EUROPEAN COMMISSIONEUROSTAT

Directorate A: Cooperation in the European Statistical System; International cooperation; ResourcesUnit A3: Statistical cooperation

Meeting of thePolicy Group on Statistical Cooperation

19 - 20 October 2017

Durrës Albania

Draft Minutes

DAY 1 - 19 OCTOBER 2017

1.General issues

1.1 Welcome

Ms Ibrahimaj, Director General of the Institute of Statistics (Albania) welcomed the participants to the PGSC. Mr Everaers thanked INSTAT for hosting the meeting and welcomed the guests from the NSIs of the enlargement counties and the international organisations and institutions represented.

Mr Everaers (Eurostat) informed about recent developments in the European Statistical System (ESS).

Following the retirement of former Director General of Eurostat Mr Radermacher, Ms Kotzeva has been the acting Director General of Eurostat. The recruitment process will be closed shortly and the important decision will be made on who will the next Director General of Eurostat.

On the governance side, a new European Statistical Governance Advisory Board (ESGAB) and European Statistical Advisory Committee (ESAC) will be established shortly. Whereas the role of the ESGAB is on the governance of the ESS and compliance with the European Statistics Code of Practice (CoP), the ESAC plays an important role in advising on statistical matters with academia represented in the committee. The board of the European Master of Official Statistics (EMOS) is also represented in the ESAC. In the coming period universities can apply for their programme to be labelled as an EMOS. Currently the University of Donja Gorica in Montenegro is the only university in the region with an EMOS degree; however, Eurostat encourages the NSIs in the region in cooperation with the universities whether they should invest to attract an EMOS degree for one of their programmes.

Regarding the European Statistical Programme (ESP), Mr Everaers (Eurostat) informed about the extension of the current ESP for the period 2018-2020 as well as the discussions on the consecutive programme beyond 2020. The 2018-2020 ESP is considered an extension of the previous programme and addition funds were allocated to Eurostat’s operational budget for this period in order to operationalize new surveys and look into topics within globalisation, energy statistics and so-called SMART statistics. The extension of the ESP for the period 2018-2020 was also done in order to align the Multi-annual Financial Framework (MFF) of the European Commission. Currently the EU is discussing possible contributions from the EU member stated on a new MFF beginning in 2020. These discussions are also related to whether the EU will prioritise new common policy areas or whether there will be a deeper integration on certain policies. The discussions on an ESP for the period beyond 2020 are still not very detailed; however, Eurostat considers dissemination a possible area for this programme. Dynamic publications have been discussed as well as new data sources of Official Statistics and SMART statistics.

Another important topic for the ESS is the trust in statistics and challenges provided by fake news. These topics are again related to the quality of Official Statistics and status of NSI. An important priority for Eurostat is to guarantee the trustworthiness of Eurostat statistics.

Eurostat is currently publishing some statistics, which are not yet fulfilling the usual requirements of Official Statistics. These are labelled experimental statistics and can be accessed on a dedicated section of the Eurostat webpage. This is an important approach to testing the value of publications that do not necessarily fulfil the quality label of Official Statistics.

A final point is that Eurostat considers Official Statistics produced by Greece satisfactory, and no longer express reservation about the data. However there are still unresolved governance issues in

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the Greek Statistical System and the established Commitment on Confidence (CoC) will be important track and ensure satisfactory governance.

Mr Everaers (Eurostat) informed the participants on previous and upcoming events such as the ISI in Marrakesh on 2017, the planned IAOS conference in Paris 2018 and the next quality conference in Poland in 2018. Eurostat will support participation of the NSIs in the enlargement countries via the multi-beneficiary IPA programmes.

Mr Krasniqi, CEO of the Kosovo Agency for Statistics (KAS), appreciated the information on dynamic publications and would like to receive additional information on this way of presenting data. The recently established government of Kosovo* aims to publish new statistics which are more flexible.

Ms Ibrahimaj (Albania) enquired about the length of the ESP to follow the recent three-year extension. This is relevant for ongoing discussion of amendments to the Law on Official Statistics (LOS) and the duration of the multi-annual work programmes in Albania

Mr Everaers (Eurostat) explained that the ESP is linked to a particular financing program. For the duration and budget allocation, the European Parliament and Council of the EU decide on these matters. However, from the point of formulating objective there is a general preference in favour of shorter durations as this allow for more detailed planning. As the next MFF is not yet designed yet, but if the duration will be 10 years, it could be matched with two consecutive 5 year programmes with intermediate evaluation.

Ms Simoni (Albania) informed about the practical arrangements for the meeting and the social programme.

1.2 Adoption of agenda

Mr Everaers (Eurostat) introduced the agenda according to the main sessions. Ms Ibrahimaj (Albania) informed that instead of presenting the National Statistical System of Albania, INSTAT will present recent developments regarding the publication of the results of the agriculture census. The agenda was adopted accordingly.

1.3 Adoption of the minutes of the last PGSC meeting in Croatia in 2016

Participants are asked to approve the minutes. The draft minutes were circulated for comments in January 2017 and comments received were incorporated.

Mr Whitworth (Eurostat) informed on the status of the minutes from the 2016 PGSC meeting. The minutes were adopted without any comments.

Delegates approved the minutes of the PGSC meeting of October 2016.

1.4 Information on the 2017 MGSC meeting

Participants are asked to take note of the discussions within the MGSC. The draft minutes were circulated in May 2017 and comments received were incorporated.

Mr Whitworth (Eurostat) informed on the status of the minutes from the 2016 MGSC meeting. The participants took note of the minutes from the 2016 MGSC.

* This designation is without prejudice to positions on status, and is in line with UNSCR 1244 and the ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo declaration of independence.

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Mr Everaers (Eurostat) informed that the dates for next year's MGSC meeting are not yet determine and it could possible take place later than the usual period. As the MGSC requires intensive preparations, Eurostat is not sure when it could take place next year.

Delegates took note of the information provided on the MGSC meeting of March 2017.

2. Developments in the enlargement and the Stabilisation and Association Process

Mr Wild (DG NEAR) made a comment that in the work on the enlargement policy, DG NEAR will use statistical data from other sources than Eurostat if such data are available. He noted that the World Bank is faster to disseminate new data than Eurostat is. On the other hand, it is preferred to have access to a consolidated set of data which is internally consistent and which has high quality.

Furthermore, Mr Wild said that the basic issues in the enlargement policy are the fundamentals, which are the rule of law and public administration reform, within which he counted public financial management, resources management, administration in general, and public procurement.

In the economic area, development of competitiveness is key for the preparation of accession to EU. In this context, the Regional Economic Area is an initiative to created EU-like cooperation between the Western Balkan countries in order to prepare them for EU accession, in particular for the Copenhagen criteria related to a functioning market economy. A monitoring framework is foreseen and there is a potential need for indicators.

A Western Balkan strategy is expected to be issued by the EU Commission in February 2018 and specifically, Montenegro and Serbia are identified as front runners. A tentative accession date will be mentioned, 2025, but there is no decision on this date. The regular country reports are expected in April 2018 and will assess the state-of-play in terms of compliance with the EU acquis, the institutional framework and the administrative capacity to assume the obligations of EU membership.

