Changes from report parliamentary committee draft to plenary report

Removedcf. EDPS opinion

Added(8) Access to new data sources, including particularly to privately held data, has been a longstanding request by the ESS as demonstrated by the ESS Position Paper on access to privately held data which are of public interest from November 2017, and the ESS Position Paper on the future Data Act proposal from June 2021.

RemovedRegulation (EC) No 223/2009

Added(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 strictly necessary for the development and production of European statistics and, on the other hand, the data cannot be ▌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 accordance with Article 89 of Regulation (EU) 2016/679 and Article 13 of Regulation (EU) 2018/1725.

RemovedArticle 1 – paragraph 1 – point 7, Article 17c – paragraph 1 – point e a (new): (ea) clarify that any processing of data in connection with a request for data under this Article is without prejudice to Directive 2002/58/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council1a. / 1a Directive 2002/58/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 July 2002 concerning the processing of personal data and the protection of privacy in the electronic communications sector (Directive on privacy and electronic communications) (OJ L 201, 31.7.2002, p. 37).

Added(10) Data requests by the NSIs or the Commission (Eurostat) should be clear, transparent and proportionate in terms of their scope and level of detail. In that connection, it is necessary to specify and explain at least the purpose of the request, the intended use of the data requested, the frequency with which and deadlines by which the data should be made available as well as the operational arrangements for making them available.

Removedcf. EDPS opinion

Added(11) With the data requests, the NSI or the Commission (Eurostat) should invite the data holder to a dialogue to specify the concrete parameters of data requests, specific arrangements, measures to offset potential costs incurred to make data available as well as any organisational and technical measures to protect data confidentiality and trade secrets, with a view to concluding an agreement on those aspects. If no agreement is concluded within three months, the NSI or the Commission should have the possibility to adopt a justified decision requiring the private data holder to make data available. If the data holder intentionally or negligently fails to transmit the requested data within the set period or transmits incorrect, incomplete or misleading data, the NSI or the Commission should have the possibility to adopt penalties that should be effective, proportionate and dissuasive, taking into account the nature, gravity, recurrence and duration of the violation, in view of the public interest pursued. The penalties adopted by the NSIs should be equivalent to penalties regarding infringements of similar national rules. All decisions taken by the Commission under this Regulation are subject to review by the Court of Justice of the European Union in accordance with the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. The Court of Justice of the European Union should have unlimited jurisdiction in respect of fines adopted by the Commission in accordance with Article 261 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.

RemovedRegulation (EC) No 223/2009

Added(12) The further integration of statistics and geospatial information should also be encouraged to enable a more efficient use of resources and improved integration of data by different public organisations and to produce new statistical outputs, such as spatial analysis, and visualisation and dissemination of data. These will support decision-making and the monitoring of policy goals at both Union and national level.

RemovedArticle 1 – paragraph 1 – point 7, Article 17c – paragraph 2 – point b: (b) concern non-personal data.

Added(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.

RemovedRegulation (EC) No 223/2009

Added(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 exclusively for statistical purposes, in line with 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.

RemovedArticle 1 – paragraph 1 – point 7, Article 17c – paragraph 5a (new): 5a. Sharing of data by private data holders shall be based on technologies that are specifically designed to comply with Regulations (EU) 2016/679 and (EU) 2018/1725 and shall take place using a secure infrastructure.

Added(13) It is necessary to ensure that national public bodies in charge of administrative data sources relevant for development, production and dissemination of European statistics allow national statistical authorities to access, reuse and integrate this data free of charge in time and with sufficient frequency for the purposes of developing, producing and disseminating European statistics to the Commission (Eurostat) within the deadlines and in accordance with quality requirements defined in Union statistical legislation.

Removedcf. EDPS opinion

Added(14) Where the activities to be carried out under this Regulation involve the processing of personal data, such processing should comply with the relevant EU legislation on personal data protection, namely Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 of the European Parliament and of the Council and Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council. In accordance with the data minimisation principle set out in these regulations, data provided under this Regulation should ▌ be aggregated to such a degree that individuals cannot be identified.

