Art. 1. (1) These rules shall govern:

1. The basic principles of dissemination of statistical information;
2. Types of statistical information products and services;
3. Ways of dissemination of statistical information products and services;
4. Procedures for the implementation of international information exchange;
5. Criteria for paid and free provision of statistical products and services;
6. Methods of pricing of statistical products and services.

(2) The activities of the NSI library shall be governed by separate rules.

 

(3) The procedure for provision of anonymised individual data for scientific and research and statistical purposes shall be subject to separate rules.

 

Art. 2. Dissemination of statistical products and services of the NSI shall be performed in compliance with the following principles:

1. Accessibility for all users to the results of statistical surveys included in the National Statistical Programme (NSP);
2. Equality of all users informed of the results of statistical surveys included in the NSP;
3. Objectivity and impartiality in reporting the results of statistical surveys included in the NSP;
4. Strict compliance with deadlines for announcing the results of statistical surveys included in the NSP under the pre-announced at the beginning of the year Calendar presenting the results of the statistical surveys carried out by the National Statistical Institute (Release Calendar);
5. Protection of statistical secrecy subject in compliance with the provisions on the confidentiality of individual data under the Statistics Act and taking appropriate technical and organizational measures to guarantee the confidentiality of personal data;
6. Intelligibility and clarity in disclosure of the results of statistical surveys included in the NSP;
7. Quality assurance in the statistical production process and quality management of statistical sources, processes and products;
8. Orientation to the needs of users, including publishing and delivering of the main part of the information in English.

Art. 4. The NSI shall disseminate statistical information by:

1. The Internet site at: www.nsi.bg;
2. The Information System Infostat (IS Infostat) at: https://infostat.nsi.bg/infostat/;
3. The Information System Monitorstat (IS Monitorstat) at: https://monitorstat.nsi.bg/;
4. Own printed and electronic publications, press releases, news, and infographics;
5. Press-Conferences;
6. Media and social networks;
7. Direct connections with users on the basis of contracts and agreements;
8. Direct connections with users on the basis of standard requests and inquiries;
9. Library and Reception Desk at the premises of the Head Office and in the Reception Desks of the Regional structures of the NSI;
10. The National Open Data Portal;
11. The National Spatial Data Portal.

Art. 5. The NSI shall disseminate statistical information (at national and regional level) through the Head Office and through the Regional structures of the NSI.

 

Art. 6. The user shall have the right to use the statistical information produced by the NSI in accordance with the License for the use of statistical information produced and disseminated by the NSI, published on the website of the NSI (www.nsi.bg).

 

Art. 7. (1) The statistical information shall be disseminated according to the Release Calendar, which is approved annually by the President of the NSI within 10 days after the adoption of the NSP by the Council of Ministers.

(2) The results of statistical surveys shall be disseminated via Internet site of the NSI and via Information System Infostat at 11.00 am on the date specified in the Release Calendar.

(3) The Release Calendar may be updated during the year by the President of the NSI order, due to changes in the NSP in the production of statistical information or in other important circumstances.

(4) Changes in the Release Calendar shall be published on the Internet site of the NSI.

(5) The employees of NSI shall not be allowed to provide information to anyone, in any way or for any reason, prior to its official dissemination.

(6) The list of press releases sent to the President, the Prime Minister, the President of the National Assembly and Ministers shall be approved annually by the President of NSI.

 

Section II
FREE AND PAID DISSEMINATION OF STATISTICAL PRODUCTS AND SERVICES

Art. 8. Statistical information products and services shall be provided free of charge or against payment.

Art. 9. The NSI shall provide free of charge:

1. The results of statistical surveys included in the NSP, coverage and relevance in accordance with the list of the standard statistical indicators approved annually by the President of the NSI order and published on the Internet site of the NSI;
2. Statistical information of international organizations and similar institutions in other countries if provided in an international treaty in which Bulgaria is a party;
3. Statistical information, necessary during extraordinary circumstances, with the sanction of the President of the NSI;
4. Anonymised data, according to the Regulations for provision of anonymised individual data for scientific and research purposes of the NSI;
5. Statistical metadata and methodologies;
6. Quality reports.

