P9_TA(2024)0361Statistics on population and housingEuropean Parliament legislative resolution of 24 April 2024 on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on European statistics on population and housing, amending Regulation (EC) No 862/2007 and repealing Regulations (EC) No 763/2008 and (EU) No 1260/2013 (COM(2023)0031 – C9-0010/2023 – 2023/0008(COD))(Ordinary legislative procedure: first reading)The European Parliament,

–having regard to the Commission proposal to Parliament and the Council (COM(2023)0031),

–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 (C9‑0010/2023),

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

–having regard to the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee of 27 April 2023OJ C 228, 29.6.2023, p. 148.,

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

–having regard to the opinions of the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs and the Committee on Regional Development,

–having regard to the report of the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs (A9-0284/2023),

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.

P9_TC1-COD(2023)0008Position of the European Parliament adopted at first reading on 24 April 2024 with a view to the adoption of Regulation (EU) 2024/… of the European Parliament and of the Council on European statistics on population and housing, amending Regulation (EC) No 862/2007 and repealing Regulations (EC) No 763/2008 and (EU) No 1260/2013* The changes throughout the text result from the adoption of amendment 56. New or amended text is highlighted in bold italics; deletions are indicated by the symbol ▌.(Text with EEA relevance)THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

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

Having regard to the proposal from the European Commission,

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

Having regard to the opinion of the European Economic and Social CommitteeOJ C , , p. .,

Having regard to the opinion of the Committee of the RegionsOJ C , , p. .,

Acting in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure,

Whereas:

(1)European statistics on population and housing play a central role in policy-making and decision-making processes and, as such, are required for the design, implementation and evaluation of Union policies, in particular those addressing the demographic change, the green and digital transformations, the framework for the promotion of energy efficiency, economic, social and territorial cohesion, the implementation of the principles of the European Pillar of Social Rights and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations (UN) 2030 Agenda in so far as they fall within the scope of this Regulation.

(2)Statistics on population are an important denominator for a wide range of policy indicators and used as reference across European statistics, particularly for providing sampling frames for conducting representative surveys of persons and households, under Regulation (EU) 2019/1700 of the European Parliament and of the CouncilRegulation (EU) 2019/1700 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 10 October 2019 establishing a common framework for European statistics relating to persons and households, based on data at individual level collected from samples, amending Regulations (EC) No 808/2004, (EC) No 452/2008 and (EC) No 1338/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council, and repealing Regulation (EC) No 1177/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council and Council Regulation (EC) No 577/98 (OJ L 261I, 14.10.2019, p. 1)..

(3)The Economic and Financial Affairs Council regularly gives a mandate to the Economic Policy Committee to assess the long-term sustainability and quality of public finances based on population projections produced by Eurostat. The population projections are also used for policy analysis in the context of the European semester. The Commission (Eurostat) should have at disposal all the necessary statistics to produce and publish population projections according to the information needs of the Union.

(4)Pursuant to Article 175(2) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), the Commission is to report, every three years, on the progress made towards achieving economic, social and territorial cohesion to the European Parliament, the Council, the Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions. Regional and local data including for different territorial types, such as border regions, cities and their functional urban areas, metropolitan regions, rural regions, mountain and island regions are necessary for the preparation of those reports and for the regular monitoring of demographic developments and of possible future demographic challenges in the Union territory.

(5)Pursuant to Article 16(4) of the Treaty on European Union (TEU), a qualified majority of the members of the Council is to be defined, inter alia, on the basis of the population of the Member States. For that purpose, pursuant to Article 4(1) of Regulation (EU) No 1260/2013 of the European Parliament and of the CouncilRegulation (EU) No 1260/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 November 2013 on European demographic statistics (OJ L 330, 10.12.2013, p. 39). Member States are currently obliged to provide the Commission (Eurostat) with data on the total population at national level.

(6)In 2017, the European Statistical System Committee (ESSC) endorsed the Budapest Memorandum, which stated the need for annual statistics on the size and on certain social, economic and demographic characteristics of the population and improved statistics on migration. For the observance of the principles of equality and non-discrimination with regard to its citizens in all activities and the citizens’ rights as enshrined in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union and Articles 10 and 19 TFEU, and for the purpose of monitoring progress towards the implementation of the principles of the European Pillar of Social Rights, the Union needs reliable and comparable statistics. Regulation (EU) 2019/1700 provides a framework for data collections from samples that allow to collect data on equality and non-discrimination in so far as this is feasible on samples and to analyse some aspects of equality and discrimination by producing socio-economic indicators and information on experience of discrimination. In addition, the Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA) and the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) carry out specific studies and dedicated surveys that can further extend the availability of equality statistics at Union level. In addition, the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Eurofound) provides data and information collected by means of surveys on living and working conditions. Cooperation and coordination between Member States, the Commission (Eurostat) and those agencies should be further enhanced to meet growing user demands for reliable and comprehensive data on equality and diversity in the Union.

(6a) The Budapest Memorandum also called for an improved statistics on migration and the development and implementation of common population and migration-related definitions, taking into account the need to establish concepts and definitions that are statistically sound, relevant and applicable in light of emerging types of migration. Past and ongoing events, such as the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the Union and, the consequences of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine and other humanitarian crises underline the importance of timely and detailed migration and international protection statistics, which are essential to establishing an overview of migratory flows to, within and from the Union.

(7)To achieve the targets of the European Green Deal, the development and evaluation of effective policies require enhanced statistics relating to the energy use and efficiency of housing, detailed geographical data on the distribution of the population as well as deeper studies of the relationship between population and housing. The COVID-19 pandemic manifested the need for reliable, high frequency and timely statistics on deaths in the Union. While data needs were met with a voluntary data collection from Member States to the Commission (Eurostat), the Union needs an adequate mechanism for mandatory collection of such data within the European Statistical System (ESS), subject to the necessary frequency, timeliness and detail.

(7a) To monitor progress in the implementation of the principles of the European Pillar of Social Rights, of the headline targets of the related Action Plan and of the European Child Guarantee at the national level and to assess the distributional impact of climate change and policies in general, the Union needs an adequate mechanism for the mandatory collection of such data within the ESS, subject to the necessary frequency, timeliness and detail.

(8)UN Economic and Social Council, on the proposal of the UN Statistical Commission, every ten years adopts resolutions regarding the World population and housing census and invites UN member countries to conduct population and housing censuses in line with international and regional recommendations and by upholding the integrity, reliability, accuracy and value of the population and housing census results. European statistics on population and housing should take into account these recommendations.

(9)Streamlining reporting obligations and reducing administrative burden is a central objective of the Commission. The Commission communication of 16 March 2023, entitled ‘Long-term competitiveness of the EU: looking beyond 2030’ aims to rationalise and simplify reporting requirements by 25 % for undertakings and administrations, while not undermining the related policy objectives. Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 of the European Parliament and of the CouncilRegulation (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). established a legal framework for the development, production and dissemination of European statistics, based on common statistical principles. That Regulation sets out the quality criteria and refers to the need to minimise the response burden on survey respondents and to contribute to the more general objective of reducing the administrative burden. A new legal framework for European statistics on population and housing should implement and build upon the quality criteria set out in that Regulation and reduce the administrative burden by embracing effective and efficient reuse of available data sources including administrative data.

