Commission Report 2002 (Romania)

• Progress since the last Regular Report
• Overall assessment
• Conclusion

Chapter 12: Statistics

Progress since the last Regular Report

Romania has continued to make progress over the past year.

As regards statistical infrastructure, the regional offices subordinated to the National Statistical Institute (INS) have been reorganised and concentrated into 8 offices, and total staff numbers have decreased substantially over the last years. In order to compensate for the low numbers of staff, training has been given a high priority in the national statistical system. A new training centre for officials was opened during the reporting period. It is also open to staff of otheGr public bodies, thereby contributing to the training of users.

Concerning demographic and social statistics, a good level of compliance has already been reached and further progress was made during the reporting period. A census of population and housing was carried out in March 2002 and will benefit the whole statistical system. Most other statistical surveys are in place or have been tested.

Efforts have been made to improve the infrastructure for production of regional statistics. The establishment of 8 regional offices has facilitated the collection of data at level 2 of the Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS-II level) and staff from regional offices have received specialised training.

No new developments can be reported for classifications and macro-economic, business and transport statistics - although the current situation is already quite good.

For external trade, the customs administration and the INS are co-operating in order to develop additional data control and to improve the quality of primary data. First steps towards the preparation for INTRASTAT, the system which monitors trade among Member States, have been taken.

During the past year, Romania has made progress in testing the methodologies and questionnaires for surveys related to agricultural statistics. However, considerable efforts are still required in order to establish a permanent observation system for agricultural statistics that has a reasonable coverage. Preparations have been made for carrying out the agricultural census, scheduled for late 2002, which will provide the basis for redesigning the survey system. A pilot survey to prepare for the General Agricultural Census was carried out during August 2002.

Overall assessment

Concerning classifications, national classifications providing direct implementation of European classifications and nomenclatures are in force. They are applied in statistical surveys as well as for other administrative purposes, which enhances the use of administrative sources for statistical purposes.

In the field of macro-economic statistics, the main steps have been taken and legal compliance is generally high. However, there is a continued need to develop the quality and coverage of statistics, which is only possible with sufficient and qualified staff. For business statistics, Romania has achieved a reasonable level of compliance. Some gaps concerning production statistics have been filled. Priority should now be given to improving the quality and timeliness of statistics.

Renewing and developing IT capacity remains an important issue that should be addressed. This should include further training for central and regional staff in order to make effective use of the equipment and the software applications.

Conclusion

In its 1997 Opinion, the Commission concluded that, provided that progress continued to be made, Romania should be able to comply with EC requirements for official statistics within the next few years.

Since the Opinion, Romania has made good progress, especially over the last three years. Major developments have taken place in reforming national legislation, redesigning household and business surveys, conducting a population census, and maintaining the necessary administrative capacity. All provisions required by the acquis are now in place, including protection of confidentiality and the creation of a Statistical Council. The National Statistical Institute (INS) is an independent state agency and the regional organisation of the INS appears appropriate for a large country such as Romania.

Negotiations on this chapter have been provisionally closed. Romania has not requested any transitional arrangements in this area. Romania is generally meeting its commitments made in the accession negotiations in this field.

Romania should focus further efforts on upgrading statistical methodologies and improving the quality and completeness of data. Further efforts are also needed to develop the capacity of staff within the statistics administration and care should be taken that levels of staffing are not further decreased.

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