The Council adopted its position at first reading with a view to the adoption of a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending regulation (EC) No 862/2007 of the European Parliament and of the Council on Community statistics on migration and international protection.
The objective of the revised Regulation is to ensure the availability of reliable, relevant and timely statistics in the area of migration and international protection, and thus to support the European Agenda on Migration.
The Council position at first reading reflects the compromise reached in the negotiations between the Council and the European Parliament. It includes the following main elements:
Purpose and definitions
The amended Regulation (EC) No 862/2007 shall put in place a framework to respond rapidly to the evolving needs for statistics on migration and international protection. It shall cover the collection of Community statistics on administrative and judicial procedures in the Member States relating to immigration, granting of residence permits, citizenship, asylum and other forms of international protection, illegal entry and stay, and returns.
To this end, the revised Regulation clarifies the terms of ‘application for international protection’, ‘refugee status’, ‘subsidiary protection status’, ‘family members’, ‘external borders’ and ‘third-country nationals who have been refused entry’.
New data collections
The Council position considerably broadens the scope of the Regulation. Some of the new data collections shall be subject to immediate collection, while some of the new data collections shall first be tested in pilot studies.
The Commission (Eurostat) shall establish pilot studies, to be carried out on a voluntary basis by the Member States, in order to test the feasibility of new data collections or disaggregations within the scope of this Regulation, including the availability of appropriate data sources and production techniques, statistical quality and comparability and the costs and burdens involved.
Before launching each particular pilot study, the Commission (Eurostat) shall review relevant administrative sources at Union level and examine whether the required statistics could be based on those sources. Priority shall be given to the examination of the number of applications and the number of rejected applications for first-time residence permits.
Eurostat shall, in close cooperation with the Member States, evaluate the results of these pilot studies and make them available to the public. The introduction of new data collections in the Member States should only be considered if the evaluation of the results of the pilot studies is positive.
The Commission shall also consult the European Data Protection Supervisor under the conditions for legislative consultation laid down in Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 of the European Parliament and of the Council.
Derogations
If the application of the Regulation requires major adaptations to be made to the national statistical system of a Member State, the Commission may grant, by means of implementing acts, a derogation for the period requested by the Member State concerned, provided that this period does not exceed three years, with the possibility of extending it to a maximum of two additional years.
Financing
The Council position introduces an article on financing, in order to ensure that Member States can receive EU financial support for the implementation of the revised regulation on migration statistics. Member States may receive EU support both for the development of new methods for statistics (including participation in pilot studies) and for the development and/or implementation of new data collections.
Implementing powers
Implementing powers shall be conferred on the Commission in respect of setting out the practical arrangements for, and the content of, the quality reports; defining the appropriate formats for the transmission of data; specifying disaggregations; and determining, on the basis of the evaluation of the results of the pilot studies, new data collections and disaggregations.