Czech Statistical System: Global Assessment

Czech Statistical System:

Global Assessment

Volume I: Report

Report prepared for Eurostat

under contract with Camire

in the framework of the

Phare Multi-Beneficiary

Statistical Co-operation Programme

David Wroe

March 2002

Up-date of an earlier report prepared by

Ronald Luttikhuizen and David Wroe, December 1999

Czech Statistical System: Global Assessment

Contents

Volume I: Report

Preface Page 4

Executive summary 5

Basic statistics on Czech Republic 8

1 Legal setting 9

(a) State Statistical Service Act 9

(b) Law on Protection of Personal Data 10

2 National Statistical System 11

(a) State Statistical Service 11

(b) Composition of State Statistical Service 11

(i) Programme of Statistical Surveys 11

(ii) Methodology 12

(d) Czech Statistical Council 12

(e) Universities and Research Institutes 13

(f) Czech Statistical Society 13

3 Czech Statistical Office 14

(a) Mission of the Czech Statistical Office 14

(b) Structure of the CZSO 14

(i) Regional and local authorities 16

(ii) CZSO Regional and District Offices 17

(d) Protection of independence 18

(e) Relationship with users 19

(f) Dissemination policies 19

(g) Relationship with suppliers 21

(i) Government sector 21

(ii) Financial and non-financial corporations 22

(iii) Individuals and households 22

(h) Planning and programming 23

(i) Finance and budgeting 23

(j) Staffing, staff recruitment and development 24

(k) Information technology 25

(l) Quality management 26

(m) Internal monitoring of performance 26

(n) External accountability 27

continued

4. Statistical domains Page 28

(a) Statistical infrastructure 28

(b) Demographic and social statistics 33

(d) Business statistics 44

(e) Monetary, financial, trade and balance of payments statistics 50

(f) Agricultural statistics 54

(g) Multi-domain statistics 57

5. Conclusions 60

Volume II: Annexes

CZSO organisational structure and staff numbers, 1 January 2002
(a) State Statistical Service Act

(b) Statute of CZSO

(d) Law on Census

Programme of Statistical Surveys
CZSO staff by age, gender and qualifications, 1 September 2001
Training programme 2001/2002
Schedules of CZSO News and Press Releases
Structure of CZSO budget 2001
List of co-operation projects of the Czech Statistical Office
Institutions in the State Statistical Service
(a) Statute of the Czech Statistical Council

(b) Membership of the Czech Statistical Council

CZSO Code of Ethics
NUTS 2 and NUTS 3 Regions
Timetable for national accounts developments
Harmonisation of business register
Tabular summary of degrees of compliance
Schedule of meetings held during assessment

Czech Statistical System: Global Assessment

Preface

This report is an up-dated version of a report prepared earlier in collaboration with Ronald Luttikhuizen of Statistics Netherlands. Like the earlier version, it has been written for Eurostat with the help of documentation made available by Eurostat and by staff of the Czech Statistical Office and other bodies in the Czech Republic. In particular, the report has benefited too from what were, for me at least, very helpful discussions held in Prague. The generous and patient co-operation of the CZSO’s President, Marie Bohatá, and her colleagues, has been indispensable. I am very grateful to them for all the assistance provided.

It has been encouraging, and sobering, to learn that so many of the recommendations made in our earlier report have been adopted. I hope that that this report too will be helpful in the further development of the Czech Statistical System.

David Wroe

March 2002

Czech Statistical System: Global Assessment

Executive summary

(i) Institutional framework

The State Statistical Service, with the Czech Statistical Office at its core, is responsible for official statistics in the Czech Republic. The State Statistical Service Act provides the legal basis both for the State Statistical Service and for the Czech Statistical Office (CZSO). The Act is dated 20 April 1995, though the Czech Statistical Office has existed – for some of the time as the Czechoslovak Statistical Office - since 1919. Before that, there had been statistical offices in Bohemia, Moravia and Salesia, which were established under the Austrian Monarchy.

As required by the State Statistical Service Act, the CZSO is responsible for statistical classifications and nomenclatures, and “lays down the methodology of Statistical Surveys”. It also has the duty of preparing, with the Ministries involved, the Programme of Statistical Surveys to be conducted using the powers provided by the Act, covering both the surveys by the CZSO and the surveys by the Ministries. Other statistics, such as the balance of payments accounts, draw on data available under other legislation. The CZSO has formal agreements on mutual collaboration and data exchange with most of the institutions in the State Statistical Service, and with other institutions, notably the Czech National Bank (responsible for monetary and balance of payments statistics) and the Ministry of Finance (responsible for government financial statistics).

The State Statistical Service Act established also the Czech Statistical Council, as the CZSO’s advisory body. The Council includes members from Ministries, academic institutions and business (but not at present the trades unions). It advises on the Programme of Surveys and on other basic statistical issues.

The State Statistical Service Act sets out the terms of reference of the Czech Statistical Office, and includes safeguards to guarantee the impartiality of the State Statistical Service. In line with the general provisions relating to Government bodies in the Czech Republic, the CZSO President is appointed by the President of the Republic. The CZSO President attends Cabinet meetings. CZSO staff are appointed by the CZSO President. Staff in other parts of the State Statistical Service are appointed by the respective Ministers. A draft Civil Service Law is, however, being considered by the Czech Parliament, and could lead to changes in these arrangements.

Recent amendments to the State Statistical Service Act have addressed issues that presented difficulties in conforming with EU standards. Suitable legal provisions for the transfer of confidential data to Eurostat have been put in place, and the CZSO now has the right of access to specific administrative data needed to up-date the business register for statistical purposes.

The Czech Republic has adopted a Law on the Protection of Personal Data. This has important implications for the work of the CZSO, as well as for that of almost all other bodies in the Czech Republic.

There are various universities and research institutes in the Czech Republic which have close links with the State Statistical Service. Some of these are represented on the Czech Statistical Council. The CZSO has formal agreements with several academic bodies, including the Institute for the National Economy (part of the Academy of Sciences), the Mathematics Faculty, Social Sciences Faculty of Charles University, the Prague University of Economics, the Agricultural University of Prague and the University of J.E.Purkyne in Usti nad Labem. Statisticians in the Ministry of Agriculture work closely with Research Institute of Agricultural Economics.

(ii) Czech Statistical Office

The CZSO comprises 4 Sectors, each headed by a Vice-President, under the President of the CZSO. The Sectors are:

· Statistics Sector

· Administrative Sector

· Statistical System Development Sector

· Regions and Information Outputs Sector

The Czech Republic now comprises 14 Regions, each with its own directly elected Government. The CZSO has been re-organised recently, partly to increase the number of its Regional Offices from 8 to 14 regions to match the arrangements for regional government (including the obligation to process election results) and partly to integrate more effectively the work of the CZSO’s District, Regional and Central Offices. The Statistical Offices in the 76 Districts have been abolished. Most of the staff involved have been transferred to the Regional Offices.

The work of the CZSO’s Regional Offices is now focused much more on dissemination and statistical support to the regional authorities (plus field-work involving interviews). The Regional Statistical Offices are part of the Regions and Information Outputs Sector. Other CZSO staff located in the Regions are now working in the 6 Nation-wide Processing Departments. Each of these Departments has responsibility for data processing in relation to specific topics, eg agricultural prices, and forms part of the Statistical Development Sector. The transition to the improved structure has taken place over the past two years. It is hoped now that there can be a period of organisational stability in which staff will be able to become accustomed to the new structure, so as it maximise the potential it offers.

The CZSO publishes a wide range of well presented statistics, both in paper and electronic form. News and Press Releases become available on the CZSO’s web-site at pre-announced dates. The News Releases, which contain the most sensitive statistics, eg CPI, are made available at precisely 9 am. The web-site also contains much other information – in an easily accessible presentation. Copies of Eurostat releases can be accessed via the CZSO web-site. Key economic and financial statistics for the Czech Republic are released according to the IMF’s Special Data Dissemination Standard (SDDS) and are posted on the IMF’s Dissemination Standards Bulletin Board (DSBB).

The past two years have seen considerable enhancements to the information and communications technologies available to the CZSO, and to the use made of them. In addition to hardware and software, this has required a considerable effort in training. The CZSO continues to give high priority to the training in technical aspects of the work in relation to the EU Statistical System, information technology, language and, more recently, management skills. The CZSO has made a start on the use of Total Quality Management. It has recently adopted a Code of Ethics.

The average age of CZSO employees is about 45 years, and 31.5 % are graduates. Recruitment of staff is therefore focused on lowering the average age and raising the proportion who are graduates.

(iii) Compliance with statistical acquis

During the past two years the CZSO has conducted both the Census of Agriculture 2000 and the Census of Population and Housing 2001. These, together with the amendments to the State Statistical Service Act and the improvements to the business register which are underway at present, are essential foundations for Czech official statistics in the next few years – and beyond. Implementation of appropriate statistical methodology, as required by Eurostat, has also advanced considerably. These developments constitute major advances towards full compliance with EU statistical requirements.

With these changes and many other developments over recent years, the Czech Republic is already able to comply with most of the statistical acquis of the European Union. Almost all of the requirements not yet met will be met by the end of 2002. Plans are being made for the introduction of Intrastat. More detailed comments in relation to particular acquis are given in Chapter 4 of the report.

(iv) Future development of the Czech Statistical System

Particularly when a suitable Civil Service Law is in place, the Czech Statistical System will compare well with the arrangements in EU Member States. There are, nevertheless, points to which it would be desirable to give further consideration. One of these is access to tax records for the purpose of compiling the national accounts. Such access could help to reduce the response burden in business surveys. In any case, it would be desirable to examine how this burden might be reduced.

The role which the Czech Statistical Council should be encouraged to play in future also merits further attention – particularly whether the Council should be more involved in helping to determine priorities in statistical work in future.

Several of these and other points indicated in the report would almost certainly require further changes in legislation.

Basic statistics on Czech Republic

Area 78,864 sq.kms

Population 30 March 2001 10.3 million

Density of population 131 per sq.km

Life expectancy

Males 70.5 years

Females 77.5 years

Unemployment rate December 2001 8.9 per cent

Inflation (December 2001) 4.7 per cent

Per capita GDP, 2000 14,042 USD in PPP

Contributions to GDP at basic prices, 2000

per cent

Agriculture, forestry and fishing (A, B) 4

Industry (C, D, E) 33

Construction (F) 7

Trade, repairs, hotels and restaurants (G, H) 16

Transport and communications (I) 8

Financial services (J) 4

Business services (K) 12

Other services (L to Q) 16

------

100

Current account balance (2000) -4.5 per cent of GDP

Currency: 31.7 Koruna = 1 Euro (14 February 2002)

Administrative structure: the Czech Republic comprises 14 Regions each with its own Government. More details of regional and local government in the Czech Republic are given in Section 3(c) and Annex 12.

Czech Statistical System: Global Assessment

1. Legal setting

1(a) State Statistical Service Act

The State Statistical Service Act provides the legal basis for the State Statistical Service and for the Czech Statistical Office. The Act is dated 20 April 1995, though the Czech Statistical Office has existed – for some of the time as the Czechoslovak Statistical Office - since 1919. The Act has been amended since April 1995 by the Act No. 411/2000 Coll. and by some other Acts. The Act, including all amendments to date, is reproduced in Annex 2(a).

The Act specifies in some detail - under the heading “§ 4 Terms of Reference of the Czech Statistical Office” - the duties of the Office both in respect of the statistical outputs it must produce and in respect of its co-ordinating role in the State Statistical Service. Some of the later sections contain helpful clarification or special provisions relating to specific subject areas, such as population statistics and agricultural censuses, but most of the requirements are general in their applicability. The Act includes sections on:

· Guarantees of the Impartiality of the State Statistical Service (§ 5)

· Czech Statistical Council (§ 6)

· Statistical Surveys among Natural Persons ((§ 8, restricting the scope of data which can be collected on a compulsory basis)

· The Use of Administrative Data Sources (§ 9)

· Secrecy and individual data protection (§ 3, 16 and 17, which refer to the Act on Protection of Personal Data).

· Providing Statistical Information (§ 18).

· Statistical Classifications, Statistical Nomenclatures and Statistical Registers (§ 19)