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 the third round to improve the process itself.
All members of the ESS were reviewed, i.e. Eurostat and the national statistical authorities of the EU Member States and EFTA countries.
Peer review expert teams were 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) reviewed Eurostat.
The peer reviews were carried out on a country-by-country basis according to these steps:
- each ESS national statistical authority assessed itself against the principles of the CoP through a questionnaire and provided extensive documentation on its own functioning;
- these documents were checked and analysed by an expert team which subsequently carried out an in-country visit during which a further in-depth review was performed;
- the expert team compiled a final report with recommendations for improvements;
- this report was 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.
The third round of peer reviews went further and helped 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 have identified in the third round of peer reviews.
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.
The third round of peer reviews showed that significant improvements have been achieved since the previous round, especially in the fields of governance, resource management, quality management, statistical production, user orientation and dissemination, and access to and use of administrative and other data sources.
The final report also underscores the high adherence to the ES CoP among ESS members, with only around 12% of recommendations related to compliance. In addition, the final report highlights strengths within the ESS, such as the legal frameworks, long-term strategies, governance structures and systems for coordinating the national statistical systems, cooperation and partnership with the scientific community, the quality of human resources, dissemination and transparency, confidentiality, the access to and use of diverse data sources, and the existence of comprehensive quality management systems and quality assurance frameworks
Innovation plays a crucial role in the ESS, as demonstrated by the peer reviews. In all countries innovative practices are employed, especially with regards to new data sources and experimental statistics, digital advancements, communication and dissemination tools, and governance.
All these innovative practices have made the ESS more responsive to users’ needs and are likely to boost their resilience in future crisis situations.
To ensure transparency, the peer review reports for each ESS member and the corresponding improvement action plans are publicly available on the websites of both the reviewed NSI and Eurostat.
From 2024, Eurostat will be monitoring the implementation of the improvement action plans drawn up by ESS members and produce annual progress reports. The impact of these planned improvements will become visible in the coming years and help the ESS to remain robust, relevant and reliable.
Additionally, the results of the peer reviews will be used for discussion on a possible revision of the ESS quality framework, including the ES CoP and the ESS Quality Assurance Framework. This is in line with the principle of continuous improvement and need for the national and European statistical systems to adjust and respond to changing user demands in order to stay relevant in fast-evolving data ecosystems.
The peer review process generated various recommendations that will help ESS members to improve their functioning and output. This demonstrates that ESS peer reviews, regularly implemented, are extremely useful for the further development of the ESS.
While the specific arrangements for conducting them may change, peer reviews should remain on the ESS agenda as a way of demonstrating the relevance, trustworthiness, and value of the ESS in providing European statistics.
Watch our short video on the quality of European Statistics and ESS peer reviews