General information on peer reviews
Quality is the benchmark of the European official statistics. To guarantee the quality of their statistics, the
European Statistical System (ESS) created a common quality framework.
The ESS is composed of Eurostat, the National Statistical Institutes (NSIs) of the EU and Other National Authorities (ONAs) of Member States. All these institutions are responsible for the development, production and dissemination of European statistics and are strongly committed to adhering to the principles contained in the
European Statistics Code of Practice (the Code).
The Code is the cornerstone of the Common Quality Framework for the European Statistical System. It is a self-assessment tool based on 16 principles covering the institutional environment, statistical processes and statistical outputs.
The ESS periodically monitors the implementation of the Code’s principles through peer reviews of Member States, according to a
methodology approved by the European Statistical System Committee (ESSC). Two rounds have already been conducted (first round in 2006 – 2008 and second in 2013 – 2015), while the third round was conducted in
2021 – 2023.
The peer review is coordinated by
Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Union.
General introduction to the ESS peer reviews
The European Statistical System
The European Statistics Code of Practice
Purpose of peer reviews
Peer reviews serve as a mechanism to assess the compliance of statistical systems of all members of the European Statistical System (including the
Croatian Statistical System) with the 16 principles of the
European Statistics Code of Practice. The recommendations given are intended to improve and further develop the national statistical systems of the European Union.
The ESS peer review process and follow-up
The value of European statistics
Timetable of the third round of peer reviews
The third round of ESS peer reviews started in the first quarter of 2021 and lasted until mid-2023 in all Member States of the EU and EFTA as well as Eurostat. The first institution who was assessed was Eurostat. This assessment was carried out by the
European Statistical Governance Advisory Board (ESGAB).
Peer review in Croatia
In the period 2009 – 2010, the Light Peer Review of the Implementation of the European Statistics Code of Practice in Croatia was implemented (the review mission took place from 29 March to 1 April 2010). The Light Peer Review was performed as part of the Eurostat funded project “Global assessment of statistical systems of candidate and potential candidate countries as well as ENP countries”.
In 2015, the Croatian Statistical System was a part of the second peer review round (peer review visit was held on 11 – 15 May 2015).
Preparations for the third round of the peer review in Croatia began in spring 2022, and the peer review was conducted by checking the prepared documentation and visiting Zagreb from 13 to 17 March 2023.
The peer review was carried out in four phases: filling in self-assessment questionnaires, assessment of questionnaires by peer review experts, visit of peer review experts and preparation of the report on the results of peer review.
The peer review of the Croatian Statistical System 2023 is focused on the compliance with the European Statistics Code of Practice and on coordinating the production of European statistics within the Croatian system of official statistics.
The peer review expert teams consist of four experts, including at least one external (from the ESS) expert and one expert from Eurostat. The composition of the peer review expert teams provides for a balanced combination of competencies, knowledge and skills. Considering the above-mentioned requirements, the peer review expert team in Croatia was composed of the following members:
- Mr. Jonas Markelevičius – chairman
- Mr. Thomas Burg
- Mr. Richard Laux
- Mr. Jarko Pasanen
Information on the peer review of the Croatian statistical system, which was conducted in 2015, are available on the website of the Croatian Bureau of Statistics:
https://dzs.gov.hr/highlighted-themes/quality/peer-review-parent/peer-review-2015-1343/1343.
Additional information on quality can be found on the website of Eurostat
https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/quality/overview and the Croatian Bureau of Statistics:
https://dzs.gov.hr/quality.
All documents on ESS peer reviews are available on the Eurostat website:
https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/quality/peer-reviews.
