Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic

800 - Business statistics section

Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic

Lamačská cesta 3/C

840 05 Bratislava

Name of indicator: Import prices

Objective of the import price indices is to measure the monthly transaction price development of goods purchased by residents from non-residents.

The following classifications are used in the calculation of import price indices:

Statistical Classification of Products by Activity in the European Union, version 2.1 (CPA 2.1)

Main industrial groupings (MIGs)

Combined Nomenclature

The import price indices measure the price development of goods imported by legal entities and physical persons – entrepreneurs regardless of their number of employees and the main activity, which are registered in the foreign trade register.

Products covered: Sections B to D of CPA, except for B0721, B09, C18, C2446, C254, C301, C303, C304 and C33.

Size classes covered: All classes of units are covered.

The concept and definition of import prices are based on Regulation (EU) 2019/2152 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 November 2019 on European business statistics, repealing 10 legal acts in the field of business statistics, followed by the Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/1197 of 30 July 2020 laying down technical specifications and arrangements pursuant to the mentioned EBS Regulation.

Definition of variable 'Import prices' correspond with the above mentioned regulations. The basic information collected is the import price excluding VAT and consumption taxes.

Enterprise is the reporting as well as observation unit.

Legal entities and physical persons – entrepreneurs regardless of their number of employees and the main activity, which are registered in the foreign trade register.

All regions of the Slovak Republic are covered by the survey. The reporting units are residents at the territory of the Slovak Republic and provide data on their domestic activities and activities outside, if the activities carried out are of a subject of the tax and other duties in relation to Slovak legislation.

Data for import price indices are available from January 2009 (date of entry of Slovak Republic into euro area).

• Total Industry (B to D) – from January 2009 on.
• Section-level of CPA – from January 2009 on.
• MIGs – from January 2009 on.

Data are also avalaible divided by euro area and non-euro area.

There are no longer time series available nationally than what is transmitted to Eurostat.

The base year 2015=100 is implemented since January 2018 data from the beginning of the year 2018.

Data for import prices are transmitted to Eurostat as indices. Indices are published nationally as well.

Month.

EU legislation

Regulation (EU) 2019/2152 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 November 2019 on European business statistics, repealing 10 legal acts in the field of business statistics, followed by the Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/1197 of 30 July 2020 laying down technical specifications and arrangements pursuant to the mentioned EBS Regulation

National legislation

The reporting obligation to submit statistical questionnaires is laid down in Act no. 540/2001 Coll. on state statistics as amended (§ 18, paragraph 3) and cannot be refused (§ 18, paragraph 8). The Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic is responsible for the protection of confidential data obtained and guarantees their use exclusively for statistical purposes. The statistical surveys are part of the Programme of State Statistical Surveys issued for a three-year period in the Collection of Laws of the Slovak Republic.

Statistical information from surveys of Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic is a source for fulfilling the obligations of the Slovak Republic resulting from the requirements of the European statistical system, the requirements of international institutions, to ensure the needs of the information system of the Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic. Statistical information are regularly provided to international and national organizations (Eurostat, National Bank of SR) or irregularly to other users.

The Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic (SOSR) is responsible for the protection of confidential data obtained and guarantees their use exclusively for statistical purposes. In accordance with the Act on State Statistics No. 540/2001 Coll. §2g and §30, the SOSR may not publish confidential statistical data, but only information resulting from the aggregation of confidential statistical data, which does not allow direct or indirect identification of the reporting unit.

The Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic has introduced principles and procedures for the protection of confidential data in internal directives and instructions. The directive on the protection of confidential statistical data regulates the method of management and implementation of activities related to ensuring the protection of confidential statistical data in the Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic. The internal methodological instruction of the Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic regulates specific methods and parameter values ​​used in the protection of confidential statistical data of individual statistical surveys and data sets.

The Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic (SOSR) ensures the protection of confidential statistical data in disseminated data. SOSR applies in all cases the rule of minimum frequency for n = 3 and dominance of 90%. Values in sensitive cells and also values in other cells, that are not sensitive, are marked with a flag ("D") in order to prevent a sufficiently accurate primary and secondary confidentiality treatment.

The First Release Calendar contains the timetable for the first publication of selected indicators in the next 4 months. The calendar is updated monthly. The Catalogue of Publications contains basic information about published publications, publication dates and language versions. All publications are available on the Internet portal of the Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic. The Edition program is available on the website of the SOSR.

The First Release Calendar is available on the website of the SOSR here: First Release Calendar

The SOSR's web portal and the online database Datacube of the SOSR are updated in accordance with the Principles of the policy of publication and provision of statistical information.

The First Release Calendar contains timetable of the first release of selected indicators. Data will be published in the given day at 9 o´clock on the Internet website of the SOSR (www.statistics.sk) in the part Information reports Catalogue and there will be also at the disposal at the spokesperson of the SO SR (phone number: +421 2 5023 6553). You will also find notice for amendments of dates on the Internet website of the SOSR.

