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Standard Agreement for access to a Research Microdata File (RMF)
1. Legal Background - Statistics Act, 1993
2. Practical arrangements for specified access
3. Documentation for researchers appointed as Officers of Statistics
4. Schedule to agreement (to be completed in all cases)
Agreement between the Central Statistics Office and
NAME:_______________________________________
ORGANISATION: _______________________________
1. Legal Background - Statistics Act, 1993
The Statistics Act, 1993 makes provision for the appointment of Officers of Statistics. Every member of the staff of the CSO and any other person directly engaged by the Office in the collection or extraction of information under the Act is an Officer of Statistics.
Under Section 20(c) of the Act, the Director General of the CSO is empowered to appoint persons from outside the office as Officers of Statistics, to perform for a specified period particular statistical analysis which may necessitate access to data collected under the Act.
Under Section 21 of the Act, every person shall before assuming duties as an Officer of Statistics sign a declaration in the following form -
"I Forname Surname, solemnly declare that 1 will fully and honestly fulfil my duties as an officer of statistics in conformity with the requirements of the Statistics Act, 1993, and of all orders thereunder, and that I will not, except in the performance of my duties under that Act and such orders, disclose or make known during my service as an officer of statistics or at any time thereafter, any matter which comes to my knowledge relating to any person, family, household or undertaking by reason of my service as an officer of statistics.".
This is an undertaking by the person appointed as an Officer of Statistics to observe all the requirements of the Statistics Act, 1993. The undertaking draws particular attention to the confidentiality of statistical returns. Further details of the legal obligations are set out in the Statistics Act (in particular Sections 32, 33, 38, 39, 42(1), 42(2) and 44).
Section 32 of the Act limits the use of data collected by the CSO to statistical compilation and analysis purposes:
All information furnished by a person, undertaking or public authority under the Act shall be used only for statistical compilation and analysis purposes.
No other use of data collected by the CSO is permitted.
Appointments made under Section 20(c) of the Statistics Act are signed personally by the Director General of the CSO. An appointment as an Officer of Statistics is personal and non-transferable.
2. Practical arrangements for specified access
The practical arrangements for access to the RMF specified above by the named researcher(s) in section 4 of this agreement, specially appointed as an Officer of Statistics to ensure compliance with the Statistics Act, 1993, are outlined below:
- This agreement relates solely to RMF specified in the Schedule to this agreement;
- The legal framework under which access to this RMF is granted is the Statistics Act, 1993;
- Any breach of the Statistics Act, 1993 is an offence, which may be subject to prosecution;
- Only those persons appointed as Officers of Statistics (specified in section 4) can access the specified RMF. Note an appointment as an Officer of Statistics is personal and non-transferable;
- An appointment as an Officer of Statistics is time bound and relates to a specified body of work (specified in the Schedule);
- The analysis/research undertaken must comply or be consistent with the specific purpose for which the access was granted;
- The confidentiality of data collected under the Statistics Act, 1993 is guaranteed in law. It should be noted in this regard that the Statistics Act, 1993 does not make a distinction between data on the basis of sensitivity (e.g. historical data periods) and data based on the type of information collected;
- Access to RMFs is granted solely for statistical purposes;
- The analysis work is to be carried out by the person(s) outlined in section 4 of this agreement at a location specified in the Schedule (see section 4);
- Access to RMFs for students is restricted to those undertaking at a minimum post-graduate work and in all such cases their supervisor(s) must also apply and be appointed as an Officer of Statistics;
- Discussions/analysis relating to individual returns, or information (aggregate tables, descriptive text etc.) which could allow individual returns to be identified must be restricted to persons appointed as Officers of Statistics.
- All outputs from the research project should be provided to the CSO for information purposes.
