Regulations

Institute Laws

This section compiles the laws that establish, strengthen and delimit the functions, powers and responsibilities of the Puerto Rico Statistics Institute. These legal frameworks underpin public policy related to the production, coordination and access to statistical information in the country.

Leyes

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August 8, 2016

Ley Núm. 143

Fecha: 8 de agosto de 2016
Descripción: Para añadir un nuevo inciso (o), y redesignar los actuales incisos (o), (p), (q) y (r), comolos incisos (p), (q), (r) y (s), respectivamente, del Artículo 5 de la Ley 209-2003,según enmendada, conocida como "Ley del Instituto de Estadísticas de Puerto Rico", a los fines de otorgar a la referida entidad gubernamental, la responsabilidad de promover la plena inclusión de Puerto Rico en todos los programas de estadísticas de los Estados Unidos de América, mediante acuerdosde cooperación bilateral y multilateral en materia estadística con oh·asorganizaciones, para así contar con mecanismos de medición que permitan comparar el desarrollo de Puerto Rico con los estados de los Estados Unidos; y para atemperar las disposiciones de esta Ley con lo establecido en el inciso G) del Artículo 4 de la Ley Núm. 77 de 19 de junio de 1979, según enmendada, conocidacomo "Ley de la Administración de Asuntos Federales de Puerto Rico".

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Leyes

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July 15, 2015

Ley Núm. 112

Fecha: 15 de julio de 2015
Descripción: Para enmendar el Artículo 5 de la Ley 209-2003…

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Leyes

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September 18, 2015

Ley Núm. 154

Fecha: 18 de septiembre de 2015
Descripción: Para enmendar el Artículo 4; enmendar el inciso (h)…

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Leyes

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January 31, 2018

Ley Núm 33

Fecha: 31 de enero de 2018
Descripción: Para establecer la "Ley de Divulgación de Estadísticas de Licenciamiento de Puerto Rico", a los fines de ordenar a las Juntas Examinadoras de Puerto Rico, divulgar a traves del lnstituto de Estadísticas de Puerto Rico los datos estadísticos de los resultados de examenes de licenciamiento; para que dicha divulgación sea por area de competencia; y para otros fines relacionados.

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Regulations

This section presents the regulations that guide the administrative, operational and statistical management of the Institute. Each document establishes essential rules, processes and responsibilities to ensure transparency, efficiency and compliance in all institutional functions.

Reglamentos

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July 2, 2018

Reglamento sobre Operaciones y Funcionamiento del Instituto de Estadísticas

Fecha: 2 de julio de 2018
Descripción: Establece normas específicas que, en atención a lo dispuesto en la Ley 209-2003 y en conjunto con lo dispuesto en esa Ley y en otros reglamentos del Instituto, regirán la operación y funcionamiento de esta entidad pública. Entre los asuntos que son objeto de este Reglamento se destacan las normas y el proceso que regirá para atender reclamos de confidencialidad que hagan personas a quienes el Instituto dirige solicitudes o requerimientos de información; requisitos de cualificación académica y profesional para empleados y funcionarios del Instituto; y la creación de comités o grupos de trabajo de la Junta de Directores para facilitar y agilizar las encomiendas y trabajos de ese cuerpo rector del Instituto.

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Regulations

Statistical quality

Quality in statistics is a multidimensional concept that combines precision and accuracy with the utility and relevance of these data for users. This section presents the criteria and practices that ensure that the information produced for the country is relevant, reliable and aligned with international standards of excellence.

The concept of “quality in statistics” has evolved a lot in recent decades. Traditionally, this concept focused on specific standards of precision and range accuracy. However, currently, quality in statistics is a multidimensional concept that reflects the set of characteristics of statistics, in which the institutions and National Statistical Offices of the world promote a broad definition of statistics, in which the user's responsibilities are at the center.
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Specifically, for this movement, the quality of the statistics depends not only on the accuracy or absence of biases, but also on the consistency between their characteristics and the needs of the users. For example, in the United States, the Information Quality Act (Public Law 106‐554) was approved, through which the government established a series of criteria that define the concept of quality of statistical information. Among them, it stands out that agency statistics are “useful” in terms of meeting the needs of users. The European Statistics Office, Eurostat, approved the criteria that define the statistics produced by all member countries of the European Community, including as an example that statistics are “timely”, in the sense that they are released quickly enough to be used by users for decision-making.