Mr Wild mentioned the issues discussed at the fourth Western Balkan (WB6) summit meeting: connectivity, transport and energy corridors, and to integrate the enlargement countries regionally, for instance by increasing trade in goods and services and to increase foreign direct investments which would lead to the creation of many new jobs in the region. In this context there is a link to the South East Europe 2020 (SEE2020) strategy to increase intra-region trade. Financial services should be integrated in the region and if the digital integration is successful, digital commerce between the WB6 countries would develop. A goal is to have a more integrated Western Balkan region by 2023, but this depends on the will of the politicians.

Turkey is a key partner of the EU, Mr Wild went on. While the recent developments in the countries are sad, the country has a lot of potential. Of the EU funds earmarked for the agreement between the EU and Turkey on migration, €1.8bn has been disbursed so far.

On the main issues in the other enlargement countries, Mr Wild noted that Montenegro is member of NATO since June 2017 and that the statistics chapter is open in accession negotiations since some years. Regarding Serbia and the opening of negotiations on chapter 18 statistics, it is the Member States in the Council that have the last word.

The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia has satisfactory local elections and has to strengthen its neighbourly relationships, in particular to strengthen the confidence of Greece, which has a considerable leverage over the country.

Albania has conditions in the judicial field before accession negotiations can be opened and the Member States have to decide if the justice reform is sufficient. Mr Wild noted that Germany has concerns about Albania.

The Commission has sent a questionnaire to Bosnia and Herzegovina, asking for information to help judging if the country should be granted candidate status. Commission is waiting for the consolidated answers to the questionnaire from Bosnia and Herzegovina.

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Regarding Kosovo, Mr Wild noted that a new Prime Minister had been appointed.

Delegates took note of the overview on the enlargement and Stabilisation and Association process provided by Mr Wild (DG NEAR).

3. Peer reviews and monitoringDelegates took note of the experience of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Kosovo where peer reviews were carried out in 2017. Both reviews were successful and the other countries received useful practical information about various aspects of organising and carrying out peer reviews. The preparation of a peer review is facilitated if all relevant documents (statistics law, work programme, strategy documents etc) are available in advance in English versions. The involvement of Other National Authorities (ONA) for statistical production in the peer review was recognised as difficult due to the low number of statisticians in each ONA (with the exception of Central Banks).

After the final report of the peer review is published, the NSI drafts improvement actions as a response to the recommendations of the peer review. These recommendations and actions should be of SMART nature in order to allow monitoring of the actions.

Ms Marković (Montenegro) raised a question about the sequence of countries to attend the remaining peer reviews as observers. This will be sent by Eurostat separately after the PGSC meeting.

As one of the elements of taking up the recommendations for the forthcoming peer reviews, Commitments on Confidence could be envisaged. In the light of this Eurostat presented the work on signing Commitments on Confidence by the European Commission and by the governments of the member states and the progress achieved so far. Montenegro, the first enlargement country to start work on the CoC, mentioned that they expected to have the CoC signed before the end of October 2017.

Eurostat underlined that governments of enlargement countries are expected to sign a Commitment of Confidence (CoC) before joining the EU.

Eurostat presented the report on the progress achieved in implementing the improvement actions stemming from the peer reviews, light peer reviews and adapted global assessments carried out in the enlargement countries with a focus on overall progress and unresolved recommendations.

Conclusions:

Delegates took note of the progress in implementing improvement actions from the Peer Reviews, AGAs and LPRs. The results continue the observed trend from recent years that a lot of progress have already been realised, and "old" recommendations remain a challenge to resolve. In this regard the new round of Peer Reviews is expected to give new momentum to progress in the countries with new sets of recommendations.

4. Sustainable Development GoalsMr Carlquist (Eurostat) outlined the history of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): in 2015 the United National had adopted 17 goals, setting 169 targets; 244 indicators had been agreed at the 2017 UN Statistical Commission following the work of an Inter-Agency and Expert Group (IAEG-SDG). The European Commission adopted a communication in 2016 entitled "Next steps for a sustainable European future". The EU Reference Indicators consist of 100 indicators of which 69 are deemed as being "official statistics". The focus in the EU is on indicators needed for EU policy and Eurostat will not collect data for more than these. SDG data is collected from Enlargement countries as part of the regular data collection.

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Mr Vale (UNECE) gave the UN perspective. He emphasised that it is a country led process. There are three "tiers" of indicators, depending on the availability of methods and data. The "Custodians" (agencies assigned responsibility for the various indicators) would be responsible for developing methodology where it does not exist. He reported on the work of the IAEG-SDG. The Conference of European Statisticians (CES) has adopted a road map in June 2017 containing a number of recommendations for NSIs.

Mr Everaers (Eurostat) saw two issues of interest for the meeting: the international picture with the responsibility of the custodians and the EU approach which was focussing on EU policy.

Mr Täube (EFTA) questioned the status of the 31 indicators that are not official statistics. Are they in the third tier (i.e. no methodology or data)? If so will the custodians be developing methodology?

Ms Marković (Montenegro) asked if the EU indicators are new and where those that are not official statistics come from.

Mr Carlquist replied that the EU set is a subset of the 244 UN SDG indicators and that non-official statistics indicators are be produced, for example, by agencies, such as the European Environment Agency.

Mr Tasti (Turkey) gave an account of how this topic was being addressed in his country. There are two main pillars: the Ministry of Development and Turkstat. After a stocktaking exercise a road map has been established. Around 46% of the indicators are available and Turkstat is responsible for about 40% of these. The next step is to report on national priorities and investigate the data gaps. There is a news bulletin and a web portal on the subject.

Mr Everaers suggested the setting up of a forum for sharing of experience.

Ms Gerdziunaite (Eurostat) informed the meeting of the relevant activities under IPA 2015. There is a pilot project on EU SDGs and there will be two introductory workshops. There will probably be some activity in IPA 2017.

Conclusions:

Delegates took note of the recent developments related to SDG indicators, both at the EU level as well as at the UN and national levels. Most countries recognised the challenges to make data available for SDG and to coordinate the development work with many actors involved. The borderline between official statistics and other statistics is very pertinent in relation to SDG.

A forum for exchange of views might be organised by Eurostat to exchange information between enlargement countries on the SDG indicators.

5 The Code of Practice and Coordination of the National Statistical Systems Ms Gerdziunaite (Eurostat) introduced the anticipated changes to the European statistics Code of Practice (CoP). The presentation gave the background and status of revisions which was at the time of the meeting being prepared for adoption on the ESSC meeting in November 2017. Hence the proposed revisions could not yet be considered final. ESGAB recommended in the period 2014-2016 to amend the CoP to take into account the coordinating role of the NSI, to clarify certain indicators, to include a reference to multiple data sources and their implications on quality, costs and in comparability of statistical production. Furthermore the ESBAG recommended addressing the concerns associated with use of big data. Further to the recommendations of ESGAB, the amended regulation 223/2009 on European Statistics, innovation in statistics, experiences made with the second round of ESS peer reviews and a wish to make the text more general and timeless were the main drivers behind the revisions.

