[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 46 (Friday, March 7, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 12622-12626]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-4570]
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Part V
Office of Management and Budget
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Statistical Policy Directive No. 4: Release and Dissemination of
Statistical Products Produced by Federal Statistical Agencies; Notice
Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 46 / Friday, March 7, 2008 /
Notices
[[Page 12622]]
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OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET
Statistical Policy Directive No. 4: Release and Dissemination of
Statistical Products Produced by Federal Statistical Agencies
AGENCY: Office of Management and Budget, Executive Office of the
President.
ACTION: Notice of Final Decision.
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SUMMARY: Under 44 U.S.C. 3504(e), the Office of Management and Budget
(OMB) is issuing a new Statistical Policy Directive for the release and
dissemination of statistical products produced by Federal statistical
agencies. On August 1, 2007, OMB published a Notice of solicitation of
comments on a draft of this directive in the Federal Register (72 FR
42266, August 1, 2007). A dozen respondents sent comments in response
to the notice. Careful consideration was given to all comments. The
disposition of the comments as well as the final directive are
presented in the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section below.
In its role as coordinator of the Federal statistical system, 44
U.S.C. 3504(e) requires OMB, among other responsibilities, to ensure
the efficiency and effectiveness of the system as well as the
integrity, objectivity, impartiality, utility, and confidentiality of
information collected for statistical purposes. It also requires OMB to
develop and oversee the implementation of Governmentwide policies,
principles, standards, and guidelines concerning the presentation and
dissemination of statistical information. The Information Quality Act
(Pub. L. 106-554, Division C, title V, Sec. 515, Dec. 21, 2000; 114
Stat. 2763A-153 to 2763A-154; 44 U.S.C. Section 3516 note) similarly
requires OMB, as well as all other Federal agencies, to maximize the
quality, objectivity, utility, and integrity of information, including
statistical information, provided to the public.
To operate efficiently and effectively, our Nation relies on the
flow of objective, credible statistics to support the decisions of
governments, businesses, households, and other organizations. Any loss
of trust in the integrity of the Federal statistical system and its
products could lessen respondent cooperation with Federal statistical
surveys, decrease the quality of statistical system products, and
foster uncertainty about the validity of measures our Nation uses to
monitor and assess its performance and progress.
To further support the quality and integrity of Federal statistical
information, OMB is issuing a new Statistical Policy Directive designed
to preserve and enhance the objectivity and transparency, in fact and
in perception, of the processes used to release and disseminate the
statistical products of Federal statistical agencies. The procedures in
the directive are intended to ensure that statistical data releases
adhere to data quality standards through equitable, policy-neutral, and
timely release of information to the general public. Additional
discussion of the directive and the directive itself may be found in
the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section below.
DATES: Effective Date: The effective date of this Directive is April 7,
2008.
ADDRESSES: Please send any questions about this directive to: Katherine
K. Wallman, Chief Statistician, Office of Management and Budget, 10201
New Executive Office Building, Washington, DC 20503, telephone number:
(202) 395-3093, FAX number: (202) 395-7245. You may also send questions
via E-mail to [email protected]. Because of delays in
the receipt of regular mail, electronic communications are encouraged.
Electronic Availability: This document is available on the Internet
on the OMB Web site at www.omb.gov/inforeg/ssp/dissemination.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Paul Bugg, 10201 New Executive Office
Building, Washington, DC 20503, E-mail address: [email protected] with
subject Dissemination Directive, telephone number: (202) 395-3095, FAX
number: (202) 395-7245.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Trust in the accuracy, objectivity, and
reliability of Federal statistics is essential to the ongoing and
increasingly complex policy and planning needs of governmental and
private users of these products. Consequently, there has been a long-
standing concern about the need to maintain public confidence in the
objectivity of Federal statistics. For example, in 1962, the
President's Committee to Appraise Employment and Unemployment
Statistics, stated:
The need to publish the information in a nonpolitical context
cannot be overemphasized. * * * a sharper line should be drawn
between the release of the statistics and their accompanying
explanation and analysis, on the one hand, and the more general type
of policy-oriented comment which is a function of the official
responsible for policy making, on the other.
