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A single legal and institutional framework

Ensure consistency of the system by a single legal and institutional framework

The basic legal text on public statistics is Law n° 51-711 of 7 June 1951 (amended) on legal obligation, coordination and confidentiality in the field of statistics. This law has been amended and updated since its introduction. The legislator must also ensure that community rules are incorporated into French law, especially those of EC Council regulation n° 322/97/EC of 17 February 1997 on community statistics. The law determines the major principles in order to guarantee the quality of the production of public statistics.

The 1951 Law determined the major regulations relating to the conditions in which statistical operations should be carried out, i.e. registration in a statistics programme, confidentiality and the obligation to respond. The Law established a public statistics Authority responsible for ensuring the professional independence of public statisticians and a National Council for Statistical Information, which provided a forum for producers and users of public statistics and was responsible for monitoring statistical studies. Originally called the Coordination Committee for statistical surveys (Cocoes), in 1972 this body then became the National Council for Statistics (CNS) and, since 1984, the National Council for Statistical Information (Cnis). Consultation at the Cnis was organised according to the consultative model used for the "French style of planning" in the 1950s and 1960s. The present functioning of the Cnis is this historical French tradition transferred to the area of statistics.

As well as specific regulations relating to statistical information, France also has specific legislation covering the processing of computerised data, which is also applied to statistical data processing: this is the Law on "data files and civil liberties" of 1978, the last amendment of which (6 August 2004) transposes a European directive.

Further information

  • Coordinating and implementing regulations through CNIS: The National Council for Statistical Information (Conseil National de l'Information Statistique: CNIS) is a body that represents social partners and users of statistics.
  • Data protection and statistical confidentiality: Civil servants and agents of the State are all subjected to professional confidentiality laws and regulations and an obligation of discretion, applicable to files and information they have knowledge of in the course of their work.

More about the Cnis

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