REPUBLIC OF LITHUANIA
LAW
ON STATISTICS
12 October 1993, No.I-270
Vilnius
Article 1. Purpose of the Law
This Law shall regulate the general principles of
organization of statistical work of the Republic of Lithuania, the
duty of legal and natural persons to provide statistical data, and
the right to use the said data.
Article 2. Application of the Law
In organizing statistical work, the following subjects shall
adhere to this Law:
1) institutions of state power and government, enterprises,
institutions and organizations of all forms of ownership,
political and public organizations, trade unions, and legal
persons of the Republic of Lithuania who are beyond the territory
of Lithuania;
2) citizens of the Republic of Lithuania, citizens of other
states, and persons without citizenship who permanently reside in
the Republic of Lithuania and who must provide data to
statistical services; and
3) statistical services and institutions as well as
organizations which engage in statistics.
Article 3. Levels of Statistics
Statistics shall encompass the following:
1) state statistics - for the evaluation, analysis and
prognosis of economic, social, demographic and environmental
processes in the state;
2) departmental statistics - for meeting the needs of
separate state and nongovernmental institutions and coordinating
the specific features of their activities;
3) local government statistics - concerning the appropriate
territorial derivative in more detail than provided by state and
departmental statistics;
4) statistics of political parties as well as other
political and public organizations and trade unions - for meeting
the needs of these parties, other political and public
organizations and trade unions and coordinating the specific
features of their activities; and
5) private statistics - managed by private statistical
institutions which have registered this activity in the procedure
established by the laws of the Republic of Lithuania.
Article 4. Management of Statistics
In the Republic of Lithuania, statistics shall be managed
by:
1) the Department of Statistics under the Government of the
Republic of Lithuania (hereinafter referred to as "the Department
of Statistics") which shall be financed from the state budget;
2) the Statistical Council, which shall be formed by the
Government of the Republic of Lithuania;
3) town and regional statistics divisions of the Department
of Statistics, which shall be financed from the funds allocated
by the Department of Statistics and respective local governments;
and
4) other institutions and organizations, political parties,
political and public organizations, trade unions, and private
institutions according to this Law or at the behest of the
Government.
Statistical services shall compile statistical data using
scientific theory, uniform methodology, and means of electronic
information.
Questionnaires for official statistical reporting, censuses,
and surveys shall be completed and presented to statistical
services free of charge.
Correspondence with questionnaires filled out by
enterprises, institutions, and organizations, as well as by
private persons, shall be sent to the Department of Statistics
and town and regional statistics divisions free of charge.
Postage shall be paid by the Department of Statistics. The
procedure for sending and paying for such correspondence shall be
established by the Government of the Republic of Lithuania.
Independent statistical surveys shall be conducted upon the
voluntary agreement of both parties.
Article 5. The Main Objectives of Statistical Services
The main objectives of statistical services shall be as
follows:
1) to collect, compile, analyze and disseminate data about
economic, social, demographic and environmental processes;
2) to ensure the objectivity, reliability, comparability and
availability of statistical data; and
3) to seek methodological consistency with the data of
statistical services of the United Nations Organization and
European international organizations.
Article 6. The Department of Statistics
The Department of Statistics shall be headed by the Director
General who shall be appointed and dismissed by the Prime
Minister of the Republic of Lithuania. Deputies of the Director
General shall be appointed by the Prime Minister of the Republic
of Lithuania on the recommendation of the Director General.
