The National Statistics Institute is a legally independent administrative Autonomous institution assigned to the Ministerio de Economía, Comercio y Empresa, via the Secretary of State for the Economy and Business Support. It is basically governed by 12/1989 of 9 May, Law on the Public Statistical Function (modified in the BOE 08-07-2022) that regulates Statistics activity for state purposes which is the exclusive competence of the State and by the Statute approved by Royal Decree 803/2022 of 4 October.
The Law assigns the National Statistics Institute an important role in public statistic activity, expressly placing it in charge of large scale statistical operations (demographic and economic censuses, national accounts, demographic and social statistics, economic and social indicators, coordination and maintenance of company directories Electoral Census training...)
Moreover, the law attributes the INE with the following functions: formulation of the National Statistics Plan with the collaboration of Ministerial Departments and the Bank of Spain; the proposal of common regulations on concepts, statistical units, classifications and codes; and relations on statistics with specialised International Institutions and in particular, with the European Union Statistics Office (EUROSTAT).
Moreover, there are other collegiate bodies with significant competences in statistical matter as: the Higher Statistics Council, the Interministerial Statistics Commission and the Interterritorial Statistics Committee. In all of them the INE plays an important role.
The INE is also responsible for compiling the Electoral Census, pursuant to Organic Law 5/1985, of 19 June, on the General Electoral Regime, and on the ongoing and computerised coordination and management of the Municipal Register, as set out in Law 7/1985, of 2 April, Regulating the Local Regime Bases, and in Royal Decree 2612/1996, of 20 December, modifying the Regulation on Population and Territorial Demarkation of the Local Entities passed by Royal Decree 1690/1986, of 11 July.
The birth of the official statistics and the creation of the INE. Brief history