Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/1799 of 21 November 2018 on the establishment of a temporary direct statistical action for the dissemination of selected topics of the 2021 population and housing census geocoded to a 1 km2 grid (Text with EEA relevance.)

A temporary direct statistical action is hereby established in order to develop, produce and disseminate selected topics of the 2021 population and housing census geocoded to a 1 km2 grid (‘1 km2 grid data’). To this end, a unique harmonised and constant geospatial reference grid for Europe is determined consisting of cells with an area of 1 km2. And the specific topics and their breakdowns are established as well as the detailed programme and metadata for the dissemination of 2021 population and housing census data geocoded to the 1 km2 reference grid.

For the purposes of this Regulation, the definitions in Article 2 of Regulation (EC) No 763/2008 shall apply. The following definitions shall also apply: (1) ‘grid’, ‘grid cell’ and ‘grid point’ mean grid, grid cell and grid point as defined in Annex II (2.1) of Regulation (EU) No 1089/2010; (2) ‘total population’ means all persons of a grid cell whose usual residence is located in that grid cell; (3) ‘data item’ means a single measurement contained in the table defined in Annex II of this Regulation; (4) ‘data value’ means the information provided by a data item. A data value can be either a ‘numerical value’ or a ‘special value’; (5) ‘numerical value’ means an integer number equal to or greater than ‘0’ that provides statistical information on the observation of that data item; (6) ‘validated data’ means data verified by the Member States according to agreed validation rules; (7) ‘observed value’ means a numerical value that represents observed or imputed information to the best of knowledge based on all available 2021 census information, in particular before the application of any statistical disclosure control measures; (8) ‘confidential value’ means a numerical value which, in order to protect the statistical confidentiality of the data, must not be divulged in accordance with the Member States' protective measures against disclosure of statistical data; (9) ‘special value’ means a symbol that is transmitted in a data item instead of a numerical value; (10) ‘flag’ means a code that can accompany a particular data item to describe a specific characteristic of its data value.

1 In accordance with Section 1.5 of Annex IV of Regulation (EU) No 1089/2010, the statistical 1 km2 reference grid for pan-European usage shall be the Equal Area Grid ‘Grid_ETRS89-LAEA1000’. The spatial extent of the reference grid in the coordinate system specified for this grid in Section 2.2.1 of Annex II of the same Regulation shall be limited to easting values between 900000 and 7400000 metres and northing values between 900000 and 5500000 metres for the purpose of this Regulation.

2 In accordance with Section 1.4.1.1 of Annex IV of the same Regulation, each individual grid cell of the 1 km2 reference grid shall be identified by a unique grid cell code, which is composed of the characters ‘CRS3035RES1000mN’. This is followed by the northing value in metres of the grid point in the lower-left corner of the grid cell, followed by the character ‘E’, followed by the easting value in metres of the grid point in the lower-left corner of the grid cell.

3 The country code of the transmitting Member State as defined in the Interinstitutional Style Guide published by the Publications Office of the European Union, followed by the character ‘_’, shall be prepended to the cell code of each grid cell transmitted by that Member State.

The technical specifications of the topics set out in the Annex to Regulation (EU) 2017/543 for the 2021 census data shall apply. The breakdowns of the topics for the purpose of this Regulation are specified in Annex I of this Regulation.

1 The programme of the 1 km2 grid data to be transmitted by each Member State to the Commission (Eurostat) for the reference year 2021 is specified in Annex II.

2 Member States shall replace any confidential value with the special value ‘not available’.

1 In order to facilitate Union-wide comparability, the output data values to be disseminated shall be harmonised. To this end, preference shall be given to numerical values over special values as far as possible.

2 In order to ensure sufficiently accurate and reliable information on the spatial distribution of the total population, Member States shall respect the following requirements: (a) data items on total population shall not be reported as confidential; (b) data items on total population with an observed value other than ‘0’ shall be marked with the flag ‘populated’; and (c) data items on total population with an observed value ‘0’ shall not be marked with the flag ‘populated’.

Member States shall provide the Commission (Eurostat) with metadata for the 1 km2 grid data in accordance with Annex III.

The reference date of the 1 km2 grid data transmitted by each Member State shall be identical to the reference date reported by that Member State in accordance with Article 3 of Regulation (EU) 2017/712.

1 Member States shall provide the Commission (Eurostat) with validated and aggregated data and with metadata on total population by 31 December 2022.

2 Without prejudice to paragraph 1, Member States shall provide the Commission (Eurostat) with validated and aggregated data and with metadata by 31 March 2024.

The technical format to be used for data and metadata transmission shall be the SDMX format as implemented through the Census Hub. Member States shall transmit the required data and metadata in accordance with the data structure definitions and related technical specifications provided by the Commission (Eurostat). They shall store the required data and metadata until 31 December 2034 for any later transmission requested by the Commission (Eurostat).

1 Member States shall ensure the quality of the data transmitted.

2 For the purposes of this Regulation, the quality criteria referred to in Article 12(1) of Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 shall apply to the data to be transmitted.

3 At the request of the Commission (Eurostat), Member States shall provide it with additional information necessary to evaluate the quality of the statistical information.

1 The Commission (Eurostat) shall disseminate the 1 km2 grid datasets referred to in Article 5 as well as the associated metadata referred to in Article 7.

2 For the purposes of this Regulation, the programme of the 1 km2 grid data and metadata to be transmitted by Member States and disseminated by Eurostat corresponds to the data that Member States disseminate at national level in accordance with Directive 2007/2/EC and its implementing Regulations (EC) No 1205/2008, (EC) No 976/2009 and (EU) No 1089/2010.

This Regulation shall enter into force on the twentieth day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.