The office is closely linked to the national statistics scene as well as to partners in the worlds of science, business and politics.

It works closely with Eurostat, the Statistics Office of the European Union, in order to provide information that is also comparable at an international level.

The key principles upheld by the office throughout its statistical activities are data protection, scientific reliability, impartiality, topicality and service orientation.

One of the aims of the Charter is to establish universal principles that are based upon international standards but that also take particularities of the Swiss statistical system into account.

Since 1987, the FSO has been making important statistical information available online in electronic form, and in 1996 this service was extended and the STATINF database and website were added.

The FSO produces and publishes key statistical information on the current situation and development of the nation and society, of the economy and the environment.

For legal and financial reasons, preference is given to the systematic use of existent data rather than to new direct surveys with the ensuing burden on those interviewed.

As well as counting the number of inhabitants, these were also asked about their sex, age, marital status, profession, occupation and religious denomination.

In the vote held on 18 April 1999 the Swiss electorate approved a total revision of the constitution, which now includes a statistics article (Art.

2 They shall be authorised to issue regulations with regard to the harmonisation and management of official registers with a view to minimising the work needed for collecting such information.

The Act sets out the tasks and organisation of federal statistics as well as fundamental principles for data acquisition, publications and services.