Statistical office > Early access

Protocol for dealing with data in the early access system

Limited early access

The Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia

• In accordance with the European Statistics Code of Practice, which in its principle 6 on impartiality and objectivity deals with access of users to statistical data and limited, controlled and publicised privileged pre-release access and
• Taking into account national statistics regulations in Slovenia and
• Good practices of those national statistical institutes in the EU that have already introduced such systems
  

Regulates early access to some statistical data before official release for the prime minister and minister of finance.

Type of early access and data set

The Statistical Office introduces two types of early access:

1. With an SMS message (160 characters) to the mobile phone between 6 and 24 hours prior to official release,
2. With the so-called First Release labelled »do not disclose the data« via e-mail between 6 and 24 hours prior to official release.

Early access to some statistical data is possible for the following areas:

• GDP
• Inflation rate
• Labour market
• External trade
• Business and consumer surveys
• Net lending or net borrowing of the general government sector (surplus or deficit)
  

Statement about the treatment of data in advance of release

All users of the early access to some statistical data have to sign a statement in which they commit themselves to:

• Act according to Statistical Office’s regulations regarding access to some statistical data in advance of release and according to the protocol
• Not transmit or in any other way disclose to any third party these data before they are officially released by the Statistical Office
• Use the data only for personal information

The declaration is in force only for the time when the person is in office.

Process of preparing and transmitting data in the early access system and monitoring of procedures

1. In all phases of the statistical process employees of the Statistical Office must treat final data of a statistical survey, which are considered to be internal until release, in the same way as in guarding an official secret. Before release, these data are seen only by a limited number of employees: Director-General, Deputy Director-General, expert in charge of the statistical survey, author of First Release, person processing the survey, subject-matter editor, editor-in-chief, Slovene language editor, English language editor, person in charge of web releases, person in charge of public relations and head of the Information Centre.
2. In addition to the usual content for First Release, the author prepares the content to be sent via SMS. The message is limited to 160 characters, including the initial part of every message (SURS:).
3. When First Release is prepared to be released, the content of the message is sent to the responsible person to be reviewed and confirmed. The review is possible via a website and via a control mobile phone.
4. If the content is not appropriate, the message is corrected and the procedure under item 2 is repeated.
5. If the content is confirmed, between 6 and 24 hours in advance of release an SMS is sent to the mobile phones and First Release labelled “do not disclose the data” is sent via e-mail. First Release is released at 10:30 on the day of release. After the SMS and First Release are sent, the content of First Release can no longer be changed.
6. The SMS and First Release are sent automatically using a special application. The SMS is sent to the server of the service provider taking care of transmitting the message to the appropriate phone number.
7. People who have early access to some statistical data must provide that unauthorised people can not read the First Release labelled “do not disclose the data”.
8. Within the application the record of transmitted SMS messages and First Releases labelled “do not disclose the data” is kept. The record includes data on the recipient, content, date and hour of transmission, and date and hour of message delivery.

Informing the public about early access

In accordance with the European Statistics Code of Practice, the Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia informs the public about early access on its website www.stat.si. Information includes the list of recipients, data sets and the entire protocol.

Form "Declaration on the protection of statistical data in advance of first release for the office holder"