Page 300 - Special Topic Session (STS) - Volume 2

STS496 Mario P.R.
interest of all. The international statistical community has played an active role
in the condemnation of cases in which the professional autonomy of NSO’s
7
and the integrity of official statistics have been under threat. Although this
has been effective to raise awareness of the situation, it is however not
enough. To the international leverage in favour of NSOs’ autonomy,
necessarily should be added national commitment to legally institutionalize it.
7 Two of the most recent examples are the international statistical community
condemnation of Andreas Georgiou prosecution (IAOS, 2018) and the
dismantling of Puerto Rico’s Institute of Statistics (IAOS, 2018a).

4. Conclusion: How to defend statistical independence?
From a structural point of view, a crucial quality for the work of NSOs is to
have a legal administrative framework that establishes its autonomy and
support their activities. Autonomy implies the possibility for NSOs of pursuing
technical work without interference of any kind, but it also means for the
governments that an agency -external to the government function- is
measuring the social and economic phenomena in which the former is
involved. While this restrains the evident conflict of interest, it is no surprise
that governments may be reluctant to grant autonomy to NSOs, and, even if
this one has already been granted to them by law, to politically influence their
work.
INEGI’s autonomy status insulates it from interference by the executive
branch. International experience shows us that without a clear legal mandate
and institutional framework supporting autonomy, it is at the very least
complicated for a technical government agency to resist political pressures.
Administrative provisions -such as the appointment of high officials only after
agreement of both the legislative and executive powers, the obligatory
publication of information of national interest, and the budgetary allocation
of resources mandated by law for the information bestowed with this attribute,
among others – have undoubtedly been crucial for INEGI to independently
provide official statistics on relevant and sensitive economic and social
phenomena, as well as to coordinate the work of other producers of
information in the national statistical and geographic system of the country.
Therefore, if there is an institutional and legal framework explicitly
supporting the autonomy of NSOs, as is the case in Mexico, it will be all for
the best. This is not always possible as it requires a lengthy political and legal
process, but in any case, it is indispensable that professional independence is
guaranteed in some legal form.

7 Two of the most recent examples are the international statistical community condemnation of
Andreas Georgiou prosecution (IAOS, 2018) and the dismantling of Puerto Rico’s Institute of
Statistics (IAOS, 2018a).
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