Legal, political and methodological issues in confidentiality in the ESS

1. Legal, political and methodological issues in confidentialityin the ESS Maria João Santos, Jean-Marc Museux Eurostat

2. Objectives • Overview of confidentiality issues in an European wide perspective • International perspective • European Legal Framework • Access to researchers • Methodological issues • Way forward

3. The Trade-offs • Identification risk • Perception of privacy • Need • Interest

4. The European Statistical System Effect Country A Country B A + B

5. The Reasons of discrepancy • Disclosure risk management • Methods of disclosure control • Cultural and historical background • Methodological capacity • Legal enforcement • Eligible researchers • Public use data

6. General Legal ConfidentialityFramework At EU level, statistical confidentiality is addressed in the following legal acts: • - Council Regulation (EEC, Euratom) No 1588/90 on the transmission of data subject to statistical confidentiality to the Statistical Office of the European Communities; • - Council Regulation (EC) No 322/97 on Community statistics; • - Commission Decision 97/281/EC on the role of Eurostat as regards the production of Community statistics; • - Commission Regulation (EC) No 831/2002, concerning access to confidential data for scientific purposes; • - Commission Decision 2004/452/EC of 29 April 2004 laying down a list of bodies whose researchers may access data for research purposes. • - European Statistics Code of Practice

7. General Legal Confidentiality Framework • Current legal framework is not unified which leads to difficulties of interpretation • Need to revise framework based on the principles of maximising quality of ESS statistics, increase possibility of secondary use of data by research community and public, while respecting confidentiality • Way forward: • Enabling exchange of confidential data between ESS partners • One single legal consolidated act referring to confidentiality discussed in ESS forum aiming at a higher level of convergence national legal framework and practices

8. Access to confidential data for scientific purposeCommission Regulation 831/2002 The Regulation • aims to give access for scientific purpose to pan European micro datasets in a centralised and efficient way • sets out procedures under which access to confidential data may be granted. It refers to four important sources: • European Community Household Panel (ECHP) • Labour Force Survey (LFS); • Community Innovation Survey (CIS); • Continuing Vocational Training Survey (CVTS); EU statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC), is introduced in a separate act.

9. Commission Regulation 831/2002 Levels of access • Level one: Confidential data as obtained from the national authorities. Theyallow only indirect identification of the statistical units concerned. This access is done through the use of a safe centre at Eurostat. • Level two: Sets ofanonymised microdata extracted from the above data. This access is done via distribution of encrypted CD-ROM according to contracts established between Eurostat and the corresponding institutions.

10. Commission Regulation 831/2002 • Current procedures are administratively heavy (for both researchers and ESS) and lack timeliness • Possible improvements in its implementation • Decentralised access through national safe centres • Bilateral agreements between Eurostat and MS aiming at streamlining procedures (administrative and/or logistic)

11. Remote access for scientific purpose • Remote access procedures have the advantage of reducing researcher burden, but involve substantial investment in hardware and software • Operational in Sweden, Denmark • Pilot in Netherlands • Way forward • To develop standard for remote access via pilot project • To foster decentralised implementation in ESS

12. Methodological issues • Tabular data • Lack of uniform methodology for masking cells considerably hampers EU figures dissemination • Efficient procedures for secondary cell masking in such heterogeneous environment are not readily available • Anonymisation of Micro data • Different measures of risks co-exist and not fully equivalent • Thresholds for risk are not equally perceived • Need for a European norm and best practices

13. Methodological issues Way forward: CENEX ( Centres and networks of excellence) on Statistical Disclosure Control CENEX originates from the idea of sharing the experience between different institutions within the ESS more efficiently, by providing adequate organizational solutions and institutional framework for modern types of cooperation and specialization of work.

14. CENEX on Statistical Disclosure Control The pilot CENEX on SDC was defined to address in a first phase the following objectives: • Set standards for the protection of micro-data sets, based on disclosure risk assessment methods and criteria. • Improve tabular data protection techniques and develop harmonized criteria • Extend and develop SDC software tools, both for micro and tabular data, so as to fit the specific production and dissemination environments of ESS.

15. The Way Forward - Summary • General Legal Confidentiality Framework more coherence • EU Regulation 831/2002 streamlined and better implemented • Remote access for researchers • “Harmonised” best practices • Public use files • Strengthening EU coordination: CENEX on Statistical Disclosure Control