Focus on transport.

Results have demonstrated a significant increase of transport statistics consultations:

-Database extraction growth: +83%

-Web site consultation: 300.000 pages consulted from 2000. For comparison external trade web pages were consulted 360.000 times.

The dissemination of transport statistics has been significantly improved over the period.

Statistical support

Strong statistical support was provided to Candidate Countries to adapt transport data to EU regulations and Mediterranean countries in the implementation of the first phase of the MEDTRANS project.

Conclusion:

The Community Statistical Programme objectives in the field of transport have been met. Considerable improvements have been achieved over the period but important progress on timeliness is still needed.

Programme targets

a) Users

According to DG comments, data from recent legal acts, especially maritime statistics, are useful for policy units.

Continuing concerns remain about

-inconsistency between Eurostat statistics and other data sources

-slow response to new data needs e.g. for modal split data in relation to the 2001 White Paper.

b) Priorities – work planning

Improved work planning has been achieved in:

-Annual Work Programme (AWP) reviewed in annual co-ordination meetings with Member States (Co-ordinating Committee in Transport Statistics);

-objectives derived from AWP defined at unit and process level in Unit Development Programme (PDU).

c) Quality

The new legal acts have assisted in resolving some quality issues (especially in road statistics). However, in other areas, the increased volume of data has led to new data quality issues being identified.

d) Effectiveness

The programme for transport statistics has been effective in improving the coverage of the various transport modes, and increasing the volume of information collected and disseminated.

However, lack of staff resources has slowed progress in providing key indicators for policy, and in developing new areas of transport statistics.

e) International standards

Community statistics are now more comparable with those of other areas of the world due to the following improvements:

-input by Eurostat to 3rd edition of Glossary of Transport Statistics for 55 UNECE member countries

-collection of transport statistics according to Community methods by Candidate Countries (in context of enlargement) and by Mediterranean countries (in MED-TRANS).

f) Response burden

There has been a large increase in the response burden due to the new legal acts.

Conclusion:

All programme strategies have been improved over the period except for response burden.

Principle of subsidiarity

No Eurostat budget has been granted to Member States for transport statistics in the reference period. However, there has been funding to Member States from DG TREN (approximately 2 mio Euro).

Balance of needs and resources

Since most data collection for transport statistics is based on legal acts, Member States have approved in principal the allocation of substantial additional resources at national and regional level to meet the data needs of the Common Transport Policy.

However, the Member States and Parliament have not taken account of the consequent need for additional staff resources at Eurostat, so that it has been necessary to move towards the outsourcing of all routine statistical production work, which does not involve confidential data.

Summary of ratings for all statistical themes of Transport

Theme/ Objectives | Introduction of new standards and methods | Provision of statistical services | Dissemination | Statistical support |

48 | Achieved | Significantly improved | Significantly improved | Strong support provided |

References

-Detailed statistical themes evaluation.

COMMON RULES ON COMPETITION, TAXATION AND APPROXIMATION OF LAWS

Treaty title TITLE VI: COMMON RULES ON COMPETITION, TAXATION AND APPROXIMATION OF LAWS | Eurostat work themes |

Principal themes of work necessary for this policy area | 40 – Annual economic accounts 41 – Industry 53 – Trade in goods |

Other important contributory themes | 45 – Energy and raw materials 47 – Distributive trades 48 – Transport 49 – Communication 51 – Services 63 – Agricultural incomes and prices 64 – Crop Production 65 – Animal production 66 – Agro-industry statistics |

Principal objectives of the statistical work to be carried out for this specific policy

- Improving the quality and the comparability of macroeconomic data from National Accounts;

- Improving the approximation of laws through better statistical coordination.

Achievements : 17 Commission Decisions and Regulations on the ESA were adopted between 1998 and 2002 (of which half also relate to Theme 52). Major outstanding methodological points were fixed or clarified such as FISIM, and considerable progress on improvement and convergence for calculating national accounts at constant prices. Eurostat continued a substantial programme of assistance to the Candidate Countries. Almost all Candidate Countries have made revisions and improvements to their National Accounts figures as the result of their own efforts and projects organised by Eurostat. The overall quality of macroeconomic statistics made significant progress over the period. Timeliness and comparability have been significantly improved.

Better coordination of the work programme in accordance with user needs between EU statistical organisations has improved the coherence of legislation.

However the ECB reported that the overall general economic statistics data set for the Euro area still remains short of user requirement.

To what extent has the Statistical Programme 1998-2002 been implemented?

Introduction of new methods and standards

New methods and standards were introduced to meet Statistical Programme objectives. The major ones are the following:

-17 Commission Decisions and Regulations on the ESA were adopted between 1998 and 2002 (of which half also relate to Theme 52). Major outstanding methodological points were fixed or clarified such as FISIM, and considerable progress on improvement and convergence for calculating national accounts at constant prices. Eurostat continued a substantial programme of assistance to the Candidate Countries. Almost all Candidate Countries have made revisions and improvements to their National Accounts figures as the result of their own efforts and projects organised by Eurostat:

- The Handbook on quarterly national accounts was drafted

- Methodology for GDP flash estimates for the EMU and the Euro in 45 days has been finalised

- In trade of goods, definition and start of a strategic plan for 2001-2005 including all aspects of methodologies, organisations and IT (Edicom II).

Provision of statistical services

The overall quality of macroeconomic statistics made significant progress over the period. Timeliness and comparability have been significantly improved.

Better coordination of the work programme in accordance with user needs between EU statistical organisations has improved the coherence of legislation.

Dissemination

Macroeconomic statistics dissemination has significantly improved over the period with the implementation of the Euro indicators web site and timely news releases on main principal economic indicators.

Statistical support

Support was provided to Candidate Countries, TACIS and Mediterranean countries.

Conclusion:

The Community statistical objectives in the field of common rules on competition, taxation and approximation of laws have been met.

Programme targets

a) Users

According to the rolling review on National Accounts, users think that the change in the overall quality of the service is good.

However the ECB reported that the overall general economic statistics data set for the Euro area still remains short of user requirement.

b) Priorities – work planning

According to the Rolling review on National Account, partners think the approach of the EMU action plan is a good way forward. They are sceptical about the way priorities are set inside the CSS.

More coordination is needed amongst all committees. Partners think that coordination and cooperation inside the CSS had been changing for the better over the past 3 years.

c) Quality

Timeliness has been significantly improved over the period

-HICP Flash estimates are now published within 2 days after the end of the reference period and detailed data within 17 days.

-Flash estimates for the Euro-zone and EU15 estimates in 45 days have been finalised.

-Timeliness of annual data has been reduced by about 1 year at 2.18 years at the end of 2002.

d) Effectiveness

No assessment at policy level.

e) International standards

No assessment at policy level.

f) Response burden

No assessment at policy level.

User satisfaction, coordination and work planning and data quality have made significant progress over the period.

Summary of ratings for all statistical themes of common rules on competition, taxation and approximation of laws

Theme/ Objectives | Introduction of new standards and methods | Provision of statistical services | Dissemination | Statistical support |

40 | Achieved | Significantly improved | Significantly improved | Strong support provided |

41 | Achieved | Significantly improved | Significantly improved | Strong support provided |

53 | Achieved | Improved | Improved | Support provided |

References

-Detailed statistical themes evaluation

-Council conclusions on fifth progress report on the implementation of information requirements in EMU

-Fifth progress report on the implementation of information requirements in EMU

-ECB quality report on general economic statistics.

ECONOMIC AND MONETARY POLICY

Treaty title TITLE VII: ECONOMIC AND MONETARY POLICY | Eurostat work themes |

Principal themes of work necessary for this policy area | 40 – Annual economic accounts 41 – Industry 42 – Financial accounts 52 – Money and finance 54 – Trade in services and balance of payments 55 - Prices |

Other important contributory themes | 32 – Labour market 44 – Industry (short-term indicators) 53 – Trade in goods |

Main statistical requirements of the Economic and Monetary Union Policy

- Meet the statistical requirements of the stability and growth pact, short-term indicators of demand, output, labour market activity and costs.

Through Eurostat, the European Commission, in close collaboration with the European Central Bank and also with the national authorities, has set up an Action plan on EMU Statistical Requirements in order to improve the quality and especially the timeliness of Euro-indicators, measuring the economic development in the Euro-zone, the EU15 and the EU Member States. This plan approved by the EcoFin Council of Ministers on 29 September 2000 sets out the measures to be taken at the level of the Community Statistical System and of the Member States in the near future. Implement the Regulation on the European system of accounts (ESA 95);

- Compilation of balance of payments as an EMU secondary convergence criteria in co-ordination with the ECB.

Achievements: Achievements have been described in the Economic and Monetary Union priority at the beginning of part 4.1.

To what extent has the Statistical Programme 1998-2002 been implemented?

Introduction of main methods

In most of the statistical themes, new methods and regulations were introduced to meet statistical needs of economic and monetary policy.

Economic annual accounts:

+17 Commission decisions and regulations on the ESA were adopted between 1998 and 2002;

+Major outstanding methodological points were fixed or clarified such as FISIM.

Quarterly and environment accounts:

+Methodology for GDP flash estimates for EMU and the Euro in 45 days has been finalised and implemented;

+Methodologies for environmental accounts have been developed and are under test.

Financial Accounts:

+A manual on sources and methods for the compilation of ESA 95 financial accounts was published in 2002.

Monitoring own resources:

+Inventories of sources and methods used to complete the accounts have been made available for the Court of Auditors.

Money and finance:

+New regulations on quarterly financial accounts have been implemented;

+The second edition of the ESA 95 manual on government deficit and debt was published;

+New manual on compilation of taxes and social contributions on a quarterly basis was finalised;

+Methodological work in cooperation with the ECB and NCBs to prepare the collection of long-term interest rates for convergence purposes from Accession Countries was completed.

The objectives stated in the programme 1998-2002 have been achieved. In addition, the CSS has been able to introduce new methods in accordance with the new requirements involved by the EMU action plan.

Provision of statistical services

The provision of statistical services is regularly assessed in two reports:

- Report of progress on the implementation of the EMU Action Plan;

- ECB quality report on General economic statistics.

Overview of progress on the implementation of the EMU Action Plan (15/01/2003) – Council conclusions

The Council endorsed the fifth progress report by the Economic and Financial Committee on information requirements in EMU. The report examines progress on the implementation of the Action Plan on EMU Statistical Requirements (EMU Action Plan), endorsed by the Ecofin Council in September 2000, as well as progress on the original report by the Monetary Committee on Information Requirements in EMU endorsed by the Ecofin Council in January 1999. Ministers decided that the fifth progress report would be made public.

