Managing Statistical Confidentiality & Microdata Access: Principles and Guidelines of Good Practice

Historically, confidentiality protection has been mainly a national issue. However, in the context of increasing data dissemination over the Internet, it is now also becoming an international issue. This raises the question of whether it is possible to internationally agree on some common principles for dissemination of microdata. These Guidelines aim to foster greater uniformity of approach by countries whilst facilitating better access to microdata by the research community for worthwhile purposes as well as to enable countries to improve their arrangements for providing access to microdata.