The National Quality Assurance Framework is the guiding framework for the SNIS’s quality policy. It defines the quality ideals to which the system aspires in the accomplishment of its missions. The implementation of this framework requires the production of a set of operational tools to support practitioners in all aspects of statistical production. The Guidelines for Surveys and Censuses are thus one of these technical tools.
The main purpose of these guidelines is to provide GNIS producers with a more or less comprehensive list of guiding principles and best practices to be applied when designing and implementing surveys. These principles and practices have been identified from statistical reference systems, international frameworks and standards governing statistical activity, as well as good practices identified by practitioners at the national level. Guidelines are recommended but not mandatory, the idea being to help the producer of official statistics to comply with the quality standards set out in policies and directives (formal instructions to introduce (or avoid) a particular measure), or in identified good practices.