- The RMF will not contain any identifiable information (e.g name (person or entity) detailed address, PPSN) to avoid the direct identification of an individual respondent. A CSO generated reference number may be included on the RMF to facilitate linkage, by CSO staff only, with the source file for checking/validation purposes ;
- The CBR, which is a CSO generated reference number for enterprises/local units, may be incorporated into RMFs relating to enterprises/local units where a business case acceptable to the CSO has been provided (specified in the Schedule to this agreement (see section 4));
- No attempt will be made to match/link (at a micro level) the RMF to any other data source;
- The RMF will only be provided once the researcher(s) has
- Been appointed an Officer of Statistics
and
- Signed the Declaration of Secrecy
and
- Formally agreed to abide by the conditions set out in this Standard Agreement
- In relation to "off-site" access, once it has been agreed in principle to grant access to the data and the researcher has agreed to this standard agreement, signed the "Declaration of Secrecy" and been appointed an Officer of Statistics the data will be transmitted as per the Schedule (see section 4);
- In relation to "on-site" access, once it has been agreed in principle to grant access to the data and the researcher has agreed to abide by this agreement, signed the "Declaration of Secrecy" and been appointed an Officer of statistics the RMF will be copied onto a desktop computer, in an agreed format, by CSO staff. Examples of agreed formats include fixed length records, comma-delimited records etc.
- Once the decision has been taken to facilitate access by the Director General and the relevant documentation has been completed the following procedures will apply:
- The relevant Statistician/Senior Statistician will liaise with the researcher and identify the applications (IT) required by the researcher for the sanctioned
research;
- Where the applications are already in use within the CSO, these will be loaded to the relevant desktop;
- Applications currently not is use within the CSO must be provided by the researcher and the appropriate licensing arrangements must be in place before these applications are loaded to the relevant desktop;
- It will only be permissible for the researcher to take non-confidential aggregate data off-site for further analysis;
- The relevant Statistician/Senior Statistician must verify that the aggregates that the researcher wishes to take "offsite" are non-confidential in nature. These must be assessed in the context of all available aggregate information to guard against disclosure through comparing different aggregates;
- The approach to be adopted in relation to intermediate aggregates (i.e. aggregates that are generated during the analysis phase of the project that will not be put into the public domain) is specified in the Schedule to this agreement (see section 4). Responsibility for ensuring the confidentiality of all such aggregates rests with the individual appointed as an Officer of Statistics regardless of the specific arrangements in place;
- IT Service Delivery will copy the relevant aggregates onto a medium prescribed by the researcher only after written sanction to do so has been given by the relevant Statistician/Senior Statistician indicating that the aggregates are of a non-confidential nature;
- In the case of "off-site" access, on receipt of the RMF the file will be copied onto a standalone computer/networked computer as specified in the Schedule to this agreement (see section 4);
- If the data is stored on a standalone PC all external drives including USB ports must be disabled. Note for the purposes of this agreement a stand-alone PC is defined to be a desktop computer that is not connected to the internet or any other network (e.g. LAN, WAN), and is not a portable computer/device;
- Where data is to be stored on an "off-site" network a detailed description of the IT network, the security provisions in place to protect the network and the protocols in place to ensure only the persons specified in section 4 of this standard agreement can access the specified area of the network are to be provided in the Schedule to this agreement.
- If the RMF has been transmitted via a CD, once copied to the agreed location, the CD will be dealt with as specified in the Schedule (see section 4);
- In the case of "off-site" access the RMF must be held in a location(s) on the IT infrastructure that has been agreed by the CSO. It is prohibited to hold the data on any portable computers/devices. The exact location(s) of the file is as specified in the Schedule (see section 4);
- The sanctioned researchers (see section 4) (whether access is granted "On-site" or "Off-site") may not copy (or attempt to copy) identifiable/disclosive data (including disclosive aggregates) to any medium (print, CD, USB stick, etc.). The results of the analyses may be copied out, provided they do not contain identifiable data, by arrangement with CSO staff. CSO staff on request may examine the results. The RMF being analysed may never be taken/copied, in any format, out of the agreed location(s), without the prior approval of the CSO;
- The RMF (regardless of any amendments made during analysis by the researcher(s)) will at all times continue to be the property of the CSO;
- Responsibility for ensuring the confidentiality of all outputs (reports, publications, presentations, articles etc.) based on the research carried out on the RMF (or using any element of the RMF) rests with the individual appointed as an Officer of Statistics;
- If required by the CSO (specified in the Schedule) all outputs (reports, publications, presentations, articles etc.) must be submitted to the CSO for approval, prior to being put into the public domain (i.e. communicated to anyone who is not an "Officer of Statistics") so that adherence to the Statistics Act, 1993 and the protocols attached to the assignment can be assured. In general this requirement will apply in respect of all RMFs containing enterprise/local unit based data;
- The CSO reserves the right to put outputs from the research into the public domain if the researcher (individual appointed as an Officer of Statistics) has not already done so;
- The CSO should be acknowledged as the data source in all outputs but the CSO will not take any responsibility for the views expressed or the outputs generated from the research undertaken on the RMF. In presenting results/analysis etc from the research project this point should always be highlighted (e.g. in footnotes to aggregate tables, analysis based on derived variables);
- The format (SAS, CSV etc.) in which the RMF is to be provided and the computer packages to be used should be discussed and agreed before the project begins.
