The final event of the EU-funded EU4ADMIN project is being held in Tarčin, marking the conclusion of almost three years of work aimed at improving the use of administrative data in the production of official statistics in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The event has brought together representatives of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s statistical institutions, relevant institutions and holders of administrative data, domestic and international experts, and European partners.
Launched in September 2023, the EU4ADMIN project focused on increasing the use of administrative data sources in the regular production of official statistics. It also strengthened cooperation between statistical institutions and institutions responsible for important administrative records, addressing legal, methodological, organizational and technical aspects of data exchange and use.
The final event is presenting the project’s key results, including more structured inter-institutional cooperation, more uniform approaches to the exchange and use of administrative data, and a stronger foundation for the further development of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s statistical system in line with European Union practices.
A particular achievement of the project is the strengthening and formalization of cooperation between statistical institutions and administrative data holders. Given Bosnia and Herzegovina’s complex institutional structure, where administrative records are distributed across different levels of government and governed by different legal and technical frameworks, EU4ADMIN helped improve existing cooperation models by establishing clearer procedures, responsibilities and frameworks for data exchange.
In the long term, the approach is expected to enable institutions to make more systematic use of data they already collect for the purposes of official statistics. This can contribute to more complete, timely and relevant statistical information on economic and social developments in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
High-quality official statistics are important not only for statistical institutions, but also for public policymaking, planning, business decisions and understanding changes affecting the country’s society and economy. Their importance is particularly significant in the context of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s European integration process.
Statistics is covered under Chapter 18 of the EU accession negotiations, one of the 35 negotiating chapters, and under the current enlargement methodology it belongs to Cluster 1 – Fundamentals.
Among the key results of EU4ADMIN are cooperation agreements and technical protocols for data exchange between Bosnia and Herzegovina’s statistical institutions – the Agency for Statistics of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Federal Institute for Statistics and the Republika Srpska Institute of Statistics – and three institutions: the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Indirect Taxation Authority of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Service for Foreigners’ Affairs.
The agreements cover areas including crime statistics and demography, transport statistics and tourism statistics.
Cooperation with the Indirect Taxation Authority existed previously, but the project expanded and improved it through clearer definitions of variables, procedures and responsibilities, while also extending cooperation to transport statistics. Cooperation with the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council and the Service for Foreigners’ Affairs was formalized for the first time, establishing a framework for regular and predictable data exchange.
“EU4ADMIN is important because it showed that the development of the statistical system is not only a matter of the way we produce statistics. It is about the ability of Bosnia and Herzegovina to turn available data into quality information about society and the economy, on which development policies and decisions can be based,” said Vesna Ćužić, Director of the Agency for Statistics of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
“The results of the project give us a firmer basis to continue this process systematically, with European standards as a common framework and long-term responsibility of all institutions participating in it,” she added.
Representatives of other institutions whose administrative data are considered valuable for the development of official statistics are also participating in the final program, including the Agency for Identification Documents, Registers and Data Exchange of Bosnia and Herzegovina (IDDEEA), the Directorate of Civil Aviation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Tax Administration of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Financial-Information Agency and the Directorate for Economic Planning of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The agreements will be formally signed at a ceremony scheduled for September 15, 2026, in Sarajevo, with representatives of the participating statistical and administrative institutions.
The final event in Tarčin is bringing together prominent domestic and international experts for lectures and panel discussions focusing on the future of official statistics and the growing role of administrative data in modern governance. Kari-Anne Lund from Eurostat is discussing the importance of administrative data in the context of European integration and Bosnia and Herzegovina’s candidate status.
A panel on the transformation of statistical production through the use of administrative data includes representatives of the Agency for Statistics of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Federal Institute for Statistics, the Central Bank of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia, Statistics Finland and Istat.
The program combines presentations, panel discussions and interactive workshops, allowing participants to review the project’s results and actively discuss their practical implications. Over the following two days, representatives of institutions holding administrative data will present the concrete effects of the project in their respective areas, while the final day will focus on workshops designed to strengthen institutional capacities.
The results of the EU4ADMIN project provide a foundation for continued cooperation and further development of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s statistical system, with the goal of greater alignment with European standards and practices.
