1. The draft Urban Audit Regulation
Berthold Feldmann
Eurostat

2. Background
The Urban Audit data collection started in 1999 as a pilot study with 58 cities
It is by now a great success story of European statistics, covering over 300 cities
Regular data collections that are core business since ten years should have a legal base
Several National Statistical Offices ask the Commission for a legal base for the Urban Audit in order to get nationally sufficient resources

3. Grants The latest rules for grants to NSIs of Eurostat are:
Grants below € are forbidden
Grants below € are strongly discouraged
Grants for a group of countries (ESS-net) are strongly recommended
In other words: The grants for the Urban Audit are in any case phasing out..

4. The draft UA Regulation
Tries to cover all current collections
Annual
Every three to four years: exhaustive
Large Cities Audit
Is flexible concerning the list of variables and choice of cities
Recommends an increased use of estimations
Eurostat strongly hopes that this will increase significantly the response rates

5. Next steps Collect the feedback of NSIs
Produce a new version of the text
Maybe organise a little Task Force meeting in spring 2010
Present the draft Regulation to the ESS Committee
Go to Council and Parliament
A timetable is very difficult to predict..

6. Thank you for your attention!
Any questions?