Austria subscribed to the International Monetary Fund's Special Data Dissemination Standard (SDDS) on September 4, 1996. Per the IMF's 2007 Article IV Consultation report, Austria's data are adequate for surveillance purposes. Based on information provided on the IMF's SDDS website, Austria meets SDDS requirements for periodicity, coverage, and timeliness of data, although it does avail of the flexibility option with regards to timeliness for merchandise trade and production index data. Further, Austria fulfills SDDS requirements for the access dimension. Information on the IMF's SDDS website also shows that Austria meets most SDDS requirements for integrity of data. It does not, however, clearly state the confidentiality of individually identifiable information for a few data categories, and there is no clear identification of ministerial commentary for national accounts data. With regards to the quality of data, information provided on the IMF's SDDS website indicates that Austria does not provide the requisite information on component detail and cross-checks for several data categories.

General Overview

Austria subscribed to the International Monetary Fund's Special Data Dissemination Standard (SDDS) on September 4, 1996. According to the IMF's 2007 Article IV Consultation report, Austria's data are adequate for surveillance purposes. The IMF's SDDS website notes that the legal base for the generation and dissemination of all Austrian statistics is the Federal Statistics Act (Bundesstatistikgesetz) of 2000 and the Data Protection Act (Datenschutzgesetz, DSG) of 2000. The Federal Statistics Act includes a general obligation to publish statistics. The 2007 IMF report notes that institutions involved in data dissemination in Austria are the Austrian National Bank (OenB); the Federal Ministry of Finance(BMF); the Institute of Advanced Studies (IHS); Statistics Austria (BSO); Eurostat; and the Austrian Institute for Economic Research (WIFO).

Statistics Austria, according to its website, is an independent federal institution that is responsible for scientific services in the area of federal statistics. The 2000 Federal Statistics Act defines federal statistics as a mechanism in the government providing data on the economic, demographic, social, ecological, and cultural situation in Austria. These statistics are decreed by supranational legal acts of the European Community, by federal laws, and by regulations. According to Statistics Austria's website, the European statistics code of practice was adopted by the Statistical Program Committee in February 2005. This code guarantees that the National Statistical Institutions (NSIs) of the European Union (EU) member states produce and disseminate statistics that adhere to high standards. The performance of Statistics Austria was assessed in November 2006 to verify its level of adherence to the principles of the European Statistics Code of Practice. The independent monitors concluded that the agency was doing extremely well with regard to the EU principles and standards.

The Principles

Comprehensive economic and financial data, disseminated on a timely basis.

FC

The IMF's SDDS website discloses that Austria meets or exceeds all SDDS requirements for coverage and timeliness, with the exception of merchandise trade and production index for which it avails of the flexibility option, and for periodicity in its reporting of data. The IMF, in its 2005 Article IV Consultation report also noted that the timeliness of Austrian data related to industrial production and merchandise trade was lagging and could be improved.

Ready and equal access to official statistics.

FC

According to the IMF's SDDS website, Austria issues advance release calendars for all relevant data categories and data are released simultaneously to all interested parties.

Official statistics must have the confidence of their users. Transparency of its practices and procedures is a key factor.

CP

According to the information provided on the IMF's SDDS website, the dissemination of the terms and conditions and identification of internal government access to data before release for all data categories are clearly spelled out. However, for several data points there is no clear statement relating to the confidentiality of individually identifiable information, as in the case of exchange rates and interest rates. As to central government operations, the IMF's SDDS website indicates that "the data are not confidential. Publication of annual data is required by law." Per the IMF SDDS website there is also clear identification of internal government access to data prior to release. There is clear identification of ministerial commentary on the occasion of statistical releases for all data categories except national accounts. Information about revisions and major changes in methodologies are provided for all data categories except interest rates, exchange rates, and international reserves and foreign currency liquidity. This is the case because the publication of these data is final and not subject to revisions.

A set of standards that deals with the coverage, periodicity and timeliness of data must also address the quality of statistics.

CP

According to the IMF's SDDS website, documents related to methodology and sources used in preparing statistics are available to the public, where relevant, for all data categories except for general government or public sector operations, where a detailed methodology is only available on request. Similarly, summary methodologies are provided for all the data categories. Most data categories, according to the IMF SDDS website, meet the SDDS requirement for dissemination of component detail and sound statistical frameworks that support cross-checks, except for data relating to general government or public sector operations, balance of payments, international reserves and foreign currency liquidity, and share price index.