As announced in Official Journal C 153 of 21 May 2014, the Commission decided to withdraw this proposal, which had become obsolete.

The European Parliament adopted by 525 votes to 127, with 29 abstentions, a legislative resolution on the proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on European statistics on safety from crime.

Parliament, at first reading under the ordinary legislative procedure, rejects the Commission proposal. It calls on the Commission to withdraw its proposal and submit a new one.

The Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs adopted the report by Timothy KIRKHOPE (ECR, UK) on the proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on European statistics on safety from crime.

The committee recommends that the European Parliament reject the Commission proposal . It calls on the Commission to withdraw its proposal and submit a new one.

Opinion of the European Data Protection Supervisor on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on European statistics on safety from crime .

On 8 June 2011, the Commission adopted a proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on European statistics on safety from crime.

Objectives and scope of the proposal : to recall, the proposal aims at implementing a new survey in the European Union on safety from crime. It will set up a common framework for producing comparable European statistics through the collection, compilation, processing and transfer of harmonised European data. The categories of data to be processed are detailed in Annex I to the proposal, and include detailed questions on the socio-demographic background of respondents to the survey, possible incidents of sexual and physical violence that they might have suffered, their feelings of safety and their attitudes to law enforcement and security precautions.

The proposal regulates the transmission of confidential data from Member States to the Commission (Eurostat), as well as the dissemination and the access to data for scientific purposes. Practical arrangements for the data coding scheme and for exchanging micro-data will be adopted by means of implementing acts.

EDPS conclusions: concerned about the processing of sensitive data in this specific survey and the possibility of identifying victims and aggressors of physical and sexual violence, the EDPS recommends, in particular, the following:

the description of the variables ‘identification of respondent’ and ‘who did it’ should be modified to avoid unnecessary direct identification of data subjects . In addition, in order to also avoid indirect identification, the EDPS recommends anonymising the micro-data as soon as possible in the sense of Directive 95/46/EC and Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 (no possibility of identification, taking into account all the means likely reasonably to be used); in case that, due to the level of detail that is necessary for the survey, anonymisation of the micro- data in the sense of Directive 95/46/EC and Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 cannot be guaranteed before transmission to Eurostat or before granting access to researchers, data which are anonymised in the sense of Regulation (EC) No 831/2002 (minimisation of the risks of identification) might be processed; confidential data should only be used if it is necessary , i.e. if the same purposes cannot be achieved using anonymous micro-data data, and if this necessity is clearly justified in the proposal; in these cases, the ‘substantial public interest’ justifying the processing of sensitive data should be further clarified and explicitly stated in the text of the proposal. It should also be ensured that all the categories of personal data to be collected and processed are relevant and not excessive for this specific purpose ; until data are anonymised in the sense of Directive 95/46/EC and Regulation (EC) No 45/2001, adequate technical and organisational measures to ensure the confidentiality and security of personal data processed should be implemented, taking into account the risks represented by the processing and the sensitive nature of the data to be protected. In addition, the processing will be subject to prior checking by the EDPS; lastly, the EDPS would welcome a request for consultation as regards the review of Regulation (EC) No 831/2002 and the practical arrangements for the data coding scheme and for exchanging micro-data that will be adopted by means of implementing acts.

PURPOSE: to establish a common framework for producing European statistics on safety from crime , via the collection, compilation, processing and transmission by the Member States of harmonised European data on crime and safety based upon a household/personal survey.

PROPOSED ACT: Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council.

BACKGROUND: it is increasingly becoming recognised that freedom from crime and from feelings of personal insecurity is an important aspect of citizens' well-being.

Until now, there is no survey data on crime and safety of individuals and households covering the whole EU . Administrative data on crime (based on police reports etc.) have been collected on an informal basis and published since 2006. It is generally acknowledged that such data have restricted comparability due to the differing legal systems and recording methods in the Member States, and that the potential for overcoming these difficulties is limited.

The European Council highlighted the lack of comparable information at EU level on crime in the Hague Programme in 2005. In response, the Commission drew up an Action Plan 2006-2010 on improving methods to measure crime, which included developing an EU household survey on crime victimisation. The Stockholm Programme (2009) underlined the need to follow up this work with practical implementation.

It is therefore proposed to conduct in 2013 an EU-level survey based on the methodology which has now been agreed with the stakeholders. It would make available information on the prevalence of specific types of crime (victimisation rates) and on other aspects relating to citizens’ feelings of security. This would provide a valuable addition to crime figures from administrative sources (such as police reports), which are known to be difficult to compare between Member States.

ANALYSIS OF EFFECTS AND IMPLICATIONS: the proposed survey on crime and safety will for the first time make available information from every Member State on a topic which is of central importance to EU policy concerns. The use of common methodologies and reporting formats will make data available which will be coherent, comparable and thus relevant for users at both European and national level. The Member States will play a key role in this exercise through the involvement of national statistical authorities, which have well-established procedures for collecting and processing survey data.

LEGAL BASIS: Article 338 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU).

CONTENT: t he objective of this Regulation is to establish a common framework for producing European statistics on safety from crime , via the collection, compilation, processing and transmission by the Member States of harmonised European data on crime and safety based upon a household/personal survey.

The aim of the proposal is to harmonise concepts, subjects covered and characteristics of the required information, coverage, quality criteria and reporting deadlines and results, to achieve relevant, timely, comparable and coherent European statistics.

Member States will collect the data using their own national sampling frames, and will also select the interview mode (face-to-face interviews, telephone, postal, web-based, etc.) in line with established national practices.

BUDGETARY IMPLICATIONS: this proposal implies expenditure of EUR 12 million in 2012 from the EU budget.