Contract work
Purpose of contract work
Contract work allows the acquisition of more detailed information than Statistics Estonia has provided in news releases, statistical publications, or in the statistical database. Additional data processing or analysis is required to carry out contract work. Statistical data of greater detail can be ordered in any statistical domain. This service does not cover the use of confidential data for scientific purposes.
In the form of contract work, data can be requested by anyone with a need for more detailed information, including public sector organisations, enterprises and their representative organisations, non-profit organisations and foundations, international organisations, and other private and legal persons.
Content and pricing of contract work
Contract work refers to the following services, divided into three price groups based on complexity (see also the 2025 price list for contract work):
Price group 1
- Collection of data by interviewer – interviewing respondents by phone or face to face
Price group 2
- Consultation and training;
- Preparations for data collection, incl. definition of indicators and development of calculation methodology, design and testing of questionnaires, sample design
- Data acquisition, incl. data acquisition from a new register / data source, or web scraping
- Data processing, incl. anonymisation/pseudonymisation, data correction (imputation, weighting, correction), geocoding
- Additional data processing and data analysis, incl. bulk delivery of published data, additional processing and analysis, quality and confidentiality checks
- Data dissemination, incl. development of visualised solutions, translation, editing, design, publication on the website or in other channels
Price group 3
- Linking data sources, modelling, using machine learning models for analysis
- Developing applications for the dissemination and analysis of statistical data
In addition, pursuant to subsection 35 (4) of the Official Statistics Act, it is possible to order the following data on economically active legal persons, branches of foreign companies, state and local government agencies and sole proprietors registered in Estonia: registry code, name and address of the unit (excl. local unit), legal status, economic activity (according to EMTAK, which corresponds to NACE), and size class based on the number of persons employed and/or annual turnover.
When performing contract work, Statistics Estonia complies with the quality requirements (relevance, accuracy, timeliness, punctuality, accessibility, clarity, comparability, coherence) and principles (professional independence, impartiality, objectivity, reliability, statistical confidentiality, cost effectiveness) of official statistics.
The outcome of contract work may be in Estonian or English.
Submitting an order
An order for contract work may be submitted through an online form at https://www.stat.ee/en/submit-query or by email to stat [at] stat.ee (stat[at]stat[dot]ee).
The fulfilled order is normally returned by email. Delivery of large data files is to be separately agreed on with the client.
When submitting an order, it is important to inform Statistics Estonia of the following:
- what specific information is needed and what is the expected data composition;
- whether it is a one-time or repeat order;
- what is the expected term for filling the order.
The data are published or transmitted without characteristics enabling identification of the data subject (excl. data of legal entities pursuant to section 35 (4) of the Official Statistics Act), as aggregate data of at least three data subjects, where the share of any data subject in the aggregate data is no more than 90%.
Contract work pricing
Pursuant to subsection 4 (3) and section 20 of the Official Statistics Act, performing contract work is a paid service. The price list for contract work is established for a calendar year by a directive of the Director General of Statistics Estonia. As a rule, the price depends on the time spent on fulfilling the order. The minimum time for fulfilling an order is 0.5 working hours.
The pricing of ordering data on economically active legal persons, branches of foreign companies, state and local government agencies and sole proprietors registered in Estonia depends on the amount of data requested.
Payment is made based on an invoice via a bank transfer with a term of 14 days. Contract work is not subject to VAT. Institutions and enterprises are issued an invoice within 3 working days of completing the order. An invoice is submitted to individuals prior to the release of data. The data are released after payment of the invoice.
Term for contract work
The deadline for completion of contract work is agreed by the parties during the planning stage and, if necessary, fixed in the contract.
Contract work involving the use of personal data and special categories of personal data
Contract work that involves the collection and processing of personal data of special categories must have a legal basis as defined by legislation, and a statistical or scientific purpose. This comprises the following types of contract work:
- The client wants to add questions to the questionnaire of a social survey included in the list of statistical activities. In this case, permission must be obtained from the ethics committee of the relevant scientific field before the contract work can be carried out. If the relevant domain does not have an ethics committee, permission from the Data Protection Inspectorate is required. When requesting approval from the Data Protection Inspectorate, it is vital for the applicant to show the legal basis for the contract work (this is not the same as the legal basis for the statistical activity) and it is recommended to put to the Inspectorate any questions concerning personal data (related to the questions that the client wants to add).
- Contract work carried out for policy development involves personal data, requiring queries from other databases or registers. In this case, permission from the Data Protection Inspectorate must be obtained. If contract work carried out for policy development involves special categories of personal data, it is necessary to get permission both from the ethics committee and the Data Protection Inspectorate; the ethics committee’s permission must be obtained before applying for approval from the Data Protection Inspectorate.
- Contract work carried out for policy development involves special categories of personal data and is carried out in a domain without a dedicated ethics committee. In this case, it is necessary to get permission from the Data Protection Inspectorate.
The permissions must be obtained by the client requesting the contract work. The contract work cannot be performed until the necessary permissions have been granted. Please note that the process of securing permission may take several months.
More information about requesting permission is available on the Data Protection Inspectorate’s website (in Estonian). If you have any questions about applying for permission, you may contact the Data Protection Inspectorate by phone at +372 627 4132 or by email at info [at] aki.ee (info[at]aki[dot]ee). More information is also available on Statistics Estonia’s website in the section “Frequently asked questions on applications involving special categories of personal data”.
More information
Further information on contract work can be obtained by calling +372 625 9300 or emailing stat [at] stat.ee (stat[at]stat[dot]ee). If a contract has been signed, information on a work in progress is provided by the contact person indicated in the contract.