Rules for Dissemination of Statistical Products and Services

 

 

 

Art. 1 (1) These rules shall govern:

1. The basic principles of dissemination of statistical information;

2. Types of statistical information products and services;

3. Ways of dissemination of statistical information products and services;

4. Procedures for the implementation of international information exchange;

5. Criteria for paid and free provision of statistical products and services;

6. Methods of pricing of statistical products and services.

(2) The activities of the NSI library shall be governed by separate rules.

(3) The procedure for provision of anonymised individual data for scientific and research and statistical purposes shall be subject to separate rules.

 

Art. 2 Dissemination of statistical products and services of the NSI shall be performed in compliance with the following principles:

1. Accessibility for all users to the results of statistical surveys included in the National Statistical Programme (NSP);

2. Equality of all users informed of the results of statistical surveys included in the NSP;

3. Objectivity and impartiality in reporting the results of statistical surveys included in the NSP;

4. Strict compliance with deadlines for announcing the results of statistical surveys included in the NSP under the pre-announced at the beginning of the year Calendar presenting the results of the statistical surveys carried out by the National Statistical Institute (Release Calendar);

5. Protection of statistical secrecy subject in compliance with the provisions on the confidentiality of individual data under the Law on Statistics and taking appropriate technical and organizational measures to guarantee the confidentiality of personal data;

6. Intelligibility and clarity in disclosure of the results of statistical surveys included in the NSP;

7. Quality assurance in the statistical production process and quality management of statistical sources, processes and products;

8. Orientation to the needs of users, including publishing and delivering of the main part of the information in English.

 

Art. 3 (1) The NSI shall provide users with statistical products and statistical services.

(2) Statistical products shall be:

1. Statistical information (preliminary and final data) presenting the results of the surveys included in the NSP;

2. Statistical information obtained on request by users resulting from additional processing of statistical data collected for the purposes of the surveys included in the NSP;

3. Statistical information resulting from the survey, not included in the NSP conducted on request by users;

4. Statistical metadata and methodologies;

5. Quality reports.

(3) Statistical services shall be:

1. Periodically provision of statistical information presenting the results of the surveys included in the NSP, according to the List of the standard statistical indicators;

2. Periodically provision of information under previously concluded contracts (Annex 1) and agreements (Annex 2);

3. Provision of information on request by users;

4. Provision of anonymised data for scientific and research purposes;

5. Implementation of consulting services related to the use of statistical information;

6. Support users in working with the European statistical information (ESDS Help Desk);

7. Issuance of certificates for economic activity and verification of reports;

8. Conducting statistical surveys not included in the NSP, on request by users;

9. Library services.

 

Art. 4 The NSI shall disseminate statistical information by:

1. The Internet site at: www.nsi.bg;

2. The Information System Infostat (IS Infostat) at: https://infostat.nsi.bg/infostat/;

3. The Information System Monitorstat (IS Monitorstat) at: https://monitorstat.nsi.bg;

4. Own printed and electronic publications;

5. Press-Releases;

6. Press-Conferences;

7. Media and social networks;

8. Direct connections with users on the basis of contracts and agreements;

9. Direct connections with users on the basis of standard requests and inquiries;

10. Library and Reception Desk at the premises of the Head Office and in the Reception Desks of the Regional structures of the NSI;

11. National Open Data Portal.

 

Art. 5 The NSI shall disseminate statistical information (at national and regional level) through the Head Office and through the Regional structures of the NSI.

 

Art. 6 When using statistical information originating from the NSI the user shall be obliged to indicate the source of information.

 

Art. 7 (1) The statistical information shall be disseminated according to the Release Calendar, which is approved annually by the President of the NSI within 10 days after the adoption of the NSP by the Council of Ministers.

(2) The results of statistical surveys shall be disseminated via Internet site of the NSI and via Information System Infostat at 11.00 am on the date specified in the Release Calendar.

(3) The Release Calendar may be updated during the year by the President of the NSI order, due to changes in the NSP in the production of statistical information.

(4) Changes in the Release Calendar shall be published on the Internet site of the NSI.

(5) The employees of NSI shall not be allowed to provide anyone in any way and cause information prior to its official dissemination with the exception of the information under para 6.

(6) The information to the President, Prime Minister and President of the National Assembly shall be sent by courier one hour prior to the official dissemination under strict embargo of data disclosure.

(7) The list of press releases under par. 6 shall be approved annually by the President of NSI.

 

 

 

Art. 8 Statistical information products and services shall be provided free of charge or against payment.

