What changed between the draft committee report and the plenary report

Removed:3. Instructs its President to sign the act with the President of the Council, in accordance with Article 297(1) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union;

Removed:4. Instructs its Secretary-General to sign the act, once it has been verified that all the procedures have been duly completed, and, in agreement with the Secretary-General of the Council, to arrange for its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union;

Removed:Since the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs (EMPL), with its vote on 5 June 2025, already confirmed the outcome of those interinstitutional negotiations, as your rapporteur I propose that EMPL recommends that the Plenary confirms the position of the Council at first reading, without amending it.

Added:Recital 7: (7) To achieve the targets of the European Green Deal and the European Pillar of Social Rights, and to fight the cost-of-living crisis, the development and evaluation of effective policies should be based on enhanced statistics relating to the energy use and efficiency of housing, detailed geographical data on the distribution of the population as well as deeper studies of the relationship between population and housing. With the COVID-19 pandemic the need for reliable, high frequency and timely statistics on deaths in the Union was manifested. While data needs were met with a voluntary data collection from Member States to the Commission (Eurostat), the Union needs an adequate mechanism for mandatory collection of such data within the European Statistical System (ESS) with the necessary frequency, timeliness and detail. The extent of mandatory collection of data should be balanced against the additional administrative burden and the additional costs to the Member States. Taking this into account, it should be possible to grant derogations from the requirements on the timing of data collection.

Added:Recital 7 a (new): (7a) To monitor progress in the implementation of the European Pillar of Social Rights, its Action Plan’s headline targets and the European Child Guarantee at the national level and assess the distributional impact of climate change and policies in general, the Union needs an adequate mechanism for mandatory collection of such data within the ESS with the necessary frequency, timeliness and detail.

Added:Recital 9: (9) Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council24 established a legal framework for the development, production and dissemination of European statistics, based on common statistical principles. That Regulation sets out the quality criteria and refers to the need to minimise the response burden on survey respondents and to contribute to the more general objective of reducing the administrative burden. A new legal framework for European statistics on population and housing should implement and build upon the quality criteria set out in that Regulation and reduce the administrative burden by embracing effective and efficient reuse of available data sources including administrative data.

Added:Recital 9 a (new): (9a) A reduction of the administrative burden arising at Union level is a central objective of Regulation (EC) No 223/2009. The Commission communication of 16 March 2023 entitled ‘Long-term competitiveness of the EU: looking beyond 2030’ aims to rationalise and simplify reporting requirements by 25 % for each of the green, digital and economic thematic areas, and the related Commission proposal has the potential to reduce the administrative burden and to improve the competitiveness of all undertakings in the Union, including small and medium-sized enterprises.

Added:Recital 11: (11) Russia’s ongoing aggression against Ukraine, climate change, digital transformation, evolving demographic situation and recent migration trends have created demands for timelier, more frequent, and more detailed European statistics on population, socio-economic developments, vital events and housing including details of topics or groups that have become politically and societally relevant during the past decade. In addition, the existing legal framework is not flexible enough to adapt to evolving policy needs and to enable the use of new sources at national and Union level. Furthermore, the structure of the existing legal framework in the form of three separate regulations, adopted at different times, has led to intrinsic inconsistencies of the statistics. Finally, as Regulation (EU) No 1260/2013 will cease to apply on 31 August 2028, a new legal basis is required for the demographic statistics collected under that Regulation. It is therefore necessary to replace the current legal framework by a new, more coherent and flexible one that should amend relevant parts of Regulation (EC) No 862/2007 and repeal Regulations (EC) No 763/2008 and (EU) No 1260/2013.

Added:Recital 13: (13) The rapidly changing nature of some population and housing characteristics, in particular in relation to demographic, socio-economic and migration phenomena, and the corresponding need for a prompt targeting and adaptation of policies means that there is a need for statistics to be available on a timely basis soon after the reference period. The periodicity and timeliness of statistics should be therefore tangibly advanced, where possible through the use of administrative data and administrative records. To that end, the Member States should provide adequate resources for their national statistical institutes.

