DECREE No 84-628 OF 17 JULY 1984, on the National Council for Statistical Information and implementing Law No 51-711 of 7 June 1951, as amended, on statistical obligations, coordination and confidentiality, amended by Decrees Nos. 87-813 of 1 October 1987, 95-105 of 31 January 1995 and 97-497 of 10 October 1997
The Prime Minister
In view of the report of the Minister for Economic Affairs, Finance and the Budget,
Having regard to Law No 51-711 of 7 June 1951, as amended, on statistical obligations, coordination and confidentiality;
Having regard to Law No 78-17 of 6 January 1978 on information technology, data storage and civil liberties;
Having regard to Articles 32 and 33 of the Finance Law of 27 April 1946 on the National Statistical and Economic Research Institute for France and its overseas territories and departments;
Having regard to Decree No 46-1432 of 14 June 1946 implementing Articles 32 and 33 of the Finance Law of 27 April 1946;
Having regard to Decree No 68-724 of 7 August 1968 laying down conditions for the reimbursement of the travel expenses of State employees and other persons working with councils, committees, commissions and other consultative bodies assisting the State;
Having regard to Decree No 70-536 of 12 June 1970 establishing a National Commission for activity and product nomenclatures;
Having regard to Decree No 76-1053 of 16 November 1976 on the registration and revision of administrative forms;
Having consulted the Council of State (public works section),
Decrees:
Article 1 - The National Statistical Council, established by Article 1 of the above-
mentioned Law of 7 June 1951, shall be known as the National Council for Statistical Information.
CHAPTER 1
Prerogatives of the National Council for Statistical Information
Article 2 - The National Council for Statistical Information shall perform the tasks conferred upon it by the aforementioned Law of 7 June 1951, as amended, and shall ensure, as regards statistical information, concerted action by users of information, public services and, to the extent to which they are subject thereto, other services producing statistical information. Such services are the National Statistical and Economic Research Institute and Ministerial statistical departments, public authorities, public bodies or bodies in which public persons hold a majority and private bodies responsible for a public service or for collecting or processing economic and social data through public subsidies or by agreement with public services.
The concerted action ensured by the Council shall cover the stages of production of statistical information and its dissemination, whether such information derives from statistical surveys and censuses, or from the processing of data from administrative activities for the purposes of general information. The Council shall in particular deliberate and give its opinion:
1. - On the needs to be satisfied and on the state of the statistical information system, and on the innovations to be made thereto in the short or medium term;
2. - On the general development of the statistical work of producer services, taking account, in particular, of the statistical work for which provision is made by the bodies of the European Communities;
3. - On the annual programme of surveys by public services and its methods of application and on the punishment of offences in respect of statistical surveys;
4. - On plans to process, for the purposes of general information, data from the activities of authorities, public bodies and private bodies responsible for a public service;
5. - On plans for the automated processing of statistical surveys or of data as mentioned under paragraph 4 of this Article for which the opinion of the National Commission for Information Technology and Civil Liberties must be sought; the opinion of the Council shall be reasoned, forwarded to the producer service and attached to the file submitted to National Commission for Information Technology and Civil Liberties;
6. - On the design, revision and updating of economic and social nomenclatures; the Chairman of the National Commission for Activity and Product Nomenclatures shall report to the Council on issues for which that Commission is competent;
7. - On the content of the economic and social databases of producer services, and on methods of access to these databases and charging principles;
The Council shall give its opinion, whenever necessary, in particular in the performance of its prerogatives as set out in paragraphs 4 and 6 of this Article, to the Centre for the registration and revision of administrative forms and to any body eligible to know such opinions;
The Council shall be associated with any body for the coordination of public service information systems, as regards any issue relating to the content of economic and social information.
Article 3 - Each year, the Council shall adopt, following proposal by its executive, an annual report. This report shall contain the opinions given during the year by the groups and working parties of the Council. The individual or collective observations of its members shall be annexed to the report which shall be made public by the Minister for Economic Affairs and forwarded to producer services.
CHAPTER II
Composition and operation of the National Council for Statistical Information
Article 4 - The Council shall be chaired by the Minister for Economic Affairs
I - The following shall also be members of the Council:
a) a member of the National Assembly;
a member of the Senate;
a member of the Economic and Social Council;
appointed by the assemblies of which they are members.
b) A representative of each Minister, Minister Delegate, autonomous Minister of State or Minister of State responsible to the Prime Minister.
c) The Director-General of the National Statistical and Economic Research Institute;
the Commissioner for the Plan;
the Governor of the Bank of France;
the Delegate for regional development and action;
the Director of overseas economic, social and cultural affairs;
the Director-General of research and technology;
the vice-chairman of the Commission for the Simplification of Administrative Formalities;
the secretary-general of the Committee for Banking and Financial Regulation;
or their representatives.
d) A representative of the Standing Assembly of Chambers of Agriculture;
a representative of the National Confederation of Agricultural Mutual Insurance, Cooperation and Credit;
a representative of the National Federation of Farmers’ Unions;
appointed by order of the Minister of Agriculture, following proposal by their respective
organisation;
five representatives of the National Council of French Employers;
two representatives of the General Confederation of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises and Proprietor Employers;
appointed by order of the Minister for Industry, following proposal by their respective organisation;
a representative of the Federation of Workers’ Cooperative Production Societies,
appointed by order of the Minister for the Social Economy, following proposal by that organisation;
a representative of the Higher Public Sector Council, appointed by the Prime Minister following proposal by that Council;
a person from a public enterprise, appointed by the Minister for Industry;
a representative of the French Banking Association;
a representative of the National Union of Associations of Professional Practitioners;
appointed by order of the Minister for Economic Affairs, following proposal by their respective organisation;
a representative of the Assembly of French Chambers of Commerce and Industry;
a representative of the Standing Assembly of Chambers of Trades;
a representative of the Craft Trade Production Union;
a representative of the National Chamber of Commerce;
appointed by the Minister for Trade and Craft Trades, following proposal by their respective organisation;
four representatives of the General Confederation of Labour;
four representatives of the French Democratic Confederation of Labour;
four representatives of the General Confederation of Labour - "Force Ouvrière";
four representatives of the French Christian Workers’ Confederation;
four representatives of the General Confederation of Professional and Managerial Staff - French Confederation of Professional and Managerial Staff;
appointed by order of the Minister for Social Affairs, following proposal by their respective organisation;
Two representatives of teachers’ trade unions appointed by order of the Minister for Education.
e) A president or vice-president of a regional council and a director-general of regional services, appointed by order of the Minister for Local Government, following proposal by the National Association of Regional Councillors;
a president or vice-president of a departmental council, appointed by order of the Minister for the Local Government following proposal by the Assembly of Presidents of French Departmental Councils;
a major or a deputy mayor, appointed by order of the Minister for Local Government following proposal by the Association of French Mayors;
a member of a regional economic and social council, appointed by the Minister for Local
Government following proposal by the Standing Assembly of Presidents of Regional Economic and Social Councils;
a member of a regional chamber of commerce and industry, appointed by order of the Minister for Trade and Craft Trades.
f) Two representatives of regional bodies for concerted action on statistical information, appointed by order of the Minister for Economic Affairs.
g) Two members of higher education teaching staff, appointed by order of the Minister for Higher Education;
two economic or social science researchers, appointed by order of the Minister for Research.
h) a member of the National Council of Associations, appointed by the Prime Minister;
six representatives of the association movement, appointed, one by each Ministerial Department, by order of the Ministers for Social Action, Housing, Integration, Women’s Rights, Consumer Affairs and the Environment;
a representative of associations of economic and financial journalists, and a representative of associations of social information journalists;
a representative of the National Union of Family Associations, appointed by order of the Minister for Social Affairs, following proposal by that organisation.
i) Eight qualified persons, appointed for their expertise by order of the Minister for Economic Affairs.
II - The following may also be invited to take part in the work of the National Council but shall not be entitled to vote: the secretary-general of the National Council for Credit and Securities, the Director-General of the Statistical Office of the European Communities, the head of the joint ministerial department responsible for developing public service information systems, the director-general of the French public records office, the heads of public service statistical departments and the directors of public service or public sector departments playing a major role in the collection of information for use for statistical purposes, in particular:
the Directors of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Finance and the Budget;
the Director of social security at the Ministry of Social Affairs;
the Director of craft trade affairs at the Ministry of Trade and Industry;
or their representatives.
Article 5 - The members of the Council listed in paragraphs d, e, f, g, h and I of Article 4 shall be appointed for a term of four years. Their appointment shall be renewable.
Alternates to the members of the Council listed in paragraphs a, d, e, f, g, h of Article 4 shall be appointed under the same conditions as the members: they shall sit on the Council if members are prevented from attending.
Any person no longer possessing the status as a result of which he or she was appointed shall no longer be a member of the Council. A replacement shall be appointed for the term of office left to run.
Article 6 - The Council for Statistical Information shall have an executive consisting, in addition to the Minister for Economic Affairs, who shall chair it, of:
a) the Director-General of the National Statistical and Economic Research Institute;
the Commissioner for the Plan;
the Governor of the Bank of France.
b) A representative of the National Council of French Employers;
a representative of the General Confederation of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises and of Proprietor Employers;
appointed by those organisations from among their representatives on the Council;
the representative on the Council of the Standing Assembly of Chambers of Trades;
the representative on the Council of the Assembly of French Chambers of Commerce and Industry;
one of the representatives of the Standing Assembly of Chambers of Agriculture, of the National Confederation of Agricultural Mutual Insurance, Cooperation and Credit and of the National Federation of Farmers’ Unions, chosen by mutual agreement of those persons;
a representative of the General Confederation of Labour;
a representative of the French Democratic Confederation of Labour;
a representative of the General Confederation of Labour - "Force Ouvrière";
a representative of the French Christian Workers’ Confederation;
a representative of the General Confederation of Professional and Managerial Staff - French Confederation of Professional and Managerial Staff;
appointed by those organisations from among their representatives on the Council.
c) Two members of the Council, appointed for three years by and from those persons listed in paragraphs a, e, f, g, h and I of Article 4 of this Decree and by and from those members of the Council listed in paragraph d of Article 4 and not mentioned in paragraph b of this Article.
The members of the executive may be represented thereon, in accordance with the provisions of Articles 4 and 5 of this Decree.
Article 7 - The executive shall elect a vice-chairman for four years.
Article 8 - The National Council for Statistical Information may establish, following proposal by its executive, specialist groups and working parties.
Any member of the Council so requesting and any person invited by the Council may take part in the work of these groups and working parties.
The chairmen and rapporteurs of such specialist groups and working parties shall be appointed by the Council, following proposal by its executive or by those of its members at whose initiative the group or party has been established.
Chairmen who are not members of the Council shall be invited to sit on the Council and shall be entitled to vote on issues connected with the work of the group or party that they chair.
Article 9 - The Council and its executive may ask government departments to provide them with rapporteurs or experts for assistance with their work.
For the preparation of the programmes and the examination of the plans set out in Article 2 (3, 4) of this Decree, the relevant departments shall submit:
preliminary drafts of the programmes for the following year by 1 March at latest;
final drafts of such programmes, drawn up taking account of the opinions given by the Council on the preliminary drafts, by 1 October at latest.
Moreover, these departments shall submit to the Council, at least one year prior to their first year of application, the multi-annual programmes for the general development of statistical works set out in Article 2 (2) of this Decree.
Article 10 - The executive shall prepare the work of the National Council for Statistical Information. For this purpose, it shall be assisted by the secretariat of the National Council for Statistical Information.
The Council may request the executive to issue opinions on its behalf, except in the case set out in Article 2 (3) of this Decree.
Article 11 - Any member of the National Council for Statistical Information may submit a question connected with its prerogatives to the executive; they may ask to be heard on this question. The meeting during which the question is discussed and its author heard must be held no later than one month after such a request has been lodged.
Any member of the Council may put a question connected with their sphere of competence to the Council, its specialist groups or working parties.
Article 12 - The secretariat of the National Council for Statistical Information, provided by the National Statistical and Economic Research Institute, through its department for statistical coordination, shall implement the decisions of the Council and its executive.
CHAPTER III
Preparation, performance and use of statistical surveys
Article 12-1 - A statistical survey quality label committee shall be established at the National Council for Statistical Information.
The statistical survey quality label committee shall examine the survey plans submitted to it by the producer services listed in Article 2 of this Decree. It shall evaluate the application methods planned by the surveying department and shall award, if the evaluation is favourable, a label of general interest and statistical quality. It shall propose that the competent Ministers issue the preliminary approval to which the surveys mentioned in Article 2 of the aforementioned Law of 7 June 1951 are subject.
The operating methods of the statistical survey quality label committee shall be set out in an order of the Minister for Economic Affairs, enacted after consulting the National Council for Statistical Information. This order shall also set out the composition of the committee and its various groups, and in particular the methods by which the various groups of persons to whom statistical surveys are addressed shall be represented on this committee and its various groups.
Article 13 - The National Council for Statistical Information shall meet as the statistical survey disputes committee to give the opinion set out in Article 7 (1) of the Law of 7 June 1951 as amended.
This committee shall comprise:
the member of the National Assembly;
the member of the Senate;
the member of the Economic and Social Council;
the representative of the Keeper of the Seals, Minister of Justice;
the representative of the Minister competent in respect of the offender;
the representative of the Director-General of the National Statistical and Economic Research Institute;
three of the persons representing the following organisations:
National Council of French Employers;
General Confederation of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises and of Proprietor Employers;
Assembly of French Chambers of Commerce and Industry;
Standing Assembly of Chambers of Trades;
Craft Trade Production Union;
National Trade Council;
Assembly of French Chambers of Agriculture;
National Confederation of Agricultural Mutual Insurance, Cooperation and Credit;
National Federation of Farmers’ Unions;
Two persons representing the following organisations:
National Union of Family Associations;
General Confederation of Labour;
General Confederation of Labour - "Force Ouvrière";
French Democratic Confederation of Labour;
French Christian Workers’ Confederation;
General Confederation of Professional and Managerial Staff - French Confederation of
Professional and Managerial Staff.
These five persons shall be appointed by the National Council for Statistical Information.
The statistical survey disputes committee shall be chaired by the Minister for Economic Affairs or his or her representative.
Article 14 - The approval orders set out in Article 4 (1) of the aforementioned Law of 7 June 1951 shall specify the nature, coverage and periods of the surveys conferred upon the approved bodies and the deadlines within which these bodies must forward the results obtained to the surveying departments.
They shall also specify whether information is to be provided individually, by category or in an overall form. The approved bodies shall be notified in good time, by letter from the surveying Ministry, of any change of presentation.
Refusal of approval shall be reasoned. Withdrawal of approval shall be reasoned and can be implemented only after advance notice of three months.
Article 15 - The option open to each party, under Article 4(2) of the aforementioned Law of 7 June 1951, to reply to the questionnaire that he has been sent either via an approved body or directly to the surveying department, shall be exercised by registered letter, with advice of receipt, sent to the surveying department within a period laid down by joint order of the Minister responsible for the National Statistical and Economic Research Institute and the Minister responsible for the sector to which the party belongs.
A party failing to satisfy these provisions shall be deemed to have chosen to reply to the approved body in the sector to which he belongs. The option may, however, be exercised again before the end of each calendar year.
Article 16 - In the event of failure to reply to an approved questionnaire within the deadline given, the surveying department shall send the party a letter of notice setting out a new and final deadline.
In the event of failure to reply within this deadline, the surveying department shall draw up a notice of failure to reply.
In the event of an incorrect reply, it shall draw up a notice of incorrect reply.
Article 17 - The notices set out in the preceding Article shall be forwarded to the party by registered letter with advice of receipt.
On expiry of a term of fifteen days from service of the notice, the Minister responsible for the surveying department shall bring the matter before the disputes committee.
Article 18 - A report shall be drawn up for each case brought before the disputes committee. The rapporteur may be chosen from among the members of the committee or from among the service’s officials, appointed by the competent Ministry.
Rapporteurs shall be entitled to vote on the cases that they are reporting.
Article 19 - Parties shall be able to inspect their files; they shall be notified that they may submit written comments within one month of the date of receipt of the notice that the case has been brought before the disputes committee. They shall be heard, if they so request, by a person authorised by this committee and may be assisted or represented.
The disputes committee may carry out any supplementary investigation that it deems necessary.
Meetings of the disputes committee shall not be public.
Article 20 - The proceedings of the disputes committee shall be valid only when at least five members, in addition to the chairman and the rapporteur, are present. Decisions shall be taken by a majority of votes. In the case of equal voting, the chairman shall have the casting vote.
Proceedings shall be followed by the drafting of an opinion signed by the chairman. The opinion shall be forwarded to the Minister responsible for the National Statistical and Economic Research Institute and to the competent Minister, together with the minutes of the meeting, by the chairman.
Article 21 - A statistical confidentiality committee for enterprises, responsible for studying the problems raised by the application of the rules on statistical confidentiality, shall be established at the National Council for Statistical Information.
This Committee shall be chaired by a Member of the Council of State, of a grade of at least Counsel, appointed by the vice-president of the Council of State.
If its chairman is absent or otherwise prevented from attending, the statistical confidentiality committee shall be chaired by the representative of the Keeper of the Seals, Minister for Justice.
It shall comprise, for each problem brought before it, the members of the National Council for Statistical Information listed in Article 4 (a) of this Decree, and:
a) Four representatives of the public service:
a representative of the National Statistical and Economic Research Institute;
a representative of the Keeper of the Seals, Minister for Justice;
a representative of the Minister with jurisdiction over the enterprises affected by the
problem;
a representative of the surveying department involved, appointed by the Minister responsible for that department;
b) Four representatives of enterprises:
a representative of the National Council of French Employers;
a representative of the Assembly of French Chambers of Commerce and Industry;
a representative of the General Confederation of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises and of Proprietor Employers;
a representative of the professional organisation to which the enterprises concerned belong or, if there are several such organisations, a second representative of the National Council of French Employers, nominated by those organisations;
c) a representative of the workers’ trade unions named in Article 4(d) of this Decree, chosen by mutual agreement of the representatives of those organisations on the Council;
d) a representative of regional and local users of statistical information appointed by order of the Minister for the Interior and Decentralisation.
Article 22 - Provided that Article 6 of the above-mentioned Law of 7 June 1951 does not prohibit its dissemination, the individual information set out in paragraph 2 of that Article can be disseminated only by joint decision of the Minister responsible for the surveying department and of the Minister responsible for the National Statistical and Economic Research Institute, taken after consulting the statistical confidentiality committee for enterprises established by Article 21 of this Decree.
Such information may be disseminated only to beneficiaries who undertake not to disseminate it to anyone.
CHAPTER IV
Miscellaneous provisions
Article 23 - The travel costs that members of the Council and any person duly invited to its meetings incur in order to attend such meetings may be reimbursed in accordance with the conditions set out in the aforementioned Decree of 7 August 1968.
Article 24 - Decrees Nos. 72-1103 and 72-1104 of 8 December 1972 relating to the National Statistical Council shall be repealed.
Article 25 - This Decree shall enter into force when the National Council for Statistical Information is established and at latest within a period of three months from its publication.
Article 26 - The Ministers, Ministers Delegate, Minister of State responsible to the Prime Minister for the public service and administrative reforms, Minister of State responsible to the Prime Minister for communication techniques, Minister of State responsible to the Prime Minister for the environment and living conditions and Minister of State responsible to the Minister of the Interior and Decentralisation for overseas departments and territories shall be responsible, each for his part, for the implementation of this Decree, which shall be published in the Official Journal of the French Republic.
Done in Paris, 17 July 1984.
PIERRE MAUROY
By the Prime Minister: followed by the signatures of twenty-seven members of the Government.