142. In most countries, the preparation and conduct of a census and/or the collection and compilation of statistical data from administrative sources requires a legal basis, regulating issues such as: the allocation of funds for the census operations; the obligation of citizens to provide census information; the relationships between the agency responsible for the census and other public administrations involved in the census operations; the uses and linkage of registers to produce census data or to support field operations; and data security and confidentiality.

143. The last of these elements is particularly important. The census collects information on each person and household in the country. In its uses it is not concerned with facts about individuals as such. Its purpose is to provide statistics about the community and groups within the community. The public, therefore, has a right to expect and needs to be assured that personal information provided in confidence will be respected. The confidentiality requirement, whether enshrined in legislation or not, encompasses the whole census operation, ranging from the security of the completed census questionnaires both in the field and during processing, to the protection of the information contained in the outputs and made publicly available.

144. This chapter reports on both the legislative framework underpinning the 2020 round censuses in the ECE region and the practices adopted by countries to ensure the security and confidentiality of the information collected.

145. In many countries, a specific census act or appropriate regulations are approved before each census, both to authorise the topic content and to deal with the issues mentioned above. In some countries, however, more general statistics legislation includes all the necessary provisions required for the conduct of a population census and/or the production and dissemination of statistical data thereby obviating the need for specific census legislation.

146. All countries reported that their census of the 2020 round was carried out under the authority of national legislation, with the exception of a few countries (Belgium, Monaco and Türkiye) that conducted a register-based census (Table 23).

147. In the large majority of countries with field enumeration or combined census (about three quarters), a legislation specific to the census was in force. Register-based censuses were carried out under the general official statistics legislation in five countries, and under specific census legislation in only three countries.

148. In the majority of the countries where there is a specific census legislation (almost two thirds), this has to be amended or renewed for each successive census, with limited differences between the different types of census. On the contrary, when the census is carried out under the general official statistics legislation, this has to be amended for each census only in a minority of countries (3 out of 11).

	Total (out of 45 countries)	Type of census
		Field enumeration (16 countries)	Combined (17 countries)	Register-based (12 countries)
Census carried out under national legislation	42	16	17	9
Legislation specific to the census	28	12	13	3
Permanent	10	4	4	2
To be amended for each census	18	8	9	1
General official statistics legislation	11	3	3	5
Permanent	8	2	2	4
To be amended for each census	3	1	1	1
Other	3	1	1	1
Not carried out under national legislation	3	0	0	3

Countries were also asked to indicate which aspects of the census were covered by the legislation(Table 24). The aspects reported by most countries (three quarters or more) are data protection and security and the date of the census, followed by the variables to be included, the frequency of the census and the methodology. Other aspects reported by countries include: access, use and integration of administrative and private records (Cyprus); respective responsibilities of the NSO and the municipalities (France); information about persons involved in the census (Greece); administrative sources used (Lithuania); criminal offences and penalties (United Kingdom).

	Total (out of 40 countries)	Type of census
		Field enumeration (17 countries)	Combined (16 countries)	Register-based (7 countries)
Data protection and security	32	13	15	4
Date of census	30	10	14	6
Content (variables to be included)	25	8	12	5
Frequency of censuses	24	11	10	3
Methodology	24	9	13	2
Budget	19	8	8	3
Other	12	6	2	4

149. One of the main issues covered in census and statistics acts is data confidentiality. In an increasing number of countries, specific data-protection laws have been approved to regulate this field. In some cases, data-protection laws include all necessary provisions to cover the specific needs of censuses, including for instance the possible use of register data for censuses, or specific measures to be applied to census enumerators. In other cases, specific provisions on data confidentiality have to be included in the census acts, to take into account aspects, which are specific to the census. All countries reported that in the 2020 round the security or confidentiality of personal census information was protected by national legislation. In 26 countries (57% of those who reported) the protection was deriving from legislation pertaining to official statistics, in 12 countries (26%) from general data protection legislation and in 8 countries (17%) from census-specific data protection legislation.

150. All countries but Belgium and Monaco reported having a formal policy or strategy for ensuring the security and confidentiality of personal census information (Table 25). Among the 43 countries with a policy/strategy, in 25 countries (58%) it was a system-wide policy, while in 18 countries (42%) it was a census-specific policy. The system-wide policies were public available in 76% of the countries and the census-specific policies in 67% of the countries.

	Total (out of 45 countries)	Type of census
		Field enumeration (15 countries)	Combined (16 countries)	Register-based (14 countries)
Country has policy/strategy	43	15	16	12
System-wide (not census-specific) policy	25	5	8	12
Publicly available	19	4	5	10
Not publicly available	6	1	3	2
Census-specific policy	18	10	8	0
Publicly available	12	7	5	0
Not publicly available	6	3	3	0
Country does NOT have policy/strategy	2	0	0	2

151. In two thirds of the responding countries, microdata is made accessible to persons outside the NSO for the purpose of scientific or statistical research, while remaining unavailable for public inspection (Table 26). In the 2010 census round only half of the countries were doing so. In 5 countries, in addition to microdata also personal census information was made available, including personal information held in administrative records used for census purposes. Access to microdata was more frequent in countries with a register-based census (86% of countries) and combined census (75%) than in countries with field enumeration (40%).

	Total (out of 45 countries)	Type of census
		Field enumeration (15 countries)	Combined (16 countries)	Register-based (14 countries)
Personal census information or microdata is accessible to persons outside the NSO for the purpose of scientific or statistical research	30	6	12	12
Microdata	30	6	12	12
Personal census information (including from administrative records)	5	1	2	2
Personal census information or microdata is NOT accessible to persons outside the NSO	15	9	4	2