Added:Recital 17: (17) The current legal framework for European statistics on population and housing needs to be updated to ensure that the presently separate statistical processes are adequately integrated in a common framework which allows the ESS to respond effectively to new information needs of the Union and encourage statistical innovations. Statistical output must be enhanced to remain relevant in the face of demographic, migratory, social and economic changes as well as to address other challenges and to support policy and decision-making.

Added:Recital 19: (19) The Union censuses should become more cost-effective through making full use of the rich set of administrative data available across the Member States or a combination of different sources including sources related to the Internet of Things (IoT) and provision of digital services on the basis of the conclusion of protocols between the national statistical institutes of the Member States and providers of data from private databases. They should respect the privacy of personal data by establishing the necessary safeguards for personal data collection to avoid any potential misuse and guarantee fundamental rights. They should also be used to re-establish the demographic baseline and include surveys of the coverage of administrative data sources.

Added:Recital 20: (20) Member States and the Commission (Eurostat) should have sustainable access to the widest possible range of data sources to produce European statistics on population and housing of high quality and in a cost-effective manner. In this regard, it is crucial that national statistical authorities get timely access and are able to use promptly the administrative data owned by public administrations at national, regional and local level, in accordance with Article 17a of Regulation (EC) No 223/2009, in a cost-efficient manner. For example, statistics on energy efficiency of buildings can be based on administrative data relating to the issuance of energy certificates of buildings under Directive 2010/31/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council31 . Data sources should also contain data related to hard-to-reach population groups, such as homeless people and people living in informal settings. The national statistical institutes also need to be involved in decisions concerning the design and redevelopment of relevant administrative data sources to ensure that they can be further reused for compilation of official statistics.

Added:Recital 23: (23) Privately held data can improve the coverage, timeliness and crisis response capacities of European statistics on population and housing or to enable statistical innovation. Such data have the potential to complement existing demography and migration statistics, bring statistical innovation and even serve for production of early estimates. The national statistical institutes and other competent national authorities and the Commission (Eurostat) should have access to and use such data. In order to ensure the protection of the rights and freedoms of data holders, the Commission should establish a list of the types of privately held data sources that may be used for the production of statistics.

Added:Recital 23 a (new): (23a) In that respect, data sharing between privately held data providers or businesses and the national statistical institutes and the Commission (Eurostat) should be based on data-sharing protocols and cooperation agreements to be concluded by the stakeholders concerned and in accordance with Regulations (EU) 2016/679 and (EU) 2018/1725, as well as Directive 2002/58/EC.

Added:Recital 26: (26) European statistics on population and housing should meet the quality criteria on relevance, accuracy, timeliness and punctuality, accessibility and clarity, comparability and coherence specified in Regulation (EC) No 223/2009. Their quality should be enhanced as far as the needs of the Union evolve, and mechanisms should be established to address possible situations in which the quality of data is not guaranteed. In such instances, the Commission (Eurostat) should have the right to check the methodology that is being used and to organise site visits at the authorities collecting the data. Assistance and technical support should also be provided upon the request of national authorities. Appropriate results from the quality assessment carried out by the Commission (Eurostat) should be publicly available to statistics users by assuring free and easy access to these statistics through Commission (Eurostat) databases on its website and in its publications.

Added:Recital 26 a (new): (26a) European statistics on population and housing should address the persistent lack of data regarding hard-to-reach population groups, such as persons residing in institutions (e.g., military institutions, correctional and penal institutions, school and university dormitories, religious institutions, hospitals, residential care centres, including for persons with disabilities and orphans), persons aged over 75 years, persons with disabilities, homeless people, persons with a migrant background and stateless persons. In order to bridge that data divide and to prevent social and economic inequalities arising from it, the Member States should develop strategies and targeted solutions for collecting data about hard-to-reach population groups, in particular with regard to locating, contacting, persuading and interviewing such populations.

Added:Recital 26 b (new): (26b) Adequate, timely and effective policies presuppose reliable and comparable data, disaggregated by gender, age and disability, socio-economic status, geographical area, where relevant nationality, and other parameters in accordance with the United Nations Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics. This data is relevant to better understand population and housing trends, to combat intersectional discrimination and to implement and assess Union policies, objectives and actions, such as the European Pillar of Social Rights, the European Child Guarantee, the European Care Strategy, the European Strategy for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the European Platform on Combatting Homelessness, all of which rely heavily on data about households and families. The collection and use of such data should be conducted with full respect of Union and national privacy and fundamental rights standards, particularly with regard to statistical research involving minors.

