Abstract

Statistical systems play an important role in ensuring the production and dissemination of objective and high-quality information in societies. In order for information to be considered high-quality, it must have a generally accepted framework within which the reliability can be verified. The European Code of Practice forms such a framework, together with additional guidance. In order to verify compliance with the CoP, there must also be a system to demonstrate the credibility and quality of the systems. Peer reviews plays this important role in European countries.

In addition to the credibility that peer reviews give to high-quality information production, the country to be evaluated gets a lot of benefit, as long as they are treated with the right attitude. Peer reviews provide a good opportunity to deepen the cooperation and expertise of the actors in the statistical system. It is particularly important to take advantage of the huge amount of work that is put into the exercise in to the development of the entire statistical system. It is rare for a country to have such an opportunity to have highly experienced top reviewers to evaluate such an extensive system and give well considered development proposals. When statistics system is going for the peer review the more the continuous improvement is as a goal, the more benefit can be gained from it.

The presentation will share Finland's experiences on how cooperation with other national statistics producing was developed and what benefits were gained in moving the statistical system forward.