Statistical Policy Directive No. 4: Release and Dissemination of Statistical Products Produced by Federal Statistical Agencies, 12622-12626 [E8-4570]

Agencies

• Office of Management and Budget
• Management and Budget Office

[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 46 (Friday, March 7, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 12622-12626]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-4570]



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Part V





Office of Management and Budget





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Statistical Policy Directive No. 4: Release and Dissemination of 
Statistical Products Produced by Federal Statistical Agencies; Notice

Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 46 / Friday, March 7, 2008 / 
Notices

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OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET


Statistical Policy Directive No. 4: Release and Dissemination of 
Statistical Products Produced by Federal Statistical Agencies

AGENCY: Office of Management and Budget, Executive Office of the 
President.

ACTION: Notice of Final Decision.

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SUMMARY: Under 44 U.S.C. 3504(e), the Office of Management and Budget 
(OMB) is issuing a new Statistical Policy Directive for the release and 
dissemination of statistical products produced by Federal statistical 
agencies. On August 1, 2007, OMB published a Notice of solicitation of 
comments on a draft of this directive in the Federal Register (72 FR 
42266, August 1, 2007). A dozen respondents sent comments in response 
to the notice. Careful consideration was given to all comments. The 
disposition of the comments as well as the final directive are 
presented in the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section below.
    In its role as coordinator of the Federal statistical system, 44 
U.S.C. 3504(e) requires OMB, among other responsibilities, to ensure 
the efficiency and effectiveness of the system as well as the 
integrity, objectivity, impartiality, utility, and confidentiality of 
information collected for statistical purposes. It also requires OMB to 
develop and oversee the implementation of Governmentwide policies, 
principles, standards, and guidelines concerning the presentation and 
dissemination of statistical information. The Information Quality Act 
(Pub. L. 106-554, Division C, title V, Sec. 515, Dec. 21, 2000; 114 
Stat. 2763A-153 to 2763A-154; 44 U.S.C. Section 3516 note) similarly 
requires OMB, as well as all other Federal agencies, to maximize the 
quality, objectivity, utility, and integrity of information, including 
statistical information, provided to the public.
    To operate efficiently and effectively, our Nation relies on the 
flow of objective, credible statistics to support the decisions of 
governments, businesses, households, and other organizations. Any loss 
of trust in the integrity of the Federal statistical system and its 
products could lessen respondent cooperation with Federal statistical 
surveys, decrease the quality of statistical system products, and 
foster uncertainty about the validity of measures our Nation uses to 
monitor and assess its performance and progress.
    To further support the quality and integrity of Federal statistical 
information, OMB is issuing a new Statistical Policy Directive designed 
to preserve and enhance the objectivity and transparency, in fact and 
in perception, of the processes used to release and disseminate the 
statistical products of Federal statistical agencies. The procedures in 
the directive are intended to ensure that statistical data releases 
adhere to data quality standards through equitable, policy-neutral, and 
timely release of information to the general public. Additional 
discussion of the directive and the directive itself may be found in 
the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section below.

DATES: Effective Date: The effective date of this Directive is April 7, 
2008.

ADDRESSES: Please send any questions about this directive to: Katherine 
K. Wallman, Chief Statistician, Office of Management and Budget, 10201 
New Executive Office Building, Washington, DC 20503, telephone number: 
(202) 395-3093, FAX number: (202) 395-7245. You may also send questions 
via E-mail to DisseminationDirective@omb.eop.gov. Because of delays in 
the receipt of regular mail, electronic communications are encouraged.
    Electronic Availability: This document is available on the Internet 
on the OMB Web site at www.omb.gov/inforeg/ssp/dissemination.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Paul Bugg, 10201 New Executive Office 
Building, Washington, DC 20503, E-mail address: pbugg@omb.eop.gov with 
subject Dissemination Directive, telephone number: (202) 395-3095, FAX 
number: (202) 395-7245.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Trust in the accuracy, objectivity, and 
reliability of Federal statistics is essential to the ongoing and 
increasingly complex policy and planning needs of governmental and 
private users of these products. Consequently, there has been a long-
standing concern about the need to maintain public confidence in the 
objectivity of Federal statistics. For example, in 1962, the 
President's Committee to Appraise Employment and Unemployment 
Statistics, stated:

    The need to publish the information in a nonpolitical context 
cannot be overemphasized. * * * a sharper line should be drawn 
between the release of the statistics and their accompanying 
explanation and analysis, on the one hand, and the more general type 
of policy-oriented comment which is a function of the official 
responsible for policy making, on the other.

