EUROPEAN COMMISSION

Brussels, 24.8.2016

COM(2016) 551 final

2016/0264(COD)

Proposal for a

REGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL

establishing a common framework for European statistics relating to persons and households, based on data at individual level collected from samples

(Text with EEA relevance)

{SWD(2016) 282 final}
{SWD(2016) 283 final}

EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM

1.CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL

•Reasons for and objectives of the proposal

The increasing importance of the EU's social dimension

This strong commitment to the EU’s social goals must be supported by a solid evidence base. Keeping also in mind that spending on social policies in a broad sense (including social protection, education and health) represents more than a quarter of GDP and more than half of public spending in most Member States, there must be a strong focus on policy outcomes, value for money and efforts to achieve better results through international comparisons, benchmarking and mutual learning.

•Consistency with existing policy provisions in the policy area

It is becoming increasingly necessary for statistics to be reliable, timely and of high quality in order for policymakers, businesses and the general public to be able to take appropriate, evidence-based decisions. Providing statistics of this quality is, however, challenging for the ESS: the ever-increasing demand for data and the demand from respondents to statistical surveys to reduce the burden all combine to put pressure on the production of statistics. Recent statistical initiatives have, therefore, aimed to simplify and improve coordination and collaboration within the ESS, with a view to making the production of European statistics more efficient and reducing the burden on respondents. One example is Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 on European statistics 9 , which was amended in 2015 to clarify the governance of the ESS and to strengthen means of coordination and collaboration at both EU and national level. Other initiatives, such as this proposal and the Framework regulation integrating business statistics (FRIBS), are included in the Commission’s REFIT initiative and aim to simplify and streamline the production of European statistics within targeted domains.

The European Statistical Programme 2013-2017 10  identifies statistics on ‘People’s Europe’ (i.e. social statistics) as one of the three pillars of the statistical information system: economic social and environmental. Each of the pillars covers a set of primary statistics that will provide the required input for policy indicators and accounting systems. In order to achieve the objectives of the European Statistical Programme in the most efficient and consistent manner, this Regulation establishes an overarching legal framework for the production of European social statistics collected from samples.

The ESS Vision 2020 11 aims to modernise the production of European statistics, and to thereby further improve the balance between the benefits and importance of having high quality European statistics and the costs and burden related to their production. In this way the ESS will contribute to adequately responding to the European institutions’ need for information for their policy-making and to the statistical needs of the broader society, while giving due consideration to the need to reduce the administrative burden on households and businesses.

•Consistency with other EU policies

2.LEGAL BASIS, SUBSIDIARITY AND PROPORTIONALITY

•Legal basis

Article 338 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) provides the legal basis for European statistics. Acting in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure, the European Parliament and the Council adopt measures for the production of statistics where this is necessary for the Union to carry out its role. Article 338 sets out the requirements relating to the production of European statistics, stating that they must conform to standards of impartiality, reliability, objectivity, scientific independence, cost-effectiveness and statistical confidentiality.

•Subsidiarity (for non-exclusive competences)

The subsidiarity principle applies insofar as the proposal does not fall within the exclusive competence of the Union.

The ESS provides an infrastructure for statistical information. The system is designed to meet the needs of multiple users, for the purpose of decision-making in democratic societies.

The proposal for this Regulation has been drafted with a view to protecting the core activities of ESS partners while improving efficiency. and ensuring that unnecessary changes and duplication of work are avoided as far as possible.

The collection of statistics covered by the proposal currently takes place according to different rules at EU level. The proposal intends to streamline and modernise the collection of statistics under one framework. It is only possible to provide EU-wide, comparable statistics for policy purposes by acting at EU level.

One of the main criteria that the statistical data must meet is to be coherent and comparable. The Member States cannot achieve the necessary coherence and comparability without a clear European framework, i.e. Union legislation laying down the common statistical concepts, reporting formats and quality requirements.

The objective of the proposed action, namely streamlining European social statistics collected from samples, cannot be achieved satisfactorily by the Member States acting separately. Action can be taken more effectively at EU level, on the basis of a Union legal act ensuring the coherence and comparability of statistical information at EU level in the statistical domains covered by the proposed act. The data collection itself, meanwhile, can be carried out by the Member States.

The Union may therefore adopt measures in this area in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity as set out in Article 5 of the Treaty.

•Proportionality

The proposal complies with the proportionality principle, in view of the following:

It will ensure the quality and comparability of European social statistics collected from samples by applying the same principles across Member States. Similarly, it will ensure that European social statistics collected from samples remain relevant and are adapted to respond to users' needs. The Regulation will make the production of statistics more cost-effective while respecting the specificities of Member States’ systems.

Current EU legislation on statistics relating to persons and households has been constantly reviewed over recent years. It has become clear that a Regulation establishing a common framework for the process of collecting, processing and disseminating statistical data in these specific social domains could make this process more efficient (lower cost to benefit) and effective.

The Regulation is expected to reduce the financial and administrative burden placed on respondents, national, regional and local authorities, businesses and the general public. It will achieve this in particular by: standardising concepts and methods, removing duplications, reducing the frequency of data transmission in some areas, and making greater use of a combination of sources in addition to surveys.

In accordance with the principle of proportionality, the proposed Regulation confines itself to the minimum required to achieve its objective and does not go beyond what is necessary for that purpose.

•Choice of the instrument

Proposed instrument: a Regulation.

Given the objectives and content of the proposal, a Regulation is the most appropriate instrument.

The selection of the appropriate instrument depends on the aim to be achieved by the legislation. Given the need for comparable statistical information at European level, the trend in European statistics has been to use regulations rather than directives as the basic acts. A Regulation is preferable because it lays down the same law throughout the Union. It ensures the comparability of data within the EU, and thus allows high quality European statistics to be produced. It is directly applicable, which means that it does not need to be transposed into national law.

3.RESULTS OF EX POST EVALUATIONS, STAKEHOLDER CONSULTATIONS AND IMPACT ASSESSMENTS

•Ex post evaluations/fitness checks of existing legislation

As this initiative was launched prior to the adoption of the new Better Regulation guidelines (COM (2015)215), no full evaluation of the current system for the production of European social statistics collected from samples has been carried out. Based on Commission standards, Eurostat’s system for evaluating existing legislation, including the evaluation of the European Statistical Programme 12 was followed, and formed a central part of the whole process. In addition user surveys are conducted every year in order to obtain better knowledge about users, their needs and their satisfaction with the services provided by Eurostat. Evaluation results are used by Eurostat to improve the process of producing statistical information and its statistical output. They feed into various strategic plans, such as the work programme and the management plan.

•Stakeholder consultations

Data producers: this category comprises the authorities responsible for the collection and compilation of social statistics. It mainly includes the national statistical institutes (NSIs), at national level, and Eurostat, at EU level. In this context, the data producers are also the main representative of the primary data providers, i.e. households.

Data providers: this category includes both respondents and national institutions that are the holders of administrative data files, such as the government social security and tax departments. The NSIs are also considered, in the broader sense, as a proxy for the primary data providers (i.e. households) given the difficulty of conducting interviews with individual households for the purposes of this consultation.