- The researcher takes responsibility for the choice and provision of data analysis software and for appropriate licensing. In the case of "on-site" access CSO staff will copy the software provided by the researcher onto the standalone computer, provided it satisfies CSO security and other CSO IT infrastructure requirements.
- The CSO will provide metadata (i.e. descriptive information) in respect of the RMF. In general, the CSO will not carry out any of the analysis work which forms part of the researcher's specialised project unless the research is being undertaken within an agreed collaborative framework between the CSO and the researcher.
- The research to be undertaken will be completed in accordance with the Statistics Act, 1993.
- The CSO may undertake an audit (unannounced) of the access granted to ensure compliance with the Statistics Act, 1993 and the policy and agreement attached to this assignment.
- Failure to comply with the protocol etc. attached to the provision of this RMF may have implications, for the individual(s) and the organisation/institute for which they work, for future access to RMFs and will lead to the termination of the appointment as an Officer of Statistics. All data provided by the CSO must be destroyed/deleted or returned to the CSO;
- On completion of the research or termination of the conditions relating to the appointment of the individual(s) as an Officer of Statistics all versions of the RMF (or subsets thereof) must be:
- Deleted/destroyed by the researcher; or
- Returned to the CSO. The RMF will be stored in situations where amendments have been made to the RMF by the researcher(s) appointed as an "Officer of Statistics", and who may want to access the amended data file at some point in the future (which will only be possible under the Statistics Act, 1993).
- Where the RMF is to be deleted/destroyed the person(s) appointed as an Officer of Statistics must certify, in writing, that this task has been completed;
- In some circumstances, researchers may wish to analyse data held on paper rather than computer. The practical arrangements in these cases are that the information may only be accessed on CSO premises (Skehard Road, Ardee Road and Swords).
- The CSO will maintain a detailed register of individuals appointed as Officers of Statistics for the purpose of accessing RMFs.
3. Documentation for researchers appointed as Officers of Statistics
The letter of appointment for each Officer of Statistics, to be appointed under Section 20(c) of the Statistics Acts, 1993, will also incorporate the declaration required under Section 21 of the Act. Before appointment, the researcher must sign two copies of the declaration and return them to the CSO. The two copies will then be signed by the Director General of the CSO, making the appointment effective. One copy will be returned to the researcher and one kept on file by the CSO.
The following documents will be given to Officers of Statistics appointed under Section 20(c):
- A copy of the Statistics Act, 1993; and
- A copy of this agreement that must be signed by the researcher(s).
- They will be made aware of the conditions regarding the use and protection of information, in particular:
- Use of statistical data for statistical compilation and analysis only;
- Confidentiality of the data collected under the Statistics Act, which may not be disclosed to any other person or organisation;
- That any breach of the Statistics Act, 1993 is an offence which may be subject to prosecution.
4. Schedule to agreement (to be completed in all cases)
RMF to which access is granted:
Detailed description of proposed research (as per application form):
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
Period of Appointment as Officer(s) of Statistics: From__________to__________.
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