    In 1971, the Nixon Administration was widely criticized for the way 
it publicly characterized some Bureau of Labor Statistics unemployment 
data at the time of their release. In response, the Congress instituted 
the monthly Joint Economic Committee hearings on the unemployment rate 
and OMB issued Statistical Policy Directive No. 3 to provide guidance 
to Executive branch agencies on the compilation and release of 
Principal Federal Economic Indicators. Directive No. 3 provides for the 
designation of statistical series that provide timely measures of 
economic activity as Principal Economic Indicators, and requires prompt 
but orderly release of such indicators. The stated purposes of 
Directive No. 3 are to preserve the time value of the economic 
indicators, strike a balance between timeliness and accuracy, provide 
for periodic evaluation of each indicator, prevent early access to 
information that may affect financial and commodity markets, and 
preserve the distinction between the policy-neutral release of data by 
statistical agencies and their interpretation by policy officials.
    In 1973, the American Statistical Association--Federal Statistics 
Users' Conference Committee on the Integrity of Federal Statistics 
reported that:

    Nothing could undermine the politician and implementation of his 
policy recommendations as much as an accumulated and intense public 
distrust in the statistical basis for the decisions which the 
policy-maker must inevitably make, or in the figures by which the 
results of these decisions are measured. Unless definite action is 
taken to maintain public confidence in Federal statistics and in the 
system responsible for their production, there will be growing 
tendencies to distrust leadership.

    With respect to trust in the Federal statistical system, President 
George H. W. Bush stated in 1990:

    It is of paramount importance to this Administration that these 
fundamental principles of the Federal statistical system are 
strictly maintained so that the accuracy and integrity of Government 
data are not threatened.

    In 1995, the Congress reauthorized the Paperwork Reduction Act 
(PRA), which makes OMB responsible, among other requirements, for 
coordination of the Federal statistical system to ensure the integrity, 
objectivity, impartiality, utility, and confidentiality of information 
collected for statistical purposes.
    In 1996, the United States was a charter subscriber to the 
International Monetary Fund's Special Data Dissemination Standard 
(SDDS), which guides over 60 member nations in the provision of their 
economic and financial data to the public. The elements of the SDDS for 
access,

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integrity, and quality emphasize transparency in the compilation and 
dissemination of statistics. For example,
     To support ready and equal access, the SDDS prescribes (a) 
advance dissemination of release calendars and (b) simultaneous release 
to all interested parties.
     To assist users in assessing the integrity of the data 
disseminated under the SDDS, the SDDS requires (a) the dissemination of 
the terms and conditions under which official statistics are produced 
and disseminated; (b) the identification of internal government access 
to data before release; (c) the identification of ministerial 
commentary on the occasion of statistical release; and (d) the 
provision of information about revision and advance notice of major 
changes in methodology.
     To assist users in assessing data quality, the SDDS 
requires (a) the dissemination of documentation on statistical 
methodology and (b) the dissemination of component detail, 
reconciliations with related data, and statistical frameworks that make 
possible cross-checks and checks of reasonableness.
    In December 2000, the Congress passed and the President signed into 
law what has come to be known as the Information Quality Act (44 U.S.C. 
3516 note), which directed OMB to issue Government-wide information 
quality guidelines to ensure the ``quality, objectivity, utility, and 
integrity'' of all information, including statistical information, 
disseminated by Federal agencies.
    In 2005, the National Research Council (NRC) of the National 
Academy of Sciences published the third edition of its Principles and 
Practices for a Federal Statistical Agency, which enumerates three 
principles and eleven core practices for Federal statistical agencies. 
The principles address: (1) Relevance to policy issues, (2) credibility 
among data users, and (3) trust among data providers. Among the 
essential core practices, the NRC lists a strong measure of 
independence, wide dissemination of data, and commitment to quality and 
professional standards of practice.
    The Principles and Practices report states that a credible and 
effective statistical organization:
    * * * must be, and must be perceived to be, free of political 
interference and policy advocacy. * * * Without the credibility that 
comes from a strong degree of independence, users may lose trust in 
the accuracy and objectivity of the agency's data, and data 
providers may become less willing to cooperate with agency requests. 
* * * [A statistical agency] must be impartial and avoid even the 
appearance that its collection, analysis, and reporting processes 
might be manipulated for political purposes.* * *
    Elements of an effective dissemination program include: A 
variety of avenues for data dissemination, chosen to reach as broad 
a public as reasonably possible; procedures for release of 
information that preclude actual or perceived political 
interference; adherence to predetermined release schedules for 
important indicators serves to prevent even the appearance of 
manipulation of release dates for political purposes.

