Peer reviews
There is an ocean of information, facts and statistics out there. But how can you be sure that this information is accurate, the facts are not fake and the statistics have not been manipulated?
Don’t worry: we at Eurostat can help you!
Our mission is to offer you high-quality statistics and data on Europe. We provide you with free access to data that are reliable, trustworthy and comparable.
But how can you know that we are fulfilling our mission and that our data are of high quality? What do we do so that you can trust us and our statistics?
Eurostat and the national statistical authorities of all the EU and EFTA countries form a partnership called the European Statistical System (ESS). Together, we produce European statistics which respect a common quality framework. The ESS peer reviews are one instrument that ensures the implementation of the common quality framework and thus the quality of European statistics.
Curious to know more about the peer reviews? Then browse through the most common FAQs below.
Quality is the trademark of European statistics and makes them more trustworthy than other data that are readily available through many channels. To guarantee the quality of its statistics, the ESS created a common quality framework. The European Statistics Code of Practice (CoP) is the cornerstone of this quality framework.
The objective of the peer reviews is to assess ESS members' compliance with the principles and indicators of the CoP. The subsequent recommendations should also help statistical authorities to further improve and develop their statistical systems.
The common quality framework of the ESS is based on the European Statistics Code of Practice (CoP), a set of 16 principles covering the institutional environment, statistical processes and statistical outputs.
The principles are complemented with a set of 84 indicators of the best practices and standards to provide guidance and a reference for reviewing the implementation of the CoP. For example, Principle 1 on professional independence states that European statistics should be produced impartially, independently, and free from any political or other external influence.
Discover our infographics which illustrate the principles of the European Statistics Code of Practice on this page.
Two previous rounds of peer reviews were carried out in 2006 – 2008 and 2013 – 2015. They provided valuable knowledge that has been built into this new round to improve the process itself.
All members of the ESS are reviewed, i.e. Eurostat and the national statistical authorities of the EU Member States and EFTA countries.
Peer review expert teams are composed of four European experts in statistics, auditing and governance issues, including an independent expert, to assess the national statistical authorities. An expert team from the European Statistical Governance Advisory Board (ESGAB) reviews Eurostat.
The peer reviews are carried out on a country-by-country basis according to these steps:
- each ESS national statistical authority assesses itself against the principles of the CoP through a questionnaire and provides extensive documentation on its own functioning;
- these documents are checked and analysed by an expert team which subsequently carries out an in-country visit during which a further in-depth review is performed;
- the expert team compiles a final report with recommendations for improvements;
- this report is submitted to the national statistical authority for approval and the drafting of improvement actions.
The implementation of the improvement actions in the EU, Member States and EFTA countries is monitored on an annual basis by Eurostat. The implementation of the improvement actions for Eurostat is monitored by ESGAB.
This illustration provides an overview of all the steps outlined above:
In the past rounds of peer reviews, the reviews focused mainly on compliance with the CoP.
This peer review round will go further and help ESS partners to improve by making future-oriented recommendations that go beyond the current CoP. In addition, future-oriented elements could help revise the CoP to reflect new developments that experts will identify in this round.
If you are interested in knowing more, visit our ESS peer reviews 2021 – 2023 webpage.
Summary information on this monitoring is provided to the European Statistical Governance Advisory Board (ESGAB) for its annual report to the European Parliament and the European Council.
ESGAB is an independent Advisory Board that carries out the peer review of Eurostat and reports on Eurostat's implementation of the CoP. It also includes an assessment of the implementation of the CoP in the ESS as a whole.
It advises on measures to facilitate the CoP’s implementation, on its communication and its possible updates. The ESGAB annual reports (from 2009 onwards) are available.
Watch our short video on the quality of European Statistics and ESS peer reviews