Priority setting, simplification and reduction of response burden in the ESS Walter Radermacher, DG Eurostat Chief Statistician of the EU Conference on Administrative Simplification in Official Statistics SIMPLY 2010 Ghent, 2 December 2010

Walter Radermacher Context ESS Budget cuts Limited HR Response burden Legal obligations

Walter Radermacher Our objective: high-quality statistical information Response burden on citizens and enterprises (obstacle for economy) Production costs of producers of statistics (limited resources for new, development work) Constraints:

Walter Radermacher Effectiveness approach (priority setting) Efficiency approach (new production method of EU statistics)

Walter Radermacher Principles 1.Strategy-driven approach 2. Minimizing unhappiness of users 4. Cooperation in the ESS 3. Good communication

Walter Radermacher Elements 2. Sunset clauses 3. Annual review: - Legal acts to be repealed - Gentlemen’s agreements to be stopped - Simplification 1. Joint ESS strategy/new production method of EU statistics Implementation - As far as possible for Fully for 2012 and later

Walter Radermacher Win-win solution 1.Lighten burden on: - NSIs and other producers AND respondents: citizens and enterprises 2. Have spare resources for development work and new user needs 3. Improve strategic planning process in the ESS

Walter Radermacher Commission-wide initiatives Shift from burden reduction to simplification of legal requirements Relation between EU policy and statistics: 1) Free movement of goods - introduction of Intrastat 2) Simplification of accounting - statistical data needed instead Some examples from the past:

Walter Radermacher Forward-looking initiatives and trends Growing understanding of linkage between various requirements, e.g: Consistency between public accounting system and the ESA; ERP systems ICT developments (scanner data for price statistics, etc.) Increasing use of existing data

Walter Radermacher Thank you for your attention!