1. official statistics - a system of collecting of statistical data, gathering, storing and generalising of the collected data and announcing, providing and disseminating of the results of statistical surveys as the official statistical data,
2. statistical surveys - collecting, gathering and generalising of statistical data, announcing and disseminating of the results of calculations, compilations and analyses, including major figures and indicators,
3. major figures and indicators - the figures and indicators to the announcement of which the President of the Central Statistical Office is obliged, each time on the basis of special provisions,
4. collecting of statistical data - obtaining responses to the questions contained in the statistical forms, questionnaires and interview documents and information contained on other data media, referring to the activities of business entities or selected aspects of those activities as well as the life and status of natural persons or selected aspects related to this - directly from the entities or persons or from the information systems of public administration, in which those types of data are legally stored,
5. gathering of statistical data - collecting by the organiser of the statistical survey, in a specified period and place, of the statistical data mentioned under paragraph (4),
6. generalising of statistical data - creating of data files from gathered statistical data after the separation or coding of information which allows to identify a concrete business entity and conducting on this basis calculations, compilations and analyses,
7. programme of statistical surveys of official statistics - passed by the Council of Ministers, pursuant to the procedure specified in Chapter 2, the list determining the scope of topics, units and entities to be covered by statistical surveys and related to them responsibilities,
8. frame for statistical surveys - a list of units selected according to specific features, legal entities, entities without a legal status or natural persons who are subject to statistical observation, including their addresses,
9. unit data - personal data related to a concrete natural person or individual data related to a business entity or other legal entity or an entity without a legal status,
10. services of official statistics - the President of the Central Statistical Office and subordinated to him directors of statistical offices and other statistical units created pursuant to the procedure specified in Chapter 3,
11. business entity of the national economy - a legal entity, an organisational entity without legal status and a natural person conducting economic activity,
12. official registers - run, on the basis of laws or provisions issued for the execution of laws by the courts and agencies of public administration, registers and records containing information on legal entities, entities without legal status and natural persons and their activities, and on other phenomena, events and objects, especially the registers run by: courts, social security agencies and tax services, as well as the registers of: business entities operating in the national economy, territorial division of the country and records on: the population, economic activity, issued permissions and concessions, land, buildings, structures and objects being elements of an infrastructure,
13. information systems of public administration - systems of collecting, gathering and processing of information by the state administration agencies and units of local authorities, other governmental agencies, agencies of registration, the National Bank of Poland (NBP), run on the basis of corresponding provisions of competence or other legal acts related directly to their statutory activities,
14. classification standards - introduced by force of this Law classifications, nomenclatures and definitions of major categories.

Article 3

The official statistics shall provide reliable, objective and systematic information for the society, the state and public administration bodies and economic entities on the economic, demographic and social situation and the environment.

Article 4

1. The statistical surveys of official statistics shall refer to every aspect of social and economic life and the phenomena occurring in it which can be observed and analysed using statistical methods.
2. A detail scope of statistical surveys conducted within the system of official statistics shall be determined pursuant to the procedure specified in Chapter 2 of this Law and should take into account the purpose, indispensability and social usefulness of such surveys.

Article 5

1. The official statistics has a mandate to collect from all available sources, specified in detail in the programme of statistical surveys of official statistics or in other laws and to gather statistical data from and about business entities, other legal entities and entities without legal status and their activities, further referred to as `individual data` and statistical data on natural persons concerning their life and status, further referred to as `personal data`.
2. The provision of paragraph 1 does not refer to data protected by the law on professional confidentiality.

Article 7

1. If a survey rendered in the programme of statistical surveys of official statistics shall be conducted on the obligatory basis, the units specified in the programme shall be obliged to provide and submit to the organiser of the survey complete and exhaustive information in the scope, form and time pursuant to the procedure specified in this programme.
2. The provision of Article 5, paragraph 2 shall apply correspondingly.
   

Article 8

In the statistical surveys in which natural persons shall participate it shall not be allowed to collect, on the obligatory basis, information on the race, religion, personal life as well as philosophical and political views.