The Council considers that a number of Member States still need to increase efforts to fulfil their obligations under the EMU Action Plan in order to improve the statistical basis for economic and monetary policy-making in EMU/EU. The targets set for the end of 2001 or 2002 in several statistical areas have not yet been met. Even if clear improvements have been recorded, more remains to be done, notably in Spain and Italy, and to a lesser extent in France. To fulfil the needs of a country-by-country analysis, also Greece, Ireland, Luxembourg and Portugal need to do more. Urgent attention should be devoted to the areas of quarterly national accounts by institutional sector (households and companies); quarterly government expenditure and revenue; the requirements in the labour markets; and new orders for industry and external trade data. The Council furthermore considers that in order to meet shortcomings identified in the original Monetary Committee report, there is the need for a re-balancing of statistical priorities, and a number of coordinated actions should be implemented by the Member States, notably in regard to the list of Principal European Economic Indicators established by the Commission, balance of payments statistics, and statistics on services.

The Council invites the statistical offices in the Member States to take the necessary action as a matter of priority. A follow-up report, including the Acceding Countries, should be submitted in 2004.

ECB Quality report on General Economic Statistics

Draft executive summary – August 2003

Since the previous report in August 2002, the provision of Euro area statistics has continued to improve but still remains far from fully satisfactory. The harmonisation process of HICPs is continuing. Newly released results for the Euro area as a whole have been: the GDP flash estimate, detailed national accounts data on compensation of employees and some variables and branches under the short-term statistics regulation. There have been improvements in timeliness, especially for some short-term indicators. These improvements are important, but the overall general economic statistics data set for the Euro area still remains short of user requirements. For national accounts and short-term statistics the main problem continues to be the late or delayed introduction of existing regulations, with the consequence that good quality Euro area data are published only for a part of the data covered under the existing European regulations. Results for the Euro area are often either late or do not exist at all due to an insufficient country coverage. In 2003 the implementation of the Short-term Statistics Regulation from 1998 will have to be completed. Rapid progress in the legislative procedure for the new regulation is desirable. Key quarterly national accounts aggregates for sectors are lacking. Significant gaps exist in the field of labour market statistics although the establishment of a new Regulation on labour cost indices is an important step forward. Further improvements are also required for HICP (harmonisation and improvement of quality adjustment) and for external trade aggregates (timeliness). The lack of data for the service sector in the Euro area remains an important issue. Work on implementing sufficiently comparable practices for seasonal and working day adjustment has begun, but definitive results can only be expected in the longer term.

Ambitious targets have been set by the Principal European Economic Indicators and the “Europe first” principle. They target improved or new statistics, but also better European co-ordination of, for example, release calendars and revision policies.

Acceding Countries are working to meet EU requirements and have made progress over the last year. The ECB has started to receive the data that are currently available via Eurostat. The new Action Plan for Candidate Country statistics sets priorities for improving the statistics that are most urgently needed in the first years of EU membership, such as key convergence indicators.

Data exchange from Eurostat to the ECB has worked without significant technical problems. However, shortcomings in terms of punctuality of national data and errors in the transmitted data remain. Transmission of GES data from the ECB to national central banks has been extended.

Regarding debt and deficit procedures, Eurostat regularly monitored the quality of the notified debt and deficit statistics and issued a substantial number of decisions concerning the treatment of important transactions. Moreover, these decisions are codified in the "ESA 95 manual on government deficit and debt", which sets the quality standards for EDP reporting.

Dissemination

-Most publications on Economy and finance were revised in accordance with new methodologies

-The publications programme was streamlined in order to focus on priorities and online dissemination

- About 1 million pages on Economic and finance were consulted on the Eurostat website from 2001 to 2002

- From 2000, Euroindicators website is one of the most consulted parts of the Eurostat website.

-Data are published regularly and on a timely basis according to pre-established scheduled.

Illustration: Balance of payments

- Volume of published data increased by 254% (from 207880 in 1999 to 735868 in 2002)

- From 1999 to 2002, 29 news releases, 45 Statistics in Focus and 17 official publications were published.

Statistical support

Statistical support was provided in most areas of economic and monetary policies to national statisticians and Candidate countries to implement new methodologies and to assist countries in improving data quality.

Conclusion:

Taking into account the introduction of the EMU action plan, the implementation of the Community Statistical Programme has been achieved to a very large extent. Significant improvements have been made over the period but important progress in some areas such as statistics on services in the EMU still remain to be done.

Programme targets

a) Users

According to the rolling review on national Accounts, users think that the change in the overall quality of the service is good.

However the ECB reported that the overall general economic statistics data set for the Euro area still remains short of user requirements.

b) Priorities – work planning

According to the Rolling review on National Accounts, partners think the approach of the EMU action plan is a good way forward. They are sceptical about the way priorities are set inside the CSS.

More coordination is needed amongst all committees. Partners think that coordination and cooperation inside the CSS has been changing for the better over the past 3 years.

c) Quality

Timeliness has been significantly improved over the period

-HICP Flash estimates are now published within 2 days after the end of the reference period and detailed data within 17 days;

-Flash estimates for the Euro-zone and EU15 estimates in 45 days have been finalised;

-Timeliness of annual data has been reduced by about 1 year at 2.18 years at the end of 2002.

d) Effectiveness

The Community Statistical System for economic and monetary statistics is relatively effective since it produces the results expected and regular improvements have been achieved over the period.

e) International standards

No assessment at policy level.

f) Response burden

No assessment at policy level.

Conclusion:

User satisfaction, coordination and work planning and data quality have made significant progress over the period.

Summary of ratings for all statistical themes of Economic and Monetary Policy

Theme/ Objectives | Introduction of new standards and methods | Provision of statistical services | Dissemination | Statistical support |

40 | Achieved | Significantly improved | Significantly improved | Strong support provided |

41 | Achieved | Significantly improved | Significantly improved | Strong support provided |

42 | Achieved | Significantly improved | Significantly improved | Provided |

43 | Achieved | Significantly improved | Significantly improved | Provided |

52 | Achieved | Significantly improved | Significantly improved | Provided |

54 | Achieved | Significantly improved | Significantly improved | Provided |

55 | Achieved | Significantly improved | Significantly improved | Provided |

57 | Achieved | Significantly improved | Significantly improved | Provided |

References

-Detailed statistical themes evaluation

-Council conclusions on fifth progress report on the implementation of information requirements in EMU

-Fifth progress report on the implementation of information requirements in EMU

-ECB quality report on general economic statistics.

COMMON COMMERCIAL POLICY

Treaty title TITLE IX: COMMON COMMERCIAL POLICY | Eurostat work themes |

Principal themes of work necessary for this policy area | 53 – Trade in goods 54 – Trade in services and balance of payments 57 – Other economic statistics (globalisation) |

Other important contributory themes | 19 – Technical assistance to countries in transition 20 – Preparation of enlargement 21 – Technical cooperation with third countries 42 – Financial accounts 52 – Money and finance |

Main statistical requirements of the Common commercial policy

- The implementation of the revised international concepts and definitions for trade statistics, including those necessary to implement ESA 95;

- the Comext system regrouping data on Intrastat and Extrastat will be improved to make it more user-friendly, and extended to integrate trade volume and unit value indices;

- studies to increase comparability of data necessary to support multilateral and bilateral negotiations will be done with third countries;

- development of two regulations a) on Balance of Payments statistics (BOP), International Trade in Services and Foreign Direct Investment flows and positions; b) on the structure and activity of foreign affiliates (FATS);

- the development of indicators for measuring the impact of the globalisation of economy on businesses, labour market and trade statistics. In particular, to support the EU trade policy (GATS- General Agreement on Trade in Services). The detail and reliability of statistics on International Trade in Services, Foreign Direct Investment and Foreign affiliates trade will be developed.

Achievements : The provision of statistical service in external trade, balance of payments and short term statistics made significant improvements over the period in the following domains:

Data quality:

-implementation of the Commission Regulation on cross border holdings (introducing an exemption reporting threshold);

-Advanced state of the draft Regulation on Balance of Payments (BOP) Statistics, International Trade in Services (ITS) and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) flows and positions and kick-off of the draft regulation on the structure and activity of foreign affiliates (FATS);

-Improvement of timeliness, reliability of macro indicators in particular within the framework of the EMU action plan and the needs of trade negotiations;

-Improvement of data quality: early estimates, quality controls, analysis of asymmetries and production of quality reports;

-Implementation of the new methodology on goods and on portfolio income in balance of payment statistics;

-Several analysis were carried out in order to improve the comparability of Trade statistics and methods and tools were developed in order to provide a common framework for reconciliation exercises

Data availability:

-Implementation of the data collection network for foreign trade and Balance of payments data with Candidate Countries and Tacis countries;

-Improvement of dissemination and timeliness: restructured publications; availability of Balance of Payments data for Candidate Countries data in New Cronos;

-The Comext system regrouping data on Intrastat and Extrastat was improved on several aspects: new functionalities, a better and easier on line access to the information and more available information. In particular, access was given to Candidate Countries data.

According to the rolling review on Trade in Goods, users think that the overall quality of the service is good and extensively use Comext data for the establishment and follow up of main EU policies.

To what extent has the Statistical Programme 1998-2002 been implemented?

Introduction of main methods

The introduction of new methods in the following fields has improved the measurement capacity of the Community Statistical System on the globalisation phenomenon.

-Definition and start of a strategic plan for 2001-2005 including all aspects of methodologies, organisations and IT (Edicom II);

-Improvement of links between external trade registers with business registers in order to measure intra business trade;

-Development of the revision of EU Member States BOP collection systems due to the implementation of the Commission Regulation on cross border holdings (introducing an exemption reporting threshold);

-Advanced state of the draft Regulation on Balance of Payment statistics, International Trade in services and Foreign Direct Investment flows and positions and kick-off of the draft regulation on the structure and activity of foreign affiliates (FATS);

- Development and publication of the Manual on Statistics of International Trade in Services (UN, European Commission, IMF, OECD, WTO). It contains the reference classifications and concepts for cross border trade (EBOPS[13]) and trade via commercial presence, i.e., FATS (ICFA[14])

However, EU statistical methods need to be adapted to improve the measurement of globalisation impact on the economy and labour market.

Provision of statistical services

The provision of statistical services in external trade, balance of payments and short term statistics made significant improvements over the period in the following domains:

Data quality:

-Improvement of timeliness, reliability of macro indicators in particular within the framework of the EMU action plan and the needs of trade negotiations;

-Improvement of data quality: early estimates, quality controls, analysis of asymmetries, production of quarterly reports for Balance of Payment statistics, application of recommendations of the various Balance of Payments Technical groups;

-Implementation of the new methodology on goods and on portfolio income in Balance of payments statistics.

