LegalizeCouncil Regulation (EC) No 951/2009 of 9 October 2009 amending Regulation (EC) No 2533/98 concerning the collection of statistical information by the European Central Bank
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,
Having regard to the Statute of the European System of Central Banks and of the European Central Bank (hereinafter the ‘Statute’), and in particular to Article 5.4 thereof,
Having regard to the recommendation of the European Central Bank (1),
Having regard to the opinion of the European Parliament (2),
Having regard to the opinion of the Commission (3),
After consulting the European Data Protection Supervisor,
Acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 107(6) of the Treaty establishing the European Community and in Article 42 of the Statute,
Whereas:
(1) Council Regulation (EC) No 2533/98 of 23 November 1998 concerning the collection of statistical information by the European Central Bank (4) is a key component in the legal framework supporting the statistical information collection tasks of the European Central Bank (ECB) assisted by the national central banks. The ECB has consistently relied on it to carry out and monitor the coordinated collection of statistical information necessary to undertake the tasks of the European System of Central Banks (ESCB).
(2) In order to maintain Regulation (EC) No 2533/98 as an effective instrument for the ECB to carry out the statistical information collection tasks of the ESCB and to guarantee the continued availability to the ECB of statistical information of the necessary quality and covering the entire range of tasks of the ESCB it is essential to review the scope of the reporting requirements that the named Regulation imposes. In this context, attention needs to be paid not only to the performance of the tasks of the ESCB and to its independence, but also to the statistical principles laid down in this Regulation.
(3) It is necessary to amend Regulation (EC) No 2533/98 to enable the ECB to collect the statistical information needed to undertake the ESCB’s tasks referred to in the Treaty. Accordingly, the purposes for which statistical information may be collected should also comprise the compilation of macro-prudential statistics required for the performance of the ESCB’s tasks under Article 105 of the Treaty.
(4) The scope of the reporting requirements necessary for the performance of the ESCB’s tasks should also take into account structural developments in the financial markets and address related statistical information requirements that were less apparent when Regulation (EC) No 2533/98 was adopted. For that reason, it is necessary to allow the collection of statistical information from the entire sector of financial corporations, and in particular from the insurance corporations and pension funds, which represent the second largest sub-sector of financial corporations in the euro area in terms of financial assets.
(5) In order to allow for the continued compilation of balance of payments statistics of sufficient quality, it is necessary to clarify the reporting requirements imposed in connection with data on all positions and transactions between the residents of participating Member States.
(6) Researchers increasingly require access to confidential statistical information which does not allow direct identification in order to analyse and understand developments within sectors and across countries. Therefore, it is important to allow the ECB and the national central banks to grant to scientific research bodies access to such detailed statistical information at the ESCB level, while maintaining strict confidentiality safeguards.
(7) To minimise the reporting burden and to enable the efficient development, production and dissemination of high-quality statistics, and the proper performance of the ESCB’s tasks, the ECB prioritises statistical needs and assesses the reporting burden. For the same reason, it is necessary to allow the maximum use of existing information, surveys, administrative data, statistical registers and other sources available, including an exchange of confidential statistical information within the ESCB and with the European Statistical System (ESS).
(8) European statistics are developed, produced and disseminated by both the ESCB and the ESS but under separate legal frameworks, reflecting their respective governance structures. Regulation (EC) No 2533/98 should therefore apply without prejudice to Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 March 2009 on European statistics (5).
(9) European statistics are developed, produced and disseminated by the ESCB in accordance with the statistical principles of impartiality, objectivity, professional independence, cost-effectiveness, statistical confidentiality, minimisation of the reporting burden and high output quality, including reliability. These principles are defined and further elaborated by the ECB and published on its website as a public commitment concerning European statistics produced by the ESCB. These principles are similar to the statistical principles laid down in Regulation (EC) No 223/2009.
(10) The development, production and dissemination of European statistics should take into account best practice and the relevant European and international statistical standards.