Data users: within this group, a distinction can be made between institutional users (the Commission itself, national government departments, other international organisations and professional staff working at other EU institutions) and other external users, such as the general public, the media and academics.

Special mention should be made of one particular body that has been consulted as a data user: the European Statistical Advisory Committee (ESAC), established in 2008 by Decision No 234/2008/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council 13 . It has 24 members representing users, respondents and other stakeholders for whom European statistics are of relevance (including the scientific community, social partners and civil society), together with institutional users (e.g. the Council and the European Parliament). Under Article 8 of Regulation (EC) No 223/2009, the ESAC can be consulted during the process of preparing possible new legislation.

The consultation was carried out over the period from July to December 2015. The results are set out in three specific reports 14 .

The problems, as perceived by the consulted stakeholders, can be summarised as follows:

(1)Data users are concerned about the risk of European official statistics not meeting their needs, i.e. not being relevant. Their worries stem from a number of issues relating to the quality of the data, such as the lack of coverage of emerging social issues, constrained timeliness and the limited comparability and coherence between statistical datasets.

(2)Data producers (NSIs) are concerned about the high production costs and the pressure being put on them by the short deadlines set for providing the statistical information needed in the context of emerging social crises. The response burden is also an issue (as too large a burden risks causing response rates to fall, and thus data quality to deteriorate). The NSIs would like to have more support for their modernisation processes (e.g. innovation in technology, methodologies, the use of new data sources and management), the aim of which is to reduce production costs.

The solutions described by the stakeholders can be grouped into three main areas of action:

making official European social statistics better able to be adapted to emerging information needs (i.e. improving their relevance);

increasing the coherence and comparability of European social statistics, in order to ensure higher quality;

using innovative approaches to reduce production costs and lessen the response burden.

•Collection and use of expertise

(1)The stakeholders' consultation described above included the views of data users and data providers.

(2)The opinion of the ESAC was also sought, as an external source of expertise. The ESAC expressed its support for the proposal for a framework regulation for European statistics on persons and households. It considers a framework regulation as essential for supporting the Commission’s current, more extensive, agenda on social policy, and improving the integration and consistency of social data from across Europe 15 .

•Impact assessment

(1)the fragmentation of European social statistics collected from samples across different domains; and

(2)the inflexibility of the methods used for collecting data on persons and households.

•Regulatory fitness and simplification

The same technical specifications for data sets. The specifications will include: the number and description of variables; the statistical classifications; the characteristics of the statistical populations, the observation units and the respondents; the reference periods and dates; and the requirements relating to geographical coverage, sample features, technical aspects of the field work, editing and imputation, weighting, estimation and variance estimation.

The same standards for transmitting exchanging and sharing information between Eurostat and the Member States. The standards will cover concepts, processes and products, including data and metadata.

•Fundamental rights

4.BUDGETARY IMPLICATIONS

5.OTHER ELEMENTS

•Implementation plans and monitoring, evaluation and reporting arrangements

The current European Statistical programme provides for mid-term and final evaluations of the programme to be carried out systematically. Social statistics are an integral part of these reporting mechanisms. 17

The Eurostat management plan provides for action to be taken in response to key performance indicators that apply to various areas including social statistics. 18

User satisfaction surveys are carried out on a regular basis. 19

Each statistical domain is also monitored by means of quality reports, which are produced by Member States on a regular basis and analysed by Eurostat as part of the statistical quality assurance framework. These reports cover the quality of statistical outputs in terms of their relevance, accuracy and reliability, timeliness and punctuality, accessibility and clarity, coherence and comparability, as is set out in Regulation (EC) No 223/2009.

The cost of producing the statistics will also be monitored as part of the routine data collection. The following aspects will, in particular, be monitored in detail (at both individual and variable level): developments in the use of administrative data, the mode of data collection (e.g. web interview, face to face interview), the size of the sample, the length of questionnaires, the duration of interviews, and the frequency of data collection. This will allow the progress made in the use of specific techniques and the effect of these changes on the respondent burden to be measured. Furthermore, the variation in the cost of collecting social data at aggregated EU level will be used as an overall indicator for monitoring the implementation of the proposed legislation. This indicator will distinguish between the cost to NSIs of the design, collection and transmission of the data respectively. These figures are not directly comparable across Member States, due to obvious differences in their size, the approach they take to statistics and other developments. Over time, however, these indicators will be able to be used to track the development of the costs of producing European social statistics collected from samples, at EU level and for each individual Member State. These costs may be expressed in terms of the staff involved (e.g. the full-time equivalent number of interviewers working) or financial resources (e.g. the budget allocation for a given data collection). As such, these indicators provide crucial information for monitoring the cost of producing social statistics collected from samples, which is one of the main issues addressed by the proposed new legislation. An improved and harmonised framework for reporting costs, covering the whole ESS and distinguishing between the different statistical production phases, will need to be developed.

•Detailed explanation of the specific provisions of the proposal

As set out in Article 1 ("Subject matter") the purpose of the Regulation is to establish a common framework for European statistics relating to persons and households, based on data at individual level collected from samples. Article 2 contains definitions of specific terms used in the Regulation.

The statistics covered by the Regulation are organised into the domains and topics listed in Article 3, and further detailed in Annex I of the proposed Regulation. It is proposed to empower the Commission to adopt delegated acts to amend the detailed topics listed in Annex I in order to adapt the data collected to future users’ needs. Furthermore, it is proposed to empower the Commission to adopt delegated acts establishing or adapting a multiannual rolling planning (Article 4) in order to meet specific users' requirements that result from technological, social and economic changes.

The Commission should also be empowered to adopt implementing measures on the technical specifications of the data sets (Article 6), the standards for transmission and exchange of information (Article 7), the characteristics of the sampling frames (Article 11) and the quality reporting (Article 12). The requirements relating to quality reporting are in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 223/2009, which provides a reference framework and requires Member States to comply with the statistical principles and quality criteria specified in that Regulation.

This proposal allows and promotes the use of new forms of data collection and of alternative data sources, including administrative data and estimates obtained from modelling and big data (Article 8). It also requires Member States to use high quality sampling frames (Article 11).

The proposal covers a number of other important aspects of the modernisation of European social statistics collected from samples:

–It introduces representative feasibility and pilot studies, in order to improve the quality of the statistics and support the development and implementation of new methods (Article 13).

–It includes provisions for financial support to be offered to Member States under certain conditions (Article 14).

–It includes provisions for derogations to be granted that would i) allow Member States more time to adapt to the new requirements, where needed and ii) allow some variation in how the common methods are applied, while still ensuring the quality and comparability of the statistics produced (Article 17).

In addition, the Regulation contains the required provisions on the exercise of the delegation of power (Article 15), specifying that it is in accordance with the Interinstitutional Agreement on Better Law-Making of 13 April 2016 20 .

The final Articles refer to the Committee procedure (Article 16) and to the repeal of two existing Regulations that will be replaced in full by the new Regulation (Article 18).

The five Annexes set out the detailed information on the topics to be covered, the precision requirements, the sample characteristics, the periodicity and the deadlines for the transmission of data.

