Czech statistical system under the microscope of experts
6 March 2023
A team of experts from Member States of the European Statistical System will visit the Czech Statistical Office this week; within the so-called peer review, they will assess quality of official statistics in the Czech Republic. It is the aim of the regular peer review to assess how creation of statistics of national authorities complies with principles of the generally recognised European Statistics Code of Practice.
“Statistics prides itself on high quality and credibility. For us, the European Statistics Code of Practice, which consists of a set of principles, is a guarantee of this quality. In every country, compliance with those principles is regularly reviewed and subsequent recommendations help statistical offices to further develop statistical systems and services to the public,” Marek Rojíček, President of the Czech Statistical Office (CZSO), says.
The Code of Practice is a cornerstone of quality of the European Statistical System (ESS), which is a guarantor of reliability of European statistics. European statistics, compiled in all EU Member States, is created according to common criteria and definitions and its data are processed in order to be comparable within the whole European Union. It is the aim of the ESS, which includes Eurostat (Statistical office of the EU), national statistical institutes, and other authorities of member states compiling European statistics, to ensure harmonised, reliable, relevant, and usable data. The Code of Practice is based on 16 principles which include, among others, professionalism, impartiality and objectivity, confidentiality of statistical data, equal access to information, and privacy protection of statistical data providers. It is clearly described in the new infographics of the CZSO (Czech only; infographics in English is on the website of Eurostat: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/quality/european-quality-standards/european-statistics-code-of-practice).
One of the instruments to ensure performance of this common quality framework and thus also quality of European statistics are so-called peer reviews of the ESS. Two preceding rounds were carried out in 2006–2008 and 2013–2015. Peer review applies to all members of the ESS, i.e. both Eurostat and national statistical institutes of Member States of the EU and countries of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA).
Every national statistical institute of the ESS is assessed according to principles of the Code of Practice by means of a self-assessment questionnaire, which provides a wide overview of its functioning. The questionnaire is checked and analysed by a peer review expert team, which subsequently during their visit in person for a week makes a more detailed review on site. Further, the peer review expert team compiles a final report along with recommendations for enhancement. This report is submitted to the national statistical institute for their approval and to elaborate draft measures. Eurostat afterwards monitors every year how these measures for enhancement are performed in Member States of the EU and EFTA countries. For more information about the peer review see the website of the Czech Statistical Office.
Contact:
Jan Cieslar
Spokesman of the CZSO
T (+420) 274 052 017 | M (+420) 604 149 190
E jan.cieslar@czso.cz | Twitter @statistickyurad