Article 9

1. Conducting of all kinds of censuses which imposes on natural persons the obligation to provide information shall require a specific law.
2. The procedure for imposing of responsibilities related to the participation in statistical surveys other than those mentioned under paragraph 1 shall be determined by this Law.

Article 11

The official statistical services shall be obliged to inform in a written form or by announcing in other usual way about the purpose, scope and the way of conducting all kinds of censuses or other statistical survey with the participation of census enumerators and statistical interviewers, about the rights and obligations of units requested to provide data or answers, and the guarantee that the information shall be kept secret and statistical confidentiality shall be observed.

Article 12

The staff of the official statistical services, the census enumerators, statistical interviewers and other persons performing activities in the name and on the behalf of official statistics, having direct access to individual and personal data shall be obliged to observe without exceptions the statistical confidentiality and shall be allowed to perform those activities only after delivering an oath in a written form, at a statistical office or other units of official statistical services, of the following contents:
 `I hereby take summons that I shall perform my tasks on the behalf of the official statistics dutifully, in accordance with the professional ethics of a statistician and that I shall keep secret from the third parties the individual data known to me during performing those tasks `.

Article 13

1. The data collected and stored by State administration bodies and units of local authorities, other governmental agencies, organs maintaining official registers and the National Bank of Poland, on the basis of regulations other than this Law, are data of information systems of public administration, and are further referred to as the “administrative records”.
2. This Law shall not restrict the collection of data on forms and questionnaires for the purposes mentioned under paragraph 1 or limit the free transmission of data on themselves and their activities by legal entities, entities without legal status and natural persons.
3. State administration bodies and units of local authorities, other governmental agencies, organs maintaining official registers and the National Bank of Poland on a free-of-charge basis, shall submit to the official statistical services the administrative records stored by them in the scope, form and time specified each time in the programme of statistical surveys of official statistics, especially in the form of extracts from the registers, copies of data files, collected declarations, registration documents and other official forms, the results of measurements, and data on environment monitoring, and shall provide data from their computerised database systems.
4. In the case of the organs of units of local authorities performing special tasks such as the tasks commissioned by the State administration, the tasks shall also include the responsibility to submit information for the purposes of the statistical surveys of official statistics and national official registers run on the basis of this Law.
5. The President of the Central Statistical Office shall be obliged to submit to the State administration bodies and the units of local authorities, other governmental agencies, organs maintaining official registers, and the National Bank of Poland, justified motions concerning the need to supplement collected and stored administrative records in such a way as they can be used directly for the needs of official statistics.
6. The President of the Central Statistical Office shall be obliged to provide to the State administration bodies and the units of local authorities data on activities conducted by them in the scope corresponding to their specific statutory activities.

Article 14

1. The results of calculations, compilations and analyses conducted on the basis of the collected statistical data in statistical surveys of official statistics, further referred to as the `statistical information` are commonly available.
2. The official statistics shall provide to all equal, indiscriminatory and simultaneous access to the statistical information, especially to major figures and indicators.
3. The types of statistical information and the forms and time of its availability shall be specified in the programme of statistical surveys of official statistics.
4. The types of statistical information are included in the programme of statistical surveys of official statistics as indicated under item paragraph 3 corresponding to the scope of specific statutory activities.

Chapter 2
Organisation of Statistical Surveys within the System of Official Statistics

Article 15

1. The Statistical Council, further referred to as the `Council`, shall be established as the advisory and opinion-making organ in the field of statistics.
2. The Council shall be subordinated to the President of the Council of Ministers.
3. The responsibilities of the Council shall include:
   

   1. determination, annually, on the basis of the proposals prepared by the President of the Central Statistical Office, of a draft programme of statistical surveys for the next year,
   2. submission to the Council of Ministers, not later than on 30 June each year, of the draft programme of statistical surveys of official statistics,
   3. recommendations on conducting new and periodic surveys concerning a broad scope of statistical observation and related to them methodological and preparatory activities, planned for the period of the next ten years,
   4. evaluation of the implementation of the programme of statistical surveys of official statistics and formulation of opinions on other issues having a considerable significance to the development of official statistics,
   5. cancelled
   6. providing opinions on the budgetary expenses on statistical surveys.