Data on import prices are transmitted to Eurostat monthly. Data on import prices are disseminated monthly as well as to national users.

Data on import price indices are not published through news releases.

Data on import price indices are not published through publications.

Data on import price indices are monthly published in public database DATAcube.

Micro-data are not disseminated.

Data on import price indices are transmitted monthly to Eurostat.

Statistical questionnaires including methodological guidelines and explanations of variables and methodological explanations within the Glossary of the statistical terms are published on the web portal of the SOSR. Each publication contains methodical explanations and a contact for the information service of the SOSR.

Following internal project documentation exists for the compilation of statistical outputs:

• technical projects within the Integrated Statistical Information System called ISIS

• methodological guidelines for applying mathematical-statistical methods for statistical surveys

• methodological guidelines for quality indicators of statistical outputs and statistical processes.

The Quality policy is defined and publicly accessible in the Quality Declaration and Quality Policy documents. The Quality Declaration expresses the basic ideas and commitments of the President and top management of the SOSR for the Quality Policy as well as increasing efficiency and effectiveness of the integrated management system of the SOSR.

Quality Declaration

Quality policy is based on the mission of the Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic: to provide high quality and objective statistical products and services by keeping confidentiality of statistical data and by minimising burden on interested parties using effectively existing resources with the aim to support improvement of the information and intellectual capital of our customers. In this way we want to contribute to reduce risks and improve effectiveness in their decision making processes and so to support the sustainable development of the Slovak Republic as the part of EU.

Quality policy

The Quality manual describes the documented procedures of the quality system that are used for implementation and continuous improvement of the quality management system in SOSR. It contains a description of the quality management system and the fulfilment of requirements ISO 9001 standards. Application of the manual in practice ensures that all activities that have an impact on the quality of the products created are planned, managed, reviewed, evaluated and meet requirements. Quality manual is available only in Slovak language.

Quality manual

The European Statistics Code of Practice is the basis of the common quality framework of the European Statistical System. It is a self-regulatory tool and it is based on 16 Principles covering the institutional environment, statistical processes and statistical outputs. A set of indicators of best practices and standards for each of the Principles provides guidelines and benchmarks for reviewing the implementation of the Code of Practice, thus increasing transparency within the European Statistical System.

European Statistics Code of Practise

Coverage, reference period, data collection, control and data processing are in line with the Eurostat methodological guidelines. The data collection process is conducted in the Integrated Statistical Information System called ISIS. SOSR creates technical projects of the statistical surveys describing data collection and its evaluation, including a description of statistical controls and algorithms within the ISIS. The data collection process is ensured by the regional offices of the SOSR during the phase of electronic data collection, ensure using statistical controls and algorithms the data collection process itself. Data validation is done during the data collection, processing and validation of relevant data by the SOSR experts. A data comparison is done with previous periods. Statistics are available in the system to evaluate the quality of the completed questionnaires, the number of questionnaires with errors or outliers, the number of reminders etc. SOSR also performs internal methodical audits. Evaluation of statistical surveys and methodological audits including the analysis of the results are integrated into the existing quality management system.

STS compliance assessment is carried out by Eurostat. Concerning the results of particular data production processes, the overall quality of the indicators is considered to be as good.

The requirement to conduct consultations with users of statistical information is stipulated in the Act on State Statistics itself. Consultations during the preparation of state statistical surveys take place within the framework of the preparation of the Program of State Statistical Surveys (PSSZ). PSSZ is a generally binding legal regulation compiled by the SOSR in collaboration with ministries, other central authorities and state organizations and contains statistical surveys organized and carried out by the SOSR, ministries, other central authorities and state organizations. SOSR publishes the Programme of State Statistical Surveys by decree in the Collection of Laws of the Slovak Republic. The Coordinating Council for State Statistics ensures the fulfilment of the tasks of the SOSR. Key users of specific statistical products are listed in the Marketing Plan, e.g. international organizations - Eurostat, OECD, UN and national institutions, e.g. National Bank of Slovakia, etc.

Since the 2009, SOSR carries out satisfaction surveys of customers with their products and services at two-year intervals. The goal of surveys is to determine customer satisfaction with the products and services of the SOSR, to obtain information about users, their interest and opinion on provision and quality of statistical products and services. The facts obtained are a valuable resource for the direction of other activities of the SOSR. The goal of the SOSR until 2022 is to systematically increase the value of the institution and its recognition at the national and international level. The office also monitors the fulfilment of the stated goal with the help of indicators of the credibility of the SOSR and the rate of use of the information provided by the public.

SOSR conducts credibility surveys through an external independent organization once every 2 years, with the intention of ensuring the objectivity and indisputability of the results from public view (available only in Slovak language).

Credibility survey

Satisfaction survey

Time series of import price indices in accordance with the regulation are available since January 2009 (date of entry of Slovak Republic into euro area).

Overall accuracy is considered very good. SOSR makes great efforts to prevent the occurrence of errors in the data and performs data verification to detect the errors. Most errors are directly consulted at regional offices with the reporting units.

