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Version 2.1 by Helena K. on 2026/01/27 12:56
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1 {{box title="**Contents**"}}
2 {{toc/}}
3 {{/box}}
4
5 = Document History =
6
7 |Version|Date|Comment
8 |1.0|21/8/2015|Initial version.
9 |2.0|7/3/2018|(((
10 Replaced the “Embargo: Privileged access” use case confidentiality status to use CONF_STATUS:E instead of CONF_STATUS:N. When this guideline is implemented, the CONF_STATUS:N can no longer be used for this use case (the embargo time is ignored if the CONF_STATUS is N).
11
12
13 Clarified the document text, removed superfluous text.
14
15 Added use of time zone is recommended.
16 )))
17
18 = Introduction =
19
20 This paper presents use case scenarios related to confidentiality and embargo in SDMX data exchanges, and provides recommendations on how to represent these elements in the SDMX model. The aim is to provide a consistent and practical way to represent these aspects in SDMX artefacts in order to promote cross-domain consistency, and harmonise methodology and processes.
21
22 Confidentiality aims at protecting data from unauthorised disclosure that could be prejudicial or harmful to the interest of the source or other relevant parties.
23
24 Embargo means that data may become public only after expiry of a pre-defined date and time.
25
26 Embargo establishes a relationship between a set of data (e.g. an observation), a date/time and a group of privileged data recipients.
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28 Disclosure of data marked as confidential or under embargo is not permitted. Procedures should be in place to prevent such disclosure, including rules for staff, aggregation rules when disseminating data, provision of unit records, etc.
29
30 There needs to be a formal agreement between organisations involved in the exchange of confidential data in order to prepare systems and workflows.
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32 Data exchange partners are advised to agree up front on the usage of the embargo mechanism(s) for specific data messages.
33
34 The embargo CONF_STATUS value “E” is not recommended for final dissemination to users but only for data exchange.
35
36 = Use Cases =
37
38 This section describes the confidentiality and embargo use cases that are addressed by these guidelines.  The use cases and embargo SDMX representations are summarised in annex 1:
39
40 == Use case 1: Non-confidential data ==
41
42 Data is available to the public immediately, meaning that data is not confidential and there is no embargo.
43
44 The data’s CONF_STATUS attribute should be set to “Free (free for publication)”.
45
46 |(((
47 === SDMX representation ===
48
49 * **CONF_STATUS**: F
50 )))
51
52 == Use case 2: Confidential data ==
53
54 === Exchange of confidential data without embargo nor forwarding to secondary recipients ===
55
56 One or more observations in the data message are confidential. Embargo does not play a role in this scenario. Depending on arrangements between data exchange partners, this data can be made available to privileged data users.
57
58 The observation’s CONF_STATUS attribute should use a specific code denoting the confidential character of the information.  Below are some examples of such confidentiality statuses{{footnote}}For a full list of confidentiality statuses, see https://sdmx.org/wp-content/uploads/CL_CONF_STATUS_1_2_2018.docx{{/footnote}}:
59
60 * **N**:   Not for publication, restricted for internal use only.  Used to denote observations that are restricted for internal use only within organisations
61 * **C**:   Confidential statistical information (primary confidentiality) due to identifiable respondents
62 * **D**:   Secondary confidentiality set by the sender, not for publication
63 * **A**:   Primary confidentiality due to small counts
64
65 === Forwarding confidential data to secondary recipients ===
66
67 A sender sends confidential data to certain primary recipients, and allows those to forward the confidential data to a restricted and pre-defined set of secondary recipients.
68
69 The observation’s CONF_STATUS attribute should be marked as “Not for publication, restricted for internal use only”.  An additional observation-level attribute: CONF_REDIST, defines the secondary recipient(s) to whom the sender allows the primary recipient to forward confidential data{{footnote}}Example: National statistical institute XX reporting data to Eurostat indicates that Eurostat can forward those data to the ECB, IMF and OECD.  More complex use case: The reporting organization specifies that Eurostat can forward those data only to the ECB Statistics Department, thus excluding all other organisations as well as all other ECB departments.{{/footnote}}.  See section **Use of the CONF_REDIST attribute** for the appropriate coding of this attribute.
70
71 The forwarding of confidential data is represented as follows in SDMX:
72
73 |(((
74 (% class="wikigeneratedid" id="HSDMXrepresentation-1" %)
75 SDMX representation
76
77 * **CONF_STATUS**: N;
78 * **CONF_REDIST **(Observation, Conditional): [Organisation(s)];
79 )))
80
81 === Adding embargo information to a data message ===
82
83 Following the definition of embargo, the recipient must keep the data confidential until a pre-defined point in time (embargo) when it becomes public.
