1. 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

2. Walter Radermacher 02.12.2010 2 Context ESS Budget cuts Limited HR Response burden Legal obligations

3. Walter Radermacher 02.12.2010 3 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:

4. Walter Radermacher 02.12.2010 4 Effectiveness approach (priority setting) Efficiency approach (new production method of EU statistics)

5. Walter Radermacher 02.12.2010 5 Principles 1.Strategy-driven approach 2. Minimizing unhappiness of users 4. Cooperation in the ESS 3. Good communication

6. Walter Radermacher 02.12.2010 6 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 Annual review: - Legal acts to be repealed - Gentlemen’s agreements to be stopped - Simplification 1.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 2011 - Fully for 2012 and later

7. Walter Radermacher 02.12.2010 7 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

8. Walter Radermacher 02.12.2010 8 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:

9. Walter Radermacher 02.12.2010 9 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

10. Walter Radermacher 02.12.2010 10 Thank you for your attention!