SESRIC, in its capacity as the Secretariat of OIC Statistical Commission (OIC-StatCom), organised the Workshop on ‘Modernising Statistical Legislation’ in collaboration with the United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD) on 1-2 June 2022 through a video conferencing platform with the participation of 94 experts from the National Statistical Offices (NSOs) of 36 OIC countries and relevant international organisations.

Competent experts from the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (UNESCWA), United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), and Partnership in Statistics for Development in the 21^st Century (PARIS21) also participated and made comprehensive presentations under the relevant technical sessions of the Workshop.

Organised within the framework of the Programme of Action 2021-2025 of the OIC-StatCom Strategic Vision for 2030, the Workshop had the objective to provide a platform to share experience and best practices among the OIC countries in the modernisation of legal and institutional frameworks of official statistics.

In his welcoming remarks, H.E. Mr. Adnen LASSOUED, Director General of the National Institute of Statistics (INS) of Tunisia and the Chairman of the 10^th Session of OIC-StatCom, underlined that given the important position that statistical information has in formulating development policies and plans and making them successful, many NSOs in OIC countries have been working to modernise their statistical systems as they seek to modernise their structures to increase their data availability and periodicity. These reforms included updating the legal basis for statistical work through enactment of new statistical laws. H.E. Mr. Lassoued further emphasised that it has become imperative to work on modernising statistical activity mechanisms and relying more on modern technologies as well as administrative resources and opportunities provided by big data.

In his speech at the Opening Session, H.E. Mr. Nebil DABUR, Director General of SESRIC, emphasised that transparency of legislation, rules and measures pertaining to the operation of the statistical system is a precondition for maintaining trust in the official statistics. He further mentioned that the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda has underlined the demand for new data through the SDGs, which requires the national statistical systems around the world to operate in larger data ecosystems; posing unprecedented technical and financial difficulties. Furthermore, H.E. Mr. Dabur stated that during the COVID-19 pandemic, many countries were facing the challenge of adjusting their data governance and management to a digital society, which requires appropriate statistical laws. In this regard, H.E. Mr. Dabur underlined that modernising and updating the statistical legislation is critical to the effective performance of the national statistical systems.

Following H.E. Mr. Nebil DABUR, Mr. Gabriel GAMEZ, Inter-regional Adviser at the UNSD, stressed the importance of strong institutional and organizational frameworks for national statistical systems in order to strengthen the coordination and stewardship role of NSOs, support post-COVID-19 recovery policies, and ensure a path to achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. He further emphasised that this Workshop explicitly responded to the call of the 75^th General Assembly to leverage SDG mechanisms and instruments, including statistics and data to measure the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and to design and monitor appropriate response policies.

The Workshop continued with presentations and discussions on the following topics:

• Key Elements of Statistical Legislation and Generic Law on Official Statistics (UNSD, UNECE, UNESCWA)
• Country Challenges and Experiences in Modernising Legal Frameworks for Official Statistics (Egypt, Jordan, Pakistan, Tunisia, Türkiye, Uzbekistan)
• Country Challenges and Experiences in Enforcing Modern Legal Frameworks for Official Statistics (Albania, Cameroon, Kyrgyz Republic, Maldives)
• Emerging Issues Related to Statistical Legislation in the New Data Ecosystem (UNECE, UNESCWA, UNESCAP, UNECA, PARIS21)
• Modernising Statistical Legislation – Way Forward

The OIC-StatCom is a very important forum within the OIC framework for cooperation among the NSOs of the member countries. It is an instrumental platform similar to the UN Statistical Commission aiming at supporting the National Statistical Systems of the OIC member countries for the development of better national strategies and policies. For more details about the OIC-StatCom and its activities, please visit: https://www.oicstatcom.org/

All documents and presentations of the Workshop are available at this link.

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