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Decision No 1786/2002/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 September 2002 adopting a programme of Community action in the field of public health (2003-2008) ( 3 ) , stated that the statistical element of the information system on public health was to be developed in collaboration with Member States using, as necessary, the Community Statistical Programme to promote synergy and avoid duplication. Decision No 1350/2007/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2007 establishing a second programme of Community action in the field of health (2008-2013) ( 4 ) indicated that its objective of generating and disseminating health information and knowledge would be pursued by actions to develop further a sustainable health monitoring system with mechanisms for collection of comparable data and information, with appropriate indicators, and to develop, with the Community Statistical Programme, the statistical element of this system.

Community information on public health has been developed systematically through the Community public health programmes. Building on this work, a list of European Community Health Indicators (ECHI) has now emerged providing an overview of health status, determinants of health and health systems. In order to make available the minimum statistical data set needed for the calculation of ECHI, Community statistics on public health should be consistent, when relevant and possible, with the developments and achievements resulting from Community action in the field of public health.

Council Resolution of 3 June 2002 on a new Community strategy on health and safety at work (2002-2006) ( 5 ) called on the Commission and the Member States to step up work in hand on harmonisation of statistics on accidents at work and occupational illnesses, so as to have available comparable data from which to make an objective assessment of the impact and effectiveness of the measures taken under the new Community strategy, as well as emphasised, in a specific section, the need to take into account the increase in the proportion of women on the labour market and to respond to their specific needs in relation to policies on health and safety at work. In addition, in its Resolution of 25 June 2007 on a new Community strategy on health and safety at work (2007-2012) ( 6 ) the Council called on the Commission to cooperate with the legislative authorities in establishing an appropriate European statistical system in the area of occupational safety and health, which takes account of the different national systems and avoids imposing additional administrative burdens. Finally, in its Recommendation of 19 September 2003 concerning the European schedule of occupational diseases ( 7 ) , the Commission recommended that the Member States progressively make their statistics on occupational diseases compatible with the European schedule, in accordance with the work being done on the system of harmonising European statistics on occupational diseases.

The Barcelona European Council of 15 and 16 March 2002 recognised three guiding principles for the reform of health care systems: accessibility for all, high-quality care and long-term financial sustainability. The Commission Communication of 20 April 2004 entitled ‘Modernising social protection for the development of high-quality, accessible and sustainable health care and long-term care: support for the national strategies using the “open method of coordination”’, proposed starting work to identify possible indicators for joint objectives for developing care systems on the basis of activities undertaken in the context of the Community action programme for health, of Eurostat's health statistics and of cooperation with international organisations. In establishing such indicators, specific attention should be devoted to the use and comparability of self-assessed health as reported in surveys.

Decision No 1600/2002/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 July 2002 laying down the Sixth Community Environment Action Programme ( 8 ) includes an action on environment and health and quality of life as a key environmental priority, calling for the definition and development of indicators of health and environment. In addition, the Council Conclusions on Structural Indicators of 8 December 2003 requested that indicators on biodiversity and health be included, under the title ‘environment’, in the structural indicators database used for the annual Spring Report to the European Council; health and safety at work indicators are also included in this database, under the title ‘employment’. The set of sustainable development indicators adopted by the Commission in 2005 also contains a theme on public health indicators.

The Environment and Health Action Plan 2004-2010 recognises the need to improve the quality, comparability and accessibility of data on health status for diseases and disorders linked to the environment, using the Community Statistical Programme.

Council Resolution of 15 July 2003 on promoting the employment and social integration of people with disabilities ( 9 ) called on the Member States and the Commission to collect statistical material on the situation of people with disabilities, including on the development of services and benefits for this group. In addition, the Commission in its Communication of 30 October 2003 entitled ‘Equal opportunities for people with disabilities: A European Action Plan’, decided to develop context indicators, which are comparable across Member States, in order to assess the effectiveness of disability policies. It indicated that maximum use should be made of sources and structures of the European Statistical System, in particular through development of harmonised survey modules, to acquire the internationally comparable statistical information needed for monitoring progress.