(10)The evaluation of existing statisticsSWD(2023)13. on the population and housing censuses in the Union, statistics on international migration flows, migrant stocks and acquisitions of citizenship and demography statistics has shown that the current legal framework comprising Regulations (EC) No 862/2007Regulation (EC) No 862/2007 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 July 2007 on Community statistics on migration and international protection and repealing Council Regulation (EEC) No 311/76 on the compilation of statistics on foreign workers (OJ L 199, 31.7.2007, p. 23)., (EC) No 763/2008Regulation (EC) No 763/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 9 July 2008 on population and housing censuses (OJ L 218, 13.8.2008, p. 14). and (EU) No 1260/2013 of the European Parliament and the Council has led to significant overall improvements of statistics compared to the 2005 situation without the current legal framework in force. That framework, however, has potential for a lack of consistency and comparability, which should be addressed.

(11)Climate change, the digital transformation, the evolving demographic situation and recent migration trends have created demands for timelier, more frequent, and more detailed European statistics on population, socio-economic developments, vital events and housing including details of topics or groups that have become politically and societally relevant during the past decade. In addition, the existing legal framework is not flexible enough to adapt to evolving policy needs and to enable the use of new sources at national and Union level. Furthermore, the structure of the existing legal framework in the form of three separate regulations, adopted at different times, has led to intrinsic inconsistencies of the statistics. Finally, as Regulation (EU) No 1260/2013 will cease to apply on 31 August 2028, a new legal basis is required for the demographic statistics collected under that Regulation. It is therefore necessary to replace the current legal framework by a new, more consistent and flexible one that should amend relevant parts of Regulation (EC) No 862/2007 and to repeal Regulations (EC) No 763/2008 and (EU) No 1260/2013.

(12)Article 3 of Regulation (EC) No 862/2007 covers statistics on the country of citizenship and place of birth of the resident population (migrant stocks), on changes of residence between countries (international migration flows) and on acquisitions of citizenship of the resident population, whereas the other statistics under that Regulation concern administrative and judicial procedures relating to immigration legislation and international protection. Statistics as referred to in Article 3 of that Regulation are therefore closely linked and should be consistent with the statistics on the resident population and its demographic changes provided under Regulations (EC) No 763/2008 and (EU) No 1260/2013. To ensure intrinsic consistency, those statistics should therefore be integrated into a single legal basis while deleting Article 3 from Regulation (EC) No 862/2007.

(13)The rapidly changing nature of some population and housing characteristics, in particular in relation to demographic, socio-economic and migration phenomena, and the corresponding need for a prompt targeting and adaptation of policies means that there is a need for statistics to be available on a timely basis soon after the reference period. The periodicity and timeliness of statistics should be therefore tangibly advanced, where possible through the use of administrative data and administrative records. To that end, the Member States should provide adequate resources for their national statistical institutes.

(14)Regulation (EC) No 1059/2003 of the European Parliament and of the CouncilRegulation (EC) No 1059/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 May 2003 on the establishment of a common classification of territorial units for statistics (NUTS) (OJ L 154, 21.6.2003, p. 1). establishes a grid-based methodology for the definition of territorial typologies based on the population distribution by 1 km2 grid cells. Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/1799Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/1799 of 21 November 2018 on the establishment of a temporary direct statistical action for the dissemination of selected topics of the 2021 population and housing census geocoded to a 1 km2 grid (OJ L 296, 22.11.2018, p. 19). as a temporary direct statistical action accompanying the 2021 population and housing censuses provides for key census outputs on a pan-European 1 km2 grid. A legal framework should ensure the continued dissemination of georeferenced population statistics based on grids and its extension to housing statistics.

(15)Territorial units and statistical grids should be defined in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 1059/2003.

(16)For geocoding of location, the statistical units theme in accordance with Annex III to Directive 2007/2/EC of the European Parliament and of the CouncilDirective 2007/2/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 March 2007 establishing an Infrastructure for Spatial Information in the European Community (INSPIRE) (OJ L 108, 25.4.2007, p. 1). should be used.

(17)The current legal framework for European statistics on population and housing needs to be updated to ensure that the presently separate statistical processes are adequately integrated in a common framework which allows the ESS to respond effectively to new information needs of the Union and encourage statistical innovations. Statistical output must be enhanced to remain relevant in the face of demographic, migratory, social and economic changes and challenges, supporting policy and decision-making.

(18)The enhanced regular (annual and infra-annual) statistics on population and housing based on administrative sources should be complemented with information from coordinated population and housing censuses in the Union conducted every ten years in accordance with the UN principles and recommendations. Equally important, population and housing censuses provide a unique opportunity for official statistics to be visible, both in terms of operations and results.

(19)The Union censuses should become more cost-effective through making full use of the rich set of administrative data available across the Member States or a combination of different sources including sources related to the Internet of Things and the provision of digital services on the basis of the conclusion of protocols between the national statistical institutes of the Member States and providers of data from private databases. They should respect the privacy of personal data by establishing the needed safeguards for personal data collection to avoid any potential misuse and guarantee fundamental rights. They should also be used to re-establish the demographic baseline and include surveys of the coverage of administrative data sources.

(20)Member States and the Commission (Eurostat) should have sustainable access to the widest possible range of data sources to produce European statistics on population and housing of high quality and in a cost-effective manner. In this regard, it is crucial that national statistical authorities get timely access and are allowed to use promptly the administrative data owned by public administrations at national, regional and local level, in accordance with Article 17a of Regulation (EC) No 223/2009. For example, statistics on energy efficiency of buildings can be based on administrative data relating to the issuance of energy certificates of buildings under Directive 2010/31/EU of the European Parliament and of the CouncilDirective 2010/31/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 May 2010 on the energy performance of buildings (OJ L 153, 18.6.2010, p. 13).. National statistical authorities should be able to fully reuse, in a regular and timely manner, administrative data from the interoperable databases for the energy performance of buildings that are available nationally according to Directive (EU) 2024/1275 of the European Parliament and of the CouncilDirective (EU) 2024/1275 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 April 2024 on the energy performance of buildings (recast) (OJ L, 2024/1275, 8.5.2024, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/dir/2024/1275/oj).. The national statistical authorities also need to be involved in decisions concerning the design and redevelopment of relevant administrative data sources to ensure that they can be further reused for compilation of official statistics.

(21)In recent years, comprehensive Union level databases and interoperability systems related to residence, vital events, citizenship and migratory and cross-border movements of population such as those established by Regulations (EU) No 910/2014Regulation (EU) No 910/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 July 2014 on electronic identification and trust services for electronic transactions in the internal market and repealing Directive 1999/93/EC (OJ L 257, 28.8.2014, p. 73)., (EU) 2018/1724Regulation (EU) 2018/1724 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 2 October 2018 establishing a single digital gateway to provide access to information, to procedures and to assistance and problem-solving services and amending Regulation (EU) No 1024/2012 (OJ L 295, 21.11.2018, p. 1)., (EU) 2019/817Regulation (EU) 2019/817 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 May 2019 on establishing a framework for interoperability between EU information systems in the field of borders and visa and amending Regulations (EC) No 767/2008, (EU) 2016/399, (EU) 2017/2226, (EU) 2018/1240, (EU) 2018/1726 and (EU) 2018/1861 of the European Parliament and of the Council and Council Decisions 2004/512/EC and 2008/633/JHA (OJ L 135, 22.5.2019, p. 27). and (EU) 2019/818Regulation (EU) 2019/818 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 May 2019 on establishing a framework for interoperability between EU information systems in the field of police and judicial cooperation, asylum and migration and amending Regulations (EU) 2018/1726, (EU) 2018/1862 and (EU) 2019/816 (OJ L 135, 22.5.2019, p. 85). of the European Parliament and of the Council have been developed. They provide valuable information that can be re-used for the compilation and quality assurance of European statistics on population and housing.

