The Canary Islands Consultative Council has issued a favorable opinion on the draft decree for the Canary Islands Statistical Plan 2026-2030. However, the body has introduced several important observations concerning the text's legal technique and, particularly, data handling. While the regulation is deemed compliant with the current legal framework, the Council warns that the decree not only approves the new statistical plan but also modifies Decree 89/2023, which governs the organization and management of data for statistical purposes. Therefore, it requests that this modification be explicitly stated in the title of the future regulation.
One of the most significant adjustments requested pertains to the reform of Article 33. The Council notes that the Government presents the change as a simple modification of the title and the addition of a new section, when in reality it involves replacing the precept's previous content, transferring part of the regulation from another article, and introducing a new provision. The consultative body urges for greater clarity on which articles are being modified, which are being suppressed, and the true scope of this reform.
The most sensitive point of the opinion concerns the access of the Canary Institute of Statistics (Istac) to private data contained in administrative files. The Council finds the new regulation confusing and recalls previous warnings from 2023 regarding the need for robust legal coverage to enable exceptional access to data from private companies and entities through a regulatory norm. In this new opinion, it demands precise delimitation of which data can be used, for what specific purpose, under what limits, and with what legal authorization, in addition to ensuring strict compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation, the Organic Law on Data Protection, and statistical secrecy regulations.
The opinion also includes two additional warnings. The first relates to the effective duration of the Statistical Plan, which could be less than five years if it comes into force after its publication and ends on December 31, 2030. The Council requests that this reduction in term be expressly justified. The second warning concerns the use of artificial intelligence and machine learning within the Canarian statistical system. The body reminds that the incorporation of these tools must comply with the European Artificial Intelligence Regulation, with special attention to risk analysis, transparency, traceability, governance, and the supervision of their potential effects on fundamental rights.
