Regulation 2008/763 - Population and housing censuses - Main contents

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 218/14

The Commission (Eurostat) needs to be in possession of sufficiently reliable, detailed and comparable data on the population and housing, in order to enable the Community to fulfil the tasks assigned to it, in particular by Articles 2 and 3 of the Treaty. Sufficient comparability must be ensured at Community level as regards methodology, definitions and the programme of the statistical data and the metadata.

Periodic statistical data on the population and the main family, social, economic and housing characteristics of persons are necessary for the study and definition of regional, social and environmental policies affecting particular sectors of the Community. In particular, there is a need to collect detailed information on housing in support of various Community activities, such as the promotion of social inclusion and the monitoring of social cohesion at regional level, or the protection of the environment and the promotion of energy efficiency.

In view of methodological and technological developments, best practices should be identified and the enhancement of the data sources and methodologies used for censuses in the Member States should be fostered.

In order to ensure the comparability of the data provided by the Member States and for reliable overviews to be drawn up at Community level, the data used should refer to the same reference year.

In accordance with Council Regulation (EC) No 322/97 of 17 February 1997 on Community Statistics (2), which constitutes the reference framework for the provisions of this Regulation, it is necessary for the collection of statistics to conform to the principles of impartiality, in particular objectivity and scientific independence, as well as transparency, reliability, relevance, cost-effectiveness and statistical confidentiality.

The transmission of data subject to statistical confidentiality is governed by Regulation (EC) No 322/97 and Council Regulation (Euratom, EEC) No 1588/90 of 11 June 1990 on the transmission of data subject to statistical confidentiality to the Statistical Office of the European Communities (3). Measures that are taken in accordance with those Regulations ensure the physical and logical protection of confidential data and that no unlawful disclosure or non-statistical use occurs when Community statistics are produced and disseminated.

In the production and dissemination of Community statistics under this Regulation, the national and Community statistical authorities should take account of the principles set out in the European Statistics Code of Practice adopted on 24 February 2005 by the Statistical Programme Committee, established by Council Decision 89/382/EEC, Euratom (4) and attached to the Recommendation of the Commission on the independence, integrity and accountability of the national and Community statistical authorities.

Since the objectives of this Regulation, namely the collection and compilation of comparable and comprehensive Community statistics on population and housing, cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States, due to the absence of common statistical features and quality requirements as well as a lack of methodological transparency, and can...