Page 297 - Special Topic Session (STS) - Volume 2

STS496 Mario P.R.
more recently Puerto Rico -where the country’s institute of statistics (PRIS) has
been fighting multiple dismantling attempts by the State government, which
replaced four of the seven PRIS Executive Board members in 2017 and
presented a plan (approved by Puerto Rico’s legislature) to incorporate PRIS
under the Department of Economic Development and Commerce, where data
collection would be consolidated and outsourced (Acevedo, 2018).
How to protect statistical independence? Undoubtedly the most important
mechanism is through governance arrangements that legally set the
autonomy of NSOs and shield them as much as possible from potential
intervention by governments. One governance scheme is provided by the
United Kingdom which established in 2008 the UK Statistics Authority as an
independent regulator of the UK’s official statistics system, operating at arm’s
length from government and reporting (accountable) to the UK Parliament
5
rather than to the government through a ministry (Shah, 2018). And another
one is provided by Mexico whose NSO -INEGI- has since 2008 been granted
legal autonomy, becoming one of the few NSOs having this status.
This paper reviews the experience of INEGI and analyses the institutional
framework set up to provide it with legal autonomy from all branches of
government, as well as the legal and administrative provisions that help to
safeguard its work. The case of Mexico and INEGI allows to reflect on the
benefits of granting autonomy to NSOs and -even when institutional
governance mechanisms are established- on the ever-present risks of political
pressure and interference that may threat the production of official statistics.

2. INEGI’s autonomy: What does it entail?
Article 26 of Mexico’s Constitution grants INEGI an autonomous status and
charges it with the responsibility of both producing official statistics and
coordinating the activities of the National Statistical and Geographical
Information System (SNIEG) of the country. The autonomy established by law
encompasses four elements: the technical independence of the Institute, its
managerial autonomy, the recognition of legal personality and the guarantee
of an own patrimony (resources). To operate these elements and safeguard in
practice the autonomy of the Institute, the law establishes various legal and
administrative provisions. Without the aim of being exhaustive, it is worth to
highlight the following.
First, the operation of the SNIEG is governed by the National Statistical and
Geographical Information System Act 2008 (SNIEG Act). This Act regulates the
work of INEGI -as producer of information and coordinator of the SNIEG- and
establishes the information responsibilities for all government units

5 For more information on the UK Statistics Authority and legislation that governs the UK
Statistical System see the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2017.
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