As regards the revisions, Ms Gerdziunaite (Eurostat) highlighted the introduction of a new principle on coordination and cooperation (principle 0), the alignment of certain wording with the amended

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regulation 223/2009, broadening the scope by introducing the possibilities to cover new data sources and developments, and include notions of innovation, value, anticipating user needs and priorities and data interoperability.

As the changes are still ongoing the draft text could not be disseminated to the participants at the time of the PGSC. The next steps in the work includes the follow up of finding of the Quality working Group meeting, written consultation of the member of the High-level Group on quality, finalise the text and finally submitting the related documents to the ESSC meeting planned for mid-November.

Mr Tasti (Turkey) considered the amendment would be useful for Turkstat, and recommended that Eurostat should consult revisions also with the enlargement countries. The background is their participation in the Quality Working Group and some recommendations regarding several principles. Furthermore, numbering the new principle for coordination and cooperation was mentioned.

Mr Dema (Albania) enquired how the revisions will be reflected in the current round of peer reviews in the enlargement countries.

Mr Everaers (Eurostat) explained that the 2011 CoP was the basis for the 2014-2015 ESS Peer Reviews, and accordingly the 2017 CoP will form the basis for the next round of ESS Peer Reviews, however, it could also be some changes to the methodology for the next round of ESS Peer Reviews. For the remaining Peer Reviews in the enlargement countries it is the momentum from the 2011 CoP that should form the basis for the assessments. A possible solution could be to a description in and annex of the compliance with the revisions, but this would be an additional element compared to the 2011 CoP.

Mr Kapuran considered the numbering of the new principle on coordination and cooperation satisfactory as this principle represents basic requirements.

Mr Everaers explained that the detailed discussion on the revision have already been ongoing for two years. Furthermore, the CoP is part of regulation 223/2009 which applies to the ESS, and hence it would not be appropriate to open for changes based on recommendation from the enlargement countries in the current stage.

Mr Kovačević (Serbia) added the 15 CoP principles in the new amendments to the LOS which is in the process of being adopted; and questioned whether to already include the principle on coordination and cooperation in the current stage.

Mr Everaers (Eurostat) considered that if the elements of coordination are sufficiently addressed already in the LOS this is sufficient. Mr Everaers (Eurostat) reminded that the amended regulation 223/2009 includes a specific reference to the CoP and it could also be that Eurostat would require updating with the right reference in the European regulation.

Ms Mitevska (the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia) welcomed the revision of the CoP and highlighted that different elements of coordination and cooperation was already monitored in the recent Peer Reviews which resulted in several recommendation to the SSO which included coordination with ONAs, labelling of Official Statistics and more.

Ms Radojevic (Montenegro) informed that the LOS should be changed according to the revisions in the CoP. In a reorganisation of Monstat a new sector for coordination was established in Monstat mandated to coordinate the NSS and ONAs which meets the requirements of the new principle on coordination. Ms Radojevic (Montenegro) also expressed some concerns about the amendment concerning privileged pre-access release of some data to selected key users as the current LOS specifies equal access to all users.

Mr Everaers (Eurostat) informed that some countries established a strategy for privileged pre-release access of data for some key users and hence this revision has to be seen as a compromise. Accepted pre-release arrangements would have to be transparent and publicly available on the NSI

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website and in the release calendar. Many other countries are very strict on this principle. Eurostat have defined pre-access of 3-4 users available 24 hours before release.

Ms Samardžić (Bosnia and Herzegovina) informed that coordination and cooperation was also discussed the seminar on the generic Law on Official Statistics (GLOS) in July 2017, and the discussion implied that this principle should also be included in the GLOS.

Mr Vale (UNECE) informed that the GLOS is becoming a global document and therefore it is difficult to refer to a specific regional practice for some principle. However, an optional documentation or a recommendation for European countries could be added to take into account the CoP when implementing the GLOS in Europe.

Mr Dema (Albania) presented a study on coordination of national statistical systems, including an analysis of the peer reviews to find which are the most commonly mentioned elements of coordination. Following a discussion on the various definitions and elements of coordination Mr Dema (Albania) emphasized the importance of efficient coordination in terms of improving the institutional image through quality performance, cost-effectiveness, efficiency and ensuring information flows and bringing satisfaction to users. In statistical production these elements translate into a set of activities which ensure that the activities of different members of the statistical system meet the relevant quality standards. Furthermore the coordinating role of the NSI can be considered a horizontal element that support compliance with elements of the CoP in areas such as institutional environment, statistical processes and statistical output. Coordination also enables planning and implementing statistical activities, improving quality documentation, maintaining confidence and close relations with relevant stakeholders and providers of administrative data, avoiding duplication and improving the image of Official Statistics, all contributing to improving the quality of Official Statistics. Most elements of coordination are therefore relevant in the Peer Reviews.

Mr Dema (Albania) also presented results of a study on which principles of the CoP and part of statistical production where coordination is mentioned in national legislation in the ESS. Whereas coordination is most frequently mentioned in context of the legal framework, common communication, coordination units, lists of products and producers and more, the study revealed that coordination is described in most of the aspects of statistical production. Similarly, recommendations in the ESS Peer Reviews on coordination concern a vast number of areas.

Regarding how coordination can be implemented, the presentation highlighted coordination I terms of group efforts (e.g. working groups, committees), continuous efforts, vertical and horizontal coordination as well as appointing specific coordinator to facilitate the work of different managers, usually within an organization. The many instruments of coordination were also described.

Risks or obstacles to efficient coordination typically rise from disagreements on specific activities and objectives, autonomy of institutions in terms of using funds, lack of documentation, institutional reforms and complicated structural organisations. Finally, the presentation described the difference between collaboration and coordination and highlighted the importance of distinguishing between the two.

Mr Everaers (Eurostat) added that the presentation focused on many of the elements that are important in the context cooperation, coordination and collaboration and the importance of having precise definitions. It was also useful to see the distribution of coordination across the different CoP principles.

Mr Rrustemi (Kosovo) enquired how the coordination is organised in the statistical system of Albania and how it is implemented in practice on issues such as methodology and implementing classification across the NSS.

Mr Dema (Albania) explained that the starting point for improving coordination in Albania was to review the legal framework because this establishes the NSS. Unlike regulation 223/2009 it could

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also be considered to not only include ONAs in the NSS but also providers of data and other facilitators in the legislation. The main driver of the NSS should be the NSI but it cannot function without all the other facilitators. Currently INSTAT is in the process of extending the definition of the NSS further compared to the present definition according to the Multi-annual work programme which in turn includes the Central Bank and the Ministry of Finance. Another approach of INSTAT is to sign MoUs. Furthermore coordination is implemented by establishing mechanisms to implement the MoUs which will also be important to monitor their efficiency. A final point for implementing coordination is to elaborate detailed responsibilities in the yearly plans for implementing the Multi-annual work programme which describes the responsibilities of the NSS.

