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Policy for the dissemination and publication of statistical results

The dissemination of the official statistics of Catalonia is envisaged in the current Annual Statistical Action Programme, in accordance with the Statistical Law of Catalonia. For each statistical action the Programme specifies the organism of the Statistical System of Catalonia responsible for disseminating the results and the channel it will use.

The dissemination of official statistics is governed by the principles established in the European Statistics Code of Practice, particularly those that affect statistical products. These principles are as follows:

  • Impartiality and Objectivity (principle 6)
  • Relevance (principle 11)
  • Accuracy and reliability (principle 12)
  • Timelessness and punctuality (principle 13)
  • Accessibility and clarity (principle 15)

The policy for the dissemination and publication of statistical results produced by Idescat takes into account the items outlined below:

1. Site of publication

All the statistical results are published on the Idescat website, which is available in three languages (Catalan, Spanish and English) and accessible from any kind of device.

The website enables users to search for data by subject and territory and provides different products with information by different levels of aggregation, including indicators, basic tables and municipal information.

The data can be downloaded in CSV format. A collection of APIs (open data) are also provided, permitting automatic downloads and frequent updates for external developers.

2. Calendar

Idescat publishes the results dissemination Calendar in accordance with the Statistical Law of Catalonia, containing the dates on which the statistics of the current Annual Statistical Action Programme will be published. This calendar can be exported in iCalendar format.

The results calendar for the whole year is published on 1 January, including the day for the dissemination of the short-term statistics and the month for the dissemination of the structural statistics. The day for the dissemination of the structural statistics is set during the last week of the month prior to their dissemination.

The results to be published within the next 48 hours are announced on the website home page in the "Next updates" section and the calendar for the following week is published on the @idescat Twitter channel (1:00 p.m. on Friday).

Idescat publishes the short-term results from 10:00 a.m. onwards and the structural results from 10:30 a.m. onwards, ensuring the minimum delay possible in each case.

3. Communication channels

The new statistical results produced by Idescat are published via the following channels:

  • Idescat website: the new results are published in the "News" section of the website home page. These include the most important information on the published result and may be accompanied by charts.

  • Social media: Idescat's Twitter channel (@idescat) and its profile on LinkedIn also provide information on the new results.

  • Press releases: Idescat issues press releases for the media to provide them with information on the current situation. The press releases are disseminated via the following channels:

    1. Idescat website: in the "Services/Press releases" section, which includes the corresponding news.
    2. The Govern.cat Press Office (the press releases are simultaneously sent to the media that subscribe to the service).

    Idescat may also schedule press conferences whenever appropriate.

Principle 6 of the European Statistics Code of Practice (impartiality and objectivity) establishes that privileged pre-release access to statistical results to any outside user must be limited, controlled and publicised.

Idescat sends all the press releases to the Ministry of the Economy and Finance (Affiliation Department) under embargo 24 hours in advance at the most.