European Statistical System and external relations Heli Lehtimäki Eurostat A1 22 October 2012

Today we cover Foundations of the ESS governance structure Regulation 223/09, Code of Practice, Eurostat decision Main governance bodies in the ESS European Statistical System and ESS Committee (ESSC) Partnership Group (PG) DGINS Conference European Statistical Advisory Committee (ESAC) European Statistical Governance Advisory Board (ESGAB) Co-operation with international organisations and Higher Income countries United Nations, OECD, IMF, World bank Switzerland, Canada, Mexico, Republic of Korea

The European Statistical System Partnership between Eurostat and the national statistical authorities Defined in European Statistics Regulation 223/2009 – at the heart of the ESS Member states collect and process the national data Eurostat processes the received data and disseminates European official statistics Article 338 of the Treaty on the functioning of the European Union provides the legal basis for European statistics Without prejudice to Article 5 of the Protocol on the Statute of the European System of Central Banks and of the European Central Bank, the Council, acting in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure, shall adopt measures for the production of Statistics where necessary for the performance of the activities of the Union. The production of Union statistics shall conform to impartiality, reliability, objectivity, scientific independence, cost-effectiveness and statistical confidentiality; it shall not entail excessive burdens on economic operators. Secondary law (regulations, directives and decisions) adopted by the Community lawmaker with support in the primary law. We use Regulations, with general application, which are binding and directly applicable in the MSs. 3 3

Regulation 223/09 on European statistics ESS is legally recognised and defined for the first time Introduces statistical principles: professional independence, impartiality, objectivity, reliability, statistical confidentiality, cost effectiveness (Art 2) Establishes the ESS Committee (Art 7) Introduces concept of collaborative networks (Art 15) Introduces European approach to statistics (Art 16) Specifies that Eurostat is responsible for coordination the statistical activities of the EU institutions

European Statistics Code of Practice Self-regulatory instrument adopted by the NSIs in 2008 Structured around 15 principles under 3 sections: institutional environment statistical processes statistical output Key indicators of good practice for each principle 2011: Revision of the Code of Practice 2012: Commitments on Confidence

Eurostat‘s role in the ESS Eurostat mission: to be the leading provider of high quality statistics on Europe Lead the way in harmonising EU official statistics in order to provide comparable statistics in compliance with the European Statistics Code of Practice Improve the functioning of the ESS International co-operation Dissemination of European statistics

Recent legislative developments Proposal to revise Regulation 223/09 of 17 April 2012 to enhance Professional independence Co-ordination Eurostat decision 2012/504/12 of 17 September 2012 Chief Statistician Commitment of Confidence

ESS committees and bodies Council ESGAB ESSC DGINS DIRECTORS’ GROUPS WGs Sponsor- ships ESSnets Task Forces Commission European Parliament Working Groups ESAC ESS PG

European Statistical System Committee (ESSC) Umbrella committee to guide ESS to develop, produce and disseminate European statistics Composed of Eurostat as a Chair Representatives of Member States = Heads of NSis Observers: EEA/EFTA countries, ECB, OECD, UNECE, ESAC, CMFB In practice, this means that the Commission shall consult the ESS Committee in regard to (see Art. 7 and 17): the measures which the Commission intends to take for the development, production and dissemination of European Statistics, their justification on a cost-effectiveness basis, the means and timetables for achieving them, the reporting burden on survey respondents; proposed developments and priorities in the European Statistical Programme; the annual work programme for the following year; initiatives to bring into practice the reprioritization and reduction of the response burden; issues concerning statistical confidentiality; the further development (revision or update) of the Code of Practice; any other question, in particular issues of methodology, arising from the establishment or implementation of statistical programmes. 9 9

ESSC agendas Comitology items: voting Items for opinion: to agree on a common statement at the end of the meeting Items for discussion Reports to the ESSC by other committees, working groups, task forces etc. The Council has attributed so called Comitology competence in the field of statistics to the ESSC. The EP and the Council adopt a legal act, but must delegate the details for its implementation to the Commission. The implementing measures are then laid down by the Commission legislation, with ONE precondition: COM has to consult a “committee” composed of representatives of all the MSs (ESSC). Following the entering into force of the Treaty of Lisbon, this procedure will be changed. Practical details are currently under discussion [The measures to be taken under comitology can only be binding COM legal acts. Agreements, guidelines, etc cannot be treated as comitology items. Comitology matters involve the COM, not only Eurostat, which means formal ISC, agreement of the Cabinet, written procedure before the SG and decision of the Commission. Votes are taken like in the Council and 232/321 are required for qualified majority. As of 1.1.2007 the qualified majority is achieved with 255 votes (out of a total of 345), expressed by a majority of the MSs (at least 14 delegations). A delegation may request verification that the MSs constituting the qualified majority represent at least 62% of the total population of the Union.]

New streamlined structure of the ESS Main features: ESSC is the only committee for the ESS, dealing with all comitology issues and with the power to take the final vote. All the other comitology committees (Intrastat, Extrastat, GNI, BoP, etc except INSPIRE) cease to exist: their responsibilities in comitology are transferred to the ESSC and their advisory competences to the Directors Group in the respective domain. Directors Groups are responsible for thoroughly preparing all comitology dossiers at technical and strategic level, for voting by the Directors-General at the ESSC.

