may, subject to subsections (2) and (3), be disclosed to any person.
| (2) |
The return or other information contemplated in subsection (1) may, subject to the directions of the Statistician-General, be disclosed— |
| (a) |
to the Statistician-General and officers concerned of Statistics South Africa who have taken the oath of confidentiality referred to in subsection (7)(a); |
| (b) |
to the person from whom such return or other information was collected or his or her representative; |
| (c) |
with the prior written consent of the person from whom such return or other information was collected or his or her representative; |
| (d) |
where the information is already available to the public from the organ of state, business or other organisation concerned; |
| (e) |
in the form of lists of the names and addresses of individual organs of state and other organisations and their classifications by function, type of legal entity and range of numbers of members and employees, or other indicator of size; |
| (f) |
in the form of lists of the names and addresses of individual businesses and their classifications by industry or activity, type of legal entity, and range of numbers of employees or other indicator of size; |
| (g) |
in the form of lists of the kinds of products produced, manufactured, stored, bought or sold, or services rendered, by businesses, organs of state or other organisations or classes thereof. |
| (3) |
The Statistician-General may, for statistical purposes, disclose to another organ of state information or data gathered in the course of a joint collection undertaken with that organ in terms of section 14(11), on condition that— |
| (a) |
the name, address or any other means by which the respondents may be identified is deleted; |
| (b) |
any person who is involved in the collection of, or who may use, that information or data, must first take an oath of confidentiality similar to the one provided for in subsection (7)(a) irrespective of whether he or she has taken an oath of confidentiality in terms of any other law; and |
| (c) |
the Statistician-General is satisfied that the confidentiality of that information or data will not be impaired. |
| (4) |
Despite any other law— |
| (a) |
an entry made by the competent person concerned in terms of this Act in any document; or |
| (b) |
a return or its contents, |
is not admissible as evidence in legal proceedings, except for purposes of criminal proceedings in terms of this Act.
| (5) |
Information collected by any person, organ of state, business or other organisation for his, her or its own purposes and communicated to Statistics South Africa is subject to the same confidentiality requirements as information collected directly by Statistics South Africa, irrespective of any other confidentiality requirements to which it may have been subject when it was collected. |
| (6) |
The results of the compilation and analysis of the statistical information collected in terms of this Act may not be published or disseminated in a manner which is likely to enable the identification of a specific individual, business or other organisation, unless that person, business or organisation has consented to the publication or dissemination in that manner. |
| (7) |
The Statistician-General and every officer of Statistics South Africa must— |
| (a) |
before assuming duty, take an oath of confidentiality prohibiting disclosure of any information coming to his or her knowledge by reason of such duty before its release is authorised by the Statistician-General; |
| (b) |
preserve, and promote the preservation of, confidentiality in respect of all information that may come to his or her knowledge by reason of such employment. |
Statistics Act, 1999