84
85 Two cases can be distinguished:
86
87 * Allowing privileged access to embargoed data
88 * Enabling the frontloading of data into systems
89
90 **//Allowing privileged access to embargoed data//**
91
92 If the goal is to allow the data recipient to have privileged access to embargoed observations in a data message (message), the embargoed observation’s CONF_STATUS attribute should be coded as “E: Not for publication until the embargo time expires; free for publication after the embargo time expires.” with an observation level attribute EMBARGO_TIME (date/time/time zone).
93
94 |(((
95 (% class="wikigeneratedid" id="HSDMXrepresentation-2" %)
96 SDMX representation
97
98 * **CONF_STATUS**: E;
99 * **EMBARGO**_**TIME** (Observation, Conditional): [timestamp]
100 )))
101
102 Including a time zone is strongly recommended and the best case is to use the UTC (Coordinated Universal Time) time standard. However, if no time zone is provided then the time zone of the recipient is assumed.
103
104 These two examples represent the same time for a recipient established in the Central European time zone (e.g. Germany, Norway, Gibraltar):
105
106 * (Recommended) With UTC indicator: 2017-12-15T14:02:29Z
107 * With timezone indicator: 2017-12-15T15:02:29+01:00
108
109 **//Enabling the frontloading of data into systems//**
110
111 If the goal is to allow frontloading of a whole data message into systems so that the data can be made visible to users at the expiry of the embargo date/time, the header section of the message should contain an embargo date/time attribute.  This implies that all information in the data message is under the embargo date/time set in the header.  The header attribute EmbargoDate with format date/time/time zone indicates until when the whole data message received cannot be shared with any recipient users. 
112
113 Once the EmbargoDate in the header elapses, each observation’s confidentiality status becomes that which is marked in the CONF_STATUS attributes.
114
115 Note that this scenario presumes that all data in the message cannot be viewed before the header EmbargoDate, and that there is no privileged access before this time.  However, observations may be marked with any other confidentiality status that is valid after the frontloading EmbargoDate elapses.
116
117 |(((
118 (% class="wikigeneratedid" id="HSDMXRepresentation" %)
119 SDMX Representation
120
121 * **CONF_STATUS**: <Set to the required confidentiality status after the embargo time elapses>; <Header>\<EmbargoDate>: [timestamp]
122 )))
123
124 The two ways of representing embargoed data exist to provide efficiency in the exchange, allow for differentiating data intended to be frontloaded and data aimed to be provided in advance to a restricted audience, and provide flexibility when few observations need to be embargoed in a large data message.  The trade-off is the complication of system implementation to support the two representations of embargo, which has to be done locally on a case-by-case basis.
125
126 = Additional recommendations and examples =
127
128 In data flows that feature confidential data, CONF_STATUS is highly recommended to be a mandatory attribute.  However, if CONF_STATUS is optional in the DSD and missing from an observation, it is always implied to be “F” (free).
129
130 === Use of the CONF_REDIST attribute ===
131
132 The CONF_REDIST attribute defines the secondary recipient(s) to whom the sender allows the primary recipient to forward confidential data.  It is recommended to be an optional attribute at observation level. Ideally it should reference a shared code list containing standard organisation codes. To allow several secondary recipients there are these possibilities:
133
134 Use a code that represents multiple organisations, or;
135
136 Use several CONF_REDIST attributes to portray the multiple recipients.  Each attribute represents one recipient and references the same codelist.  This implementation is cleaner than the above point 1, though this will require adding as many attributes to your DSD as there are potential recipients of the redistributed confidential data.
137
138 If the EMBARGO_TIME and CONF_REDIST attributes are both used:
139
140 1. Data is available only to the organisations in CONF_REDIST until EMBARGO_TIME
141 1. Data is available to the public after EMBARGO_TIME
142
143 |(% colspan="3" %)(((
144 (% class="wikigeneratedid" id="HPrivilegedAccess" %)
145 Privileged Access
146 )))
147 |**Use case**|**No forwarding**|**Forwarding**
148 |**Embargo**|(((
149 CONF_STATUS: E
150
151 EMBARGO_TIME
152 )))|(((
153 CONF_STATUS: E
154
155 EMBARGO_TIME
156
157 CONF_REDIST
158 )))
159 |**No embargo**|CONF_STATUS: N|(((
160 CONF_STATUS:N
161
162 CONF_REDIST
163 )))
164
165 === An example of sending data for privileged access with data forwarding information ===
166
167 This example describes a case where data needs to be embargoed until a certain date and time, and may be sent to certain other organisations in a single transmission without modification of the data or attributes.
168
169 This example is based on the exchange of sector accounts statistics within the European statistical system.
170
171 * The national statistical institutes send data to Eurostat, and allow the data to be shared with the ECB for statistical coproduction
172 * The data may only be shared with the public on the next day
173
174 **CONF_STATUS:**E**;**
175
176 **CONF_REDIST: **ECB**;**
177
178 **EMBARGO_TIME=<**T+1 day**, **e.g.** **2017-12-15T10:00:00Z>
179
180 The solutions suggested above aim at covering the most common confidentiality and embargo use cases within a single transmission from the primary reporter to the primary recipient. However, for some more complex scenarios it might still be required to make multiple transmissions.
