(1)

Regulation (EC) No 1338/2008 establishes a common framework for the systematic production of European statistics on public health and health and safety at work.

(2)

Pursuant to Article 9(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1338/2008, implementing measures are needed to specify the data and metadata to be provided on causes of death covered by Annex III to that Regulation and to set the reference periods and intervals for providing this data.

(3)

Confidential data sent by Member States to the Commission (Eurostat) should be handled in accordance with the principle of statistical confidentiality as laid down in Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 March 2009 on European statistics (2) and with 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 (3).

(4)

A cost-benefit analysis has been carried out and evaluated in accordance with Article 6 of Regulation (EC) No 1338/2008.

(5)

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

(a)

‘death’ means the permanent disappearance of all evidence of life at any time after live birth has taken place (post-natal cessation of vital functions without capability of resuscitation). This definition excludes stillbirths;

(b)

‘stillbirth’ means foetal death, namely death prior to the complete expulsion or extraction from its mother of a product of conception, irrespective of the duration of pregnancy. Death is indicated by the fact that after such separation from its mother the foetus does not breathe or show any other evidence of life, such as beating of the heart, pulsation of the umbilical cord, or definite movement of voluntary muscles;

(c)

‘gestational age’ means the duration of gestation, measured from the first day of the last normal menstrual period. Gestational age is expressed in completed days or completed weeks;

(d)

‘neonatal death’ means the death occurring among live births during the first 28 completed days of life (days 0-27);

(e)

‘parity’ means the number of previous live births or stillbirths (0, 1, 2, 3 or more previous live births or stillbirths);

(f)

‘other deaths’ means the deaths occurring after the neonatal death period from the 28th completed day of life onwards;

(g)

‘underlying cause of death’ means the disease or injury which initiated the train of morbid events leading directly to death, or the circumstances of the accident or violence which produced the fatal injury;

(h)

‘resident’ means ‘usual resident’ in the place where a person normally spends the daily period of rest, regardless of temporary absences for purposes of recreation, holidays, visits to friends and relatives, business, medical treatment or religious pilgrimage.

(i)

those who have lived in their place of usual residence for a continuous period of at least 12 months before the reference date; or

(ii)

those who arrived in their place of usual residence during the 12 months before the reference date with the intention of staying there for at least 1 year.

(a)

birth weight from 500 g to 999 g or when birth weight does not apply gestational age from 22 to 27 completed weeks, or when neither of the two applies crown-heel length from 25 to 34 cm (Variable 9); and

(b)

birth weight of 1 000 g and more or when birth weight does not apply gestational age after 27 completed weeks or when neither of the two applies crown-heel length of 35 cm or more (Variable 10).