Data availability

-Implementation of the data collection network for foreign trade data and Balance of Payments with Candidate Countries and Tacis countries;

-Implementation of the new regulation on short term indicators and structural surveys for other economic statistics;

-The Euroindicators web site is publicly available and is continuously improved;

-A list of principal European Economic Indicators was set up with quality improvements and milestones.

Dissemination

The dissemination of statistics related to common commercial policy has improved over the period.

The Comext database was accessed more than 400.000 times over the period.

System improvements permitted integration of data, massive extractions and better remote access. Average internal access decreased (-37%) while external accesses increased (610%) over the period. In terms of extracted records, considerable increases are observed (817% and 3816% respectively).

About 366,000 pages on External trade were consulted on the Eurostat web site from 2000 to 2002.

The Euro indicators web site was one of the most consulted sites.

Press releases and statistics in focus are regularly published on key statistics:

-About 35 Statistics in focus on external trade were published from 2000;

-About 29 Statistics in focus were published on foreign direct investments and trade in services from 2000;

-The total number of Balance of Payment statistics publications were: 29 news releases, 45 Statistics in Focus and 17 official publications;

-The available volume of data on Balance of Payments increased by 254% from 207880 in 1999 to 735868 in 2002;

A release of SIGMA in 2002, the bulletin of European Statistics focused on Statistics and globalisation.

Statistical support

Statistical support was provided in external trade and balance of payments to assist Candidate Countries to implement new methodologies and to assist countries in improving data quality.

Conclusion:

Taking into account the introduction of the EMU action plan, the implementation of the Community Statistical Programme regarding common commercial policy has been achieved. Significant improvements have been made over the period but important progress in some areas such as statistics on services in the EMU still remains to be done.

Programme targets

a) Users

According to the rolling review on Trade in Goods, users think that the overall quality of the service is good and extensively use Comext data for the establishment and follow up of main EU policies.

However the ECB reported that the overall general economic statistics data set for the Euro area still remain short of user requirement.

According to the Rolling review on Balance of payments, the overall balance of opinion of users is encouraging. Most feel the service has improved over the recent past, and the balance of opinion is particularly positive regarding the supporting service and the relevance of the data to their work.

b) Priorities – work planning

According to the rolling review on trade of goods, partners are satisfied with the functioning, organisation and effectiveness of planning and co-ordinating structures in the area of trade of goods.

Partners are globally satisfied with the functioning of the CSS except in the capability of the CSS to learn from best statistical practices.

c) Quality

Timeliness has been significantly improved over the period. For foreign trade, on average, intra-community trade data are transmitted 7.5 days before the 6 weeks mandatory deadline. From 1999 to 2001 it has been improved by 9 days. For extra trade data, the improvement amounts to 4 days but is still over the 6 weeks limit by 2.2.

According to the rolling review, users are satisfied with the accuracy, reliability, coherence, accessibility, completeness and timeliness of data. While the services provided by the online system, the CD ROM and paper publications are considered sufficient by regular users, improvements in terms of access facilities through WEB and derived information (confidential treatment, links to tariff and other information) is needed.

d) Effectiveness

The Foreign Trade and Balance of Payment statistical system is relatively effective since it produces the results expected and regular improvements are achieved.

e) International standards

In trade of goods, community concepts are globally consistent with the United Nations concepts.

Joint work with international organisations on classifications enabled the achievement of the reference classifications and concepts for cross border trade (EBOPS[15]) and trade via commercial presence, i.e., FATS (ICFA[16]).

For Balance of payments, concepts are consistent with the IMF Balance of Payments Manual.

The new Balance of payments regulations are totally consistent with the new Manual on Statistics of International Trade in Services (UN, European Commission, IMF, OECD, WTO).

f) Response burden

In trade of goods, the increase of electronic trade declarations from 68% in 1998 to 74% in 2000 contributed to reduce the response burden.

Conclusion:

All programme strategies have been improved over the period in Trade of Goods and Balance of Payments statistics.

Summary of ratings for all statistical themes of Economic and monetary policy

Theme/ Objectives | Introduction of new standards and methods | Provision of statistical services | Dissemination | Statistical support |

53 | Achieved | Improved | Improved | Support provided |

54 | Achieved | Significantly improved | Significantly improved | Provided |

57 | Achieved | Significantly improved | Significantly improved | Provided |

References

-Detailed statistical themes evaluation

-Council conclusions on fifth progress report on the implementation of information requirements in EMU

-Fifth progress report on the implementation of information requirements in EMU

-ECB quality report on general economic statistics

-Rolling review on trade of goods.

SOCIAL POLICY, EDUCATION, VOCATIONAL TRAINING AND YOUTH

Treaty title TITLE XI: SOCIAL POLICY, EDUCATION, VOCATIONAL TRAINING AND YOUTH | Eurostat work themes |

Principal themes of work necessary for this policy area | 31 - Population 32 – Labour market 33 – Education 35 – Health, safety and consumer protection 36 – Distribution of incomes and living conditions 37 – Social protection 38 – Other social statistics (housing statistics) |

Principal objectives of the statistical work to be carried out for this specific policy

- The consolidation and analysis of work on population and migration;

- further development of harmonised statistics in the field of unemployment and labour market (e. g. labour force survey (LFS), quarterly labour cost statistics);

- meeting new and existing data requirements in the area of continuing vocational training,

- the continuation of statistical projects on health and safety;

- the improvement of statistics on income distribution, living conditions and social exclusion;

- coordination of work on a time-use survey;

- the consolidation of social protection statistics.

From 2000, the specific provisions for social policy from the Lisbon, Cardiff and Luxembourg summits became the primary reference points for the further development of the programme of work.

Achievements: The Community Statistical Programme objectives in the field of social policy have been met. Considerable improvements have been achieved over the period in implementation of new methods and standards, provision of statistical service and dissemination in the fields of population, labour market, education, health, safety, distribution on incomes and social protection. The CSS has demonstrated its capacity to meet new statistical requirements from the Lisbon summit.

Some projects have been delayed in the fields of education statistics due to resource constraints.

To what extent has the Statistical Programme 1998-2002 been implemented?

Introduction of new methods and standards

New standards and methods were introduced in all statistical themes:

Population

-joint Eurostat-ECE recommendations for the 2001 census data collection have been prepared and used for the data collection which covers 32 countries;

-a new methodology was developed to calculate harmonised demographic indicators;

-several studies supporting the next major revision of Eurostat harmonised population projections were launched.

Labour market

-the harmonised definition of unemployment was adopted;

-The quarterly labour cost index was improved with a new Council regulation and the inclusion of results for Candidate Countries;

-A framework Council regulation on Labour Costs and Structure of Earnings statistics, including related Commission regulations have been approved. The Member States and the Acceding Countries have provided the data for the first Labour Costs survey under this regulation.

Education

-Preparation of a legal basis for vocational training;

-Development and implementation of a detailed classification on fields of education and training based for ISCED97 (incl. manual);

-Development of a framework proposal for "measuring lifelong learning" (Report of the TF MLLL);

-Preparatory work for an Adult Education Survey.

Social protection

-Work on links between ESSPROS data and National Account data in the field of Social Protection has been achieved;

-Development of a methodology for the collection of data on labour market policies.

In the theme Distribution of incomes and living conditions, Eurostat methodological manual on income was further developed but finalisation delayed due to resource constraint.

Provision of statistical services

The provision of statistical services in the following fields significantly increased.

Population

-Improvements of completeness and harmonisation of migration and asylum statistics;

-launch new data collection for monthly asylum and illegal migration data, and extension to CEEC (Peco) countries, Iceland and Norway. Work was undertaken to extend the publication of these data.

Labour market

-A continuous Labour force survey is implemented in most Member States;

-implementation of LFS Ad-Hoc modules in most of the Member States and the Acceding Countries;

-annual data on labour costs, annual earnings and minimum wages are received on the basis of a new gentlemen's agreement;

-monthly unemployment estimations are published in accordance with the timetable from 2000 in the Member States and the Acceding Countries;

-pilot surveys on job vacancies were implemented.

Education

-Development and implementation of Continuing Vocational Training Survey 2 (including dissemination) was completed;

-Candidate and Southeast European Countries fully integrated in education data collection;

-development of an integrated production database for education statistics;

-implementation and analysis of the LFS 2000 ad hoc module on transition from school to working life;

-development of the LFS 2003 ad hoc module on lifelong learning;

-evaluation and revision of the standard variables on education and training in the LFS;

-pilot data collection on foreign language learning in schools.

Health, safety and consumer protection

-concerning Health and safety at work statistics, routine data collection and further methodological developments were carried out;

-on the European Statistics on Accidents at Work (ESAW): the analysis and the dissemination of the 1994-2000 statistics were achieved (Phase II data including small and medium-sized enterprises, first elements on socio-economic Costs, commuting accidents).

Distribution of incomes and living conditions:

-data for the structural and Laeken indicators of the EU countries were issued;

-work on poverty and social exclusion done in collaboration with the Indicators group of the Social protection Committee has demonstrated substantial progress;

-household Budget Survey data for the new round (1999) is nearly completed;

-collection of HBS data (and corresponding methodology) for candidate countries.

Social protection

-regular ESSPROS data collection covering 20 countries;

-launching new data collection on number of beneficiaries of pensions;

-launch of a pilot data collection on LMP expenditure and participants and evaluation of results;

-implementation of 4 full data collections covering 3 products: expenditure, participants and qualitative information on measures;

-structural indicators for the spring 2003 report to the Council were produced.

Dissemination

Several improvements were achieved in the field of dissemination, including the extension of databases, increased online dissemination and streamlining of publications programme composed of:

-publication of the 2000, 2001 and 2002 reports "Social situation in the European Union" in collaboration with DG Employment and social affairs;

-production of the pocketbook on ‘Living Conditions in Europe’ (2000 edition);

-production of publications on gender;

-more than 100 Statistics in focus where released free of charge on the web on a large range of topics related to Population and social statistics.

Results have demonstrated a significant increase in social statistics consultations:

-database extractions growth: +700%

-Web site pages consultations on this theme amounts to 1.1 millions pages representing 19% of all Eurostat web site consultations

-from 1998, CD-ROM containing ECHP micro data was disseminated to researchers.

Statistical support

Strong statistical support was provided to Candidate and Mediterranean Countries in most of the fields of social statistics.

