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NEW ACT ON STATISTICS

A new Hungarian act on statistics repealing and replacing the former act on statistics entered into force on 1 January 2017. The adoption of the new act became necessary due to the modification of the relevant EU directives.

The new act is intended to strengthen both the professional and institutional independence of the Hungarian Central Statistical Office and the powers of its president. According to the new act, no other laws or legal instruments shall infringe the independence of the Central Statistics Office and its president may not be instructed in the course of performing his duties. The new act also contains provisions relating to the use of data acquired from the public administration for statistical purposes. In this respect, the act provides several legal guarantees and assurances to ensure the adequate level of data protection.

The EU rules require the statistical offices of the Member States to coordinate the official statistical activities at national level. In line with this requirement, it is stated in the act that the president of the Central Statistics Office is obliged to coordinate the statistical activities of the institutions concerned and he is entitled to issue guidelines and to monitor the implementation thereof.

The new act also aims at improving confidence in the official statistics, as its purpose is to unify and clarify the statistical processes. The new act reinforces the impartiality and objectivity of the official statistics and also promotes the efficient operation of the Central Statistics Office.