In 1971, the Nixon Administration was widely criticized for the way
it publicly characterized some Bureau of Labor Statistics unemployment
data at the time of their release. In response, the Congress instituted
the monthly Joint Economic Committee hearings on the unemployment rate
and OMB issued Statistical Policy Directive No. 3 to provide guidance
to Executive branch agencies on the compilation and release of
Principal Federal Economic Indicators. Directive No. 3 provides for the
designation of statistical series that provide timely measures of
economic activity as Principal Economic Indicators, and requires prompt
but orderly release of such indicators. The stated purposes of
Directive No. 3 are to preserve the time value of the economic
indicators, strike a balance between timeliness and accuracy, provide
for periodic evaluation of each indicator, prevent early access to
information that may affect financial and commodity markets, and
preserve the distinction between the policy-neutral release of data by
statistical agencies and their interpretation by policy officials.
In 1973, the American Statistical Association--Federal Statistics
Users' Conference Committee on the Integrity of Federal Statistics
reported that:
Nothing could undermine the politician and implementation of his
policy recommendations as much as an accumulated and intense public
distrust in the statistical basis for the decisions which the
policy-maker must inevitably make, or in the figures by which the
results of these decisions are measured. Unless definite action is
taken to maintain public confidence in Federal statistics and in the
system responsible for their production, there will be growing
tendencies to distrust leadership.
With respect to trust in the Federal statistical system, President
George H. W. Bush stated in 1990:
It is of paramount importance to this Administration that these
fundamental principles of the Federal statistical system are
strictly maintained so that the accuracy and integrity of Government
data are not threatened.
In 1995, the Congress reauthorized the Paperwork Reduction Act
(PRA), which makes OMB responsible, among other requirements, for
coordination of the Federal statistical system to ensure the integrity,
objectivity, impartiality, utility, and confidentiality of information
collected for statistical purposes.
In 1996, the United States was a charter subscriber to the
International Monetary Fund's Special Data Dissemination Standard
(SDDS), which guides over 60 member nations in the provision of their
economic and financial data to the public. The elements of the SDDS for
access,
[[Page 12623]]
integrity, and quality emphasize transparency in the compilation and
dissemination of statistics. For example,
To support ready and equal access, the SDDS prescribes (a)
advance dissemination of release calendars and (b) simultaneous release
to all interested parties.
To assist users in assessing the integrity of the data
disseminated under the SDDS, the SDDS requires (a) the dissemination of
the terms and conditions under which official statistics are produced
and disseminated; (b) the identification of internal government access
to data before release; (c) the identification of ministerial
commentary on the occasion of statistical release; and (d) the
provision of information about revision and advance notice of major
changes in methodology.
To assist users in assessing data quality, the SDDS
requires (a) the dissemination of documentation on statistical
methodology and (b) the dissemination of component detail,
reconciliations with related data, and statistical frameworks that make
possible cross-checks and checks of reasonableness.
In December 2000, the Congress passed and the President signed into
law what has come to be known as the Information Quality Act (44 U.S.C.
3516 note), which directed OMB to issue Government-wide information
quality guidelines to ensure the ``quality, objectivity, utility, and
integrity'' of all information, including statistical information,
disseminated by Federal agencies.
In 2005, the National Research Council (NRC) of the National
Academy of Sciences published the third edition of its Principles and
Practices for a Federal Statistical Agency, which enumerates three
principles and eleven core practices for Federal statistical agencies.
The principles address: (1) Relevance to policy issues, (2) credibility
among data users, and (3) trust among data providers. Among the
essential core practices, the NRC lists a strong measure of
independence, wide dissemination of data, and commitment to quality and
professional standards of practice.
