CT

STATISTICS ACT 2015

Act 7 of 2015

Statistics Act 2015

Arrangement of SectionsC
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STATISTICS ACT 2015
Arrangement of Sections
SectionPART I - PRELIMINARY
125

Short Title .............................................................................................................. 5
Interpretation.......................................................................................................... 5

PART II - THE MINISTER, GOVERNMENT STATISTICIAN,STATISTICS DEPARTMENT AND NATIONAL STATISTICSADVISORY BOARD
3
4
5
6
7
8

Statistics Department ............................................................................................. 6
Appointment of the Government Statistician ........................................................ 7
The duties of the Government Statistician ............................................................. 7
Responsibilities of the Government Statistician .................................................... 8
Minister responsible for statistics .......................................................................... 8
National Statistics Advisory Council ..................................................................... 8

PART III – REPORTING
99Annual report ......................................................................................................... 9PART IV – PROTECTION OF INFORMATION
10
11
12
13

9

Oath of office and evidence of appointment .......................................................... 9
Protection from disclosure of respondent information ........................................ 10
Limited disclosure of certain details permitted .................................................... 10
Respondent information is privileged .................................................................. 11

PART V – COLLECTION OF STATISTICS
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15

6

11

Census of Population ........................................................................................... 11
Surveys and censuses ........................................................................................... 12

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Arrangement of Sections

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Statistics Act 2015

Joint collection of statistics .................................................................................. 13
Use of administrative records of departments for statistical purposes ................. 13

PART VI – TEMPORARY EMPLOYEES
18

Temporary employees .......................................................................................... 14

PART VII – ACCESS TO RECORDS
19

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14

Offences and Penalty............................................................................................ 14

PART IX – REPEAL OF STATISTICS ACT
21

14

Access to records.................................................................................................. 14

PART VIII – OFFENCES AND PENALTIES
20

14

15

Repeal................................................................................................................... 15

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Section 1

C
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STATISTICS ACT 2015
Act 7 of 2015
AN ACT TO ENLARGE AND DEVELOP AN INTEGRATED AND
COMPREHENSIVE STATISTICAL INFORMATION SYSTEM AND TOREGULATE ALL MATTERS PERTAINING THERETO
I assent,
TUPOU VI,
15th October 2015.

BE IT ENACTED by the King and Legislative Assembly of Tonga in theLegislature of the Kingdom as follows:

PART I - PRELIMINARY
1

Short Title
This Act may be cited as the Statistics Act 2015.

2

Interpretation
In this Act,“department” or “departments of government” means any ministry
department, branch, bureau, agency or other division of the Government, andincludes a statutory body;“Minister” means the Minister responsible for statistics;

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Section 3

Statistics Act 2015

“respondent” means a person corporate or not-incorporated body including a
non-profit making institution in respect of whom or in respect of whose
activities any report or information is sought or provided pursuant to this Act;
“officer” means every permanent or temporary officer or employee employedin the Statistics Department; and includes the Government Statistician and any
person engaged on a contract for services to perform any of the duties of
an officer;“official statistics” are statistics produced by any department to inform theGovernment and people of Tonga about the economic, social, cultural andenvironmental conditions of the Kingdom and the activities, performance andimpact of the Government, and to measure economic and social progress of thepeople of Tonga;“statistical purposes” means the production of official statistics, and includes
the production, management, protection and use of respondent information
obtained from any statistical and administrative source. It includes making
available for specified research purposes authorised under this Act by theGovernment Statistician any collection of unidentified statistical records in theform of micro-data or unit record files; and“micro-data” means statistical data files of individual respondent records, withinformation identifying individual respondents removed, that shall be used forstatistical purposes.

PART II - THE MINISTER, GOVERNMENT STATISTICIAN,STATISTICS DEPARTMENT AND NATIONAL STATISTICSADVISORY BOARD
3

Statistics Department(1)

There shall be a department of the Government of the Kingdom to be known as
the Statistics Department which shall be the principal authority for the official
statistics of Tonga.

(2)

The Statistics Department shall collect, from people, businesses and otherorganisations in the Kingdom, information relating to their activities andeconomic and social situation, in order to compile, analyse, abstract and publish
official statistics relating to the condition of commerce, people, theircommunities and the environment, as well as the activities, performance andimpact of the Government.

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Section 4

Appointment of the Government Statistician
An appropriately qualified person shall be appointed in accordance with the PublicService Act to be the Government Statistician and he shall be the chief executive
officer of the Statistics Department, and be responsible to the Minister.

5

The duties of the Government Statistician
(1)

(2)

(3)

The Government Statistician shall monitor and demonstrate regard to thedemands placed on respondents when determining the form and frequency ofthe statistical obligations that are imposed, and shall:(a) ensure the continued scientific integrity of the methods used in the
production, analysis and publication of statistics;(b) protect from disclosure all identifiable information obtained forstatistical purposes, unless explicitly referred to in section 13;(c)make full use for statistical purposes of information available todepartments of government; and(d)establish rules for the publication and impartial release without delay of
official statistics.

The Government Statistician shall co-ordinate the practices of departments inthe collection, compilation and dissemination of statistics and related
information, by publishing standards and guidance with particular regard to:(a)enabling the integration of statistics compiled by departments ofgovernment by ensuring the compatibility of classifications, reference
frames and statistical units;(b)

avoiding duplication in the collection of information for statistical
purposes by departments of government; and(c)supporting the development of national registers of business, landparcels, dwellings and significant structures for advancing public
administration including official statistics.

The Government Statistician shall advance the quality and relevance of eachfield of official statistics by:(a)publishing information about the methods used in the production of
statistics, and assessments of their quality;(b)organising and publishing periodic reviews of their relevance, scope andquality;(c)advising the Minister on matters of statistical policy, including giving
advice on the statistical programs of the departments of the governmentof Tonga; andco-ordinating international statistical co-operation, including Pacificregional collaboration on standards, methods and information
management.

(d)

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Statistics Act 2015

(4)

The Government Statistician shall report to the Minister at the end of the firstyear of this Act, and every three years thereafter, on the official statistics to be
produced by departments in Tonga over the following three years, with a reviewof the achievements of the most recent three year period.

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7

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Responsibilities of the Government Statistician(1)

The Government Statistician shall be responsible for deciding the statisticalmethodology and professional statistical standards used by the Statistics
Department, and the timing, form and content of statistical releases andpublications issued by the Statistics Department.

(2)

The Government Statistician shall release statistics at the same time to all users,
at a time prescribed in advance by the Government Statistician, and shallestablish rules when Ministers or departmental officers might have access underembargo to statistics prior to their public release by departments.

(3)

The Government Statistician may promote public understanding of the official
statistics at the time of any release by comment of an impartial manner, andmay examine and comment on the interpretation of any published statistics
where they consider that necessary and appropriate.

Minister responsible for statistics(1)

The Government Statistician is accountable to the Minister for the proper
supervision of the administration of this Act and the control of the operations
and staff of the Statistics Department.

(2)

The Minister may issue directions for the implementation of this Act.

(3)

The Minister shall table before the Legislative Assembly each year the reportof the Government Statistician on the administration of this Act, the activitiesof the Statistics Department and any matter concerning official statistics, forthe preceding year ending 30 June.

(4)

The Minister may make regulations as are necessary to give full effect to theprovisions of this Act and its administration.

National Statistics Advisory Council(1)

The Minister may appoint appropriately qualified persons from government,
business and the community to a National Statistics Advisory Council createdby the Minister to meet the needs of the time for advice to the Minister on therange and scope of official statistics necessary for economic and social
development planning and management of the Kingdom.

(2)

The Government Statistician shall be an ex-officio member of the National
Statistics Advisory Council.

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(3)

Section 9

The functions of the National Statistics Advisory Council shall include:(a)advising on the improvement, extension,
harmonisation of statistical activities;(b)

reviewing the priorities and programmes of work of the Statistics
Department and the statistical programmes of other departments;(c)overseeing the maintenance of public trust in statistics about theKingdom, including the processes that ensure public confidence in theconfidentiality provisions of this Act;advising the Minister on the findings of the sector wide reviews ofofficial statistics;(d)co-ordination

and

(e)

advising the Government Statistician on priorities regarding futureaccess needs, and the form and quality of available statistics;(f)overseeing the maintenance of independence, integrity, and professional
standards of statistical information; and(g)designating as official statistics any statistical measure not produced bya department which meets the standards of official statistics and which
provides significant information about a sector of official statistics thatwould otherwise not be available.

PART III – REPORTING
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Annual report
The Government Statistician shall each year submit a report to the Minister to tablein Legislative Assembly, on the activities of the Statistics Department and any matter
concerning official statistics, for the preceding year ending 30 June.

PART IV – PROTECTION OF INFORMATION
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Oath of office and evidence of appointment(1)

The Government Statistician and every person employed or engaged pursuant
to this Act shall, before entering upon his duties, take and subscribe thefollowing oath:I, …..……., swear that I shall not at any time make known to others any
information that comes to my knowledge as a result of my employment in theStatistics Department of the Kingdom and which is protected from disclosure
by the Statistics Act.

(2)

The oath set out in subsection (1) shall be administered by any person duly
authorised, and returned and recorded in such manner, as required by law.

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Statistics Act 2015

(3)

Every employee of the Statistics Department shall have a signed authority fromthe Government Statistician that shall be sufficient evidence of their authority
to fulfil their duties under this Act.

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Protection from disclosure of respondent information(1)

Information obtained under this Act shall be used for statistical purposes only,
and only in accordance with this Act.

(2)

All information published under this Act shall be arranged to prevent any
information relating to a particular respondent being identifiable by any person,
other than the respondent who supplied the information.

(3)

Where a disclosure occurred where a person could identify to whom theinformation relates, and which at the time of publishing could not have beenreasonably foreseen, the Government Statistician shall determine the actions
needed to mitigate the impact, and prevent a recurrence.

(4)

The Government Statistician, and every officer and person in employment in
the Statistics Department shall ensure the proper custody of statistical records
and ensure that:(a)only a person employed or deemed to be employed under this Act, andsworn under section 10, shall be permitted to examine any identifiable
individual return made for the purposes of this Act, except for the
purposes of a prosecution under this Act; and(b)no person who has at any time been sworn under section 10 shall discloseor knowingly cause to be disclosed, by any means, any information
obtained under this Act, without the authority of the Government
Statistician, in exercise of their power under this Act.

(5)

All returns and documents containing information obtained under this Act
which enable identification of individuals or establishments shall be kept at all
times in a manner reasonably calculated to prevent any unauthorised person
having access thereto.

(6)

All forms shall be destroyed after the information obtained from them has been
extracted by the Government Statistician or any person authorised by theGovernment Statistician.

(7)

The records of each census of population shall be held by the Government
Statistician, and shall be made available as public records after 75 years fromthe date of the census.

Limited disclosure of certain details permitted(1)

Page 10Notwithstanding section 11, the Government Statistician may disclose thefollowing information to the public, or to any person who requests it:

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Section 13(a)the respondent who supplied the information has consented to the
publication in that manner;(b)

information that is already available to the public without the breach of
any law;(c)

information supplied by any department if that department has an
obligation to make that information public on request, or confirms to theGovernment Statistician that it would make that information available tothe public if requested; or(d)details of external trade, movement of ships and aircraft, and cargohandled at ports and airports.

(2)

The Government Statistician may disclose information about the location, sizeand classification of businesses, land parcels and dwellings to any department
responsible for maintaining registers that support public administration
including official statistics and the nature of each such disclosure shall be
notified in the annual report of the Government Statistician.

(3)

Where the Government Statistician receives a request under subsection (1)(c),the Government Statistician may, at his discretion, elect to make theinformation public as well instead of providing it to the person who madethe request.

(4)

Where an emergency has been declared the Government Statistician may makeavailable to the appropriate authorities information that is otherwise not able tobe lawfully disclosed about the characteristics and location of persons, theirhabitation and place of business, provided that the use is intended to be to thebenefit of persons affected by the emergency.

Respondent information is privileged(1)

Except in respect of a prosecution initiated under this Act, any information
obtained from a respondent by the Statistics Department is privileged and shallnot be used as evidence in the proceedings of any Court, tribunal or other body.

(2)

No respondent information collected under this Act may be used for or inconnection with the assessment or levy of any tax imposed by the Government
and may not be used in evidence of such assessment.

PART V – COLLECTION OF STATISTICS
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Census of Population(1)

The Government Statistician shall be responsible for the administration andcompletion of any census of population taken in the Kingdom, and the rules fortaking a census of population shall be published in the Gazette.

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Section 15(2)
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Statistics Act 2015

The census of population shall take place every five years.

Surveys and censuses(1)

The Government Statistician shall determine the method and form of collection,
analysis, publication and release for any survey or census conducted by theStatistics Department including the taking of a census of population, andprescribe such rules and forms as deemed necessary to conduct the work
effectively.

(2)

The Statistics Department shall:(a) obtain information from respondents in the most efficient manner,having regard to all the demands placed on the respondents to surveys
and censuses conducted in the Kingdom;(b)

supply a schedule to every affected person, dwelling or place of businessby any means that the statistician reasonably considers to be appropriate(which may include notice of where an electronic schedule can beobtained); and(c)request a respondent to supply estimates which shall be made responsibly
and in good faith where the facts are not available.

(3)

Every person, organisation or business from whom information is sought shallanswer the inquiries of the Statistics Department to the best of their knowledge.

(4)

A request for information for the purposes of this Act may be made bydelivering the request to that person in any way that is usual in the Kingdom
for transmitting official requests to the public.

(5)

In the absence of the occupant of the house or business owner the requirement
falls on another member of the family or on the agent of the owner of thebusiness.

(6)

Any agent in the Kingdom of a foreign principal shall provide the information
required or produce evidence that they have been unable to obtain
the information.

(7)

Official statistics may be collected by means of sampling, where the use of thatmethod is considered appropriate in place of a full enumeration.

(8)

The Government Statistician may determine that a survey or survey question
shall be carried out on a voluntary basis, and shall inform any person of theundertaking before they are requested to answer questions through aninterview, form, questionnaire or other record, and all such information shallbe subject to the restrictions on use and prohibition on disclosure of information
specified in this Act.

