Measuring discrimination. Data collection and EU equality law

Protection from unequal treatment was significantly strengthened throughout the EU by virtue of the adoption
and national implementation of two EU directives on equal treatment, namely the Racial Equality Directive and
the Employment Equality Directive. A significant property of the two directives is that they do not just focus on
individual prejudice and its consequences, but on institutional and societal patterns and practices. Group
outcomes are emphasised, both in order to diagnose discrimination, and to discover whether remedial measures
have been effective. This in turn makes it important to have access to statistical data and to be in a position to
utilise such data in a way that is relevant for these purposes.

The objectives of this report are twofold: (i) to identify the ways in which statistical and other data can support
the implementation of equal treatment law, and (ii) to examine how international and European law, in particular
data protection law, regulates the collection of such data. This report takes also a look at the extent to which the EU Member States currently engage in the collection of data and whether statistical data is made use of in legal
proceedings.

This report deals with the grounds of discrimination covered by the two aforementioned EU directives: racial or
ethnic origin, religion and belief, disability, age and sexual orientation. Some of the country-specific information contained in this report has been obtained by means of a survey that was sent to the members of the European Network of Independent Legal Experts in the non-discrimination field.

The European Network of Legal Experts in the Non-discrimination Field http://www.non-discrimination.net/

European Commission: DG Justice: Tackling discrimination http://ec.europa.eu/justice/discrimination/index_en.htm

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