Ms Ibrahimaj (Albania) added that the legal framework is the foundation for establishing good coordination. The draft amendment of the LOS describes clearly what are the statistical agencies and the coordination role. Experiences made so far with the ONAs is that coordination should be described in the legislation but it is also required to invest in collaboration, and the distinction between coordination and coordination is important. An example from the previous year with the Central Bank adopting a regulation which was not in line with the CoP implemented by INSTAT illustrates this point. Not only is it important to have a clear legal framework but also common activities with the ONAs. Therefore, INSTAT will draft a strategy for the coordination of the NSS in collaboration with the ONAs. Currently INSTAT is discussing with the ONAs how to strengthen their involvement in the multi-annual work programme and the Statistical Council.

Mr Everaers (Eurostat) considered coordination a challenging topic and its often challenging to translate legislation, MoUs and strategies into practice. This is often because ONAs have their own mandate and legislation well established.

Mr Vale (UNECE) added that integration in the context of data sources is an important topic currently and is one of the growing number of strategic management topics that should be discussed further.

Mr Everaers (Eurostat) considered when countries are reflecting on the legal framework and how to organise the NSS, this type of presentation and reflection could be very useful in order to utilise the right terminology and provide sufficient guarantees of the adequate functioning of the statistical system. Proactive approach.

Conclusions:

The current European statistics Code of Practice (CoP) is in the process of being revised and the new version will be a topic for discussion on the agenda of the November 2017 ESSC meeting.

In a new peer review round 2019 - 2020 in the Member States the new CoP will be used.

The remaining peer reviews in enlargement countries in the current round (2017-2018) will continue to use the 2011 CoP with addition of a principle on coordination, as has been the case in the three peer reviews already carried out in enlargement countries in this round.

DAY 2 - 20 OCTOBER 2017

6. Developments in the ESS

Ms Samardžić (Bosnia and Herzegovina) presented feedback from DGINS conference which took place 21 September 2017 in Budapest, Hungary. The topic of statistical session was 'Population Movements and Integration Issues – Migration Statistics'.

József Pálinkás, President of the National Research, Development and Innovation Office in Hungary, reminded the participants of DGINS that statistics is important not only for science, but also for the creation of the policy in society. Frans Willekens, Professor Emeritus of Population Studies of the University of Groningen, stated that some progress in migration statistics has been made, but still a lot have to be done. He also proposed several specific actions, such as to identify and document sources of data of international migration; that statistical institutes should publish

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detailed metadata on migration concepts and measures, and on the data collection process; to use mathematical/statistical models to produce the synthetic database; etc. These recommendations were also mentioned by other speakers in DGINS conference.

Áron Kincses, Deputy President, HCSO presented Hungarian work on migration statistics and listed main problems with which they encounter, such as timeliness, lack of details, multiple enumerations and others. In this presentation, microdata exchange was mentioned as possible solution, however it was noted that this poses some major challenges. The possibility of using big data sources was also pointed out.

Gallo Gueye Director of Social Statistics of Eurostat started the first thematic session 'Migration statistics – data gaps and other challenges' with the summary of user perspective, strengths and weaknesses of migration statistics and what is missing from the currently available statistics.

Spanish statistical institute presented some key elements and recent developments of the 2021 population and housing census in Spain, which will be very largely based on administrative data. They stressed that the availability of many new sources is already helping to improve population and migration statistics. However, some of the limitations they face in trying to calculate population figures using only national sources could be reduced by exchanging microdata for statistical purposes with other NSIs.

In this session also the production of migration statistics based on administrative data in Denmark was presented. The conclusion was that there are opportunities and challenges in the production of migration statistics based on administrative data, the quality of data being the main challenge.

This session was followed by discussion about exchange of microdata. Some possible problems were mentioned, such as for example availability of data in the countries outside EU, technical issues, etc.

Session II was on Research in migration statistics. The first presentation was 'International Migrations: better data for a better use' made by Maria João Valente Rosa, who stressed that migration is becoming a very relevant social, economic and political issue at a country level and at the European level as well, therefore improvements of migration data are strongly needed and data about migration and migrants are a priority. She proposed: to stimulate a cooperation between NSIs, for interchange migration data; Eurostat can act as a bridge between NSIs, namely by facilitating a common web repository for migration flows on Europe; to review the definitions and practices adopted by countries for the measurement; as well as to try to improve statistical literacy and make definitions more understandable.

Amparo González-Ferrer in her presentation about immigration from a family perspective 'Opportunities and limitations in (official) statistics' stressed that combining statistical sources helps to understand the different dimensions of family-related migration and avoids misinterpretation. Statisticians should progress towards a socio-demographic approach to migration statistics rather than only a legal approach.

Session III was dedicated to reflections on future perspectives. The presentation 'Using administrative sources for statistics on migrants and their socio-economic characteristics – a UK perspective' focused on the need to link as many administrative sources and surveys together as possible in order to create a rich evidence base. This will ensure that public and policy debate are based on evidence.

Presentation 'Data integration and harmonization for measuring migration in Italy: new perspectives towards continuous Census' noted the improvements of migration statistics in Italy by combining the use of registers and surveys. Due to the changes in the migration pattern in Italy (the inflows of migrants are decreasing and have a completely different composition with a growing component of asylum seekers and person under protection), it is important to combine different sources of data and to measure not only migration but also social integration. In this presentation, once again, it was

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emphasised that stimulation of dialogue is needed among different institutions, among Member States and within NSI.

The presentation from Austria 'Labour market status and length of stay of migrants in Austria' analysed the economic activity of migrants in Austria. In the same session Poland presented an overview of the work carried out in the Central Statistical Office of Poland on the 2021 National Census of Population and Housing related to the use of administrative registers as data sources, including migration statistics.

Slovenian presentation concluded that register-based approach in the production of migration stock data keeps all essential census features (universality, individual enumeration, simultaneity, availability of small-area data), with an important improvement in periodicity turning to annual updates of all topics from EU Census Regulation and also additional (mostly derived) topics which gives the users quality and up-to-date harmonised, reliable and relevant statistical data on different population groups relevant to international migration.

The last session in DGINS meeting focused on the main topics of the meeting, such as the main data gaps in currently available statistics on migration; the use of administrative data for migration statistics and ensuring the quality and accessibility of these data sources in the short and long term; a possibility to exchange data between NSIs for migration statistics.

The participants of DGINS had possibility to comment on draft Budapest Memorandum.

Conclusions:

Eurostat recognised that the topic is highly relevant and proposed to arrange a dedicated session on migration statistics issues from a Western Balkan and Turkey perspective.

7. The ESS Vision – state-of-play

Mr Carlquist (Eurostat) presented an update on the latest developments regarding the ESS Vision and the framework regulations on business, social and agriculture statistics. The Vision 2020 is in the implementation phase with several projects already implemented and some projects are under implementation.

One of the projects highlighted was the project on Big data for Official Statistics which looks into utilising sources of big data for different statistical areas. Examples include using web scraping for jo vacancies statistics and enterprise characteristics, mobile phone data population estimates and tourism statistics and for early estimates on turnover and consumer confidence indices. A new challenge is to access privately owned data of Official Statistics and it is expected that all the member states NSIs and Eurostat will sign an agreement to receive some mobile data. Other project mentioned were the SIMSTAT, European System of interoperable Business Registers to profile multinational enterprises, VALIDATION, ADMIN which works on sampling frames for social statistics, Eur. Statistical Data Exchange Network (ESDEN), Shared service (SERV) and digital dissemination and communication (DIGICOM) which established a dedicated webpage on experimental statistics.

