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1. To guarantee the quality of results, European statistics shall be developed, produced and disseminated on the basis of uniform standards and of harmonised methods. In this respect, the following quality criteria shall apply:

(a) ‘relevance’, which refers to the degree to which statistics meet current and potential needs of the users;

(b) ‘accuracy’, which refers to the closeness of estimates to the unknown true values;

(c) ‘timeliness’, which refers to the period between the availability of the information and the event or phenomenon it describes;

(d) ‘punctuality’, which refers to the delay between the date of the release of the data and the target date (the date by which the data should have been delivered);

(e) ‘accessibility’ and ‘clarity’, which refer to the conditions and modalities by which users can obtain, use and interpret data;

(f) ‘comparability’, which refers to the measurement of the impact of differences in applied statistical concepts, measurement tools and procedures where statistics are compared between geographical areas, sectoral domains or over time;

(g) ‘coherence’, which refers to the adequacy of the data to be reliably combined in different ways and for various uses.

2. Specific quality requirements, such as target values and minimum standards for the production of statistics, may also be laid down in sectoral legislation. In order to ensure the uniform application of the quality criteria laid down in paragraph 1 to the data covered by sectoral legislation in specific statistical domains, the Commission shall adopt implementing acts laying down the modalities, structure and periodicity of quality reports covered by sectoral legislation. Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 27(2).

3. Member States shall provide the Commission (Eurostat) with reports on the quality of data transmitted, including any concerns they have regarding the accuracy of the data. The Commission (Eurostat) shall assess the quality of the data transmitted, on the basis of appropriate analysis, and shall prepare and publish reports and communications on the quality of European statistics.

4. In the interest of transparency, the Commission (Eurostat) shall, where appropriate, make public its assessment of the quality of national contributions to European statistics.

5. Where sectoral legislation provides for fines in cases where Member States misrepresent statistical data, the Commission may, in accordance with the Treaties and such sectoral legislation, initiate and conduct investigations as necessary including, where appropriate, on-site inspections in order to establish whether such misrepresentation was serious and intentional or grossly negligent.