Austria’s national statistical system is highly centralised. Its NSI, Statistics Austria, is responsible for the vast majority of European and Federal Statistics produced within Austria.
According to the Federal Statistics Act other Federal Agencies may be involved as bodies of the Federal Statistical System based on federal laws and EU legal acts.
Statistics Austria is in a position to offer expertise and practical know-how to Other National Authorities (ONAs) producing statistics in terms of standards, guidelines, quality management and methodology.
Subject matter experts at Statistics Austria have regular contact with ONAs producing European Statistics. Concerning the relationship with the Austrian Central Bank a formal cooperation agreement is in place fostering common projects and discussing relevant topics in quarterly meetings.
Role of the Statistical Services of the Provinces:
The Provinces and Municipalities maintain small statistical services. They use Federal Statistics for their purposes, but may also produce regional statistics on their own.
The cooperation and coordination is based on an agreement (from 1985) following Article 15a B-VG - the Austrian Federal Constitution.
In this agreement it is also laid down that coordination meetings have to be held at least once a year to deal with "current technical, financial and organizational matters according to this agreement" (Art. 6(1)).
In recent years the objectives and subjects covered have included the relevance, timeliness and cost-effectiveness of statistics, duplication of survey activity, and data transmission to the Provinces.
The Provinces appoint their representatives to the technical subcommittees and nominate one member of the Statistics Council.
Statistics Austria as the National Statistical Institute is mainly responsible for the production of European statistics. There are also a number of other national institutions ("Other National Authorities" ONAs) that also produce statistics within the framework of the European Statistical System (ESS).
Concretly the following instiutions are listed as ONas:
Statistics Austria is able to offer these institutions expertise and practical know-how in relation to standards, guidelines, quality management and methodology. The technical experts of Statistics Austria are in regular contact with ONAs that compile European statistics.