    In May 2006, the National Science Board, which is charged with 
serving as adviser to the President and Congress on policy matters 
related to science and engineering research and education, concluded 
that:

    A clear distinction should be made between communicating 
professional research results and data versus the interpretation of 
data and results in a context that seeks to influence, through the 
injection of personal viewpoints, public opinion or the formulation 
of public policy. Delay in taking these actions may contribute to a 
potential loss of confidence by the American public and broader 
research community regarding the quality and credibility of 
Government sponsored scientific research results.

    Moreover, in June 2006, the Government Accountability Office issued 
a report entitled Data Quality: Expanded Use of Key Dissemination 
Practices Would Further Safeguard the Integrity of Federal Statistical 
Data (GAO-06-607). This report discussed the desirability of OMB's 
issuing a new Statistical Policy Directive that (1) extends 
dissemination procedures--similar to those of its long-standing 
Statistical Policy Directive No. 3 on the Compilation, Release, and 
Evaluation of Principal Federal Economic Indicators--more broadly to 
encompass a larger set of Federal statistical products and (2) reflects 
the NRC's recommended practices for a Federal statistical agency.
    Accordingly OMB developed a new standard, Statistical Policy 
Directive No. 4, Release and Dissemination of Statistical Products 
Produced by Federal Statistical Agencies, presented below, that extends 
the release and dissemination processes of the NRC's recommended 
practices and of OMB's Statistical Policy Directive No. 3, which 
applies only to Principal Federal Economic Indicators, to a greater 
range of Federal statistical products. The directive addresses concerns 
with equitable, policy-neutral, and timely release and dissemination of 
general-purpose statistical information to the public and reinforces 
the integrity and transparency of the processes used to produce and 
release the Nation's statistical products. (This directive is not 
intended to address other issues relating to statistical products, such 
as the appropriate funding levels for statistical activities and the 
policy decisions regarding what kinds of data an agency should collect 
and maintain, as well as the corresponding intra-governmental reporting 
relationships.)
    On August 1, 2007, OMB published in the Federal Register (72 FR 
42266) a notice seeking comments on a draft of this directive. A dozen 
respondents sent comments in response to the notice. Essentially all 
commenters encouraged OMB to issue the directive, some as drafted and 
others with suggested changes designed to strengthen various provisions 
of the directive. After careful consideration, the draft directive was 
modified in response to comment and is issued as final by this notice. 
A general discussion of the comments as they pertain to sections of the 
directive and their disposition follows.
    Section 1. Scope. Two comments suggested that limiting the scope to 
statistical products of statistical agencies and units is too 
restrictive, and that the scope should be expanded to include all 
Federal statistical products, wherever produced. In response, as noted 
above, the provisions of the Directive are predicated on principles and 
practices of Federal statistical agencies. The extension of the 
provisions in this directive to those statistical products that are 
produced by administrative and regulatory agencies would necessarily 
raise a variety of issues and questions that would go beyond the 
planned scope of this directive. As a result, the final directive 
remains limited to the statistical products of Federal statistical 
agencies.
    Section 2. Statistical Products. Two comments suggested that each 
Federal statistical agency or unit should be required to provide to OMB 
annually a complete list of all statistical products it has produced or 
plans to produce and the tools it uses to produce them. We have not 
adopted this suggestion because the directive already requires that 
statistical agencies publish their statistical products and 
descriptions of their methodologies on their Internet sites.
    One comment suggested adding specificity regarding the desired 
qualities of disseminated statistical products. We have not adopted 
this suggestion. The directive advises agencies to assess the needs of 
data users and to provide a range of products to address those needs by 
whatever means practicable. Given the wide variety of statistical 
products and their varied subject matters and uses, as well

