Section 2 Security measures

The Commission (Eurostat) and the NSAs shall store the data that have been flagged as confidential by the NSAs, in accordance with Section 1, in a secure area with restricted and controlled access. The NSAs shall on request provide information for the Commission (Eurostat) on the security measures applied in the Member State. The Commission (Eurostat) shall pass on this information to the other Member States. The Commission (Eurostat) shall on request provide information on its security measures to the NSAs.

Any transmission of confidential data under this Regulation to ESCB members shall take place only after the ESCB members, within their respective spheres of competence and under their responsibility, have taken the necessary measures in line with Article 8a and 8b of Regulation (EC) No 2533/98^f1 to ensure:

• the protection of this data, in particular the storage of data that has been flagged as confidential in a secure area with restricted and controlled access,

• that the data are used exclusively for statistical purposes,

• that information on the measures has been included in the annual confidentiality report referred to in Article 8b of Regulation (EC) No 2533/98 or national central banks or the European Central Bank have informed the Commission (Eurostat) and the NSAs of the measures by other means.

The data shall be transmitted in an encrypted form.