27.6.2008   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 166/16

(1)

Commission Regulation (EC) No 831/2002 (2) establishes, for the purpose of enabling statistical conclusions to be drawn for scientific purposes, the conditions under which access to confidential data transmitted to the Community authority may be granted. It lists the different surveys and data sources to which it applies.

(2)

There is growing demand from researchers and the scientific community in general to have access for scientific purposes also to confidential data from the Farm Structure Survey (FSS). Access to the FSS microdata would enable researchers to study the relationships between the different characteristics of individual agricultural holdings, such as the types of crops grown, livestock and labour force. It would also enable researchers to improve regional agri-environmental models and indicators that are currently based on aggregated data. This survey should therefore be added to the list in Regulation (EC) No 831/2002.

(3)

The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Committee on Statistical Confidentiality,

1.

In Article 5, paragraph 1 is replaced by the following:

‘1.   The Community authority may grant access on its premises to confidential data obtained from the following surveys or statistical data sources:

However, on the request of the national authority which provided the data, access to data from that national authority shall not be granted for a specific research project.’

2.

In Article 6, paragraph 1 is replaced by the following:

‘1.   The Community authority may release sets of anonymised microdata obtained from the following surveys or statistical data sources:

However, on the request of the national authority which provided the data, access to data from that national authority shall not be granted for a specific research project.’