Article 16

1. The Council shall consist of members of the Council appointed by the President of the Council of Ministers representing:
   1. state administration bodies - five persons,
   2. local authorities in the Joint Commission of Government and Local Authorities - one person,
   3. National Bank of Poland - one person,
   4. social organisations, professional and economic self-government - three persons,
   5. organisation of employers representative within the meaning of the Act of 6 July 2001 on the Tripartite Commission for Social and Economic Issues and Voivodship Commissions for Social Dialogue (Journal of Laws No 100, item 1080), hereinafter referred to as ‘the Act on the Tripartite Commission for Social and Economic Issues’ – one person from each organisation,
   6. trade unions organizations representative within the meaning of the Act on the Tripartite Commission for Social and Economic Issues – one person from each organisation.

and two experts – one in the field of social sciences and one in the field of economic sciences.

   2.  The President of Central Statistical Office of Poland shall take part in the work of the Council.

Article 17

1. The term of office of the Council shall last 5 years starting from the date of its establishment. The term of office for a member of the Council shall terminate together with the term of the whole Council.
2. The President of the Council of Ministers may recall a member of the Council before the end of the term exclusively in case when:
   
   1. the person shall submit a resignation,
   2. the person shall not participate in the activities of the Council.
3. In case of an incidence mentioned under paragraph 2 and in case of the death of a member of the Council, the President of the Council of Ministers shall appoint a new member to the Council. The provision of Article 16, subparagraph 1 shall apply correspondingly.
4. The Chairman of the Council shall be elected from among its members.
5. The procedures of work of the Council shall be determined by the statute of the Council and shall be approved by the President of the Council of Ministers.
6. The administrative service of the activities of the Council shall be provided by the Central Statistical Office.
7. The costs of the activities of the Council shall be covered from the state budget allocated to the Central Statistical Office.

Article 18

The programme of statistical surveys of official statistics shall be determined by the Council of Ministers by a regulation specifying for each survey:

1. the topic and the organiser of the survey,
2. the type of the survey,
3. the subject matter and units covered by the survey as well as the sources of statistical data,
4. the units of the national economy and natural persons who do not conduct economic activity shall be obliged to provide information and submit statistical data or participate in the surveys on the optional basis,
5. the forms, the frequency and the place of data collection,
6. the type of statistical information and the forms and dates of its dissemination, including major figures and indicators,
7. the costs and sources of financing.

Article 19

The Council of Ministers shall ensure that the programme of statistical surveys of official statistics, shall include surveys that are relevant for the observation of social and economic processes, in particular:

1. permanent surveys oriented towards continuous observation of major aspects of life and occurring phenomena,
2. periodic surveys, including all kinds of censuses,
3. surveys which guarantee the comparability of the results, in case when they refer to changing over time objects of statistical observation or if the methodology of survey changes,
4. the surveys which are indispensable for meeting the obligations of the Republic of Poland to provide data to international organisations.

Article 20

1. The statistical surveys of official statistics shall be conducted by the President of the Central Statistical Office.
2. The Council of the Ministers, at the motion of the Council, may decide, specifying this in the programme of statistical surveys that a statistical survey shall be conducted by:
   
   1. other indicated central public administration agency or the National Bank of Poland, if the survey requires a specialist expertise which is at the disposal of the agency or if it has at its disposal data collected for this purpose,
   2. the President of the Central Statistical Office together with other indicated central public administration agency or other state administration institution or the National Bank of Poland or the head of voivodship,
   3. an indicated statistical office together with the head of voivodship or organ of units of local authorities on its motion.The organiser of the statistical survey, pursuant to the procedure specified under paragraph 2, subparagraph 1, shall be obliged to:
      1. apply classification standards,
      2. provide the results of the survey to the official statistics services and to submit them, in the consultation with the President of the Central Statistical Office, to international organisations.

   3.   The organiser of the statistical survey, pursuant to the procedure specified under paragraph 2, subparagraph 1, shall be obliged to:

Article 30

Units operating in the national economy shall be obliged to:

1. possess identifying number in the national official register of businesses which is mentioned under Chapter 6 and to use it for submitting information used for statistical purposes,
2. use in their records, documents and accounting classification standards specified in Article 40,
3. submit on occasional, systematic or periodic basis, free-of-charge, statistical information and data on the economic activities conducted by them and their results in the forms and dates and according to the methodological principles specified in detail in the programme of statistical surveys of official statistics and the by-laws issued on the basis of Articles 31.

