ANNEXXn

THE EAST AFRICAN STATISTICS BUREAU BILL, [2016]

ARRANGEMENT OF CLAUSES

PARTI

PRELIMINARY PROVISIONS

1. Citation and commencement

2. Interpretation
PARTH

ESTABLISHMENT OF THE EAST AFRICAN STATISTICS BUREAU

3. Establishment of the Bureau

4. Objectives of the Bureau
5. Functions of the Bureau

6. Powers of the Bureau

7. Independence ofthe Bureau

8. Headquarters ofthe Bureau
9. Community Statistical System
10. Cooperation with Other Entities outside the community

PARTm

GOVERNANCE OF THE BUREAU

11. East African Statistics Bureau (EASB) Board

12. Eligibility for the Board Members
13. Resignation and Removal of the BoardMembers
14. Functions of the Board

15. Board Meetings

16. Director General of the Bureau
17. organizational Structure and staff of the Bureau
18. Code of Conduct of the Bureau

11 P a g e
 PART IV

EAST AFRICAN STATISTICS FRAMEWORK

19. East African Statistics Framework

20. Principles of Statistics

21. Code of Practice

22. Reporting on Statistics

23. Inventory
24. Quality of Data
25. Sanctions

PARTY

CONFIDENTIALITY AND DISCLOSURE

26. Protection of Confidential Data

27. Disclosure of Confidential Data

28. Transmission of Confidential Data

29. Secrecy
30. Access to Administrative Records
31. Oath of Secrecy

PART VI

MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS

32. Status, privileges and immunities

33. Financial Year

34. Funding and budget

35. Annual accounts and auditing
36. The Common Seal
37. Power to makeregulations and guidelines
38. Act Take Precedence
39. Savings and Transitional Provisions
40. Dispute settlement

2 IPa ge

9^
 THE EAST AFRICAN STATISTICS BUREAU BILL, 2016

A Billfor an Act ofthe Community to establish the East African Statistics Bureau, in compliance with
Article 21 of the Protocol on the establishment of the East African Monetary Union; to harmonize,
consolidate, coordinate and regulate the development, production and dissemination of Community
statistics andfor connected matters.

Be it enacted by the East African Legislative Assembly and assented to by the Heads ofState

PARTI

PRELIMINARY PROVISIONS

Citation and (1) This Act may be cited as the East African
Community Statistics Act, 2016.
commencement (2) This Actshall come intoforce on such date as
the Council may, by notice published in the
Gazette appoint.
Interpretation In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires:
"Accounting Officer" has the meaning assigned to it by
section [)pc] of the [Financial Rules and Regulations of
20xx];
"Assembly" means the East African Legislative
Assembly established by Article 9 of the Treaty;
"Audit Commission" means the Audit Commission
established by Article 134 of the Treaty;
"Board" means the East African Statistics Bureau Board
established under section 12;
"Bureau" means the East African Statistics Bureau
established under section 4(1);
"Community" means the East African Community
established by Article 2 of the Treaty;
"Community law" means the Treaty and protocols
thereto, Acts of the Assembly, relevant decisions of the
Court, and applicable principles of international law;
"Community Statistics System" has the meaning
assigned to it by section 10(1);
"Community statistics" means statistics produced in
accordance with the East African Statistics
Framework;
"Council" means the Council of Ministers of the
Community established by Article 9 of the Treaty;
"Court" means the East African Court of Justice
established byArticle 9 of the Treaty;

3 1P a g e
 "confidential data" means data which allows a statistical
unit to be identified, either directly or indirectly, thereby
disclosing individual information;
"Director General" means the Director General of the
Bureau appointed under section 17(1);
"dissemination" means the activity of making statistical
data and information accessible to users;
"development" means activities aiming at setting up the
statistical methods, standards, and procedures used for
the production and dissemination of statistics as well as
at designing new statistics and indicators;
"East African Statistics Framework" includes
procedures, institutions, and mechanisms for
development, production, and dissemination of
Community statistics;
"logical protection" includes safeguards for an
organization's systems including user identification and
password access authenticating access rights and
authority levels;
"Monetary Union" means the East African Community
Monetary Union established by Article 2(1) of the
Protocol;
"Monetary Union institutions" means all institutions
referred to under the Protocol;
"National Assembly" has the meaning assigned to it by
Article I of the Treaty;
"national statistics office" means a body responsible for
development, production, dissemination and
coordination of official statistics in a Partner State.