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Section 16

Joint collection of statistics(1)

The Government Statistician with the consent of the Minister may enter into anagreement with any department or corporation to jointly collect information
where the information demanded by the department or corporation closely
duplicates an enquiry by the Statistics Department.

(2)

The respondent shall be informed that the information is being collected jointly
on behalf of the Statistics Department and the department or corporation, andthat any exchange of information pursuant to this section may include replies
to original inquiries and supplementary information provided by a respondent
to the Statistics Department and the department or corporation jointly collecting
the information.

Use of administrative records of departments for statistical purposes(1)

Upon request of the Government Statistician, every department shall furnish
administrative records as may be required for statistical purposes only. The
conditions regarding storage, access, destruction and return of records shall be
set by the department when providing such access.

(2)

When a department proposes to introduce, revise or extend any system for thecollection, storage and retrieval of information or to make a statistical survey it
shall consult with the Government Statistician and accept any
recommendations that they may reasonably make in relation to the proposal(3)

Where micro-data of unidentified individual information that is intended to bemade available for authorised research purposes by the Statistics Department
includes information from the administrative records of departments, thedepartment responsible for these records may establish conditions for their use
as micro-data in addition to those rules set by the Government Statistician.

(4)

Subject to section 11, the Government Statistician or any officer of the Statistics
Department authorised by the Government Statistician to do so may inspect andhave access to any returns, certificates, statements, documents, or other records
obtained for the purpose of the Income Tax Act.

(5)

Subject to section 11, the Minister responsible for revenue shall cause such
returns, certificates, statements, documents or other records to be madeavailable to the Government Statistician or person authorised by him to inspectsuch records, in such manner and at such time and place as may be prescribedupon the recommendation of the Minister responsible for revenue.

(6)

Subject to section 11, the Minister responsible for customs shall cause to besent to the Government Statistician returns of imports and exports into and fromthe Kingdom in a form suitable for statistical purposes.

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Section 18

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PART VI – TEMPORARY EMPLOYEES
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Temporary employees(1)

The Government Statistician may employ, from time to time, in the mannerprescribed by law, such commissioners, enumerators, agents or other persons
as are necessary to collect for the Statistics Department such statistics andinformation for such periods as they deem necessary.

(2)

Where the Government Statistician uses the services of any employee of the
public service in the exercise or performance of any duty, power or function of
the Government Statistician under this Act, and any person whose services are
so used shall, for, the purposes of this Act, be deemed to be a person employed
under this Act.

(3)

Any person employed under subsection (1) to perform special services for theGovernment Statistician pursuant to this Act, shall for the purposes of this Act
be deemed to be persons employed under this Act while performing suchservices.

PART VII – ACCESS TO RECORDS
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Access to records(1)

A person having information or the custody or charge of any documents orrecords that are maintained in any department, corporation, business ororganisation, from which information sought in respect of the objects of thisAct can be obtained or that would aid in the completion or correction thereof,
shall provide or grant access thereto for these purposes to a person authorisedby the Government Statistician to obtain such information or such aid in thecompletion or correction of such information.

(2)

Any agent in the Kingdom of a foreign principal shall provide the information
required or produce evidence that he has been unable to obtain the information.

PART VIII – OFFENCES AND PENALTIES
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Offences and Penalty(1)Page 14

Every person who, after taking the oath, set out in section 10(1) who fails to
fulfil this duty, or wilfully makes any false declaration, statement or return inthe performance of his duties commits an offence and is liable on conviction toa fine not exceeding $2,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6
months or to both.

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Section 21(2)

Any employee of the Statistics Department or any person who impersonates an
employee of the Statistics Department, and who obtains or seeks to obtain
information that they are not duly authorised to obtain, commits an offence andis liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $2,000 or to imprisonment for aterm not exceeding 6 months or both.

(3)

Every person who, without lawful excuse:(a)refuses or neglects to answer, or wilfully answers falsely, any question
intended to obtain information sought in respect of the object of this Actor pertinent thereto that has been asked of him by any person employed
or deemed to be employed under this Act;(b)

refuses or neglects to furnish any information or to fill in to the best of
his knowledge and belief any schedule or form that they have beenrequired to fill in, and to return the same when and as required of him
pursuant to this Act; or(c)knowingly gives false or misleading information is, for every such
refusal or neglect, or false answer or deception,commits an offence and is liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $1,000.

PART IX – REPEAL OF STATISTICS ACT
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Repeal(1)

The Statistics Act [Cap 53] is hereby repealed.

(2)

The repeal under subsection (1) shall not affect any form or document and its
protection from disclosure at any time, except under the provisions of this new
Act.

Passed by the Legislative Assembly this 15th day of September 2015.

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