Finance Minister Eugene Cox has urged business to supply Government with statistics to provide the fullest possible picture of the state of Bermuda's economy.

There was a poor response from business to last year's Economic Activity Survey, with only 400 out of 1,500 companies who were sent forms complying.

Mr. Cox told a breakfast meeting of the Chamber of Commerce at the Fairmont Hamilton Princess that business co-operation in this year's survey was essential so that both Government and commerce has the clearest assessment of the health of the economy.

Government has no plans to introduce legislation to force companies to comply with the survey, but after the meeting, Government Chief Statistician Janet Smith Bradshaw said she would support such a change.

She said introduction of legislation making it an offence punishable by fines if businesses refuse to provide data would bring Bermuda into line with the rest of the developed world.

This year the survey is being broken down for the first time into 15 separate sectors and Gross Domestic Product is being calculated by industrial origin.

This requires companies to provide more detail than before.

The forms sent to 1,500 companies have a number to identify the firms. The results will only be published in an aggregate form by sector so that confidential business information is not leaked to rival companies.

Mr. Cox said: "An enthusiastic response to the 1999 Economic Activity Survey is critically important in achieving an accurate and meaningful measurement of industrial sectors in the Bermudian economy.

"A high participation rate will ensure that the survey results can be used with confidence. I am asking everyone here today to consider the benefits to the country and the benefits to the private sector.

"I am sure everyone will appreciate that the calculation of GDP by industrial origin requires more detailed data, but in return provides a significant improvement to our understanding of Bermuda's economic performance. We will not be able to achieve this enhancement without your co-operation.'' He added: "Some of you may be concerned about what the Government will do with this information.

"After all, if I provide information on revenue and expense, won't the Government know how much profit I make? "I want to assure you that Government has no plans to introduce an income tax.

"There are no sinister or hidden motivations to request this data from you.

The data will be held confidentially by the Statistics Department and will be used only for statistical analysis.'' Edward Figueirado, the general manager of British American, told the meeting that business had to overcome its "phobia'' about confidentiality and co-operate with Government.

"We in business need to get this phobia about confidentiality out of our heads so that we give information that can be used properly,'' he said.

"People who have worked elsewhere will have found that information is hard to get, but you can get it. Here, you can't even get the information. It is time in the business community that we need to break this down.'' Mrs. Smith Bradshaw later told The Royal Gazette that although there are no plans to introduce legislation to force business to provide statistics for the census, she was in favour of this type of change.

Legislation is already in place in Bermuda making it an offence for individuals to refuse to comply with the Census or for employers who do not provide statistics for the Employment Survey.

She said the introduction of legislation would also benefit companies who were worried about confidentiality.

Legislation would provide companies with a legal redress if any confidential business information provided to Government was disclosed, she said.

Mrs. Smith Bradshaw added: "A Statistics Act would require anyone to respond to any survey that Government does. Most countries such as the US, the UK, Canada, and the Caribbean countries have such an Act.

"It is a two-way street because it would also give the respondent protection under the law. It would not just be Government taking a big stick to collect data, it would give the respondent a comeback because of confidentiality.

"We were asked at one previous meeting with the business community what models other countries use in terms of getting data, and the model they all used was a Statistics Act.''