Mr Carlquist (Eurostat) also gave an overview of the ongoing work with establishing framework regulations. Several areas are and will be subject to framework regulations which is expected to contribute to simplifying and streamlining the legislation that currently exists of separate legal acts for various domains and to be more responsive to new data requests. Examples highlighted were Framework Regulation Integrating Business Statistics (FRIBS), Integrated European Social Statistics (IESS) and two framework regulations for agriculture.

Mr Everaers informed on the web portal for the ESS vision for countries to obtain information on the ESS.VIPs which is organised in six chapters including the newsletter which is useful to gain experiences from countries participating in the projects.

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Mr Vale (UNECE) informed on the high level group for modernising official statistics. A workshop will be organised in Geneva November 2017 where the recent work on data architecture and integration will be presented as well as the 2018 priorities will be chosen. A series of other events on specific standards including a workshop on integrating geospatial and statistical standards, High Level Seminar on strategic partnerships, meetings on statistical standards and implementing them, technical cooperation workshops and more to be determined.

Mr Tasti (Turkey) informed that since 2014 Turkstat attended many workshops on the ESS vision which was useful in terms of future plans. In particular Turkstat consider following certain projects and participating in events related to the ESS vision important in order to advance quality in production of Official Statistics. In particular Turkstat is interested use of administrative data; quality of big data and consistent development of integrates systems. These topics are relevant for all NSIs and hence Turkstat would appreciate to continue taking part of such events.

Ms Mitevska (the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia) informed that the SSO follows closely the ESS vision projects. The SSO participated in a workshop on quality of multi-source statistics, a workshop on access to administrative data sources and all workshops related to big data and quality. The SSO is particularly interested in the ADMIN project, DIGICOM, SERV and all activities connected to big data.

Mr Everaers (Eurostat) added that the enlargement countries have the opportunity to follow the developments in the ESS VIP projects and participate in the related events.

Conclusions:

The delegates took note of the information provided on the ESS Vision Implementation Projects (ESS.VIP) and the framework regulations on business, social and agriculture statistics. UNECE informed about a workshop on modernisation of statistics to be held in Geneva on 20-22 November 2017.

8. The future of compliance monitoringMr Andersen (Eurostat) noted that compliance monitoring is recurring topic in the recent PGSC meetings and his presentation serves as a basis for reflection on how Eurostat can improve this exercise. He presented the various 'compliance monitoring' related activities carried out by Eurostat Unit A3, their relevance, importance, as well as how they complement or overlap each other.

It is not possible to know the true compliance level, but there are many ways to estimate it. All estimations are based on certain assumptions and come with some uncertainties. Ultimate compliance in enlargement process in statistics is fulfilling all the requirements in the acquis in statistics - compliant good quality data delivered to Eurostat in time. European Commission is required to monitor compliance for ongoing EU accession processes and future accession.

One of the oldest compliance monitoring tool still used by Eurostat Unit A3 is the Statistical Management Information System (SMIS+). First the countries carry out a self-assessment by evaluating their own compliance in each statistical subject area, followed by an assessment done by the technical units of Eurostat. It is more qualitative evaluation than quantitative; it is exhaustive and quite accurate, but not very efficient.

Another form of compliance monitoring is the data inclusion report. In this report Eurostat Unit A3 gives an overview of the inclusion of data from enlargement countries in Eurostat publications. The development of inclusion rates over time can be used as a very rough indicator of performance in terms of acquis compliance. In terms of accuracy – it is estimate, since it covers only data inclusion in Statistics Explained articles. It is relatively efficient, interpretability is a bit lower compared to SMIS+ and it is not very exhaustive, since it does not cover everything what Eurostat publishes.

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Peer reviews, global assessments and sector reviews also form an integral part of compliance monitoring. The information received from these reports is often very useful and provides more details than other types of monitoring. However, these reports are different since they measure compliance with Principles of Code of Practice and they are not quantifiable.

Another compliance measuring tool could be amount of data transmitted via Edamis (this tool is used currently). The measure could be a percentage of datasets transmitted versus required. However it is not so easy to calculate exactly amount of required data, as well as what amount of data was really transmitted (for example how to consider test data sets, etc.). In terms of accuracy it could overestimate the real compliance level, since it does not reflect on the quality of data. It could be efficient, however not as interpretable as SMIS+ (only numerical estimation).

One more way to estimate compliance is indicator based on number of data points in Eurobase. It is calculated by Eurostat based on a number of key datasets from various subject matter areas and it is used as a performance indicator for IPA II. This is numerical estimation, not yet fully exhaustive. It could not be a stand-alone estimation of compliance, but it could serve as a supplement to other measures. As compared to data inclusion reports, this estimation method could show more exact compliance level.

As a conclusion, Mr Andersen (Eurostat) stated that compliance remains a challenge to summarise in an easily interpretable quantitative measure and to summarise it in a qualitative way only is less useful. For ESTAT A3 purposes SMIS+ together with PRs provides a reasonable overview. The question of resources spent on these exercises also should be taken into account – whether it justify results achieved.

Mr Gedik (Turkey) stated that in his opinion SMIS+ and peer reviews could be considered as most reliable and beneficial compliance monitoring methods. The problem with SMIS+ is that not all areas are evaluated by Eurostat subject matter units, as well as inconsistency in evaluation over the years (evaluation changes from fully compliant to medium compliant even though nothing changed in methodology, data delivery, etc.).

He mentioned that Turkstat use SMIS+ and peer reviews in different ways: SMIS+ provides source for future planning of activities, while peer reviews cover all system and are very useful for reporting to top management, politicians or public. He also stressed that it is important to have a faire evaluation of compliance, as well as to have financial and technical assistance.

Mr Gedik (Turkey) had some hesitations about the results of data inclusion report – it should be improved or could be discontinued. He also expressed hesitations about merging SMIS+ and data inclusion report, since SMIS+ works well, while there are problems with data inclusion report.

Ms Savicevic (Montenegro) agreed that all compliance monitoring tools do not present real situation. She also expressed agreement with colleagues from Tukey. SMIS+ and data transmission via Edamis could be a good measurement of compliance, however if only validated data is counted, then situation is underestimated.

She mentioned that SMIS+ is very useful tool for future planning, since beside assessments it also gives suggestions for future harmonisation activities. However it is very important that all areas in SMIS+ would be assessed by Eurostat subject matter units.

Ms Savicevic (Montenegro) agreed with previous speaker that all forms of measuring compliance are useful; however data inclusion report is least precise.

Ms Marković (Montenegro) added that higher compliance is the goal of each enlargement country, however this should not influence the assistance projects, since EU acquis in statistics is changing constantly, so there will be new areas in which support is needed.

Mr Kapuran (Serbia) agreed that presentation well reflects on the problems in methodologies and shortages of the compliance estimation methods.

