The regulation on access to individual data for scientific purposes has been approved

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) approved by order no. 51 of 31 December 2021 „Regulation on access to individual data for scientific purposes” and „Publication guide for examining requests for access to individual data for scientific purposes”.

The regulation establishes the conditions under which NBS can grant access to anonymized individual data (microdata), in compliance with data confidentiality rules, for scientific research projects. In general, the Regulation describes how to request access, who can request it, the necessary documents, the content of the research proposal, the terms of use and ensuring data confidentiality, the responsibilities of the research entity and researchers, the forms of granting access to individual data, etc.

According to the document, the research entity that intends to obtain access to individual data for scientific purposes submits to the NBS address a request according to the model established by it. Access granted to research entities is based on the following criteria:

1. assessment of the purpose of the entity, which is carried out on the basis of its status, mission or other statement of purpose;
2. the experience demonstrated or the image of the entity as a body producing quality research and publishing its results; the entity's experience in carrying out research projects shall be assessed on the basis, inter alia, of the lists of available publications and of the research projects in which the entity has participated;
3. internal organisation arrangements for research: the research entity is a separate organisation with legal personality, focused on research, or a research department within an organisation. The research entity must be independent and autonomous in formulating scientific conclusions and separate from the political sphere of the body to which it belongs;
4. safeguards in place to ensure data security: the research entity meets the technical and infrastructure requirements that guarantee data security.

We mention that the Regulation was developed under Law no. 93/2017 on official statistics and in accordance with Regulation (EU) no. 557/2013 of the Commission of 17 June 2013 implementing of Regulation (EC) no 223/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council on European statistics on access to microdata for scientific purposes.

„Regulation on access to individual data for scientific purposes" is available on the website old.statistica.md, under the heading Products and services / Request for access to microdata.