 

Art. 9 The NSI shall provide free of charge:

1. The results of statistical surveys included in the NSP, coverage and relevance in accordance with the list of the standard statistical indicators approved annually by the President of the NSI order and published on the Internet site of the NSI;

2. Statistical information of international organizations and similar institutions in other countries if provided in an international treaty in which Bulgaria is a party;

3. Statistical information, necessary during extraordinary circumstances, with the sanction of the President of the NSI;

4. Anonymised data, according to the Regulations for provision of anonymised individual data for scientific and research purposes of the NSI;

5. Statistical metadata and methodologies;

6. Quality reports.

 

Art. 10 (1) The NSI shall provide against payment:

1. Statistical information from the list of the standard statistical indicators beyond the classification levels (including regional) described therein;

2. Statistical information on request by users resulting from a specialized service requiring extraction and/or additional processing of statistical data collected for the purposes of the surveys included in the NSP;

3. Statistical information obtained as a result of statistical surveys included in the NSP, on request by users according to the Art. 24, para 5 of the Law on Statistics;

4. Representative samples of different statistical units (enterprises and households);

5. Certificates of economic activity and validated statistical reports;

6. Anonymised data;

7. Statistical information by user request, obtained as a result of spatial analysis according to criteria defined by the user.

(2) The prices of services under para 1 shall be determined based on "Pricelist and pricing for the prepared and submitted standard and specialized statistical products and services", approved by the President of the NSI (Annex № 3).

 

 

 

Art. 11 (1) Individual data related to individual identifiable statistical units shall be statistical secrecy.

(2) Received and collected individual data in statistical surveys can be used only for statistical purposes.

(3) Individual data obtained for the purposes of statistical surveys can not be used as evidence before the executive and the judiciary.

 

Art. 12 The NSI shall not provide:

1. Individual data related to individual identifiable statistical units (individuals and legal entities), except in cases under Art.13;

2. Statistical information which summarizes the data in less than three units or population in which the proportion of studied parameter of a unit is over 85 per cent of the total value of this parameter for all population units;

3. Statistical data that can be linked in such way as to identify a specific statistical unit;

4. Access to statistical data from Census 2021, defined as ‘sensitive data’ according to this regulation, in a territorial section - settlement or other more detailed territorial level.
4.1. The following data arrays, incl. spatial, bound or not, with statistical information:
4.1.1. Detour Areas;
4.1.2. Control areas and census enumeration areas;
4.1.3. Coordinate grids related to statistical information with a spatial resolution higher than that specified in the List of Standard Statistical Indicators from Census 2021;
4.1.4. Geographic coordinates of residential buildings, entrances to residential buildings, residential units, address locations;
4.1.5. Residential buildings (with address and/or geographical coordinates);
4.1.6. Dwellings (with address and/or geographic coordinates);
4.1.7. Address information.
5. Access to information under Art. 12, item 4 and item 4.1.4 to 4.1.7 is provided to executive authorities, after a detailed justification of the needs and purposes for which the information will be used, and after signing an agreement based on the NSI pattern.

6. Access to information under point 4.1 is provided to form samples of households or individuals after a detailed justification of the research objectives and an assessment of the risk from the disclosure of confidential information, and after signing a contract.

 

Art. 13 Individual data related to individual identifiable statistical units may be disseminated only if the entity for which such data relate has given consent. The consent shall be given in writing and it must be clear about which data concerns. The subject for which the data refer may withdraw his consent at any time, but this shall not affect the implemented action prior the withdrawal.

 

Art. 14 Variation groupings and ranking of statistical units by specific criteria without indication of their individual data can be delivered to users as their ranking shall be made in a random manner.

 

Art. 15 (1) Only the NSI employees directly involved and responsible for specific statistical surveys and processing shall have access to individual data.

(2) The procedure for access, use, storage and disposal of individual data provided to NSI employees in relation to the implementation of specific tasks as well as the procedures to protect their secrecy shall be subject to separate rules for each specific case.

 

 

 

Art. 16 The NSI shall publish on its website a press release in Bulgarian and English language for each survey included in the NSP, for which it is noted that the results of the survey are announced in this way.

 

Art. 17. (1) The press release shall be published at 11.00 am on the date announced in the Release Calendar.

(2) “Press centre” department shall send the press release at 11.00 am on the date announced in the Release Calendar by email to the national media and regional statistical offices (RSOs), which in turn shall provide it to the regional media.

 

Art. 18. The territorial structures of the NSI shall prepare press releases with regional data and shall transmit them to the regional media for publication.

 

 

 

 

Art. 19 (1) Press conferences and briefings shall be organized by the “Press centre” department.

(2) Press Conferences of the NSI are public and there is no accreditation for them.

(3) Announcement for the press conference shall be published on the website of the NSI and invitations shall be sent to the media and other interested individuals and legal entities not later than 24 hours before the event.

(4) The RSOs shall organize press conferences at regional level.

(5) Extraordinary press conferences shall be organized by order of the President of the NSI and according to the particular circumstances.

 

Art. 20. (1) In the event of specific issues, "Press Centre" department organizes meetings and consultations between media representatives and experts from the NSI.

(2) The “Press centre” department organizes interviews and participation in media events of the top management and experts from the Head Office of the NSI and RSOs.

(3) The “Press centre” department together with “Relations with users and e-services” department may provide statistical information to the media also via email.

 

 

 

Art. 21. (1) The NSI shall prepare and disseminate general and specialized printed and electronic publications.

(2) The RSOs shall prepare and disseminate regional general and specialized printed and electronic publications.

(3) The NSI shall issue quarterly specialized scientific-practical "Statistics" journal. Organization of the issue of the "Statistics" journal is a subject of separate regulations.

