1. High Level Seminar for EECCA Countries Quality Matters in Statistics Armenian Experience 21-23 June 2011, Athens, Greece Ðì SA National Statistical Service of Armenia

2. Legal framework National Statistical Service of the Republic of Armenia (NSS RA) – is a body which performs its functions in the public interest and is independent from government authorities and local self-governments of the Republic of Armenia in accordance with the law “On State Statistics”. NSS RA maintains the state statistics and systematizes it on the territory of the Republic of Armenia. The statistics system of the Republic of Armenia is fully centralized and financed from the state budget. It includes the Central Office, the Agency in Yerevan and 10 Regional Agencies. The mission of the NSS RA is to collect, publish and disseminate the official statistics for the society.

3. Main functions of the NSS RA Collection, processing, generalization and publication of statistical data; Cooperation with state and local authorities in the collection of statistical data; Development and improvement of statistics methodologies, coordination of data collection and dissemination in accordance with international standards and classifications; Organization of statistical observations and surveys; Conducting population and agricultural censuses every 10 years; Creating, maintaining and updating the business register; Protection of data and confidentiality of statistics; Provision of statistical information to users; Guaranteeing transparency and accessibility of aggregated statistical data and metadata; Cooperation with international organizations and national statistics services.

4. Program of State Statistics Activities The Program of State Statistics Activities is the basis of official statistics in the Republic of Armenia. The Program is developed based on the analysis of the demand of the users of statistical information. A 3-year Program is prepared to define the main areas of the state statistics activities, and an Annual Program is prepared to define specific activities within these areas. The 3-year program is approved by the Parliament of Armenia, the Annual Program is approved by the State Statistics Council.

5. International Classifications and Standards NACE Rev.2 CPA, PRODCOM ISCO-88 ISCED HS/CN ICD-10 NUTS On 29 March 2001, Armenia joined the General Data Dissemination System (GDDS) of the IMF. On 7 November 2003, Armenia became the 54 th signatory of the Special Data Dissemination Standard (SDDS) of the IMF.

6. Assessment of Quality of Armenian Statistics - IMF The quality of Armenian statistics was assessed several times in the recent years: IMF experts prepared a report after their 2008 mission - “Report on the Observance of Standards and Codes (ROSC) on Data Module for the Republic of Armenia by International Monetary Fund (IMF Country Report No. 09/50, February 2009)”. According to the report, the NSS RA has necessary institutional preconditions for quality – a proper statistics legislation, a statistics program, active communication with the main users of statistics. The data in such areas of statistics as the national accounts, CPI, PPI, public finance statistics, monetary statistics and the payment balance statistics meet the quality requirements of the IMF international standards and measurements within the Data Quality Assessment Framework.

7. Global Assessment of Armenian Statistics – Eurostat, EFTA, UNECE In January 2009, a Global Assessment of the Armenian statistics was performed by consultants of the Eurostat, the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) and the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE). The consultants appreciated high professional independence of the NSS RA, its commitment to high data quality, and the compliance of the system of classifications and standards with international classifications and standards. The following areas were identified for improvement: data collection methods, quality management and training system, as well as the following key areas of statistics: Price indices: CPI, PPI, and especially the construction price indices, Completeness of the national and quarterly accounts, Design of statistical registries.

8. World Bank Assessment TFSCB World Bank (WB) Grant NoTF091206 “Development of a Statistics Master Plan and Technical Assistance for the Strengthening of the Statistics Potential” – 2008-2009. Assessment of the statistics system and the “User – Data Provider” dialogue Development of the National Statistics Master Plan

9. World Bank Summary Description of Statistical Capacity Indicator Armenia 2010 Statistical Capacity Indicator (on a scale of 0 - 100) Indicator Armenia All countries ** General 93 65 Methodology 100 56 Source data 80 62 Periodicity and timeliness 100 78 ** All countries include low- and middle-income IDA/IBRD countries with a population of over 1 million (147 countries). The WB Statistical Capacity Indicator for Armenia is 93 and comprises the methodology (100), data sources (80), and periodicity (100). The data sources did not receive 20 points because there is no Agricultural Census. http://ddp- ext.worldbank.org/ext/CSIDB/getCountryStatInfoXML?id=51&format=CSIDBSCORE3 http://ddp- ext.worldbank.org/ext/CSIDB/getCountryStatInfoXML?id=51&format=CSIDBSCORE3

10. Quality Management Assessment - ENP/TWINING “Strengthening of the National Statistics System” (Contract: ENP/2010256-452) The assessment was conducted on 14-18 March 2011 by the statistics offices of Denmark, Finland and Germany. Conclusions: A fairly strong legal basis for statistical operations and quality aspects. As regards the quality of statistics, the NSS RA has a sufficient potential in the methodology area. The key experts are aware of international guidelines and participate in international meetings and conferences.