Conclusion:

The Community Statistical Programme objectives in the Social Policy field have been met. Considerable improvements have been made over the period with the introduction of new methods and standards, provision of statistical services and dissemination. The CSS has demonstrated its capacity to answer to new statistical requirements from the Lisbon summit.

Programme targets

a) Users

According to the rolling review on Labour Force survey and user satisfaction survey, users are globally satisfied with the overall quality of the service provided by Eurostat. Data relevance and accuracy are well appreciated by users who are dissatisfied with timeliness.

b) Priorities – work planning - coordination

In general, partners consider as adequate the planning and co-ordinating structures in the CSS even if differences by domains are identified. All partners acknowledge the improvements in the general level of CSS co-operation and co-ordination and the improvements in national statistical production.

Coordination with international institutions, DGs (DG Education and Culture and DG Employment) of the Commission and CEDEFOP has been significantly developed in order to improve the effectiveness of the programme.

c) Quality

Users acknowledge that change in the overall quality of the service is positive. Data timeliness has been improved significantly by 25% (1 year) but users are still unsatisfied.

d) Effectiveness

No assessment of the effectiveness of the programme has been achieved. However, increased coordination between international organisations and within European institutions, a better identification of users requirements and the increased dissemination of social statistics lead us to think that the effectiveness of the programme has improved over the period.

e) International standards

Substantial progress made on Methodological works in co-operation with international organisations has contributed to make Community statistics more comparable. In particular, the newly developed SILC project follows most of the Canberra Group recommendations on income.

f) Response burden

Reduction of the response burden in the fields of migration and demography was achieved due to the implementation of joint data collect.

Conclusion

Programme strategies made significant progress over the period.

Principle of subsidiarity

The principle of subsidiarity is fully respected in the field of social statistics.

Balance of needs and resources

At present social statistics does not receive enough resources in relation to needs. The 'social' aspect of the Community has become much more important than in the early days of the Community. In the Treaty of Rome there is very little about social policy (all the emphasis is on economic policy), but since the Treaties of Maastricht and Amsterdam about one-third of Community concerns (about seven titles out of 21 in the current Treaty) are 'social'. At the Council of Lisbon in 2000 it was agreed to aim to create a knowledge-based economy with greater social cohesion, and to measure the progress towards this through the Structural Indicators. About one-third of the Structural Indicators are 'social', so the amount of work in the social area, including defining and providing indicators, has increased greatly since 2000.

On the other hand, resources have not increased. This is because the general allocation of statistical resources between the different domains has not changed greatly since the early days, when social concerns were much less important than economic (or agriculture or industry). The total amount of statistical resources has also not increased so this means that in the social area more work must be done with the same resources. There are many important modules of the Statistical Programme where Eurostat has just one permanent official or even less.

At present, some projects have been delayed in the fields of Education and Health statistics due to resource constraints. Eurostat is now trying to define a new strategy for social statistics (starting at the DGINS at Athens) to meet this challenge of increasing demands. More resources will be needed if this strategy is to be taken seriously.

Summary of ratings for all statistical themes for social statistics

Theme/ Objectives | Introduction of new standards and methods | Provision of statistical services | Dissemination | Statistical support |

31 | Achieved | Improved | Improved | Strong support provided |

32 | Achieved | Significantly Improved | Significantly Improved | Strong support provided |

33 | Achieved | Significantly Improved | Improved | Strong support provided |

35 | Achieved | Improved | Improved | Support provided |

36 | Achieved | Improved | Improved | Support provided |

37 | Achieved | Improved | Improved | Support provided |

38 | Achieved | Improved | Improved | Support provided |

References

-Detailed statistical themes evaluation

CULTURE

Treaty title TITLE XII: CULTURE | Eurostat work themes |

Principal themes of work necessary for this policy area | 34 - Culture |

Principal objectives of the statistical work to be carried out for this specific policy

Developing a set of cultural statistics from existing sources.

Achievements: The Community statistical objectives in the field of culture are only partially met due to lack of resources in Eurostat.

To what extent has the Statistical Programme 1998-2002 been implemented?

Introduction of new methods and standards

Significant methodological developments, data collection and analyses were undertaken on 3 key topics:

-cultural employment: first data collection and estimation of cultural employment in all Member States;

-cultural expenditure and financing: methodological substantial progress was made to address measurement issues;

-participation in cultural activities: a questionnaire was developed and used in the Eurobarometer survey.

Methodological report on Cultural Statistics in the EU.

A comprehensive proposal for a large-scale survey on participation in cultural activities.

All work is delayed because of lack of resources in Eurostat. The objective has partially been achieved.

Provision of statistical services

The provision of statistical services was limited to definition of methods and collection of data through the Eurobarometer survey. The provision of statistical service has improved but significant work needs to be done to fully implement the developed standards.

Dissemination

Dissemination of the results of the Eurobarometer survey took place through DG Press.

Statistical support

No support was provided.

Conclusion:

The Community statistical objectives in the field of culture are only partially met due to lack of resources in Eurostat.

Programme targets

a) Users

No information available.

b) Priorities – work planning – coordination

No information available.

c) Quality

No information available.

d) Effectiveness

No information available.

e) International standards

No information available.

f) Response burden

No information available.

Conclusion

Programme strategies made significant progress over the period.

Principle of subsidiarity

The principle of subsidiarity is fully respected in the field of social statistics.

Balance of needs and resources

Summary of ratings for all statistical themes for culture

Theme/ Objectives | Introduction of new standards and methods | Provision of statistical services | Dissemination | Statistical support |

34 | Partially achieved | Improved | No dissemination | No support |

References

-Detailed statistical themes evaluation

PUBLIC HEALTH

Treaty title TITLE XIII: PUBLIC HEALTH | Eurostat work themes |

Principal themes of work necessary for this policy area | 35 – Health safety and consumer protection 37 – Social protection |

Principal objectives of the statistical work

- The establishment of Community health indicators including the selection of relevant information and data for exchange between Member States and the Commission and international organisations, and with conceptual work related to the process of making the data comparable;

- the development of a Community-wide network for sharing and transferring health data between Member States and the Commission and international organisations (based on the IDA-CARE telematics project);

- the development of methods and tools necessary for analysis and reporting on health status, trends and determinants, and the effect of policies on health.

Achievements: The Community Statistical Programme objectives in the field of public health policy have been met. Considerable improvements have been achieved over the period with the introduction of new methods and standards. However the implementation of these new methodologies is not yet finalised and support given was also limited due to resource constraints.

To what extent has the Statistical Programme 1998-2002 been implemented?

Introduction of new methods and standards

New standards and methods were developed and introduced in public health and safety at work and social protection:

Health, safety and consumer protection

-On causes of deaths, a project on improving practices and codification has resulted in a set of recommendations;

-a Minimum European Health Module (MEHM) was prepared for inclusion in the ‘Statistics on Income and Living Conditions’ (EU-SILC); a strategy for implementing a European Health Survey System (EHSS), in particular a European Core Health Interview Survey (ECHIS) by 2006 was adopted by the Directors of Social Statistics, based on standard modules (MEHM, health status, health determinants, health care use, background variables) to be included in national surveys;

-on Health Care statistics (CARE): guidance and pilots were established on implementing the System of Health Accounts (SHA) on a step by step basis, which refers both to new financial data and to adapting existing data (on resources and manpower) to new framework conditions;

-on the European Occupational Diseases Statistics (EODS) adoption of methodology, classifications and implementation in 2001 (14 Member States) of the first phase including data on exposures, degree of severity and medical diagnosis.

Social protection

-Work on links between ESSPROS data and National Account data in the field of Social Protection has been achieved;

-development of a methodology for the collection of data on labour market policies.

Provision of statistical services

The provision of statistical services in the following fields significantly increased.

Health, safety and consumer protection

-on causes of death (COD): the analysis and the dissemination of the 1994-2000 statistics were achieved;

-on Health and health-related survey data (HIS): the collection and analysis of data on 12-items from health modules in national population surveys was carried out in 1999 and extended to 18-items for the second data collection in 2002.

Dissemination

Several improvements were achieved in the field of dissemination, including the extension of databases, increased online dissemination and streamlining of publications programme composed of:

-publication of the 2000, 2001 and 2002 reports "Social situation in the European Union" in collaboration with DG Employment and social affairs;

-production of the pocketbook on ‘Living Conditions in Europe’ (2000 edition);

-more than 100 Statistics in focus were released free of charge on the web on a large scope of topics related to Population and social statistics including health and social protection.

Results have demonstrated a significant increase in public health consultations:

-Database extractions growth: +700%.

Statistical support

Some statistical support was provided to Candidate Countries and Member States to implement new methodologies.

Conclusion

The Community Statistical Programme objectives in the field of public health policy have been met. Considerable improvements have been achieved over the period in introduction of new methods and standards. However the implementation of these new methodologies is not yet finalised and support given was also limited due to resource constraints.

Programme targets

a) Users

The increasing interest of users for statistics on public health and social protection is a positive signal regarding their level of satisfaction. However surveys were carried out to assess user satisfaction.

b) Priorities – work planning – coordination

In general, partners consider as adequate the planning and co-ordinating structures in the CSS even if differences by domains are identified. All partners acknowledge the improvements in the general level of CSS co-operation and co-ordination and the improvements of in national statistical production.

Coordination with international institutions (WHO, OECD), DGs (SANCO and Employment) of the Commission has been significantly developed in order to improve the effectiveness of the programme. On request of the SPC, work on public health was developed through partnerships with Member States in the framework of the Leadership group on Health statistics.

c) Quality

With the implementation of the programme, data coverage significantly improved with about 4.5 million data available (source New Cronos) for health and safety and social protection statistics against some hundred thousands at the beginning of the period.

d) Effectiveness

The health and social protection statistical system is relatively effective since it met the objectives of the programme. However, no assessment of the effectiveness of the programme was carried out.

e) International standards

Substantial progress made on methodological works in co-operation with international organisations has contributed to make Community statistics more comparable. On disability, input at world level in the United Nations was given by Eurostat.

f) Response burden

Gradual reduction of the response burden was achieved in the fields of causes of death statistics and accidents at works.

Conclusion

Programme strategies made significant progress over the period.

Principle of subsidiarity

The principle of subsidiarity is fully respected in the field of health and safety and social protection statistics.

Balance of needs and resources

Some health statistics projects and support to Candidate Countries have been delayed due to resource constraints. Stability of staff resources and stable financing from other DGs are also two critical issues, which impact the achievement of objectives.