"national statistical system" includes the national

statistics office, other national authorities, other
producers and users of statistics in a Partner State;
"other national authority" means a body, other than a
national statistics office, which carries out activities in
the Partner State for the development, production, or
dissemination of statistics;

"Partner States" means the parties to the Treaty;

"production" means all the activities related to the
planning, collection, storage, processing, and analysis of
statistics;
"Protocol" means the Protocol on the Establishment of
the East African Community Monetary Union;
"Secretariat" means the Secretariat of the Community
established by Article 9 of the Treaty;
"Summit" means the Summit established by Article 9 of
the Treaty;
"statistics" means quantitative and qualitative,
aggregated and representative data and information
characterizing a phenomenon in a considered
population;
"principles of statistics" has the meaning assigned to it
bysection 21(3);

4 IPa ge

9^
 "statistical unit" means the basic observation unit,
namely a natural person, a household, an economic
operator and other undertakings, referred to by the data;
"Treaty" means the Treaty for the Establishment of the
East African Community; and
"use for statistical purposes" means the exclusive use of
data and information for the development and
production of statistics.

PARXn

ESTABLISHMENT OF THE EAST AFRICAN STATISTICS BUREAU

3. Establishment of the There is hereby established an institution of the

Bureau Community to be known as the East African Statistics
Bureau in accordance with Article 2I( c) of the Protocol
1. The Bureau shall be the authority responsible for
community statistics.

The Bureau shall, together with the national statistics

offices and other national authorities of all Partner

States, form the Community Statistical System where

the national statistics offices shall be responsible for
the implementation of methodological standards
developed by the Bureau for the production,
dissemination, and archiving of Community statistics.
Objective ofthe The objective of the Bureau shall be to coordinate,
Bureau harmonize and regulate the development, production, and
dissemination of Community Statistics and contribute to
the attainment and proper functioning of the Monetary
Union.

Functions of the The functions of the Bureau shall be to -

a) Develop, produce and disseminate Community
Bureau
statistics
b) collect statistical data and information from
national statistical systems through national
statistics offices for development, production, and
dissemination of Community statistics;
c) Ensure adherence of the Partner States to
impartiality, reliability, and independence in
the production of community statistics.
d) ensureadoption of commonmethodologies in
the compilation and dissemination of
statistical data;
e) develop methodological standards for the
production and dissemination of Community

5 IPa ge
 statistics in accordance with internationally
accepted standards;
f) certify the quality and comparability of
statistical data submitted by the Partner States
to the Bureau for production of Community
statistics;
g) Develop a framework to ensure the
compliance of the Partner States with
methodological standards developed by the
Bureau and with the statistical principles;
h) make recommendations to the Council on
directives decisions, and regulations related
to execution of its mandate under this Act;
i) provide technical support to Partner States,
other community institutions and any country
which has applied for membership to the
Community in relation to the production of
Community statistics;
j) maintain a database of Community statistics;
k) enhance coordination and cooperation
among other community institutions on
issues related to statistics.
I) ensure adoption and implementation ofthe
East African Statistical Framework by the
Community Statistical System

2) Notwithstanding subsection (l)(b), the Bureau may

collect data from other sources of data where data is not
available in the Partner States; provided such sources of
data use international best practices.

3) The Bureau shall develop a mechanism for surveillance

and enforcement of compliance to the East African
statistical framework.

4) The Bureau shall perform such other functions as may

be determined by the Council

Powers of the In the performance of its functions under this Act, the
Bureau has the powers to:
Bureau
a) require information from national statistical
systems through national statistics offices of
Partner States;
b) make operational and technical decisions
necessary for the performance of its functions;
c) make recommendations to Partner States and
other Community institutions on matters related
to statistics;

d) issue guidelines necessary for the implementation

of the East African Statistical Framework.

