The Japanese Statistics Act was thoroughly revised for the first time in 60 years, and the new Act has been fully enforced since April 1, 2009. This Act provides the establishment of a five-year Basic Plan Concerning the Development of Official Statistics (hereafter referred to as the “Basic Plan”) which is decided through consensus of all ministers (Cabinet decision).

A new scheme of the Basic Plan is effective for the development of new statistics which meet social and economic demands, and for the promotion of efforts to improve usability of statistics by integrating surveys conducted by several government organizations. In addition, regarding the progress of the Basic Plan, “follow-up scheme” is provided by the Statistics Act. “Follow-up scheme” means that the Statistics Commission evaluates the progress of the Basic Plan and give advice to each statistics producing government organizations if needed.

In this way, under the Basic Plan, the mechanism is constructed so that the development of Japanese official statistics is promoted as the whole government and the Statistics Commission (which is specialized, neutral and fair third-party institution) evaluates the progress. Now this mechanism has been steadily implemented.

This paper introduces the mechanism and implementation of the Japanese statistical system, which has been improved and in which the development of statistics has been promoted more strongly.

Keywords: Statistical System; Statistics Act; Basic Plan Concerning the Development of Official Statistics; Statistics Commission

Biography: Statistical Planning and Coordination Division, Office of Director-General for Policy Planning on Statistical Standards, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC), Government of Japan