Sampling errors are monitored during data processing.

The technical project of data processing is part of ISIS. This project includes a description of all logical data controls at the microdata level performed during electronic data collection. The electronic questionnaire and information system ISIS itself provides many arithmetic and logical checks between variables, which we distinguish between serious and informative. Data collection is provided by the regional office of the SOSR in Trenčín. After the deadline for submission of the statistical questionnaire, the reporting units that did not respond are contacted again to fulfil their legal obligation. In case of serious errors in the form, this form is not accepted and with the help of experts from the regional office its correctness is ensured so that it can enter into the data processing. Automatic validation checks during data collection and informative checks are incorporated with the aim to follow logical checks, reducing the rate of partial non-responses, anomalies and outliers. The purpose of this process is to minimize errors already in the data collection itself and subsequently during data processing. The basic step in the process of calculating unit non-response is the analysis of the population with regard to the state of activity of the reporting units. For this purpose, we use a specific classification of responses and non-responses codes. Individual codes describe active and inactive units and are assigned to each reporting unit. Subsequently, we determine the population of active units entering the data processing.

Response rate for September 2022 was 0,984375.

Average production time for each release of data is approximately T+45 days after reference month. There are no differences in timeliness between the different aggregation levels (Total Industry, MIGs, Section-level of CPA).

Publication deadlines were met.

Import price indices are compiled for the entire territory of the Slovak Republic. The same statistical concepts are applied for the entire territory of the Slovak Republic.

Comparable time series for import price indices are available since January 2009.

The following data comparison analysis is done:

1. Comparison of monthly survey results with quarterly data surveyed for the purposes of national accounts (for the calculation of quarterly GDP);
2. Comparison with structural business statistics data;
3. A regular meeting of the STS experts with the national accounts experts is organised; 
4. The trends of the STS data are compared with the business tendency surveys.

The analysis shows very good compliance level in case of parts of population surveyed exhaustively. Some differences appear when comparing data from monthly, quarterly and yearly samples, which are the subject of further detailed data analysis.

There are no problems with internal consistency in case of import price indices.

SOSR regularly monitors the cost and burden of reporting units. As part of the optimization of statistical surveys, it takes measures aimed at reducing their burden (e.g. by personalised pre-filling of selected variables in statistical questionnaires, reducing the frequency of selected surveyed variables and using administrative data resources if they are available in the required quality and at the specified time).

The cost and burden measurement at the level of European Statistical Products is in competence of the Resources Directors Group within Eurostat.

Data are not subject of revisions. If a revision is needed, the same revision policy is applied to data released nationally and transmitted to Eurostat.

Data are not subject of revisions.

Mean Revision (MR) = Mean Absolute Revision (MAR) = 0.

The import price indices are calculated based on prices, which are reported through statistical forms named "Monthly questionnaire on prices in foreign trade for import and arrival of goods“. These forms are filled-in by selected reporting units for selected representatives.

In year 2022 there were approximately 1010 selected representative commodities monthly reported by approximately 255 reporting units.

Data are collected monthly.

The regional office of the SOSR in Trenčín is responsible for data collection. Since the 1^st of January 2016, reporting units (legal entities, natural persons - entrepreneurs) are required to electronically submit statistical questionnaires in accordance with the amendment to Act No. 540/2001 Coll. on state statistics as amended by Act no. 326/2014 Coll. (hereinafter referred to as the law), which contains new rules for submitting statistical questionnaires.

The completed statistical questionnaire must be submitted electronically no later than the 20th day after the reference period on the website www.statistics.sk. In the event that the reporting unit has not submitted the electronic questionnaire, it is contacted by the relevant regional office of SOSR. Data collection is closed cca 30 days after the end of the reference month.

The data entry, data completeness and statistical control are organised by specialised regional offices of the SO SR.

SOSR distinguishes between two levels of data checks:

1. Formal checks, which are realised in the process of data entry automatically; (compatible with Validation level 0 and 1),
2. Informal checks aim of which is to control the complexity and relations among the variables (compatible with Validation level from 2 to 5),

According to the importance there are classified 2 basic types of checks:

• Informative check – this check gives the additional information, which is important for the following process of corrections. It informs also about some inconsistencies in the state of fulfilment of the questionnaire, about item non-response, exceeding stated limits etc.
• Check of great importance – it is mostly check indicating the exact error and it must be always corrected or explained.

Most of the errors are directly consulted with the reporting units by our regional offices.

Import price indices are calculated from simple price indices of particular representatives weighted by the relative share of the relevant representative in the total import for year 2015 (stable weight structure) in accordance to the Laspeyres formula.

The weights of import price indices are based on the structure of import of goods of the Slovak Republic for year 2015 and the single-shot survey focused on the selection of representatives for price monitoring in the foreign trade for year 2015. 

Non-response is treated by the imputation of data from the previous month’s survey.

Import price indices are neither working day nor seasonally adjusted.

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