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as the fluid nature of methodological and technological advances, OMB 
prefers to have agencies take their lead from the individual 
statistical product users rather than to have OMB specify general 
qualities that may not fully reflect specific user needs.
    Four comments raised points that have been incorporated in the 
final directive. The first requested clarification that not only data, 
but also methodologies, have limitations. The second sought 
clarification concerning methodological documentation requirements for 
compilations of statistical information collected and assembled from 
other statistical products. A third comment noted a subtle 
inconsistency in the prose in sections 2 and 6 requiring agencies to 
publish their statistical products on the Internet. Consequently, 
Section 6 has been modified to be consistent with Section 2. Finally, 
one comment noted that press releases should list the statistical 
agency that is the source of the data. Accordingly, the directive 
states that a statistical press release should contain the name of the 
statistical agency issuing the product.
    Section 3. Statistical Agencies or Units. No comments were received 
on Section 3.
    Section 4. Timing of Release. Two comments proposed revising the 
guidance for agencies to minimize the time between data collection and 
data dissemination. OMB concurs and has modified the text accordingly.
    Section 5. Notification of Release. One commenter sought 
clarification on whether an agency's failure to publish the scheduled 
release of a particular statistical product might prevent the agency 
from releasing it. The answer is that the directive does not prevent a 
release in such circumstances.
    Section 6. Dissemination. More than a third of all comments were 
related to Section 6. Comments ranged from requests for more explicit, 
uniform requirements for the timing of releases and pre-release access, 
to greater transparency for pre-release access, to more robust 
recognition of the need for the perceived independence of Federal 
statistical products. However, the decentralized nature, the varying 
characteristics of their subject matter concentrations, and the 
differing existing organizational structures of Federal statistical 
agencies do not lend themselves to explicit, uniform requirements. 
Instead, the directive makes each agency responsible for establishing 
its own procedures, for publishing those procedures on its Web site, 
and for ensuring that the published information reflects current policy 
and practice.
    The largest number of comments related to the press release 
discussion in Section 6a, Outreach to the Media. All comments agreed 
that a statistical press release must provide a policy-neutral 
description of the data and must not include policy pronouncements, but 
the comments differed in how to achieve this objective. A few comments 
noted that the draft did not explicitly identify the policy officials 
authorized to review the statistical press release to ensure that it 
does not contain policy pronouncements. Accordingly, the final 
directive makes clear that it is the policy officials of the issuing 
statistical agency's department who may review the statistical press 
release.
    Section 7. Announcement of Changes in Data Series. No comments were 
received on Section 7.
    Section 8. Revisions and Corrections of Data. One comment noted 
that Section 8 does not require agencies to actually implement data 
quality policy or acknowledge existing errors. Accordingly, Section 8 
has been revised so that it now states that ``statistical agencies must 
also establish and implement policies for handling unscheduled 
corrections due to previously unrecognized errors.''
    Section 9. Granting of Exceptions. One comment noted that the draft 
directive's language had a harsh connotation that may discourage 
agencies from coming forward to request exceptions. Consequently, the 
language in the final directive now speaks of ``inconsistent with'' the 
directive, rather than ``violations of'' the directive.
    Accordingly, OMB hereby adopts and issues the attached final 
Statistical Policy Directive No. 4, Release and Dissemination of 
Statistical Products Produced by Federal Statistical Agencies.

Susan E. Dudley,
Administrator, Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs.

