The criminal policy of the Iraqi legislator in confronting acts that violate the statistical process

The statistical process represents an essential tool for formulating public policies, making accurate decisions, and developing development plans. The collection of statistical data and information is the essence of this process, making its protection a national necessity. The Iraqi legislator has regulated the requirements for its completion in a special law, the Law of the General Authority for Statistics and Geographic Information Systems, However, this process may be exposed to serious threats as a result of illegal actions that disrupt it, such as refraining from providing statistical data or information or deliberately providing false or inaccurate statistical data or information, as this negatively affects the accuracy of the results of the statistical process, which would weaken its credibility and undermine its effectiveness, Hence, the necessity of confronting these acts with a criminal policy aimed at protecting the statistical process by criminalizing these acts and imposing appropriate penalties for them. This policy has some specific aspects within the framework of the requirements for implementing its means represented by criminalization and punishment, in order to ensure the achievement of the public interest, which is the goal of the legislator in issuing the Law of the General Authority for Statistics and Geographic Information Systems.