Official European statistics are regulated by principles, included in the European statistics Code of Practice (CP), which seek to ensure the quality and credibility of the data. These principles refer, among other things, to professional independence, the protection of confidentiality, the reliability of the results, their precision, timeliness, punctuality, accessibility, clarity, comparability and coherence.

In order to ensure this commitment to quality, the ESS has the European Statistical Governance Advisory Board, which advises the Commission (Eurostat) regarding the measures that contribute to the application of the CP, regarding how to make it known to users and informants and in terms of the updating of said Code.

In September 2009 was created the working group Sponsorship high level of quality, in which participated the INE, which was primarily responsible for the review of the Code of good practice and the development of quality assurance framework ESS Quality Assurance Framework.

Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council concerning the independence, integrity and responsibility of statistical authorities of the Member States and the Community

Quality framework for European Statistics

Implementation of the Code of good practice