Ethical principles

International standards cover basic principles for the smooth functioning of a country's public statistics, and the United Nations laid down the 10 Fundamental Principles of Public Statistics with this in mind. These contain ethical and organizational directives such as the professional autonomy of producers of public statistics when it comes to instructions from higher authorities, the duty to make all statistical findings generally available, transparency in the methods chosen and strict data protection for all information provided by individuals or companies in statistical surveys. These principles are also found in the key legal basis for public statistics in Switzerland - the Federal Statistics Act of 1992, as well as in the Swiss Public Statistics Charter which was approved by public statistics offices throughout the country in May 2002.