181
182 It is strongly recommended that use cases are specified in an agreement between organisations involved in regular transmissions up-front in order to avoid unnecessary delay in data publication or – much worse – confidentiality breaches.
183
184 **Annex 1: SDMX Representation of the confidentiality use cases**
185
186 |(((
187 (% class="wikigeneratedid" id="HUsecase" %)
188 Use case
189 )))|(((
190 (% class="wikigeneratedid" id="HCONF_STATUS28Observation29" %)
191 CONF_STATUS (Observation)
192 )))|(((
193 (% class="wikigeneratedid" id="HAdditionalattributes" %)
194 Additional attributes
195 )))|(((
196 (% class="wikigeneratedid" id="HRemarks" %)
197 Remarks
198 )))
199 |(((
200 (% class="wikigeneratedid" id="HNon-confidentialdata" %)
201 Non-confidential data
202 )))|(((
203 (% class="wikigeneratedid" id="HF" %)
204 F
205 )))|(((
206 == ==
207 )))|(((
208 == ==
209 )))
210 |(((
211 (% class="wikigeneratedid" id="HConfidentialdatawithnoembargo" %)
212 Confidential data with no embargo
213 )))|(((
214 (% class="wikigeneratedid" id="HC3BD3BS3BA3BO3BT3BG3BM3BN" %)
215 C;D;S;A;O;T;G;M;N
216 )))|(((
217 (% class="wikigeneratedid" id="H-2" %)
218
219 )))|(((
220 (% class="wikigeneratedid" id="HCONF_STATUSwillusuallybeCbutmayalsobeD3BS3BA3BO3BT3BG3BM3BNdependingontherequiredstatusandconfidentialityreason.A0SeetheCL_CONF_STATUScodelistfordetails5B35D" %)
221 CONF_STATUS will usually be C but may also be D;S;A;O;T;G;M;N depending on the required status and confidentiality reason.  See the CL_CONF_STATUS code list for details{{footnote}}https://sdmx.org/wp-content/uploads/CL_CONF_STATUS_1_2_2018.docx{{/footnote}}
222 )))
223 |(((
224 **Forwarding of confidential data**
225 )))|(((
226 N
227 )))|(((
228 CONF_REDIST: (Observation, Conditional)
229
230
231 )))|CONF_REDIST may represent multiple organisations
232 |(((
233 (% class="wikigeneratedid" id="HEmbargo:Privilegedaccess" %)
234 Embargo: Privileged access
235 )))|(((
236 (% class="wikigeneratedid" id="HE" %)
237 E
238 )))|(((
239 (% class="wikigeneratedid" id="HEMBARGO_TIME28Observation2CConditional29" %)
240 EMBARGO_TIME (Observation, Conditional)
241
242
243 )))|Only the observations with an EMBARGO_TIME attribute are embargoed. After the embargo time elapses, the data are free for publication (equivalent to F status).
244 |(((
245 (% class="wikigeneratedid" id="HEmbargo:Privilegedaccesswithforwarding" %)
246 Embargo: Privileged access with forwarding
247 )))|(((
248 (% class="wikigeneratedid" id="HE-1" %)
249 E
250 )))|(((
251 EMBARGO_TIME (Observation, Conditional)
252
253 (% class="wikigeneratedid" id="HCONF_REDIST:28Observation2CConditional29" %)
254 CONF_REDIST: (Observation, Conditional)
255 )))|(((
256 (% class="wikigeneratedid" id="HOnlytheobservationswithanEMBARGO_TIMEattributeareembargoed.Aftertheembargotimeelapses2Cthedataarefreeforpublication28equivalenttoFstatus29." %)
257 Only the observations with an EMBARGO_TIME attribute are embargoed. After the embargo time elapses, the data are free for publication (equivalent to F status).
258
259 (% class="wikigeneratedid" id="HCONF_REDISTmayrepresentmultipleorganisations" %)
260 CONF_REDIST may represent multiple organisations
261 )))
262 |(((
263 (% class="wikigeneratedid" id="HEmbargo:Frontloading" %)
264 Embargo: Frontloading
265 )))|(((
266 (% class="wikigeneratedid" id="HSettotherequiredconfidentialitystatusaftertheembargotimeelapses." %)
267 Set to the required confidentiality status after the embargo time elapses.
268 )))|(((
269 (% class="wikigeneratedid" id="H3CHeader5CEmbargoDate3E:5Btimestamp5D" %)
270 <Header\EmbargoDate>: [timestamp]
271
272
273 )))|(((
274 There is no EMBARGO_TIME attribute as the whole message is embargoed with no privileged access.
275 )))
276
277 ----
278
279 {{putFootnotes/}}
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