(22)In that respect, it is essential to enable the Commission (Eurostat) to re-use those data for statistical purposes only subject to strictly applying rules of data protection and data privacy pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 of the European Parliament and of the CouncilRegulation (EU) 2018/1725 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2018 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data by the Union institutions, bodies, offices and agencies and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 and Decision No 1247/2002/EC (OJ L 295, 21.11.2018, p. 39).. This should apply in particular to the statistical data stored in the central repository for reporting and statistics (CRRS) in accordance with the purpose of the CRRS set out in Article 39(1) of Regulation (EU) 2019/817 as well as in Article 39(1) of Regulation (EU) 2019/818 and in accordance with the Regulations establishing the systems whose statistical data is stored in the CRRS. In particular, considering that the CRRS is to provide cross-system statistical data and analytical reporting for policy, operational and data quality purposes, the Commission (Eurostat) should cooperate with the European Union Agency for the Operational Management of Large-Scale IT Systems in the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice (eu-LISA), to the extent possible, with a view to providing the required European statistics.

(23)Privately held data refers to the vast amount of data held by private entities obtained as a result of their activity, which could be used by statistical authorities and the Commission (Eurostat) to produce official statistics. Such data can improve the coverage, timeliness and crisis response capacities of European statistics on population and housing or ▌ enable statistical innovation. Such data have the potential to complement existing demography and migration statistics, bring statistical innovation and even serve for production of early estimates while ensuring the protection of the rights and freedoms of data holders. The national statistical institutes and other competent national authorities and the Commission (Eurostat) should have access to and use such data and cooperate with the private data holders in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 223/2009.

(24)To ensure the comparability of European statistics on population and housing at Union level, it is essential that common population definitions are used and implemented in a harmonised way. To implement the single harmonised population base consistently, robustly and cost-effectively while ensuring timely results, it should be possible to apply scientifically based modelling techniques and statistical methods such as ‘signs of life’, where appropriate.

(25)Member States should provide their data and metadata in electronic form in an appropriate technical format to be provided by the Commission (Eurostat). International standards, such as the Statistical Data and Metadata Exchange initiative, and statistical or technical standards elaborated within the Union, such as metadata and validation standards or European Interoperable Framework principles, should be used to the extent relevant for European statistics on population and housing. The ESSC has endorsed the ESS standards for metadata and quality reports, in accordance with Article 12 of Regulation (EC) No 223/2009. Those standards are to contribute to the harmonisation of quality assurance and reporting under this Regulation and should therefore be introduced.

(26)European statistics on population and housing should meet the quality criteria on relevance, accuracy, timeliness and punctuality, accessibility and clarity, comparability and coherence specified in Regulation (EC) No 223/2009. The quality of those statistics should be enhanced in so far as the needs of the Union evolve and mechanisms should be established to address possible situations where the quality of data is not guaranteed. Appropriate results from the quality assessment carried out by the Commission (Eurostat) should be publicly available to statistics users by assuring free and easy access to those statistics through Commission (Eurostat) databases on its website and in its publications.

(26a) European statistics on population and housing should address the persistent lack of data regarding vulnerable groups, namely hard-to-reach population groups, such as persons residing in institutions (for instance military institutions, correctional and penal institutions, dormitories of schools and universities, religious institutions, hospitals, residential care centres, institutions for persons with disabilities and orphanages), persons aged over 75, persons with disabilities, homeless people, persons with a migrant background and stateless persons. In order to bridge that data divide and to prevent social and economic inequalities arising from it, the Member States should develop strategies and targeted solutions for collecting data about hard-to-reach population groups, in particular with regard to locating, contacting, persuading and interviewing hard-to-reach populations.

(26b) Adequate, timely and effective policies presuppose reliable and comparable data, disaggregated by gender, age and, where relevant, nationality, socio-economic status, geographical area, and other characteristics in accordance with the statistical principles laid down in Article 338(1) TFEU and in the European Statistics Code of practice and Quality assurance Framework of the ESS. That data is relevant to better understand population and housing trends, to combat intersectional discrimination and to implement and assess Union policies, political objectives and actions, such as the principles of the European Pillar of Social Rights, the European Child Guarantee, the European Care Strategy, the European Strategy for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the European Platform on Combatting Homelessness, all of which rely heavily on data about households and families. Disaggregation of statistics by disability should be encouraged by using existing and new administrative data sources, which should be leveraged to explore capturing disability. The collection and use of such data must be conducted with full respect of Union and national privacy and fundamental rights standards, particularly where involving data of minors. Disaggregation by gender should reflect available data in Member States. In some Member States, it is currently possible for persons to legally register as having a third, often a neutral, gender. This Regulation does not affect relevant national rules giving effect to such registration.

(27)Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 includes rules on the provision of data from the Member States to the Commission (Eurostat) and on the use thereof, including on the transmission and protection of confidential data. Measures taken in accordance with this Regulation should ensure that confidential data are provided and used exclusively for statistical purposes in accordance with Articles 21 and 22 of that Regulation.

(28)The Commission (Eurostat) is to respect the statistical confidentiality of the data provided by Member States pursuant to Regulation (EC) No 223/2009. With regard to the population statistics collected under this Regulation, a harmonised approach to ensuring the high quality of European aggregates and avoiding the disclosure of confidential data in statistical outputs should be developed, avoiding as far as possible the suppression of data.

(29)Data sources available at national level are not always able to capture accurately phenomena related to the free movement of persons in the Union, the access of persons to cross-border services on demographic vital events and the exercise of persons rights to buy and own housing property used as primary, holiday and secondary accommodation across the Union. There are also discrepancies in the bilateral migration flows and difficulties to measure population groups, for instance among the migrant, homeless or stateless population. Therefore, data sharing for the purposes of compiling statistics on population and migration and ensuring their quality should be reinforced and considered as yet another data source. Such reinforced data sharing may cover a wide range of relevant data, from data that clearly do not allow for the identification of statistical units, either directly or indirectly, to data potentially subject to statistical confidentiality requirements. Member States should, in their own interest and in the interest of the other Member States, participate in data sharing activities, including in pilot projects assessing innovative secure solutions. The Commission (Eurostat) should also establish a secure infrastructure to facilitate such data sharing while ensuring all necessary safeguards for data protection.

▌

(31)The sharing of confidential data should take place only on the basis of a request justifying the necessity of sharing those data in accordance with Chapter V of Regulation (EC) No 223/2009.

(32)In the longer term, the collaborative efforts in the ESS to mitigate cross-border statistical quality issues, such as double counting of Union residents enjoying freedom of movement, should benefit from, for example, single digital identifiers established at Union level by Regulation (EU) No 910/2014.

