Page 77 - Contributed Paper Session (CPS) - Volume 8

CPS2196 José A. Pinto Martins et al.
DGEEC is responsible for accrediting users and providing them with the
necessary information and each researcher must sign a form and a Statement
of Confidentiality Commitment.
The accreditation granted by DGEEC is valid during the declared length of
the research project and only for the data identified in the request. It requires
signature of a Code of Conduct by the applicant and the research institution
of affiliation.
Under the protocol three access modes are possible to be authorized,
including provision of fully anonymised data files and ready-made tables that
allow no form of re-identification of statistical units; and exceptionally, on-site
access in a safe environment, allowing the use of indirectly identifiable
microdata under strictly controlled conditions (subject to a previous additional
assessment by SP and an external group of experts in the statistical domain of
the request).
PhD students have access under the same conditions as other researchers.
Master's students need to fulfil an additional condition: the request and the
statement of commitment must be also signed by the supervisor.
Non-resident researchers can access statistical data under the same
conditions as the Portuguese ones in case they participate in a Foundation for
Science and Technology Portuguese training scholarship or in cooperation
programmes in R&D with Portugal.

2. How to Apply & Modes of Access
The researcher must submit a request for accreditation for a specific
research project, naming all the researchers involved and specifying the
duration, goals and methods of the project. The request is examined by DGEEC
for accreditation purposes and then forwarded to SP if approved. When access
is granted, then a contract must be signed between the researchers and SP,
specifying obligations of the parties and sanctions in case of breach. This
contract specifies in particular the duty of confidentiality, non-replication of
data, data security conditions and the obligation to destroy data after its use,
as well as the implicit legal responsibility issues.
Exceptionally, access to a secure environment (safe centre) can be
provided and the researcher can access the microdata in raw format but
without direct identification. Outputs are always subject to confidentiality
checks before release, to assure that the final information does not contain
any direct or indirect identification.

3. Legal Framework
According to the Portuguese Statistical Law (Law nº 22/2008, 13 May), which
defines the principles, rules and structure of the National Statistical System,
concerning statistical confidentiality it states that “All individual statistical data

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