Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics

The transition to a market economy from central planning during the dissolution of the Soviet Union meant countries were developing their statistical capability very quickly.^[1] Western European countries also supported standards to assert confidentiality of responses to their surveys.^[2] Expectations of professional independence in official statistics, were codified for the first time, drawing on the standards published by ISI in 1985.^[3][4] There was also an innovation in principle #4 which stipulated that statisticians could comment on erroneous interpretation of official data.^[1]

Principles to guide the work of official statistics, and maintain their independence from political influence, were developed in the European region in an international working group reporting in 1991. The Fundamental Principles were proposed by the Conference of European Statisticians (CES) and agreed at the UNECE in 1992, then by the UN Statistical Commission (UNSC) at a special session in 1994.^[3] There were no changes to the principles themselves in the wider adoption, just revision to the preamble to change references to the European extent of support.^[1]

The principles introduced reflected professional good practice which had not been codified before but principle 4 was regarded as an innovation.^[1]

Assessments of the practical adoption of the Fundamental Principles identified a gap between initial aspirations and expectations of stakeholders.^[6][7] However, several countries reported using FPOS as the basis for evaluating whether statistical systems were working as they should, both where these were developing and where they were established.^[6][8] This included international governmental bodies, such as the IMF, which republish national data to support international comparisons and may have challenges negotiating user needs and the negotiation of changes to technical standards.^[9][10]

Further attention was extended to propagating the principles in the least developed administrative settings as a condition of entry to global organisations such as the OECD.^[10] The SDGs also mention legislation consistent with FPOS in monitoring goal 17.18^[11] and attention to development of leadership capability was a particular priority in the African region.^[12] Although the principles were designed by the national statistical institutes who adopted them, they reflected the good practice in other producers of statistics serving the public good, such as central banks.^[10]

Substantial action was taken to introduce or enhance statistical legislation in many countries but tensions about the use of statistics to justify political decisions sustained.^[13] When FPOS was ratified by the UN General Assembly in 2014^[14] and remitted back to UNSC, they were asked to keep their effectiveness under review.^[15] The friends of the chair group recommended UNSC focus on promotion of the principles, adherence to them, supporting challenges of misuse, and updating them for new context.^[16]