Institutional arrangements and legal framework for energy statistics

Institutional arrangements and legal framework for energy statistics United Nations Statistics Division International Workshop on Energy Statistics 24 -26 September 2012, Beijing, China

Energy Statistics • Usually there are various institutions involved in the collection, compilation and dissemination of energy statistics • From the Global Assessment on energy statistics and balances (2008), the lack of a coordination mechanism is the No. 1 impeding factor recognized by countries

Ministry of mines Electricity authority Ministry of oil and gas Energy ? Ministry of environment Statistical Office Other Ministries

National Statistical Systems • Centralized statistical systems a single institution with the responsibility to collect all the official statistics of a nation • Decentralized statistical systems numerous statistical agencies are, for the most part, devoted to particular subject matters There advantages and disadvantages for both types of systems

To function efficiently, a national system of energy statistics should be based on appropriate institutional arrangements between many relevant agencies Such arrangements coordinate the activities among various institutions in the collection, compilation and dissemination of energy statistics IRES 7. 8

Institutional arrangements • Promote harmonized concepts, methods and classifications within the involved agencies and in line with international statistical standards • Enable the integration of information scattered among different agencies • Reduce the cost of data collection by avoiding duplication of work • Reduce response burden

Key elements • Establish a clear, efficient and sustainable governance of the national statistical system of energy statistics • Reflect the country legislation and other national considerations • Identify a lead agency (or agencies) which ensure the coordination of the work among agencies

IRES recommends that countries develop an appropriate interagency coordination mechanism which, while taking into account existing legal constraints, would: • systematically monitor performance of the national system of energy statistics • motivate its members to actively participate in the system • develop necessary recommendations focused on improvement of the system’s functioning • have the authority to implement such recommendations • address, among others, the issue of statistical capacity IRES 7. 10

Elements of effective institutional arrangements (a) The designation of only one agency responsible for the dissemination of official energy statistics or, if this is not possible, the identification of agencies responsible for dissemination of specific data subsets and the mechanisms which ensure overall consistency of energy statistics (b) A clear definition of the rights and responsibilities of all agencies involved in data collection and compilation (c) The establishment of formalized working arrangements between them, including agreements on holding inter-agency working meetings as needed and on the access to the relevant micro data that those agencies collect IRES 7. 12

• It is recommended that countries consider the establishment of the institutional arrangements necessary to ensure the collection and compilation of high quality energy statistics as a matter of high priority and periodically review their effectiveness. IRES 7. 13

Legal framework • The legal framework - provided by the statistical and other national laws – specify the rights and responsibility of the entities that collect data, provide data, produces data or use statistical output • The mandatory data reporting is often of great importance for ensuring the compilation of high quality statistics • It can also formalize the institutional arrangements

• IRES recommends that national agencies responsible for compilation and dissemination of energy statistics should, whenever appropriate, actively participate in the discussion of national statistical legislation or relevant administrative regulations in order to establish a solid foundation for high quality and timely energy statistics, aiming at mandatory reporting, whenever appropriate, and at adequate protection of confidentiality. IRES 7. 5

Thank you!