F. Country experiences

1.16.        The legal framework for trade statistics in Morocco. In Morocco, the Office of Exchange is responsible for the compilation and dissemination of external trade statistics. The Office of Exchange is a public institution charged with two missions: to enact measures relating to exchange control regulations and to establish the foreign trade statistics, balance of payments and international investment position. The compilation and dissemination of foreign trade statistics have been entrusted to the Office of Exchange since 1967 under a decision of the Minister of Finance. The legal acts concerning trade statistics were consolidated in 2007 with the promulgation of Law 19-06, on statistical reporting for the compilation of statistics of foreign trade. This law contains provisions that permit:

(a)  Establishment of the requirement for residents with respect to reporting transactions with non-residents to the Office of Exchange;

(b)  Specification of the reportable transactions: commercial and financial transactions with non-residents;

(c)  Definition of violations of the law on statistical reporting: non-declaration, misrepresentation and non-compliance with statistical declaration requirements;

(d) Empowerment of the Office of Exchange to initiate investigations directly with traders.

1.17.        The Confidentiality Act of the Philippines. Confidentiality of trade data in the Philippines is based on provisions of Commonwealth Act 591, section 4. The Act states, inter alia, that data furnished to the National Statistics Office by an individual, corporation, partnership, institution or business enterprise shall not be used in any court or in any public office as evidence either for or against the individual, corporation, association, partnership, institution or business enterprise from whom such data emanate; nor shall such data or information be divulged to any person except authorized employees of the National Statistics Office, acting in the performance of their duties; nor shall such data be published except in the form of summaries or statistical tables in which no reference to an individual, corporation, association, partnership, institution or business enterprise shall appear.  Any person violating the provisions of this section shall, upon conviction, be punished by a fine or by imprisonment, or by both.  Strict compliance with Commonwealth Act 591, section 4, is being implemented in the Philippines in the compilation and dissemination of international merchandise trade statistics. Data being released are all in summary form, and tables are in aggregate value, with no reference to individual importer or exporter data. Value and volume of import and export data are released only by commodity and by country. No information on the identity of the exporter or the importer is indicated in the statistical tables.