(33)This Regulation is without prejudice to Regulations (EU) 2016/679Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Directive 95/46/EC (General Data Protection Regulation) (OJ L 119, 4.5.2016, p. 1). and (EU) 2018/1725 and Directive 2002/58/ECDirective 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). of the European Parliament and of the Council. Within their respective scope of application, the latter Regulations are to apply to the processing of personal data under this Regulation, also considering that personal data processed for statistical purposes in the public interest are statistical confidential data, subject to the statistical confidentiality principle. Therefore, such data should only be used for statistical purposes and should never be used for measures or decisions regarding any particular natural person. Anonymised or pseudonymised data should be preferably used for processing, sharing and archiving of personal data for statistical purposes under this Regulation to guarantee the safeguards adopted pursuant to Article 89 of Regulation (EU) 2016/679 and Article 13 of Regulation (EU) 2018/1725. Where personal data are processed according to Regulation (EU) 2016/679 or Regulation (EU) 2018/1725, the principles of lawfulness, fairness, transparency and accuracy, purpose limitation, data minimisation, storage limitation and integrity and confidentiality should be fully applied. Similarly, the statistical principles set out in Article 2 of Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 and further elaborated in the European Statistics Code of Practice should also apply.

(34)European statistics on population and housing should evolve to take into account emerging data needs stemming from changing policy priorities, as well as changes in the demographic, migratory, social or economic situation in the Union. The Commission (Eurostat) should undertake pilot and feasibility studies assessing the feasibility of the adaptations concerned as appropriate and should take into account aspects such as costs and administrative burdens on Member States and the availability of appropriate data sources. When preparing those studies, the Commission should ensure the representativeness of the studies at Union level, reflecting national diversities. The Commission should evaluate the results of the studies in cooperation with Member States.

(35)In order to take account of demographic, economic and social trends, technological developments and the need to design well-targeted policies in a timely manner, the power to adopt acts in accordance with Article 290 TFEU should be delegated to the Commission in order to amend the list, description , periodicities and reference times of detailed topics covered by European statistics on population and housing; to update the periodicities and reference times in the Annex to this Regulation and to specify the information to be provided by Member States on an ad hoc basis. It is of particular importance that the Commission carry out appropriate consultations during its preparatory work, including at expert level, and that those consultations be conducted in accordance with the principles laid down in the Interinstitutional Agreement of 13 April 2016 on Better Law-MakingOJ L 123, 12.5.2016, p. 1.. In particular, to ensure equal participation in the preparation of delegated acts, the European Parliament and the Council receive all documents at the same time as Member States' experts, and their experts systematically have access to meetings of Commission expert groups dealing with the preparation of delegated acts.

(35a) The importance of European statistics as vital part of evidence-based decision-making is reflected in the programming and financing framework established by Regulation (EU) 2021/690 of the European Parliament and the CouncilRegulation (EU) 2021/690 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 28 April 2021 establishing a programme for the internal market, competitiveness of enterprises, including small and medium-sized enterprises, the area of plants, animals, food and feed, and European statistics (Single Market Programme) and repealing Regulations (EU) No 99/2013, (EU) No 1287/2013, (EU) No 254/2014 and (EU) No 652/2014 (OJ L 153, 3.5.2021, p. 1). for the development, production and dissemination of European statistics (Single Market Programme). Member States should be able to apply for financial support from the Single Market Programme as well as from the Technical Support Instrument established by Regulation (EU) 2021/240 of the European Parliament and of the CouncilRegulation (EU) 2021/240 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 10 February 2021 establishing a Technical Support Instrument (OJ L 57, 18.2.2021, p. 1). in accordance with the objectives and rules of those instruments, for adapting their national statistical systems, improving methodology and data quality of statistics and planning and implementing ad-hoc data collections under this Regulation.

(36)In accordance with Regulations (EU, Euratom) 2018/1046Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2018/1046 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 July 2018 on the financial rules applicable to the general budget of the Union, amending Regulations (EU) No 1296/2013, (EU) No 1301/2013, (EU) No 1303/2013, (EU) No 1304/2013, (EU) No 1309/2013, (EU) No 1316/2013, (EU) No 223/2014, (EU) No 283/2014, and Decision No 541/2014/EU and repealing Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 966/2012 (OJ L 193, 30.7.2018, p. 1). and (EU, Euratom) No 883/2013 of the European Parliament and of the CouncilRegulation (EU, Euratom) No 883/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 September 2013 concerning investigations conducted by the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) and repealing Regulation (EC) No 1073/1999 of the European Parliament and of the Council and Council Regulation (Euratom) No 1074/1999 (OJ L 248, 18.9.2013, p. 1). and with Council Regulations (EC, Euratom) No 2988/95Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 2988/95 of 18 December 1995 on the protection of the European Communities financial interests (OJ L 312, 23.12.1995, p. 1)., (Euratom, EC) No 2185/96Council Regulation (Euratom, EC) No 2185/96 of 11 November 1996 concerning on-the-spot checks and inspections carried out by the Commission in order to protect the European Communities’ financial interests against fraud and other irregularities (OJ L 292, 15.11.1996, p. 2). and (EU) 2017/1939Council Regulation (EU) 2017/1939 of 12 October 2017 implementing enhanced cooperation on the establishment of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (‘the EPPO’) (OJ L 283, 31.10.2017, p. 1)., the financial interests of the Union are to be protected by means of proportionate measures, including measures relating to the prevention, detection, correction and investigation of irregularities, including fraud, to the recovery of funds lost, wrongly paid or incorrectly used, and, where appropriate, to the imposition of administrative penalties. In particular, in accordance with Regulations (Euratom, EC) No 2185/96 and (EU, Euratom) No 883/2013, the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) has the power to carry out administrative investigations, including on-the-spot checks and inspections, with a view to establishing whether there has been fraud, corruption or any other illegal activity affecting the financial interests of the Union. The European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) is empowered, in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2017/1939, to investigate and prosecute criminal offences affecting the financial interests of the Union as provided for in Directive (EU) 2017/1371 of the European Parliament and of the CouncilDirective (EU) 2017/1371 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 July 2017 on the fight against fraud to the Union’s financial interests by means of criminal law (OJ L 198, 28.7.2017, p. 29).. In accordance with Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2018/1046, any person or entity receiving Union funds is to fully cooperate in the protection of the financial interests of the Union, grant the necessary rights and access to the Commission, OLAF, the Court of Auditors and, in respect of those Member States participating in enhanced cooperation pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2017/1939, the EPPO, and ensure that any third parties involved in the implementation of Union funds grant equivalent rights.

(37)In order to ensure uniform conditions for the implementation of this Regulation with regard to the specification of data and metadata requirements, technical formats and procedures for data and metadata provision, content and structure of quality reports, implementing powers should be conferred on the Commission. Those powers should be exercised in accordance with Regulation (EU) No 182/2011 of the European Parliament and the CouncilRegulation (EU) No 182/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 February 2011 laying down the rules and general principles concerning mechanisms for control by Member States of the Commission's exercise of implementing powers (OJ L 55, 28.2.2011, p. 13)..

(38)Where the implementation of this Regulation, or of the delegated and implementing acts adopted pursuant thereto, would require major adaptations to the national statistical system of a Member State for data provision with periodicity of less than 10 years, the Commission should be able, in duly justified cases and for a limited period of time, to grant derogations to the Member States concerned.

(39)Since the objective of this Regulation, namely the systematic production of European statistics on population and housing, cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States but can rather, by reason of consistency and comparability, be better achieved at Union level, the Union may adopt measures, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity as set out in Article 5 TEU. 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.

(40)The European Data Protection Supervisor was consulted in accordance with Article 42(1) of Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 and delivered an opinion on 16 March 2023.

