Access to microdata for scientific purposes
in European countries
Access to microdata for scientific purposes in Belgium
Contact
Name of the microdata access service
DG Statistique – Statistics Belgium
Postal address
DG Statistique - Statistics Belgium - North Gate
Boulevard du Roi Albert II, 16
1000 Bruxelles (Belgique)
Website
Access conditions
General conditions
Access to pseudonymised data can be granted for scientific research. Beneficiaries include, but are not limited to, researchers affiliated to higher education or research institutions.
Conditions for non-resident researchers
Same conditions as national researchers. Transmission of data is possible only to “safe countries” that comply with European personal data protection legislation, or offer equivalent protection.
Conditions for students
A student who wants to use microdata from Statbel, cannot submit an application on his own behalf. The application must be made through the college or university where he/she is following the course. The condition is that the college or university ensures confidentiality and the microdata made available by Statbel may not leave the servers of the college or university.
Legal framework
Statistical law of 4 July 1962, modified 22 March 2006 and 25 September 2022.
How much does it cost?
As far as possible, the data are made available to researchers free of charge. Statbel therefore does not charge any administrative costs. Only in the case of a tailor-made solution is a fixed amount of €500 required for the additional work. So discuss in advance with the Statbel statistician whether the data requested are standard or not. If an exceptionally large amount of customised work is required to produce the data, Statbel will estimate in advance the number of man*days that will be invoiced according to the Eurostat rate.
How long does it take to obtain data?
From the moment a complete application is submitted, Statistics Belgium has 30 days to make a decision and to send a confidentiality agreement upon favorable advice.
The time required for data preparation depends on various factors. If the request pertains to a standard product, delivery typically takes only a few days. However, the timeframe can be significantly longer if the request necessitates substantial efforts to prepare the data.
Information on access
General: https://statbel.fgov.be/en/about-statbel/what-we-do/microdata-research
Past decisions: https://statbel.fgov.be/en/about-statbel/privacy/privacy-gdpr
Other
For the transmission of data produced by public administrations outside Statistics Belgium (eg. health and social security data), other Information Security Committees are responsible.
Types of microdata available for Belgium
Scientific Use Files (SUF)
The transmission of pseudonymised data must be authorised by the Director General of Statistics Belgium after advice from the Data Protection Officer. Only after signing a confidentiality contract Statistics Belgium provides the data. The user must submit:
- an application form;
- evidence of security of information system.
Secure Use Files (SecUF)
N/A
Access to microdata by type of person
Public Use Files | Scientific Use Files | Secure Use Files | |
---|---|---|---|
Public | N/A | No | N/A |
Students | N/A | No | N/A |
PhD students | N/A | Yes | N/A |
Researchers | N/A | Yes | N/A |
Foreign researchers | N/A | Yes | N/A |
Modes of access by microdata type
Public Use Files | Scientific Use Files | Secure Use Files | |
---|---|---|---|
Online access | N/A | No | N/A |
For download | N/A | No | N/A |
Onsite access | N/A | No | N/A |
Remote access | N/A | No | N/A |
Remote execution | N/A | No | N/A |
Note: Statistics Belgium physically delivers a copy of the data via a secure connection to the researchers who will store it on their own ICT infrastructure for the duration of the agreement.
Microdatasets available for Belgium
All data (surveys and processed administrative sources) used by Statistics Belgium to produce statistics.
Other access points in Europe
Disclaimer
The pages above provide information on microdata disseminated at the national level by the statistical institutes in the European countries and on microdata disseminated by Eurostat. The pages describe the data and the procedures for requesting access as well as the available types of microdata files (Public Use Files, Scientific Use Files, and Secure Use Files).
This information was initially collected by CASD/GENES for the CIMES database developed for Data without Boundaries project (funded by the 7th Framework Programme, the EU's research funding programme between 2007 and 2013). CIMES stands for Centralising and Integrating Metadata from European Statistics. Various organisations (ADP, CED, CNRS-Réseau Quetelet, FORS, GESIS, RODA, ONS, and UL) contributed to the creation of CIMES by collecting and structuring the metadata for the period of the Data without Boundaries project (2011-2015). In 2021, Eurostat moved the CIMES database to the CROS platform to facilitate updates of countries' information. Eurostat would like to thank all CIMES developers, especially CASD, for sharing the CIMES database and for all efficient collaboration.