Experience of Bulgaria * 07/16/96 (Re)-Organising the production of national statistics: a challenge for pre-accession countries Experience of Bulgaria Roumiana Petrova, Deltcheslava Deltcheva Strategic Management Seminar, Split, November 2007 *

CONTENT INTRODUCTION LEGAL BASIS STRATEGIC PLANNING COORDINATION MONITORING ACQUIS IMPLEMENTATION - DRIVING FORCE STRENGTHS & WEAKNESSES CONCLUSIONS

INTRODUCTION Long way to accession Changes without breaking the production process Trust in statistics – criterion for successful transition

LEGAL BASIS DEVELOPMENT 1991 - First Law on Statistics -( Professional independence, Mandate for data collection and dissemination, Confidentiality) 1999 – Amendments in compliance with Council Regulation 322/97/EC and UN Fundamental Principles for Official Statistics (NSI coordination role, Bodies of Statistics, National Programme for Statistical Surveys – NPSS) 2002, 2005 – Bulstat register and UISRAC – taken away from NSI New Draft – in line with the new Community Law on Statistics, implementation of CoP, introduction of quality requirements, reduction of respondents’ burden, confidentiality, mechanism for management of EU grants 2001 – Census Law on Population, Housing and Agricultural Farms 2006 – Law on Statistics of Intra-community Trade of Goods (INTRASTAT) NPSS

BODIES OF STATISTICS BULGARIAN NATIONAL BANK Statistics Directorate MINISTRY OF FINANCE Treasury Directorate Intrastat Directorate, National Revenue Agency Customs Statistics and Analysis Division, Customs Agency MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND FOOD SUPPLY Department “Agrostatistics” MINISTRY OF HEALTH National Center for Health Information MINISTRY OF TRANSPORT Port Registers and Control Directorate, Executive Agency “Port Administration “ Registers and Statistics Department, Directorate General “ Civil Aviation Administration” NATIONAL SOCIAL SECURITY INSTITUTE Directorate General “Analyses, Planning and Projections” MINISTRY OF LABOUR AND SOCIAL POLICY Social Analyses, Prognosis and Policies Directorate MINISTRY OF ECONOMY AND ENERGY Information Services Division MINISTRY OF INTERIOR Coordination, Information and Analyses Directorate EXECUTIVE AGENCY ON ENVIRONMENT Monitoring of the Environment Directorate INVEST BULGARIA AGENCY Investment Analyses and Statistics Division

STRATEGIC PLANNING I Strategies First strategy 2000 – 2006 ( mission, vision, values, priority tasks) Medium term Programme 2003 – 2006 (by policy) New Strategy 2008 – 2012 ( under elaboration) - in line with the Community Statistical Programme 2008-2012 Sectoral strategies (ISIS, IT, Training, Dissemination)

National Programme for Statistical Surveys STRATEGIC PLANNING II National Programme for Statistical Surveys 2001 2008 (plan) Number of Surveys/ Activities 217 314 Number of Staff 1883 1494 Budget – Mln BGN 12 24

STRATEGIC PLANNING III NPSS 2008 (plan) The most expensive surveys ( 50% of total budget): HBS, SBS, LCS, LFS, STS, CPI Programme structure Surveys – 186 (20 from administrative sources) NA and Balance Aggregates - 30 Infrastructure Tasks – 54 EC financed projects – 44 Share of other bodies and institutions – 15% of total number of NPSS surveys and activities 80 % - Commitments to ESS; 20% - National tasks

COORDINATION OF STATISTICAL ACTIVITIES Tools for coordination: NPSS Statistical infrastructure: classifications - NACE, CPA, PRODCOM, NUTS registers – of statistical units, of settlements rules for dissemination- 410 publications, of which 213 electronic Councils (National Statistical Council, High Statistical Council) Formal Agreements with Bodies of Statistics and other institutions -27 Inter-institutional Working Groups – 70

MONITORING Compliance Monitoring process started in 1998. External Monitoring Several Screening Exercises Global Assessment of the National Statistical System - 2001 EC Progress Reports and Road Maps Sub-Committee 4 ”Economic and Monetary Issues, Capital Movements and Statistics” Eurostat Compliance Data Base/SMIS Internal Monitoring National Programme for Adoption of the Acquis (NPAA). WG 12 Statistics National Annual Action Plan for implementation of EU recommendations

ACQUIS IMPLEMENTATION - DRIVING FORCE Need to start by Comparative analysis between the SRC requirements and the national practice. The acquis implementation necessitates: Improvement of statistical production processes: New surveys or changes in the existing ones Significant changes in the statistical infrastructure European quality criteria, reports & indicators Development of administrative processes and capacity building: Strategic planning & priority (re)setting Budget projections Reform of the organization structure Coordination Reduction of respondents’ burden HR Management ( high qualified and motivated staff) Training IT infrastructure development Support by EU pre-accession Programmes (National & Multinational)

STRENGTHS & WEAKNESSES Well developed legal basis, guaranteeing professional independence of the system Well developed planning system Well functioning mechanism for coordination, use of formal agreements as an instrument for inter-institutional coordination Extended skills in management of EU pre-accession funds and planning of future activities Experience in implementing new acquis in pilot and ad hoc data collection projects Availability of qualified staff Intensive training and improvement of qualification

STRENGTHS & WEAKNESSES Lack of a Time Recording System Late start of work on quality compared to other countries Insufficient use of administrative sources Limited experience in measuring respondents’ burden High level of turnover of young staff Lack of a system for motivation according to results Low level of IT infrastructure

CONCLUSIONS The EU accession is a long way, but it is worth going. The European integration and the Enlargement process have a very positive impact on statistics. Community statistical requirements stimulate the development of the national production process - the statistical practice changes, the number of indicators increases. New users appear on European and national level. European funds provide additional financial resources to the national budget for statistics. NSS reform changes the image of statistics in society. The role of NSI as national coordinator and representative of the country in the ESS should be promoted. Cooperation within the country and on European level is the main tool for achieving success in the pre-accession process. Regional cooperation contributes to the accession. NSI should invest in human resources as most valuable element of capacity building.

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