Abstract: Confidentiality is one of the basic pillars sustaining public trust
in official statistics, and has a prominent place in all declarations of
ethical principles. Rules for the preservation of confidentiality in Spain go
back as far as 1787. The legislation protecting these rules has evolved under
the influence of the political changes undergone by the country since then. In
particular, the establishment of a democracy in 1978, and the adoption of a
Constitution, after forty years of a totalitarian government, stimulated
significant changes in the legislation on statistical confidentiality. New laws
on the Protection of Personal Data were also passed in 1992. Also, Spain is
since 1986 a European Union (E.U.) Member State, and is consequently subject to
the E.U. regulations on confidentiality and data protection. This paper reviews
the current legislation and practice on confidentiality in Spain, and its
incidence in statistical operations. The challenges arising, in connection with
confidentiality issues, from the specific political organisation of the country
are also described, as well as the connections between the Statistical Act and
the Laws on Personal Data Protection and the cooperation schemes between the
Statistical Office and the Data Protection Authority. The paper also includes
some comments on specific confidentiality issues related to operations that,
although implemented by the National Statistical Office, are not regulated by
the Statistical Act, and the solutions that have been adopted in order to deal
with them are described. Some conclusions follow.
Keywords: Confidentiality, personal data protection, legislation bodies, current practices on statistical confidentiality protection