 

Art. 22. (1) The list of titles of printed and electronic publications of the NSI for the next calendar year, as well as their circulation, prices and terms of preparation, printing and dissemination shall be determined annually in the Editing Plan of the NSI.

(2) A Catalogue of statistical publications of the NSI (in Bulgarian and English) shall be prepared on the base of the approved Editing plan and shall be provided to users up to 15 September of the previous year.

 

Art. 23. (1) The “Publications, Library and Digital Products” department together with the directors of the RSOs shall organize and carry out the subscription campaign of the NSI’s publications.

(2) Dissemination against payment of printed and electronic publications of the NSI shall be performed by:

1. subscription by electronic and/or postal mail;

2. direct sales;                                                                

3. request of consumers, paid by bank transfer (domestic and foreign).

 

Art. 24. (1) The price of the printed and electronic publications for dissemination in the country shall be determined by Order of the President of the NSI based on actual production costs, VAT included.

(2) The price of the printed and electronic publications for dissemination abroad shall be determined by Order of the President of the NSI. The price includes VAT and the additional costs of sending the publication to consumers abroad.

(3) The prices shall be published in the Catalogue of statistical publications of the NSI.

(4) 25% discount shall be is provided on subscription or purchase of publications amounting to over 200 BGN.

 

Art. 25. Periodic printed and electronic publications of the NSI shall have an international standard number as required by the Bulgarian national ISSN centre in cooperation with “The St. St. Cyril and Methodius National Library”.

 

Art. 26. All electronic publications of the NSI shall be published on the website of the NSI where they can be downloaded for free.

 

 

 

Art. 27. (1) The website of the NSI (www.nsi.bg) shall be the main channel for the free of charge dissemination of official statistical information in Bulgarian and English.

(2) IS „Infostat” (https://infostat.nsi.bg/infostat) is a unified web-based application in Bulgarian and English which shall implement functionality on provision of results from statistical surveys conducted by the NSI in the form of reports, graphs and cartograms.

(3) IS „Monitorstat” (https://monitorstat.nsi.bg) is a web-based application in Bulgarian and English, implementing functionalities for providing statistical information for monitoring of National, European and International Strategies and Programs.

 

Art. 28. (1) The following information shall be published on the website of the NSI:

1. statistical data - results from statistical surveys included in the NSP;

2. statistical metadata - information describing the statistical data, including classifications and nomenclatures;

3. methodologies of statistical surveys included in the NSP;

4. press releases;

5. news related NSI’s activities;

6. documents regulating the activity of the NSI;

7. information about the NSI and its territorial structures;

8. information about the activity of the NSI within the European Statistical System;

9. documents and information materials about the respondents of the NSI;

10. electronic publications;

11. other information - contacts, useful links, useful materials, etc.

(2) IS „Infostat” shall provide access to the following information:

1. statistical data - results from conducted statistical surveys in the form of reports, graphs and cartograms;

2. statistical metadata - information describing the statistical data, including classifications and nomenclatures;

3. methodologies of statistical surveys included in the NSP.

(3) IS Monitorstat provides access to the following information:

1. Indicators for monitoring the progress of national strategies and programs;

2. Indicators for monitoring the progress of Bulgaria under European and International Strategies or Programs, incl. Sustainable Development Goals;

3. Indicators for monitoring of the Operational Programs, co-financed by the EU Cohesion and Structural Funds;

4. and provides integration for exchange of statistical information with EUMIS.

 

Art. 29. The website of the NSI shall provide links to:

1. information systems of the NSI related to the online collection of data from respondents for the statistical surveys;

2. information systems providing specialized statistical services to the users of statistical information;

3. registers maintained by the NSI and regulated by legal act;

4. national or international classifications and nomenclatures approved by a legal act;

5. useful links to information resources of the European Statistical System and international statistical offices and organizations;

6. statistical resources and services of the NSI.

 

 

 

Art. 30. The relations with users of statistical information products and services from the country and abroad shall be conducted by the specialized departments at national and regional level via:

1. IS „Infostat”;

2. telephone;

3. electronic and/or postal mail;

4. in the reception rooms at the HO of the NSI and territorial structures.

 

Art. 31. The NSI shall maintain a National centre to support users of European statistical information (ESDS Help Desk) as part of the network of national centers to Eurostat.

 

Art. 32. (1) The NSI shall provide statistical information to ministries, departments and other institutions through signing of an agreement on information exchange.

(2) Information beyond the agreements on information exchange shall be requested by the ministries, departments and other institutions under the established general procedures – by a letter to the President of the NSI.

 

 

 

§ 1. This Rule shall repeal the current Rules for dissemination of statistical products and services of the National Statistical Institute (adopted by Order № РД-05-255/13.05.2020).

§ 2. This Rule shall be adopted by Order № РД-05-521/10.09.2021 of the President of the NSI and shall enter into force on the date of its approval.

§ 3. The Annexes to this Rule are as follows:

§ 4. ‘Sensitive data’ are statistical data on persons on the following topics of Census 2021 - ‘mother language’, ‘religion’, ‘ethnicity’, ‘religiosity’ and ‘health status’.