Data protection regulations and secrecy obligations pertaining to the data that is collected on individual establishments prevent third parties from accessing the data directly. However, on account of the great interest shown by external researchers and research institutions, a contact point at IAB, financed by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), was set up in 1998. When the initial period of support came to an end in 2003, this IAB Establishment Panel contact point became a module of the Research Data Centre (FDZ) of the Federal Employment Agency in May 2004.