The Principles and Practices report states that a credible and
effective statistical organization:
* * * must be, and must be perceived to be, free of political
interference and policy advocacy. * * * Without the credibility that
comes from a strong degree of independence, users may lose trust in
the accuracy and objectivity of the agency's data, and data
providers may become less willing to cooperate with agency requests.
* * * [A statistical agency] must be impartial and avoid even the
appearance that its collection, analysis, and reporting processes
might be manipulated for political purposes.* * *
Elements of an effective dissemination program include: A
variety of avenues for data dissemination, chosen to reach as broad
a public as reasonably possible; procedures for release of
information that preclude actual or perceived political
interference; adherence to predetermined release schedules for
important indicators serves to prevent even the appearance of
manipulation of release dates for political purposes.
In May 2006, the National Science Board, which is charged with
serving as adviser to the President and Congress on policy matters
related to science and engineering research and education, concluded
that:
A clear distinction should be made between communicating
professional research results and data versus the interpretation of
data and results in a context that seeks to influence, through the
injection of personal viewpoints, public opinion or the formulation
of public policy. Delay in taking these actions may contribute to a
potential loss of confidence by the American public and broader
research community regarding the quality and credibility of
Government sponsored scientific research results.
Moreover, in June 2006, the Government Accountability Office issued
a report entitled Data Quality: Expanded Use of Key Dissemination
Practices Would Further Safeguard the Integrity of Federal Statistical
Data (GAO-06-607). This report discussed the desirability of OMB's
issuing a new Statistical Policy Directive that (1) extends
dissemination procedures--similar to those of its long-standing
Statistical Policy Directive No. 3 on the Compilation, Release, and
Evaluation of Principal Federal Economic Indicators--more broadly to
encompass a larger set of Federal statistical products and (2) reflects
the NRC's recommended practices for a Federal statistical agency.
Accordingly OMB developed a new standard, Statistical Policy
Directive No. 4, Release and Dissemination of Statistical Products
Produced by Federal Statistical Agencies, presented below, that extends
the release and dissemination processes of the NRC's recommended
practices and of OMB's Statistical Policy Directive No. 3, which
applies only to Principal Federal Economic Indicators, to a greater
range of Federal statistical products. The directive addresses concerns
with equitable, policy-neutral, and timely release and dissemination of
general-purpose statistical information to the public and reinforces
the integrity and transparency of the processes used to produce and
release the Nation's statistical products. (This directive is not
intended to address other issues relating to statistical products, such
as the appropriate funding levels for statistical activities and the
policy decisions regarding what kinds of data an agency should collect
and maintain, as well as the corresponding intra-governmental reporting
relationships.)
On August 1, 2007, OMB published in the Federal Register (72 FR
42266) a notice seeking comments on a draft of this directive. A dozen
respondents sent comments in response to the notice. Essentially all
commenters encouraged OMB to issue the directive, some as drafted and
others with suggested changes designed to strengthen various provisions
of the directive. After careful consideration, the draft directive was
modified in response to comment and is issued as final by this notice.
A general discussion of the comments as they pertain to sections of the
directive and their disposition follows.
Section 1. Scope. Two comments suggested that limiting the scope to
statistical products of statistical agencies and units is too
restrictive, and that the scope should be expanded to include all
Federal statistical products, wherever produced. In response, as noted
above, the provisions of the Directive are predicated on principles and
practices of Federal statistical agencies. The extension of the
provisions in this directive to those statistical products that are
produced by administrative and regulatory agencies would necessarily
raise a variety of issues and questions that would go beyond the
planned scope of this directive. As a result, the final directive
remains limited to the statistical products of Federal statistical
agencies.
Section 2. Statistical Products. Two comments suggested that each
Federal statistical agency or unit should be required to provide to OMB
annually a complete list of all statistical products it has produced or
plans to produce and the tools it uses to produce them. We have not
adopted this suggestion because the directive already requires that
statistical agencies publish their statistical products and
descriptions of their methodologies on their Internet sites.