Added:Recital 29: (29) Data sources available at national level are not always able to capture accurately phenomena related to the free movement of persons in the Union, the access of persons to cross-border services on demographic vital events and the exercise of persons rights to buy and own housing property used as primary, holiday and secondary accommodation across the Union. There are also discrepancies in the bilateral migration flows and difficulties to measure population groups, for instance among the migrant, homeless or stateless population. Therefore, data sharing for the purposes of compiling statistics on population and migration and ensuring their quality should be reinforced and considered as yet another data source. Such reinforced data sharing may cover a wide range of relevant data, from data that clearly do not allow for the identification of statistical units, either directly or indirectly, to data potentially subject to statistical confidentiality requirements. Member States should, in their own interest and in the interest of the other Member States, participate in data sharing activities, including in pilot projects assessing innovative secure solutions. The Commission (Eurostat) should also establish a secure infrastructure to facilitate such data sharing while ensuring all necessary safeguards for data protection.

Added:Recital 30: (30) When data sharing entails processing of personal data according to Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council37 or Regulation (EU) 2018/1725, the principles of lawfulness, fairness and transparency, purpose limitation, data minimisation, storage limitation and integrity and confidentiality should be fully applied. In particular, only data sharing mechanisms based on privacy enhancing technologies that are specifically designed to implement these principles should be used for the transmission of personal data.

Added:Recital 32: (32) In the longer term, the collaborative efforts in the European Statistical System to mitigate cross-border statistical quality issues, such as double counting of Union residents enjoying freedom of movement, should be facilitated through, for example, the introduction of single digital identifiers established at Union level by Regulation (EU) No 910/2014

Added:Recital 33: (33) This Regulation is without prejudice to Regulations (EU) 2016/679 and (EU) 2018/1725 and Directive 2002/58/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council.38 Within their respective scope of application, the latter Regulations are to apply to the processing of personal data under this Regulation. Anonymised or pseudonymised data should be used for the processing, sharing and archiving of personal data for statistical purposes in order to guarantee the safeguards as adopted under Article 89 of Regulation (EU) 2016/679 and Article 13 of Regulation (EU) 2018/1725. Preference should be given to processing anonymised data when producing and sharing statistics within the scope of this Regulation unless a serious impediment exists, in which case pseudonymised data should be processed.

Added:Recital 34: (34) European statistics on population and housing should evolve to take into account emerging data needs stemming from changing policy priorities, as well as changes in the demographic, migratory, social or economic situation in the Union. The Commission (Eurostat) should undertake pilot studies assessing the feasibility of the adaptations concerned as appropriate and should take into account aspects such as costs and administrative burdens on Member States and the availability of appropriate data sources. When preparing those studies, the Commission should ensure the representativeness of the studies at Union level, in particular with regard to regional differences.

Added:Recital 35: (35) In order to take account of demographic, economic and social trends, technological developments and the need to design well-targeted policies in a timely manner, the power to adopt acts in accordance with Article 290 TFEU should be delegated to the Commission in order to amend the list, description , periodicities and reference times of detailed topics covered by European statistics on population and housing; to update the periodicities and reference times in the Annex to this Regulation and to specify the information to be provided by Member States on an ad hoc basis. It is of particular importance that the Commission carry out appropriate consultations during its preparatory work, including at expert level, and that those consultations be conducted in accordance with the principles laid down in the Interinstitutional Agreement of 13 April 2016 on Better Law-Making39 . In particular, to ensure equal participation in the preparation of delegated acts, the European Parliament and the Council receive all documents at the same time as Member States' experts, and their experts systematically have access to meetings of Commission expert groups dealing with the preparation of delegated acts.