New streamlined structure of the ESS Roadmap for implementation: New rules of procedure for the ESSC: by end 2012 New rules of procedure for all Directors Groups following template adopted by the Commission: by mid-2013 Legislative proposals to repeal/amend acts establishing comitology committees, so that they refer to ESSC as the competent committee: by mid-2013 Streamlined ESS structure in place: 2014

The Partnership Group Members: Main tasks: elected Chair from a Member State (currently Austria), Eurostat’s Director General (Vice-chair) and Deputy DG, the Heads of NSIs of the previous, current and next Council Presidencies, four elected Heads of NSIs Main tasks: Facilitate the work of the ESSC, prepare agenda and discussions at strategic level Foster cooperation between NSIs Strengthen the strategic capacities of the ESS through internal discussions, stakeholder dialogues, etc.

The DGINS Conference Directors General of the National Statistical Institutes

The DGINS Conference Annual conference organised jointly by a hosting Member State and Eurostat: discuss internal ESS organisational issues thematic statistical topic of general interest attended by Heads of NSIs, including Candidate and Western Balkan countries 2012: Czech Republic: “Green economy” and “Geospatial statistics” 2011: Germany: “Next generation of the Code of Practice” and “New conceptual design for household and social statistics” 2010: Bulgaria: “Priority setting in the ESS” and “Measuring progress, well-being and sustainable development Current candidate countries: Croatia Iceland The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia Montenegro Turkey

ESS advisory bodies Advisory committees

European Statistical Advisory Committee Created in 2008 to deliver: OPINION on Community statistical programmes ADVICE the Commission how to improve the relevance of Community statistics to users OWN-INITIATIVE OPINIONS/REPORTS On user requirements and costs borne by data providers in production and dissemination of Community statistics SEMINARS/STUDIES ESAC is the European Statistical Advisory Committee. Comprised of a wide variety of stakeholders in Community statistics, it will help to ensure that user requirements as well as the response burden on information providers and producers are taken into account in coordinating Community statistics.

12 appointed by Commission Composition 24 members, appointed for a term of 5 years, renewable once: 12 appointed by Commission users respondents other stakeholders 11 directly appointed by European Parliament Council Eur. Economic and Social Committee Committee of the Regions European Central Bank ESSC (2 members) Businesseurope ETUC UEAPME Eur. Data Protection Supervisor Director-General of ESTAT 12 members appointed by the Commission, after consulting the EP and the Council; shall represent in equal measure, users, respondents, and other stakeholders in Community statistics (including the scientific community, the social partners and civil society) 11 members appointed directly by institutions and bodies to which they belong Businesseurope -> Confederation of European Business ETUC -> European Trade Union Confederation UEAPME -> Eur. Association of Craft, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises Director-General of ESTAT -> ex officio member without voting right Secretariat provided by ESTAT

State of play Opinions on: Annual Work Programmes 2011-13 New 5-year statistical programme (2013-2017) Mid-term evaluation of the 5-year statistical programme Workshop on Quality reporting in the European Statistical System with Sponsorship on Quality Seminar on „Quality of Life“ being prepared Stiglitz-Sen: Report on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress Purpose: to identify the limits of GDP as an indicator of economic performance and social progress, including the problems with its measurement; to consider what additional information might be required for the production of more relevant indicators of social progress; to assess the feasibility of alternative measurement tools, and to discuss how to present the statistical information in an appropriate way.

European Statistical Governance Advisory Board (ESGAB) Code of Practice 2006-08: self-assessments and peer reviews Annual monitoring of improvement actions 2008: European Statistical Governance Advisory Board started providing an independent overview of Code’s implementation in the ESS 2011: Revision of the Code of Practice

ESGAB Members: Annual report to EP and Council. Focus on principles: 7 members for 3-year-term, renewable once, non-remunerated Nominated by Parliament and the Council Eurostat represented as an observer ESGAB II started work 2012-2015 Annual report to EP and Council. Focus on principles: Professional independence, Adequacy of resources, Quality commitment, Cost effectiveness, Confidentiality, Accessibility and Clarity Opinions on: Revision of the Code of Practice Communication „Towards robust quality management“ Public letters to Greek and German authorities

International organisations UN GLOBAL United Nations Statistical Commission (UNSC) the highest decision making body for international statistical activities on: - statistical standards - concepts and methods implementation at the national and international level EUROSTAT OBSERVER UNSC Co-ordinated by the United Nations Statistical Division (UNSD)

International organisations UN REGION Coordination of statistical activities in the UNECE region Decision body: Conference of European Statisticians (CES) and its Bureau Development of guidelines, materials on methodology and practices Groups of specialists EUROSTAT OBSERVER

International organisations Eurostat Observer in CSTAT – OECD Committee on statistics Member in CCSA – Committee for Coordination of Statistical Activities Coordination with IMF, World Bank and others

Higher Income countries Bilateral agreement with Switzerland Memorandum of Understanding with i.e. Canada, Republic of Korea, Mexico Close cooperation with Russia and CIS-Stat Visits Publications Exchange of information

Useful links Eurostat: http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/eurostat/home ESGAB: http://ec.europa.eu/esgab ESAC: http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/esac/introduction