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OrdinanceAdministrative Law

Statistics Ordinance [New Version], 5732-1972

פקודת הסטטיסטיקה [נוסח חדש], תשל"ב-1972

Published: 1972-04-09Consolidated Hebrew text as of 2025-08-14 · Last amended 2024-08-14✓ Amendment status checked against the Knesset legislation record on 2026-09-28
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Unofficial English translation — for reference only. It may contain errors or omissions and cannot be relied on as a legal text. Only the Hebrew text published in Reshumot is legally binding.More

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Despite these checks, it may contain errors, omissions, or imprecise renderings of legal terminology and cross-references, and it may not yet reflect the latest amendments. It cannot be relied upon as a legal text.

The Hebrew text as published in Reshumot (ספר החוקים) and on the Knesset website is the sole authoritative and legally binding version. In any discrepancy, the Hebrew text prevails.

This translation is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. For use in legal proceedings, request a certified Expert Legal Opinion.

Definitions§

1.

In this Ordinance –

"the Bureau" – the Central Bureau of Statistics;

"census" – a statistical operation conducted in the State or in part thereof by addressing the entire relevant public, in relation to population or housing or in relation to agriculture, industry or other economic activity;

"statistics" – statistical information relating to the matters referred to in sections 3 and 7 and particulars on subjects included in census questionnaires under section 6, including information and particulars as aforesaid collected by statistical sampling methods that are not arbitrary methods;

"statistical operations" – the collection and processing of statistics;

"State institutions" – Government ministries, including local authorities, as well as authorities, corporations or other institutions established by legislation or in respect of which the Government has so decided for the purposes of this Law;

"the Statistician" – the National Statistician;

"employee" – any person employed in the performance of a function under this Ordinance;

"authorised employee" – an enumerator, an agent and any person authorised for a particular matter in any regulation under this Ordinance or in writing on behalf of the Statistician;

"census Order" – an Order under section 6;

"questionnaire" – including any form and document.

The National Statistician§

2.
(a)The Government, on the proposal of the Prime Minister, shall appoint a National Statistician; notice of the appointment shall be published in Reshumot (Official Gazette).
(b)The Statistician shall head the Bureau and shall guide the statistical system in the State institutions.
(c)In the performance of his functions, the Statistician shall act on the basis of scientific considerations.

Functions of the Bureau§

3.

The functions of the Bureau are –

(1)to conduct statistical operations and to publish their results in relation to the population and its activities in the fields of society, health, economics, commerce and industry and in other fields, and in relation to the natural conditions of the country;
(2)to cooperate with State institutions in conducting statistical operations and in publishing their results;
(3)to prepare, in consultation with the Public Council for Statistics, multi-year general programmes for the statistical operations of the State institutions;
(4)to determine, in consultation with the Public Council for Statistics and the institutions concerned, uniform statistical classifications for use in the State institutions;
(5)to consolidate and publish information on statistical operations being conducted and planned by the Bureau and by the State institutions or on their behalf.

The Public Council for Statistics§

4.
(a)The Prime Minister shall appoint a Public Council for Statistics (hereinafter – the Council) that shall be composed of representatives of State institutions, institutions of higher education and research, public bodies and experts in statistics and in fields of the economy and society.
(b)The functions and powers of the Council are –
(1)to advise the Prime Minister and other Ministers on matters relating to the statistical operations of the State institutions;
(2)to advise the Statistician on matters relating to the statistical operations conducted by the Bureau; for this purpose the Council may inspect questionnaires addressed to the public;
(3)to receive from the State institutions their programmes for conducting statistical operations and to express opinions on the coordination between the institutions in respect of those programmes;
(4)to propose proposals for the streamlining and development of the statistical operations of the State institutions.
(c)The Council shall determine its working procedures in standing orders; the standing orders shall be published in Reshumot (Official Gazette).
(d)The composition of the Council shall give appropriate expression to the representation of members of both sexes, insofar as is possible in the circumstances of the matter.

Coordination of Statistical Operations§

5.
(a)Statistical operations conducted by or on behalf of an institution among the State institutions, by way of addressing the public or part thereof, shall be carried out after consultation with the Statistician; where the statistical operation is a census, the census shall not be conducted except with prior permit from the Prime Minister.
(b)Statistical operations conducted by the Bureau and relating to a matter within the sphere of activity of a Government ministry shall be carried out after consultation with the ministry concerned; where the statistical operation is a census, the census shall not be conducted except with prior permit from the Prime Minister.
(c)(Repealed).
(d)Nothing in the provisions of this section shall prevent the collection of particulars required for the performance of a function under law, not solely for statistical purposes.