RemovedRegulation (EC) No 223/2009

Added(15) Processing of personal data for the purposes of official statistics by national statistical authorities, which is considered to be in the public interest, should be covered by derogations and subject to appropriate safeguards, in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2016/679. For instance, further processing of personal data for statistical purposes should not be considered to be incompatible with the initial purposes for which they were collected. In that context, the particular safeguards which should be applied when data sharing according to this Regulation requires personal data to be processed, include the principles of purpose limitation, data minimisation, storage limitation and integrity and confidentiality as set out in Regulation (EU) 2016/679. In that regard, the use of privacy enhancing technologies that are specifically designed to implement these principles should be the way to share data.

RemovedArticle 1 – paragraph 1 – point 7, Article 17c – paragraph 11 a (new): 11a. The Commission shall adopt a delegated act in accordance with Article 26b in order to supplement this Regulation by defining, for the purposes of requesting data from private data holders under specific circumstances, a clear and comprehensive overview of the categories of personal data that may be requested and of the types of sources from which those categories of personal data may be obtained.

Added(16) To be on the forefront of integrating new technologies and new insights progressively, and thereby to ensure that European statistics continuously stay relevant, rules should be established under which, as part of a collective effort by the ESS, statistics can be developed in specific areas with the aim of integrating them in the regular production of European Statistics. Although not necessarily fulfilling all quality criteria laid down in Article 12(1) of Regulation (EC) No 223/2009, those statistics should be treated as European statistics.

Removedcf. EDPS opinion

Added(17) While striving to continuously innovate and develop new statistical outputs, national statistical authorities should take the utmost account of users’ needs as expressed notably by national statistical user councils. At Union level, the European Statistical Advisory Committee (ESAC), established by Decision No 234/2008/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council as the main Union body representing users, respondents and producers of European statistics, should be informed by the Commission on how it has taken into account the ESAC’s opinions, particularly with regard to developing new European statistics.

RemovedRegulation (EC) No 223/2009

Added(18) In order to keep up with the most recent academic trends and to improve the quality of statistical data and methods, statistical authorities should also promote, at both national and European level, a strong, structured and sustained interdisciplinary cooperation with academic and research institutions, especially when developing new statistics, testing new methods and technologies and promoting innovation and experimentation.

RemovedArticle 1 – paragraph 1 – point 7, Article 17e – paragraph 1 – point c: (c) in compliance with the obligation, not to share them with third parties unless the data holder has agreed, subject to paragraph 1a of this Article.

Added(19) Given the trust granted to NSIs and their high technical expertise in data management, data quality and data protection, Member States should be encouraged, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity, to assign to the NSIs certain functions in the national data governance frameworks including those foreseen in the Data Governance Act, with the objective of promoting data integration and inter-operability, metadata description, quality assurance and standard setting. In that regard, the involvement of NSIs in the initial design, subsequent development and discontinuation of administrative records should be recalled and reinforced when appropriate, with a view to ensuring, among other things, consistency and data quality and to minimising the reporting burden.

RemovedSee paragraph 2.2 of the ECB Opinion.

Added(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 those data.

RemovedRegulation (EC) No 223/2009

Added(21) In the interest of increased timeliness at Union level, the Commission (Eurostat) should be allowed to disseminate Member States’ European statistics as soon as they have been published nationally, even if this was done ahead of the deadlines for providing the statistics that are set out in the relevant sectoral Union legislation.

RemovedArticle 1 – paragraph 1 – point 7, Article 17e – paragraph 1 a (new): 1a. The NSIs and the Commission (Eurostat) shall put in place appropriate safeguards relating to the processing of personal data for statistical purposes in accordance with Article 89 of Regulation (EU) 2016/679 and Article 13 of Regulation (EU) 2018/1725, in particular in order to ensure compliance with the principle that data is to be rendered anonymous. / Nevertheless, the ESS shall share the data with ESCB members, without the prior agreement of the data holder, where necessary for the development, production and dissemination of European statistics, within the respective spheres of competence of the ESS and the ESCB, and when this necessity has been justified.