Statistical Policy Directive No. 4--Release and Dissemination of 
Statistical Products Produced by Federal Statistical Agencies

Authority and Purpose

    This Directive provides guidance to Federal statistical agencies on 
the release and dissemination of statistical products. The Directive is 
issued under the authority of the Budget and Accounting Procedures Act 
of 1950 (31 U.S.C. 1104(d)), the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) of 1995 
(44 U.S.C. 3504(e)), and Office of Management and Budget (OMB) policies 
including the Information Quality Act guidelines (67 FR 8451-8460) and 
OMB Circular No. A-130. Under the Information Quality Act (Pub. L. 106-
554, Division C, title V, Sec. 515, Dec. 21, 2000; 114 Stat. 2763A-153 
to 2763A-154; 44 U.S.C. Section 3516 note) and associated guidelines, 
agencies are to maximize the quality, objectivity, utility, and 
integrity of information, including statistical information, provided 
to the public. This includes making information available on an 
equitable and timely basis. The procedures in this Directive are 
intended to ensure that statistical data releases adhere to data 
quality standards through equitable, policy-neutral, transparent, and 
timely release of information to the general public.

Introduction

    Statistics produced by the Federal Government are used to shape 
policies, manage and monitor programs, identify problems and 
opportunities for improvement, track progress, and measure change. 
These statistics must meet high standards of reliability, accuracy, 
timeliness, and objectivity in order to provide a sound and efficient 
basis for decisions and actions by governments, businesses, households, 
and other organizations. These data must be objective and free of bias 
in their presentation and available to all in forms that are readily 
accessible and understandable.
    To be collected and used efficiently, statistical products must 
gain and preserve the trust of the respondent and user communities; 
data must be collected and distributed free of any perceived or actual 
partisan intervention. Widespread recognition of the Federal 
statistical system's policy-neutral data collection and dissemination 
fosters such trust. This trust, in turn, engenders greater cooperation 
from respondents and higher quality statistics for data users.
    1. Scope. This Statistical Policy Directive applies to the full 
range of statistical products disseminated by Federal statistical 
agencies or units. However, the Directive excludes coverage of the 
Principal Federal Economic Indicators addressed in Statistical Policy 
Directive No. 3, Compilation, Release, and Evaluation of Principal 
Federal Economic Indicators, which have their own established release 
and evaluation procedures. Unless otherwise specified in statute, 
statistical agencies or units are directly and solely responsible for 
the content, quality, and dissemination of their products. When 
implementing this Directive, statistical agencies must follow all 
relevant Statistical Policy

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Directives and guidance including the principles and practices 
presented in OMB's Information Quality Guidelines and Statistical 
Policy Directives providing standards and guidelines for statistical 
surveys.
    2. Statistical Products. Statistical products are, generally, 
information dissemination products that are published or otherwise made 
available for public use that describe, estimate, forecast, or analyze 
the characteristics of groups, customarily without identifying the 
persons, organizations, or individual data observations that comprise 
such groups. Statistical products include general-purpose tabulations, 
analyses, projections, forecasts, or other statistical reports. For 
purposes of this Directive, a ``statistical press release'' is an 
announcement to media of a statistical product release that contains 
the title, subject matter, release date, and Internet address of, and 
other available information about the statistical product, as well as 
the name of the statistical agency issuing the product, and may include 
any executive summary information or key findings section as shown in 
the statistical product. A statistical press release announcing or 
presenting statistical data is defined as a statistical product and is 
covered by the provisions of this Directive. Federal statistical 
agencies or units may issue their statistical products in printed and/
or electronic form, but must provide access to them on their Internet 
sites. Agencies should assess the needs of data users and provide a 
range of products to address those needs by whatever means practicable. 
Information to help users interpret data accurately, including 
transparent descriptions of the sources and methodologies used to 
produce the data, must be equitably available for Federal statistical 
products. With the exception of compilations of statistical information 
collected and assembled from other statistical products, these products 
shall contain or reference appropriate information on the strengths and 
limitations of the methodologies, data sources, and data used to 
produce them as well as other information such as explanations of other 
related measures to assist users in the appropriate treatment and 
interpretation of the data.
    3. Statistical Agencies or Units. As identified under OMB's 
implementation guidance (72 FR 33362, 33368, June 15, 2007) for the 
Confidential Information Protection and Statistical Efficiency Act of 
2002 (Pub. L. 107-347, Title V; 116 Stat. 2962; 44 U.S.C. Section 3501 
note), a Federal statistical agency is an organizational unit of the 
executive branch whose activities are predominantly the collection, 
compilation, processing, or analysis of information for statistical 
purposes. Statistical purpose means the description, estimation, or 
analysis of the characteristics of groups, customarily without 
identifying the persons, organizations, or individual data observations 
that comprise such groups, as well as researching, developing, 
implementing, maintaining, or evaluating methods, administrative or 
technical procedures, or information resources that support such 
purposes. A statistical agency or unit may be labeled an 
administration, bureau, center, division, office, service, or similar 
title, so long as it is recognized as a distinct entity. When a 
statistical agency provides services for a separate sponsoring agency 
on a reimbursable basis, the provisions of this Directive normally 
shall apply to the sponsoring agency.
    4. Timing of Release. The timing of the release of statistical 
products, including statistical press releases, regardless of physical 
form or characteristic, shall be the sole responsibility of the 
statistical agency or unit that is directly responsible for the 
content, quality, and dissemination of the data. Agencies should 
minimize the interval between the period to which the data refer and 
the date when the product is released to the public.
    5. Notification of Release. Prior to the beginning of the calendar 
year, the releasing statistical agency shall annually provide the 
public with a schedule of when each regular or recurring statistical 
product is expected to be released during the upcoming calendar year by 
publishing it on its Web site. Agencies must issue any revisions to the 
release schedule in a timely manner on their Web sites.
    6. Dissemination. Statistical agencies must ensure that all users 
have equitable and timely access to data that are disseminated to the 
public. If there are revisions to the data after an initial release, 
notification must also be given to the public about these changes in an 
equitable and timely manner. A statistical agency should strive for the 
widest, most accessible, and appropriate dissemination of its 
statistical products and ensure transparency in its dissemination 
practices by providing complete documentation of its dissemination 
policies on its Web site. The statistical agency is responsible for 
ensuring that this documentation remains accurate by reviewing and 
updating it regularly so that it reflects the agency's current 
dissemination practices.
    In unusual circumstances, the requirement that all users initially 
have equitable and timely access to statistical products may be waived 
by the releasing statistical agency if the head of the agency 
determines that the value of a particular type of statistical product, 
such as health or safety information, is so time-sensitive to specific 
stakeholders that normal procedures to ensure equitable and timely 
access to all users would unduly delay the release of urgent findings 
to those to whom the information is critical. All such instances must 
be reported to OMB within 30 calendar days of the agency's waiver 
determination.
    Agencies should use a variety of vehicles to attain a data 
dissemination program designed to reach data users in an equitable and 
timely manner. Federal statistical agencies or units may issue their 
statistical products in printed and/or electronic form, but must 
provide access to them on their Internet sites. In undertaking any 
dissemination of statistical products, agencies must continue to ensure 
that they have fulfilled their responsibilities to preserve the 
confidentiality and security of respondent data. When appropriate to 
facilitate in-depth research, and feasible in the presence of resource 
constraints, statistical agencies should provide public access to 
microdata files with secure safeguards to protect the confidentiality 
of individually-identifiable responses and with readily accessible 
documentation, metadata, or other means to facilitate user access to 
and manipulation of the data.
    Statistical agencies are encouraged to use a variety of forums and 
strategies to release their statistical products. These include 
conferences, exhibits, presentations, workshops, list serves, the 
Government Printing Office, public libraries, and outreach to the media 
including news conferences and statistical press releases as well as 
media briefings to improve the media's understanding of the data and 
the quality and extent of media coverage of the statistics.

a. Outreach to the Media

    To accelerate and/or expand the dissemination of data to the 
public, statistical agencies are encouraged to issue a statistical 
press release when releasing their products. To maintain a clear 
distinction between statistical data and policy interpretations of such 
data, the statistical press release must be produced and issued by the 
statistical agency and must provide a policy-neutral description of the 
data; it must not include policy pronouncements. To the extent that any 
policy

