Integrated European Social Statistics: Regulation 577/1998 on the organisation of a labour force sample survey in the Community: Implementation Appraisal

This implementation appraisal focuses on Regulation 577/1998 on the organisation of a labour force sample survey in the Community. It follows the European Commission's intention to integrate European statistics on persons and households (social statistics) as announced in the 2016 and 2015 Commission Work Programmes.This initiative is frequently referred to as the Integrated European Social Statistics (IESS). The current initiative of the European Commission to integrate seven social surveys, including the LFS (Labour Force Survey), does not appear to stem from the implementation problems of the LFS legislation as such. After all, most of the reports point out that the implementation of the LFS legislation is satisfactory. The real impetus for this initiative appears to lie elsewhere - most notably in the new and emerging ICT technologies (influencing statistical production models) combined with the increased demand for integrated statistical data. From the data available, it appears that the initiative to integrate European social statistics, as envisaged in general terms by the European Commission, could be beneficial both at the level of the data production and for end users of statistics.  It is to be underlined in this context that the detailed drafting of the future rules, in particular as concerns which elements would be in the future framework regulation and which would be dealt with in the implementing and delegated acts, will require particular attention in the future.