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European Statistical System (ESS)

European Statistical System (ESS)

The European Statistical System (ESS) is a partnership between the European Commission (Eurostat), the national statistical institutes and other authorities in the EU Member States and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA). Together, they produce and disseminate European statistics.

Eurostat is the statistical office of the European Union, headquartered in Luxembourg. It has operated since 1953 (and since 1958 within the structures of the European Commission). Its mission is to provide reliable and comparable EU-level data that enable cross-country and regional comparisons. In each Member State, the national statistical office coordinates the production of European statistics and cooperation with Eurostat. In Poland, this role is fulfilled by Statistics Poland.

The aim of the ESS is to deliver comparable, high-quality data for public policies, business, research and citizens. Its functioning is based on Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 on European statistics and on the European Statistics Code of Practice — a set of principles ensuring quality, integrity and independence. The ESS also collaborates with other EU institutions, international organisations and candidate countries, supporting consistent implementation of statistical standards across Europe.

At the strategic level, the ESS operates through the European Statistical System Committee (ESSC) — the forum of the heads of national statistical offices and Eurostat. The Committee sets the strategic direction of the ESS and, at Eurostat’s request, issues opinions on draft statistical legislation to be adopted by the European Parliament and the Council. Its work is supported by advisory bodies: the European Statistical Governance Advisory Board (ESGAB) and the European Statistical Advisory Committee (ESAC). Continuity between ESSC meetings is ensured by the ESS Partnership Group (PG). Once a year, the DGINS conference brings together the heads of the statistical offices.

Within the ESS, numerous director groups and working groups cover key statistical domains: national accounts, prices, labour market, business statistics and globalisation, agriculture, health, environment, science and innovation, and digitalisation. Cooperation also includes ESSnet projects, in which countries jointly develop methods and tools for use in European statistics.

Under Article 13 of Regulation No 223/2009, the ESS work programme is set out in the European Statistical Programme — a multiannual framework of objectives and priority areas, adopted by the European Parliament and the Council. The current programme for 2021–2027 is part of the Single Market Programme (Regulation (EU) 2021/690) and is implemented through annual work programmes.

Statistics Poland in the European Statistical System

Statistics Poland represents Poland in the ESS and co-creates European statistics. The President of Statistics Poland participates in the ESSC and the annual DGINS conference. This means co-deciding on the strategic direction of European statistics, ensuring that proposed solutions are feasible for implementation in Poland, and setting realistic timelines. At the same time, expert teams from Statistics Poland work with partners from other countries on methods for measuring key phenomena — from economic growth and inflation to labour markets, business activity, health, environment and innovation. The ESS defines concepts and classifications, tests new tools and services, and adapts them to the changing needs of different user groups.

Statistics Poland regularly transmits standardised data to Eurostat — both aggregated indicators and results from statistical surveys (e.g. labour market or living conditions). Data transmissions follow agreed calendars and are subject to automated and substantive checks. GUS also ensures proper documentation: quality reports and metadata are prepared in line with EU standards. In addition, Statistics Poland undergoes regular quality reviews (peer reviews) under the European Statistics Code of Practice, and the resulting recommendations are translated into concrete actions and monitored.

Together with ESS partners, we develop modern methods and tools. We work on using new sources (e.g. web data or scanner data from retail outlets), integrating administrative registers, improving confidentiality protection and enhancing system interoperability. These efforts result in shared solutions, prototypes and training resources used across the ESS network. Some of this work is funded by Eurostat through the “European statistics” programme.

DGINS 2021 (Warsaw, 27-28 October 2021)

DGINS is the annual strategic conference of the Directors-General of the European statistical offices. Poland hosted the 2021 meeting in Warsaw. Discussions focused on post-pandemic priorities for official statistics — resilience of data production processes, operational continuity, new data sources, system interoperability, and measurement of digital and green transformation. These discussions led to the signing of the Warsaw Memorandum, which emphasises the strategic importance of incorporating Earth Observation into the EU’s official statistics system as a key source for environmental, climate and sustainable development policies.

ESSnet Web Intelligence Network (WIN)

ESSnet projects bring together statistical offices from different countries to jointly develop methods and tools. Under the WIN project, Statistics Poland coordinated work on the use of web data in official statistics: developing legal and ethical frameworks, common web-scraping tools, quality control rules and metadata standards. The project produced good practices and prototype applications (e.g. for price observation, job vacancies and tourism activity) and a training programme for ESS offices. The project’s final conference took place in Gdańsk (4–5 February 2025).

Third round of ESS peer review (2022 review, 2023 report)

Roughly every seven years, each ESS country undergoes a peer review — an external assessment of its compliance with the European Statistics Code of Practice. In Poland, the latest review examined the legal framework, independence, quality management, confidentiality, data sources and communication. The report highlighted key strengths of Polish official statistics — extensive use of administrative data and effective cooperation with register holders — and recommended further strengthening of data access, research services and data-science capabilities.

 

Why does it matter?

  • Harmonised definitions, classifications and quality standards — forming a shared EU legal and methodological framework — ensure that indicators are produced consistently in every country, making them comparable and reliable.
  • Thanks to economies of scale — shared tools, methods and projects — costs decrease, modernisation accelerates and reporting burdens for businesses and citizens are reduced.
  • Consistent EU data feed key processes (the European Semester, cohesion policy, the Green Deal), enabling better public decisions — solid policy evaluation and more effective planning.
  • The Code of Practice, peer reviews and confidentiality principles increase the credibility of statistics and the transparency of their production, strengthening data security and public trust.
  • Cooperation in ESSnet projects builds the expertise of Statistics Poland’s specialists and provides access to proven solutions; across the ESS, it results in harmonised guidelines and tools that can be easily adopted by different countries.

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