(41)The ESSC has been consulted,

HAVE ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:
Article 1Subject matterThis Regulation establishes a common legal framework for the development, production and dissemination of European statistics on population and housing.
Article 2DefinitionsFor the purpose of this Regulation, the following definitions shall apply:(1)‘citizenship’ means the particular legal bond between a natural person and his or her State, acquired by birth or naturalisation, whether by declaration, choice, marriage, adoption or other means in accordance with national law;(2)‘usual residence’ means the place where a person normally spends the daily period of rest, regardless of temporary absences for purposes of recreation, holidays, visits to friends and relatives, business, medical treatment or religious pilgrimage. Only the following persons shall be considered to be usual residents of a specific geographical area:(a)those who have lived in their place of usual residence most of the time in the 12 months prior to and including the reference date; or(b)those who arrived at their place of usual residence during the 12 months prior to and including the reference date and for whom there is an intention or expectation of staying there most of the time for at least 12 months after arrival;(3)‘signs of life’ means any information indicative of the actual presence and usual residence of a person on the territory of interest, including information obtained from any appropriate source or combination of them, including digital traces that relate to the person;(4)▌(5)‘international migration’ means the event by which a person establishes his or her usual residence in the territory of a Member State or third country, having previously been usually resident in another Member State or a third country;(6)‘immigrant’ means a person who underwent international migration during the reference period to establish his or her new usual residence inside the reporting country;(7)‘emigrant’ means a person who underwent international migration during the reference period to establish his or her new usual residence outside the reporting country, having previously been usually resident within the reporting country;(8)‘internal migration’ means the event by which a person changes his or her usual residence within the territory of the reporting country;(8a) ‘hard-to-reach population groups’ means groups of individuals for whom a real or perceived barrier exists for full and representative inclusion or identification in the collection of statistical data, either due to lack of coverage of respective groups, or due to lack of specific characteristics to identify them;(9)‘living quarters’ means a temporary or permanent structure, shelter or lodging place at which one or more persons reside, irrespective of whether it is designed or intended for human habitation;(10)▌ ‘conventional dwellings’ are structurally separate and independent premises in fixed locations that are designed for permanent human habitation and which at the reference date are: (a)used as a usual residence; (b)unoccupied; or (c)used as a secondary or seasonal residence. (x)‘separate premises’ means premises surrounded by walls and covered by a roof or ceiling in such a way that one or more persons can reside there independent of others;(xx)‘independent premises’ means premises with direct access from a street or stairway, passage, corridor or land;(11)‘building intended for habitation’ means a permanent structure comprised of one or more conventional dwellings or which is intended for institutional or collective housing;(12)‘household’ means a group of two or more persons who share living quarters ▌ or an individual person who does not form part of any other household;(12a) institution’ means a collective living quarter for the purpose of long-term housing and provision of services needed for daily life to a group of persons;(13)‘family’ means a group of two or more persons who live most of the time in the same household and who are related through parenthood or through marital, registered or consensual union partnership;(14)‘administrative records’ mean data generated by a non‐statistical source, usually a register held by a public body, the main aim of which is not the provision of statistics;(15)‘domain’ means one or several data sets that covers particular topics;(16)‘topic’ means the content of the information to be collected about the statistical units, with each topic covering several detailed topics;(17)‘detailed topic’ means the detailed content of the information to be collected about the statistical units related to a topic, each detailed topic covering one or several variables;(18)‘data set’ means ▌ one or several variables organised in a structured form;(19)‘population and housing census’ means the detailed decennial data sets and metadata to be provided under this Regulation;(20)‘statistical unit’ means one member of a universe of entities, namely persons, objects or events about which data are collected and statistics are ▌ compiled;(21)‘variable’ means a characteristic of a statistical unit that can assume more than one set of values;(22)‘breakdown’ means a predefined discrete, exhaustive and mutually exclusive set of values which can be assigned to a variables characterising statistical units;(23)‘national level’ means the territory of a Member State;(24)‘regional level’ means the NUTS3 level as set out in Regulation (EC) No 1059/2003;(25)‘local level’ means the local administrative unit ▌ level as set out in Regulation (EC) No 1059/2003;(26)‘grid level’ means statistical grid as set out in Regulation (EC) No 1059/2003;(27)‘frames’ means any list, material or device that delimits and identifies the elements of the target population and, depending on its use, may allow access to, or provide additional characteristics of the elements;(28)‘reference date’ means the moment in time to which statistics refer;(29)‘reference period’ means the time interval to which statistics on events refer;(30)‘reference time’ means either reference date or reference period, depending whether the statistics are on events or on other statistical units;(31)‘metadata’ means information that is needed to use and interpret statistics and that describes data sets in a structured way;(32)‘pre-checked data sets’ means data sets verified by the Member States, based on agreed common validation rules;(33)‘quality report’ means a report conveying information about the quality of a statistical product or process.
Article 3Population base1.For the purposes of this Regulation, the population base consists of all persons whose usual residence is within the Union in a specified territorial unit of a Member State at national, regional, local or grid level, at the reference date.2.The population base shall include all usually resident persons, regardless of citizenship or whether the person is or was formerly stateless ▌.3.The population base shall exclude persons whose usual residence is outside the territory of the Member State regardless of place of birth or citizenship, and regardless of any family, social, economic or property links that the person may have with the Member State.4.Persons who have no usual residence shall be attributed, as a place of usual residence, the place at which they are located at the reference date.5.Member States shall apply the definition of usual residence provided for in this Regulation to all data sets provided to the Commission (Eurostat) under this Regulation and for national, regional, local and grid level.6.When applying the definition of usual residence, Member States shall use:(a)one or a combination of the data sources referred to in Article 9(1);(b)estimation methods such as ‘signs of life’ as well as other scientifically based, well-documented and publicly available statistical estimation methods to correct for actual presence at the presumed place of usual residence during most of the time in the 12 months ending with the reference date, and ▌ to estimate the number of persons who intend or are expected to stay during most of the time in the 12 months after arrival.6a. For the purpose of qualified majority voting in the Council, the Commission shall inform the Council of the total population of Member States at the end of each reference year as available at the Commission (Eurostat) on 31 August of the calendar year following the reference year.
Article 4Statistical unitsStatistics under this Regulation shall be compiled for the following statistical units:(a)persons;(b)vital events;(c)families;(d)households;(e)buildings intended for habitation, living quarters including institutions, and conventional dwellings.
Article 5Statistics requirements1.European statistics on population and housing shall cover the following domains:(a)demography;(b)housing;(c)families and households.2.Statistics in the domains listed in paragraph 1 of this Article shall be organised into data sets following the topics and detailed topics as set out in the Annex. Where the statistical unit is a person, the data sets shall be disaggregated by sex and age, and where relevant by other characteristics.3.The Commission is empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 17 to amend the list of the detailed topics in the Annex. Such delegated acts shall be adopted at least 12 months before the beginning of the relevant reference time.4.When exercising the power to adopt delegated acts pursuant to paragraph 3 of this Article, the Commission shall ensure that those acts do not impose significant and disproportionate burden on the Member States and survey respondents. Any new detailed topic shall be assessed with respect to its feasibility by means of pilot studies carried out by the Commission (Eurostat) and the Member States in accordance with Article 14.5.The Commission shall adopt implementing acts to specify the technical properties of the data sets and metadata to be provided to the Commission (Eurostat). Those implementing acts shall specify the following technical elements, where appropriate:(a)titles of variables, their technical specifications and breakdowns;(b)detailed specifications of the statistical units and metadata;(c)statistical classifications to be used;(d)provision deadlines;(e)technical formats of data sets and metadata provision;(f)the content, structure, periodicity, modalities and provision deadlines of the quality reports as well as further specifications when needed and justified.Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 18(2) at least 12 months before the beginning of the relevant reference time, except for the population and housing census for which the implementing acts shall be adopted at least 24 months before the beginning of the year in which the reference date falls.
