Changes from report parliamentary committee draft to plenary report

DRAFT EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT LEGISLATIVE RESOLUTION

▸9 unchanged paragraphs

on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 on European statistics

(COM(2023)0402 – C90246/2023 – 2023/0237(COD))

(Ordinary legislative procedure: first reading)

The European Parliament,

– having regard to the Commission proposal to Parliament and the Council (COM(2023)0402),

– having regard to Article 294(2) and Article 338(1) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, pursuant to which the Commission submitted the proposal to Parliament (C90246/2023),

– having regard to Article 294(3) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

– having regard to the opinion of the European Central Bank of 28 September 2023,

– having regard to Rule 59 of its Rules of Procedure,

Changed– having regard to the report of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (A90000/2023),(A9-0386/2023),

1. Adopts its position at first reading hereinafter set out;

2. Calls on the Commission to refer the matter to Parliament again if it replaces, substantially amends or intends to substantially amend its proposal;

3. Instructs its President to forward its position to the Council, the Commission and the national parliaments.

Change 1

RemovedCitation 2 a (new): Having regard to the opinion of the European Central Bank of 28 September 20231, / 1 OJ C …

AddedAMENDMENTS BY THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT*

RemovedThis amendment is necessary in view of the Council's request of 20 July 2023 for the ECB's opinion on the proposal. See the first paragraph of the ECB Opinion (Introduction and legal basis).

Addedto the Commission proposal

RemovedRecital 9: (9) The reuse of privately held data and other new data sources should be subject to strict legal, technical and procedural safeguards and guarantees, including applying a high level of security, confidentiality and respect for privacy, as already enshrined in Regulation (EC) No 223/2009. The possibility to request access to privately held data should be limited to the national statistical institutes (NSIs), acting on their own or on behalf of another national authority of the ESS, and the Commission (Eurostat) only and should, as a pre-requisite, be established in an annual work programme and restricted to cases where, on the one hand, the data requested is necessary for the development and production of European statistics and, on the other hand, the data cannot be readily obtained otherwise or the data reuse would result in a considerable reduction in the response burden on data holders and other businesses. Such privately held data should be made anonymous, in compliance with Article 89 of Regulation (EU) 2016/679 and Article 13 of Regulation (EU) 2018/1725.

Added---------------------------------------------------------

RemovedAnonymous data should enhance trust in European statistics and should avoid breaching other legislation.

AddedProposal for a

RemovedRecital 12 a (new): (12a) The Commission (Eurostat), NSIs and other national authorities responsible for the production of European statistics should strive to provide access to their databases and supporting metadata and other documentation relevant for quality assessment using up-to-date and easy-to-use technologies.

AddedREGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL

RemovedRecital 12 b (new): (12b) European statistics are also developed, produced and disseminated by the European System of Central Banks (ESCB), yet under a separate legal framework reflecting the ESCB's governance structure. Close cooperation and appropriate coordination is required between the ESS and ESCB, in particular to foster the exchange of confidential data between the two systems for statistical purposes, in light of Article 338(1) TFEU and Article 5 of Protocol No 4 on the Statute of the European System of Central Banks and of the European Central Bank. Furthermore, this Regulation should apply without prejudice to Council Regulation (EC) No 2533/98.

Addedamending Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 on European statistics

RemovedSee paragraph 2.1 of the ECB Opinion.

Added(Text with EEA relevance)

RemovedRecital 20: (20) Data that is lawfully available to the public should not be considered confidential data or confidential statistical information when used for statistical purposes or for the dissemination of statistics obtained from that data.

AddedTHE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

RemovedThe proposed wording for Article 25 provides that data that is lawfully available to the public should not be considered confidential when used for statistical purposes. However, it should also apply to the dissemination of statistics obtained from that data, which is permitted under the current wording. See paragraph 2.5 of the ECB Opinion.

AddedHaving regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, and in particular Article 338(1) thereof,

RemovedRecital 21 a (new): (21a) The lack of coordination may lead to inefficiencies and inconsistencies and raise issues of quality of European Statistics. Union bodies and agencies should systematically consult Eurostat on statistical methodologies and data quality when developing new statistics in their fields of competence. Coordination should also extend to 'other statistics' that are key to informing policymakers and citizens, in particular because the quality of such statistics could affect the reputation of European statistics.

AddedHaving regard to the proposal from the European Commission,

RemovedGreater coordination by Eurostat should safeguard the quality and reputation of European statistics.

AddedHaving regard to the opinion of the European Central Bank of 28 September 2023,

RemovedRecital 24: (24) The European Data Protection Supervisor was consulted in accordance with Article 42(1) of Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 of the European Parliament and of the Council and delivered an opinion on 6 September 2023.

AddedAfter transmission of the draft legislative act to the national parliaments,

RemovedRegulation (EC) No 223/2009

AddedActing in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure,

RemovedArticle 1 – paragraph 1 – point 1 – point d a (new), Article 3 – point 12 a (new): (da) the following point is added: / "12a. 'other core identification and classification variables' means data attributes which compromise entity identifiers, principal economic activity and ESA sector classifications."