Summary of ratings for all statistical themes for public health

Theme/ Objectives | Introduction of new standards and methods | Provision of statistical services | Dissemination | Statistical support |

35 | Achieved | Improved | Improved | Support provided |

37 | Achieved | Improved | Improved | Support provided |

References

-Detailed statistical themes evaluation.

CONSUMER PROTECTION

Treaty title TITLE XIV: CONSUMER PROTECTION | Eurostat work themes |

Principal themes of work necessary for this policy area | 35 – Health safety and consumer protection 36 – Distribution of incomes and living conditions |

Principal objectives of the statistical work to be carried out for this specific policy

- Providing technical assistance for the collection and evaluation of data.

Achievements: Methodology was developed and data collected for publications on Consumers in Europe.

To what extent has the Statistical Programme 1998-2002 been implemented?

Introduction of new methods and standards

New methodology and data collection developed for publication on Consumers in Europe.

Provision of statistical services

Information on consumers is available in the publication Consumers in Europe and corresponding databases.

Dissemination

Several aspects of consumer protection have been highlighted through the following media:

-publication of the 2000, 2001 and 2002 reports "Social situation in the European Union" in collaboration with DG Employment and social affairs;

-Production of the pocketbook on ‘Living Conditions in Europe’ (2000 edition);

-More than 100 Statistics in focus where released free of charge on the web on a large scope of topics related to Population and social statistics.

Statistical support

No support was provided.

Conclusion

DG SANCO made considerable efforts in the recent past to support Eurostat. Thanks in large part to these efforts, consumer protection is one of the priorities of the Commission Statistical Programme for 2003 and has a prominent place in the CSP 2003-2007. However, despite this, no significant progress has been achieved.

Programme targets

a) Users

No information available.

b) Priorities – work planning - coordination

No information available.

c) Quality

No information available.

d) Effectiveness

No information available.

e) International standards

No information available.

f) Response burden

No information available.

Conclusion:

Programme strategies made significant progress over the period.

Principle of subsidiarity

The principle of subsidiarity is fully respected in the field of consumer protection.

Balance of needs and resources

Resources for this subject are currently very limited and will need to be increased if further progress is to be made.

Summary of ratings for all statistical themes for consumer protection

Theme/ Objectives | Introduction of new standards and methods | Provision of statistical services | Dissemination | Statistical support |

35 | Achieved | Improved | Improved | No support provided |

36 | Achieved | Improved | Improved | No support provided |

References

-Detailed statistical themes evaluation.

TRANS-EUROPEAN NETWORKS

Treaty title TITLE XV: TRANS-EUROPEAN NETWORKS | Eurostat work themes |

Principal themes of work necessary for this policy area | 45 – Energy and raw materials 48 – Transport 49 - Communication |

Other important contributory themes | 73 – Science and technology 53 – Trade in goods |

Principal objectives of the statistical work to be carried out for this specific policy

Provide necessary statistical information and services, allowing:

- The monitoring of the functioning of the energy internal market (energy balances, external trade, short-term trends, structural data);

- -the evaluation of effectiveness of competition in network industries, including transparency of end-user prices;

- -the follow-up of security of supply issues.

Improve the statistical system in order to respond better to sustainable development issues, in particular in the fields of:

- Renewable energy sources;

- Rational use of energy (cogeneration, energy efficiency);

Improve Knowledge on energy end-use, by direct surveys of consumers.

Gradually integrate Acceding Countries in the CSS, improving their systems to EU standards, also establishing a regular reporting system.

Create a reference data dissemination environment.

Achievements: The Community Statistical Programme objectives in the field of Trans European network have been met. Considerable improvements have been made in the implementation of new methods, provision of statistical service and dissemination over the period but progress on timeliness is still needed.

To what extent has the Statistical Programme 1998-2002 been implemented?

Introduction of new methods and standards

New methods were introduced in accordance with objectives in the following domains:

Energy

New methodologies were developed or improved in the fields of cogeneration, consumption (degree-day method).

Transport

-Eurostat developed a new standard international classification for goods in transport (NST-2000), adopted by the Conference of European Statisticians (CES) in 2002;

-replacement of the 1980 Directive on road transport statistics with a new Council Regulation, and collection of data in accordance with new Regulation;

-approval by Parliament and Council of two new Regulations, on rail and aviation statistics;

-adoption by the Commission of six implementing acts (for road and maritime statistics);

-publication of methodological work and key indicators on intermodal freight transport.

Communication

-Development of a statistical framework with a strategic plan on the information society;

-methodological work was carried out to include major changes and new items in communication statistics.

Provision of statistical services

The provision of statistical service in the field of trans-European network improved over the period with an increased number of available data in transport and communication. Data for all types of transport and the information society were made available.

Dissemination

The dissemination of statistics related to energy, transport and communication have improved over the period. For instance, for transport the database extraction growth increased by 83%.

Statistics in Focus were released on paper and online (free) and dealt with the following main topics

Energy:

- Intra-EU deliveries of petroleum

- Oil economy

- Natural gas economy

- Electricity prices for industry and households

- Gas prices.

Transport:

- Road freight transport

- Inland waterways

- Transport infrastructure

- Maritime transport.

Communication:

- Information society statistics

- Telecommunications in Europe.

Statistical support

Statistical support was provided to Candidate Countries to adapt transport, energy and communication data to EU regulations.

Conclusion :

Community Statistical Programme objectives in the field of Trans-European network have been met. Considerable improvements have been achieved over the period but important progress on timeliness is still needed.

Programme targets

a) Users

According to DG comments, data from recent legal acts, especially maritime statistics, are useful for policy units.

Continuing concerns remain about:

-inconsistency between Eurostat statistics and other data sources;

-slow response to new data needs e.g. for modal split data in relation to 2001 White Paper.

b) Priorities – work planning

Improved work planning has been achieved in:

-Annual Work Programme (AWP) reviewed in annual co-ordination meeting with Member States (Co-ordinating Committee in Transport Statistics);

-objectives derived from AWP defined at unit and process level in Unit Development Programme (PDU).

c) Quality

The new legal acts have assisted in resolving some quality issues (especially in road statistics). However, in other areas, the increased volume of data has led to new data quality issues being identified.

d) Effectiveness

The programme for transport, energy and communication statistics has been effective in improving the coverage of the various transport modes, and increasing the volume of information collected and disseminated.

However, lack of staff resources has slowed progress in providing key indicators for policy, and in developing new areas of transport and communication statistics.

e) International standards

Community statistics are now more comparable with those of other areas of the world due to the following improvements:

-input by Eurostat to 3rd edition of Glossary of Transport Statistics for 55 UNECE member countries;

-collection of transport statistics according to Community methods by Candidate Countries (in the context of enlargement) and by Mediterranean countries (in MED-TRANS).

f) Response burden

In transport, there has been a large increase in response burden, due to the new legal acts.

Conclusion:

All programme strategies, except for response burden, have been improved over the period.

Principle of subsidiarity

The principle of subsidiarity is fully respected in this field.

Balance of needs and resources

Since most data collection for transport statistics is based on legal acts, Member States have approved in principal the allocation of substantial additional resources at national and regional level to meet the data needs of the Common Transport Policy. However, the Member States and Parliament have not taken account of the consequent need for additional staff resources at Eurostat, so that it has been necessary to move towards outsourcing of all routine statistical production work, which does not involve confidential data.

Summary of ratings for all statistical themes of Transport

Theme/ Objectives | Introduction of new standards and methods | Provision of statistical services | Dissemination | Statistical support |

45 | Achieved | Improved | Improved | Support provided |

48 | Achieved | Significantly improved | Significantly improved | Strong support provided |

49 | Achieved | Improved | Improved | Support provided |

References:

-Detailed statistical themes evaluation

INDUSTRY

Treaty title TITLE XVI: INDUSTRY | Eurostat work themes |

Principal themes of work necessary for this policy area | 44 – Industry 45 – Energy and raw materials 66 – Agro-industry statistics |

Other important contributory themes | 53 – Trade in goods |

Principal objectives of the statistical work to be carried out for this specific policy

- Implementation of the Regulations on structural business statistics and on short-term indicators of industry;

- improving the simplification and effectiveness of the PRODCOM system;

- the integration of future steel statistics into the existing industrial statistics system;

- the development of indicators on intangible investment, subcontracting and globalisation in the context of the implementation of the Regulation of structural business statistics.

Achievements: The Community statistical objectives in the field of industry have been met. However, the PRODCOM system needs to be improved and no operational method to capture intangible investment has been found. The provision of statistical services has been improved with increased data availability and larger dissemination. Data quality has also been improved in terms of timeliness and comparability. However developments are expected to improve user satisfaction of the programme. An evaluation policy is required to address these issues in the future.

To what extent has the Statistical Programme 1998-2002 been implemented?

Introduction of new methods and standards

New methods and standards were introduced over the period.

Industry

Structural business statistics (SBS)

-The adoption of a new regulation in 1999 on the evaluation criteria of data quality in the field of structural statistics has contributed to quality improvements;

-A harmonised methodology for business demography was developed. Business demography data are now collected from 11 countries.

Short term statistics

-Implementation of Regulations for definition of variables and definition of Main Industrial Group

Energy

New methodologies were developed or improved in the fields of cogeneration and consumption (degree-day method).

Provision of statistical services

The provision of statistical services in the field of industry statistics has been improved for all themes.

Industry

-The regulation 58/97 was implemented with a strong focus on the quality of the data and this has been significantly improved;

-A Commission regulation of 2002 adjusted the regulation to technical and economic development;

-The strategic plan on structural indicators was achieved;

-Collection of data from Candidate countries of structural and short-term statistics was achieved;

-The implementation of the Regulation 1165/98 was started and progressed for a number of good quality key indicators;

-Regular and timely publications of a series of key indicators by Eurostat and the ECB. About 50% of the indicators, among them the most important ones for the analysis of the business cycle are now collected and published on a regular basis;

-The quality of the Short-term Statistics data is regularly monitored and has improved significantly over the reporting period;

-An Amendment Regulation was prepared that will extend the scope of Regulation 165/98 and will adapt the data collection to user requirements.

PRODCOM

-The PRODCOM statistical domain could be stabilised despite serious disruptions during 1999 to 2001;

-Improvement on data completeness and quality could be partly achieved but needs further attention.

Steel Statistics

-The collection of steel statistics has been terminated as planned. The statistics are integrated into structural business statistics and PRODCOM.

Agro industry statistics

Implementation of food supply balance sheets;

-in the field of food safety, first inventory of available data and first agreements with DG SANCO were achieved.

In general, at the end of 2002, the energy database contains 3 million values.

Structural business statistics, short-term business statistics and production statistics amount to 46 million values which represent a significant increase over the period.

