Laws of the People's Republic of China

I. Scope of management

Statistical investigations arranged in term of approval documents of the NBS officially and implemented by departments, teams and census offices of the NBS and jointly-implemented statistical investigations by the NBS and related departments of the State Council (administrative headquarters and head offices included) are within the scope management of these regulations. Statistical investigation projects could be divided as follows in terms of different natures:

1 divide by the investigation frequency

1. periodical censuses that include censuses of population, basic units, industry, agriculture and the third industry;

2. recurring investigations that include annual statistical investigations, regular statistical investigations and periodical ad hoc investigations

3. one-time investigations that include different kinds of pilot investigations, ad hoc investigations and interim investigations.

2 divide by the form of organization

1. independent investigations that refer to statistical investigations organized and implemented by the NBS itself;

2. joint investigations: statistical investigations jointly organized and implemented by the NBS and related departments of the State Council;

3. commissioned investigations: different kinds of statistical investigations commissioned by departments of the State Council, related institutions or social societies (paid or unpaid). Commissioned investigations are divided into "mandatory investigations" and "optional investigations". Responders could fill in forms or answer questions on the principle of voluntary for optional investigations, and responders must make definite marks on questionnaires for mandatory investigations.

Administrative units of the NBS and institutions managed by the system of the civil service are not allowed to accept commissions of enterprises or individuals in the name of the NBS or bureau offices, departments or teams of the NBS for implementing statistical investigations and releasing investigation findings.

3 divide by the type of investigation data

1. data mode: different kinds of statistical forms filled with statistical data and collected through various media, such as paper, telephone and magnetic medium and through networks.

2. Writing form: different kinds of questionnaires filled with words in the form of questions and answers or choices and collected through various transmission modes.

3. mixed form: different kinds of statistical investigation forms filled with statistical data and words and collected through various transmission modes.

Both overall investigations and partial investigations shall be brought under the management of these regulations and go through the approval procedures as required.

II. Censorship

In order to establish a scientific and concerted decision-making consultation mechanism the NBS sets up a review group for statistical investigation projects, which shall be in charge of deliberating new investigation projects or projects that demand great modifications.

1. the review group is composed of the chief statistician, the chief economic manager, two leaders from the design control department and one leader from the business accounting department, integrated department, computation center, finance base department, politico-legal department and the office each. The chief statistician is the group leader and the position of deputy group leader is assumed by a leader from the design control department.

The review group is in charge of discussing significant statistical investigation projects, which include recurring statistical investigation systems annual bulletin and periodic statistical statement system , census systems as well as important specific statistical inquiry systems. The review group should hold one meeting at least each year and convene at any moment if necessary, leaders of related departments or teams could be invited to attend the meeting according to the deliberation content. The deliberative body makes decisions by the final voting results of members.

2. the working body of the review group of statistical investigation projects is placed within the design control department, which is in charge of offering initial investigation suggestions, establishing the assembly agenda, preparing proceedings and sorting summary records of meetings.

III. Principles of examination and approval

1. establishment of a statistical investigation project should be well-foundationed, conform to established scope of functional division of labor and have definite investigation objectives and data users.

2. statistical investigation projects must make a compromise of demands and likelihood, fully consider the endurance of interviewers and interviewees and have corresponding financial supports.

3. the methods of statistical investigations should be scientific and reasonable and efficient in economy.

4. contents of statistical investigations should be short and sweet and free from repetition, trivialness and contradiction.

5. governments and departments should divide labor rationally when organizing statistical investigations.

6. significant statistical investigation projects must be investigated, reasoned and tried out in some experimental units.

7. statistical classification, statistic units, unit of measurement and data format should conform with the National Standard or unified regulations of the NBS or its departments.

IV. Authorization scope

1. the design control department is in charge of presenting handling suggestions related to plans of establishment, modification or cancellation of statistical investigation projects and reporting to the chief statistician or the review group in terms of different administrative authorities.

2. the review group is in charge of collectively discussing and deliberating project establishment and examination &approval of new projects or projects that are ready to be modified greatly and coming up with advisory opinions for decision making.

3. the chief statistician is in charge of approving general modification plans in current system, in charge of presiding examination and approval works of statistical investigation projects and report the voting results and initial authorization opinions of himself or herself to the leader of the NSB who is in charge of statistical system methods.

4. the charging leader authorize the statistical investigation projects according to the voting results of the review group and initial opinions of the chief statistician. New projects or projects that demand great modifications should be submitted to the routine conventions to be discussed and approved.