AddedWhereas:

Removedcf. paragraph 2.4 of the ECB opinion it is deemed useful for the ESCB to have this information not only for statistical purposes, but also for performing its prudential supervisory tasks.

Added(1) Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council establishes the legal framework at Union level for the development, production and dissemination of European statistics.

RemovedRegulation (EC) No 223/2009

Added(2) Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 was amended in 2015 to further strengthen the governance in the European Statistical System (ESS) in particular its professional independence, and since then the strengthened governance has proven to be effective.

RemovedArticle 1 – paragraph 1 – point 1 a (new), Article 12 – paragraph 3: (1a) in Article 12, paragraph 3 is replaced by the following: / “3. Member States shall provide the Commission (Eurostat) with reports on the quality of the data transmitted; including any concerns they have regarding the accuracy of the data. The Commission (Eurostat) shall assess the quality of data transmitted, on the basis of appropriate analysis, and shall prepare and publish reports and communications on the quality of European statistics. The Commission (Eurostat) shall promptly make publicly available any serious concerns it has on the quality of the data transmitted and disclose any breaches of the European statistics Code of Practice.”

Added(2a) On 6 March 2023, the European Statistical Governance Advisory Board (ESGAB) published its Annual Report 2022. That report puts forward recommendations to improve the legal framework on European statistics, including by further strengthening the independence of the heads of national statistical institutes (NSIs) and the Director-General of the Commission (Eurostat).

RemovedStatistics published by public authorities must be trustworthy. It is therefore essential to let Eurostat have some control on the data it receives.

Added(3) Digital transformation has ushered in radically different realities and created a new environment with new needs for European statistics. Moreover, the recent Covid-19 crisis and the energy and cost-of-living crisis triggered by the Russian military aggression against Ukraine have amplified the demands and expectations for timelier, more frequent and more detailed European statistics needed to inform EU decision-making and ensure the best possible Union response to crises.

RemovedRegulation (EC) No 223/2009

Added(3a) Situations can occur in which timely and innovative European statistics are necessary in order to respond to urgent policy needs. An example is the lack of timely data on unit profits and business profits, which hampers policy makers in their effort to comprehensively assess the issue of price surges at a time where research by the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) suggests that corporate profits have been important temporary drivers of inflation. It is therefore crucial to establish procedures to respond to urgent policy needs for European statistics.

RemovedArticle 1 – paragraph 1 – point 2, Article 16a – paragraph 1 – point a: (a) it is strictly necessary to respond to urgent information needs which arise from a crisis and following, existing or future, emergency mechanisms activated in accordance with one or more of the following Union legal acts:

Added(4) To address growing expectations for timelier, more frequent and more detailed European statistics as well as for a faster and more coordinated ESS response to urgent statistical demands in times of crisis, it is necessary to amend Regulation (EC) No 223/2009. The purpose of this Regulation is to ensure that European statistics stay relevant by taking into account those changing and more demanding user needs, notably by tapping the full potential of digital data sources and technologies, by enabling their re-use for European statistics, by making the ESS more agile and able to respond effectively and swiftly to crises, and by promoting data sharing and strengthening coordination among ESS partners.

RemovedAn exceptional regime should be based on a well defined legal basis.

Added(5) To reflect today’s realities and the digital age in which the ESS operates, new or updated definitions should be introduced into Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 to clarify the concepts of ‘data’, ‘metadata’, ‘data holders’, ‘reuse of data’, ‘data sharing’, ‘data source’, ‘multi-source statistics’, ‘use for statistical purposes’, and ‘crisis’.

RemovedRegulation (EC) No 223/2009

Added(6) ▌ Recent developments such as the Covid pandemic, the Russian military aggression against Ukraine and the cost-of-living crisis demonstrated that timely, reliable and comparable European statistics are vital to the effectiveness of public authorities’ response to emergency situations. Therefore, the ESS should be given the possibility to swiftly initiate coordinated actions if urgent data and statistics needs arise outside the regular planning framework, especially in times of crisis. In such situation, a data holder should make, upon request, data available to a national statistical institute (NSI) or the Commission (Eurostat) that demonstrates an exceptional need to use the data requested, in accordance with the rules laid down in the Data Act.

RemovedArticle 1 – paragraph 1 – point 7, Article 17b – paragraph 4 – subparagraph 1 a (new): The secure infrastructure shall be based on technologies that are specifically designed to comply with Regulations (EU) 2016/679 and (EU) 2018/1725.

Added(7) Accessing and re-using new data sources, which emerge as by-products of digital services and the Internet of Things (IoT), is becoming vital for producing timely, suitably frequent and sufficiently detailed European statistics in a more efficient and less costly way. Therefore, access to new data sources in general and particularly to privately held data for the development and production of European official statistics on a sustainable basis and according to fair, clear, ▌ predictable and proportionate rules, in line with the Union’s fundamental rights framework, should be ensured. Access to privately held data should be ensured in conformity with the principle of cost-effectiveness and should not entail excessive burdens on economic operators as laid down in Article 338(2) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU).