The aim of the publication is to assist national and international statistical offices in choosing the formats for making statistical data and metadata available on Internet. The recommendations are of a general nature, as no generally usable formats have yet been developed that would be specifically targeted for statistical data. It can be expected that in future such formats will appear.

The use of networks, especially Internet, has substantially changed the way in which users access statistical data. It has considerably increased user expectations concerning data availability, comparability, timeliness and ease of use. The provided formats and their characteristics (readability, provision of metadata, possibility to further use the data, time needed for downloading, etc.) are an essential part of the availability.

Custodian: UNECE