Cap. 422 Art. 2Interpretation.

In this Act unless the context otherwise requires -

"advisory committee" or "committee" mean an advisory committee established in accordance with article 33;

"Authority" means the Malta Statistics Authority established by article 3;

"Chairperson" means the Chairperson of the Authority and includes, in the circumstances mentioned in article 5(2), the Deputy Chairperson or other person appointed to act as chairperson: Provided that in relation to article 34, "Chairperson" means the Chairperson of an advisory committee; "confidential data" means data obtained by the National Statistics Office for the production of official statistics when such data allows statistical units to be identified directly or indirectly, thereby disclosing individual information;

"copy" means the reproduction of a record or any part thereof by writing, photocopying, electronic or any other means;

"Director General" means the person so appointed by virtue of article 9;

"directorates" means any such directorates as may be established by regulations made under article 42;

"employee" means a person employed by the Authority; "financial year" means any period of twelve months ending on the 31st December: Provided that the financial year which commenced on the 1st October, 2007 shall be for a period of fifteen months and shall terminate on the 31st December, 2008;

"functions" includes powers and duties; "impartiality" means the objective and independent manner of producing official statistics free from any pressure from political or "local council" means a council set up under the Local

Government Act; "Malta" has the same meaning as is assigned to it by article 124 of the Constitution; "Minister" means the Minister responsible for statistics;

"Office" means the National Statistics Office established by article 9;

"official statistics" means information obtained by processing data in order to characterize collective phenomena in a considered population in the framework of implementation of the business plan of the Office; "population" means any set or subset of statistical units, whether such units are natural persons, legal persons or any other economic unit;

"premises" includes any dwelling, building, place, vessel or aircraft within or on territory which falls under the jurisdiction of Malta; "prescribed" means prescribed by regulations or orders made under this Act; "production of official statistics" means all the activities necessary for the preparation, collection, storage, processing, compilation, analysis and dissemination of statistical information; "public authority" means any government department, local council, official board or committee and any other public body established by law;

"public officer", in relation to article 12, has the same meaning as is assigned to it by article 124 of the Constitution, but does not include a Judge of the Superior Courts or a Magistrate of the Inferior Courts; "record" includes any paper, photographic, electronic, or other mode of recording or storing information and any form, schedule, questionnaire, or any other such document;

"reliability" means that the statistics shall reflect as faithfully as possible the reality which they are designed to represent; it implies that scientific criteria are used for the selection of sources, methods and procedures; "statistics" includes, in addition to numerical data, all other information which is necessary for the collection, compilation, analysis and interpretation of data;

"transparency" means the rights of respondents to have information on the legal basis under which the data is required and the protective measures adopted to protect the identity of the respondent; P II ART

E , F C A STABLISHMENT UNCTION AND ONDUCT OF FFAIRS OF THE A UTHORITY