Similar to the UN Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics (FPOS) developed by the countries of the UN (coordinated by the UN Statistical Division), the countries of the European Statistical System (ESS) have developed a European Statistics Code of Practice (ES CoP) as part of the ESS Quality framework, also encompassing an ESS Quality Assurance Framework (ESS QAF) and additional quality quality measures and standards, such as the ESS Handbook for quality and metadata reports (EHQMR) and the Single integrated metadata structure (SIMS). To ensure that the common quality framework and thus the quality of European statistics are implemented the ESS regularly conducts peer reviews. The third round of the ESS peer reviews was implemented in 2021-2023 and finalised with a final report to the European Parliament and Council in spring 2024. The third round of ESS peer reviews aimed at reviewing compliance and alignment with the ES CoP by the national statistical systems of the ESS members and at identifying future-oriented, forward-looking recommendations. Many of the peer reviews were accompanied by an active communication campaign on the process of the peer reviews but also on the value of official statistics for policy-making.

As this round of ESS peer reviews is now finalised, the ESS community is taking stock of its results and possible impact on the future development of the national statistical systems of the ESS members. Therefore, the session will provide an insight into reflections on the results from the peer reviews in all their facets (strengths, good and innovative practices, progress identified during the peer review process) as well as some lessons learnt for the future, for the ESS but also to wider audience. These reflections will be done from the side of Eurostat and from ESS members that will provide different perspectives on the peer reviews and their results. With regard to ongoing FPOS developments and conclusion to set up implementation guidelines for FPOS by 2025, it would be worthwhile to share and discuss the findings of the third round of ESS peer reviews and future steps with the wider international statistical community.

Justification for organising a special session on the ESS peer reviews:

The ISI Conference would be an appropriate opportunity to present and share the peer review results and their impact on future developments in the European Statistical System, as well as to demonstrate how it enabled the sharing of good and innovative practices between the 31 countries, also in the light of the setting up FPOS implementation guidelines, as mentioned above. The session will focus on various outcomes of the third round of peer reviews and include a general overview from Eurostat on the results and how they are followed up.