A Review of Caribbean National Statistical Legislation in Relation to the United Nations Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics
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ISSN 1728-5445 SERIES STUDIES AND PERSPECTIVES 86 ECLAC SUBREGIONAL HEADQUARTERS FOR THE CARIBBEAN A review of Caribbean national statistical legislation in relation to the United Nations Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics Amelia Bleeker Abdullahi Abdulkadri Thank you for your interest in this ECLAC publication ECLAC Publications Please register if you would like to receive information on our editorial products and activities. When you register, you may specify your particular areas of interest and you will gain access to our products in other formats. www.cepal.org/en/publications ublicaciones www.cepal.org/apps ECLAC - Studies and Perspectives series-The Caribbean No. 79 Using Universal Service Funds to increase access to technology… 1 86 A review of Caribbean national statistical legislation in relation to the United Nations Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics Amelia Bleeker Abdullahi Abdulkadri This document has been prepared by Amelia Bleeker, Associate Programme Management Officer in the Caribbean Knowledge Management Centre of the subregional headquarters for the Caribbean of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) and Abdullahi Abdulkadri, Coordinator of the Statistics and Social Development Unit of the ECLAC subregional headquarters for the Caribbean. Editorial assistance was provided by Leeanna Seelochan, Research Assistant in the same Unit. The views expressed in this document, which has been reproduced without formal editing, are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Organization. United Nations publication ISSN: 1728-5445 (electronic version) ISSN: 1727-9917 (print version) LC/TS.2020/1 LC/CAR/TS.2019/9 Distribution: L Copyright © United Nations, 2020 All rights reserved Printed at United Nations, Santiago S.19-01208 This publication should be cited as: A. Bleeker and A. Abdulkadri, “A review of Caribbean national statistical legislation in relation to the United Nations Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics”, Studies and Perspectives series-ECLAC Subregional Headquarters for the Caribbean, No. 86 (LC/TS.2020/1-LC/CAR/TS.2019/9), Santiago, Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), 2020. Applications for authorization to reproduce this work in whole or in part should be sent to the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), Publications and Web Services Division, [email protected]. Member States and their governmental institutions may reproduce this work without prior authorization but are requested to mention the source and to inform ECLAC of such reproduction. ECLAC - Studies and Perspectives series-The Caribbean No. 86 A review of Caribbean national statistical... 3 Contents Abstract ............................................................................................................................................... 7 Introduction ....................................................................................................................................... 9 I. Background .............................................................................................................................. 11 A. United Nations Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics ............................................. 11 B. Regional statistical standards and guidelines .................................................................... 12 C. International and regional initiatives ................................................................................. 13 II. Methodology ........................................................................................................................... 15 III. Country findings ...................................................................................................................... 17 A. CDCC Member Countries .................................................................................................. 17 1. Antigua and Barbuda ................................................................................................. 17 2. The Bahamas ............................................................................................................. 18 3. Barbados ................................................................................................................... 20 4. Belize ......................................................................................................................... 21 5. Dominica ................................................................................................................... 22 6. Dominican Republic ................................................................................................... 23 7. Grenada ..................................................................................................................... 25 8. Guyana ...................................................................................................................... 27 9. Jamaica ..................................................................................................................... 28 10. Saint Kitts and Nevis ..................................................................................................29 11. Saint Lucia ................................................................................................................. 30 12. Saint Vincent and the Grenadines .............................................................................. 31 13. Suriname ................................................................................................................... 33 14. Trinidad and Tobago ................................................................................................. 34 B. CDCC Associate Members ................................................................................................. 36 1. Anguilla ..................................................................................................................... 36 ECLAC - Studies and Perspectives series-The Caribbean No. 86 A review of Caribbean national statistical... 4 2. Aruba......................................................................................................................... 37 3. Bermuda .................................................................................................................... 38 4. British Virgin Islands .................................................................................................. 39 5. Cayman Islands .......................................................................................................... 40 6. Curaçao ..................................................................................................................... 42 7. Montserrat ................................................................................................................ 43 8. Puerto Rico ................................................................................................................ 44 9. Sint Maarten .............................................................................................................. 45 10. Turks and Caicos Islands ............................................................................................46 IV. Conclusions ..............................................................................................................................49 A. Overall findings .................................................................................................................49 B. Findings by principle(s) ...................................................................................................... 53 1. Relevance, Impartiality and equal access (principle 1) ................................................ 53 2. Professional standards and ethics (principle 2) .......................................................... 54 3. Accountability and transparency (principle 3) and prevention of misuse (principle 4) .............................................................................. 54 4. Sources of official statistics (principle 5) .................................................................... 55 5. Confidentiality (principle 6) ....................................................................................... 56 6. Legislation (principle 7) ............................................................................................. 57 7. National coordination (principle 8)............................................................................. 57 8. Use of international standards and international and Regional cooperation (principles 9 and 10) ................................................................. 58 V. Recommendations................................................................................................................... 61 1. Guarantee NSOs independence and impartiality ....................................................... 61 2. Establish scientific standards, codes of professional ethics and quality management frameworks ............................................................. 61 3. Require annual work plans dissemination calendars, audits and reporting ..................................................................................................62 4. Empower NSOs to comment on erroneous interpretation and misuse of statistics ..............................................................................................62 5. Remove barriers for NSOs to