Statistics Austria publishes up to 300 press releases per year, which are displayed on the website at the scheduled time of 9:00 am. A different publication time is possible in exceptional cases and will be indicated separately in advance. This may be the case for press conferences or for results that are subject to an embargo by Eurostat, OECD or similar.
In accordance with the "special publication obligations" pursuant to Section 30 (3) of the Federal Statistics Act 2000, the Federal Statistical Office must inform the competent federal minister without delay of the results of statistical surveys and, at the same time, ensure that they are published in an appropriate manner. In addition, advance transmission of information may take place within a narrow framework described below.
Pre-submission of information on statistics or statistical surveys by Statistics Austria to public bodies (e.g. the Federal Chancellery, federal ministries and other public bodies such as provincial statistics) is only permitted under certain conditions. In this case, Statistics Austria strictly follows the requirements resulting from national and European legal foundations and the European Statistics Code of Practice. According to the Code of Practice, pre-submission must be well-founded, access must be restricted and controlled, and the submission must be publicly disclosed. In accordance with the legal requirements and an expert opinion on this matter, Statistics Austria proceeds as follows:
With this procedure, Statistics Austria applies the strictest criteria for advance transmission and transparency in comparison with other European statistical institutions.
The supervisory bodies of Statistics Austria, namely the Statistics Council and the Economic Council, as bodies of the Federal Statistical Office, are not "external users" in the sense of the European Statistics Code of Practice and therefore do not fall under the regulations listed there.