Added:Recital 35 a (new): (35a) The importance of European statistics as vital part of evidence-based decision-making is reflected in the Union Multiannual Financial Framework 2021-2027 for ensuring financial support for the development, production and dissemination of high-quality European statistics by the Single Market Programme. Reforming the collection of data via effective cooperation between relevant national authorities, statistical institutes and data providers as well as improving data quality should become eligible to benefit from the Technical Support Instrument (TSI), established by Regulation (EU) 2021/240 of the European Parliament and of the Council1a. To that end, the funds shall be used for the purpose of helping the national statistical institutes and other competent national authorities to collect the needed data as requested by the Commission (Eurostat), especially with regard to providing ad hoc data collection pursuant to this Regulation. / 1a Regulation (EU) 2021/240 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 10 February 2021 establishing a Technical Support Instrument (OJ L 57, 18.2.2021, p. 1).

Added:Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 8 a (new): (8a) ‘hard-to-reach population groups’ means groups of individuals for whom a real or perceived barrier exists for full and representative inclusion in the collection of statistical data;

Added:Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 10: (10) ‘conventional dwellings’ means dwellings that are structurally separate, namely surrounded by walls and covered by a roof or ceiling in such a way that one or more persons can reside there independent of others, and independent, namely with direct access from a street or stairway, passage, corridor or land, , that are in a fixed location, that are designed for permanent human habitation, and that, at the reference date, are being used for residential purposes or unoccupied, or which are used as a secondary or seasonal dwelling;;

Added:Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 12: (12) ‘household’ means a group of two or more persons who share living quarters or financial resources, or an individual person who does not form part of any other household;

Added:Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 12 a (new): (12a) ‘institution’ means a collective living quarter for the purpose of long-term inhabitation and provision of services to a group of persons;

Added:Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 13: (13) ‘family’ means a group of two or more persons who live at least for part of the time in the same household and who are related through parenthood or through marital, registered or consensual union partnership;

Added:Article 4 – paragraph 1 – point e: (e) buildings intended for habitation, living quarters and conventional dwellings, including institutions.

Added:Article 5 – paragraph 1 – point c: (c) families;

Added:Article 5 – paragraph 1 – point c a (new): (ca) households.

Added:Article 5 – paragraph 2: 2. Statistics in the domains listed in paragraph 1 shall be organised into data sets following the topics and detailed topics as set out in the Annex. The topics set out in the demography domain, as well as in other relevant domains, in the Annex shall be disaggregated, in accordance with national law and practice on data collection and disclosure, by age, gender and disability and where relevant other characteristics in accordance with the United Nations Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics.

Added:Article 7 – paragraph 2: 2. The Commission is empowered to adopt delegated acts to supplement this Regulation in accordance with Article 17 by specifying the data sets and metadata to be provided by Member States on an ad hoc basis, where the collection of additional statistics is deemed necessary for the purpose of addressing additional statistical needs under this Regulation, while prioritising the administrative data sources and records to be used for the collection of requested data.

Added:Article 8 – paragraph 3 – subparagraph 2: The revised data sets and metadata shall be provided within the deadlines specified in paragraph 2 of this Article and be complemented by quality reporting in accordance with Article 12. Member States shall inform the Commission of any decision to revise particular data sets without undue delay.

Added:Article 9 – paragraph 1 – introductory part: 1. Member States and the Commission (Eurostat) shall use one or a combination of the following data sources, provided that they allow for producing statistics that meet the quality requirements laid down in Article 12 and that the data is collected and processed in accordance with the applicable Union law on data protection, respecting data subjects’ fundamental rights:

Added:Article 9 – paragraph 4: 4. The statistics compiled under this Regulation shall be based on statistically sound and well-documented methods taking into account international recommendations and best practice such as ‘signs of life’, ‘rate of stay’ and other scientifically-based statistical estimation methods used for compiling usually resident population in the Member States in accordance with the applicable Union law on data protection.

Added:Article 9 – paragraph 5: 5. On a duly reasoned request from the Commission (Eurostat), Member States shall provide the Commission (Eurostat) with the assessment results of the data sources, the documentation of methods and necessary clarifications.