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Mr Wild (DG NEAR) explained that for European Commission one of the most reliable compliance monitoring measures is yearly progress reports, which are comparisons of the performance of the enlargement country with the performance of the average Member State. There are significant amount of money spent in assistance programs for enlargement countries and EC have to report to taxpayers about how wisely the money were spent. The objective measure of this - is the availability of data in Eurobase. He also reminded that EC expect countries to be in compliance with projections for 2020 listed in the Strategy for Statistical Cooperation with the Enlargement Countries 2014 – 2020. All tools like Peer Reviews, Global Assessments, etc. could be very useful, but real compliance means availability of data.

Mr Everaers (Eurostat) added that compliance monitoring tools are used not only by enlargement countries to see where they are, but also by EC for the design of future assistance projects.

Mr Rrustemi (Kosovo) mentioned that it would be interesting to have analysis of the gap between data sent to Eurostat and data published. He also mentioned inconsistency in SMIS+ when one year country is evaluated as fully compliant in certain area and another year as low compliant. He stated that it would be useful to have feedback from Eurostat units to be aware of why it changed.

Ms Samardžić (Bosnia and Herzegovina) appreciated the summary of all methods. The Strategy for Statistical Cooperation with the Enlargement Countries 2014 – 2020 is the basic strategic document for planning Bosnia and Herzegovina activities to increase compliance with the acquis. She enquired Eurostat about possibility to have updated tables (from this strategy) with indicators of countries' compliances.

Ms Simoni (Albania) noted that Albanian statistical office appreciate SMIS+ and feedback provided by Eurostat subject matter units. They use this feedback for planning and prioritising of further activities.

Ms Mitevska (the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia) explained that they consider that Data inclusion report do not reflect real compliance level, therefore can be discontinued.

Conclusions:

The overwhelming majority of the delegates considered SMIS+ to be a useful tool and agreed that Eurostat could consider dropping the data inclusion report as this contributes the least to compliance measures.

9. POINTS FOR INFORMATION

9.1 Multi-beneficiary IPA programmes

Ms Gerdziunaite (Eurostat) presented an overview of the statistical cooperation activities under the multi-beneficiary IPA programmes. Activities under IPA 2014 were about to finish. She noted that the provision for training under IPA 2014 had not been used to the extent that was foreseen. The implementation of the IPA 2015 programme had just started.

Regarding the future IPA statistical cooperation programmes under IPA, the preparation takes a very long time and the terms of reference are prepared much earlier than the actual start of implementation, with the risk that the circumstances have changed in the meantime. IPA 2017 is therefore already in preparation. The action fiche was adopted in July 2017 and in particular, the distribution is 45% to the grants and the rest to the service contract. One novelty is that pilot projects will be renamed statistical projects and focus on full-scale surveys where data will be produced and transmitted to Eurostat at the end.

Mr Kovačević (Serbia) asked if support to metadata can be supported by the MBP IPA programme.

Mr Vale (UNECE) wondered what kind of support will be given to international organisations. Mr Everaers explained that a grant will be given to IMF as there are overlapping issues in the field of government finance statistics and that expertise from IMF can complement the experts used by Eurostat.

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Mr Rrustemi (Kosovo) noted that there are only a few places available for enlargement countries in the ESTP courses and he wondered if other courses can be organised and financed from MBP IPA. Ms Simoni (Albania) added that there had been cases when INSTAT would have preferred to send two staff members to an ESTP course, but only one was accepted. Ms Samardžić asked if trainings can be organised for the benefit of only one country under MBP IPA. Ms Gerdziunaite explained that ESTP courses can be duplicated in the frame of MBP IPA in order to allow more persons from enlargement countries to participate. The facility for training under MBP IPA is not limited to ESTP courses, but any topic can be proposed. It is indeed possible under MBP IPA to organise trainings for one country only.

Ms Mitevska asked Eurostat to speed up the signing of pilot project contracts as there had been delays under IPA 2014 and the delays had had a severe implication on the implementation of the pilot project contracts as less time than originally foreseen was available for the activities.

Conclusions:

Delegates took note of the information provided by Ms Gerdziunaite (Eurostat) about the IPA 2014 which is finishing, ongoing IPA 2015 programme and the forthcoming IPA 2017 programme. For reasons of contracting, Eurostat could not provide details about IPA 2017.

Delegates asked Eurostat to accelerate the signing of pilot project contracts between the NSIs and the contractor of Eurostat under IPA 2015. The first draft of these service contracts are expected to be prepared end of 2017, however delegates would like these contracts to be signed by then.

9.2 Feedback from the first meeting of the Technical Coordination Group on the next round of population censuses in the enlargement countries

The first meeting of the Technical Coordination Group (TCG) was held in Budapest in June 2017. A series of meetings is foreseen, similar to the TCG on the 2011 population census. Next meeting will be held in Croatia on 25-26 January 2018. Eurostat will follow the preparation by the countries via the TCG and questionnaires on state of preparations in each country. If required, Eurostat can lobby for financial support for the censuses via the EU Delegations. Countries could consult Eurostat on national legislation for the next census. Decisions on main methodology and data collection mode should be taken shortly by each country in order to ensure long term planning of needs and support to the census.

Conclusions:

Delegates took note of the important work undertaken by the TCG to coordinate the preparations for the next census round. The next meeting is planned to take place in Croatia in 25-26 January 2018. As input to the next TCG meeting, all enlargement countries are asked to prepare a detailed roadmap for the population and housing census. The TCG meeting will further look at IT requirements for the census and the census legislation and possibly also the type of assistance needed to conduct next population and housing census.

9.3 Feedback from the Conference on the Generic Law on Official Statistics

Mr Carlquist (Eurostat) presented information on the EFTA/Eurostat Conference on the Generic Law on Official Statistics (GLOS), held in Budva, Montenegro on 6-7 July 2017. ONAs and coordination of the national statistical system was discussed. The limit of official statistics is crucial. Often the ONAs are defined as the producers of official statistics according to the statistical work programme.

Confidentiality issues are handled differently in various countries. Depending on the country, access to microdata for researchers may be prohibited, may be possible in a secure room in the statistical office, or may be provided via secure on-line channels.

Albania and Kosovo are preparing new or amended statistics laws and both incorporate provisions from GLOS to varying degrees.

Conclusions: Delegates took note of the information provided.15

9.4 Round table on recent developments

Delegates were asked to send brief information in written to Eurostat by 27 October 2017 so that it will be included into the minutes of the meeting. Two contributions arrived within the deadline.

Recent Developments of the State Statistical Office of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia

In the period from 13 to 16 February 2017, a Peer Review of the national statistical system was conducted in the State Statistical Office focusing on the Office as the main holder and coordinator of this system. The report gave recognition to SSO and NBRM efforts to achieve high level of alignment with the CoP. The peer reviewers stated in their report: "Overall, the Peer Review team concluded that the SSO is in most respects already compliant with the CoP and compares closely to many EU countries." Based on the recommendations, an improvement action plan has been prepared and it has been approved by Eurostat.