Added(21a) Lack of coordination may lead to inefficiencies and inconsistencies and raise issues of quality of European statistics. Union bodies and agencies should systematically consult the Commission (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 policy-makers and citizens, in particular because the quality of such statistics could affect the reputation of European statistics.

RemovedSee paragraph 2.2 of the ECB Opinion.

Added(22) Since the objective of this Regulation, namely the amendment of the legal framework for developing, producing and disseminating European statistics, cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States but can rather, for reasons of consistency and comparability, be better achieved at Union level, the Union may adopt measures to achieve that objective, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity as set out in Article 5 of the Treaty on European Union. In accordance with the principle of proportionality as set out in that Article, this Regulation does not go beyond what is necessary in order to achieve that objective.

RemovedRegulation (EC) No 223/2009

Added(23) In order to ensure uniform conditions for the implementation of this Regulation, implementing powers should be conferred on the Commission in respect of the temporary statistical actions to be undertaken, including the relevant timespan, frequency and quality requirements, of the general technical arrangements for making privately held data available to the NSIs and the Commission (Eurostat) and of the technical aspects of data sharing between the statistical authorities. Those powers should be exercised in accordance with Regulation (EU) No 182/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council.

RemovedArticle 1 – paragraph 1 – point 7, Article 17e – paragraph 3 a (new): 3a. Paragraph 3 of this Article shall apply to an ESCB member that has received data in accordance with paragraph 1a of this Article.

Added(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.

RemovedSee paragraph 2.2 of the ECB Opinion.

Added(25) The European Statistical System (ESS) Committee was consulted,

RemovedRegulation (EC) No 223/2009

AddedHAVE ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

RemovedArticle 1 – paragraph 1 – point 7, Article 17f – title: Data sharing in the ESS and between the ESS and the ESCB

AddedRegulation (EC) No 223/2009 is amended as follows:

RemovedRegulation (EC) No 223/2009

Added(1) Article 3 is amended as follows:

RemovedArticle 1 – paragraph 1 – point 7, Article 17f – paragraph 2 a (new): 2a. Data sharing shall take place between the ESS and a member of the ESCB in areas of shared responsibility of common interest and where the data is used exclusively for statistical purposes and for improving the quality of European statistics developed and produced by that member of the ESCB.

Added(a) the following points 4a, 4b, 4c, 4d and 4e are inserted:

RemovedRegulation (EC) No 223/2009

Added‘4a. ‘data’ means any digital or non-digital representation of acts, facts and information;

RemovedArticle 1 – paragraph 1 – point 7, Article 17f – paragraph 3: 3. The NSIs, and when relevant the ONAs or members of the ESCB, participating in the data sharing within the ESS shall provide all necessary safeguards with regard to the physical and logical protection of data confidentiality. The Commission (Eurostat) shall set up a secure infrastructure to facilitate data sharing. The NSIs, and when relevant the ONAs or members of the ESCB, may use that secure data sharing infrastructure for the purpose specified in paragraph 1.

Added4b. ‘metadata’ means any data that defines and describes other data and processes, or is used in this way;

RemovedRegulation (EC) No 223/2009

Added4c. ‘data holder’ means a legal or natural person who has the right, in accordance with applicable Union or national legislation implementing Union law, or the ability, to make available certain data;

RemovedArticle 1 – paragraph 1 – point 7, Article 17f – paragraph 3 a (new): 3a. Researchers shall have access to databases constituted by the Commission that include data from private sources, in particular access to microdata. Private data owners shall be informed about the use of their data by researchers and given the opportunity to deny access, if such access would unduly harm their interests.

Added4d. ‘reuse of data’ means the use by national statistical authorities and the Commission (Eurostat) of data held and made available by data holders for the development, production and dissemination of European statistics;

RemovedRegulation (EC) No 223/2009

Added4e. ‘data sharing’ means the provision of data or the permission of data reuse by a statistical authority to another statistical authority for the purpose of joint or individual use of such data for statistical purposes;’;