One comment suggested adding specificity regarding the desired
qualities of disseminated statistical products. We have not adopted
this suggestion. The directive advises agencies to assess the needs of
data users and to provide a range of products to address those needs by
whatever means practicable. Given the wide variety of statistical
products and their varied subject matters and uses, as well
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as the fluid nature of methodological and technological advances, OMB
prefers to have agencies take their lead from the individual
statistical product users rather than to have OMB specify general
qualities that may not fully reflect specific user needs.
Four comments raised points that have been incorporated in the
final directive. The first requested clarification that not only data,
but also methodologies, have limitations. The second sought
clarification concerning methodological documentation requirements for
compilations of statistical information collected and assembled from
other statistical products. A third comment noted a subtle
inconsistency in the prose in sections 2 and 6 requiring agencies to
publish their statistical products on the Internet. Consequently,
Section 6 has been modified to be consistent with Section 2. Finally,
one comment noted that press releases should list the statistical
agency that is the source of the data. Accordingly, the directive
states that a statistical press release should contain the name of the
statistical agency issuing the product.
Section 3. Statistical Agencies or Units. No comments were received
on Section 3.
Section 4. Timing of Release. Two comments proposed revising the
guidance for agencies to minimize the time between data collection and
data dissemination. OMB concurs and has modified the text accordingly.
Section 5. Notification of Release. One commenter sought
clarification on whether an agency's failure to publish the scheduled
release of a particular statistical product might prevent the agency
from releasing it. The answer is that the directive does not prevent a
release in such circumstances.
Section 6. Dissemination. More than a third of all comments were
related to Section 6. Comments ranged from requests for more explicit,
uniform requirements for the timing of releases and pre-release access,
to greater transparency for pre-release access, to more robust
recognition of the need for the perceived independence of Federal
statistical products. However, the decentralized nature, the varying
characteristics of their subject matter concentrations, and the
differing existing organizational structures of Federal statistical
agencies do not lend themselves to explicit, uniform requirements.
Instead, the directive makes each agency responsible for establishing
its own procedures, for publishing those procedures on its Web site,
and for ensuring that the published information reflects current policy
and practice.
The largest number of comments related to the press release
discussion in Section 6a, Outreach to the Media. All comments agreed
that a statistical press release must provide a policy-neutral
description of the data and must not include policy pronouncements, but
the comments differed in how to achieve this objective. A few comments
noted that the draft did not explicitly identify the policy officials
authorized to review the statistical press release to ensure that it
does not contain policy pronouncements. Accordingly, the final
directive makes clear that it is the policy officials of the issuing
statistical agency's department who may review the statistical press
release.
Section 7. Announcement of Changes in Data Series. No comments were
received on Section 7.
Section 8. Revisions and Corrections of Data. One comment noted
that Section 8 does not require agencies to actually implement data
quality policy or acknowledge existing errors. Accordingly, Section 8
has been revised so that it now states that ``statistical agencies must
also establish and implement policies for handling unscheduled
corrections due to previously unrecognized errors.''
Section 9. Granting of Exceptions. One comment noted that the draft
directive's language had a harsh connotation that may discourage
agencies from coming forward to request exceptions. Consequently, the
language in the final directive now speaks of ``inconsistent with'' the
directive, rather than ``violations of'' the directive.
Accordingly, OMB hereby adopts and issues the attached final
Statistical Policy Directive No. 4, Release and Dissemination of
Statistical Products Produced by Federal Statistical Agencies.
Susan E. Dudley,
Administrator, Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs.
