1. Legal, political and methodological issues in confidentiality in the ESS
Maria João Santos, Jean-Marc Museux
Eurostat

2. Objectives
Overview of confidentiality issues in an European wide perspective
International perspective
European Legal Framework
Access to researchers
Methodological issues
Way forward

3. The Trade-offs
Identification risk
Perception of privacy
Need
Interest

4. The European Statistical System Effect
Country A
Country B
A + B

5. The Reasons of discrepancy
Disclosure risk management
Methods of disclosure control
Cultural and historical background
Methodological capacity
Legal enforcement
Eligible researchers
Public use data

6. General Legal Confidentiality Framework
At EU level, statistical confidentiality is addressed in the following legal acts:
- Council Regulation (EEC, Euratom) No 1588/90 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;
- Commission Decision 97/281/EC on the role of Eurostat as regards the production of Community statistics;
- Commission Regulation (EC) No 831/2002, concerning access to confidential data for scientific purposes;
- Commission Decision 2004/452/EC of 29 April 2004 laying down a list of bodies whose researchers may access data for research purposes.
- European Statistics Code of Practice
General Legal Confidentiality Framework

7. General Legal Confidentiality Framework
Current legal framework is not unified which leads to difficulties of interpretation
Need to revise framework based on the principles of maximising quality of ESS statistics, increase possibility of secondary use of data by research community and public, while respecting confidentiality
Way forward:
Enabling exchange of confidential data between ESS partners
One single legal consolidated act referring to confidentiality
discussed in ESS forum aiming at a higher level of convergence national legal framework and practices

8. Access to confidential data for scientific purpose Commission Regulation 831/2002
The Regulation
aims to give access for scientific purpose to pan European micro datasets in a centralised and efficient way
sets out procedures under which access to confidential data may be granted.
It refers to four important sources:
European Community Household Panel (ECHP)
Labour Force Survey (LFS);
Community Innovation Survey (CIS);
Continuing Vocational Training Survey (CVTS);
EU statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC), is introduced in a separate act.

9. Commission Regulation 831/2002
Levels of access
Level one: Confidential data as obtained from the national authorities. They allow only indirect identification of the statistical units concerned. This access is done through the use of a safe centre at Eurostat.
Level two: Sets of anonymised microdata extracted from the above data. This access is done via distribution of encrypted CD-ROM according to contracts established between Eurostat and the corresponding institutions.

10. Commission Regulation 831/2002
Current procedures are administratively heavy (for both researchers and ESS) and lack timeliness
Possible improvements in its implementation
Decentralised access through national safe centres
Bilateral agreements between Eurostat and MS aiming at streamlining procedures (administrative and/or logistic)

11. Remote access for scientific purpose
Remote access procedures have the advantage of reducing researcher burden, but involve substantial investment in hardware and software
Operational in Sweden, Denmark
Pilot in Netherlands
Way forward
To develop standard for remote access via pilot project
To foster decentralised implementation in ESS

12. Methodological issues
Tabular data
Lack of uniform methodology for masking cells considerably hampers EU figures dissemination
Efficient procedures for secondary cell masking in such heterogeneous environment are not readily available
Anonymisation of Micro data
Different measures of risks co-exist and not fully equivalent
Thresholds for risk are not equally perceived
Need for a European norm and best practices

13. Methodological issues
Way forward:
CENEX ( Centres and networks of excellence) on Statistical Disclosure Control
CENEX originates from the idea of sharing the experience between different institutions within the ESS more efficiently, by providing adequate organizational solutions and institutional framework for modern types of cooperation and specialization of work.

14. CENEX on Statistical Disclosure Control
The pilot CENEX on SDC was defined to address in a first phase the following objectives:
Set standards for the protection of micro-data sets, based on disclosure risk assessment methods and criteria.
Improve tabular data protection techniques and develop harmonized criteria
Extend and develop SDC software tools, both for micro and tabular data, so as to fit the specific production and dissemination environments of ESS.

15. The Way Forward - Summary
General Legal Confidentiality Framework more coherence
EU Regulation 831/2002 streamlined and better implemented
Remote access for researchers
“Harmonised” best practices
Public use files
Strengthening EU coordination: CENEX on Statistical Disclosure Control