Since April 2017, concrete activities have started for the preparation of the new Programme of Statistical Surveys for the period 2018-2022. A working group was established in order to carry out all preparatory activities related to the adoption of the new Programme. In June 2017, two workshops were held, which, besides the representatives of the SSO, were also attended by representatives of the authorised bodies of the statistical system (Mavrovo, 22-23.06.), as well as by holders of administrative data sets (Skopje, 30 June 2017). In addition, a workshop with the civil sector and the media was held (Skopje, 11 September 2017)

In July, UNICEF and the State Statistical Office signed an agreement to participate in conducting the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS), which will provide data for evaluation and monitoring of the progress of children in the area of health and nutrition, child protection and education.

The Conference on Statistical Confidentiality, organized by UNECE and Eurostat, was held in the period 20-22.09.2017 in Skopje. Representatives of 27 countries from all continents in the world, as well as representatives of UNECE and EU attended the Conference. The participants had the possibility to present and exchange views and experiences in several topics from the area of protection of statistical data confidentiality, but also to discuss about the directions in which this area will develop in the future.

In 2017, the following national standards were further aligned with the standards in the ESS:

Nomenclature of agricultural products, forestry, hunting and fishing and related services, 2015

National Nomenclature of Industrial Products, 2015 Classification of individual consumption according to purpose, 2010 Statistical classification of waste, Ver.4, 2010 Classification of Statistical Activities Classification in the field of science and technology Nomenclature for the Analysis and Comparison of Scientific Programmes and Budgets

The MakStat app for mobile devices, which contains information on the most important socio-economic indicators produced by the State Statistical Office and the National Bank, is available for

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Android and iOS and links are also available on SSO’s web site in local and English language (http://www.stat.gov.mk/Aktivnosti_en.aspx?rbra=223.)

According to the NGO Open Data Watch, which deals with research and analysis of the connection of open data and official statistics, the national statistical system is ranked 30th out of 173 countries.

A report from the User Satisfaction Survey 2017 was published. This was SSO’s fourth USS.

Within the IPA 2012 National programme, implementation is underway of the twinning project "Support to the State Statistical Office for capacity building and improving compliance of statistics with EU standards”. The implementation period is October 2016 - February 2018. An extension of the Project duration in order to enable successful achievement of the mandatory results is requested.Tendering procedure for the IPA 2013 funded project for redesign of the warehouse for national accounts is in the final phase. Signing of the agreement is expected at the end of October. The implementation should begin in late 2017 and will last for 22 months. As part of the IPA 2013 funded procurement project, 72 personal computers with Windows 10 Pro operating system were purchased, whose deployment is in progress and will be completed by mid-October.Also, SSO is in the programming phase for National Programme IPA 2017, and is part of the Sector Planning Documents for Public Administration Reform and the Public Finance Management.The implementation of the IPA 2015 Multi-beneficiary programme for statistical cooperation started on 01.07.2017 and will last until 31.10. 2019. 14 Pilot Projects are planned with the Grant Contract and 11 pilot projects through Service Contracts.The Regional project - SME innovation capacity boost, which started on 1 August 2017 and will last 24 months or until 31 July 2019, is part of the INTERREG Transnational Programme "Balkan-Mediterranean 2014-2020". It is a regional project involving statistical institutes and non-governmental organisations from the countries of the region, including also Bulgaria, Albania, Greece and Cyprus. Within this project, the State Statistical Office aims to conduct a survey on innovation, and the obtained statistics will be used for the needs of the project.

RECENT DEVELOPMENTS OF TURKSTAT

TurkStat has been performed some new studies and realised many improvements during last year. These studies can be summarised as follows:

Statistical InfrastructureThe third Official Statistics Programme (2017-2021) for Turkish Statistical System has been published. Besides, in accordance with the scope of Official Statistics Programme, quality logos were given to 21 statistical titles. The third TurkStat Strategic Plan (2017-2021) has been published. The importance of using administrative records and also communication issues were strongly emphasized this new Strategic Plan in accordance with global challenges and new needs in statistics. “Upgrading the ICT Services of TurkStat” Project, jointly financed by EU and Republic of Turkey, has been completed in September 2017. The Project consisted of two components as Supply and Technical Assistance, and the main purpose was to improve the technical capacity in ICT

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infrastructure and services and to ensure more effective processes on collection and dissemination of statistical data. Technical Assistance component of the Project was composed of complementary consultancy and training activities improving the technical capacity. With the Supply component, it was aimed to meet the equipment needs of TurkStat such as computers, servers and software. Closing Conference of the Project was held on 13 September 2017 with the participation of all the stakeholders in Turkey together with the academicians and representatives of the other related institutions. The conference aimed to share the results and also the progress achieved by the project.Under IPA National 2014, preparation works of the “Programme for the New Era in Statistics for TurkStat” are going on. Service prior information notice has been announced and the contract notice is expected to be published until the end of this year. The main purpose of the Programme is to improve the compliance level of particular statistical areas such as business statistics, social statistics and macro-economic and environmental statistics. IPA MBP 2012 has been completed and we are expecting from Eurostat debit note & approval of final financial report. Cost accounting study was realised by TurkStat to provide a sound basis for decision making, to allow a better priority setting and cost transparency. Direct and indirect costs of products produced by TurkStat as well as direct cost of products produced by ONAs were calculated. Results of the research were reported and planned to be shared with stakeholders soon. The research was done in two phases.

First, a survey was undertaken to collect data on the number of personnel working on production of statistics at ONAs. Full time equivalent (FTE) of personnel was calculated for each official statistics produced by ONAs. Personnel expenditure based on FTE was calculated for each statistical product.

In the second phase of the study, direct and indirect costs of statistics produced by TurkStat have been calculated for each product. A survey was done to calculate the FTE of personnel for each product produced by TurkStat. Then indirect costs were allocated by using the personnel as cost driver. Costs were calculated by region and department and product.

The challenge of this study is that there is little or no methodological documentation about this topic especially in the public sector. Although Eurostat is asking member countries and enlargement countries to calculate and provide the cost information, methodology to be followed is not clear. Every country can do this calculation in a different way and then the results may be not comparable because of significant differences between the methodologies followed. TurkStat puts into service new versions of the classifications listed below within the scope of using internationally excepted standards. In order to increase the quality and comparability of the data, all versions of these classifications were published on the Classification Server, acts as a platform for all users, also includes the correspondence tables as well as dictionaries for classifications and their national versions. International Classification of Crime for Statistical Purpose (ICCS, Version 1.0) is a new classification which will provide a standard basis especially for administrative data. TurkStat carried out an intensive cooperation with relevant institutions for the adaptation and preparing national version of ICCS. It is planned to be finalised by the end of 2017. Other adaptation works are as follows;

- Map of International Standard Classification of Education, 2015-2016- ISCED Fields of Education and Training classification, 2013 (ISCED-F, 2013)

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- NACE Rev.2 with six digits, 2017

Agricultural StatisticsThe projects of Animal Production Statistics and Crop Production Statistics have been initiated in October 2017. TurkStat produced “Wine Supply Balance Sheet” in 2017 whose lack was underlined in 2016 EU Progress Report/ Chapter 18: Statistics. Farm Structure Survey (FSS) was planned to be carried out again in 2016 and the field study was started in October 2016. The field study ended 28 February 2017 and data analyzing processes are continuing. Updating studies of 2015=100 Producer Price Index of Agricultural Products are ongoing.