Statistical Policy Directive No. 4--Release and Dissemination of
Statistical Products Produced by Federal Statistical Agencies
Authority and Purpose
This Directive provides guidance to Federal statistical agencies on
the release and dissemination of statistical products. The Directive is
issued under the authority of the Budget and Accounting Procedures Act
of 1950 (31 U.S.C. 1104(d)), the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) of 1995
(44 U.S.C. 3504(e)), and Office of Management and Budget (OMB) policies
including the Information Quality Act guidelines (67 FR 8451-8460) and
OMB Circular No. A-130. Under the Information Quality Act (Pub. L. 106-
554, Division C, title V, Sec. 515, Dec. 21, 2000; 114 Stat. 2763A-153
to 2763A-154; 44 U.S.C. Section 3516 note) and associated guidelines,
agencies are to maximize the quality, objectivity, utility, and
integrity of information, including statistical information, provided
to the public. This includes making information available on an
equitable and timely basis. The procedures in this Directive are
intended to ensure that statistical data releases adhere to data
quality standards through equitable, policy-neutral, transparent, and
timely release of information to the general public.
Introduction
Statistics produced by the Federal Government are used to shape
policies, manage and monitor programs, identify problems and
opportunities for improvement, track progress, and measure change.
These statistics must meet high standards of reliability, accuracy,
timeliness, and objectivity in order to provide a sound and efficient
basis for decisions and actions by governments, businesses, households,
and other organizations. These data must be objective and free of bias
in their presentation and available to all in forms that are readily
accessible and understandable.
To be collected and used efficiently, statistical products must
gain and preserve the trust of the respondent and user communities;
data must be collected and distributed free of any perceived or actual
partisan intervention. Widespread recognition of the Federal
statistical system's policy-neutral data collection and dissemination
fosters such trust. This trust, in turn, engenders greater cooperation
from respondents and higher quality statistics for data users.
1. Scope. This Statistical Policy Directive applies to the full
range of statistical products disseminated by Federal statistical
agencies or units. However, the Directive excludes coverage of the
Principal Federal Economic Indicators addressed in Statistical Policy
Directive No. 3, Compilation, Release, and Evaluation of Principal
Federal Economic Indicators, which have their own established release
and evaluation procedures. Unless otherwise specified in statute,
statistical agencies or units are directly and solely responsible for
the content, quality, and dissemination of their products. When
implementing this Directive, statistical agencies must follow all
relevant Statistical Policy
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Directives and guidance including the principles and practices
presented in OMB's Information Quality Guidelines and Statistical
Policy Directives providing standards and guidelines for statistical
surveys.
2. Statistical Products. Statistical products are, generally,
information dissemination products that are published or otherwise made
available for public use that describe, estimate, forecast, or analyze
the characteristics of groups, customarily without identifying the
persons, organizations, or individual data observations that comprise
such groups. Statistical products include general-purpose tabulations,
analyses, projections, forecasts, or other statistical reports. For
purposes of this Directive, a ``statistical press release'' is an
announcement to media of a statistical product release that contains
the title, subject matter, release date, and Internet address of, and
other available information about the statistical product, as well as
the name of the statistical agency issuing the product, and may include
any executive summary information or key findings section as shown in
the statistical product. A statistical press release announcing or
presenting statistical data is defined as a statistical product and is
covered by the provisions of this Directive. Federal statistical
agencies or units may issue their statistical products in printed and/
or electronic form, but must provide access to them on their Internet
sites. Agencies should assess the needs of data users and provide a
range of products to address those needs by whatever means practicable.
Information to help users interpret data accurately, including
transparent descriptions of the sources and methodologies used to
produce the data, must be equitably available for Federal statistical
products. With the exception of compilations of statistical information
collected and assembled from other statistical products, these products
shall contain or reference appropriate information on the strengths and
limitations of the methodologies, data sources, and data used to
produce them as well as other information such as explanations of other
related measures to assist users in the appropriate treatment and
interpretation of the data.
3. Statistical Agencies or Units. As identified under OMB's
implementation guidance (72 FR 33362, 33368, June 15, 2007) for the
Confidential Information Protection and Statistical Efficiency Act of
2002 (Pub. L. 107-347, Title V; 116 Stat. 2962; 44 U.S.C. Section 3501
note), a Federal statistical agency is an organizational unit of the
executive branch whose activities are predominantly the collection,
compilation, processing, or analysis of information for statistical
purposes. Statistical purpose means the description, estimation, or
analysis of the characteristics of groups, customarily without
identifying the persons, organizations, or individual data observations
that comprise such groups, as well as researching, developing,
implementing, maintaining, or evaluating methods, administrative or
technical procedures, or information resources that support such
purposes. A statistical agency or unit may be labeled an
administration, bureau, center, division, office, service, or similar
title, so long as it is recognized as a distinct entity. When a
statistical agency provides services for a separate sponsoring agency
on a reimbursable basis, the provisions of this Directive normally
shall apply to the sponsoring agency.
4. Timing of Release. The timing of the release of statistical
products, including statistical press releases, regardless of physical
form or characteristic, shall be the sole responsibility of the
statistical agency or unit that is directly responsible for the
content, quality, and dissemination of the data. Agencies should
minimize the interval between the period to which the data refer and
the date when the product is released to the public.
5. Notification of Release. Prior to the beginning of the calendar
year, the releasing statistical agency shall annually provide the
public with a schedule of when each regular or recurring statistical
product is expected to be released during the upcoming calendar year by
publishing it on its Web site. Agencies must issue any revisions to the
release schedule in a timely manner on their Web sites.
6. Dissemination. Statistical agencies must ensure that all users
have equitable and timely access to data that are disseminated to the
public. If there are revisions to the data after an initial release,
notification must also be given to the public about these changes in an
equitable and timely manner. A statistical agency should strive for the
widest, most accessible, and appropriate dissemination of its
statistical products and ensure transparency in its dissemination
practices by providing complete documentation of its dissemination
policies on its Web site. The statistical agency is responsible for
ensuring that this documentation remains accurate by reviewing and
updating it regularly so that it reflects the agency's current
dissemination practices.
In unusual circumstances, the requirement that all users initially
have equitable and timely access to statistical products may be waived
by the releasing statistical agency if the head of the agency
determines that the value of a particular type of statistical product,
such as health or safety information, is so time-sensitive to specific
stakeholders that normal procedures to ensure equitable and timely
access to all users would unduly delay the release of urgent findings
to those to whom the information is critical. All such instances must
be reported to OMB within 30 calendar days of the agency's waiver
determination.
Agencies should use a variety of vehicles to attain a data
dissemination program designed to reach data users in an equitable and
timely manner. Federal statistical agencies or units may issue their
statistical products in printed and/or electronic form, but must
provide access to them on their Internet sites. In undertaking any
dissemination of statistical products, agencies must continue to ensure
that they have fulfilled their responsibilities to preserve the
confidentiality and security of respondent data. When appropriate to
facilitate in-depth research, and feasible in the presence of resource
constraints, statistical agencies should provide public access to
microdata files with secure safeguards to protect the confidentiality
of individually-identifiable responses and with readily accessible
documentation, metadata, or other means to facilitate user access to
and manipulation of the data.
Statistical agencies are encouraged to use a variety of forums and
strategies to release their statistical products. These include
conferences, exhibits, presentations, workshops, list serves, the
Government Printing Office, public libraries, and outreach to the media
including news conferences and statistical press releases as well as
media briefings to improve the media's understanding of the data and
the quality and extent of media coverage of the statistics.
a. Outreach to the Media
To accelerate and/or expand the dissemination of data to the
public, statistical agencies are encouraged to issue a statistical
press release when releasing their products. To maintain a clear
distinction between statistical data and policy interpretations of such
data, the statistical press release must be produced and issued by the
statistical agency and must provide a policy-neutral description of the
data; it must not include policy pronouncements. To the extent that any
policy
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pronouncements are to be made regarding the data, those pronouncements
are to be made by Federal executive policy officials, not by the
statistical agency. Accordingly, these policy officials may issue
separate independent statements on the data being released by the
statistical agency, and policy officials of the issuing department may
review the draft statistical press release to ensure that it does not
include policy pronouncements.