2016/0264 (COD)

Proposal for a

REGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL

establishing a common framework for European statistics relating to persons and households, based on data at individual level collected from samples

(Text with EEA relevance)

THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, and in particular Article 338(1) thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the European Commission,

After transmission of the draft legislative act to the national parliaments,

Acting in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure,

Whereas:

(1)In the context of the Europe 2020 Strategy 21 and the strengthening of economic governance, social indicators play an essential role in informing and supporting the Union's key priorities for growth and job creation, the reduction of poverty and social exclusion, skills, mobility and the digital economy. In particular, social indicators must provide a sound statistical basis for developing and monitoring the policies introduced by the Union to address those priorities.

(2)In view of this, social indicators should be of the necessary high quality, in particular in terms of their robustness, their timeliness, their relevance, their adaptability to new users' requests, as well as their comparability and efficiency.

(3)European statistics relating to persons and households are currently collected on the basis of a number of legislative acts covering surveys on persons and households, demographic statistics, population and housing censuses and statistics mainly collected from administrative sources. Some data are also gathered from business surveys. Despite significant improvements in recent years there is a need to further integrate the collection of statistics based on surveys conducted on persons and households.

(4)The possibility to use administrative sources for statistical purposes has widened significantly, thanks to technological advances. The use of administrative sources should be actively promoted in the area of social statistics, while always ensuring the quality, accuracy, timeliness and comparability of those statistics.

(5)The Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council on the Production Method of EU Statistics: a Vision for the Next Decade 22 emphasised the increasing use of multiple data sources and innovative data collection methods as well as the growing importance of harmonising statistical concepts and methods across domains. It called for a new generation of statistical legislation that would address broader areas.

(6)In 2011, the European Statistical System (ESS) endorsed in Wiesbaden its Memorandum on a New Conceptual Design for Household and Social Statistics. In its view, the European surveys that provide data relating to persons and households should be streamlined, and additional, less frequent microdata collections should be used to complement those core social surveys. Furthermore, there should be better access to administrative data, and the re-use of existing data sources and access to new data sources should be developed at national and EU level.

(7)The developments described above need to be gradually streamlined, and statistical legislation in the area of social statistics needs to be modernised, in order to ensure that the high quality social indicators are produced in a more integrated, flexible and efficient manner. At the same time, due consideration must be given to the needs of users, to the burden placed on respondents, to Member States resources, the reliability and accuracy of the methods used, technical feasibility of producing the statistics, the time within which they can be available and the reliability of the results.

(8)This Regulation sets up a framework for European statistics relating to persons and households based on data at individual level collected from samples. It specifies the data and information to be collected and submitted by Member States, and includes the fundamental quality requirements to be met by the data. It provides for more detailed technical specifications to be given in delegated acts and implementing measures. It allows the various data collections to be integrated with one another and with the use of administrative data, while consolidating and simplifying existing legislation.

(9)In order to better streamline and rationalise the reference framework for European social statistics collected from samples, existing European statistics on persons and households based on data at individual level should be brought together under one framework. This would guarantee that European social statistics collected from samples including the domains of labour market, income and living conditions, health, education and training and use of information and communication technologies would be undertaken in a consistent, coherent and coordinated way.

(10)Data collections in the domains of time use and consumption are currently carried out voluntarily by many Member States, on the basis of agreed general guidelines. These two domains should be modernised, so as to take full advantage of new technological advances. Data collections in these two domains should be organized in accordance with this Regulation so as to open possibilities and create opportunities for further developments in the future, ensuring data that are more timely and relevant, and produced more efficiently. In the meantime, the Member States’ current approaches should not be changed.

(11)Due to their specificities, demographic statistics 23 , population and housing censuses 24 , business surveys and statistics based on mainly administrative sources are not covered by this Regulation and should be governed separately by specific frameworks adapted to their characteristics.

(12)Statistics are no longer considered as just one of many sources of information for policy-making purposes, but instead play a central role in the decision-making process. Evidence-based decision-making requires statistics that meet high-quality criteria, as set out in Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council 25 , in accordance with the purposes they are serving.

(13)High quality social data are not only necessary for policy purposes but also for research and as a component of sound information infrastructure. Researchers acquiring access to microdata for scientific purposes, granted on the basis of Commission Regulation (EU) No 557/2013 26 on European Statistics as regards access to confidential data for scientific purposes, would benefit greatly from having better linked statistical datasets, which would in turn enhance policy impact assessment studies.

(14)Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 provides a reference framework for European statistics and requires Member States to comply with the statistical principles and quality criteria specified in the Regulation. Quality reports are essential for assessing, improving and communicating on the quality of European statistics. The European Statistical System Committee (ESSC) has endorsed an ESS Standard for Quality Reports Structure, in accordance with Article 12 of Regulation (EC) No 223/2009. This should contribute to the harmonisation of quality reporting under this Regulation.

(15)Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 includes rules on the transmission of data from the Member States, including the transmission of confidential data. Measures taken in accordance with this Regulation should ensure that confidential data is protected and that no unlawful disclosure or non-statistical use of data occurs during the production and dissemination of European statistics.

(16)Statistics are needed at national and at regional level as well. In accordance with Regulation (EC) No 1059/2003 27 , all Member States’ statistics that are transmitted to the Commission and that are to be broken down by territorial units should use the NUTS classification. Consequently, in order to establish comparable regional statistics, data on the territorial units should be provided in accordance with the NUTS classification.

(17)In order to take account of economic, social and technical developments, the power to adopt acts in accordance with Article 290 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union should be delegated to the Commission in respect of the detailed topics set out in Annex I. The Commission should also have the power to put in place or adapt the eight-year multiannual rolling planning for the collection of data covered by this Regulation in accordance with the periodicity specified in Annex IV. It is of particular importance that the Commission carry out appropriate consultations during its preparatory work, including at expert level, and that those consultations are conducted in accordance with the principles laid down in the Interinstitutional Agreement on Better Law-Making of 13 April 2016. In particular, to ensure equal participation in the preparation of delegated acts, the European Parliament and the Council receive all documents at the same time as Member States' experts, and their experts systematically have access to meetings of Commission expert groups dealing with the preparation of delegated acts.

(18)In order to ensure uniform conditions for the implementation of this Regulation, implementing powers should be conferred on the Commission in respect of the technical specifications of the particular data sets, the technical items when they are common to several data sets, the technical standards needed to facilitate the exchange and sharing of information between the Commission (Eurostat) and the Member States, the sampling frames, notably setting out their minimum requirements, the modalities and content of the quality reports, and in respect of any derogations. Those powers should be exercised in accordance with Regulation (EU) No 182/2011 28 .

(19)Implementation of this Regulation could require major adaptations to the national statistical systems, and the Commission may therefore grant derogations to Member States.

(20)Directive 95/46/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council 29 and Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council 30 should apply to the statistical data covered by this Regulation. In particular, statistical data that are required for the purpose of developing and monitoring Union and national actions and strategies in the areas of public health and health and safety at work should be regarded as data processed for reasons of substantial public interest.

