Policy on dissemination of the statistical information of the Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic (hereinafter referred to as “Policy on dissemination”) is a fundamental document in the field of statistical information dissemination. It represents a set of principles applied by the Statistical Office of the SR in dissemination of the statistical information.

The Policy on dissemination supports to fulfilment of the vision of the Statistical Office of the SR which emphasizes professional independence of the Office and customer orientation as well as the fulfilment of its mission: to provide high-quality and objective statistical products and services in order to improve information and intellectual capital of customers. This will help to contribute to risk reduction in decision-making processes and ensure sustainable development of Slovakia.

The Policy on dissemination follows quality policy provisions of the Statistical Office of the SR, which regards customers as the basis for the Office´s existence and their confidence to statistics as a result of the Office´s capability to satisfy the current and expected needs of statistical information users in maintaining impartiality and objectivity.

The Policy on dissemination is defined in accordance with the Act on State Statistics, the development strategy of the Statistical Office of the SR, the information dissemination strategy of Eurostat and European Statistics Code of Practice.

The principles of the Policy on dissemination are:

• We guarantee equal access to statistical information for all users. Information on any exceptions from the principle are made available to the public.

• We provide standard statistical information free of charge. Only non-standard outputs requiring individual processing should be accompanied by a fee.

• We release timely statistical information according to a time schedule/calendar of the first release.

• The release of statistical information is clearly distinguished and separated from any political and other statements.

• We release statistical information compiled exclusively on an objective basis. For objectivity assessment, only the statistical criteria are crucial.

• We have sole responsibility for deciding on statistical methods, standards and procedures as well as on the content and timing of statistical information releases.

• We comment publicly on statistical issues, including criticism and misuses of statistics of the Statistical Office of the SR.

• We release statistical information in a form facilitating their understanding and usage in order to avoid misinterpretation, improper use and misuse. For this purpose we use methodological notes, visualization and knowledge interpretation.

• We guarantee the protection of confidential data provided by reporting units. Confidential data are solely provided under the terms laid down in the Act on State Statistics in the form which does not enable direct or non-direct identification of reporting units.

• We pay full regard to the correction of errors and we inform users about errors occurred in statistical outputs.

• We release statistical information by means of various distribution channels in order to guarantee easy access to information. The major dissemination tool is the website www.statistics.sk which enables information availability also for users with health disabilities.

• We communicate with users about the value of statistical information with which they are provided in their work; currently we emphasize the value of the Statistical Office of the SR declared in its major strategic objective.

• We communicate in Slovak and also in one foreign language (English).

• We take into consideration the proposals and comments of users in order to better adjust the portfolio of statistical products and services to the needs and expectations of users.

• We act as far as possible according to the principle of user burden reduction in the implementation of the above-mentioned principles, i.e. total costs reduction related to the access of statistical information and their usage.

• While releasing the provided statistical information we require to indicate the source- the Statistical Office of the SR.

Principles of the Policy on dissemination are reflected into the Principles of Release and Provision of Statistical Information (hereinafter referred to as “Principles”) which lay down the binding principles and procedures of the release and provision of statistical information and compilation of the Catalogue of Publications while taking into consideration the existing requirements of the quality management system of the Statistical Office of the SR.

Managers at each level of management should be responsible for the implementation of the principles of the Policy on dissemination into the practice. For those purposes, the Statistical Products and Services Provision Section provides methodological, organizational, information and counselling services.

We regard the Policy on dissemination as an essential tool for the support of concepts and projects elaborated for respective areas of statistical activities which are binding documents in the process of planning and managing of each manager. We would like to contribute to fulfilment of the vision, missions and strategic objectives of the Statistical Office of the SR by exercising of its principles.