How EU and EFTA collaborate in the European Statistical System EEA Seminar Thursday, 18 February 2016 Andrea Scheller, Director, EFTA Statistical Office The European Statistical System 1
European Cooperation Official statistics is international in its core Social, economic and environmental situation of a country Comparison in time Comparison with other countries harmonisation of standards for comparable data Statistics Division for the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC, 1951) established in 1953, Directorate-General in 1958 DGINS (Director Generals of the National Statistical Institutes of Europe) since 1953 CSP (Committee on the Statistical Programmes of the European Communities, 89/382/EEC) established in 1989 ESSC European Statistical System Committee (ESSC, Regulation (EC) No 223/2009) established in 2009 EEA Statistical Cooperation Legal Basis for the EEA Statistical Cooperation Art. 76 of the EEA Agreement concerns statistical cooperation, securing the full participation in the European Statistical System Protocol 30: Provisions for the organisation of statistical cooperation (participation in programmes, financing), including EFTA Statistical Office (ESO) Annex XXI includes EU legislation in the field of statistics that is relevant for the EEA 2
Article 76 of the EEA Agreement PROTOCOL 30 on specific provision on the organisation of cooperation in the field of statistics 1. A conference of representatives of national statistical organisations of the Contracting Parties, Eurostat and the EFTA Statistical Office (ESO) shall guide statistical cooperation and develop programmes and procedures for statistical cooperation in close coordination with those of the EU and monitor their implementation. 3
PROTOCOL 30 2. The EFTA States shall, ( ) participate fully without the right to vote in the EU committees* and other bodies which assist the European Commission in the management or development of these programmes and actions. Decision-shaping ca. 80 Task forces ca. 100 Expert group meetings 4 *ESSC/EEA meetings No vote, but EEA opinion PROTOCOL 30 3. Statistical information from EFTA States shall be transmitted from the EFTA States to Eurostat for storage, processing and dissemination. To this end, ESO shall work in close cooperation with the EFTA States and Eurostat in order to ensure that data from the EFTA States is transmitted properly and disseminated to the various user groups through the normal dissemination channels as part of the EEA statistics. 4. The EFTA States shall defray the additional costs incurred by Eurostat for storing, processing and disseminating data from their countries. 5. The EFTA States shall contribute financially to the EU s overhead costs arising from their participation in programmes and actions ( ). 4
PROTOCOL 30 Annex XXI Statistics 5
EFTA Statistical Office (ESO) ESO was established in 1991 as a liaison office between Eurostat and the EFTA National Statistical Institutes (NSIs) to sustain the integration of EFTA States in the evolving European Statistical System The EFTA Working Group of Heads of NSIs EEA EFTA: Hagstofa Íslands, Amt für Statistik Liechtenstein, Statistisk sentralbyrå, Norge EFTA: 3 & Office fédéral de la statistique de Suisse ESO: ESO activities Support legal and institutional development of the EEA Agreement in the field of statistics Draft the EEA Annual Work Programme Follow-up on provision of harmonised statistics by EFTA States and inclusion of EFTA data in Eurostat databases and publications Facilitate participation of EFTA representatives in Eurostat meetings and secondment of national experts Participate in technical cooperation and statistical training programmes 6
EEA Annual Work Programme ca 150 modules 75% EEA relevant Participation in expert groups Eligible for grants Provision and publication of statistics Regular contact with colleagues from Eurostat and NSIs on data transmission Regular checking of various publications and followup with NSIs and Eurostat Annual exercise by Eurostat, non-compliance letters to NSIs through ESO Annual exercise by ESO, inclusion report for NSIs 100% and Eurostat 80% 60% 40% 20% 0% Iceland Liechtenstein Norway Switzerland Inclusion of EFTA data in Eurostat Articles on the web 7
European Statistical Training Programme EU/EFTA Technical cooperation Based on an Administrative Arrangement (AA) between Eurostat and EFTA EFTA training courses and study visits, joint seminars with Eurostat & others, support participation of experts in international meetings Beneficiaries: 8
Eurostat Eurostat EEA matters Training, Seconded national experts Technical cooperation 9
EFTA/EU Statistical Cooperation Tables 10
Graphs Maps Statistics illustrated 11
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Thank you for your time! Andrea Scheller EFTA Statistical Office Bech Building, F2/912 2920 Luxembourg andrea.scheller@ext.ec.europa.eu efta-lux@ec.europa.eu T: +352 4301 37775 http://www.efta.int/statistics 13