Puerto Rico has joined this movement with the creation of the Puerto Rico Institute of Statistics. The Institute seeks to make it a reality that Puerto Rico has world-class statistics. For this purpose, it uses its Statistics Quality Criteria Regulation, approved in August 2008, which is available here. These Regulations establish the criteria that define the concept of quality that we promote for statistics produced by the Government of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico:

Quality Criteria

Complete statistics

Useful
The level of benefit that the different types of intended users can get from you.
Relevant
The degree to which coverage and content meet the needs of current and potential users.
Comparable
‍The degree to which differences between statistics over time, geographic area, or other domains can be attributed to differences between the true values of the statistical concept.

Features of reliable statistics

Accuracy
The proximity between the estimated value and the true (unknown) value. It includes sampling error (precision) and non-sampling error (bias). The latter includes coverage error, non-response error, measurement error, processing error, and error in model assumptions.
Objectivity
The absence of biases in its presentation.
Coherence
The suitability of statistics to be reliably combined in different ways and for various purposes;
Integrity
Protection against unauthorized data review.

Quickly accessible statistics

Punctual
The lack of time lag between the actual publication date and the planned publication date; and
Timely
The shortness in time between the actual date of publication and the date of the event or phenomenon that the statistic describes.

Universally accessible statistics

Easy to access
The physical conditions under which users obtain statistics are easy and clear, such as easy to search, to order, with clear pricing policies, with micro and macro data, available in a variety of distribution formats, and others; and
Well documented
The availability of complete, accurate metadata, with verifiable and easy-to-understand elements about the processes used to obtain and process the data, including a description of the sources of any errors that may affect the quality of the data.

Resolution No. 2016-02

Through the Resolution No. 2016-02, the Board of Directors of the Institute of Statistics required that all government entities apply the Institute's Statistics Quality Criteria Regulations, approved in August 2008.

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Quality Accreditation Process

By law, the Institute has a ministerial duty to establish quality criteria for data collection and statistics systems in government agencies, performance indices, degree of reliability of the information, the appropriateness and validity of the indicators in accordance with the needs of our people and the requirements of the modern economy (Art 5 (a) of Law 209-2003, as amended). On the other hand, the Institute has a duty to ensure compliance with quality criteria.

To this end, the Institute has initiated a process aimed at accrediting those statistical products that meet the quality criteria, described in the previous section. The process consists of several phases. So far, the Institute has initiated the following:

Registration in the Puerto Rico Statistics Inventory

It consists of recording the statistical product prepared by the entity (public or private) in the Puerto Rico Statistics Inventory. To add a statistical product to the Inventory, the entity must complete and submit the Puerto Rico Statistical Inventory Form to the Institute.

Pre-accreditation of statistical products

The statistical products are evaluated using 8 basic criteria, which are detailed in Normative Letter No. 2011-01. These criteria apply to all types of statistical products on all types of subjects, and are primarily due to minimum good practices in the dissemination of the statistical product:

Registration in the Statistics Inventory
Contact information for the person responsible for the statistical product reports
Date of publication in statistical product reports
Expected publication dates in statistical product reports
Information on how statistical product reports can be obtained
Information on sources of information used in statistical product reports
Legal or administrative framework in statistical product reports
Internet access to statistical product reports

Those statistical products who meet the 8 criteria comply with Phase II and obtain the distinction of having their quality pre-accredited by the Statistics Institute of Puerto Rico. This is recognized in the Statistics Inventory. Those statistical products that obtained pre-accreditation are listed in the Statistics Inventory next to the symbol:

Pre-accredited
In this way, entities certify their compliance with these 8 minimum good practices of any successful statistical disclosure. Criteria 2 through 7 require that specific information be included in the statistical product reports. To facilitate compliance with these criteria, we have prepared a spreadsheet of the information required in the publications of each statistical product: see last page of the Normative Letter No. 2011-01.

To obtain pre-accreditation, entities only need to submit evidence of compliance with the 8 criteria at any time to the Puerto Rico Statistics Institute by email at: inventario@estadisticas.pr.

Interagency work plan to improve the quality of statistics (Law 154‐2015)

Law No. 154-2015 also ordered the establishment of an interagency work plan between the producing entity and the Institute to improve the quality of the statistics produced by the entity, in order to ensure that they are reliable, truthful and coherent. This Work Plan is intended to facilitate the coordination of support efforts that will be required on the part of the Institute of Statistics or other entities for the successful implementation of the plan. Normative Letter No. 2016-01 provides a template for the Interagency Work Plan. After completing the template, the entity can send it to inventario@estadisticas.pr.

Reference documents

Significant Achievements of the Institute

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Statistical Inventory

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Normative Letter No. 2016-01

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Normative Letter No. 2011-01

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Resolution No. 2016-02

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Regulations