The Department of Statistics shall:
1) organize and manage official statistics and statistical
registers, and collect, compile, and analyze statistical data
concerning the population, as well as demographic and
environmental processes, and production, commercial, and
financial activities of legal and natural persons and their
conditions;
2) prepare and implement annual statistical work programs;
3) prepare annual work programs for town and regional
statistics divisions, taking into consideration the needs of the
state and local governments;
4) together with ministries, institutions of state
administration, and other institutions, consider general
methodological issues concerning the compilation of statistical
indicators, and foster the development of researches of the
statistical science;
5) issue rules and instructions for filling out
questionnaires for official statistical reporting, provide
respondents (legal and natural persons who provide statistical
data) with reporting, census and survey questionnaires as well as
rules and instructions on how to fill them out;
6) coordinate surveys and reports conducted by other
statistical services, as well as their methodology;
7) provide institutions of state power and government with
statistical information of the established scope free of charge,
as well as provide statistical information for a fee according to
agreements;
8) inform society about the economic and social situation
and changes in the demographic and environmental processes;
9) represent the Republic of Lithuania in international
statistical organizations, participate in implementing the
programs of these organizations, prepare statistical data of the
Republic of Lithuania for those organizations, use the methods
and recommendations of these organizations concerning the
preparation and announcement of national accounts and statistical
indicators, adhere to international statistical classifications
and standards, and ensure that international agreements
regulating statistics are adhered to in the Republic of
Lithuania; and
10) summarize and apply the experience of activities of
statistical services of foreign states.
The Department of Statistics shall have the right to:
11) approve the forms of statistical reporting, establish
the procedure and time of provision of data, and check the
accuracy of data;
12) conduct censuses and other statistical surveys enlisting
the assistance of population. said surveys shall be conducted on
the decision of the Government of the Republic of Lithuania and
in the established procedure for enlisting the assistance of the
population; and
13) exercise the publishing right and disseminate
statistical data.
Article 7. The Statistical Council
The Statistical Council shall consider basic issues
concerning the organization and methodology of statistics. It
shall consider programs related to censuses, registers, main
surveys as well as annual statistical work programs,
methodological principles, basic results of official statistical
surveys, and data protection issues, and shall submit proposals
to the Government of the Republic of Lithuania and the Department
of Statistics.
The composition and regulations of the Statistical Council
shall be approved by the Government of the Republic of Lithuania.
Members of the Council shall be provided with all the statistical
material necessary to perform their work.
Article 8. Town and Regional Statistics Divisions of the
Department of Statistics
Town and regional statistics divisions shall be within the
jurisdiction of the Department of Statistics and local
governments. They shall:
1) conduct statistical works provided in annual work
programs of the Department of Statistics, and at the behest of
the local government, conduct other statistical works which are
financed thereby;
2) compile comprehensive statistical information on the
appropriate territorial derivative concerning:
the size and structure of the population,
the administrative division,
the industrial potential of economic entities and the
results of their activities,
environmental protection,
local government economy,
memorials, and
the activities of political parties, political and public
organizations, and trade unions.
For this purpose, statistics divisions shall use statistical
data which they have collected as well as data which have been
gathered by local government divisions and services, indicating
sources or authors thereof;
3) provide statistical information to town and regional
institutions of power and government free of charge, as well as
provide statistical information for a fee according to
agreements; and
4) inform society about the economic and social situation of
the territorial derivative and the demographic and environmental
processes.
Article 9. Other Institutions and Organizations which Engage
in Statistics
Statistical information which is appropriate to the
activities of ministries, state institutions of power and
government, political parties, political and public
organizations, and trade unions may be collected, analyzed, and
disseminated thereby, not duplicating the official statistical
reporting.
Statistical surveys may be conducted by other institutions
and organizations at the behest of the Government of the Republic
of Lithuania or town or regional local governments if the said
client pays for them.
Separate surveys on economic, social, demographic or
environmental processes may be conducted by political parties,
other political and public organizations, trade unions as well as
private statistical institutions on their own initiative and
resources.
Article 10. Methods of Obtaining Statistical Data
Statistical surveys shall include state, departmental,
independent, complete enumeration and sample surveys.
State statistical surveys shall be conducted pursuant to the
statistical work program or at the behest of the Government of
the Republic of Lithuania. The Department of Statistics shall
establish the methods and forms thereof.