6 IPa ge

9^
 e) issue opinions on quality and use of community
statistics;

f) enforce the compliance by Partner States with the

Community statistical principles and standards;
g) conduct on-site Audits to national statistics
offices which coordinate national statistical
systems of Partner States;
h) determine noncompliance by Partner States with
the East African Statistical Framework, inform
relevant Community organs and institutions and
make public the fact of the noncompliance as
appropriate; and
i) delegate its functions to such other institutions
and committees of the Community as it deems
appropriate.
7 Independence of the (a) Save as is otherwise provided by this Act, the
Bureau shall not take instructions on the
Bureau
performance of its functions from any other organ
or institution of the Community or any
Government of a Partner State or any other
person;

(b) The Bureau shall have the sole responsibility

within the Community for deciding on methods,
standards, and procedures in relation to
Community statistics.
8 Headquarters of the The Headquarters of the Bureau shall be located
Bureau in such Partner State as the Summit may, on the
recommendation of the Council, determine.

9 Community (a) The Community Statistics System shall include

Statistics System the Bureau, the national statistical systems of the
Partner States, and other Community institutions
which are producers or users of Community
statistics and the related East African Statistical
Framework.
(b) The Bureau shall be the coordinator of the
Community statistical system.
(c) The Bureau shall develop a mechanism for
coordination ofthe community statistical system.

10 Cooperation with (a) The Bureau may cooperate with any institutions
Other Entities in countries outside the Community and
outside the international bodies and organizations for the
community purpose of better performance of its functions
under this Act.
(b) The Bureau shall represent the Community in
matters related to its mandate.

PART III

GOVERNANCE OF THE BUREAU

7 IPage

9^
 11 East African Statistics a) There shall be a Board which shall be the
Bureau (EASB) Board governing body of the Bureau.
b) The board shall consist of-
(i) one non-executive member from each
Partner State;
(il) the Director General of the Bureau;
(iii) The heads of the national statistics
offices from each of the Partner States
as ex-officio members.

c) The Board members mentioned in paragraph

(a)(i) shall be appointed by the Council for a
term of three years renewable once
d) The Director General of the Bureau shall be the
Secretary to the Board.

e) Ofthe first appointed Board members, the terms

of two of the Board members shall expire at the
end of two years and the remaining Board
members shall serve their flill terms of three
years.
f) The Board members whose terms are to expire
at the end of each of the initial periods
mentioned in subsection (e) shall be chosen by
lot to be drawn by the Council immediately after
their appointment.
g) Where a new Board member is appointed
following the death, resignation, or removal
from office of a board member, the new Board
member shall serve for the remainder of the
tenure of the former Board member and may be
eligible for reappointment once.
(h) The Council shall determine the remuneration
of the Board members.

12 Eligibility for the (a) The board member shall be -

Board Members (i) a national of a Partner States;
(ii) fit and proper person of professional
standing in a Partner State;
(iii) a holder of at least a Master degree in a
statistics, economics or demography
from a university recognized by a
competent authority in a Partner State;
and
(iv) having a minimum of ten years
experience in areas relevant to statistics
at least five of which shall be at senior
management level.
(b) No person shall be eligible to be a Board
member if he -

8 IPage
 (i) has been convicted of a criminal offence
which carries a sentence of imprisonment of
more than six months;
(ii) has been declared bankrupt;
(iii)has, on the grounds of proved personal
misconduct, been disqualified or suspended
by a competent authority from participating a
profession; or
(iv) is a spouse, parent, brother, sister, or direct
descendant, including their wives of a Board
member.
(v) No person shall be a Board member while he
or she is:
(c) a member of the Assembly or National
Assembly;
a) a Minister of a Partner State; or
b) an officer or employee of:
i. other Monetary Union institution or other
Community organ or institution;
ii. a national statistics office; or
(a) such other institution of a Partner State as may be
specified in the[regulations/directives]
13 Resignation and (a) A Board member may resign from office by giving
a written notice to the Council at least one month
Removal of the Board
before the date of the resignation.
Members (b) The Council shall remove a Board member from
office if the Board member -
(i) falls within any of the grounds mentioned in
section 13(a) or (b);
(ii) is guilty of serious personal misconduct,
including material breach ofthe provision ofthis
Act or the Code of Conduct applicable to the
Bureau;
(iii)is incapable of carrying out his or her duties
because of physical or mental impairment; or
(iv) fails to perform his or her duties for a
consecutive period of more than three months
without permission of the Board.
(c) A Board member shall not be removed on a
ground other than those mentioned in subsection
(b).
(d) Prior to his or her removal under subsection (b),
the Board member shall be given a reasonable
opportunity to be heard by a tribunal composed of
such number of judges of the Court as appointed
by the President of the Court.

