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Principles and Practices for a Federal Statistical Agency Seventh Edition (2021) / Chapter Skim
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Practice 2: Necessary Authority and Procedures to Protect Independence
Pages 53-58

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From page 53...
... , and Congress -- there are often important safeguards for its independence. In some cases, these are enshrined in law, such as the requirement that data collected for exclusively statistical purposes may not be used for law enforcement.3 Others exist as longstanding governmentwide regulations promulgated by OMB that, for example, specify strict procedures for the release of statistical information that moves financial markets.4 Others may exist as departmental policies or agency policies, widely accepted norms, or longstanding practices.
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From page 54...
... . • Release statistical information, including accompanying press releases and documentation, without prior clearance regarding the statistical content of the release.6 • Be able to make pledges to respondents and other data providers that their data will be kept confidential and used only for statistical purposes (see Practice 8)
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From page 55...
... When departments seek to centralize IT functions, they must support statistical agencies' ability to control access to and use of their confidential data to ensure that the data are kept confidential and used only for statistical purposes.8 Although statistical agencies must be able to make pledges of confidentiality, it is not required that they do so for all of their collections. Statistical agencies may collect aggregated data from state and local governments that are already publicly available, and it would not serve the public good for the agency to then keep them confidential.9 Because it is expected that statistical agencies will collect data solely for statistical purposes with pledges of confidentiality, they must be very clear when any data they are collecting will have nonstatistical uses.10 Authority to release statistical information (including press releases)
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From page 56...
... to ensure that it does not include policy pronouncements."15 Statistical agencies should also have dissemination policies that foster regular, frequent release of major findings from the agency's programs to the public through the traditional media, the Internet, and other means. They should also provide access to the underlying data, using appropriate safeguards to protect confidentiality (see Practice 9)
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From page 57...
... Undermining the authorities described in this practice undermines the mission of the agency itself, so if serious threats are made to a statistical agency's independence and references to the relevant laws, regulations, principles, and practices are not heeded, senior leaders should turn to the secretary of the department, the chief statistician at OMB, Congressional oversight committees, stakeholders, professional associations, and users to come to the agency's defense. Such outreach should not be undertaken lightly but should not be avoided if the fundamental mission of the agency is at stake.
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