Article 31

The President of the Council of Ministers shall determine by means of a regulation the patterns of statistical questionnaires together with the explanations concerning their fulfilment, on the questionnaires used in the statistical surveys specified in the programme of statistical surveys of official statistics.

Article 32

Cancelled.

Article 33

Cancelled.

Article 34

Cancelled.

Article 35

1. The official statistics services shall have the mandate to collect for statistical purposes and for the preparation of demographic forecasts the following data on natural persons residing at the territory of the Republic of Poland:

   1. first name and surname,
      2. gender,
      3. date and place of birth,
      4. citizenship,
      5. marital status,
      6. date of concluding and termination of marriage,
      7. address of residence,
      8. date of death,
      9. identifier of the system of population register. 
2. The data specified under paragraph 1 can be collected in the form of responses provided directly to official statistics services by the person to whom they refer or an adult member of the household or can be derived from administrative records; the scope and form of personal data collected indispensable for a specific surveys is determined each time in the programme of statistical surveys of official statistics, and in case of population and housing censuses - in a specific law.
3. Other than specified under paragraph 1 data which can be referred to an identifiable natural person can be collected by official statistics services exclusively when a document containing personal data which cannot be in a simple way separated for the transmission for statistical purposes is indicated as a source of statistical data in the programme of statistical surveys or if the identification is indispensable for the generalisation of the results of statistical surveys.
4. The storing in one file or in a data base of all personal data collected by official statistics services concerning an identifiable natural person derived from various statistical surveys, which when linked could be used for the characteristics or evaluation of that person shall be prohibited.
5. The generalisation of personal data and their input to data bases of information systems of official statistics services with the
6. exception which is specified under paragraph 6, shall be done with the exclusion of data mentioned under paragraph 1, subparagraphs 1 and 7.
7. The personal data in the scope specified under paragraph 1, subparagraphs 1-3, 7 and 9 can be collected and stored by the official statistics services in the form of a sampling frame for statistical surveys and for statistical generalisations, compilations and analyses conducted by those services.

Chapter 5
Dissemination and Storing of Statistical Information

Article 36

The organisers of statistical surveys of official statistics shall be obliged to announce, make available and disseminate the final statistical information observing the provisions of Articles 10 and 14.

Article 37

The statistical information shall be:

1. announced in the publications of the Central Statistical Office and statistical offices, including statistical yearbooks, and - after consultation with the President of the Central Statistical Office - in publications of other organs conducting statistical surveys of official statistics,
2. published in the Official Journal of the Republic of Poland "Monitor Polski" if a specific provision provides for that,
3. announced in the mass media,
4. made available in other forms than those mentioned under subparagraphs 1-3.

Article 38

1. It shall not be allowed to publish or disseminate individual data obtained in the statistical services of official statistics.
2. It shall not be allowed to publish or disseminate obtained in statistical surveys of official statistics statistical information which can be linked or can identify natural persons or individual data characterising business entities, especially if the aggregated data consist of less than three entities or the share of one entity in the compilation is higher than the three-fourths of the total.
3. The President of the Council of Ministers shall specify, by means of a regulation, the procedures and forms of publishing and dissemination of the results of statistical surveys.

Article 39

The President of the Central Statistical Office shall ensure that the storing of collected statistical data guarantees observing the principles of statistical confidentiality.

Chapter 6
Classification Standards and National Official Registers

Article 40

1. The President of the Central Statistical Office in consultation with the corresponding central public administration agencies shall prepare standard classifications and nomenclatures, which are relevant for describing the course of economic and social processes as well as the correspondence between the standard classifications and nomenclatures and their interpretations.
2. The standard classifications and nomenclatures mentioned under paragraph 1 shall be introduced by the Council of Ministers by means of a regulation.
3. The introduced by mode of paragraph 2 standard classifications and nomenclatures shall be applied in statistics, administrative records and documentation, accounting systems and in official registers and information systems of public administration.
4. Cancelled.
5. Cancelled.
6. Cancelled.