(21)The objective of this Regulation, namely the establishment of a common framework for European statistics relating to persons and households, based on data at individual level collected from samples, cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States but can instead, for reasons of harmonisation and comparability, be better achieved at EU level. The EU may therefore adopt measures, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity set out in Article 5 of the Treaty on European Union. In accordance with the principle of proportionality, as set out in that Article, this Regulation does not go beyond what is necessary in order to achieve that objective.

(22)The European social statistics collected from samples and the data collection process should become more efficient and relevant. The comparability and coherence of the data in the long run should be ensured. European statistics on persons and households based on data at individual level collected from samples are currently regulated in a number of separate legislative acts which should be replaced by this Regulation. It is therefore necessary to repeal Council Regulation (EC) No 577/98 31 and Regulation (EC) No 1177/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council 32 .

(23)The European Data Protection Supervisor has been consulted.

(24)The European Statistical System Committee has been consulted,

HAVE ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

Subject matter

1.This Regulation establishes a common framework for European statistics relating to persons and households, based on data at individual level collected from samples of those persons and households.

2.This Regulation does not apply to population and housing censuses referred to in Regulation (EC) No 763/2008 33 .

Article 2

Definitions

For the purposes of this Regulation, the following definitions shall apply:

(a)‘pre-checked data or microdata’ means data or microdata verified by the Member States, on the basis of agreed common validation rules;

(b)‘domain’ means one or several data sets organised in order to cover particular topics;

(c)'observation unit' means an identifiable entity about which data can be obtained;

(d)‘topic’ means the content of the information to be collected about the observation units, each topic covering a number of detailed topics;

(e)‘administrative records’ mean data generated by a non-statistical source, usually a public body, the aim of which is not to provide statistics, for its own purposes;

(f)‘ad hoc subject’ means themes that are of a particular interest for users at a specific point in time but that are not included in the regular data sets. ;

(g)‘headline indicator’ means widely used information that serves to monitor a central objective of EU policy.

Article 3

Data sets

1.The data collection referred to in Article 1 shall be organised into the following domains:

(a)labour market,

(b)income and living conditions,

(c)health,

(d)education and training,

(e)use of information and communication technologies,

(f)time use,

(g)consumption.

2.The data sets shall cover topics common to all domains in addition to the following specific topics, as further detailed in Annex I:

(a)person and household characteristics,

(b)labour market participation,

(c)job tenure and previous work experience,

(d)working conditions including working hours and working time arrangements,

(e)educational attainment and background,

(f)participation in education and training,

(g)health: status and disability, care and determinants,

(h)income, consumption and wealth, including debts,

(i)living conditions, including material deprivation, housing, living environment and access to services,

(j)quality of life, including social and cultural participation and wellbeing,

(k)allocation of time, and

(l)participation in the information society.

3.The precision requirements and the characteristics of the samples used for the different domains shall be as specified in Annexes II and III, respectively.

4.The Commission is empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 15 to amend the detailed topics listed in Annex I so as to reflect relevant technical, social and economic developments and respond to the new needs of users. In exercising this power, the Commission shall ensure that:

(a)such delegated acts do not impose a significant additional burden or cost on the Member States or on respondents;

(b)no more than 20 per cent of the detailed topics listed in Annex I are changed for each domain by delegated acts. For the domains for which data are collected with an infra-annual or annual periodicity, these changes shall represent a maximum of 10 per cent of the list of detailed topics. Those maximum percentages shall apply to four consecutive years. The number of detailed topics that may be changed shall be rounded up to the nearest integer.

Article 4

Multiannual rolling planning

1.The Commission is empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 15 to establish or adapt a multiannual rolling planning for eight years for the collection of data covered by this Regulation, in accordance with the periodicity specified in Annex IV. The Commission shall ensure that such delegated acts do not impose a significant additional burden or cost on the Member States or on the respondents.

2.This multiannual rolling planning shall specify the period during which data are collected for:

(a)the detailed topics attached to the domains,

(b)ad hoc subjects requested by the users, for the labour market and income and living conditions domains, as provided for in Annex IV. In exceptional and justified cases, these data may cover detailed topics other than those listed in Annex I.

3.The adaptations of the planning referred to in paragraph 1 shall be made no later than 24 months before the beginning of the each data collection period, as specified in the planning. These adaptations shall aim to ensure effectiveness and consistency of the planning with users’ needs.

Article 5

Statistical populations and observation units

1.The statistical population shall consist of all persons usually residing in private households in each Member State.

2.The data collection shall be carried out in each Member State for a sample of observation units constituted by private households or by persons belonging to private households who usually reside in that Member State.

Article 6

Technical specifications of data sets

1.The Commission shall be empowered to adopt implementing acts for the purpose of specifying the following technical items of the individual data sets:

(a)the number and description of variables;

(b)the statistical classifications;

(c)the precise characteristics of the statistical populations, the observation units and the respondents;

(d)the reference periods and dates;

(e)the requirements relating to geographical coverage, sample features including subsampling, technical aspects of the fieldwork, editing and imputation, weighting, estimation and variance estimation;

(f)where necessary to achieve a high level of comparability for employment and unemployment data in the labour market domain, the methodology to be used to collect the data. This may include, where necessary, the order and placing of the questions in the questionnaire. This necessity shall be duly justified.

2.When items are common to several data sets, the Commission shall be empowered to adopt implementing acts for the purpose of specifying the following technical characteristics of the data sets:

(a)the list and description of variables;

(b)the statistical classifications;

(c)the precise characteristics of the statistical populations and of the observation units.

3.For the data sets on monthly unemployment relating to the labour market domain, the Commission shall be empowered to adopt implementing acts for the purpose of describing the variables and the length, quality requirements and level of detail of the time series to be transmitted.

4.These implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 16(2).

Article 7

Standards for transmission and exchange of information

1.Technical standards shall be put in place to facilitate the exchange and sharing of information between the Commission (Eurostat) and the Member States, in particular for the purpose of supporting quality management and process documentation related to the statistics covered by this Regulation.

2.The technical standards shall cover statistical concepts, processes and products, including data and metadata.

3.The Commission shall be empowered to adopt implementing acts to establish the technical standards referred to in paragraph 1. These implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 16(2).

Article 8

Data sources and methods

1.Member States shall provide the data referred to in Article 1 by using one or a combination of the following sources, provided that they meet the quality requirements given in Article 12:

(a)information directly provided by the respondents;

(b)administrative records and any other sources, methods or innovative approaches in so far as they allow for the production of data that are comparable and compliant with the applicable specific requirements laid down by this Regulation.

2.Member States shall provide the Commission (Eurostat) with detailed information on the sources and methods used.

Article 9

Periodicity of the data sets

The periodicity of the data sets shall be as specified in Annex IV.

Article 10

Data transmission and deadlines

1.The transmission deadlines shall be as specified in Annex V.

2.For every data set, Member States shall transmit to the Commission (Eurostat) pre-checked microdata without direct identification.

3.By way of exception to paragraph 2, pre-checked aggregated data shall be transmitted for the compilation of monthly unemployment statistics.

