By Li Qiaoyi and Zhao Qian
A new regulation on statistics will come into effect tomorrow in an effort to stamp out false data.
The regulation was jointly issued by the Ministry of Supervision, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, and the National Bureau of Statistics last month.
It contains 15 stipulations outlining punishment measures for those who fabricate statistics or publish data against the country’s rules and procedures.
The regulation is targeted at violators including leading officials of local government departments, administration institutions or individuals in charge of statistical work.
Local government officials who retaliate against statisticians who refuse to fabricate data or whistle-blowers will be given serious penalties, including dismissal, demotion, or “criminal punishment.”
People who alter statistical data without authorization, fabricate statistical data, or compel or prompt statistics institutions or statisticians to tamper with or fabricate statistical data shall be “warned.”
The violators will be given serious penalties if their actions lead to serious results.
Officials from relevant departments were quoted as saying that the regulation is much more operable and specific than the current Statistics Law.
The officials said that violations of the statistics law are not uncommon. Some local government officials fabricated statistical data in order to fake their economic achievements, which are often used as a yardstick to measure work performance.
Earlier this month, Fujian Province said that last year it handled 754 cases concerning forged statistics and imposed fines totaling 1.38 million yuan ($203,000), according to the Xinhua News Agency.
The new regulation has significant implications for a healthy economy, especially under the current economic slowdown, as false statistics preaching prosperities will conceal underlying problems, Zhang Xiaojing, a researcher with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times.
Zhang noted that the determination and capacity of the related departments to implement the regulation will decide whether the fight against false statistics will succeed.