Article 41

1. The President of the Central Statistical Office shall run the national official registers of:
   1. the business entities of the national economy,
   2. the territorial division of the country.
2. The tasks specified under paragraph 1 shall be performed by the President of the Central Statistical Office within the framework of the information system of public administration, separate from the system of official statistics.
3. The information collected and stored in the national official registers is not statistical data in the meaning of this Law, with the exception of information mentioned in Article 42, paragraph 3, subparagraph 7 and 8, and shall not be subject to statistical confidentiality.

Article 42

1. The national official register of the business entities of the national economy, hereinafter referred to as “the register of entities”, includes:
   1. legal persons,
   2. organisational units without legal personality,
   3. natural persons running business activity.
2. A natural person conducting business activity is a natural person who is an entrepreneur pursuant to the Act of 2 July 2004 on the freedom of business activity (Journal of Laws of 2007 No. 155, item 1095, as amended), or another natural person conducting own-account activity in order to gain profit, or a natural person running a private farm.
3. In the register of business entities of the national economy, the following information shall be rendered about entities specified under paragraph 1 on the scope of their activity:
   1. the name and address of the location, and in the case of natural persons running economic activity - additionally the first and middle names, surname and place of residence, and the personal identification number in the population records system (PESEL), if available,
   2. the tax identification number (NIP),

2a. the identification numbers of members of a civil law partnership, if available, surname and the names or the name of the company of the members of a civil law partnership, and the personal identification number (PESEL) of the natural person running business activity, if available,

3. the legal and ownership forms,
4. the scope of activity, including prevailing activity,
5. the date of founding, starting, suspending and resuming the activity, the entry onto the register or records, the termination of the activity or removal from the register, and the entry or removal from the business register of entities,
6. the name of the registration or recording agency, the name of the register (records) and the number allocated by the agency,
7. the planned number of employees,
8. in the case of farms, the total area and the area of agricultural land,
9. their local units in the scope of the information specified in subparagraphs 1 and 4-8.
10. the phone and fax number of the seat, electronic mail and website address, if available, and supplied by the entity to the register of entities.
3. A local unit organised as an entity (establishment, division, branch) situated in the location identified by its separate address at which or from which economic activity is carried by at least one working person.
4. The entities referred to in paragraph 1 shall be obliged to complete and submit an application for entry into the register of business entities and to provide information on the changes concerning data specified in paragraph 3, subparagraphs 1-6.
5. Without prejudice to the provisions of paragraph 7, the entities specified under paragraph 1 shall be obliged to submit to the regional statistical office at the voivodship in which they have their seat or their address of residence, the application for entering into the register of entrepreneurs, the application for changing the variables covered by the registration or the application for removing them from the register within 14 days from the occurrence of the circumstances justifying the entry, change or the removal from the register. The application shall be supplemented with documents defined by the provisions of other Acts, confirming the creation of the entity or starting business activity, changing the variables covered with the registration or removing the entity from the register.
6. Filing the application confirming the creation or starting activity and the application for changing the variables covered by the registration for:
   1. an entrepreneur who is a natural person - the entry is made based on the regulations on business activity,
   2. entrepreneurs subject to entry into the National Court Register - the entry is made based on the Act of 20 August 1997 on the National Court Register (Journal of Laws of 2007 No. 168, item 1186 and Journal of Laws of 2008 No 141, item 888),
7. The provision in paragraph 7 is not applied if the change concerns only the features included in the entry which are not the subject of the entry into the business register and business activity records.
8. Updating the register of entities in the area of private farms can be performed on the basis of statements of the farms filed to territorially authorised statistical offices by gmina offices pursuant to a separate Act.
9. The entry into the register shall be done after coding of the characteristics of the entity specified under paragraph 3, according to the classification standards in force, together with the allocation of the unit identifying number.