4.Member States shall collect and transmit data according to this Regulation starting in 2019.

Article 11

Sampling frames

1.Data shall be based on representative samples drawn from sampling frames set up at national level that allow persons or households to be selected at random, with a known probability of selection. The sampling frames shall aim to cover exhaustively and exclusively the population of interest and shall be regularly updated. They shall contain all the information necessary for the sample design, such as information needed for stratification purposes and for contacting the persons or households. The sampling frame shall also include the information needed to link persons to other administrative records, in so far as is allowed under data protection rules.

2.When no such sampling frame is available in the Member State, other sampling frames that meet the following criteria shall be used. Such sampling frames shall:

(a)identify the sample units, which can be persons, households, dwellings or addresses;

(b)be able to provide the probability of selection;

(c)be regularly updated.

3.The Commission shall be empowered to adopt implementing acts laying down uniform conditions for the sampling frames, notably setting out minimum requirements. These implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 16(2).

Article 12

Quality

1.Member States shall take the measures necessary to ensure the quality of the data and metadata transmitted.

2.For the purpose of this Regulation, the quality criteria defined in Article 12(1) of Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 shall apply.

3.The Commission (Eurostat) shall assess the quality of the metadata on the specifications, of the data transmitted and of the sampling frames.

4.For this purpose, Member States shall transmit, in respect of the data and microdata referred to in Article 10:

(a)metadata describing the methodology used and how technical specifications were achieved by reference to those laid down by this Regulation;

(b)information on compliance with the minimum requirements for the sampling frames used, including in developing and updating them, as laid down by this Regulation.

5.Member States shall transmit the metadata and information referred to in paragraph 4 by, at the latest, three months after the deadline for transmitting the data and microdata. This additional information shall be provided in the form of quality reports that demonstrate, in particular, how the data and microdata transmitted, and the metadata and information, meet the quality requirements.

6.The Commission shall be empowered to adopt implementing acts specifying the modalities and content of the quality reports. Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 16(2).

7.Member States shall inform the Commission (Eurostat) as soon as possible of any relevant information or change with regard to the implementation of this Regulation that would influence the quality of the data transmitted.

8.At the request of the Commission (Eurostat), Member States shall provide the additional information necessary to evaluate the quality of the statistical information.

Article 13

Feasibility and pilot studies

In order to improve the data sets, the Commission (Eurostat) shall, where necessary, institute and Member States shall cooperate in several feasibility and pilot studies, in particular, to improve quality including comparability, to contribute to modernising the consumption and time use domains, to explore and implement new ways of improving responsiveness to users' needs, to better integrate the collection of data and the use of other data sources, and to make data collection in Member States more efficient, taking into account technological developments.

Article 14

Financing

1.    For the implementation of this Regulation, the Union may provide grants to the national statistical institutes and other national authorities referred to in Article 5(2) of Regulation (EC) No 223/2009, for:

(a)    the development and/or implementation of data collections or data collection methods for social statistics, including sampling frames, during the first four years of the collection of the data sets ;    

(b)    developing methodologies, including the feasibility and pilot studies referred to in Article 13;

(c)    collecting statistics on an ad-hoc subject required by the users as provided for in the Annex IV, new or revised sets of variables and characteristics implemented for the first time;

2. The Union financial contribution shall be provided in accordance with Article 7 of Regulation (EU) No 99/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council 34 , Article 16(1) (a) of Regulation (EU) No 1296/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council 35 , Article 6 of Regulation (EU) No 1291/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council 36 , Article 58 of Regulation 1303/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council 37 , or Article 5 of Regulation (EU) No 282/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council 38 .

3.    This Union financial contribution shall not exceed 90% of the eligible costs.

Article 15

Exercise of the delegation

1.The power to adopt delegated acts is conferred on the Commission subject to the conditions laid down in this Article.

2.The power to adopt delegated acts referred to in Articles 3(4) and 4(1) shall be conferred on the Commission for an indeterminate period of time from [Publications Office: please insert exact date of entry into force of the Regulation].

3.The delegation of power referred to in Articles 3(4) and 4(1) may be revoked at any time by the European Parliament or by the Council. A decision to revoke shall put an end to the delegation of the power specified in that decision. It shall take effect on the day following the publication of the decision in the Official Journal of the European Union or at a later date specified therein. It shall not affect the validity of any delegated acts already in force.

4.Before adopting a delegated act, the Commission shall consult experts designated by each Member State in accordance with the principles laid down in the Interinstitutional Agreement on Better Law-Making of 13 April 2016 39 .

5.As soon as it adopts a delegated act, the Commission shall notify it simultaneously to the European Parliament and to the Council.

6.A delegated act adopted pursuant to Articles 3(4) and 4(1) shall enter into force only if no objection has been expressed either by the European Parliament or by the Council within a period of two months of notification of that act to the European Parliament and the Council or if, before the expiry of that period, the European Parliament and the Council have both informed the Commission that they will not object. That period shall be extended by two months at the initiative of the European Parliament or the Council.

Article 16

Committee procedure

1.The Commission shall be assisted by the European Statistical System Committee established by Regulation (EC) No 223/2009. That committee shall be a committee within the meaning of Regulation (EU) No 182/2011.

2.Where reference is made to this paragraph, Article 5 of Regulation (EU) No 182/2011 shall apply.

Article 17

Derogations

1.If applying this Regulation, or the implementing measures and delegated acts adopted under it, in a Member State’s national statistical system would necessitate major adaptations, the Commission may grant, by means of implementing acts, a derogation for up to three years. A derogation may only be granted if it will not compromise the comparability of Member States’ data relating to headline indicators, or hamper the calculation of the required timely and representative European aggregates.

2.Where a derogation is still justified at the end of the period for which it was granted, the Commission may grant a subsequent derogation for a maximum period of three years, by means of implementing acts.

3.When the only means by which a Member State can provide the required data sets is by using methods other than those laid down in this Regulation, or in the implementing measures and delegated acts adopted under it, the Commission may exceptionally authorise the use of such methods for a maximum duration of five years, by means of implementing acts.

4.Where the authorisation is still justified at the end of the period for which it was granted, the Commission may grant a subsequent authorisation for a maximum period of five years, by means of implementing acts.

5.For the purposes of paragraphs 1 to 4, the Member State shall submit a duly justified request to the Commission within three months of the date of the entry into force of the act concerned, or six months before the end of the period for which the current derogation or authorisation has been granted. When requesting the authorisation referred to in paragraphs 3 and 4, the Member State concerned shall describe in detail the methods used and demonstrate that they lead to comparable results.

6.The Commission shall adopt those implementing acts in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 16(2).

Article 18

Repeal

1.Regulations (EC) No 577/98 and (EC) No 1177/2003 shall be repealed with effect from 31 December 2018. The requirements set out in these Regulations concerning the transmission of data and metadata, including quality reports, shall continue to apply for the reference periods prior to their repeal.

2.References to the repealed Regulations shall be construed as references to this Regulation.

Article 19

Entry into force

1.This Regulation shall enter into force on the twentieth day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

2.It shall apply from 1 January 2025 in respect of the domains set out under Article 3(1)(f) and (g).