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pronouncements are to be made regarding the data, those pronouncements 
are to be made by Federal executive policy officials, not by the 
statistical agency. Accordingly, these policy officials may issue 
separate independent statements on the data being released by the 
statistical agency, and policy officials of the issuing department may 
review the draft statistical press release to ensure that it does not 
include policy pronouncements.
    In cases in which the statistical unit currently relies on its 
parent agency for the public affairs function, the statistical agency 
should coordinate with public affairs officials from the parent 
organization on the dissemination aspects of the statistical press 
release process, including planning and scheduling of annual release 
dates.

b. Pre-Release Access to Final Statistical Products

    The purpose of pre-release access is to foster improved public 
understanding of the data when they are first released and the accuracy 
of any initial commentary about the information contained in the 
product. To support the goal of maximizing the public's access to 
informed discussions of the data when they are first released, 
statistical agencies may provide pre-release access to their final 
statistical products. A statistical product is final when the releasing 
statistical agency determines that the product fully meets the agency's 
data quality standards based on all presently available information and 
requires no further changes. Pre-release access to final statistical 
products may be provided under embargo or through secure pre-release 
access. The releasing statistical agency determines which final 
statistical products will be made available under these pre-release 
provisions and which method of pre-release will be employed.

c. Embargo

    Embargo means that pre-release access is provided with the explicit 
acknowledgement of the receiving party that the information cannot be 
further disseminated or used in any unauthorized manner before a 
specific date and time.
    The statistical agency may grant pre-release access via an embargo 
under the following conditions:
    1. The agency shall establish arrangements and impose conditions on 
the granting of an embargo that are necessary to ensure that there is 
no unauthorized dissemination or use.
    2. The agency shall ensure that any person or organization granted 
access under an embargo has been fully informed of, and has 
acknowledged acceptance of, these conditions.
    3. In all cases, pre-release access via an embargo shall precede 
the official release time only to the extent necessary for an orderly 
release of the data.
    4. If an embargo is broken, the agency must release the data to the 
public immediately.

d. Secure Pre-Release Access

    For some data that are particularly sensitive or move markets, 
statistical agency heads may choose to provide secure pre-release 
access. Secure pre-release access means that pre-release access is 
provided only within the confines of secure physical facilities with no 
external communications capability. When the head of a releasing 
statistical agency determines that secure pre-release access is 
required, the agency shall provide pre-release access to final 
statistical products only when it uses secure pre-release procedures.
    7. Announcement of Changes in Data Series. Statistical agencies 
shall announce, in an appropriate and accessible manner as far in 
advance of the change as possible, significant planned changes in data 
collection, analysis, or estimation methods that may affect the 
interpretation of their data series. In the first report affected by 
the change, the agency must include a complete description of the 
change and its effects and place the description on its Internet site, 
if the report is not otherwise available there.
    8. Revisions and Corrections of Data. For some statistical 
products, statistical agencies produce preliminary estimates or initial 
releases that will subsequently be updated and finalized. Whenever 
preliminary data are released, they must be identified as preliminary 
and the release must indicate that an updated or final revision is 
expected. In applicable cases, the expected date of such revisions must 
be included. Reference to the preliminary release and appropriate 
explanations of the methodology and reasons for the revisions must be 
provided or referenced in any updated or final releases.
    Consistent with each agency's information quality guidelines, 
statistical agencies must also establish and implement policies for 
handling unscheduled corrections due to previously unrecognized errors. 
Agencies have an obligation to alert users as quickly as possible to 
any such changes, to explain corrections or revisions that result from 
any unscheduled corrections, and to make appropriate changes in all 
product formats--including statistical press releases.
    9. Granting of Exceptions. Prior to any action being taken that may 
be inconsistent with the provisions of this Directive, the head of a 
releasing statistical agency shall consult with OMB's Administrator for 
Information and Regulatory Affairs. If the Administrator determines 
that the action is inconsistent with the provisions of this Directive, 
the head of the releasing statistical agency may apply for an 
exception. The Administrator may authorize exceptions to the provisions 
in sections 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 of this Directive. Any agency requesting 
an exception must demonstrate to the satisfaction of the Administrator 
that the proposed exception is necessary and is consistent with the 
purposes of this Directive.

 [FR Doc. E8-4570 Filed 3-6-08; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3110-01-P