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Statistical Office of Macedonia Emphasizes Data Confidentiality and Security

The Statistical Office of Macedonia has reiterated its commitment to protecting personal and confidential data in accordance with relevant laws and regulations.

According to Article 34 of the Statistical Law, individual data can only be collected for statistical purposes specified in the Programme of Statistical Research or by other relevant acts. Additionally, Article 35 states that individual data shall not be used to make any decision whatsoever relating to an enterprise or physical person, nor shall it be placed in collections comprising individual data intended for non-statistical purposes.

Measures to Prevent Unauthorised Access

The Office takes all necessary measures to prevent unauthorized access, submission, processing, destruction, loss, alteration, misuse, or unauthorized use of personal and confidential data. These measures include:

  • Separation of identification data even during the gathering phase, unless this is obviously unreal or impractical.
  • Obliging employees and authorized bodies to treat individual data as official secrets both during and after the completion of their tasks.

Data Storage and Dissemination

The Office ensures that all personal data collected for statistical purposes is stored and kept until publishing the final results. As an exception, this data may be kept for longer periods in favor of purposes specified in Article 35, Paragraph 3 of the Law. The dissemination of statistical data is carried out through various channels, including:

  • Online databases
  • Publications
  • Leaflets distributed to users

The Office’s website provides a catalogue of main publications, which are available in Macedonian and English.

Submission of Data to Third Parties

In accordance with Article 41, individual data collected for statistical purposes may be submitted to third parties only if they are to be used for statistical research set up by the Programme of Statistical Research, and protection measures have been ensured. The users themselves shall reimburse the costs for releasing the data.

Important Notes

  • All data disseminated from the Office’s databases must not be used for statistical purposes or any other purpose without prior permission from the Director of the Office.
  • For further information on data confidentiality and security, please contact the Statistical Office of Macedonia at [phone number] or visit our website at [website URL].