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.

Done at Brussels,

LEGISLATIVE FINANCIAL STATEMENT

1.FRAMEWORK OF THE PROPOSAL/INITIATIVE

1.1.Title of the proposal/initiative

1.2.Policy area(s) concerned in the ABM/ABB structure

1.3.Nature of the proposal/initiative

1.4.Objective(s)

1.5.Grounds for the proposal/initiative

1.6.Duration and financial impact

1.7.Management mode(s) planned

2.MANAGEMENT MEASURES

2.1.Monitoring and reporting rules

2.2.Management and control system

2.3.Measures to prevent fraud and irregularities

3.ESTIMATED FINANCIAL IMPACT OF THE PROPOSAL/INITIATIVE

3.1.Heading(s) of the multiannual financial framework and expenditure budget line(s) affected

3.2.Estimated impact on expenditure 

3.2.1.Summary of estimated impact on expenditure

3.2.2.Estimated impact on operational appropriations

3.2.3.Estimated impact on appropriations of an administrative nature

3.2.4.Compatibility with the current multiannual financial framework

3.2.5.Third-party contributions

3.3.Estimated impact on revenue

LEGISLATIVE FINANCIAL STATEMENT

1.FRAMEWORK OF THE PROPOSAL/INITIATIVE

1.1.Title of the proposal/initiative

1.2.Policy area(s) concerned in the ABM/ABB structure 40  

1.3.Nature of the proposal/initiative

◻ The proposal/initiative relates to a new action 

◻ The proposal/initiative relates to a new action following a pilot project/preparatory action 41  

◻ The proposal/initiative relates to the extension of an existing action 

☒ The proposal/initiative relates to an action redirected towards a new action 

1.4.Objective(s)

1.4.1.The Commission's multiannual strategic objective(s) targeted by the proposal/initiative

1.4.2.Specific objective(s) and ABM/ABB activity(ies) concerned

1.4.3.Expected result(s) and impact

Specify the effects which the proposal/initiative should have on the beneficiaries/groups targeted.

1.4.4.Indicators of results and impact

Specify the indicators for monitoring implementation of the proposal/initiative.

1.5.Grounds for the proposal/initiative

1.5.1.Requirement(s) to be met in the short or long term

1.5.2.Added value of EU involvement

1.5.3.Lessons learned from similar experiences in the past

1.5.4.Compatibility and possible synergy with other appropriate instruments

1.6.Duration and financial impact

◻ Proposal/initiative of limited duration

–◻    Proposal/initiative in effect from [DD/MM]YYYY to [DD/MM]YYYY

–◻    Financial impact from YYYY to YYYY

☒ Proposal/initiative of unlimited duration 42 :

–There is a phasing-in period for the implementation of the proposal lasting seven years, from 2019 to 2025.

–The programme should however continue afterwards.

–Only the years of the current Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) have been considered in the legislative financial statement (2019-2020).

The continuation of the funding will be conditional to the agreements reached for the next MFF and to the continuation of the specific programmes from which funding is foreseen.

1.7.Management mode(s) planned 43  

☒ Direct management by the Commission

–☒ by its departments, including by its staff in the Union delegations;

–◻    by the executive agencies

◻ Shared management with the Member States

◻ Indirect management by entrusting budget implementation tasks to:

–◻ third countries or the bodies they have designated;

–◻ international organisations and their agencies (to be specified);

–◻the EIB and the European Investment Fund;

–◻ bodies referred to in Articles 208 and 209 of the Financial Regulation;

–◻ public law bodies;

–◻ bodies governed by private law with a public service mission to the extent that they provide adequate financial guarantees;

–◻ bodies governed by the private law of a Member State that are entrusted with the implementation of a public-private partnership and that provide adequate financial guarantees;

–◻ persons entrusted with the implementation of specific actions in the CFSP pursuant to Title V of the TEU, and identified in the relevant basic act.

–If more than one management mode is indicated, please provide details in the ‘Comments’ section.

Comments

2.MANAGEMENT MEASURES

2.1.Monitoring and reporting rules

Specify frequency and conditions.

2.2.Management and control system

2.2.1.Risk(s) identified

2.2.2.Information concerning the internal control system set up

2.2.3.Estimate of the costs and benefits of the controls and assessment of the expected level of risk of error

2.3.Measures to prevent fraud and irregularities

Specify existing or envisaged prevention and protection measures.

3.ESTIMATED FINANCIAL IMPACT OF THE PROPOSAL/INITIATIVE

3.1.Heading(s) of the multiannual financial framework and expenditure budget line(s) affected

Existing budget lines

In order of multiannual financial framework headings and budget lines.

3.2.Estimated impact on expenditure

[This section should be filled in using the spreadsheet on budget data of an administrative nature (second document in annex to this financial statement) and uploaded to CISNET for interservice consultation purposes.]

3.2.1.Summary of estimated impact on expenditure

EUR million (to three decimal places)

EUR million (to three decimal places)

If more than one heading is affected by the proposal / initiative:

If more than one heading is affected by the proposal / initiative:

EUR million (to three decimal places)

EUR million (to three decimal places)

3.2.2.Estimated impact on operational appropriations

–◻    The proposal/initiative does not require the use of operational appropriations

–☒    The proposal/initiative requires the use of operational appropriations, as explained below:

Commitment appropriations in EUR million (to three decimal places)

3.2.3.Estimated impact on appropriations of an administrative nature

3.2.3.1.Summary

–◻    The proposal/initiative does not require the use of appropriations of an administrative nature

–☒    The proposal/initiative requires the use of appropriations of an administrative nature, as explained below:

EUR million (to three decimal places)

The appropriations required for human resources and other expenditure of an administrative nature will be met by appropriations from the DG that are already assigned to management of the action and/or have been redeployed within the DG, together if necessary with any additional allocation which may be granted to the managing DG under the annual allocation procedure and in the light of budgetary constraints.

3.2.3.2.Estimated requirements of human resources

–◻    The proposal/initiative does not require the use of human resources.

–☒    The proposal/initiative requires the use of human resources, as explained below:

Estimate to be expressed in full time equivalent units

XX is the policy area or budget title concerned.

The human resources required will be met by staff from the DG who are already assigned to management of the action and/or have been redeployed within the DG, together if necessary with any additional allocation which may be granted to the managing DG under the annual allocation procedure and in the light of budgetary constraints.

Description of tasks to be carried out:

3.2.4.Compatibility with the current multiannual financial framework

–☒    The proposal/initiative is compatible the current multiannual financial framework.

–◻    The proposal/initiative will entail reprogramming of the relevant heading in the multiannual financial framework.

–◻    The proposal/initiative requires application of the flexibility instrument or revision of the multiannual financial framework.

3.2.5.Third-party contributions

–The proposal/initiative does not provide for co-financing by third parties.

–The proposal/initiative provides for the co-financing estimated below:

Appropriations in EUR million (to three decimal places)

3.3.Estimated impact on revenue

–☒    The proposal/initiative has no financial impact on revenue.