Dissemination

In general, dissemination of industry statistics improved over the period. Structural business statistics, short term and production statistics are amongst the top consulted databases. Database extractions increased by 934% over the period. The publications programme was streamlined with a series of "Panorama of the EU industry" and a quarterly publication. On the Eurostat web site, structural indicators are among the top 5 consulted products. Key indicators of Short-term Statistics are now regularly published in press releases that are increasingly echoed in the press.

However, accessibility of detailed industry statistics remains an important issue.

Statistical support

In general, strong methodological support was provided to Member States and Candidate Countries to implement new methodologies and to improve the statistical system.

Conclusion:

The implementation of the Community statistical objectives in the field of industry has been achieved.

Programme targets

a) Users

No user satisfaction information is available. However the strong improvement of data quality due to new regulations leads us to think that user satisfaction improved over the period.

b) Priorities – work planning – coordination

No policy-specific information available.

c) Quality

Timeliness

Annual energy data timeliness is lower (3.07 years) than the Eurostat average (3.89)

Monthly energy data timeliness is also lower (5.72 months)) than the Eurostat average (7.07 months)

Regarding structural business statistics, data from Member States are collected by Eurostat 18 months after the end of the reference period in accordance with the regulation.

For short-term statistics, data are collected between 1 and 3 months after the reference period. The timeliness of all indicators has significantly improved, for example, the European aggregates for industrial production are now published after 48 days instead of 65 to 70 days.

Data availability

There has been a dramatic improvement in the volume of data available (46 million data as of end of 2002).

Comparability

With the implementation of the new SBS and STS regulations, data comparability was significantly improved. Continuous methodological improvements are carried out.

d) Effectiveness

The industry statistical programme is relatively effective since it produces the expected data and an improvement of data quality.

e) International standards

As far as SBS is concerned, a significant improvement had been made towards better comparability inside the European Union. In particular, an agreement has been made on the observation unit: the enterprise (smallest combination of legal units with autonomy of decisions). However, most non-EUROSTAT/OECD countries do not apply the same methodology and instead use the local unit (establishment) as a principal observation unit.

Short-term statistics is now governed by common definitions and the methodological recommendations have been significantly extended. Most Member States have made significant efforts to align to these definitions and recommendations in order to achieve an increased harmonisation of data.

Eurostat has very much improved towards a better internal EU comparability but the comparability with the rest of the world is a bit difficult (but still possible).

f) Response burden

As far as the response burden for businesses is concerned, the SBS-R encourages the use of administrative sources for data collections. Several countries (e.g. Italy) recently started to use administrative sources, which led to a significant alleviation of the response burden.

As far as the response burden for NSIs is concerned, both OECD (SSIS questionnaire) and Eurostat (SBS Regulation) used to request annual business statistics from Member States. This situation was confusing for the users (methodologies were slightly different) and created a high response burden for Member States. In 2001, OECD (Statistics Directorate/National Account and Economic Statistics) and Eurostat (Unit D2 Structural Business Statistics) started an active co-operation which led to a suspension of the OECD data collection in 2003 with OECD collecting its data directly through Eurostat. A protocol for co-operation between the two international organisations is currently under discussion.

OECD itself summarised the situation in its Statistical Programme of Work 2003, p.35

“In 2003, the direct data collection carried out for European Union countries to compile SSIS and SEC databases will be suspended and data collected through Eurostat will be used, with a substantial reduction in the response burden on Member countries”.[17]

Conclusion:

All programme strategies have been improved. However developments are expected to improve data quality, timeliness and user satisfaction of the programme. An evaluation policy is required to address these issues in the future.

A specific programme has been launched regarding Food safety to meet new consumer concerns.

Principle of subsidiarity

The principle of subsidiarity is fully respected in the field of industry statistics. Balance of needs and resources

No information available.

Summary of ratings for all statistical themes for industry

Theme/ Objectives | Introduction of new standards and methods | Provision of statistical services | Dissemination | Statistical support |

44 | Achieved | Improved | Improved | Support provided |

45 | Achieved | Improved | Improved | Support provided |

66 | Achieved | Not improved | Not improved | Support provided |

References

-Detailed statistical themes evaluation.

ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COHESION

Treaty title TITLE XVII: ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COHESION | Eurostat work themes |

Principal themes of work necessary for this policy area | 23 – Restructuring plans 72 – Regional and geographical information |

Other important contributory themes | 31 – Population 32 – Labour market 40 – Annual economic accounts 44 – Industry 47 – Distributive trades 50 – Tourism 51 – Services 63 – Agricultural incomes and prices |

Principal objectives of the statistical work to be carried out for this specific policy

- Defining, putting into place and monitoring the new Community regional policy;

- extending the sectoral and geographical coverage of regional statistics;

- developing a European geographical information system in cooperation with the national statistical institutes.

Achievements: The Community statistical objectives in the field of economic and social cohesion have been met with increased data availability and coverage of regional statistics. The relevance, comparability and completeness of regional statistics made significant progress over the period. Timeliness of existing series was maintained in parallel with the increased volumes of data handled. The response burden has been reduced thanks to a better coordination with sectoral projects.

An agreed common classification of territorial units (NUTS) now exists for regional statistics with all accession countries although the draft NUTS regulation was not yet adopted during the referenced period (adopted July). The Urban audit project was launched for data from the EU15.

The provision of statistical service has increased over the period with more than 10 million values available for regional statistics at the end of 2002, new domains available (social, migration, transport and economic statistics) and an expanded service on geographical information services. A geographical information database has been created and contains the 300 annually produced maps.

Dissemination

Dissemination of regional statistics made significant progress over the period. Regional statistics database extractions were multiplied by 3 over the period. This database is the second most consulted Eurostat database. Regional statistics publications are also the most consulted products on the web site.

Statistical support

Support was provided to Member States. A specific network of regional correspondents was introduced.

Conclusion:

The implementation of Community statistical objectives in the field of economic and social cohesion is achieved.

Programme targets

a) Users

According to the increased interest of users for regional statistics, we can assume that user satisfaction increased over the period.

b) Priorities – work planning – coordination

Improved coordination with DG REGIO has provided a better planning process.

c) Quality

The relevance, comparability and completeness of regional statistics made significant progress over the period. Timeliness has not improved.

d) Effectiveness

No information available.

e) International standards

Not applicable on a world basis.

f) Response burden

Response burden has been reduced thanks to better coordination with sectoral projects.

Conclusion:

Programme strategies made progress over the period but planning requires better targeting of development work.

Principle of subsidiarity

The principle of subsidiarity is fully respected in the field of regional statistics. The funding for the REGIONAL indicators component is provided by DG REGIO of which at least 70% goes to the CSS partners.

Balance of needs and resources

As DG REGIO provides the total expenditure for the Regional Indicators under a specifically agreed programme of work, the need is entirely policy supported.

Summary of ratings for all statistical themes for economic and social cohesion

Theme/ Objectives | Introduction of new standards and methods | Provision of statistical services | Dissemination | Statistical support |

23 | Achieved | Not applicable | Not applicable | Strong support provided |

72 | achieved | Improved | Improved | Support provided |

References

-Detailed statistical themes evaluation.

RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT

Treaty title TITLE XVIII: RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT | Eurostat work themes |

Principal themes of work necessary for this policy area | 22 – Statistical research 73 – Science and technology |

Other important contributory themes | 44 – Industry |

Principal objectives of the statistical work to be carried out for this specific policy

- New statistical actions or projects to measure the performance and impact of R & D;

- extending the innovation survey and assuring better coordination of data collection;

- the development of adequate tools, the promotion of exchanges with the scientific community and the users of technology;

- the promotion of new methods within a framework of best practice.

Based on the Lisbon/Barcelona Council conclusions and a number of subsequent Commission Communications improving the scope and the quality of statistics on science, technology and innovation, in better meeting the increasing level of user needs was required.

Achievements: The Community Statistical Programme objectives in the field of Research and Technological development have been met. New methods were implemented and led to a significant increase of available data. Considerable improvements have been made over the period but important progress on data timeliness and coverage is still needed.

To what extent has the Statistical programme 1998-2002 been implemented?

Introduction of new methods and standards

Science and technology

-The draft Commission Regulation on Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) statistics has been prepared and adopted in 2003. Implementation measures will be adopted in 2003/2004;

-Methodological developments on the various domains concerned (such as R & D statistics, innovation statistics, patent statistics, etc.) were achieved.

However some actions are partially achieved due to resource constraints:

-Comprehensive statistics on patents could not yet been drawn up;

-contribution to the revision process of the Oslo manual could not yet be made.

Statistical research

-In the field of quality assessment, improved techniques for measuring data quality were developed. 30 quality reports were produced in Eurostat;

-In the field of seasonal adjustment and time-series analysis, domain specific recommendations for the compilation of EU series were proposed;

-In the field of transfer of technology and know how, the inventory of research activities and possibilities to transfer technologies and know how were update.

The objective of introduction of new standards and methods has been achieved in statistical research but only partially in the field of Science and technology statistics.

Provision of statistical services

At the start of the period, the provision of statistical services in the field of Science and technology was embryonic in terms of data coverage, series and quality. During the period, with the introduction of new methods and regulations, the provision of statistical services was significantly extended to all areas:

-R&D regional data

-Key indicators on science and technology

-Benchmarking indices of national research policies

-R&D in Candidate countries and Russia

-European patent applications

-Employment in High-Tech.

The structure and contents of these domains need to be strengthened, when the legislation on STI statistics is adopted.

In addition, the Third Community Innovation Survey (CIS 3) was implemented and its results distributed.

A significant increase in data availability and data quality was achieved with more than 1 million data collected. A further strong increase is expected due to the coming into force of the legislation on STI statistics.

In the field of statistical research, support was provided to DGs in the area of European sampling. 36 R&D projects were selected and monitored

The provision of statistical services has been improved over the period.

Dissemination

Several improvements were achieved in the field of dissemination, including the complete restructuring of Science and Technology statistics in New Cronos and a large increase in the amount of data available, together with the publication of a Pocket book and a full range of Statistics in Focus (25) from 2000.

Results have demonstrated a significant increase of Science and Technology statistics consultations:

-Database extractions growth: +1000%

-Web site consultation: 300.000 pages consulted from 2000. For comparison external trade web pages were consulted 360.000 times.

The dissemination of Science and Technology statistics has been significantly improved over the period.

Regarding statistical research, results were disseminated through the organisation of an ESPROS meeting and 6 networks of excellence for transfer of technology and know how.

