European statistics

2007/0220(COD)

In accordance with the requirements of Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 on European statistics, the Commission presents a report on the ‘Commitments on Confidence in Statistics’ by Member States.

The report notes that the introduction of the Commitments on Confidence as an instrument to ensure public trust in European statistics and support the implementation of the statistical principles set out in the European Statistics Code of Practice has raised awareness among Member State governments of the importance of their contribution to maintaining and improving public trust in official statistics.

According to Article 11 of Regulation (EC) No 223/2009, Member States must establish and publish a Commitment on Confidence in Statistics, or at least send to the Commission and publish a progress report on the implementation of the Code of Practice and the efforts made to establish a Commitment.

Member States fall into two main groups: those which have established ‘stand-alone’ Commitments, and those which have declared that certain of their items of legislation constitute the Commitment. Some countries in the second group have stated that they do not intend to make ‘stand-alone’ Commitment, while others have indicated that they still intend to do so.

Implementation: all Member States have duly reported to the Commission on their activities and achievements concerning the Commitments.

Stand-alone’ Commitments on Confidence: seven countries have already established ‘stand-alone’ Commitments: Greece, Sweden, Slovenia, Ireland, Belgium, Romania and Malta. These vary considerably in form, content and length. This is fully consistent with the objective of taking into account the specific features of national statistical systems. Two candidate countries, Albania and Montenegro, have also recently established ‘stand-alone’ Commitments on Confidence.

National laws constituting the Commitment: 15 Member States have declared that certain items of their legislation go to make up the Commitment on Confidence in Statistics. Some have therefore announced that they will not be establishing a ‘stand-alone’ Commitment. The large majority of these 15 Member States have clearly indicated the specific articles that form their Commitment and provided additional explanations.

Whilst this option of establishing a Commitment is viable, the legislation in question must cover the political element of the Commitment, as described in amending Regulation (EC) No 2015/759. This refers to the need for a specific undertaking by the government of that Member State. The report states that a decree-law adopted by the government may provide enough of a political element in itself, whereas a national statistical law adopted by Parliament might not be sufficient. The Commission intends to continue a dialogue about the necessary political element.

Future Commitments: the reports of the six Member States that have neither adopted a ‘stand-alone’ Commitment nor incorporated a Commitment into their legislation mostly leave open the possibility of establishing a Commitment in the future.

The report concludes that the concept of Commitments on Confidence is widely acknowledged by Member States, which are taking the necessary steps to materialise the added value of their Commitment by establishing an institutional link between their government and the European Statistics Code of Practice. Public trust will be strengthened through the resulting additional guarantees of high-quality official statistics. The Commitments are expected to continue to reassure the general public that national statistical institutes enjoy the full support of their governments in their efforts to provide high-quality statistics.