Departmental statistical surveys shall be conducted on the
decision of ministries, other state administration institutions,
political parties, political and public organizations, and trade
unions in the procedure established thereby. These surveys shall
be registered in the Department of Statistics.
Town, regional local governments may conduct statistical
surveys on their own territory. The procedure for these surveys
shall be established by statistics divisions or other services
conducting these surveys.
Independent statistical surveys may be conducted in
enterprises and organizations on the initiative thereof as well
as on the initiative of political parties, other political and
public organizations, trade unions, and private statistical
institutions. These surveys shall not be coordinated and
registered in statistical services.
In the case of compete enumeration surveys, all respondents
shall provide data, and in the case of sample surveys - the part
of respondents representing a certain group. Sampling methods
shall be established by the Department of Statistics or the
statistical service conducting surveys.
Article 11. Forms of Presenting Statistical Data
Statistical data shall be presented in questionnaires of the
established form or in magnetic media and shall have equal power.
The authenticity of the data provided in reports and
questionnaires shall be confirmed by signatures of the persons
who have filled them out. Persons who provide false data shall be
held responsible in accordance with the laws of the Republic of
Lithuania.
Information accumulated in other data systems (i.e. banks,
taxes, customs, education, healthcare, employment, social
security, passports, municipal economy, land cadastre, local
governments and other systems) may be used for the purposes of
state statistics.
Article 12. Obligation to Provide Statistical Data
Enterprises of all forms of ownership, institutions,
organizations, ministries, other state administration
institutions, local governments, political parties, other
political and public organizations, trade unions and natural
persons must provide statistical data to statistical services by
mail. Data shall be prepared according to methodological
instructions and appropriate documents and shall be provided at
the time established by statistical services.
If necessary, state and state stock corporations shall
provide statistical data to their founders as well. In these
cases, the Department of Statistics shall be informed about this
provision of data, and these activities shall be coordinated.
Statistical data must be provided by legal and natural
persons who engage in business, commercial or other economic
activity and or have economic interests on the territory of the
Republic of Lithuania, but whose permanent head office is outside
the boundaries of the Republic of Lithuania.
Article 13. Confidentiality of Statistical Data
Statistical data may only be used for statistical purposes
and disseminated in consolidated reports unless there are other
agreements with the providers of the data. Data which is a state
or commercial secret shall be provided in the procedure
established by the Department of Statistics and the Ministry of
Communications and Electronic Information.
Statistical services shall protect the anonymity of provided
data, and shall not disclose business relations and personal
situations which may be established therefrom. It shall be
prohibited to provide data concerning separately indicated legal
and natural persons or economic entities to any persons or
institutions, with the exception of legal and law-enforcement
institutions when a criminal prosecution has been brought against
such persons (a suit has been filed).
Article 14. Use of Statistical Data
Data presented in publications of the Department of
Statistics or provided to state institutions of power and
government may not be disseminated by other institutions,
organizations or mass media without reference to the statistical
service which has provided the data.
Legal and natural persons of the Republic of Lithuania may
only use the statistical data which are published in consolidated
reports, except in cases provided for in the Law on the
Population Register of the Republic of Lithuania and in other
laws.
Article 15. Reliability of Statistical Data and
Responsibility for the Violation of the Procedure for Provision
and Use of Statistical Data
When respondents provide unreliable data of reports, the
Department of Statistics and town and regional statistics
divisions may check the accuracy of the data, comparing the
indicators of financial statistical reports with the forms of
financial accounting and book records, may get oral and written
explanations, and, if necessary, may invite experts to evaluate
the data.
Persons who have violated the procedure for provision of
statistical data to state statistical services or who have
provided fraudulent statistical data, as well as officials and
employees of the Department of Statistics and town and regional
statistics divisions who have violated the requirements of this
Law, who have provided fraudulent data to state institutions of
power and government, or who have published fraudulent
statistics, shall be held responsible in accordance with the laws
of the Republic of Lithuania.
I promulgate this Law adopted by the Seimas.
Algirdas Brazauskas
President of the Republic