• Why do we get involved internationally?
• What is the goal of our involvement?
• How do we get involved? What are our tasks?
• Where do we get involved?

Why do we get involved internationally?

...because we have a legal mandate

It is laid down in the Federal Statistics Act that the Federal Statistical Office shall become involved in international bodies and organisations. Section 18 refers to the statistical surveys of the European Union. It defines, among other things, the role of the Federal Statistical Office as the national statistical authority. Section 19 specifies the concrete supranational and international tasks of the Federal Statistical Office. (more under How?)

...because more and more statistics have a European legal basis

Official statistics always require a legal mandate. The legal mandate is now defined by legal acts of the European Union (EU) for more than two thirds of official statistics in Germany. In the field of statistics, the European integration process is very advanced. Against this background, not only the shaping of German official statistics but also the functioning of the Federal Statistical Office are determined to an increasing extent especially by the EU (work structures, Task Forces, Directors Groups). The Office's task of cooperating in the preparation of statistical programmes and legal provisions is particularly relevant in this context.

...because more and more democratic decision making processes occur at the supranational and international level

The self-image of the Federal Statistical Office specifies that "[w]e provide the statistical information required for the development of an informed opinion and the decision making processes in a democratic society". As more and more of these decision making processes are transferred to the supranational and international level, the required statistical data must be available. Consequently, the international involvement of the Federal Statistical Office is highly relevant. In this context, investment in partnerships is very important, too. The Office's vision specifies that "[w]e invest in partnerships at the national, European and international level. [...]". Standards for the production and dissemination of statistics are more and more often set at the international level. Also, many of the underlying indicator systems are of a global nature. An example is the global set of indicators regarding the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

What is the goal of our involvement?

...high quality standards: coherence and comparability

The system of official statistics is generally committed to the goal of ensuring and enhancing a high quality level of statistical data. This goal can directly be applied to the supranational and international level. The larger the number of stakeholders involved, the more difficult it is to ensure coherence and comparability. The Federal Statistical Office therefore advocates high standards as required in the Fundamental Principles for Official Statistics (FPOS) and the European Statistics Code of Practice to obtain high-quality, comparable and coherent statistical results.

How do we get involved? What are our tasks?

...we play a part in shaping the international statistical system – in particular the European Statistical System.

In Section 19 of the Federal Statistics Act, concrete supranational and international tasks of the Federal Statistical Office are defined:

• cooperation in the preparation of statistical programmes and legal provisions of international organisations (e.g. EU regulations)
• cooperation in the methodological and technical preparation and harmonisation of statistics
• compilation of federal results for EU statistics and statistics of international organisations
• compilation of national accounts and other integrated systems of statistical data for purposes of the European Union and international organisations
• passing the above results on to the European Union and international organisations

In its vision, the Federal Statistical Office also sets itself strategic goals of international relevance. It specifies: "We play a part in shaping the international statistical system - in particular the European Statistical System." A solid statistical system is the basis of statistical work; high standards must apply and it must be possible to adjust the system in a flexible manner to new developments.

...cooperation at the specialist and strategic level

The supranational and international tasks of the Federal Statistical Office are performed at different levels. At the working level, the specialist statistical activities are performed in working groups of the European Union and international organisations and cooperation refers to concrete projects. At the strategic level, the management of the Federal Statistical Office plays a major role in steering, shaping and developing the international statistical system.

Where do we get involved?

...international organisations

The Federal Statistical Office closely cooperates with the European Union (especially Eurostat), the United Nations (UN Statistics Division), the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

...bodies and conferences

In this context, the Office collaborates in relevant bodies and takes an active part in current discussions at conferences.
Participation in various bodies refers to the working level, e.g. in the European Statistical System (ESS) in working groups and task forces on specific statistical topics and issues, and the management level deciding on strategic issues such as the United Nations Statistical Commission (UNSC) as the highest statistical body worldwide.
At international conferences such as the World Statistics Congress of the International Statistical Institute (ISI), staff members of the Federal Statistical Office make major contributions to specialist and strategic discussions and participate in the further methodological and subject-related development of official statistics.

...political initiatives

As the leading provider of official statistical information in Germany, the Office is also involved in political initiatives. A current example is the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. It comprises the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including 17 goals and 169 targets, and was adopted in September 2015 at a UN summit in New York; the German Federal Chancellor was one of the participants.

The intention of the SDGs is to initiate sustainable development in social, economic and environmental terms all over the world. The aims are to substantially improve the living conditions of all people now and in future generations and to protect the planet Earth. The main aspect is sustainability.

Official statistics play a major role regarding the implementation of the SDGs. the United Nations Statistical Commission (UNSC) was tasked, among other things, to develop, together with the national statistical offices, indicators for the goals and targets to be used to measure the progress made towards achieving the goals. The Federal Statistical Office plays a very active role in this context.