MOU between CSO and DoT

Memorandum of Understanding between the Central Statistics Office and Department of Transport in relation to Department of Transport Data (DoT Data).

Table of Contents

List of Abbreviations
Establishment of the Parties
The Role of the Parties
Context and Background
Purpose of the Memorandum of Understanding
Responsibilities of each Party
Legal Background
Transfer, Security and Data Storage
Annual Meeting
Duration and Review of the Memorandum of Understanding

This Memorandum of Understanding is made on the 1^st Day of February 2024 between The Central Statistics Office, Skehard Road, Cork, T12 X00E. (the CSO) and Department of Transport, Leeson Lane, Dublin 2, D02 TR60. (Department of Transport)

List of Abbreviations

Establishment of the Parties

The Central Statistics Office was established in 1949 and became a statutory body in 1994, under the Statistics Act, 1993.

The Department of Transport was established on 27 June 2020.

The Role of the Parties

The functions of the Central Statistics Office are set out in the Statistics Act, 1993. In particular Section 10 states that the functions of the Office are the collection, compilation, extraction, and dissemination for statistical purposes of information relating to economic, social, and general activities and conditions in the State. The Office has the authority to co-ordinate official statistics compiled by public authorities to ensure, in particular, adherence to statistical standards and the use of appropriate classifications and has the authority to assess the statistical potential of the records maintained by public authorities and to ensure that the potential is realised. Furthermore, the CSO has legal obligations regarding the development, production, and dissemination of European statistics under Regulation (EC) No. 223/2009 of 11 March 2009.

The department of Transport is a department of the Government of Ireland that is responsible for transport policy and overseeing transport services and infrastructure.

Context and Background

The CSO reserves the right to request DoT Data under Section 30 of the Statistics Act, 1993. This gives a statutory power to the CSO to deliver a notice of request to any public authority to allow the CSO access to or copies of any records in its charge.

Purpose of the Memorandum of Understanding

The purpose of this MoU is to clarify the roles and responsibilities of, as well as the areas of cooperation between, CSO and Department of Transport with regard to DoT data.

This agreement is a MoU and is not intended to create binding or legal obligations on either Party. The MoU is entered into on the understanding that it is subordinate to the relevant legislation governing each Party.

This MoU also sets out a shared understanding of the parties in relation to data protection issues that may arise and roles relating to the compilation, transfer, and use of this data.  The processing of personal data of data subjects is governed by the Statistics Act, 1993 and the Data Protection Acts 1988-2018 and the General Data Protection Regulation.

The purpose of the MoU between the DoT and the CSO is the development of key transport statistics in different areas including:

1. Vehicle Licensing Statistics
2. Vehicle KM Travelled
3. The selection of the Road Freight Survey Sample
4. Public Transport Statistics
5. Penalty Points Statistics

Responsibilities of each Party

The data controller for personal data is the Department of Transport.  When the data is transferred to the CSO, the CSO becomes the data controller. It follows then that it is the responsibility of the CSO to report any data breaches relating to the data, once it is in their possession. 

In the event of a breach relating to data the CSO will inform the Data Protection Officer of Department of Transport and also inform the Department of Transport of the breach. This notification will be made within 24 hours. In addition, the CSO will refer to their own data breach procedures and may report the breach to the Data Protection Commission as appropriate. The Department of Transport will not be held responsible for any loss, damage or injury caused as a result of such a breach. 

In the event of a breach relating to data the CSO will inform the Department of Transport, in advance, of any decision to issue a public statement in relation to the breach. Similarly, the Department of Transport will inform the CSO, in advance, of any decision to issue a public statement in relation to the breach.  

Department of Transport will not provide additional data or operational support in respect of the notification of data subjects in the event of a breach relating to CSO data.

Legal Background

Transfer and processing of the data shall be done in accordance with the Statistics Act, 1993, the Data Protection Acts 1988-2018, the General Data Protection Regulation, EU law and in accordance with the CSO’s Code of Practice, in particular its protocol on data matching where one or more datasets originate from outside of the CSO. 

The transfer and processing of the data is covered by, inter alia, the following provisions:

• Section 13 of the Statistics Act, 1993, concerning the statistical independence of the Director General of the CSO;
• Sections 30 and 31 of the Statistics Act, 1993 concerning the use of the records of public authorities for statistical purposes;
• Sections 32 and 33 of the Statistics Act, 1993, concerning the protection of information;
• Section 24(2) of the Statistics Act, 1993 (as amended by Section 178 of the Data Protection Act), concerning the provision of information to the CSO;
• Article 6(1)(c) of the General Data Protection Regulation;
• Article 6(1)(e) of the General Data Protection Regulation;
• Article 89 of the General Data Protection Regulation;
• Section 42 of the Data Protection Act 2018;

Data Transfer, Security, and Data Storage

The frequency of transfer, transmission timetable, transfer methods and data flows are listed below in Table 1 of Appendix A.

Data will be retained, securely stored, and processed by the CSO in accordance with CSO Data Policies. 

The Department of Transport will provide the CSO with the data in an agreed format. Information on data formats and delivery frequency shall be provided by the Department of Transport in respect of the data files schedule. In accordance with CSO policies on the control of data the CSO will not copy this data onto removable media (including laptop computers) unless appropriate security provisions are in place (i.e., encryption and password access) and there is an agreed business need to do so, in which case the CSO will inform Department of Transport of such need via the AM.

Annual Meeting

A Department of Transport and CSO Annual Meeting (AM) will be convened, in accordance with the CSO’s standard Data Governance Framework. The AM will oversee the data sharing as agreed between the parties and summarised in this MoU. 

The Terms of Reference (ToR) for the AM will be agreed between the Department of Transport and Central Statistics Office.  The ToR will cover, amongst other things, membership of the AM, and scope of the AM.  Changes to the ToR must be jointly agreed by both parties.

Duration and Review of the Memorandum of Understanding

This MoU will be published on the CSO website (www.cso.ie) and the Department of Transport website (www.gov.ie/en/organisation/department-of-transport/).

This MoU will remain in force until a new one is entered into or either the CSO or Department of Transport revoke it.  Depending on events, this MoU may be amended, subject to the mutual agreement of Department of Transport and CSO.

This MoU will be reviewed biennially by the both the Department of Transport and the CSO.  Any changes to the MoU shall only be made with the mutual agreement of the Department of Transport and CSO.

Appendix A