Since the 90s Istat has adopted a systematic approach to ensure the quality of statistical information and of its services to the community (see the Work done).
With the aim of strengthening the commitment to quality, in 2020 Istat set up the Quality Committee, for overseeing all quality initiatives in the Statistical Institute. In addition the role of Quality Manager was formally established.
In 2021 a new quality policy for statistical production was adopted. It is consistent with the European quality framework developed by Eurostat, and transposes its main principles and definitions. The endorsement in 2005 of the European Statistics Code of Practice (last revised in 2017) established the principles to be applied in order to ensure and strengthen both the trust and the quality of the European Statistical System. The principles of the code are largely inspired by the Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations in 2014 and developed by the Conference of European Statisticians in 1991.
The new Istat quality policy takes advantage of the results already achieved over the years. It includes concrete and operative actions to relaunch and update quality policy consistently with the new productive context. Istat continues to invest on tools for monitoring, evaluating and improving the quality of statistical processes and products, such us documentation systems, quality indicators, quality guidelines and quality reporting.
A special attention is given on procedures for the quality assessment of statistical processes according to the type of statistical process, in terms of their maturity level on the quality and methodological frameworks.
In order to improve the quality of the statistics, attention to all stakeholders is taken into account, in terms of Respect for respondents, Strengthening statistical literacy and User orientation.
Initiatives for coordinating and supporting the quality improvement of the statistics produced by the National Statistical System are integrated in the new Istat quality policy.