Date: February 24, 2017

To amend Article 3 of Law 209-2003, as amended, known as the Puerto Rico Institute of Statistics Act, and to amend Article 12,001 of Law 78-2011, as amended, known as the Electoral Law of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, to exclude the Puerto Rico Statistics Institute from the application of certain provisions of Article 12,001 of Law 78-2011, and from laws from which the Office of Government Ethics is excluded, with the objective of granting the Institute operational autonomy, administrative and fiscal requirements you need to continue to fully carry out your duties and responsibilities, and for other related purposes.

To amend Article 17 of Act No. 209 of August 28, 2003, as amended, known as the “Puerto Rico Institute of Statistics Act”, to provide that the civil actions contemplated in this Act may be brought into force in the event of non-compliance by government bodies with obligations related to statistical activities, the preparation of the statistical product or publication of statistical reports, as required in their organic laws, regulations or special laws; incorporate a correction technique in paragraph (1) of that Article; and for other purposes.

To create the “Open Data Act of the Government of Puerto Rico” for the purpose of establishing as a principle of public policy free access to data that is originated, kept or received by government agencies and that can be used and reused freely; create the position of the Chief Data Officer and establish their powers and duties; transfer and clarify the responsibilities and duties of the Office of Management and Budget; establish the obligation of government bodies to publish their data public in a machine-readable format (“machine-readable”), through the Puerto Rico Open Data Interconnection Portal; establish the obligation of government agencies to update their official statistical indicators and to publish them through the Puerto Rico Indicator System, in accordance with the rules established by the Chief Data Officer; provide the Institute with the power to regulate the formats in which any government agency will store information and deliver data; provide that the Institute of Statistics will be the only governmental entity with the power to prepare any regulations related to the publication and updating of official statistics and indexes; and to repeal Act No. 69-2005.

To add a new Article 20 of Act No. 209-2003, as amended, known as the Puerto Rico Institute of Statistics Act, for the purpose of providing by law the Academies and Workshops Program of the Institute of Statistics of Puerto Rico; establishing a certification system for continuing education as a requirement for occupying and remaining in a position or position, or offering external consulting or advice, with the responsibility of collaborating or collecting data or developing statistical products in the statistical units of the agencies governmental; correct a technical error in paragraph (i) of Article 5 of the said Act; renumber subsequent articles; and for other purposes.

Statistics Institute announces enrollment period for the second semester of its training courses in data production and analysis

Date: February 6, 2017

To add a new Article 20 of Act No. 209-2003, as amended, known as the Puerto Rico Institute of Statistics Act, for the purpose of providing by law the Academies and Workshops Program of the Institute of Statistics of Puerto Rico; establishing a certification system for continuing education as a requirement for occupying and remaining in a position or position, or offering external consulting or advice, with the responsibility of collaborating or collecting data or developing statistical products in the statistical units of governmental bodies; correct a technical error in paragraph (i) of Article 5 of the said Act; renumber subsequent articles; and for other purposes.