Article 6Periodicity and reference times1.Member States shall produce European statistics on population and housing quarterly, every six months, annually and multi-annually, and in a decennial population and housing census.2.The years ending with “1” shall be the reference years for the decennial population and housing census.3.The years ending with “1”, “5” and “8” shall be the reference years for multiannual statistics.4.The periodicity and reference time ▌for each detailed topic shall be as set out in the Annex.5.The first reference date for which annual statistics on the topic ‘population stocks’ are to be provided shall be 31 December 2025. The first reference time for which any other statistics under this Regulation are to be provided shall be in 2026.6.The Commission is empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 17 to amend the Annex by updating the periodicities and reference times.
Article 7Ad hoc statistics requirements1.Member States shall provide the Commission (Eurostat) with ad hoc data sets and metadata.2.The Commission is empowered to adopt delegated acts to supplement this Regulation in accordance with Article 17 by specifying the data sets and metadata to be provided by Member States on an ad hoc basis, where the collection of additional statistics is deemed necessary for the purpose of addressing additional statistical needs under this Regulation, while prioritising the administrative data sources and records to be used for the collection of requested data.3.The delegated acts referred to in paragraph 2 shall specify:(a)the detailed topics to be provided in the ad hoc data sets and the reasons for such additional statistical needs;(b)the reference times.4.The Commission is empowered to adopt delegated acts referred to in paragraph 2 starting with reference year 2027 and with a minimum of two years between each ad hoc collection.5.The Commission shall adopt implementing acts to specify the technical properties of the ad hoc data sets and metadata referred to in paragraph 2. Those implementing acts shall specify the following technical elements, where appropriate:(a)titles of variables, their technical specifications and breakdowns;(b)detailed specifications of the statistical units and metadata;(c)statistical classifications to be used;(d)provision deadlines.Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 18(2) no later than 12 months before the beginning of the reference time.
Article 8Data sets and metadata to be transmitted to the Commission1.Member States shall transmit to the Commission (Eurostat) pre-checked data sets and metadata in accordance with the Annex using a technical format specified by the Commission (Eurostat). The single entry point services shall be used to transmit the data sets and metadata to the Commission (Eurostat).2.Where Member States publish data required by this Regulation at national level ahead of the transmission deadlines established pursuant to Articles 5(5), point (d), and Article 7(5), point (d), they shall provide them to the Commission (Eurostat) without undue delay, at the latest within 21 calendar days of the national publication.3.Member States shall transmit to the Commission (Eurostat):(a)revised data sets and metadata if a revision is conducted after the data sets required under this Regulation were initially provided;(b)revised data sets and metadata for relevant time series if a revision is conducted on data sets that had been provided to the Commission (Eurostat) before the application of this Regulation.The revised data sets and metadata shall be transmitted within 14 calendar days of the revision and be complemented by quality reporting in accordance with Article 12.Member States shall inform the Commission of any decision to revise data sets and metadata without undue delay.
Article 9Data sources and methods1.Member States and the Commission (Eurostat) shall use one or a combination of the following data sources, provided that they allow for producing statistics that meet the quality requirements laid down in Article 12:(a)administrative data sources;(b)statistical surveys or other statistical data collections;(c)other sources including privately held data;(d)reuse of data derived from data sharing between national statistical authorities and the Commission (Eurostat) within the ESS.2.Member States shall assess and monitor the quality of their data sources, including of administrative records and other appropriate sources used.3.Member States shall aim to continuously develop innovative sources and methods and use them to improve statistics compiled under this Regulation, provided that they allow for producing statistics that meet the quality requirements laid down in Article 12. ▌4.The statistics compiled under this Regulation shall be based on statistically sound and well-documented methods taking into account international recommendations and best practice such as ‘signs of life’ ▌ and other scientifically-based statistical estimation methods used for compiling usually resident population in the Member States.5.Upon a duly justified request from the Commission (Eurostat), Member States shall provide the Commission (Eurostat) with the assessment results of the data sources, the documentation of methods and necessary clarifications.
Article 10Timely access to and reuse of administrative data1.In accordance with Article 17a of Regulation (EC) No 223/2009, national authorities in charge of administrative data sources relevant for the purposes of this Regulation shall allow reuse of these data in time and frequency sufficient to produce and submit statistics within the deadlines and compliant with the specific quality requirements according to this Regulation. National statistical authorities and the national authorities in charge of the administrative records shall establish the necessary cooperation mechanisms for the timely and free of charge access to those records.1a. For the purpose of producing statistics on the detailed topic of energy related characteristics of buildings, national statistical authorities shall have timely and regular access to the national databases on energy performance of buildings according to Directive (EU) 2024/1275 and shall be allowed to reuse administrative data from those databases.1b. For the purpose of producing population breakdowns by sex, national statistical institutes shall use information available in national administrative data sources.2.For the purposes of this Regulation, the Commission (Eurostat) shall be allowed, upon request, to access and reuse in a timely manner relevant data and metadata from databases and interoperability systems maintained by Union bodies and agencies, including under Regulations (EU) No 910/2014, (EU) 2018/1724 and statistical data stored in the central repository for reporting and statistics (CRRS). In particular, data from the interoperable Large Scale IT Systems (LSITs) in the area of freedom, security and justice shall be accessed by the Commission (Eurostat) from the CRRS, in accordance with Regulations (EU) 2019/817 and (EU) 2019/818 and the Regulations establishing the systems whose statistical data are stored in CRRS. For that purpose, the Commission (Eurostat) shall further cooperate with the relevant Union bodies and agencies with a view to specifying the customised statistical data and metadata required, where possible under Union law, for European statistics on population and housing, the operational modalities for their provision and the necessary accompanying physical and logical safeguards.
Article 11Lists of countries and territories1.Where data sets include information by countries or territories, Member States shall use specific breakdowns for the purposes of this Regulation and of Regulation (EC) No 862/2007.2.The Commission shall adopt implementing acts specifying or updating the lists of countries and territories that shall apply to breakdowns of statistics compiled under this Regulation. Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 18(2) of this Regulation. ▌3.Implementing acts amending more than one third of the breakdown categories of countries or territories shall apply at the earliest 12 months after their entry into force.
Article 12Quality requirements and quality reporting1.Member States shall take the necessary measures to ensure the quality of the data sets and metadata transmitted.2.Member States shall take appropriate and effective measures to:(a)implement the rules related to the population base as laid down in Article 3, uniformly and independently of the data sources used;(b)capture or estimate hard-to-reach population groups;(c)control the exhaustiveness and accuracy of the population covered in accordance with Article 3;(d)establish frames that are fit for the purposes of this Regulation and of Article 12 of Regulation (EU) 2019/1700;(e)avoid possible risks of undercounting or double counting related to the free movement of persons in the Union, the access of persons to cross-border services linked to vital events and the person rights to buy cross-border, own and use housing property across the Union, such as by introducing single digital identifiers;(f)avoid possible risks of undercounting or double counting and ensure better comparability of migration flows;(g)provide all data to the Commission (Eurostat) that are needed to ensure the completeness of published European statistics.2a. The Commission (Eurostat) shall assess the quality of the metadata on the specifications, of the data with a view, inter alia, to publishing them in a user‐friendly manner on the Commission (Eurostat) website.3.Member States shall transmit to the Commission (Eurostat), for the first time by 31 March 2027 and every year thereafter ending with ‘0’, ‘3’ or ‘7’, a quality report describing the quality of the statistics provided and the statistical processes for the data sets provided during the period. Those quality reports shall include information on the data sources and methods used, the application of the concepts and definitions and related possible effects on quality of the selected data sources, data revisions and their reasons and impacts and the statistical disclosure control methods. The quality reports shall also detail how Member States have applied the measures referred to in paragraph 1 and how the quality criteria referred to in paragraph 2 have been met.4.The Commission shall adopt implementing acts setting out the practical arrangements for the quality reports and their contents.Those implementing acts shall not impose a significant additional burden and costs on the Member States.They shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 18(2).4a. Any major adaptation provided for by such implementing acts may be the subject of a financial and technical support pursuant to Article 15 or a derogation pursuant to Article 19(1a).5.Member States shall inform the Commission (Eurostat) as soon as possible of any relevant information or changes with regard to the implementation of this Regulation that would influence the quality of the statistics provided and shall take measures to resolve the issue without undue delay.6.Upon a duly justified request from the Commission (Eurostat), Member States shall provide, without undue delay, necessary additional clarifications to evaluate the quality of the statistical information, such as the assessment results of the data sources and the documentation of methods.