–◻    The proposal/initiative has the following financial impact:

–◻    on own resources

–◻    on miscellaneous revenue

EUR million (to three decimal places)

For miscellaneous ‘assigned’ revenue, specify the budget expenditure line(s) affected.

Specify the method for calculating the impact on revenue.

(1) https://ec.europa.eu/priorities/sites/beta-political/files/5-presidents-report_en.pdf

(2) COM/2016/0127 of 8 March 2016

(3) The ESS is the partnership between the European statistical authority, which is the Commission (Eurostat), and the national statistical institutes (NSIs) and other national authorities (ONAs) responsible in each Member State for the development, production and dissemination of European statistics.

(4)

   Council Regulation (EC) No 577/98 of 9 March 1998 on the organisation of a labour force sample survey in the Community (OJ L 77, 14.3.1998, p. 3).

(5)

   Regulation (EC) No 1177/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 June 2003 concerning Community statistics on income and living conditions (EU-SILC) (OJ L 165, 3.7.2003, p. 1).

(6)

   Regulation (EC) No 452/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 April 2008 concerning the production and development of statistics on education and lifelong learning (OJ L 145, 4.6.2008, p. 227).

(7)

   Regulation (EC) No 1338/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 December 2008 on Community statistics on public health and health and safety at work (OJ L 354, 31.12.2008, p. 70).

(8) Regulation (EC) No 808/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 April 2004 concerning Community statistics on the information society (OJ L 143, 30.4.2004, p. 49).

(9) Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 March 2009 on European statistics and repealing Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1101/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the transmission of data subject to statistical confidentiality to the Statistical Office of the European Communities, Council Regulation (EC) No 322/97 on Community Statistics, and Council Decision 89/382/EEC, Euratom establishing a Committee on the Statistical Programmes of the European Communities (OJ L 87, 31.3.2009, p. 164)

(10) Regulation (EU) No 99/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 January 2013 on the European statistical programme 2013-17 (OJ L 39, 9.2.2013, p. 12).

(11) Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council on the Production Method of EU Statistics: a Vision for the Next Decade, COM(2009) 404 of 18.8.2009.

(12) See http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/quality/evaluation . 

(13) Decision No 234/2008/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 March 2008 establishing the European Statistical Advisory Committee and repealing Council Decision 91/116/EEC (OJ L 73, 15.3.2008, p. 13).

(14)

   Eurostat public consultation website: http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/about/opportunities/consultations/iess

Open public consultation report: http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/documents/10186/7237349/Open-public-consultation-report.pdf . 

Consultation of the data users: http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/documents/10186/7237349/Data-users-consultation-report.pdf .

Consultation of the data producers:  http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/documents/10186/7237349/Data-producers-consultation-report.pdf . 

(15) See: http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/documents/42577/4167614/ESAC+opinion+3+Dec+2015/421abf9c-4300-445f-a840-f13cadeee306 .

(16) Directive 95/46/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council and Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council.

(17) See http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/quality/general-evaluation-results .

(18) The five key performance indicators are the following: the number of data extractions made by external users from Eurostat reference databases (EuroBase and Comext) via the Eurostat website; the percentage of users that rate the overall quality of European statistics as ‘Very good’ or ‘Good’; the percentage of users that rate the timeliness of European statistics for their purposes as ‘Very good’ or ‘Good’; the percentage of users that rate the comparability of European statistics among regions and countries as ‘Very good’ or ‘Good’; and the residual error rate (RER).

(19) See http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/quality/general-evaluation-results .

(20)

   OJ L 123, 12.5.2016, p. 1.

(21) Communication from the Commission - EUROPE 2020 A strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth COM (2010) 2020 of 3 March 2010.

(22) COM (2009) 404 of 10.8.2009.

(23) Regulation (EU) No 1260/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 November 2013 on European demographic statistics (OJ L 330, 10.12.2013, p.39).

(24) Regulation (EC) No 763/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 9 July 2008 on population and housing censuses (OJ L 218, 13.8.2008, p. 14).

(25) Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 March 2009 on European statistics and repealing Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1101/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the transmission of data subject to statistical confidentiality to the Statistical Office of the European Communities, Council Regulation (EC) No 322/97 on Community Statistics, and Council Decision 89/382/EEC, Euratom establishing a Committee on the Statistical Programmes of the European Communities (OJ L 87, 31.3.2009, p. 164).

(26) Commission Regulation (EU) No 557/2013 of 17 June 2013 implementing Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council on European Statistics as regards access to confidential data for scientific purposes and repealing Commission Regulation (EC) No 831/2002

(27) Regulation (EC) No 1059/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 May 2003 on the establishment of a common classification of territorial units for statistics (NUTS) (OJ L 154, 21.6.2003, p. 1).

(28) Regulation (EU) No 182/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 February 2011 laying down the rules and general principles concerning mechanisms for control by Member States of the Commission’s exercise of implementing powers (OJ L 55, 28.2.2011, p. 13).

(29) Directive 95/46/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 October 1995 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data (OJ L 281, 23.11.1995, p. 31).

(30) Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 December 2000 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data by the Community institutions and bodies and on the free movement of such data (OJ L 8, 12.1.2001, p. 1).

(31) Council Regulation (EC) No 577/98 of 9 March 1998 on the organisation of a labour force sample survey in the Community (OJ L 77, 14.3.1998, p. 3).

(32) Regulation (EC) No 1177/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 June 2003 concerning Community statistics on income and living conditions (EU-SILC) (OJ L 165, 3.7.2003, p. 1).

(33) Regulation (EC) No 763/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 9 July 2008 on population and housing censuses (OJ L 218, 13.8.2008, p. 14).

(34) Regulation (EU) No 99/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 January 2013 on the European statistical programme 2013-17 (OJ L 39, 9.2.2013, p. 12).

(35)

   Regulation (EU) No 1296/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 December 2013 on a European Union Programme for Employment and Social Innovation ("EaSI") and amending Decision No 283/2010/EU establishing a European Progress Microfinance Facility for employment and social inclusion (OJ L 347, 20.12.2013, p. 238)

(36)

   Regulation (EU) No 1291/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 December 2013 establishing Horizon 2020 - the Framework Programme for Research and Innovation (2014-2020) and repealing Decision No 1982/2006/EC (OJ L 347, 20.12.2013, p. 104).

(37)

   Regulation (EU) No 1303/2013 of the European Parliament and the Council of 17 December 2013 laying down common provisions on the European Regional Development Fund, the European Social Fund, the Cohesion Fund, the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development and the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund and laying down general provisions on the European Regional Development Fund, the European Social Fund, the Cohesion Fund and the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund and repealing Council Regulation (EC) No 1083/2006(OJ L 347, 20.12.2013, p. 320).

(38)

(39) OJ L 123, 12.5.2016, p. 1.

(40) ABM: activity-based management; ABB: activity-based budgeting.

(41) As referred to in Article 54(2)(a) or (b) of the Financial Regulation.

(42) An agreement has been reached between DG ESTAT and the other DGs concerned on the financing of the activities covered by this proposal in the form of cross sub-delegation to be given to DG ESTAT.

