Transcript Statistical legislation

Strengthening Statistics
Institutional and legal Framework
Basic requirements and options
Part 1
Produced in Collaboration between World Bank Institute and
the Development Data Group (DECDG)
Copyright 2010, The World Bank Group. All Rights Reserved.
Institutional context
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Official statistics are produced through national statistical systems (NSS for
short) which may be complex
In most countries there is one central government entity (National Statistical
Office – NSO) that plays a dominant role in the system
Statistics are, however, often also produced by other entities, e.g. the
central bank, ministries and regional bodies
The core of the system consists of the NSO, statistical units in line
ministries or specialized agencies and other organizations (for example the
Central Bank)
The ‘wider’ NSS also includes the users of statistics and the providers of
basic data; without data providers and data users the NSS would not exist
To give the system structure, proper statistical legislation is important
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Copyright 2010, The World Bank Group. All Rights Reserved.
Institutional arrangements
User council
or Committee
Statistical
Legislation
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Committee of •
Statistics
Statistics Board
or Council
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In addition to statistical legislation, which
should be the overarching instrument,
there are other institutional arrangements
that keep the National Statistical System
(= NSS) together
Not all arrangements need to be enacted;
many countries work with combinations
of instruments, including government
directives
Instruments that may or may not be
enacted are boards, councils and
committees
A Statistics Board or Council may be set
up to oversee the functioning of the entire
NSS
A user council or committee may be set
up to represent the interest of the users
Committee of statistics producers may be
established for coordination purposes
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Copyright 2010, The World Bank Group. All Rights Reserved.
Importance of Statistics Law
• Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics (Principle 7): ‘The laws,
regulations and measures under which the statistical systems
operate are to be made public’.
• Principle 7 means that the structure of the national statistical
system, and the position of national statistical offices, including their
rights and obligations should be codified in proper, publicly available
legislation
• It is impossible to set out universal rules for statistical legislation;
much depends on countries’ legal culture and traditions
• Many countries have a formal ‘general statistics law’, but in others
the statistical legislation may be scattered over a series of specific
laws and various other documents.
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Requirements for statistical legislation
The Statistics Act should cover the following basic points:
• Structure of the national statistical system: elements of the system,
work programme, data collection, dissemination, relations between
the national statistical office and other government agencies etc.
• Position of the head of the national statistical office/system,
including: appointment and dismissal, reporting relationships of the
‘national statistician’, specific responsibilities etc.
• Rules of data collection and confidentiality: voluntary and statutory
data collection, penalties for non-compliance with compulsory data
collections, general and specific confidentiality rules
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Statistics Act – Main actors
The Statistics Act must define the main actors within the National
Statistical System and their rights and accountabilities:
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The minister who is politically responsible for statistics
The chief statistician
The national statistical agency and its staff
The agency responsible for the coordination of the statistical
system
• The respondents
• The users of statistics
• Boards and councils
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Statistics Act - Relationships
The Statistics Law may also define a set of relationships with other
bodies that could include:
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Other government offices
International or supranational institutions
Professional societies
Trade and other associations
• In the case of countries with federal constitutions, the act will define
the relationship between the federal statistical agency, the statistical
agencies located in the governments of members of the federation
and other government agencies of the members of the federation.
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Statistics Act – long or short
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The length of the act is a matter of preference.
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A lengthy law may provide sufficient detail to avoid political arbitrariness.
For example, specifying in detail the membership of the coordinating
agency or of the national statistical council guards against manipulation for
political favours or nepotism.
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However, the more detail is added to the law, the less it is able to adjust to
changing circumstances. Over time, unforeseen circumstances would
require legal changes and it is difficult to solicit political interest in modifying
a statistics act.
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Both cursory and detailed laws offer benefits. A very generally formulated
law that gives a great deal of flexibility to the statistical agency may work
well. Conversely, lengthy and painstakingly detailed laws have afforded key
actors a great deal of protection. Therefore, a workable compromise
between these two options should be found.
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Deterrence and enforcement
• Legal power to demand response, accompanied by legal sanction
for failure to respond, can help to ensure high response rates, which
are essential for the overall quality of statistics.
• However, the existence of legal powers to ensure compliance
primarily serves as a deterrent. As a rule, the statistical agency uses
them only occasionally.
• The usual pattern is to operate a mixed system, either tacitly or
openly.
• Inquiries from enterprises are as a rule compulsory.
• Surveys of persons or households are usually voluntary.
• Whatever the system, cooperative relations with respondents are
the most important in determining response rates.
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Access to administrative data
• It is best if the statistics act makes clear provision for the statistical
agency’s right of access to other government data. This should be
done partly to streamline government operations but, more
importantly, to alleviate excessive paperwork on the part of
respondents.
• The right of access by the statistical agency to administrative
holdings of information useful for statistical purposes should be
explicitly recognized as an exception in the legislation that protects
such holdings.
• An ideal state of affairs is one of reciprocity, where the statistical
legislation lays down the rights and conditions of access, and the
specific legislation that protects administrative holdings, wherever
they may be within government, recognizes as an exception the
right of access by the statistical agency for statistical purposes.
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Special arrangements in decentralized
systems
• All members of a national statistical system should have a legal
basis for their collection operations
• The statistics division of the central bank may collect data from other
banks on the basis of a specific law; statistical units in ministries
may base their data collection on the ‘general statistics act’
• All members should have provisions defining their legitimacy,
accountability and obligation to respect data confidentiality, including
provisions for the access to micro-data
• The statistics act should contain provisions acknowledging the need
for, and definition of, statistical coordination, as well as guidelines on
how it is carried out
• Without changing the existing Statistics Act, government directives
and MoUs can be used to ensure coordination and solve ad hoc
problems
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Memorandums of Understanding
• For some countries it may be useful to explicitly mention the
possibility of using Memorandums of Understanding (or Agreement)
in statistical legislation
• MoUs are used in many countries to improve collaboration between
National Statistical Offices and line ministries and agencies
• An MoU is a simple tool that allows the formalization of their work
relationships in a practical way. It should be concise, precise, and
practical
• Addenda can be used for detailed information about the content of
the work.
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