Art. 10. (1) The NSI shall provide against payment:

1. Statistical information from the list of the standard statistical indicators beyond the classification levels (including regional) described therein;
2. Statistical information on request by users resulting from a specialized service requiring extraction and/or additional processing of statistical data collected for the purposes of the surveys included in the NSP;
3. Statistical information obtained as a result of statistical surveys included in the NSP, on request by users according to the Art. 24, para 5 of the Statistics Act;
4. Representative samples of different statistical units (enterprises and households);
5. Certificates of economic activity and validated statistical reports;
6. Anonymised data, in accordance with the Rules for the provision of anonymised individual data for scientific and research purposes of the NSI;
7. Statistical information by user request, obtained as a result of spatial analysis according to criteria defined by the user.

(2) The prices of services under para 1 shall be determined based on ‘Pricelist and pricing for the prepared and submitted standard and specialized statistical products and services’ (Annex № 3 and Annex № 3a, forming an integral part of the Pricelist).

 

Section III
PROTECTION OF SECRECY OF INDIVIDUAL DATA

Art. 11. (1) Individual data related to individual identifiable statistical units shall be statistical secrecy.

(2) Received and collected individual data in statistical surveys can be used only for statistical purposes.

(3) Individual data obtained for the purposes of statistical surveys can not be used as evidence before the executive and the judiciary.

(4) The received and collected individual data in statistical surveys shall be processed and protected in accordance with the provisions of the Personal Data Protection Act and Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data.

Art. 12. The NSI shall not provide:

1. Individual data related to individual identifiable statistical units (individuals and legal entities), except in cases under Art. 13;
2. Statistical information which summarizes the data in less than three units or population in which the proportion of studied parameter of a unit is over 85 per cent of the total value of this parameter for all population units;
3. Statistical data that can be linked in such way as to identify a specific statistical unit;
4. Access to statistical data from Census 2021, defined as ‘sensitive data’ according to this regulation, in a territorial section - settlement or other more detailed territorial level.
5. The following data arrays, incl. spatial, bound or not, with statistical information:

5.1. Detour Areas;

5.2. Control areas and census enumeration areas;

5.3. Coordinate grids related to statistical information with a spatial resolution higher than that specified in the List of Standard Statistical Indicators from Census 2021;

5.4. Geographic coordinates of residential buildings, entrances to residential buildings, residential units, address locations;

5.5. Residential buildings (with address and/or geographical coordinates);

5.6. Dwellings (with address and/or geographic coordinates);

5.7. Address information.

6. Access to information under Art. 15, item 4 and item 5.4 to 5.7 shall be provided to executive authorities after a detailed written justification containing the purposes, scope, and legal basis for the use of the information and after signing an agreement based on the NSI template.
7. Access to information under item 5 shall be provided for the purpose of forming samples of households or individuals, after detailed justification of the research objectives and assessment of the risk of disclosure of confidential information, and after signing a contract.

Art. 13. Individual data relating to specific identifiable statistical units may only be disseminated if the entity to whom the data relates has given their consent. Consent must be given in writing and must clearly indicate the data to which it relates. The entity to whom the data relates may withdraw their consent at any time, but this does not affect actions taken prior to the withdrawal.

Art. 13a. (1) An economic operator may request from the President of the National Statistical Institute an extension of statistical confidentiality with regard to a Combined Nomenclature code, established by Council Regulation (EEC) No. 2658/87 of 23 July 1987 on the tariff and statistical nomenclature and on the Common Customs Tariff, for a specific commodity and trade flow, in cases where the annual value of the respective trade of the operator with EU Member States and with third countries:

1. Represents more than 85 per cent of the total value of Bulgaria’s external trade for the respective year for that commodity and trade flow;
2. When summed with the value of another operator or two other operators, provided that the second or both other operators have also requested confidentiality, represents more than 85 per cent of the total value of Bulgaria’s external trade for the respective year for that commodity and trade flow.

(2) The request under para. 1 shall be accompanied by:

1. Information on the Combined Nomenclature code and the trade flow for which the extension of confidentiality is requested;
2. A justification of the reasons for the request.

(3) The President of the National Statistical Institute shall issue a reasoned decision within 30 days, either approving the extension of confidentiality for the external trade statistical data or rejecting the request.

(4) The decision under para. 3 may be appealed under the Administrative Procedure Code.

(5) After the decision for extension of confidentiality is issued, the dissemination of the data shall be carried out in accordance with Chapter Six of the Statistics Act.

(6) The extension of confidentiality shall be revoked by a decision of the President of the National Statistical Institute:

1. Upon request of the economic operator;
2. Ex officio, if the conditions under para. 1 have not been met for two consecutive calendar years.

(7) Before revoking the extension of confidentiality under para. 6, item 2, the President of the National Statistical Institute shall notify the economic operator, who may submit an objection or a new request within 15 days of receiving the notification.

Art. 14. Variation groupings and ranking of statistical units by specific criteria without indication of their individual data can be delivered to users as their ranking shall be made in a random manner and not allowing reverse identification, especially in the case of small populations.

Art. 15. (1) Only the NSI employees directly involved and responsible for specific statistical surveys and processing shall have access to individual data.

(2) The access, use, storage, and destruction of individual data provided to an NSI employee in connection with the performance of specific tasks shall be carried out in accordance with the requirements of the Personal Data Protection Act.

 

Section IV
PRESS RELEASES

Art. 16. The NSI shall publish on its website a press release in Bulgarian and English language for each survey included in the NSP, for which it is noted that the results of the survey are announced in this way.

Art. 17. (1) The press release, after editing and validation, shall be published on the website of the NSI at 11.00 am on the date announced in the Release Calendar.

(2) The press release, after editing and validation, shall be prepared and configured for automatic dispatch at 11.00 am on the date announced in the Release Calendar, by email to the national media and to the Regional Statistical Offices (RSOs), which shall forward it to the regional media.

Art. 18. The territorial structures of the NSI shall prepare press releases with regional data and shall transmit them to the regional media for publication.

 

Section V
PRESS CONFERENCES AND MEDIA RELATIONS

Art. 19. (1) Press conferences and briefings shall be organized by the ‘Communications and Secretariat’ Department.

(2) Press Conferences of the NSI are public and there is no accreditation for them.

(3) Announcement for the press conference shall be published on the website of the NSI and invitations shall be sent to the media and other interested individuals and legal entities not later than 24 hours before the event.

(4) The RSOs shall organize press conferences at regional level.

(5) Extraordinary press conferences shall be organized by order of the President of the NSI and according to the particular circumstances.

Art. 20. (1) In the event of specific issues, ‘Communications and Secretariat’ Department shall organize meetings and consultations between media representatives and experts from the NSI.

(2) The ‘Communications and Secretariat’ Department shall organize interviews and participation in media events of the top management and experts from the Head Office of the NSI and RSOs.

(3) The ‘Communications and Secretariat’ Department shall provide statistical information to the media by e-mail and phone.

 

SECTION VI
STATISTICAL PRINTED AND ELECTRONIC PUBLICATIONS

Art. 21. (1) The NSI shall prepare and disseminate general and specialized printed and electronic publications free of charge.

(2) The RSOs shall prepare and disseminate regional general and specialized printed and electronic publications free of charge.

(3) The NSI shall issue a specialized scientific-practical Statistics Journal, twice a year in electronic (online) form. The organization of the issue of the Statistics Journal is a subject of separate regulations.

Art. 22. The list of titles of printed and electronic publications of the NSI for the next calendar year, as well as their circulation, terms of preparation, printing and dissemination shall be determined annually in the Editing Plan of the NSI.

Art. 23. Periodic printed and electronic publications of the NSI shall have an international standard number as required by the Bulgarian national ISSN centre in cooperation with “The St. St. Cyril and Methodius National Library”.

Art. 24. All electronic publications of the NSI shall be published on the website of the NSI where they can be downloaded for free.

 

 

Art. 25. (1) The website of the NSI (www.nsi.bg) shall be the main channel for the free of charge dissemination of official statistical information in Bulgarian and English.

 

(2) IS „Infostat” (https://infostat.nsi.bg/infostat) is a unified web-based application in Bulgarian and English, providing functionalities for presenting the results of statistical surveys conducted by the NSI in the form of reports, graphs and cartograms.

 

(3) IS „Monitorstat” (https://monitorstat.nsi.bg/) is a web-based application in Bulgarian and English, hat provides statistical information for monitoring national strategies and programs.

 

Art. 26. (1) The following information shall be published on the website of the NSI:

1. statistical data - results from statistical surveys included in the NSP;
2. statistical metadata - information describing the statistical data, including classifications and nomenclatures;
3. quality reports;
4. methodologies of statistical surveys included in the NSP;
5. press releases;
6. news and infographics related to the activities of the NSI;
7. documents regulating the activity of the NSI;
8. information about the NSI and its territorial structures;
9. information about the activity of the NSI within the European Statistical System;
10. documents and information materials about the respondents of the NSI;
11. electronic publications;
12. other information - contacts, useful links, useful materials, etc.

(2) IS „Infostat” shall provide access to the following information:

1. statistical data - results from conducted statistical surveys in the form of reports, graphs and cartograms;
2. statistical metadata - information describing the statistical data, including classifications and nomenclatures;
3. quality reports;
4. methodologies of statistical surveys included in the NSP.

(3) IS Monitorstat provides access to the following information:

1. Indicators for monitoring the progress of national strategies and programs;
2. Indicators for monitoring the progress of Bulgaria towards the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Art. 27. The website of the NSI shall provide links to:

1. information systems of the NSI related to the online collection of data from respondents for the statistical surveys;
2. information systems providing specialized statistical services to the users of statistical information;
3. registers maintained by the NSI and regulated by legal act;
4. national or international classifications and nomenclatures approved by a legal act;
5. useful links to information resources of the European Statistical System and international statistical offices and organizations;
6. statistical resources and services of the NSI.

  

Section VIII
RELATIONS WITH USERS

Art. 28. The relations with users of statistical information products and services from the country and abroad shall be conducted by the specialized departments at national and regional level via:

1. The Call Center of the NSI;
2. The website of NSI;
3. IS ‘Infostat’;
4. electronic and/or postal mail;
5. in the reception rooms at the HO of the NSI and territorial structures.

Art. 29. The NSI shall maintain a National centre to support users of European statistical information (ESDS Help Desk) as part of the network of national centers to Eurostat.

Art. 30. (1) The NSI shall provide statistical information to ministries, departments and other institutions through signing of an agreement on information exchange.

(2) Information beyond the agreements on information exchange shall be requested by the ministries, departments and other institutions under the established general procedures - by a letter to the President of the NSI.

 

ADDITIONAL PROVISIONS

§ 1. For the purposes of these Rules:

1. ‘Sensitive data’ shall mean statistical data on individuals on the following topics from the Population and Housing Census - ‘mother tongue’, ‘religion’, ‘ethnicity’, ‘religiousness’, and ‘health status’.
2. ‘Economic operators’ are Intrastat operators and traders trading with third countries.
3. ‘Intrastat operators’ are persons obliged to submit declarations under the Intrastat system - persons registered under the Value Added Tax Act who carry out intra-Union trade in goods in annual volumes, expressed in value, exceeding the reporting thresholds under Art. 3, para. 1, item 1 of the Intra-Union Trade in Goods Statistics Act, separately for intra-Union exports and intra-Union imports. Any Intrastat operator who carries out intra-Union trade in goods in annual volumes, expressed in value, below the thresholds for declaration specified separately for intra-Union exports and intra-Union imports, but who has voluntarily registered as an Intrastat operator, shall also be an obligated person.
4. ‘User’ means any Bulgarian or foreign natural or legal person, regardless of their legal status, as well as state or local authorities, who requests, receives, uses, or has access to statistical information products and services provided by the National Statistical Institute.

 

TRANSITIONAL AND FINAL PROVISIONS

§ 2. These Rules are approved by Order No. RD-05-890/30.12.2025 of the President of the NSI and shall enter into force on the date of their approval.