11. Issues The main quality issue is associated with the use of the administrative registries: the data received from the administrative registries do not always have a good quality, there is a serious problem with coverage (incomplete coverage), use of several codes, lack of identification numbers, etc. Another issue is IT-related – lack of resources, lack of possibilities for a better use of data and avoiding overlaps in the business data collection. Lack of financial and human resources.

12. Recommendations To establish an interagency committee on data management and register-keeping policy in the country (including the Ministry of Justice, the National Revenue Committee, the NSS RA, etc.) To improve and strengthen the use of administrative registers in the production of statistical data The NSS RA must have the right to influence the content of the administrative registers To define the mandate and tasks of the Quality Monitoring Committee To appoint a person who will be responsible for quality issues Although the quality assurance process does exist, it is necessary to document data/procedures and to standardize processes for the purposes of the entire organization To develop consistent metadata and a quality reporting system, including quality indicators Training on quality indicators

13. Quality Management in NSS RA The Methodology and Classification Department is responsible for the central repository of metadata in the SDDS format. The NSS RA has the Quality Monitoring Committee chaired by the Advisor to the NSS RA President. The Committee is largely focused on the quality of the data necessary for the NAS. This task is important from the viewpoint of coordination with the NAS. However, it is not sufficient to manage the quality activities in general within the organization. There is an informal group on quality issues under the NSS RA President. This group is largely focused on the general quality issues in the organization. It identifies shortcomings in the processes and initiates new developments in the organization.

14. Links with Administrative Registers National Statistical Service (statistical registers) State Register of Enterprises (Ministry of Justice of the RA) Tax Register (National Revenue Committee of the RA) Customs Register (National Revenue Committee of the RA) ) Register of National and Municipal Revenues and Expenditures (Ministry of Finance of the RA) Monetary/Credit and Banking Register (Central Bank of the RA) Ownership Rights Register (State Cadastre Committee of the RA) Education and Science Register (Ministry of Education and Science of the RA) Crime and Traffic Accident Register (Police of the RA) Population Register (Police of the RA) Unemployment and Employer Register (State Employment Service of the RA) Healthcare Register (Ministry of Health of the RA) Environmental Register (Ministry of Environmental Protection of the RA) Other administrative registers (by types of economic activity) Territorial registers (Marz and municipal) Agricultural Register (Ministry of Agriculture of the RA) Quasi-fiscal Registers (electricity, gas, water, communication) Existing Under development Social Payments Register (National Revenue Committee of the RA) Insurance Market Register (Central Bank of the RA) Securities Register (Central Bank of the RA) Civil Status Register (Ministry of Justice of the RA) Border Passenger Traffic Register (National Security Service of the RA) Air Transport Register (Main Aviation Directorate of the RA

15. Challenges The Law “On State Statistics” needs further improvement, especially as regards the coordination of the functioning of the administrative registers and increasing the role of the NSS RA in the methodological influence on them. Creation of administrative registers in all administrative authorities. Ensuring the comparability of data in all administrative registers through the use of common identification codes and classifications. Establishing within the NSS RA a special department which would be responsible for quality training and the development of the general quality policy.

16. Library and Web-Resources The library contains all statistical products of the NSS RA, statistical publications of other countries and international organizations, methodological books, handbooks, legal documents, etc. The statistics library is open to the general public. The electronic catalogue of the library is available on the Internet. Web : http://www.armstat.am/www.armstat.info/http://www.armstat.am/www.armstat.info/ www.armdevinfo.am All NSS RA publications are available on the website which also contains databases.

17. Thank you National Statistical Service of the Republic of Armenia Republic Ave 3 Government House Yerevan 0010 Republic of Armenia Tel.: (37410) 524 213 Fax: (37410) 521 921 Email: armstat@sci.am Web: http://www.armstat.am/www.info.am/ http://www.armstat.am/www.info.am/ www.armdevinfo.am