Cap. 422 Art. 10Functions of the Office.

(1) The functions of the Office shall be the collection, compilation, extraction and release of official statistics relating to demographic, social, environmental, economic and general activities and conditions of Malta as specified in the First Schedule.

(2) The Office shall -

(a) provide on an impartial basis, quantitive and representative information about the economic, demographic, gender issues, social and environmental situation in Malta, to all users including the Parliament, the Government, institutions, social and economic operators, academic institutions and bodies and the general public; where possible such data should be provided on a regional basis;

(b) produce the data, and shall be subject to the principles possible the real situations, disseminate the results to the public and the users thereof in a neutral and impartial way, focus on the phenomena which are essential for decision makers and honour the citizens’ right to public information. Individual information in identifiable form, collected for statistical purposes, shall not be used for other purposes than as provided for in this Act;

(c) supply the information necessary to evaluate the quality of official statistics, and make accessible to the public the methods used for their production, and how the principles, under which such statistics are gathered, are complied with;

(d) provide such technical explanations of the result so as to avoid erroneous interpretation;

(e) conduct research on and further develop statistical methodology and technology;

(f) monitor and coordinate the carrying out of tasks with statistical implications imposed on other public bodies;

(g) coordinate the production of official statistics’ systems, including the necessary methodologies, with a view to ensuring timelines and standardisation of information, efficiency and to meeting users’ requirements; as well as to provide appropriate classifications and conformity with international requirements and standards;

(h) collect the necessary information, compile the results at appropriate levels and break-downs, and disseminate them to users.