(43) Details of management modes and references to the Financial Regulation may be found on the BudgWeb site: http://www.cc.cec/budg/man/budgmanag/budgmanag_en.html .

(44) Diff. = Differentiated appropriations / Non-diff. = Non-differentiated appropriations.

(45) EFTA: European Free Trade Association.

(46) Candidate countries and, where applicable, potential candidate countries from the Western Balkans.

(47) Technical and/or administrative assistance and expenditure in support of the implementation of EU programmes and/or actions (former ‘BA’ lines), indirect research, direct research.

(48) Technical and/or administrative assistance and expenditure in support of the implementation of EU programmes and/or actions (former ‘BA’ lines), indirect research, direct research.

(49) Technical and/or administrative assistance and expenditure in support of the implementation of EU programmes and/or actions (former ‘BA’ lines), indirect research, direct research.

(50) Technical and/or administrative assistance and expenditure in support of the implementation of EU programmes and/or actions (former ‘BA’ lines), indirect research, direct research.

(51) Technical and/or administrative assistance and expenditure in support of the implementation of EU programmes and/or actions (former ‘BA’ lines), indirect research, direct research.

(52) Outputs are products and services to be supplied (e.g.: number of student exchanges financed, number of km of roads built, etc.).

(53) As described in point 1.4.2. ‘Specific objective(s)…’

(54) Technical and/or administrative assistance and expenditure in support of the implementation of EU programmes and/or actions (former ‘BA’ lines), indirect research, direct research.

(55) Sub-ceiling for external staff covered by operational appropriations (former ‘BA’ lines).

(56) As regards traditional own resources (customs duties, sugar levies), the amounts indicated must be net amounts, i.e. gross amounts after deduction of 25 % for collection costs.

EUROPEAN COMMISSION

Brussels, 24.8.2016

COM(2016) 551 final

ANNEXES

to the

Proposal for a

REGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL

establishing a common framework for European statistics relating to persons and households, based on data at individual level collected by samples

{SWD(2016) 282 final}
{SWD(2016) 283 final}

Annex I

Topics to be covered

Annex II

Precision requirements

1.Precision requirements for all data sets are expressed in standard errors and are defined as continuous functions of the actual estimates and of the size of the statistical population in a country or in a NUTS 2 region.

2.The estimated standard error of a particular estimate shall not be bigger than the following amount:

3.The function f(N) shall have the form of f(N)=a√N+b

4.The following values for parameters N, a and b shall be used.

5.Should countries obtain negative f(N) values with the parameters expressed above, they will be exempted from the corresponding requirement.

6.For the estimated unemployment-to-population 15-74 ratio in each NUTS 2 region, the function f(N) is defined as follows:

7.For the estimated ratio at-risk-of-poverty or social exclusion to population in each NUTS 2 region, these requirements are not compulsory for NUTS 2 regions with less than 0.500 million inhabitants, provided that the corresponding NUTS 1 region complies with this requirement.

8.For the consumption domain, the precision requirements may be reached by combining microdata concerning a maximum of three successive years of observations.

Annex III

Sample characteristics

1.Sample characteristics of the Labour Market domain shall include:

(a)The national sample for the reference quarter (aggregation of consecutive reference weeks) shall be distributed uniformly in all the weeks of the quarter. The sample for the reference quarter (in each NUTS 2 region) shall be distributed in the 3 months proportionally to the number of weeks in each month

(b)The sample shall have an infra-annual rotation pattern. There must be a minimum sample overlap of 20% between the same quarters in consecutive years and of 50% between consecutive quarters without taking into account attrition.

Without prejudice to Article 5(1), data shall be provided for the full sample.

2.Sample characteristics of the Income and Living Conditions domain shall include:

(a)The sample shall have a minimum six-year rotation scheme.

(b)Without taking into account attrition, the sample shall be equally distributed over the years of the rotation scheme, except during the period of changes of the sample size.

3.Sample characteristics of the time use domain shall include: the reporting periods allocated to the sample units shall

(a)be distributed over a consecutive twelve-month period,

(b)include non-working days,

(c)be based on a random sample.

4.Sample characteristics of consumption domain shall include: the reporting periods allocated to the sampled units shall be distributed over a consecutive twelve-month period.

Annex IV

Periodicity

1.For the Labour Market domain, the data sets shall consist of information collected quarterly, annually, biennially and every 8 years. Data on variables relating to ad-hoc subjects shall be collected every four years.

2.For the Income and Living Conditions domain, the data sets shall consist of annual, triennial and sexennial information. Data on variables collected relating to ad-hoc subjects shall be collected every two years.

3.For the Health domain, the data shall be collected every 6 years.

4.For the Education and Training domain, the data shall be collected every 6 years

5.For the Use of Information and Communication Technologies domain, the data shall be collected annually.

6.For the Time Use domain, the data shall be collected every 10 years.

7.For the Consumption domain, the data shall be collected every 5 years.

Annex V

Data transmission deadlines

Member States shall transmit the required data to the Commission (Eurostat) according to the following deadlines at the latest.

1.For the Labour Market domain, the Member States shall transmit :

(1)Pre-checked microdata without direct identifiers, according to the following two-step procedure:

(a)During the first three years of implementation of this regulation, as provided for in article 10(4):

–For quarterly data: transmission within ten weeks of the end of the reference period,

–For other data: transmission by 31 March of the next year.

(b)From the fourth year of implementation and onwards, the transmission shall be as follows:

–For quarterly data: transmission of data for quarters 1, 2 and 3 respectively by 29 May, 29 August and 29 November of the same year and of data for quarter 4 by 28 February of the next year,

–For other data: transmission by 15 March of the next year.

In years when those deadlines fall on a Saturday or Sunday, the effective deadline shall be the following Monday.

Where administrative data are used to supply data corresponding to the detailed topic ‘income from work’, that data may be transmitted to the Commission (Eurostat) within twenty-one months of the end of the reference period.

(2)Aggregated results for the compilation of monthly unemployment statistics within 25 days after the reference month. Member States may not cover the last week of the reference month when it spills over in to next month.

2.For Income and Living Conditions domain, the Member States shall transmit pre-checked microdata without direct identifiers, according to the following deadlines:

(a)concerning the variables for the data collection of year N, by the end of the year N. In exceptional cases, when the required administrative data are not available on time, provisional microdata concerning income may be transmitted by the end of the year N, and the final data by 28 February of the year N+1,

(b)concerning the variables related to the six years of the rotation scheme ending in year N, by 31 October of the year N+1.

3.For the Health domain, the Member States shall transmit the pre-checked microdata within nine months after the end of the national period for collecting the data .

4.For the Education and training domain, the Member States shall transmit the pre-checked microdata within six months after the end of the national period for collecting the data.

5.For the Use of Information and Communication Technologies domain, the Member States shall transmit pre-checked microdata by 5 October of the survey year N.

6.For the Time Use domain, the Member States shall transmit the pre-checked microdata by at the latest fifteen months after the fieldwork is finished.

7.For the Consumption domain, the Member States shall transmit the pre-checked microdata within fifteen months after the end of the reference year.