Added:Article 12 – paragraph 2 – point e: (e) avoid possible risks of undercounting or double counting related to the free movement of persons in the Union, the access of persons to cross-border services linked to vital events and the person rights to buy cross-border, own and use housing property across the Union, for example by introducing single digital identifiers;

Added:Article 12 – paragraph 2 – point f: (f) avoid possible risks of undercounting or double counting and ensure better comparability of migration flows;

Added:Article 12 – paragraph 4 – subparagraph 1 a (new): Any major adaptation provided for by such implementing acts may be the subject of a financial and technical support pursuant to Article 15 or a derogation pursuant to Article 19(1a).

Added:Article 12 – paragraph 5: 5. Member States shall inform the Commission (Eurostat) as soon as possible of any relevant information or changes with regard to the implementation of this Regulation that would influence the quality of the statistics provided and shall take action to resolve the issue without undue delay.

Added:Article 12 – paragraph 6: 6. On a duly reasoned request from the Commission (Eurostat), Member States shall provide necessary additional clarifications to evaluate the quality of the statistics without undue delay.

Added:Article 13 – paragraph 2: 2. In the interest of secure data sharing within the ESS, all necessary safeguards with regard to the physical, technical and logical protection of data shall be taken. The Commission (Eurostat) shall set up a secure infrastructure to facilitate data sharing referred to in paragraph 1. Competent national authorities for statistics under this Regulation shall use this secure data sharing infrastructure for the purpose specified in paragraph 1.

Added:Article 13 – paragraph 3 – point b: (b) based on privacy enhancing technologies that are specifically designed to implement the principles of Regulations (EU) 2016/679 and (EU) 2018/1725, with particular regard to purpose limitation, data minimisation, storage limitation, integrity and confidentiality;

Added:Article 13 – paragraph 3 – point b a (new): (ba) without prejudice to the rules on personal data protection pursuant to Regulations (EU) 2016/679 and (EU) 2018/1725;

Added:Article 14 – paragraph 1 – point d: (d) avoiding possible risks of undercounting or double counting and ensuring better comparability of migration flows;

Added:Article 14 – paragraph 2: 2. Member States may participate in those studies. The Commission (Eurostat) shall ensure the representativeness at Union level, reflecting national diversities.

Added:Article 15 – paragraph 1 – introductory part: 1. Upon the request of a Member State, financial contribution may be provided from the general budget of the Union to the national statistical institutes and other national authorities referred to in Article 5(2) of Regulation (EC) No 223/2009, for:

Added:Article 15 – paragraph 1 – point a: (a) infrastructure and training necessary for the development and implementation of new or enhanced data sources, methodologies, data sharing, statistical units, topics, detailed topics, variables and their breakdowns;

Added:Article 15 – paragraph 1 a (new): 1a. Member States may apply for support from the TSI to improve the quality of statistics and developing methodologies meeting the requirements of this Regulation. Assistance from the Commission may also be provided for the coordination of exchange of best practices across Member States.

Added:Article 17 – paragraph 4: 4. Before adopting a delegated act, the Commission shall consult experts designated by each Member State in accordance with the principles laid down in the Interinstitutional Agreement of 13 April 2016 on Better Law-Making and shall keep the European Parliament informed about the preparatory work relating to its delegated act.

Added:Article 19 – paragraph 1: 1. Where the application of this Regulation requires major adaptations to be made to a Member State’s national statistical system, the Commission may grant, by means of implementing acts, derogations to that Member State, for a maximum duration of seven years.

Added:Article 19 – paragraph 1 a (new): 1a. Where delegated or implementing acts adopted pursuant to this Regulation require major adaptations to be made to a Member State’s national statistical system, the Commission may grant, by means of implementing acts pursuant to Article 12(4), second subparagraph, derogations to that Member State, for a maximum duration of three years.

Added:Regulation (EC) No 862/2007

Added:Article 20 – paragraph 1 – point 3 a (new), Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point d: (3a) in Article 2(1), point (d) is replaced by the following: / “(d) ‘citizenship’ means citizenship as defined in Article 2(1) of Regulation (EU) No XXXX/2023 of the European Parliament and of the Council.+ / + OJ: Please insert in the text the number of the Regulation contained in document PE-CONS (2023/0008(COD)) and insert the number, date, title and OJ reference of that Regulation in the footnote.”