Statistical support

Strong statistical support was provided to Candidate Countries to integrate data of various domains. Strong methodological support was also provided inside the Commission to DGSANCO, DGMARKT and ECFIN.

Conclusion:

Community Statistical Programme objectives in the field of Research and Technological development have been met. Considerable improvements have been achieved over the period but important progress on data timeliness and coverage is still needed.

Programme targets

a) Users

According to the Rolling review on Research and development and innovation statistics, users were not satisfied with the relevance, timeliness, accessibility, and completeness of data. They were satisfied with accuracy and reliability of data, supporting service. They positively acknowledged the change in the overall quality of the service. Further amendments can be expected.

However, according to DG RTD, the interface with policy users could be improved, especially within the Commission, in order to better respond to users needs and priorities more quickly.

b) Priorities – work planning

According to the Rolling review on Research and development and innovation statistics, partners think that there is adequate good planning and structured co-ordination in the CSS for this area.

Partners think that the co-ordination on the STI statistics within the organisation and outside has improved in general.

c) Quality

See users.

d) Effectiveness

According to the Rolling review on Research and development and innovation statistics, the effectiveness is assessed positively by partners.

e) International standards

New methodological work over the period makes Community statistics more comparable. This work is often carried out in close co-operation with other international organisations.

Most of the time, the harmonisation of quality frameworks, seasonal adjustment methods, and table protection tools are based on international methodologies.

f) Response burden

Not applicable.

Conclusion:

Programme strategies made significant progress over the period while the situation regarding user satisfaction is far from being satisfactory.

Principle of subsidiarity

The principle of subsidiarity is fully respected in the field of Statistical research and Science and Technology statistics. NSIs are participate extensively in research projects.

Balance of needs and resources

The needs for information by far exceed the resources available mainly at EU level; a number of data could not be produced, e.g. on mobility of researchers, other statistical work is done at the level of the user DGs (e.g. on women in science).

Summary of ratings for all statistical themes for Research and technological development

Theme/ Objectives | Introduction of new standards and methods | Provision of statistical services | Dissemination | Statistical support |

22 | Achieved | improved | improved | Support provided |

73 | Partially achieved | Significantly improved | improved | Strong support provided |

References

-Detailed statistical themes evaluation.

ENVIRONMENT

Treaty title TITLE XIX: ENVIRONMENT | Eurostat work themes |

Principal themes of work necessary for this policy area | 41 – Quarterly and environment accounts 71 – Environment statistics and indicators |

Other important contributory themes | 44 – Industry 45 – Energy and raw materials 48 – Transport 50 – Tourism 61 – Land use and countryside 62 – Agricultural structures 64 – Crop production 65 – Animal production 68 – Forestry statistics |

Principal objectives of the statistical work to be carried out for this specific policy

- Pursue the development of environment statistics with preference given to the existing, available basic data and improve their dissemination;

- continue the production and further development of environmental indicators and statistics linking environment and various sectors of the economy;

- develop a set of satellite accounts for the environment with which developments in the areas of the economy and the environment can be jointly analysed;

- increase cooperation with the European Environment Agency.

Achievements: The Community Statistical Programme objectives in the field of Environment have been met. Considerable improvements have been made over the period by introducing new methods and standards, provision of statistical services and dissemination, especially in the field of environmental accounts. However, important progress in data collection is needed. Coordination has improved over the period. A Memorandum of Understanding with the EEA was signed in 1999, governing joint work areas and co-operation. A second Memorandum of Understanding between ESTAT, the EEA, DG ENV, DG AGRI and DG JRC was signed in 2002, covering work on agri-environmental indicators (IRENA project).

To what extent has the Statistical Programme 1998-2002 been implemented?

Introduction of new methods and standards

Environmental accounts

-Major progress was achieved in developing and testing methodologies for this new domain, then developing standard tables for regular data collection;

-Eurostat and the CSS contributed massively to the drafting of the revised world level system of integrated Environmental and Economic accounts (SEEA).

Environment statistics

A Regulation on the collection of Waste statistics was finalised and adopted in November 2002 as Regulation (EC) No 2150/2002.

A Memorandum of Understanding with the EEA was signed in 1999, governing joint work areas and co-operation. A second Memorandum of Understanding between ESTAT, the EEA, DG ENV, DG AGRI and DG JRC was signed in 2002, covering work on 35 agri-environmental indicators (IRENA project).

In the field of Sustainable Development Indicators and Environmental Structural indicators, Eurostat contributed to the definitions and methodologies used for the UNCSD set of indicators. A seminar was held in 1998 on testing of UNCSD SDI list. 2001: publication of SDIs based on the UNCSD set. A joint seminar with UNECE and Statistics Canada on methodological issues for environmental SDIs was held.

Following the adoption of the EU sustainable development strategy at the Gothenburg European Council (June 2001) the SPC created a Task Force to develop an EU specific set of SDIs.

Provision of statistical services

The provision of statistical services has been improved over the period.

-Improved methodologies have been fully implemented; collection of data has been streamlined, resulting in improved data availability;

-the legal process of amending the environmental section of the Structural Business Statistics Regulation has been supported, and the revised Regulation has been fully implemented. The environmental expenditure questionnaire has been revised, while a task force has reviewed definitions related to environmental expenditure;

-the questionnaire on Inland Water has been revised, and definitions clarified, resulting in some improvement in data delivered;

-following the Cardiff and subsequent European Councils, work on indicators to monitor the integration of environmental concerns into other policy areas (Transport, Energy, Agriculture) was intensified. It has resulted, amongst others in a transport-environment statistics compendium, an energy integration indicators pocketbook, development of new agri-environmental indicators, such as nutrient balances, pesticide use, organic farming, as well as production of a major publication on Agriculture, Environment and Rural Development (jointly with other units in Dir. F and with DG AGRI and DG ENV). Support has been provided to other Commission services and the European Environment Agency (EEA) in their work on integration indicators.

Direct collection from MS of data on emissions to air has been stopped. In order to rationalise data collection and to reduce the response burden on Member States, data is taken from the EEA, who receive the figures under various reporting conventions.

Data for PHARE countries has been improved through specific support projects.

-Environmental pressure Indicators were produced and published in 1999 and 2001.

5 new sub-domains were introduced over the period:

-Transport and environment

-Pesticides

-Fertilisers

-Organic farming

-Regional environment statistics.

Dissemination

Several improvements were achieved in the field of dissemination, including the extension of databases and a wider range of publications released including an Environment statistics CD-ROM.

Results have demonstrated a significant increase in Environment statistics consultations:

-Database extractions growth : +328%

-38 Statistics in Focus dealing with environmental issues were published from 2000 onwards.

Statistical support

Strong statistical support was provided to Candidate Countries in the field of investments for environment protection expenditures in industries. In other areas, such emissions, water use and use of waste and hazardous materials, the support provided to Member states and Candidates Countries was considered as weak.

Conclusion:

Community Statistical Programme objectives in the field of environment have been met. Considerable improvements have been achieved over the period in introduction of new methods and standards, provision of statistical service and dissemination. However, important progress in data collection is required.

Programme targets

a) Users

No user satisfaction review was carried out over the period. However the increased use of environment statistics on the political scene (e.g. for the Council Spring report and for sustainable development indicators) suggests an increase in user satisfaction.

b) Priorities – work planning – coordination

Coordination has improved over the period. A Memorandum of Understanding with the EEA was signed in 1999, governing joint work areas and co-operation. A second Memorandum of Understanding between ESTAT, the EEA, DG ENV, DG AGRI and DG JRC was signed in 2002, covering work on 35 agri-environmental indicators (IRENA project).

c) Quality

Timeliness, availability and comparability of data were improved over the period.

-In 2002, the average delay between country deadline for sending the data to Eurostat and publication in New Cronos was 6 months, compared to an average of 12 months in 1998;

-For water and waste, response rates have increased from 32.5% to 36% from 2000 to 2002. For the other areas, availability rates are not comparable;

-Comparability has improved in the area of water and environmental expenditure through improved questionnaires and definitions and in the area of waste through increased political pressure. No figures are available.

d) Effectiveness

The implementation of the Statistical Programme in the field of environment has provided effective results such as the introduction of methods and standards and provision of statistical services. However improvements and programme achievements are still expected.

e) International standards

Community statistics are now more comparable with those for others areas of the world for the following reasons:

-Full compatibility with OECD through common questionnaire;

-Full compatibility also with UN since they use a subset of this questionnaire.

f) Response burden

The joint questionnaire 2002 has been considerably reduced by making use of data sources existing elsewhere (e.g. air data from EEA). Response burden was also reduced by better following definitions in European environmental legislation (e.g. Urban Waste Water Directive and Water Framework Directive).

Conclusion:

Programme strategies made significant progress over the period.

Principle of subsidiarity

The principle of subsidiarity is fully respected in the field of environment statistics. Data collection fully respects the principle of subsidiarity, i.e. with Member States free to use the methods of data collection or estimation best suited to their circumstances, but due to common data quality requirements formulated and agreed upon at EU level with Member States. Moreover, data is shared with the European Environment Agency and OECD in an effort to reduce the number of requests for data to Member States.

Balance of needs and resources

During the period 1998-2002 there was no legal requirement to collect many environment statistics, so MS provided data through “gentleman’s agreements” but often only when the data were collected for national purposes. This leads to many gaps in the data, lack of harmonisation between countries, etc. which Eurostat works vigorously to improve, through the development of standard definitions and recommended methodologies, and through grants provided to Member States to help them develop and improve data collection.

Lack of resources caused delays in several projects:

- work on scarce materials

- work on water use

- collection of transport indicators.

Summary of ratings for all statistical themes for environment

Theme/ Objectives | Introduction of new standards and methods | Provision of statistical services | Dissemination | Statistical support |

41 | Achieved | Significantly improved | Starting | No support in this period |

71 | Achieved | Improved | Significantly improved | Support provided |

References

-Detailed statistical themes evaluation

DEVELOPMENT COOPERATION

Treaty title TITLE XX: DEVELOPMENT COOPERATION | Eurostat work themes |

Principal themes of work necessary for this policy area | 19 – Technical assistance to countries in transition 20 – preparation of enlargement 21 – Technical cooperation with third countries |

Principal objectives of the statistical work to be carried out for this specific policy

- Continuing the technical assistance and training for these countries;

- Improving the statistical information system of these countries;

- Preparation of the enlargement.

Achievements: The Community Statistical Programme objectives in the field of cooperation development have been met with a strong focus on preparation of enlargement.

To what extent has the Statistical Programme 1998-2002 been implemented?

Introduction of new methods and standards

This objective was not applicable to the corresponding statistical themes.

