CIMES (Centralising and Integrating Metadata from European Statistics) provides a large and comprehensive overview of official micro data disseminated for research purposes by the national statistical institutes (NSI) across Europe. It is a database describing these data and the procedures for requesting access to them with information about the different types of files available (Public Use Files, Scientific Use Files, Secure Use Files) available, conditions of access and links to the providers. It does not give a direct access to the data, it contains only metadata. CIMES thus gathers pieces of information that are currently scattered throughout Europe, either in NSIs or data archives, and stores them in a structured database compatible with the DDI standard.