In cases in which the statistical unit currently relies on its
parent agency for the public affairs function, the statistical agency
should coordinate with public affairs officials from the parent
organization on the dissemination aspects of the statistical press
release process, including planning and scheduling of annual release
dates.
b. Pre-Release Access to Final Statistical Products
The purpose of pre-release access is to foster improved public
understanding of the data when they are first released and the accuracy
of any initial commentary about the information contained in the
product. To support the goal of maximizing the public's access to
informed discussions of the data when they are first released,
statistical agencies may provide pre-release access to their final
statistical products. A statistical product is final when the releasing
statistical agency determines that the product fully meets the agency's
data quality standards based on all presently available information and
requires no further changes. Pre-release access to final statistical
products may be provided under embargo or through secure pre-release
access. The releasing statistical agency determines which final
statistical products will be made available under these pre-release
provisions and which method of pre-release will be employed.
c. Embargo
Embargo means that pre-release access is provided with the explicit
acknowledgement of the receiving party that the information cannot be
further disseminated or used in any unauthorized manner before a
specific date and time.
The statistical agency may grant pre-release access via an embargo
under the following conditions:
1. The agency shall establish arrangements and impose conditions on
the granting of an embargo that are necessary to ensure that there is
no unauthorized dissemination or use.
2. The agency shall ensure that any person or organization granted
access under an embargo has been fully informed of, and has
acknowledged acceptance of, these conditions.
3. In all cases, pre-release access via an embargo shall precede
the official release time only to the extent necessary for an orderly
release of the data.
4. If an embargo is broken, the agency must release the data to the
public immediately.
d. Secure Pre-Release Access
For some data that are particularly sensitive or move markets,
statistical agency heads may choose to provide secure pre-release
access. Secure pre-release access means that pre-release access is
provided only within the confines of secure physical facilities with no
external communications capability. When the head of a releasing
statistical agency determines that secure pre-release access is
required, the agency shall provide pre-release access to final
statistical products only when it uses secure pre-release procedures.
7. Announcement of Changes in Data Series. Statistical agencies
shall announce, in an appropriate and accessible manner as far in
advance of the change as possible, significant planned changes in data
collection, analysis, or estimation methods that may affect the
interpretation of their data series. In the first report affected by
the change, the agency must include a complete description of the
change and its effects and place the description on its Internet site,
if the report is not otherwise available there.
8. Revisions and Corrections of Data. For some statistical
products, statistical agencies produce preliminary estimates or initial
releases that will subsequently be updated and finalized. Whenever
preliminary data are released, they must be identified as preliminary
and the release must indicate that an updated or final revision is
expected. In applicable cases, the expected date of such revisions must
be included. Reference to the preliminary release and appropriate
explanations of the methodology and reasons for the revisions must be
provided or referenced in any updated or final releases.
Consistent with each agency's information quality guidelines,
statistical agencies must also establish and implement policies for
handling unscheduled corrections due to previously unrecognized errors.
Agencies have an obligation to alert users as quickly as possible to
any such changes, to explain corrections or revisions that result from
any unscheduled corrections, and to make appropriate changes in all
product formats--including statistical press releases.
9. Granting of Exceptions. Prior to any action being taken that may
be inconsistent with the provisions of this Directive, the head of a
releasing statistical agency shall consult with OMB's Administrator for
Information and Regulatory Affairs. If the Administrator determines
that the action is inconsistent with the provisions of this Directive,
the head of the releasing statistical agency may apply for an
exception. The Administrator may authorize exceptions to the provisions
in sections 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 of this Directive. Any agency requesting
an exception must demonstrate to the satisfaction of the Administrator
that the proposed exception is necessary and is consistent with the
purposes of this Directive.
[FR Doc. E8-4570 Filed 3-6-08; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3110-01-P