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Summaries of EU Legislation

Statistical cooperation within the European Economic Area

SUMMARY OF:

Agreement on the European Economic Area — Final Act

Annex XXI — Statistics

Protocol 30 — Specific rules on EEA cooperation in the field of statistics

WHAT IS THE AIM OF THE AGREEMENT AND THE PROTOCOL?

  • They aim to improve statistical cooperation between the European Union (EU) and the non-EU European Economic Area (EEA) countries (i.e. Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway) through common programmes and procedures leading to gradual harmonisation.
  • Annex XXI of the agreement includes the EU legislation in the field of statistics which is applicable to the EEA/European Free Trade Association (EFTA) countries.
  • The protocol aims to ensure that the parties adapt their procedures in order to produce, transmit and disseminate official European statistics in a coherent manner within the partnership of the European Statistical System.

KEY POINTS

General rules

  • The EEA/EFTA countries contribute financially to the relevant EU budget for statistical actions.
  • Statistical cooperation, the development of programmes and procedures and the monitoring of the implementation of these programmes is carried out by a conference of representatives.
  • The conference comprises national statistical organisations for the countries concerned along with Eurostat, the EU’s statistical office, and the EFTA Statistical Office (ESO), which manages the EEA agreement concerning statistics on behalf of Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway.
  • Experts may participate fully (but cannot vote) in the work of EU committees and other EU technical bodies responsible for developing statistical programmes and action.
  • A joint Eurostat/ESO annual report assesses whether the planned objectives, priorities and actions have been achieved.
  • Eurostat annually monitors the compliance of EEA/EFTA countries with the statistical obligations under EU legislation, according to the EEA agreement and its Annex XXI.

Statistical programme 2021–2027

  • The European statistical programme, which falls within the 2021–2027 single market programme, is the basis for EEA statistical action.
  • A specific EEA annual statistical programme is developed jointly by Eurostat and ESO, as a subset of the European Commission annual work programme for statistics.
  • The EEA annual statistical programme defines the statistical areas of cooperation and activities where the EU Member States, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway are entitled to receive tenders and grants from the Commission to help implement statistical projects.

DATE OF ENTRY INTO FORCE

The agreement and protocol entered into force on .

MAIN DOCUMENTS

Agreement on the European Economic Area — Final Act — Joint Declarations — Declarations by the Governments of the Member States of the Community and the EFTA States — Arrangements — Agreed Minutes — Declarations by one or several of the Contracting Parties of the Agreement on the European Economic Area (OJ L 1, , pp. 3–522)

Successive amendments to the Agreement on the European Economic Area have been incorporated in the original text. This consolidated version is of documentary value only.

Annex XXI — Statistics, , pp. 1–56

Agreement on the European Economic Area — Protocol 30 on specific provisions on the organization of cooperation in the field of statistics (OJ L 1, , p. 197) (the protocol has been amended to include the 2021–2027 single market programme).

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