Census§

6.
(a)The Prime Minister may, in consultation with the Statistician and with the Council, direct by Order that a census of the population or part thereof be conducted in the State or in part thereof.
(b)The census Order shall determine the date of the census, the subjects to be included in the questionnaires, who are to be enumerated, who are to answer the questionnaires and any other matter that the Prime Minister sees fit to determine for the purpose of conducting the census in an efficient manner.

Statistics§

7.

With the approval of the Government, the Bureau shall collect, in conjunction with a census or otherwise, statistics relating to these matters or some of them:

(1)the population and its housing;
(2)entry into Israel and departure therefrom;
(3)demography and health;
(4)society and education;
(5)commerce and marketing;
(6)imports and exports;
(7)prices of commodities, real property and securities;
(8)wholesale and retail prices;
(9)crafts and industry;
(10)production and manufacture, including construction works;
(11)stocks of finished and unfinished goods;
(12)rights in real property of their various types, the condition of real property and its produce;
(13)possession of buildings and their condition;
(14)the annual value of real property;
(15)transfers, mortgages registered or redeemed and lease contracts in real property;
(16)the conditions for the transfer of rights of possession or ownership;
(17)rent paid or received for real property, including dwelling places, shops and other business premises;
(18)the cost of living;
(19)incomes and earnings;
(20)wages, hours of work and conditions thereof;
(21)employment, unemployment and workforce;
(22)labour disputes and conflicts;
(23)injuries, accidents and compensation;
(24)banking and finance;
(25)transport and communications by land, sea and air;
(26)marine insurance, life insurance, insurance against accidents or fire and insurance of another type;
(27)personal services and other services;
(28)local government;
(29)other matters directed by the Statistician with the approval of the Prime Minister.

Conducting Statistical Operations by Sex§

7a.
(a)The conduct of statistical operations relating to individuals and the publication of their results by the Bureau as referred to in section 7 shall include reference to sex, unless the Statistician has determined, in respect of a particular matter, that there are reasons justifying refraining from doing so.
(b)The Statistician may determine that the conduct of statistical operations and the publication of their results as referred to in subsection (a) shall include reference to sex, even where they do not relate to individuals, in matters that have gender implications.
(c)The Bureau shall publish, at least once a year, results of statistical operations it has conducted that include reference to sex.
(d)The Statistician shall authorise, after consultation with the Authority for the Advancement of the Status of Women as defined in the Authority for the Advancement of the Status of Women Law, 5758-1998, an employee who shall be responsible for the implementation of this section, including the preparation of programmes for statistical operations, the development of statistical classifications and cooperation with the State institutions in all that relates to the conduct of statistical operations that include reference to sex.

How Statistics Are Collected§

8.

The collection of statistics shall be carried out by means of questionnaires prepared by the Statistician and delivered to the person from whom the particulars are required, or by other means determined by the Statistician.

Enumerators and Agents§

9.

For the conduct of a census and the collection of other statistics, the Statistician shall appoint enumerators and agents and shall determine their functions.

Declaration§

10.

The Statistician is empowered to receive a declaration for the purposes of this Ordinance; he may require any employee to declare and sign, before assuming his position, before him or before another person empowered to receive a declaration, a declaration in the form set out in the First Schedule and in the manner determined by the Statistician.

Obligation to Supply Particulars§

11.

Any person from whom it is permitted under this Ordinance to require particulars, for the purposes of a census or other statistics, is obliged, if so required by the Statistician or an authorised employee, to complete and supply, to the best of his knowledge, the particulars in any questionnaire in accordance with the instructions attached thereto or relating thereto.

Service of Requirement to Supply Particulars§

12.
(a)Where an employee has left at a person's home a questionnaire purporting to be issued under this Ordinance together with a notice that the occupier of the home, or in his absence another member of his family, is obliged to complete the questionnaire and sign it within a specified time, that shall constitute, in relation to the occupier of the home, a sufficient requirement to do so, even if his name is not stated in the notice or if it was not served on him personally.
(b)Where an employee has left a questionnaire as referred to in subsection (a) at a person's office or at another place of his business, or it has been delivered to him or to his agent by registered letter, together with a notice that the questionnaire is to be completed and signed within a specified time, that shall constitute, in relation to that person, and if he is a partnership or an unincorporated body of persons – in relation to their members and each one of them, a sufficient requirement to do so, and to send the questionnaire to the Bureau within a specified time if so stated in that notice.

Obligation to Answer Questions§

13.

A person is obliged to answer, to the best of his knowledge and belief, every question put to him by the Statistician or an authorised employee, provided that the information is required for statistics the collection of which is permitted under this Ordinance.

Limitation on the Obligation to Supply Particulars and to Answer Questions§

13a.
(a)Notwithstanding the provisions of sections 11 and 13, an individual shall not be obliged to complete a questionnaire, supply particulars and answer questions as referred to in those sections, concerning that individual, his household or his family, and excluding matters concerning his business, that are required of him in the course of a statistical operation (in this section – the requirement), except once in every five years.
(b)The count of five years as referred to in subsection (a) shall commence on the date on which the individual completed fulfilling the requirement.
(c)The provisions of subsection (a) shall not apply to a statistical operation in conjunction with a census.
(d)In this section –

"individual" – a person other than a corporation;

"statistical operation in conjunction with a census" – a census or a statistical operation whose purpose is to estimate the population of the State even without addressing the entire relevant public, and in respect of which the Statistician has notified the individual that it is being conducted in conjunction with a census.

Right of Entry and Marking§

14.

Where the Government has issued a census Order, or has approved the collection of other statistics under section 7, the Statistician, or an authorised employee, shall be entitled, for the purpose of an inquiry or survey required for the obtaining of statistics, to do the following at any reasonable time:

(1)in relation to a census – to enter and inspect any factory, mine, workshop, office or place of work and any dwelling house and to affix to them numbers, letters or marks for the purposes of the census;
(2)in relation to other statistics – to enter and inspect the aforementioned places, except a dwelling house.

Access to Records§

15.

Where the Government has approved, under section 7, the collection of statistics relating to a particular matter, every person who keeps or is responsible for records or documents of the State, of a local authority, of a religious community – as defined in section 2 of the Palestine Order in Council, 1922 to 1947, – or of any person, from which, in the opinion of the Statistician, information relating to that matter can be obtained or that may assist in completing or correcting the statistics relating to that matter, shall be obliged to give the Statistician or an authorised employee access thereto for the purpose of obtaining the information.

Requirement of Information Notwithstanding Any Law§

15a.
(a)Notwithstanding any law prohibiting the disclosure of information or requiring its preservation in secrecy, the Statistician may require an institution among the State institutions to provide him with information, records and documents in accordance with sections 11, 13 and 15, for the purpose of conducting a statistical operation by the Bureau, and upon doing so – the prohibitions and obligations established in that law shall also apply, mutatis mutandis, to every person engaged in conducting the statistical operation under this Ordinance.
(b)The provisions of this section shall not apply to information, records and documents –
(1)that in the opinion of the Prime Minister or the Minister of Defence are a matter of State security;
(2)that in the opinion of the Prime Minister or the Minister of Foreign Affairs are a matter of the State's foreign relations, or the disclosure of which is liable to harm the international trade relations of the State;
(3)that in the opinion of the Minister of Finance the disclosure thereof is liable to harm the economic system of the State, or that in the opinion of the Governor of the Bank of Israel the disclosure thereof is liable to harm its financial institutions.

Processing and Publication of Statistics§

16.

The Statistician shall ensure that the statistics and other particulars collected under this Ordinance are compiled and tabulated, and that they or summaries or extracts therefrom are published, with or without comments, in accordance with his general or specific directions.

Confidentiality§

17.
(a)A personal report or part thereof or an answer to a question given for the purposes of this Ordinance shall not be published except for the purposes of a prosecution thereunder.
(b)Information collected for the purposes of this Ordinance that originates from a personal report or an answer to a question, or from records or documents as referred to in section 15, shall not be published in a manner that makes it possible to identify the person to whom it relates.
(c)A personal report given for the purposes of this Ordinance shall not be seen by any person who is not an employee, or any part thereof, except for the purposes of a prosecution under this Ordinance.

Exceptions§

18.
(a)The provisions of section 17 shall not apply to statistics and other particulars relating solely to State institutions, nor shall they apply if the statistics or other particulars have already been published to the public under lawful authority, or have been made available for public inspection under lawful authority.
(b)The provisions of section 17(a) and (b) shall not apply if the report, reply or information relates to—
(1)an individual or a partnership, and the individual or all the partners have consented in advance in writing to their publication;
(2)a corporation or an unincorporated body of persons, and their managers or other governing body, by whatever name called, or their members where no such body exists, have in advance passed a decision authorising their publication;
(3)
(a)a corporation operating in a branch of the economy listed in the Second Schedule, and the Prime Minister has permitted their publication by notice in Reshumot (Official Gazette), with the approval of the Economy Committee of the Knesset, after having found that publication is essential to the public interest; provided that no publication shall be permitted under this sub-paragraph of data constituting personal information as defined in the Privacy Protection Law, 5741-1981;
(b)a permit under sub-paragraph (a) shall be granted after consultation with the Statistician, with the Council, with the Commissioner of Competition within the meaning of the Economic Competition Law, 5748-1988, and with the Minister within whose area of authority falls the branch of the economy listed in the Second Schedule in which the corporation operates and to which the report, reply or information relates, and after the corporation has been given an opportunity to express its position;
(c)a permit under sub-paragraph (a) shall specify the name of the corporation, the subject of the report, reply or information and the categories of particulars whose publication is permitted, and the conditions for their publication, if any;
(d)the Prime Minister may, on the recommendation of the Statistician and with the approval of the Economy Committee of the Knesset, amend the Second Schedule by Order.
(c)Notwithstanding the provisions of section 17(a) and (b), the Statistician may disclose to the Chief Registrar appointed under the Population Registry Law, 5725-1965, information concerning the name, identity number and address of any person obtained in a census; Chapter V of that Law shall apply to such information.

Joint Collection of Statistics with Other Institutions§

18a.
(a)Where the Bureau has collected statistics or other particulars in cooperation with a State institution that is lawfully empowered to require those particulars, or as agent of such an institution, it may, notwithstanding anything stated in this Ordinance, disclose the particulars to that institution, provided that it is stated prominently on the document in which the particulars were requested that the Bureau is collecting the particulars as aforesaid and notice thereof has been given to the person from whom the particulars were collected; where the institution was not lawfully empowered to collect the particulars, the Bureau may disclose them as aforesaid if it is also stated prominently that the provisions of the Ordinance regarding the duty to furnish particulars shall not apply, and notice thereof has been given as aforesaid.
(b)Particulars collected by the Bureau from a person, including a State institution, who is lawfully entitled to disclose them and who has authorised their disclosure, may be disclosed by the Bureau, notwithstanding anything stated in this Ordinance, to any State institution for the purpose of performing its functions.
(c)Particulars collected by the Bureau from a person, including a State institution, or from that person's forms, may be transmitted by the Bureau, notwithstanding anything stated in this Ordinance, back to that person or institution, as the case may be, whether in the form in which they were received or in any other form.

Inadmissibility§

19.

Reports, records, certificates and other information furnished or obtained for statistical purposes under this Ordinance shall not be admissible and shall not serve as evidence in any civil or criminal proceeding, other than criminal proceedings for an offence under this Ordinance.

Serious Offences§

20.
(a)An employee who has done any of the following shall be liable to imprisonment of three years:
(1)used, directly or indirectly, for personal benefit, information that came to his knowledge by virtue of his work and that has not yet been published under this Ordinance and that is capable of affecting the market price of a product or commodity;
(2)published or disclosed to another, without lawful authority, otherwise than in the ordinary course of his work, information acquired in the course of his work;
(3)knowingly compiled false statistics for the Bureau.
(b)A person who publishes or discloses to another information that has come into his possession and who knows that its disclosure was made in breach of this Ordinance shall be liable to imprisonment of three years.

Miscellaneous Offences§

21.

The following shall be guilty of an offence under this Ordinance:

(1)a person who obstructs or interferes with the Statistician or an authorised employee in the exercise of any power conferred upon him under this Ordinance;
(2)a person who refuses or fails to complete a questionnaire sent to or lawfully left with him, or to furnish the particulars required therein, or to answer a question or inquiry directed to him under this Ordinance; where the person refusing or failing in contravention of the provisions of this paragraph is an individual as defined in section 13a, in relation to a questionnaire, questions or particulars concerning that individual, his household or his family, his liability shall be a fine of NIS 500;
(3)a person who knowingly states a false matter in a material particular in a questionnaire completed or furnished by him under this Ordinance or in reply to a question put to him thereunder;
(4)a person who, without lawful authority, destroys, damages or spoils a questionnaire containing particulars collected under this Ordinance, or who writes or draws, in a questionnaire issued for the purposes of this Ordinance and delivered to the Statistician or an authorised employee, words, drawings or any other thing that are obscene, abominable, offensive or blasphemous;
(5)an authorised employee who refuses or fails, without sufficient excuse on grounds of illness or other unavoidable cause, to perform a function imposed upon him under this Ordinance or assigned to him by the Statistician or by an employee who is his superior.

General Penalty§

22.

A person guilty of an offence under this Ordinance for which no other penalty is prescribed shall be liable to imprisonment of three months.

Regulations§

23.

The Government may make Regulations—

(1)requiring persons, in areas that have been prescribed, to furnish particulars and information at prescribed times and for prescribed periods;
(2)requiring the furnishing of particulars and information concerning a person's address and occupation;
(3)prescribing questionnaires and information that are to be verified by affidavit, and the form of the affidavit;
(4)prescribing fees payable to the Bureau for the supply of statistics collected by it under this Ordinance, for special information or a special report supplied by it, or for a special inquiry carried out by it;
(5)prescribing anything requiring prescription under this Ordinance or necessary for the implementation of its provisions for which no prescription has been made elsewhere.

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OrdinanceAdministrative Law

פקודת הסטטיסטיקה [נוסח חדש], תשל"ב-1972

Statistics Ordinance

Statistics Law

Pekudat Statistika

statistical data

statistics authority

Israeli statistics

5732-1972

central bureau statistics

statistical collection