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Statistics Act 2002
STATISTICS ACT 2002

1989 Revision 1

BERMUDA
2002 : 4

STATISTICS ACT 2002

[Date of Assent: 18 March 2002]

[Operative Date: 18 March 2002]

ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS

1 Citation
2 Interpretation
3 Department of Statistics
4 Duties of Chief

Statistician
5 Taking census
6 Collection and publication

of statistics
7 Prohibition against

examining returns,
disclosing information,
etc.

8 Oath of Secrecy
9 Power of Chief Statistician

to authorise disclosure of
certain information

10 Protection of information

11 Power to obtain periodic
or other information

12 Notices
13 Publication of notice

requiring returns by
undertakings

14 Penalty for Destruction,
etc. of Documents

15 Failure to furnish
information, etc.

16 Power to amend First
Schedule

17 Repeals Act No. 47 of
1978 and Act No. 19 of
1950

18 Regulations
FIRST SCHEDULE
SECOND SCHEDULE

STATISTICS ACT 2002

2 1989 Revision

WHEREAS it is expedient to make provision for the collection,
compilation, analysis and publication of statistical information and for
related purposes:

Be it enacted by The Queen's Most Excellent Majesty, by and
with the advice and consent of the Senate and the House of Assembly of
Bermuda, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

Citation
1 This Act may be cited as the Statistics Act 2002.

Interpretation
2 (1) In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires —

"Chief Statistician" means the person holding or acting in the
public office of Chief Statistician;

"Department" means the Department of Statistics referred to in
section 3;

"electronic record" means a record or document created, stored,
generated, received or communicated by electronic means;

"Minister" means the Premier or other Minister for the time being
responsible for statistics;

"statistics" means information in connection with or incidental to
any general purpose of all or any of the matters specified in
the First Schedule and "statistical" shall be construed
accordingly.

"undertaking" means any undertaking by way of trade, business
or profession, whether or not the trade, business or
profession is carried on for profit; and the exercise and
performance by a public authority of the powers and duties of
that authority shall be treated as a trade or business of that
authority.

Department of Statistics
3 On the coming into operation of this Act the Department shall
continue to function, subject to the provisions of this Act and the
directions of the Minister, under the general control and supervision of
the Chief Statistician.

Duties of Chief Statistician
4 (1) It shall be the duty of the Chief Statistician —

STATISTICS ACT 2002

1989 Revision 3

(a) in accordance with the provisions of this Act, to collect,
compile, collate, analyse, abstract and publish statistical
information relating to the commercial, industrial, social,
financial, economic, and general activities and
conditions of the people of Bermuda;

(b) to take any census of population and housing in
Bermuda;

(c) to collaborate with Ministries, other Government
Departments and public authorities in the collection,
compilation, collation and publication of statistical
information, including statistics derived from the
activities of those Ministries, departments or public
authorities;

(d) to promote the avoidance of duplication in the
information collected by Ministries, other Government
Departments and public authorities; and

(e) generally to promote, organise and develop an integrated
scheme of economic and social statistics relating to
Bermuda.

(2) The Chief Statistician may, for the purpose of the
performance of any of his functions under this Act, employ such persons
in addition to the staff of the Department as the Chief Statistician may
consider necessary for the particular purpose.

Taking census
5 (1) A census of the population of Bermuda shall be taken in the
year 2010 and every fifth year thereafter.

(2) The census shall be taken in such a manner as to ensure
that counts of the population are provided for each electoral
constituency, as constituted at the time of the census.

(3) The Minister may by order direct that a census shall be
taken of the whole or any part of Bermuda, or any class of inhabitants
and the order shall specify—

(a) the dates on or between which the census is to be taken;

(b) the persons by whom and with respect to whom the
returns for the purpose of such census are to be made;
and

(c) the matters in respect of which information is to be
obtained in the census.

STATISTICS ACT 2002

4 1989 Revision

Collection and publication of statistics
6 (1) Subject to the provisions of this Act, the Chief Statistician
shall, in accordance with a direction given by the Minister, from time to
time, whether in conjunction with a census or not, collect statistics either
in Bermuda generally, or in any part of Bermuda.

(2) The Chief Statistician shall cause the statistics and other
particulars, if any, collected pursuant to this Act to be compiled,
tabulated and analysed and, subject to the provisions of this Act, shall
cause such statistics or abstracts thereof, or extracts therefrom to be
published, with or without comments thereon, in such manner as the
Minister may either generally or specially direct.

Prohibition against examining returns, disclosing information, etc.
7 (1) Subject to the provisions of this Act, no person other than a
person who is employed under this Act and who has sworn or affirmed
the oath set out in the Second Schedule thereto shall—

(a) be permitted to examine any identifiable individual
return made for the purposes of this Act; or

(b) disclose or cause to be disclosed by any means, any
information obtained under this Act in such a manner
that it is possible from the disclosure to relate the
particulars obtained from any individual return to any
identifiable individual person, business or organisation.

(2) Any person who—

(a) being a person employed for any of the purposes of this
Act, without lawful authority publishes or in any manner
communicates to any other person, otherwise than in
the ordinary course of such employment, any
information acquired by him in the course of such
employment; or

(b) having possession of any information which to his
knowledge has been disclosed in contravention of this
Act, makes use of or publishes or in any manner
communicates that information to any other person,

is guilty of an offence and is liable on conviction by a court of summary
jurisdiction to a fine not exceeding $5000 or to a term of imprisonment
not exceeding one year.

Oath of secrecy
8 Any person employed in the exercise of any power or the
performance of any duty under this Act, including any additional staff

STATISTICS ACT 2002

1989 Revision 5

employed by the Chief Statistician pursuant to section 4(2), shall, before
entering upon his duties, take the oath or make the affirmation set out in
the Second Schedule.

Power of Chief Statistician to authorise disclosure of certain
information
9 (1) The Chief Statistician may authorise the disclosure of the
following information—

(a) information collected by persons, organisations,
Ministries, other Government Departments or public
authorities for their own purposes and communicated to
the Department prior to the coming into operation of this
Act but that information shall be subject to the same
requirements for secrecy, if any, to which it was subject
when collected and may only be disclosed in the
manner, and to the extent, agreed on by the collector
thereof and the Chief Statistician;

(b) information relating to a person or organisation in
respect of which disclosure is consented to in writing by
the person or organisation concerned;

(c) information relating to a business, other than a business
providing services as a carrier or a public utility, in
respect of which disclosure is consented to in writing by
the owner for the time being of the business;

(d) information available to the public under any statutory
provision;

(e) information relating to any hospital, mental institution,
library, educational institution, welfare institution, or
similar non-commercial institution, so, however, that in
the case of a hospital, mental institution or other
residential institution, the information shall be arranged
in such a manner that it is not possible to relate the
particulars to any individual patient, inmate, or other
person in the care of such institution;

(f) information relating to any carrier or public utility; or

(g) information in the form of an index or list, of individual
establishments, firms or businesses showing such
matters in relation to them as may be prescribed by
regulations.

(2) In this section—

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6 1989 Revision

"carrier" means any person or association of persons that owns,
operates or manages an undertaking that carries, or moves,
persons or commodities by any form of land, sea, or air
transport; and

"public utility" means any person or association of persons that
owns, operates, or manages an undertaking—

(a) for the supply of petroleum or petroleum products by
pipeline;

(b) for the supply, transmission or distribution of electricity,
gas or water;

(c) for the collection and disposal of garbage or sewage, or
for the control of pollution;

(d) for the transmission, emission, reception or conveyance
of information by any telecommunication system; or

(e) for the provision of postal services.

Protection of information
10 (1) A person shall not be required to supply any information
under this Act which involves the disclosure of any technical process, or
trade secret, in or relating to the undertaking of which he is the owner,
or in the conduct or supervision of which he is engaged.

(2) Subject to the provisions of this section, except in the case
of information collected in an employment survey—

(a) no individual return or part thereof, made for the
purposes of this Act;

(b) no answer given to any question put for the purposes of
this Act; and

(c) no report, abstract, or other document containing
particulars comprised in any such return or answer so
arranged as to identify such particulars with any person
or undertaking,

shall be published, admitted in evidence, or shown to any person not
employed in the exercise of a power, or the performance of a duty under
this Act, unless the consent in writing thereto has been obtained from
the person making the return or giving the answer or, in the case of an
undertaking, from the owner or the person for the time being carrying on
the undertaking.

(3) Except for the purposes of a prosecution under this Act—

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(a) a return made to the Department pursuant to this Act
and a copy of such return in the possession of the
respondent shall not be used as evidence in any
proceedings whatsoever; and

(b) no person who is employed under this Act and who has
sworn or affirmed the oath set out in the Second
Schedule thereto shall by an order of any court,
tribunal, or other body be required to give oral
testimony, or to produce any return, document, or
record with respect to any information obtained for the
purposes of this Act.

(4) This section applies in respect of any information that the
Department is prohibited by this Act from disclosing, or that may only be
disclosed in accordance with section 9.

(5) Nothing in this section shall prevent or restrict the
publication of any such report, abstract or other document by reason
only of the fact that the particulars in the report, abstract or document
in question relate to an undertaking, other than an undertaking which
does not provide essential services, which is the only undertaking within
its particular sphere of activities, if the report, abstract or document is so
arranged as to disclose, in respect of such undertaking only the following
information, that is to say—

(a) the quantity and the value of any description of goods
manufactured, produced or exported or sold;

(b) the number of and the economic and social
characteristics of employees employed;

(c) the amount and extent of any investment; and

(d) any other information which has been furnished or
supplied under this Act, to the publication of which no
objection has been made in writing by the person
furnishing or supplying the information prior to the
publication of the report, abstract or document.

(6) In this section "essential services" means the services
specified in the First Schedule to the Labour Relations Act 1975.

Power to obtain periodic or other information
11 (1) It shall be lawful for the Chief Statistician, in respect of any
one or more of the matters specified in the First Schedule, to require any
person—

STATISTICS ACT 2002

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(a) by notice in writing addressed to that person, or by
notice published in the Official Gazette, to furnish in the
form and manner and within the time specified, such
periodical or other information, estimates or returns, as
may be so specified; and

(b) to supply the Chief Statistician with particulars—

(i) at a personal interview with, or with a person
authorised by, the Chief Statistician;

(ii) by leaving at, or by posting to, the last known
address of such person, a form having thereon a
notice requiring the form to be completed and
returned in the manner and within the time
specified in the notice; or

(iii) by telephoning or making an electronic
transmission to such a person.

(2) A notice referred to in subsection (1) shall state—

(a) that it is in exercise of the powers conferred upon the
Chief Statistician by that subsection; and

(b) generally the purpose for which the information,
estimates, returns or particulars are required.

(3) Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, any
person having the custody or charge of any public records or documents
or any records or documents, including electronic records, that are
maintained in any Ministry, Government Department, public authority,
corporation, business, organisation or other location—

(a) from which information sought in furtherance of the
purposes of this Act may, in the opinion of the Chief
Statistician, be obtained; or

(b) which, in the opinion of the Chief Statistician, will aid in
the completion or correction of information already
obtained,

shall grant to the Chief Statistician access to such records or documents
for the purpose of obtaining therefrom the required information and shall
furnish the Chief Statistician with copies of any such records or
documents if so required.

(4) Where any particulars, in whatever form, are, by any notice
purporting to be issued by the Chief Statistician, required to be supplied
by any person, it shall be presumed until the contrary is proved—

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1989 Revision 9

(a) that the particulars may lawfully be required from that
person in accordance with the provisions of this Act; and

(b) that the notice has been issued by the Chief Statistician.

(5) In this section "electronic transmission" means
transmission by means of electrical, digital, wireless, optical,
electromagnetic or similar capability.

Notices
12 (1) Except as otherwise provided, a notice required or
authorized by or under this Act to be served on any person may be
served either—

(a) by delivering it to that person; or

(b) by leaving it at his proper address; or

(c) by sending it by post to his proper address; or

(d) by publishing it in the Official Gazette.

(2) Any such notice required or authorized to be served upon
an incorporated company or body shall be duly served if it is served on
the secretary or clerk of the company or body.

(3) For the purposes of this section, the proper address of any
person on whom a notice is to be served shall, in the case of the
secretary or clerk of an incorporated company or body, be that of the
registered or principal office of the company or body, and in any other
case shall be the last known address of the person to be served.

(4) Where the name of a person carrying on an undertaking at
any premises is not known, then if any such notice is sent by post in a
letter so addressed as to show the name in which and the premises at
which the undertaking is carried on, the letter shall be deemed to be
properly addressed.

Publication of notice requiring returns by undertakings
13 (1) The Chief Statistician may, by notice published in the
Official Gazette and once a week for two weeks in a newspaper printed
and circulating in Bermuda, specify a list of any class or description of
undertaking in relation to which returns will be required for any of the
purposes of this Act.

(2) Where pursuant to subsection (1) the Chief Statistician
publishes a list, then, any person who is carrying on an undertaking of
the class or description specified in the notice shall, within the time
specified in the notice, inform the Chief Statistician that he is carrying on
such an undertaking and shall give to the Chief Statistician such

STATISTICS ACT 2002

10 1989 Revision

information or particulars of the undertaking as may be specified in that
notice.

(3) Subject to subsection (4), a person who fails to give any
information or particulars as required by subsection (2) is guilty of an
offence and is liable on conviction by a court of summary jurisdiction to
a fine not exceeding $5,000.

(4) It shall be a defence for a person charged with an offence
under this section to prove that he did not know and had reasonable
cause for not knowing that he was required to give that information or
those particulars.

(5) Any person who knowingly or recklessly makes any
statement in any information or particulars given under subsection (2)
which is false in a material particular is guilty of an offence and is liable
on conviction by a court of summary jurisdiction to a fine not exceeding
$5,000 or to a term of imprisonment not exceeding six months.

(6) Where an undertaking is wholly or partly carried on by
means of branches situated at several premises, the Minister may agree
with the persons carrying on the undertaking that for the purposes of all
or any of the provisions of this Act a separate undertaking shall be
deemed to be carried on at all or any of those branches by the branch
manager or such other person as may be specified in the agreement.

Penalty for Destruction, etc. of Documents
14 A person who without lawful authority destroys, defaces or
mutilates any form, any schedule or other document, including an
electronic record, containing particulars obtained in pursuance of the
provisions of this Act, is guilty of an offence and liable on conviction by a
court of summary jurisdiction to a fine not exceeding $5,000.

Failure to furnish information, etc.
15 (1) Any person required to furnish information, estimates or
returns or to supply particulars under this Act who refuses or neglects to
do so is guilty of an offence and is liable on conviction by a court of
summary jurisdiction to a fine not exceeding $1,000.

(2) If the failure in respect of which a person is convicted under
subsection (1) is continued after the conviction, the failure shall
constitute a further offence and the person shall be liable in respect of
each day during which the offence continues to a fine of $1,000.

(3) Any person required to furnish information, estimates or
returns or to supply particulars under this Act, who knowingly or
recklessly makes any statement relating to the information, estimates,
returns or particulars which is false or misleading in any material

STATISTICS ACT 2002

1989 Revision 11

particular, or who practises any other deception thereunder, is guilty of
an offence and is liable on conviction by a court of summary jurisdiction
to a fine not exceeding $1,000 for every false or misleading statement, or
for other deception, as the case may be.

(4) A person who hinders or obstructs any person engaged in
the execution of any duty under this Act is guilty of an offence and is
liable on conviction by a court of summary jurisdiction to a fine not
exceeding $1,000.

(5) Where an offence under any of the foregoing provisions of
this Act committed by a company is proved to have been committed with
the consent or connivance of, or to be attributable to neglect on the part
of, any director, senior executive, secretary or other similar officer of the
company or any person who was purporting to act in any such capacity,
he as well as the company, shall be guilty of that offence and be liable to
be proceeded against and punished accordingly unless such person
shows that he took all reasonable steps to avoid the commission of an
offence.

Power to amend First Schedule
16 The Minister may from time to time by order subject to negative
resolution procedure add to, delete or vary any of the matters specified in
the First Schedule.

Repeals Act No. 47 of 1978 and Act No. 19 of 1950
17 The Statistics of Employment Act 1978 and the Census Act 1950
are repealed.

Regulations
18 The Minister may make regulations prescribing —

(a) the particulars and information to be furnished
concerning any matter in respect of which statistics may
be collected under the provisions of this Act;

(b) the manner and form in which, the times and places at
which, and the persons by whom such particulars and
information shall be furnished; and

(c) the information to be provided by establishments for the
purposes of section 9(1)(g).

STATISTICS ACT 2002

12 1989 Revision

FIRST SCHEDULE (sections 2, 11, 16)

1. Population

2. Housing

3. Health and welfare of the community

4. Labour and employment

5. Immigration and emigration

6. Prices and the cost of living

7. Finance, insurance and international business

8. Real estate, rents and vacancies

9. Education, public and private

10. Law enforcement and the administration of
justice and corrections

11. Agriculture

12. Fishing activity and the fishing industry

13. Births, deaths, marriages and divorces

14. Salaries, wages, fees and other payment for
services rendered

15. Construction activity

16. Wholesale and Retail activity

17. Imports and exports

18. Traffic and transportation

19. Visitors by air and sea and length of stay

20. Land tenure and the occupation and use of land

21. Communication

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SECOND SCHEDULE Section 8

I, solemnly swear*
(solemnly sincerely and truthfully affirm) that I will
faithfully and honestly fulfill my functions as in
conformity with the requirements of the Statistics Act
2001, and that I will not, without due authority in that
behalf disclose or make known any matter or thing
which comes to my knowledge by reasons of my
employment as such.

Signed

Date

*Delete as appropriate