(a) Responsibilities. Each Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit must uphold the responsibility to produce and disseminate relevant and timely statistical information by carrying out its requirements under this section. Each parent agency must enable, support, and facilitate the Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit in carrying out its responsibility to produce and disseminate relevant and timely statistical information. Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units must determine:

(1) What statistical products to disseminate, including in the context of the Standard Application Process required under 44 U.S.C. 3583;

(2) The content of its statistical products; and

(3) The timing of disseminations.

(b) Relevance consultations. Each Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit must continually seek to understand the diverse interests and needs of policymakers, current and future data users, and the public to ensure statistical products are relevant.

(1) Each Recognized Statistical Agency and Unit must:

(i) Consult with parent agency officials to assess and seek improvements to the relevance of its statistical products to users' needs and to inform what statistical products to produce and disseminate;

(ii) Consult, as the head of the Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit determines is appropriate, with other data users, including Congress, other agencies, and State, local, territorial, or Tribal governments, to assess and seek improvements to the relevance of its statistical products to users' needs and to inform what statistical products to produce and disseminate;

(iii) Be knowledgeable about programs and policies relating to its subject domains;

(iv) Coordinate and communicate across agencies when planning information collections and dissemination activities; and

(v) Keep abreast of interests and analytical goals of data users.

(2) Each parent agency must:

(i) Share relevant policy and program needs with sufficient detail to allow the Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit to be responsive to those needs;

(ii) Consult with the Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit as part of the stakeholder engagement process when developing the agency evidence-building plan (learning agenda) required under 5 U.S.C. 312, in alignment with Office of Management and Budget guidance; and

(iii) Allow the Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit to establish, determine the membership of, and manage advisory groups or other means of systematic stakeholder engagement, in accordance with applicable law.

(c) Maximizing timeliness. (1) Each Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit must maximize the timeliness of statistical products by minimizing the time interval between the release of statistical products and the reference date to the extent practicable, considering available resources and the effects on the other quality dimensions of the information products, and consult with the parent agency regarding the availability of relevant support components required to support the release of statistical products.

(2) Each parent agency must support efforts to maximize timeliness of statistical products by ensuring the Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit is aware of any emerging needs and providing necessary resources to respond to such emerging need.

(3) In any instance where a parent agency observes that a Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit is not upholding the timeliness of statistical products, consistent with paragraph (c)(1) of this section, the parent agency, after consultation with the head of the Recognized Agency or Unit, head must notify the Chief Statistician of the United States.

(d) Schedule of release dates. Each Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit must publicly announce and adhere to a schedule for the release of statistical products.

(1) Each Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit must:

(i) On the website required under § 1321.4, publish a schedule containing the date of release of its regular and recurring statistical products for the next calendar year prior to the beginning of that calendar year;

(ii) Publish the date for release of non-regular or non-recurring statistical products on the schedule required under paragraph (d)(1)(i) of this section as soon as the date is established;

(iii) Designate a point of contact responsible for information about the release schedule and make its contact information readily available to the public on the website required under § 1321.4;

(iv) Minimize changes to the release schedule after it has been published to accommodate only special, unforeseen circumstances; and

(v) If the release date of a statistical product is changed after the schedule has been published, publicly announce the change to the schedule as soon as possible, provide a detailed explanation for such change and, for regular and recurring statistical products, notify the Chief Statistician of the United States.

(2) Each parent agency must support adherence to the published schedule by:

(i) Communicating any parent agency activities or processes that could impact the timing of dissemination activities to the Recognized Statistical Agency or Unit before the schedule is published; and

(ii) If involved in dissemination activities, preparing for dissemination of statistical products in accordance with the published schedule.