Provision of statistical services

Preparation of enlargement

Preparation of enlargement mainly focused on building of the NSIs of the Candidate Countries by the institutions and on their capacity to produce and deliver statistical data compliant with the acquis. In particular the following was done:

-Regular collection of data based on harmonised methodology in almost all statistical domains;

-Supply of statistical information to Commission services for the negotiation and monitoring process;

-Dissemination of data to other administrations and the general public by website, New Cronos and publications;

-Candidate countries sent data for all major social and economic aggregates to Eurostat;

- Candidate countries were partially integrated into the normal work flows of production units and into part of the production and dissemination databases.

At the end of 2002, for most of the statistical areas data were collected and disseminated in accordance with EU standards for the Acceding and Candidate Countries. At this date, Eurostat was also in a position to publish most of the Euro indicators for these countries.

Regarding Turkey, in a number of publications and data collections Turkish data has already been included.

Global assessments were carried out for all the 13 Candidate Countries to assess their statistical systems in detail and provide the necessary input for further technical assistance. A publication called “Widening the EU statistical network” was issued at the end of 2002 summarising the results and descriptions of the global assessments.

Co-operation with the western Balkans countries (CARDS)

Global assessments of the statistical systems in the Western Balkan to inform users on the state of art of the statistical systems were conducted in the following CARDS countries: Albania, Croatia, FYROM and work started in 2001 for the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

Co-operation with TACIS countries

Country reports assessing the current situation and the progress in official statistics were published in 2001 for 9 of the 13 countries. The report has since been updated annually. A quarterly exchange of key data started with Russia and Ukraine, which are available in New Cronos. An exchange of data on external trade data have been in place with a number of CIS countries resulted in data being available in COMEXT for most of the CIS countries.

Cooperation with Third countries

Achievements

-Positive mid term evaluation of the MEDSTAT programme thanks to the application of international standards, development of user/producer relations and approval of new terms of reference for the new MEDSTAT programme;

-A certain amount of external trade data are available on MED countries.

-ACP

+Implementation of the ECOSTAT project

+Training of statisticians

-Latin America

+Implementation of the cooperation programme with the countries members of the Mercosur and Chile

-Preparation of a work programme EU-CAN

-Asia

+Cooperation programme with China, India, Pakistan which focuses on external trade statistics.

Dissemination

Data from the Candidate Countries were gradually integrated into domains databases. Candidate Country statistics have regularly been included in the major Eurostat publications such as Eurostat Yearbook including comparable data for the 13 EU Candidate Countries and major non-European nations. Moreover, during this programme period, 4 Statistical Yearbooks on the Candidate Countries were produced by Eurostat.

Several other publications focussing on Candidate Countries were issued, and in addition leaflets on different areas of interest were regularly published twice a year and distributed in time for the EU Council meetings.

In the production units, about 100 Statistics in Focus including Candidate Countries data were published from 2000 on the following topics: GDP, Quarterly accounts, Monetary poverty, Water use, Labour costs, relative price for services, financial accounts data, Livestock population, etc.

Data from the CARDS countries were partly included in some publications on Candidate Countries.

One of the areas of support in the TACIS statistical programmes was the improvement of dissemination and marketing of statistical data in beneficiary countries which resulted in a multitude of publications on different subjects in the countries, also available in English and in a strategy on dissemination policies prepared for TACIS countries. In Eurostat, leaflets with key data were published and distributed.

Statistical support

Over the period, very strong statistical support was provided to Candidate Countries in all statistical areas as described in point 1.2. with substantial support from the Phare programme. Global assessment reports and the compliance database contain a large amount of information on the statistical systems of and the data availability in the Candidate Countries. As a result of all the support, the Candidate Countries strengthened their statistical systems in terms of their institutional capacity and most of all in terms of applying the acquis and producing and delivering data accordingly.

Preparation of enlargement

A large part of the activities of all statistical domains was devoted to the preparation of enlargement which consisted in the adaptation of statistical laws, implementation of all major EU classifications, regular collection of data based on harmonised methodology, supply and dissemination of statistical data, regular participation of Candidate Countries in Eurostat Working Groups, etc. The enlargement preparation was largely supported by the Phare programme. Various multi-country Phare programmes on statistical co-operation were designed and implemented by Eurostat for a total budget of around 44 million Euro. Eurostat was strongly involved in the successful implementation of these programmes and the evaluation report from an external evaluation company proves the success of these programmes.

Co-operation with the western Balkans countries (CARDS) and TACIS countries

There were strong Eurostat activities in statistical co-operation in the area, including programming missions to the beneficiary institutions, design of technical assistance projects, technical advice to other Commission services on statistical issues in the countries and to the tendering and implementation of the TA programmes etc.

Cooperation with Third countries

New organisation and administration of projects has been defined in close collaboration with DGs RELEX, DEV and AIDCO. Emphasis was given on coordination with international organisations (Paris21) and with national bodies involved in cooperation. (NSI, ministries…).

Strong emphasis was put on horizontal projects, mainly on the development of software for national accounts and external trade statistics, on new actions on poverty monitoring , human rights, democracy and governance .

Conclusion:

The Community Statistical Programme objectives were implemented in the field of cooperation development with a strong focus on preparation of enlargement. Considerable improvements have been achieved over the period in implementation of EU methodologies and standards and the corresponding data collection. However the process is not yet finalised for the Candidate Countries at the end of 2002 but is planned for the accession date.

According to the first draft monitoring and interim evaluation report of the European Union Pre-Accession Instrument Phare on statistical co-operation programmes carried out by an independent consortium, the programme has achieved its general objectives of strengthening the institutions to provide appropriate statistics in general and in the pre-accession context particularly. Furthermore, the programme keeps alive a network of professionals in the statistics, at individual and at institutional levels essential for the production of comparable statistics.

Programme targets

a) Users

According to the first draft monitoring and interim evaluation report of the European Union Pre-Accession Instrument Phare on statistical co-operation programmes the projects evaluated individually show a good degree of relevance. Due to the proper identification of needs, the coordination with other programmes, international and national, and despite a lack of visibility for non-statisticians and the potential for other areas of support, the programme is relevant.

According to the mid term external evaluation of MEDSTAT programme, MEDSTAT contributes to the examination of user needs but there is a strong tendency for MED NSO to continue to do what they have done, irrespective of particular needs expressed. MEDSTAT nevertheless contributes to establishing or, where it existed, to developing dialogue between users and producers of statistics (e.g. in some cases through specific bodies being established).

b) Priorities – work planning – coordination

According to the first draft monitoring and interim evaluation report of the European Union Pre-Accession Instrument Phare on statistical co-operation programmes, multi-country support is well designed, well managed and satisfactorily monitored.

According to the mid term external evaluation of MEDSTAT programme, some recommendations regarding the management of the project were looked at, in particular relating to the relationships between MED NSOs, the network of CESDs and implementing agencies. Defined priorities between MED countries based on their level of participation and valorisation of MEDSTAT was recommended.

c) Quality

Data quality has improved towards EU standards. However, important progress is still expected in terms of data completeness and timeliness.

According to the first draft monitoring and interim evaluation report of the European Union Pre-Accession Instrument Phare on statistical co-operation programmes there are strong indications that the capacity to ensure the autonomous production of quality data for the future is being strengthened.

d) Effectiveness

The preparation of Enlargement has been effective since it helped the Candidate Countries to adopt and implement most of the European standards in a very limited period.

e) International standards

At the end of 2002, there is clear evidence that data from the Candidate Countries are much more harmonised and comparable with EU data than at the beginning of the programme.

According to the mid term external evaluation of the MEDSTAT programme, there is a mixed outcome on the adaptation of international standards, depending on countries and sub-programmes. However there is an understanding in all countries of the advantage that can be gained from this, although sometimes questions as to why EU/international standards should be retained were asked.

f) Response burden

Not applicable

Conclusion:

In a very limited period of time, Acceding Countries have made enormous progress in adopting EU standards and providing data of better quality to Eurostat in many statistical areas.

Principle of subsidiarity

The principle of subsidiarity is fully respected in the field of cooperation development

Balance of needs and resources

Some projects and support to Candidate Countries have been delayed due to resource constraints.

Summary of ratings for all statistical themes for cooperation development

Theme/ Objectives | Introduction of new standards and methods | Provision of statistical services | Dissemination | Statistical support |

19 | Not applicable | Significantly improved | Improved | Strong support Provided |

20 | Not applicable | Significantly improved | Improved | Strong support Provided |

21 | Not applicable | Improved | Improved | Provided |

-Detailed statistical themes evaluation

-Mid term external evaluation of MEDSTAT programme.

-First draft monitoring and interim evaluation report of the European Union Pre-Accession Instrument Phare in statistics.

[1] OJ L 42, 16.2.1999, p. 2.

[2] The complete bibliography is provided in Annex 1.

[3] OJ L 52, 22.2.1997. p. 1-7.

[4] With the creation of an evaluation function in May 2000, Eurostat began a broad programme of internal evaluation of all its data-producing activities based on “Rolling Reviews”. Rolling Reviews imply a thorough review of partners satisfaction (NSis, Central banks etc.), users’ satisfaction and costs for Eurostat and for Member States in order to identify the weak points in Eurostat’s performance and to come out with a final list of recommendations.

[5] OJ L 42, 16.2.1999, p. 2

[6] The CSS comprises Eurostat and the statistical offices, ministries, agencies and central banks that collect official statistics in EU Member States.

[7] OJ L 52, 22.2.1997, p. 1-7.

[8] Council Regulation (EC) No 322/97 of 17 February 1997 on Community Statistics.

[9] OJ L 181, 28.6.1989, p. 47

[10] EBOPS – Extended Balance of Payments Services Classification

[11] The new classification ICFA (ISIC Categories for Foreign Affiliates) is based on the ISIC (International

Standard Industrial Classification of all Economic Activities) and set up the best consistency between statistics on cross-border trade and on commercial presence.

[12] Official includes Permanent officials, T.2A (Temporary on temporary post) and T.2B (Temporary on Permanent Post

[13] EBOPS – Extended Balance of Payments Services Classification.

[14] The new classification ICFA (ISIC Categories for Foreign Affiliates) is based on the ISIC (International Standard Industrial Classification of all Economic Activities) and set up the best consistency between statistics on cross-border trade and on commercial presence.

[15] EBOPS – Extended Balance of Payments Services Classification.

[16] The new classification ICFA (ISIC Categories for Foreign Affiliates) is based on the ISIC (International Standard Industrial Classification of all Economic Activities) and set up the best consistency between statistics on cross-border trade and on commercial presence.

[17] Free translation.