National statistical offices (NSOs) disseminate statistics through various mechanisms and channels, including publications, databases, information services, and, increasingly, institutional websites and/or institutional data portals. Through their institutional websites, data can be made available both for direct consultation by users and for reuse by automated systems, in formats intended for human reading or machine processing.

This work takes place within complex sociotechnical ecosystems. These networks are made up of people and technologies that interact with each other at multiple scales. These interactions are governed by norms, such as technical standards and legal frameworks, that shape how statistical information flows from production to use.

This document focuses specifically on access to data through the institutional websites of NSOs and does not aim to address the complexities associated with the governance of statistical data more broadly, both within and outside the producing institutions. Instead, it focuses on the extent to which these institutions enable open and reusable access to statistical data such as through the use of application programming interfaces (APIs) and machine-readable data formats.