14 Functions of the 1. The Board shall provide strategic policy

directions and monitor the performance of the
Board
functions of the Bureau.

9 IPage
 2. Without limiting the generality of subsection (1),
the Board shall:
a) consider reports on the operation of the Bureau
submitted to it by the Director General;
b) make recommendations to the Council on draft
decisions, directives, and regulations;
c) submit annual and semiannual reports related to
the functions of the Bureau to the Council;
d) Submit the proposed annual budget of the Bureau
to the Council for consideration;
e) Submit annual accounts for the Bureau to the
Council;

f) approve internal rules on the organization and

operation of the Bureau;

g) make recommendations to the council on staffing

and recruitment; and
h) exercise such other powers and perform such other
functions as may be conferred on it by Council.

15 Board Meetings 1) The Board shall determine.its rules of procedure,

subject to the provisions of the Treaty and this
Act.
2) The Chairperson of the Board shall be elected on
a rotational basis in accordance with the rules of
procedure of the East African Community
meetings.
3) The quorum of the Board meeting shall be all
Board members.
4) Decisions of the Board shall be made by
consensus.

5) The Board shall meet once every quarter but may

hold special meetings as it may consider
necessary.
6) All decisions of the Board shall be authenticated
by the signatures of the Chairperson and the
Director General.

16 Director General of 1) There shall be a Director General who shall be

the Bureau responsible for the management of the Bureau.
2) The Director General shall be appointed by the
Council upon recommendation of the Board
through a competitive process.
3) The Director General shall be -
(i) a national of a Partner State;
(ii) fit and proper person of professional
standing in a Partner State;
(iii) a holder of at least a Master degree in
statistics, economics or demography
from a university recognized by a

10 I P a g e

9^
 competent authority in a Partner State;
and

(iv) having a minimum of ten years

experience in development and
production of official statistics at least
five which shall be at be senior
management level.
4) Without prejudice to the provisions oftliis Act, the
appointment ofthe Director General shall be made
in accordance with the staff rules and regulations
and terms and conditions of service of the
Community.
5) The Director General shall serve for a period of
five years and is not eligible for reappointment.
6) The Council shall determine the remuneration of
the Director General.
7) Sections 13(b) and (c) and 14 shall apply to the
disqualification, resignation, and removal of the
Director General.
8) The Director General shall be-
(i) the Statistician General and the Chief
Executive Officer of the Bureau; and

(ii) the Accounting Officer of the Bureau.

17 Organizational (1) The Council shall on the recommendation ofthe

Structure and staff of
Board consider and approve the organizational
the Bureau
structure of the Bureau.
(2) The officers and staff of the Bureau, other than
the Board members and the Director General,
shall be appointed in accordance with staff rules
and regulations and terms and conditions of
service of the Community.
18 Code of Conduct of (1) The Code of Conduct of Community
the Bureau shall apply to the Bureau.
(2) Subsection (1) does not prevent the
Bureau from setting out additional rules
on matters of conduct to be observed by
the Board members, the Director
General, and other officers and staff of
the Bureau.

PART IV

EAST AFRICAN STATISTICS FRAMEWORK

19 East African Statistics 1) The Council shall, on the recommendation of the

Bureau, develop and adopt an East African
Framework
Statistics Framework for development,
production, and dissemination of statistical data
and information necessary for the operation of the
Monetary Union.

111 P a g e
 2) The East African Statistics Framework shall be
designed to promote compliance by Partner States
with statistics principles and standards.
3) Parmer States shall implement the East African
Statistics Framework with the objective of
providing high quality data and information, in
compliance with statistics framework developed
in 20 (I)

20 Principles of Statistics 1) Community statistics shall be developed,

produced and disseminated in accordance with the
principles of statistics.
2) The principles of statistics developed pursuant to
subsection (1), shall apply to all statistics of-
(a) Community institutions; and
(b) Partner States' Institutions
as may be specified in the regulations.
3) The principles of statistics mentioned in
subsection (1) shall include:
a) "relevance", which refers to the degree to which
statistics meet current and potential needs of the
users;
b) "accuracy", which refers to the closeness of
estimates to the unknown true values;
c) "timeliness", which refers to the period between
the availability of the information and the event
or phenomenon it describes;
d) "punctuality", which refers to the delay between
the date of the release of the data and the target
date by which the data should have been
delivered;
e) "accessibility" and "clarity", which refer to the
conditions and modalities by which users can
obtain, use and interpret data;
f) "comparability", which refers to the
measurement of the impact of differences in
applied statistical concepts, measurement tools
and procedures where statistics are compared
between geographical areas, sectoral domains or
over time;
g) "coherence", which refers to the adequacy of the
data to be reliably combined in different ways
and for various users;
h) "transparency", which refers to the availability to
users of the sources, methodological standards,
and procedures in relation to production of
statistics; and
(1) "professional independence", which refers to
the independence of the development.

12 1 P a g e

9^
 production, and dissemination of statistics from
political or other influence.

21 Code of Practice (1) Subject to the provisions ofthis Act, the Council
shall on recommendation of the bureau and by
regulations published in the gazette make a code
of practice prescribing matters necessary for the
application and compliance with the principles
of statistics.

22 Reporting on Statistics 1) The Bureau shall issue guidelines on definitions,

standards, clarifications, rules and coverage of
reporting, including reporting deadlines, and
procedures to assess the quality of data, in respect
of statistical data for the purpose of producing
Community statistics.
2) A Partner State shall report to the Bureau
statistical data and information required under
subsection (1) in accordance with the guidelines.

23 Inventory A Partner State shall submit to the Bureau the

inventory of sources, methodologies, and procedures
for producing Community statistics.

24 Quality of Data 1) The Bureau shall prepare and publish reports on

the quality of data of the Partner States submitted
for compilation of Community statistics.
2) Tlie Bureau shall by guidelines prescribe:
a) the contents, frequency, procedures, and other
matters necessary for preparation and submission
of a report on the quality of data under subsection
(1); and
b) the requirements, procedures, and any other
necessary matters in relation to the reporting,
assessment, and enforcement ofthe quality of data
submitted under section 23(2) for the purpose of
ensuring the compliance with the methodological
standards and the principles of statistics.

25 Sanctions The Council shall develop measures to sanction a

Partner State for material misreporting or non-
reporting ofstatistical data or information required
under section 23 or material violation of the
principles of statistics.

PARTY

CONFIDENTIALITY AND DISCLOSURE

13 i P a g e
 26 Protection of 1) Confidential data in the custody of the Director
General under this Act:
Confidential Data
(a) shall be used exclusively for statistical purposes;
and
(b) shall not be disclosed to any person, except to
employees of the Bureau that have taken the
oath of secrecy under section 32.
2) All Community statistics and other statistical
information disseminated or published by the
Director General shall be arranged in such a
manner as to prevent identification of a particular
statistical unit, unless the statistical unit has, in
writing, consented to the dissemination or
publication in that marmer.
3) The Bureau shall take all necessary regulatory,
administrative, technical and organizational
measures to ensure the physical and logical
protection of confidential data within the
competence ofthe Bureau.
4) Statistical Information and data that has been
published does not qualify as confidential.
27 Disclosure of Notwithstanding section 27(1), confidential data in the
custody of the Director General under this Act may be
Confidential Data
disclosed by him to any person, if the statistical unit
identifiable through the confidential data has, in writing,
consented to the disclosure.
28 Transmission of 1) Notwithstanding section 27(1) or the legislative
acts of the Partner States, the Bureau and national
Confidential Data
statistics offices may share confidential data, if-
a) the transmission is necessary for the
performance ofthe functions of the Bureau; and
b) the transmitted data is used exclusively for
statistical purposes.
2) Notwithstanding section 27(1), the Bureau may
share confidential data with other Community
institutions if the transmitted confidential data is
intended to be used exclusively for statistical
purposes.
3) The Community institution to which the
confidential data is transmitted shall not make any
further transmission.
29 Secrecy 1) A person who is or has been a Board member, the
Director General or other employee of the Bureau
shall not, either directly or indirectly, disclose to
any person confidential data obtained in the
exercise of his duties, unless the disclosure is
authorized under this Act.
2) A person who contravenes subsection (1) shall be
guilty of an offence and shall be liable on
conviction to penalties (fine and/imprisonment) in
accordance with relevant laws within the
Community.
3) An employee of a national statistics office, to
whom confidential data is transmitted under

14 1 Page

9^
 section 29(1), siiall not, either directly or indirectly
disclose the confidential data to another person,
unless the disclosure is authorized under this Act.
4) A person who contravenes subsection (3) shall be
liable on conviction to penalties (fine
and/imprisonment) in accordance with relevant
laws within the Community.
30 Access to Any Partner State having the custody of, or being in
charge of, any records or documents from which
Administrative
information sought by the Bureau in furtherance of the
Records purposes of this Act may be obtained, or which would
aid in the completion or correction of information
already obtained, shall grant the Bureau access to such
records or documents for the purpose of obtaining the
required information.

31 Oath of Secrecy A Board member. Director General and any

person employed by the Bureau shall take oath of
office and secrecy before commencing the duties
relating to the provisions of this Act and shall
remain bound even after leaving services of the
Bureau.

PART VI

MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS

32 Status, privileges and (1) In accordance with Article 138 ofthe Treaty, the
Bureau shall enjoy international legal
immunities
personality.
(2) The Director General, and staff of the Bureau
shall enjoy such privileges and immunities as are
required to carry out their functions and as accorded
by Article 73 of the Treaty.

33 Financial Year The financial year of the Bureau shall be the same
as the financial year of the Community in
accordance with Article 132 ofthe Treaty.
34 Funding and budget (1) The Bureau shall be funded in accordance with
Article 132 of the Treaty.
(2) The Board shall submitthe budget of the Bureau to
the Council for consideration.

35 Annual accounts and rhe Bureau shall:

auditing (a) keep proper books of accounts and records of its
transactions and affairs;
(b) ensure that the moneys received are properly
accounted for;
(c) ensure that all payments out of its fiinds are
correctly made and properly authorised; and

15 I P a g e
 (d) ensure that adequate control is maintained over its
assets.
^2) The annual accounts of the Bureau shall be audited
by the Audit Commission within three months after
the end of the financial year.
^3) The Bureau shall within three months after the end
of each financial year submit to the Council an
annual report in respect of that financial year
containing:
(a) the audited financial statements; and
(b) any other information the Bureau may deem
appropriate.
(4) The Council shall cause to be laid before the
Legislative Assembly, the annual report of the
Bureau for the financial year together with a copy
of the report of the Audit Commission within six
months after the end of the financial year.
36 The Common Seal 1) The affixing ofthe common seal ofthe Bureau may
be authenticated by the signature of the Director-
General and any other officer designated for that
purpose, and any document not required by law to
be made under seal.

2) The Board shall, in the absence of either the

Director-General and any other officer designated
for that purpose in any particular manner, nominate
one member to authenticate the seal on behalf of
either the Director-General and any other officer
designated for that purpose;

3) Any document issued under the seal of the Bureau

shall be admissible in evidence and shall be deemed
to be executed or issued as the case may be, without
further proof, unless the contrary is provided.
37 Power to make (1) The Council may, on recommendation of the Board,
make regulations or issue directives for the better
regulations and
carrying into effect the provisions of this Act.
guidelines: (2) The Bureau may issue guidelines to facilitate the
execufion of its mandate.
38 Act Take Precedence This Act shall take precedence over Laws of Partner
States with respect to any matter to which its provisions
relate.

39 Savings and The directives made by the Council before the enactment
ofthis Act in respect of the development, production, or
Transitional
dissemination of Community statistics shall remain valid
Provisions and be deemed to have been made under relevant
sections of this Act, unless they are contrary to this Act
or revoked by other directives made under this Act.
40 Dispute settlement Disputes under this Act shall be settled in accordance
withthe provisions of the Treaty.

16 I P a g e