WRITTEN QUESTION No. 343/99 by Wilmya ZIMMERMANN 'EU Labour Force Survey' data administered by Eurostat
C 341/96 Official Journal of the European Communities EN 29. 11. 1999 Under the rules governing the publication of infringement procedures, details of the procedure are confidential. A rule such as this ensures the smooth handling of the case by the Court of Justice, and upholds the rights of the defence of the defending Member State. (1) OJ L 163, 14. 6. 1989. (2) OJ L 203, 15. 7. 1989. (1999/C 341/135) WRITTEN QUESTION E-0343/99 by Wilmya Zimmermann (PSE) to the Commission (23 February 1999) Subject: ‘EU Labour Force Survey’ data administered by Eurostat Would it be possible in future for access to be granted to the anonymous data base ‘EU Labour Force Survey’ (LFS)? The information it contains could be relevant to university studies in the field of social and economic sciences. Furthermore, could unrestricted access to this data be given free of charge? This question was prompted by the inadequate nature of the agreements between the leader of the Effnatis project and Eurostat. More detailed studies could be carried out and further progress made in research if Eurostat could make the LFS data it manages available, in anonymous form, and in principle free of charge, to European research organisations. Answer given by Mr de Silguy on behalf of the Commission (9 April 1999) The handling of confidential data by the Commission is subject to Community legislation, including Council Regulation (EC) 322/97 of 17 February 1997 on Community statistics (1) and Council Regulation (EEC) 1588/ 90 of 11 June 1990 on the transmission of data subject to statistical confidentiality (2). This legislative framework does not permit the Commission to release confidential data under normal circumstances to any outside body. Discussions in the context of the working party on employment statistics have indicated that micro-data from the labour force survey could be released only if they could be classified as non-confidential, meaning not simply that they should be anonymous but that a method should be employed to make it virtually impossible to identify individuals. The possibility of devising such a method will be examined by the committee on statistical confidentiality. The pricing of labour force survey data is subject to the general pricing policy adopted within the European statistical system. This takes account of the cost of collecting and processing the data by the national statistical offices and by the Commission. In most Member States, a charge is made for providing data to users, whether in printed or electronic form. It would therefore not be feasible for the Commission to release data at a price lower than is currently charged in the Member States, since this would effectively damage sales there and thus endanger the co-operation between the Commission and the national statistical offices from which the data ultimately derive. The specific question of the pricing of labour force survey micro-data will be examined by the working party on data dissemination, which is responsible for pricing policy. (1) OJ L 52, 22. 2. 1997. (2) OJ L 151, 15. 6. 1990