Ethics,laws and practices dealing with the protection of confidentiality of statistical data: Some experiences from Spain

Abstract

Confidentiality is one of the basic pillars sustaining public trust in official statistics, and has a prominent place in all declarations of ethical principles. Rules for the preservation of confidentiality in Spain go back as far as 1787. The legislation protecting these rules has evolved under the influence of the political changes undergone by the country since then. In particular, the establishment of a democracy in 1978, and the adoption of a Constitution, after forty years of a totalitarian government, stimulated significant changes in the legislation on statistical confidentiality. New laws on the Protection of Personal Data were also passed in 1992. Also, Spain is since 1986 a European Union (E.U.) Member State, and is consequently subject to the E.U. regulations on confidentiality and data protection. This paper reviews the current legislation and practice on confidentiality in Spain, and its incidence in statistical operations. The challenges arising, in connection with confidentiality issues, from the specific political organisation of the country are also described, as well as the connections between the Statistical Act and the Laws on Personal Data Protection and the cooperation schemes between the Statistical Office and the Data Protection Authority. The paper also includes some comments on specific confidentiality issues related to operations that, although implemented by the National Statistical Office, are not regulated by the Statistical Act, and the solutions that have been adopted in order to deal with them are described. Some conclusions follow.