CIMES - Netherlands

General conditions

Application for institutional authorisation

To get access to microdata your institution needs to be authorized. The head of your institution can submit a request to the Director General of Statistics Netherlands (CBS). Requirements for authorisations can be found in the application form. Access can be provided for up to three years. After that, your organisation may request renewal.

You can send the form application for access to microdata – form for organisations to AanvraagMicrodata@cbs.nl

Start a project

Has your organisation been authorised to work with microdata? Then you can submit an application form to start a project. Please fill in the Research proposal (Annex 1) and Annexes 2, 3 and 4. The downloadable files can be found underneath. Please mail these four files to microdata@cbs.nl. You don’t have to fill in the form completely when it’s your first application, we will contact you and help you further.

Project applications shall in any case be assessed on the following criteria:

• The institution has a valid authorisation to access CBS microdata.
• The microdata are to be used solely for statistical purposes, i.e. not for administrative, judicial or fiscal purposes, nor for control purposes against individuals, companies or institutions.
• In view of, among other things, the principle of purpose limitation as prescribed by the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the institution must submit a well-defined research description (which may also be of a global nature in the case of exploratory research).
• The institution is responsible for publication of the research results and shall indicate when and how publication will take place.
• It must be plausible that CBS microdata can provide answers to at least a significant portion of the research questions.
• In case the institution provides its own datasets to be linked with CBS microdata, these datasets must have been obtained in a legal manner and permission must be in place for providing these to CBS and for using them in research.
• CBS cannot be held accountable for content and quality of the research project.

Conditions for non-resident researchers

Non-resident researchers can have access to microdata if their institutions obtain authorisation from CCS. While the criteria are the same as for national researchers, a new CCS authorisation is needed for each project.

Conditions for students

Because access can be permitted only to researchers who are employed by a legitimate research institute, to obtain access, a student needs to have a so-called "0-contract". This is because only persons with an employment contract can be held responsible by the institute they are working for.

Legal framework

Statistics Netherlands Act, effective from 02 March 2022

How much does it cost?

A fee will be charged for working with CBS microdata. More information can be found in our services catalogue. In the brochure 'Your research Our data' you will find information about our services and associated costs in a more concise and accessible way.

How long does it take to obtain data?

For public use files, access is immediate. For scientific use files released by DANS, access is also immediate except for new users who have to sign a security declaration. It takes much longer for secure use files. Researchers from an institution mentioned by law (or an institution with a previous, and still valid, CCS authorisation), who have worked with CBS before, and who do not have a very complex project, can get started within 2-3 weeks. New users and complex projects require longer waiting times.

Information on access

For further details: http://www.cbs.nl/en-GB/menu/informatie/beleid/zelf-onderzoeken/default…

Other

Applying for access to microdata:  https://www.cbs.nl/en-gb/our-services/customised-services-microdata/mic…
Information on fees: https://www.cbs.nl/en-gb/our-services/customised-services-microdata/mic…
Statistical law: https://www.cbs.nl/-/media/_pdf/2017/28/statistics-netherlands-act-2022…
Output guidelines: https://www.cbs.nl/en-gb/our-services/customised-services-microdata/mic…
Information on data distributed by DANS (Data Archiving and Networked Services): https://easy.dans.knaw.nl/ui/home

Public Use Files (PUF)

CBS considers data released through its Internet site as public use files. Users can make their own tables and figures to a certain level. Occasionally CBS will make a public use file for a particular subject such as the Census.

Scientific Use Files (SUF)

Scientific use files can be delivered via DANS. Researchers will either get data on CD-ROM or download the files from the Internet. For the use of scientific use files made by CBS, the researcher has to sign a declaration of confidentiality.

Secure Use Files (SecUF)

Secure use files, or “microdata under contract”: the researcher has to complete several forms. To begin with, if the research institute is not in one of the categories specified by the law, it has to obtain a CCS authorisation. Then, there is a form to be filled in by the research institute, and it is the base for the project-based contract. There is also a form with questions for the researchers. Each researcher (and the institute) has to sign a security declaration.

If access is granted, the researcher can get access to the data in the CBS offices in The Hague and Heerlen, or from the researcher’s own workplace using a secure internet connection). In the latter case, a document for obtaining a RA-connection needs to be signed by a Dean or Director of the institute, who will be responsible for the right use and the security of the equipment.

• Permanent survey of living conditions - Housing research
• Permanent survey of living conditions - accidents
• Permanent survey of living conditions - basic module
• Permanent survey of living conditions - criminal offences
• Permanent survey of living conditions - environment
• Permanent survey of living conditions - health and labour
• Permanent survey of living conditions - legal assistance organisations
• Permanent survey of living conditions - legal assistance victims
• Permanent survey of living conditions - participation and volunteer work
• Permanent survey of living conditions - police assistance
• Permanent survey of living conditions - time spending
• Permanent survey of living conditions - youth
• Social Statistic Database

Microdata catalogue: https://www.cbs.nl/en-gb/our-services/customised-services-microdata/mic…

Eurostat	Austria	Belgium	Bulgaria
Croatia	Cyprus	Czechia	Denmark
Estonia	Finland	France	Germany
Greece	Hungary	Ireland	Italy
Latvia	Lithuania	Luxembourg	Malta
Netherlands	Poland	Portugal	Romania
Slovakia	Slovenia	Spain	Sweden

Iceland	Norway	Switzerland	United Kingdom

Other access points

ECB

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.