Commission Regulation (EU) 2021/1901 of 29 October 2021 implementing Regulation (EC) No 1338/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards statistics on health care expenditure and financing (Text with EEA relevance)

THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,

Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

Having regard to Regulation (EC) No 1338/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 December 2008 on Community statistics on public health and health and safety at work (1), and in particular Article 9(1) and Annex II, point (d), thereof,

Whereas:

(1) It follows from Regulation (EC) No 1338/2008 that the data and metadata on health care expenditure and financing should be set out by implementing measures.

(2) In accordance with Article 6(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1338/2008, the Commission carried out a cost-benefit analysis, taking into account the benefits of the availability of data on health care expenditure and financing. Variables on health care expenditure and financing should be collected to ensure the availability of EU-wide data for decisions relating to health and social policy.

(3) The Commission (Eurostat) produced jointly with the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development and the World Health Organization a statistical reference manual, the System of Health Accounts 2011 (2), to ensure relevance and comparability of the data. This manual, which sets out the concepts, the definitions and the methods for data processing relating to health care expenditure and financing should form the basis for the detailed questionnaire together with the guidelines accompanying the joint annual data collection exercise.

(4) The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the European Statistical System Committee established by Article 7 of Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council (3),

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

This Regulation lays down rules for the development and production of European statistics in the area of health care expenditure and financing, one of the subjects for statistics on health care listed in Annex II to Regulation (EC) No 1338/2008.

Article 2

For the purpose of this Regulation, the definitions set out in Annex I shall apply.

Article 3

Member States shall provide data for the areas and at the level of aggregation specified in Annex II.

Article 4

Article 5

Member States shall provide the necessary reference metadata, in particular concerning:

(a) the data sources and their coverage;

(b) the compilation methods used;

(c) information on features of national health care expenditure and financing specific to the Member States and deviations from the definitions listed in Annex I;

(d) references to national legislation where it forms the basis for health care expenditure and financing;

(e) information on any changes to the statistical concepts mentioned in Annex I.

Article 6

This Regulation shall enter into force on the twentieth day following that of 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 Brussels, 29 October 2021.

For the Commission The President Ursula VON DER LEYEN

(1) OJ L 354, 31.12.2008, p. 70.

(2) OECD, Eurostat and World Health Organization, A System of Health Accounts 2011

(3) Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 March 2009 on European statistics and repealing Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1101/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the transmission of data subject to statistical confidentiality to the Statistical Office of the European Communities, Council Regulation (EC) No 322/97 on Community Statistics, and Council Decision 89/382/EEC, Euratom establishing a Committee on the Statistical Programmes of the European Communities (OJ L 87, 31.3.2009, p. 164).