The third round of peer reviews is currently underway. For more information, see the third round of peer reviews page.
What are the peer reviews?
Peer reviews are conducted in the countries of the European Statistical System (ESS) and are aimed at assessing the extent to which a given statistical system implements the principles of the European Statistics Code of Practice (ES CoP).
The ES CoP has 16 principles concerning the institutional environment, statistical processes and statistical outputs. These principles are described by a “set of indicators of best practices”, which - describing the ideal situation and setting standards for the production and dissemination of European statistics - constitute a reference point to control the degree of implementation of the ES CoP in the country of the ESS.
What documentation is available for the peer reviews?
The ES CoP is the main document serving as a basis for the review. The ES CoP was developed to ensure the highest quality of European statistics. The principles of the ES CoP together with the general principles of quality management constitute the common quality framework of the ESS.
In addition, the quality criteria of European statistics are defined in the European legal regulations on statistics, primarily in Regulation 223/2009 on European statistics1, which defines six statistical principles and seven quality criteria, further developed in the ES CoP.
What is the European Statistical System?
The European Statistical System (ESS) is a partnership composed of Eurostat, National Statistical Institutes and the other producers of European statistics (Other National Authorities - ONAs), i.e. ministries, offices and institutions that produce and provide data for European purposes in a country. The number and nature of ONAs (indicated on the official Eurostat list) define the specificity of a given national statistical system. The European Statistical System Committee (ESSC) is the highest decision-making body in the ESS. Its members, who represent their countries, have a coordinating function within a given statistical system.
1 https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:02009R0223-20150608&from=EN