Article 13Data sharing1.The purpose of data sharing between national statistical institutes and other national authorities on the list referred to in Article 5(2) of Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 (national statistical authorities), and between those national statistical authorities and the Commission (Eurostat), shall be exclusively to develop and produce European statistics that fall within the scope of this Regulation and ▌to improve their quality.2.In the interest of secure data sharing within the ESS, all necessary safeguards including a secure data sharing infrastructure with regard to the physical, technical and logical protection of data shall be taken. The Commission (Eurostat) shall set up a secure infrastructure to facilitate data sharing referred to in paragraph 1. ▌National statistical authorities may use this secure data sharing infrastructure for the purpose specified in paragraph 1. The Commission (Eurostat) and the national statistical authorities that use this secure data sharing infrastructure for the processing of personal data in accordance with paragraph 3 shall be considered as joint controllers for the processing of personal data in the secure data sharing infrastructure. In the event that the national statistical authorities use another data sharing infrastructure, they shall ensure that such infrastructure provides for at least equivalent security than the one set up by the Commission (Eurostat).3.When the data concerned are confidential data within the meaning of Article 3, point (7), of Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 or personal data according to Regulations (EU) 2016/679 and (EU) 2018/1725, the sharing of such data ▌ may take place on a voluntary basis provided that it is:(a)based on a request justifying the necessity to share the data in each individual case, in particular with regard to the quality issues to be specifically addressed;(b)based ▌ on privacy enhancing technologies that are specifically designed to implement the principles of Regulations (EU) 2016/679 and (EU) 2018/1725, with particular regard to purpose limitation, data minimisation, storage limitation, integrity and confidentiality;(c)without prejudice to Chapter V of Regulation (EC) No 223/2009.3a. For the purpose of data sharing referred to in paragraph 1, non-confidential data shall be shared between national statistical institutes and other national authorities of different Member States and between these national statistical authorities and the Commission (Eurostat).4.The Commission (Eurostat) and the Member States shall test and assess, by means of pilot studies, the infrastructure for and fitness of relevant privacy enhancing technologies for data sharing.5.Where the pilot studies carried out pursuant to paragraph 4 of this Article identify effective and secure data sharing solutions for the purposes referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article, the Commission may adopt implementing acts laying down technical specifications for the data sharing and measures for the confidentiality and security of information. Such implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 18(2).
Article 14Pilot and feasibility studies1.The Commission (Eurostat) shall, where necessary and appropriate for the purposes of this Regulation, launch pilot and feasibility studies that aim to:(a)assess the availability of data sources and their quality, including of publicly and privately held data in Member States and at Union level;(b)develop and assess the feasibility of implementing new ▌ detailed topics, statistical units, variables and their breakdowns;(ba) assess the availability of data sources and enhancing methods for providing statistics on the disability of persons and testing disaggregating statistics, including their comparability, in accordance with national law and practice on data protection and disclosure control;(c)develop new methodologies and statistical techniques to reinforce quality and enhance information about hard-to-reach populations;(d)reduce discrepancies in data of migration flows and ensuring their better comparability;(da) reduce possible undercounting or double counting of people;(e)test and assess the infrastructure for and fitness of relevant privacy enhancing technologies for secure data sharing within the ESS in accordance with Article 13(4).2.Member States may participate in those studies but shall, together with the Commission (Eurostat), ensure the representativeness of those studies at Union level.3.The results of those studies shall be evaluated by the Commission (Eurostat) in cooperation with Member States. The Commission (Eurostat) shall prepare in cooperation with the Member States reports on the findings of those studies.
Article 15Financing1.As regards the implementation of this Regulation, financial contribution shall be made available from the Single Market Programme established by Regulation (EU) 2021/690 , in accordance with Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2018/1046, to the national statistical authorities referred to in Article 5(2) of Regulation (EC) No 223/2009, for:(a)adaptations of infrastructure and training in the national statistical system necessary for the development and implementation of new or enhanced data sources, methodologies, data sharing, statistical units, topics, detailed topics, variables and their breakdowns;(aa) the preparation and implementation of ad-hoc data collection as referred to in Article 7;(b)the participation of the Member States in representative pilot and feasibility studies referred to in Article 14.1a. The amount of the Union financial contribution made available pursuant to this Article shall be established in accordance with the rules of the Single Market Programme as part of the annual budgetary procedure, subject to the availability of funding.In addition, national statistical authorities as referred to in Article 5(2) of Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 may apply for support from other applicable financial programmes of the European Union in accordance with the rules of such programmes. Member States may also apply for support from the Technical Support Instrument to improve the quality of statistics and to develop methodologies according to the requirements of this Regulation in accordance with the rules of the Technical Support Instrument and its objective to foster the production, provision and quality monitoring of data and statistics.2.The Union financial contribution shall not exceed 90% of the eligible costs.
Article 16Protection of the financial interests of the UnionWhere a third country participates in the actions financed under this Regulation by means of a decision adopted pursuant to an international agreement or on the basis of any other legal instrument, the third country shall grant the necessary rights and access required for the authorising officer responsible, the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF), the Court of Auditors and the EPPO to comprehensively exercise their respective competences. In the case of OLAF, such rights shall include the right to carry out investigations, including on-the-spot checks and inspections, pursuant to Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 883/2013.
Article 17Exercise of the delegation1.The power to adopt delegated acts is conferred on the Commission subject to the conditions laid down in this Article.2.The power to adopt delegated acts referred to in Article 5(3), Article 6(6) and Article 7(2) shall be conferred on the Commission for an indeterminate period of time from [OJ: please insert the date of entry into force of this Regulation].3.The delegation of power referred to in Article 5(3), Article 6(6) and Article 7(2) may be revoked at any time by the European Parliament or by the Council. A decision to revoke shall put an end to the delegation of the power specified in that decision. It shall take effect on the day following the publication of the decision in the Official Journal of the European Union or at a later date specified therein. It shall not affect the validity of any delegated acts already in force.4.Before adopting a delegated act, the Commission shall consult experts designated by each Member State in accordance with the principles laid down in the Interinstitutional Agreement of 13 April 2016 on Better Law-Making and shall keep the European Parliament informed about its preparatory work.5.As soon as it adopts a delegated act, the Commission shall notify it simultaneously to the European Parliament and to the Council.6.A delegated act adopted pursuant to Article 5(3), Article 6(6) or Article 7(2) shall enter into force only if no objection has been expressed either by the European Parliament or by the Council within a period of two months of notification of that act to the European Parliament and the Council or if, before the expiry of that period, the European Parliament and the Council have both informed the Commission that they will not object. That period shall be extended by two months at the initiative of the European Parliament or the Council.
Article 18Committee procedure1.The Commission shall be assisted by the European Statistical System Committee (ESSC) established by Article 7 of Regulation (EC) No 223/2009. That committee shall be a committee within the meaning of Regulation (EU) No 182/2011.2.Where reference is made to this paragraph, Article 5 of Regulation (EU) No 182/2011 shall apply.
Article 19Derogations1.Where the application of this Regulation ▌ requires major adaptations to be made to a Member State’s national statistical system, the Commission may grant, by means of implementing acts, derogations to that Member State, for a maximum duration of seven years.1a. Where delegated or implementing acts adopted pursuant to this Regulation require major adaptations to be made to a Member State’s national statistical system, the Commission may grant, by means of implementing acts, derogations to that Member State for a maximum duration of three years. 2.When granting derogations pursuant to paragraph 1 of this Article, the Commission shall take into account the comparability of Member States’ statistics and the timely calculation of the required representative and reliable European aggregates. When granting those derogations, the Commission shall also ensure that the requirements related to statistics, metadata and quality covered by this Regulation and previously covered by Regulation (EU) No 1260/2013 or by Article 3 of Regulation (EC) No 862/2007 are continued without interruption.3.The Member State shall submit a duly justified request for derogation to the Commission within two months of the date of the entry into force of the act concerned.4.The Commission shall adopt the implementing acts referred to in paragraphs 1, 1a and 3 of this Article in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 18(2).
Article 20Amendments to Regulation (EC) No 862/2007Regulation (EC) No 862/2007 is amended as follows:(1)the title is replaced by the following: ‘Regulation (EC) No 862/2007 of 11 July 2007 on European statistics on asylum and administrative and judicial procedures related to immigration legislation and repealing Council Regulation (EEC) No 311/76 on the compilation of statistics on foreign workers’;(2)in Article 1, points (a) and (b) are deleted;(3)in Article 2(1), points (a), (b), (c), (f) and (g) are deleted;(3a) in Article 2(1), point (d) is replaced by the following:

“(d) ‘citizenship’ means citizenship as defined in Article 2(1) of Regulation (EU) .../... of the European Parliament and of the Council*+OJ: Please insert in the text the number of Regulation contained in doc (2023/0008(COD)) and insert the number, date, title and OJ reference of that Regulation in the footnote.”;

(4)Article 3 is deleted;(5)the following article is inserted:

“Article 9c

Timely access to and reuse of administrative data

1.In accordance with Article 17a of Regulation (EC) No 223/2009, national authorities in charge of administrative data sources relevant for the purposes of this Regulation shall allow the reuse of those data in time and subject to a frequency sufficient to produce and submit statistics within the deadlines and in accordance with the specific quality requirements according to this Regulation. The national statistical authorities and the national authorities in charge of the administrative records shall establish the necessary cooperation mechanisms for access to those records in a timely manner, free of charge.

2.For the purposes of this Regulation, the Commission (Eurostat) shall be allowed, upon request, to access and reuse in a timely manner relevant data and metadata from databases and interoperability systems maintained by Union bodies and agencies, including under Regulations (EU) No 910/2014, (EU) 2018/1724 and statistical data stored in the central repository for reporting and statistics (CRRS). In particular, data from the interoperable Large Scale IT Systems (LSITs) in the area of freedom, security and justice shall be accessed by the Commission (Eurostat) from the CRRS in accordance with Regulations (EU) 2019/817 and (EU) 2019/818 and the Regulations establishing the systems whose statistical data are stored in CRRS. To that end, the Commission (Eurostat) shall further cooperate with the relevant Union bodies and agencies with a view to specifying the customised statistical data and metadata required, where possible under Union law, for European statistics on population and housing, the operational modalities for their provision and the necessary accompanying physical and logical safeguards.”;

(6)the following article is inserted:

“Article 10a

Lists of countries and territories

The lists of countries and territories referred to in Article 11 of Regulation (EU) .../... *+OJ: Please insert in the text the number of Regulation contained in doc (2023/0008(COD)) and insert the number, date, title and OJ reference of that Regulation in the footnote. shall be applied for the compilation of statistics under this Regulation to ensure comparability of country and territories specific details across European statistics. Member States shall apply these lists for the first time to compile statistics due under this Regulation starting with data transmissions for the reference year 2026.

________

* Regulation (EU) .../... of the European Parliament and of the Council on European statistics on population and housing, amending Regulation (EC) No 862/2007 and repealing Regulations (EC) No 763/2008 and (EU) No 1260/2013 (OJ ...).".

Article 21RepealRegulations (EC) No 763/2008 and (EU) No 1260/2013 are repealed with effect from 1 January 2026 without prejudice to the obligations set out in those legal acts with regard to reference periods that fall, in whole or in part, before that date.References to the repealed Regulations shall be construed as references to this Regulation.
Article 22Entry into force and applicationThis Regulation shall enter into force on the twentieth day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.It shall apply from 1 January 2026.This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.

Done at ...,

For the European Parliament For the Council

The President The President

ANNEXDomains, topics and detailed topics with periodicity and reference time per detailed topic

Domain

Topic

Detailed topic

Periodicity

Reference time (date or period)

Demography

Population stocks

The person's basic characteristics

6M

30.6.YY and

31.12.YY

A

31.12.YY

MA

31.12.YY

D

31.12.YY

The person's socio-economic characteristics

A

31.12.YY

MA

31.12.YY

D

31.12.YY

Fertility

Births

Q

Month

A

Year

Legally induced abortions1

A

Year

Mortality

Deaths

Q

Month, Week

A

Year

Infant deaths

A

Year

Late foetal deaths

A

Year

Partnerships

Marriages and registered partnerships

A

Year

 

Characteristics of persons entering a marriage or registered partnership

A

Year

 

Divorces and terminated registered partnerships

A

Year

Migration

Immigrants

Q

Month

A

Year

Emigrants

Q

Month

A

Year

Internal migration

A

Year

Acquisition and loss of citizenship of EU MS and the Union

Persons who acquired citizenship

A

Year

Persons who lost / gave up citizenship

A

Year

Housing

Living quarters

Living quarters characteristics

D

31.12.YY

Conventional dwellings

Basic building characteristics

MA

31.12.YY

D

31.12.YY

Energy related building characteristics

MA

(A from 2031 onwards)

31.12.YY

D

31.12.YY

Occupied conventional dwellings

Characteristics of occupied conventional dwellings

D

31.12.YY

Usage of occupied conventional dwellings

D

31.12.YY

Families and households

Families

Family characteristics

D

31.12.YY

Households

Household characteristics

A

31.12.YY

MA

31.12.YY

The person's household situation

A

31.12.YY

D

31.12.YY

_______________________________________

1 To be provided on a voluntary basis.

Legend

Periodicity

Quarterly

Q

Every 6 months

6M

Annual

A

Multi-annual (years ending with ‘1’, ‘5’, ‘8’)

MA

Decennial (years ending with ‘1’)

D