Norway has a national programme that defines and delimits official statistics. The programme encompasses economic, demographic, social and environmental statistics. Statistics Norway and 11 other public authorities have responsibility for official statistics.

This document summarizes Statistics Norway's principles of quality work.

The UN set of principles for governing official statistics is known as the Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics. The UN Statistical Commission adopted in 1994 the set of principles developed by the UNECE in early 90-ies. In 2014 the Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics was also endorsed by the UN General Assembly.

The OECD Council adopted in November 2015 the recommendations on Good Statistical Practice.

The Statistics Act stipulates that Statistics Norway is the central body for preparation and dissemination of official statistics.

The new Act relating to official statistics and Statistics Norway (the Statistics Act) (PDF) was passed by the Storting on 21 June 2019. Section 6, second and third subsections entered into force on 1 November 2019, and section 19 entered into force on 1 January 2020. The Act entered into force in its entirety on 1 January 2021. 

The regulation on European statistics forms the legal framework for the development, preparation and dissemination of European statistics.

The goal of the European Code of practice  is to ensure the public's trust in European statistics by laying down principles on how the statistics shall be developed, produced and disseminated.