PURPOSE: to establish a common framework for producing European statistics on safety from crime, via the collection, compilation, processing and transmission by the Member States of harmonised European data on crime and safety based upon a household/personal survey.
PROPOSED ACT: Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council.
BACKGROUND: it is increasingly becoming recognised that freedom from crime and from feelings of personal insecurity is an important aspect of citizens' well-being.
Until now, there is no survey data on crime and safety of individuals and households covering the whole EU. Administrative data on crime (based on police reports etc.) have been collected on an informal basis and published since 2006. It is generally acknowledged that such data have restricted comparability due to the differing legal systems and recording methods in the Member States, and that the potential for overcoming these difficulties is limited.
The European Council highlighted the lack of comparable information at EU level on crime in the Hague Programme in 2005. In response, the Commission drew up an Action Plan 2006-2010 on improving methods to measure crime, which included developing an EU household survey on crime victimisation. The Stockholm Programme (2009) underlined the need to follow up this work with practical implementation.
It is therefore proposed to conduct in 2013 an EU-level survey based on the methodology which has now been agreed with the stakeholders. It would make available information on the prevalence of specific types of crime (victimisation rates) and on other aspects relating to citizens’ feelings of security. This would provide a valuable addition to crime figures from administrative sources (such as police reports), which are known to be difficult to compare between Member States.
ANALYSIS OF EFFECTS AND IMPLICATIONS: the proposed survey on crime and safety will for the first time make available information from every Member State on a topic which is of central importance to EU policy concerns. The use of common methodologies and reporting formats will make data available which will be coherent, comparable and thus relevant for users at both European and national level. The Member States will play a key role in this exercise through the involvement of national statistical authorities, which have well-established procedures for collecting and processing survey data.
LEGAL BASIS: Article 338 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU).
CONTENT: the objective of this Regulation is to establish a common framework for producing European statistics on safety from crime, via the collection, compilation, processing and transmission by the Member States of harmonised European data on crime and safety based upon a household/personal survey.
The aim of the proposal is to harmonise concepts, subjects covered and characteristics of the required information, coverage, quality criteria and reporting deadlines and results, to achieve relevant, timely, comparable and coherent European statistics.
Member States will collect the data using their own national sampling frames, and will also select the interview mode (face-to-face interviews, telephone, postal, web-based, etc.) in line with established national practices.
BUDGETARY IMPLICATIONS: this proposal implies expenditure of EUR 12 million in 2012 from the EU budget.