The Commission (Eurostat) shall set up the EuroGroups Register of multinational enterprise groups for statistical purposes at Union level.

Member States shall set up at national level one or more national statistical business registers, of which a common core is harmonised pursuant to this Regulation, as a basis for the preparation and coordination of surveys and as a source of information for the statistical analysis of the business population and its demography, for the use of administrative data, and for the identification and construction of statistical units.

The Member States and the Commission (Eurostat) shall exchange data for the purposes of the European framework for statistical business registers as set out in Article 10.

National statistical business registers and the EuroGroups Register shall be the authoritative source for deriving high quality and harmonised statistical business register populations in accordance with Article 17, for the production of European statistics.

National statistical business registers shall be the authoritative source for national statistical business register populations. The EuroGroups Register shall be the authoritative source for the ESS as a register population for business statistics requiring the coordination of cross-border information related to multinational enterprise groups.

The Commission may adopt implementing acts specifying the variables related to the register detailed topics listed in Annex III.

Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 23(2).

When adopting implementing acts pursuant to paragraph 2, the Commission shall ensure that no significant additional cost or burden is imposed on the Member States or on the respondents.

Member States shall exchange confidential data.

For that purpose, the exchange of confidential data on multinational enterprise groups and on the units belonging to those groups, comprising the variables listed in Annex IV, shall take place, exclusively for statistical purposes, between the NSAs of different Member States, where the exchange is to ensure the quality of the multinational enterprise groups information in the Union. Such exchanges may also take place with the purpose of reducing response burden.

Where such exchange of confidential data is carried out to ensure the quality of the multinational enterprise groups information in the Union and the exchange is explicitly authorised by the competent NSA which provides the data, national central banks may be party to the exchange of confidential data, exclusively for statistical purposes.

The Commission (Eurostat) and Member States shall exchange confidential data.

For that purpose, NSAs shall transmit data on multinational enterprise groups and on the units belonging to those groups, comprising the variables listed in Annex IV, to the Commission (Eurostat), to provide information, exclusively for statistical purposes, on multinational enterprise groups in the Union.

In order to ensure a consistent record of data and to use them exclusively for statistical purposes, the Commission (Eurostat) shall transmit to the competent NSAs of each Member State data on multinational enterprise groups, including the units belonging to those groups, comprising the variables listed in Annex IV, where at least one legal unit of the group is located in the territory of that Member State.

In order to ensure efficiency and high quality in the production of the EuroGroups Register, exclusively for statistical purposes, the Commission (Eurostat) shall transmit to the NSAs data on all multinational enterprise groups recorded in the EuroGroups Register, including the units belonging to those groups, comprising the variables listed in Annex IV.

The Commission (Eurostat) and the Member States shall exchange confidential data for the identification of legal units.

For that purpose, NSAs shall transmit data on incorporated legal units, limited to the identification and demographic variables and the stratification parameters listed in Annex IV, to the Commission (Eurostat), exclusively for the purpose of unique identification of legal units in the Union.

In order to ensure efficiency and high quality in the production of the EuroGroups Register, the Commission (Eurostat) shall transmit to the NSAs of each Member State data on legal units, limited to the identification and demographic variables and the stratification parameters listed in Annex IV, exclusively for the purpose of identification of legal units in the Union.

The exchange of confidential data between the Commission (Eurostat) and central banks may take place, exclusively for statistical purposes, between the Commission (Eurostat) and national central banks, and between the Commission (Eurostat) and the ECB, where the exchange is to ensure the quality of multinational enterprise groups information in the Union, and the exchange is explicitly authorised by the competent NSAs.

The Commission may adopt implementing acts specifying technical details of the variables listed in Annex IV.

Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 23(2).

In order to ensure that the data exchanged under this Article are used exclusively for statistical purposes, the Commission may adopt implementing acts setting out the format, security and confidentiality measures for such data, as well as the procedure for the data exchange.

Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 23(2).

When the Commission (Eurostat), NSAs, national central banks and the ECB receive confidential data on units located inside or located outside the national territory pursuant to this Article, they shall treat that information confidentially in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 223/2009.

Transmission of confidential data between NSAs and the Commission (Eurostat) shall take place to the extent that such transmission is necessary exclusively for statistical purposes for the production of European statistics. Any further transmission must be explicitly authorised by the national authority that collected the data.

Member States and the Commission shall take appropriate measures to prevent and penalise any violations of statistical confidentiality of the data exchanged. The penalties provided for shall be effective, proportionate and dissuasive.