(11) In line with Article 5.1 of the Statute, the ESCB and the ESS cooperate closely to ensure the coherence necessary to develop, produce and disseminate European statistics. In particular, the ESCB and the ESS cooperate when elaborating their own statistical principles, when designing their respective statistical work programmes and when striving to reduce the overall response burden. To this end the exchange of appropriate information related to the ESCB and the ESS statistical work programmes between the relevant ESCB and ESS committees, as well as between the ECB and the Commission, is of particular importance to maximise the benefits of good cooperation and to avoid duplication in collecting statistical information.
(12) The ESS members need part of the data collected by the ESCB for the development, production and dissemination of European statistics within the meaning of Article 1 of Regulation (EC) No 223/2009. Appropriate arrangements for making the respective data available to the ESS members should therefore be set up.
(13) Furthermore, it is important to ensure close cooperation between the ESCB and the ESS, and notably to foster the exchange of confidential statistical information between the two systems for statistical purposes, in the light of Article 285 of the Treaty and Article 5 of the Statute.
(14) In order to enhance transparency, the statistics compiled on the basis of the statistical information collected from financial sector institutions by the ESCB should be made publicly available but a high level of protection of confidential information should be guaranteed.
(15) Confidential statistical information collected and supplied to a member of the ESCB by an ESS authority should not be used for purposes that are not exclusively statistical, such as for administrative or tax purposes or legal proceedings or for the purposes referred to in Articles 6 and 7 of Regulation (EC) No 2533/98. In this respect, it is necessary to ensure the physical and logical protection of this confidential statistical information and ensure that no unlawful disclosure or use for non-statistical purposes occurs.
(16) Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 December 2000 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data by the Community institutions and bodies and on the free movement of such data (6) has entered into force and must be complied with in the development, production and dissemination of statistics by the ESCB,
HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:
Article 1
Regulation (EC) No 2533/98 is amended as follows:
The following Article is inserted after Article 2:
‘Article 2a Cooperation with the ESS To minimise the reporting burden and guarantee the coherence necessary to produce European statistics, the ESCB and the ESS shall cooperate closely, while complying with the statistical principles laid down in Article 3a.’
The following Article is inserted after Article 3:
‘Article 3a Statistical principles underlying European statistics produced by the ESCB The development, production and dissemination of European statistics by the ESCB shall be governed by the principles of impartiality, objectivity, professional independence, cost-effectiveness, statistical confidentiality, minimisation of the reporting burden and high output quality, including reliability and the definitions of these principles shall be adopted, elaborated on and published by the ECB. These principles are similar to the statistical principles of Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 March 2009 on European statistics(2). (2) OJ L 87, 31.3.2009, p. 164.’ "
The following Articles are inserted after Article 8:
‘Article 8a Exchange of confidential statistical information between the ESCB and the ESS
Article 8b
Confidentiality report The ECB shall publish an annual confidentiality report on the measures adopted to safeguard the confidentiality of the statistical information referred to in Articles 8 and 8a.
Article 8c
Protection of confidential information on individuals This Regulation shall apply without prejudice to Directive 95/46/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 October 1995 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data(3) and Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 December 2000 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data by the Community institutions and bodies and of the free movement of such data(4).
Article 8d
Access to administrative records To reduce the burden on respondents, the national central banks and the ECB shall have access to relevant sources of administrative data within their respective public administration systems, to the extent that these data are necessary for the development, production and dissemination of European statistics. The practical arrangements and the conditions for achieving effective access shall be determined where necessary by each Member State and the ECB, within their respective spheres of competence. These data shall be used by the ESCB members exclusively for statistical purposes. (3) OJ L 281, 23.11.1995, p. 31." (4) OJ L 8, 12.1.2001, p. 1.’."
Annexes A and B are deleted.
Article 2
Entry into force
This Regulation shall enter into force on the day following its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.
This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.
Done at Luxembourg, 9 October 2009.
For the Council The President Å. TORSTENSSON
(1) OJ C 251, 3.10.2008, p. 1.
(2) Opinion delivered on 24 March 2009 (not yet published in the Official Journal).
(3) Opinion delivered on 13 January 2009 (not yet published in the Official Journal).
(4) OJ L 318, 27.11.1998, p. 8.
Reading this document does not replace reading the official text published in the Official Journal of the European Union. We assume no responsibility for any inaccuracies arising from the conversion of the original to this format.