In order to ensure relevance and comparability of the data and avoid duplication of work, the statistical activities of the Commission (Eurostat) in the area of public health and health and safety at work should be carried out in cooperation with the United Nations and its special organisations, such as the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the International Labour Organisation (ILO), as well as the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), when relevant and possible.

The Commission (Eurostat) already collects on a regular basis statistical data on public health and health and safety at work from the Member States, which provide such data on a voluntary basis. It also collects data on those areas through other sources. Those activities are developed in close collaboration with Member States. In the area of public health statistics in particular, development and implementation are steered and organised according to a partnership structure between the Commission (Eurostat) and Member States. However, greater accuracy and reliability, coherence and comparability, coverage, timeliness and punctuality of the existing statistical data collections are still needed and it is also necessary to ensure that further collections agreed and developed with the Member States are implemented in order to achieve the minimum statistical data set necessary at Community level in the areas of public health and health and safety at work.

The production of specific Community statistics is governed by the rules set out in Council CSR of 17 February 1997 on Community Statistics ( 10 ) .

This Regulation ensures full respect for the right to the protection of personal data as provided for in Article 8 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union ( 11 ) .

Directive 1995/46 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 October 1995 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data ( 12 ) and Regulation 2001/45 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 December 2000 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data by the Community institutions and bodies and on the free movement of such data ( 13 ) apply in the context of this Regulation. The statistical requirements to which Community action in the field of public health, national strategies for the development of high-quality, accessible and sustainable health care and Community strategy on health and safety at work gives rise, as well as requirements arising in connection with structural indicators, sustainable development indicators and ECHI and other sets of indicators which it is necessary to develop for the purpose of monitoring Community and national political actions and strategies in the areas of public health and health and safety at work, constitute a substantial public interest.

The transmission of data subject to statistical confidentiality is governed by the rules set out in CSR and in Council Regulation (Euratom, EEC) No 1588/90 of 11 June 1990 on the transmission of data subject to statistical confidentiality to the Statistical Office of the European Communities ( 14 ) . Measures which are taken in accordance with those Regulations ensure the physical and logical protection of confidential data and ensure that no unlawful disclosure and non-statistical use occur when Community statistics are produced and disseminated.

In the production and dissemination of Community statistics under this Regulation, the national and Community statistical authorities should take account of the principles set out in the European Statistics Code of Practice, which was adopted by the Statistical Programme Committee on 24 February 2005.

Since the objective of this Regulation, namely the establishment of a common framework for the systematic production of Community statistics on public health and health and safety at work, cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States and can therefore be better achieved at Community level, the Community may adopt measures, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity as set out in Article 5 of the Treaty. In accordance with the principle of proportionality, as set out in that Article, this Regulation does not go beyond what is necessary in order to achieve that objective.

Recognising that the organisation and management of health care systems are matters of national competence and that the implementation of Community legislation on workplaces and labour conditions is primarily the responsibility of Member States, this Regulation ensures full respect for Member States' competence for public health and health and safety at work.

It is important that gender and age be included in the breakdown variables as this allows the impact of gender and age differences on health and safety at work to be taken into account.

The measures necessary for the implementation of this Regulation should be adopted in accordance with Council Decision 1999/468/EC of 28 June 1999 laying down the procedures for the exercise of implementing powers conferred on the Commission ( 15 ) .

In particular, the Commission should be empowered to adopt the implementing measures covering characteristics of certain subjects and their breakdown, the reference periods, intervals and time limits for data provision as well as provision of metadata. Since those measures are of general scope and are designed to amend non-essential elements of this Regulation, inter alia by supplementing it with new non-essential elements, they must be adopted in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny provided for in Article 5a of Decision 1999/468/EC.

Complementary financing for the collection of data in the fields of public health and health and safety at work are to be provided respectively within the frameworks of the second programme of Community action in the field of health (2008-13) and of the Community Programme for Employment and Social Solidarity — Progress ( 16 ) . Within those frameworks, financial resources should be used to help Member States in further building up national capacities to implement improvements and new tools for statistical data collection in the fields of public health and health and safety at work.

The European Data Protection Supervisor has been consulted.

The Statistical Programme Committee has been consulted in accordance with Article 3(1) of Decision 89/382/EEC, Euratom ( 17 ) ,