The Statistics Act, 1993 makes provision for the appointment of Officers of Statistics. Every member of the staff of the CSO and any other person directly engaged by the Office in the collection or extraction of information under the Act is an Officer of Statistics.
Under Section 20(c) of the Act, the Director General of the CSO is empowered to appoint persons from outside the office as Officers of Statistics, to perform for a specified period particular statistical analysis which may necessitate access to data collected under the Act.
Under Section 21 of the Act, every person shall before assuming duties as an Officer of Statistics sign a declaration in the following form -
"I Forename Surname, solemnly declare that 1 will fully and honestly fulfil my duties as an officer of statistics in conformity with the requirements of the Statistics Act, 1993, and of all orders thereunder, and that I will not, except in the performance of my duties under that Act and such orders, disclose or make known during my service as an officer of statistics or at any time thereafter, any matter which comes to my knowledge relating to any person, family, household or undertaking by reason of my service as an officer of statistics.".
This is an undertaking by the person appointed as an Officer of Statistics to observe all the requirements of the Statistics Act, 1993. The undertaking draws particular attention to the confidentiality of statistical returns. Further details of the legal obligations set out in the Statistics Act (in particular Sections 32, 33, 38, 39, 42(1), 42(2) and 44).
Section 32 of the Act limits the use of data collected by the CSO to statistical compilation and analysis purposes:
All information furnished by a person, undertaking or public authority under the Act shall be used only for statistical compilation and analysis purposes.
No other use of data collected by the CSO is permitted (e.g. usage for administrative purposes).
Appointments made under Section 20(c) of the Statistics Act are signed personally by the Director General of the CSO (or by a senior staff member of the Office authorised by the Director General to do so under section 15(1) of the Statistics Act, 1993), and state who is being appointed, for what purpose, and for how long. An appointment as an Officer of Statistics is personal and non-transferable.
(Section 21 of Statistics Act, 1993)
I, Forename Surname , solemnly declare that I will fully and honestly fulfil my duties as an Officer of Statistics in conformity with the requirements of the Statistics Act, 1993, and of all orders thereunder and that I will not, except in the performance of my duties under that Act and such orders, disclose or make known during my service as an Officer of Statistics or at any time thereafter, any matter which comes to my knowledge relating to any person, family, household or undertaking by reason of my service as an Officer of Statistics.
Signed: ___________________________
Date: _______________