Regulation (EC) No 1158/2005 of the European Parliament and of the CouncilShow full title

Article 1 U.K.

Regulation (EC) No 1165/98 shall be amended as follows:

1.

Article 4(2) shall be amended as follows:

(a)

the following point shall be added to the sole subparagraph:

‘(d) participation in European sample schemes coordinated by Eurostat in order to produce European estimates.

The details of the schemes referred to in the first subparagraph shall be as specified in the Annexes. Their approval and implementation shall be governed by the procedure laid down in Article 18.

European sample schemes shall be established when national sample schemes do not meet the European requirements. Furthermore, Member States may opt to take part in European sample schemes when such schemes create possibilities for substantial reductions in the cost of the statistical system or the burden on business which meeting the European requirements entails. Participation in a European sample scheme shall satisfy the conditions of a Member State for the supply of the variable concerned according to the objective of such a scheme. European sample schemes may target the conditions, the level of detail and the deadlines for data transmission.’;

(b)

the following subparagraph shall be added:

‘Compulsory surveys shall be used to obtain information that is not already available (within the required timelines) in other sources, such as registers. Surveys shall be performed using electronic questionnaires and web-questionnaires where applicable.’;

2.

Article 10 shall be amended as follows:

(a)

paragraph 3 shall be replaced by the following:

‘3. The quality of the variables shall be tested regularly by comparing them with other statistical information, such comparison to be effected by each Member State and the Commission (Eurostat). In addition they shall be checked for internal consistency.’;

(b)

paragraph 4 shall be replaced by the following:

‘4. Quality evaluation shall be carried out comparing the benefits of the availability of the data with the costs of collection and the burden on businesses, especially on small enterprises. For the purpose of this evaluation, Member States shall transmit to the Commission, at its request, the necessary information according to a common European methodology developed by the Commission in close cooperation with the Member States.’;

3.

Article 12(1) shall be replaced by the following:

‘1. The Commission, after consulting the Statistical Programme Committee, shall publish by 11 February 2006 an advisory methodological manual which explains the rules set out in the Annexes and also contains guidance concerning short-term statistics.’;

4.

Article 14(2) shall be replaced by the following:

‘2. The Commission shall, by 11 August 2008 and again every three years thereafter, submit a report to the European Parliament and the Council on the statistics compiled pursuant to this Regulation and in particular on their relevance and quality and the revision of indicators. The report shall also specifically address the cost of the statistical system and the burden on business arising from this Regulation in relation to its benefits. It shall report on best practices for lessening the burden on business and shall indicate ways of reducing the burden and costs.’;

5.

The following point shall be added to Article 17:

‘(j) the establishment of European sample schemes (Article 4).’;

6).

Annexes A to D shall be amended as shown in the Annex.