Macroeconomic StatisticsThe main national accounts revision was completed as part of the compliance with the System of National Accounts (SNA-2008) and the European System of Accounts (ESA-2010). This revision was announced to the public with a comprehensive press conference in December 12 th, 2016. Main studies can be seen below:

The Annual GDP which had been calculated as the sum of four quarter in old series. With the release of new series independent annual GDP has been directly calculated from the administrative registers of public institutions as well as using the balance sheets and income statements of enterprises and institutions. Independent estimates were announced in the first time.

2012 Supply-Use and Input-Output tables have been prepared at A-64 level, using the SUT survey results and new data sources derived from administrative registers. Supply Use Tables and Input-output tables for 2012 were published.

Gross Domestic Product by income approach estimated on quarterly and annual basis has been completed according to NACE Rev.2 classification.

Annual institutional sector accounts for the years 2009-2015 were prepared and published in mid- December 2016. Tables related to government sector accounts which are consistent with EDP Tables were released and sent to Eurostat for the same years.

The new Regional Gross Domestic Product figures consistent with ESA2010 at statistical region level 3(by province) were released by A*3 industry breakdown for the years 2004-2014.

EDP Table 1 for the years 2012-2015 were published and submitted to Eurostat on December 2016 in cooperation with Ministry of Finance, Undersecretariat of Treasury and Central Bank of Republic of Turkey. Whole set of Turkey‘s EDP notification tables for 2012-2015 and the note attached were sent to Eurostat 09/03/2017 through Edamis Web Portal.

The ESA 2010 Transmission Tables were submitted to Eurostat with the Transmission Programme.

Gross National Income Inventory and Quarterly National Accounts Inventory were prepared and submitted to Eurostat in August 2017 under IPA2014 project with the support of project experts.

Business Statistics

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Environmental tax statistics have been updated in 2017 subsequent to the revision in the national accounts. National Green House Gas Inventory Report, 1990-2015 was submitted to United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in April, 2017.Electricity and Natural Gas Price Statistics has been sent to EU according to new EU regulation and on time.Physical Energy Flow Accounts (PEFA) has calculated for the first time for the reference year 2015.In order to calculate road traffic volume of Turkey with a better coverage than existing studies carried out by General Directorate of Highways, a study has been launched by using administrative odometer records collected at vehicle inspection stations, belonging to road motor vehicles registered to traffic. Results are planned to publish first time by type of vehicle and kind of fuel used in first quarter of 2018.In the context of the Short Term Business Statistics, 2015 base year indices such as turnover, production and labour input indicators are planned to be produced by using administrative records starting from 2018.After the revision made in 2016 in the system of national accounts, short-term and annual business statistics are passing to administrative records and harmonization studies are carried out within the scope of the project. The necessary micro data was obtained with the protocol made with the Revenue Administration. In this scope, our business register records are continuously updated according to the administrative records. As part of the administrative data based business statistics plans;

TurkStat started “scheduled” monthly data transfers from Revenue Administration As of June 2017. Transfers on demand have already been realized since the protocol signed in 2016.

TurkStat started “scheduled” monthly data transfers from Social Security Institution as of October 2017.

TurkStat planned to improve R&D statistics after revision of Frascati Manual and in this context four main objectives were aimed during this process. First one was to adapt revised Frascati Manual (2015). All sectoral R&D questionnaires were revised according to new version of the manual and data requirements from OECD and Eurostat were also taken into consideration. The other main objective was to enhance the coverage. Private Non-Profit sector was included into coverage for the first time. Moreover, one of the most critical subjects was solved, detailed information about technicians and equivalent personnel and other supportive R&D personnel was gathered from universities which was not available so far. Third main objective was to use new and more effective administrative registers for higher education sector. New data sets were utilized for own funds, investments and scientific projects. Finally, the last one was to improve coefficients for the estimation of R&D share of higher education sector expenditures. Technical consultancy was obtained from academicians and a model proposal was developed for the estimation. A workshop was organized with the attendance of academicians from selected universities and authorized personnel from the government institutions in the area of science and technology. The proposal was presented in the workshop and results were shared with the stakeholders.

Social and Demographic Statistics

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Ad hoc module on “self-employment” was conducted together with labour force survey (LFS) in the second quarter of 2017 in the framework of the EU harmonization studies.Field application of Family Structure Survey was realized in June - September 2016. Results of the survey for the total of Turkey, NUTS 1 (12 regions) and 3 major provinces (Ankara, İstanbul, İzmir) were announced in January 2017.In order to improve annual population and international migration statistics, a protocol was prepared on use of administrative registers of Directorate General of Migration Management (DGMM) by TurkStat and submitted to the DGMM in August, 2016. It is expected to be signed in the last quarter of 2017. Studies regarding the data transmission to TurkStat via web services are also going on. TurkStat carries out studies on effective use of administrative registers for statistical purposes. In this scope, statistics on the type of households has produced from the population registers by provinces in 2016.In scope of internal migration, administrative authority has started to collect information on reason for residence address changes. TurkStat will begin to analyze the information collected and produce statistics on reason for migration.In scope of international migration, there is still lack of information on migration flows and residents abroad. In order to overcome these shortcomings, a series of studies have been carried out in 2017. After integration of migration-related registers covering residence and work permit registers, foreigner registers to the population registers, some demographical assumptions were developed. Currently, studies on production of these statistics from the existing registers have reached its final stage. Emigration and immigration statistics and statistics of nationals abroad is planned to be released by the end of 2017 for the first time. Adult Education Survey (on participation of the 18+ people to formal, non-formal and informal education) and Continuing Vocational Education and Training Survey (on the vocational education and training capabilities of the enterprises) were implemented in 2016. Turkey Health Survey for the year 2016 was published in May 2017 in line with Eurostat methodology. Culture Economy has been produced since 2016 and is including foreign trade on cultural goods, cultural industry of enterprises and cultural expenditures by general and local government, households, associations and foundations. Cultural Employment has been produced since 2016 based on ESS Culture Statistics Methodology and Household Labour Force Survey data. Cultural Heritage has been produced since 2016 based on ESS Culture Statistics Methodology by using administrative data from Ministry of Culture and Tourism and Ministry of Forestry and Water Affairs. It includes data on public and private museums, ruins, national parks and other protected natural areas.

10. Any other business

N.a.

11. Closing remarks

Next PGSC meeting will be held in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia in October 2018.

12. Presentation of the Albanian Statistical System OR any other topic of interest Albania may propose (30min)

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Mr Çela (INSTAT) gave an overview of the 2012 Albanian Agriculture Census and how various issues have been tackled and finally solved. Results will be published on 25 October 2017. The informal nature of the agriculture sector needs to be formalised, unique ID numbers to be assigned to farms and registers to be linked to make statistics to be used in future.

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