V. Procedures of Examination and Approval

1 recurring investigations

1 application project establishment application for a new recurring statistical investigation project should be put forward before the end of February each year together with the statistical method improvement plan of the year and the "Application Form for New Statistical Investigation Project" should be filled out, which includes the main basis of project establishment, investigation objective, field of investigation, leading indicator, investigation frequency and appropriation budget and sources. statistical investigation projects

(2) project establishment: new projects of statistical investigation should be strictly examined as to their foundations and conditions in order to avoid the randomness of project establishment and relieve burdens of interviewees. Establishment of new statistical investigation projects should meets one of following conditions: investigation missions decided by the executive committee of the NBS; investigation missions that conform to the requirements of " overall plan of the state statistical system reform " and " key points of specialized statistical system reform"; statistical investigation projects that are submitted by related departments of the State Council and have corresponding financial supports. The design control department should offer initial examination opinions to the project establishment applications within 15 working days and report to the review group and the review group shall make decisions before March 20 each year.

3 design: after a project is established, the design unit should complete the design of statistical investigation plan before the end of April, which includes the general information, accounting list, grossroots table, synthetic table, investigation method, filling requirements, classification criteria, indices' interpretation, logical relation and executive plan. The report format design should conform with the requirements of " format standardization provisions of the statistic report system ".

4 deliberation the design control department completes the initial examination of investigation plans and submits censor opinions to the review group. The review group reviews the scientificalness and feasibility of the investigation plans before the end of June and reports to the leader in charge in the NBS after the chief statistician comments on the reports.

(5) authorization: the leader in charge in the NBS authorizes the statistical investigation projects before the end of July according to the suggestions of the review group and the findings of the executive committee of the bureau.

(6 printing and distribution: after investigation projects are approved, they shall be numbered unitedly by the design control department and registered at the bureau office, which shall be dispatched in the name of NBS before the end of September and the statistical investigation system shall also be printed and distributed.

2. modification of statistical investigation projects

(1) material alteration main points for modification should be put forward together with the yearly method reform plan of the statistical system for statistical investigation projects to be modified greatly before the end of February and "application form for statistical investigation project modification" should be filled out, which mainly explains the necessity and feasibility of modification, content of modification, workload fluctuation and impact on original data. Its authorization procedure is the same as that of the new statistical investigation project.

2 general modification render the general modification plan to the design control department before the end of March each year; the design control department presents censor opinions before the end of May and submits them to all concerned units to be signed; the chief statistician looks through the modification plan before the end of June and comments on the plan; the charging leader of the NBS issues instructions before the end of June; printing and distribution are completed before the end of September.

2 census

1. a census plan is put forward 18 months before the implementation of the census (formal investigation and registration) and necessary reasoning should be organized. The census plan (draft) should be tried out in selected places one year before the implementation.

2. render the formal census executive plan 10 months before the implementation, go through the examination & approval procedures within 3 months(same as the new statistical investigation project) and complete the printing of census plan and implementation of arrangement 6 months before the census.

3. significant census projects should be reported to the State Council for approval after going through regulated procedures if necessary.

3 one-time investigation

A one-time investigation project should be established one month before its implementation and "one-time investigation item application form" should be filled out. After it is approved by the design control department, the design unit should complete the design of investigation plan within 15 working days. The deliberation, examination, approval, printing and distribution of the investigation project should be completed within 15 working days as required.

VI. Supervision and management

The NBS informs statistical systems of the governments throughout the country and related departments of the State Council of the statistical investigation projects authorizations regularly and conducts periodic inspection of the implementation of investigation projects. The departments, teams, centers and census office of the NBS should follow these regulations strictly in handling the examining and approving formalities of statistical investigation projects. Statistical investigations beyond the statistical system that violate these regulations, be conducted in the name of departments, teams or centers of the NBS, be organized by making use of telephones or FAX or organized in the name of official documents of departments are regarded as illegal statistical investigations. They shall be repealed once being found and shall be handled according to relevant regulations of the Law of statistics.

Administrative provisions for statistical investigation projects examination and approval beyond the scope of these regulations shall be formulated separately.

Annex 1: "new statistical investigation project application form "(omitted)

Annex 2: "one-time statistical investigation project application form "(omitted)

Annex 3: "application form for statistical investigation projects under significant modifications (omitted)

Annex 4: "application form for statistical investigation projects under general modifications (omitted)