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

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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

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

9. 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

10. 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 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.]

11. 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.

12. 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

13. 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.

14. The DGINS Conference
Directors General of the National Statistical Institutes

15. 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

16. ESS advisory bodies Advisory committees

17. 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.

18. 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

19. State of play Opinions on:
Annual Work Programmes
New 5-year statistical programme ( )
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.

20. European Statistical Governance Advisory Board (ESGAB)
Code of Practice
: 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

21. 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
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

22. 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)

23. 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

24. 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

25. 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

26. Useful links
Eurostat:
ESGAB:
ESAC: