ABS CHARGING POLICY
POLICY AND PRINCIPLES
Open access to official statistics on the economic and social condition of a country and its population is an essential element of a democracy. The ABS attaches considerable importance to easy and widespread access by all levels of governments and the community to the statistics it compiles.
The Australian Government Cost Recovery Guidelines stipulate that a basic set of information should be provided to the community free of charge as ‘public goods’ and other information, beyond the basic information set, should be cost recovered. Consistent with this policy, the ABS dissemination principles ensure that:
- all customers, including the general community, have free and easy access to a basic set of official statistics - mainly through the ABS website, but also using channels such as Facebook and Twitter and an iOS app
- where it is cost effective to do so, the costs of producing and providing information services that are additional to the basic set of official statistics are recovered from the customers.
OBJECTIVES
The objectives of the ABS charging policy are to:
- reduce the need for the general taxpayer to bear those elements of the cost of the statistical service which have a specific and identifiable value to particular customers
- enable the demand for ABS information to be used as one indicator of how ABS resources should be used
- encourage users to address their real needs for ABS statistical information.
COMMUNITY SERVICE OBLIGATION
The ABS fulfils the community service obligation for statistics by:
- including all published ABS information in the basic set, available on the ABS website free of charge
- providing a range of self service tools for generating statistical tables from a variety of data sources including the 2011 Census of Population and Housing
- providing a range of self service statistical literacy resources via the ABS website free of charge
- offering a National Information and Referral Service which provides free information over the phone for straightforward enquiries.
APPROACHES TO COST RECOVERY
Products in the basic set may be provided in alternative formats on request by the customer. Pricing is based on the marginal costs incurred in producing them in these formats.
For products beyond the basic set, such as customised extraction of data, pricing is based on incremental or avoidable costs. The ABS may also price a limited range of products on a commercial basis. This occurs where such products and services compete, or may compete, with similar products provided by others.
Most of the ABS’s free, subscription and customised data outputs (except confidentialised unit record files) are covered by Creative Commons licensing. This licence empowers users to use or re-purpose ABS data without seeking the ABS's permission, provided that the ABS is attributed as the source for that information.
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