Article  43

1. Information on the local identification number allocated to an entity and its local units is made available on the website of the Central Statistical Office in the manner referred to in Article 45a, or through the electronic platform of public administration services (ePUAP), hereinafter referred to as ePUAP.
2. Making the data available on the website of the Central Statistical Office or through ePUAP is a confirmation of entering this information into the register of entities.
3. Statistical offices shall issue to the legal entities, organisational units without legal status and natural persons running economic activity entered onto the register certificates on the local identification number allocated to them and their separate units not later than within 7 days from the date of the application.
4. The President of the Central Statistical Office, within 7 business days from the entry, transfers the information on the identification number allocated to an entrepreneur starting business activity to the President of the Social Insurance Institution, together with the PESEL number of the natural person running the business activity.
   

Article 44

1. The agencies running the official registers, with the exception of court registers, and information systems of public administration containing data on particular entities, shall be obliged to enter the identification number of the entity allocated on the register of business entities and to use it when providing information and to apply uniform codes for the description of the principal characteristics of the entity, coded according to the standard classifications.
2. The statistical offices shall make available on a free-of-charge basis to:
   1. agencies running other official registers and information systems of public administration, specified under paragraph 1, on a periodic basis, the list of businesses entered into the business register, together with the identification number allocated to them, and a coded description of the information covered by the register,
   2. State administration bodies and units of local authorities, other governmental agencies, the Supreme Chamber of Control (NIK) and the National Bank of Poland, the State Labour Inspection and the General Inspector for Personal Data Protection, and equivalent agencies, units and institutions of EU Member States, Member States of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) - parties to the agreement on the European Economic Areas, countries which have concluded an agreement with the European Community and its Member States regulating the freedom of providing services, and the European Commission, at their written request, the extracts from the business register -  in the agreed scope, indispensable for the statutory activities of those agencies.
3. The information available pursuant to the procedure provided for under paragraph 2 cannot include data specified in Article 42, paragraph 3, subparagraphs 7 and 8.

Article 45

1. In the scope of the information specified in Article 42, paragraph 3, subparagraphs 1-6 and 9, (with the exception of the identifier of the population records system (PESEL) and the address of the residence of natural persons conducting economic activity, unless it is the same as the address of the seat of the business activity, and the identifying number), the business register shall be open and available to third parties in the forms specified under paragraphs 2 and 3 and in Article 45a. In addition, data concerning the phone and fax number of the seat, the electronic mail address and website shall be made available, unless the entity does not provide them.
2. The Central Statistical Office shall publish on a periodic basis the catalogues of the selected groups of entities entered into the business register.
3. The Central Statistical Office and statistical offices shall make available upon individual orders against payment extracts from the business register.
4. The catalogues and extracts specified under paragraphs 2 and 3 can be issued in written or other form with the application of the available technical facilities.

Article 45a

The Central Statistical Office makes available the information referred to in Article 45 paragraph 1 on the website of the Central Statistical Office or through ePUAP.

Article 46

The Council of Ministers shall determine, by a regulation, the mode and methodology of running and updating the business register, including the patterns of the application forms, forms and certificates as well as detail conditions and procedures for the co-operation between the services of official statistics with other organs running official registers and information systems of the public administration.

Article 47

1. The President of the Central Statistical Office shall run the national official register of the territorial division of the country, further referred to as the `territorial register`.
2. The territorial register shall cover the systems of:
   1. identifiers and names of units of administrative divisions,
   2. identifiers and names of localities,
   3. statistical regions and census enumeration areas,
   4. identification of addresses of streets, real estate, buildings and dwellings.

   2a. The spatial identification of the information included in the systems referred to in paragraph 2 shall be made on the basis of spatial  data made available in public registers referred to in Article 4 paragraph 1a subparagraph 2, 4-6 and 8 of the Act of 17 May 1989 - Geodesy and Cartography Law.
  2b. The territorial register specified under paragraph 1 constitutes part of an integrated system of real estate information referred to in Article 24b of the Act of 17 May 1989 - Geodesy and Cartography Law.
   3. In the official registers and information systems of public administration there shall be an obligation to use the codes applied in the territorial register.

Article 48

1. The territorial register shall be open.
2. Article 44, paragraph 2 shall be applicable correspondingly.

Article 49

The Council of Ministers shall specify, by a regulation, detailed principles of running, using and making available the territorial register and related to it obligations of the state administration agencies and units of local authorities.