Statistical Service of Cyprus (CYSTAT)

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Statistical Service of Cyprus

CY-1444

Nicosia

Cyprus

The EuroGroups register (EGR) is the statistical business register of Eurostat and the EU Member States and European Free Trade Association (EFTA) countries for Multinational enterprise groups.  The purpose of the EGR is to offer to statistical users a tool for coordinating frame population, to derive consistent statistical output with an improved quality in measuring global activities of European enterprises part of multinational enterprise groups.

The EGR produces data in yearly cycles and covers microdata on the groups and their enterprises and legal units. The EGR aims to register all multinational enterprise groups that have enterprises in EU Member States or EFTA countries, including European and non-European groups.

The Member States, EFTA countries and Eurostat exchange data on multinational enterprise groups and on the units belonging to those groups for the purposes of the European framework for statistical business registers to ensure the quality of the multinational enterprise group’s information in the Union.

The EGR brings together microdata on multinational enterprise groups from the EU and the EFTA countries' national statistical institutes, in line with the requirements in Regulation (EU) No 2152/2019, and from a commercial data source for data outside the EU and EFTA.

Classification systems and main code lists used in the EGR are as follows:

• Statistical classification of economic activities in the European Community (NACE Rev. 2 - Statistical classification of economic activities - Products Manuals and Guidelines - Eurostat (europa.eu));
• European System of Accounts (ESA 2010);
• List of 2-digit country codes (ISO 3166-1);
• List of legal forms of the legal units;
• Currency codes (ISO 4217).

The coverage of the data transmitted to the EGR is defined in the Regulation (EU) 2019/2152 on European business statistics.

For the purposes of the European framework for statistical business registers, the following economic activities are considered:

• any activity comprising the offer of goods and services on a given market;
• non-market services contributing to the GDP;
• direct and indirect holdings of active legal units.

Holding assets and/or liabilities are also considered an economic activity.

Global group head

The global group head (GGH) of an enterprise group is the parent legal unit that is not controlled either directly or indirectly by any other legal unit. The subsidiary legal units of a subsidiary legal unit are considered to be subsidiaries of the parent legal unit.

Global decision centre

The global decision centre (GDC) of an enterprise group is the unit where the enterprise group level’s strategic decisions are taken. A group may have several decision-making centres or several units dedicated to a particular internal function, for example accounting or human resources. However, the decisions about the group are made only in the GDC. The GDC may be the GGH or another legal unit under the GGH.

Ultimate Controlling Institutional unit

The ultimate controlling institutional unit (UCI) of a foreign affiliate means the institutional unit higher up a foreign affiliate’s chain of control that is not controlled by another institutional unit.

 Activity of unit

The activity is the use of inputs (e.g. capital, labour, energy and materials) to produce outputs (e.g. products or services).

Number of employees

The number of employees represents the annual average number of persons who were, at some time during the reference period, employees of the statistical unit.

Number of employees and self -employed persons

The number of employees and self-employed persons is annual average of the sum of Number of employees and Self-employed persons, which equals to the average Number of persons employed.

Net turnover

For all activities except for NACE 64, 65 and some activities of NACE 66 net turnover consists of all income arising during the reference period in the course of ordinary activities of the statistical unit, and is presented net of all price reductions, discounts and rebates granted by it.

Income is defined as increases in economic benefits during the reference period in the form of inflows or enhancements of assets or decreases of liabilities that result in increases in equity, other than those relating to contributions from equity participants.

The inflows referred to are arising from contracts with customers and are realized through the satisfaction by the statistical unit of performance obligations as foreseen in said contracts. Usually, a performance obligation is represented by the sale (transfer) of goods or the rendering of services, however, the gross inflows can also contain revenues obtained as a yield on the use by others of the statistical unit’s assets.

Excluded from net turnover are:

—   all taxes, duties or levies linked directly to revenue;

—   any amounts collected on behalf of any principal, if the statistical unit is acting as an agent in its relationship with said principal; 

—   all income not arising in the course of ordinary activities of the statistical unit. Usually, these types of income are classified as ‘Other (operating) income’, ‘Financial income’, ‘Extra-ordinary income’ or under a similar heading, depending on the respective set of generally accepted accounting standards used to prepare the financial statements.

Infra-annual statistics may not be able to take into account aspects such as annual price reductions, subsidies, rebates and discounts.

For the activities of NACE K6411, K6419 and K649 net turnover is defined as the value of output minus subsidies or government grants.

For the activities of NACE K642 and K643 net turnover can be approximated by the total operating costs, if net turnover is not available in the financial statements.

For the activities of NACE K6511, K6512 and K652 net turnover is defined as Gross premiums earned.

For the activities of NACE K653 the net turnover is defined as total pension contributions

For activities of NACE K66 for which net turnover is not available in the financial statements, net turnover is defined as the value of output minus subsidies or government grants. For activities of NACE K66 for which net turnover is available in the financial statements, the standard definition of net turnover applies. 

Total assets

The total amount of assets owned by a person or entity.

Principal activity

The principal activity is the activity that contributes most to the total value added of a unit under consideration.

The statistical units maintained in the EGR are defined in accordance with the Regulation (EEC) No 696/93 on the statistical units for the observation and analysis of the production system in the Community.

The EGR frame contains the following units: Legal units, Enterprises and Multinational enterprise groups.

Legal units include:

- legal persons whose existence is recognized by law independently of the individuals or institutions which may own them or are members of them,

- natural persons who are engaged in an economic activity in their own right.

The legal unit always forms, either by itself or sometimes in combination with other legal units, the legal basis for the statistical unit known as the 'enterprise'.

Enterprise

The enterprise is the smallest combination of legal units that is an organizational unit producing goods or services, which benefits from a certain degree of autonomy in decision-making, especially for the allocation of its current resources. An enterprise carries out one or more activities at one or more locations. An enterprise may be a sole legal unit.

Multinational enterprise group

A multinational enterprise group is an enterprise group that has at least two enterprises or legal units located in different countries.  In business statistics also the term ‘global enterprise group’ is used.

The data transmitted to the EGR during the cycle is made of the following datasets.

The data set with information on all incorporated resident legal units for the EGR Identification Service.

ISRLE file includes 428716 population of resident legal units is sent to EGR for identification.

The data set with information on foreign legal units for the EGR Identification Service.

ISNORLE file including 46527 population of foreign legal unit recorded in national statistical business register is sent to EGR for identification.

The data set with information on legal units.

LEU file including 220532 resident legal unit belonging to a global enterprise group is sent to EGR for processing.

The data set with information on relationships of ownership and control.

REL file including 69911 relationships between legal units is sent to EGR for processing:

• two resident legal units
• one resident and one foreign legal unit
• two foreign legal units from non EU+EFTA countries.

Relationships in the REL are:

• control relationships (>50%)
• minority relationships (<50%)

The data set with information on enterprises.

ENT file including 49565 enterprises made of legal unit sent in LEU files is sent to EGR for processing.

The Data set with information on links between enterprises and legal units.

LEL file including 66317 links between enterprise (ENT) and legal units (LEU) is sent to EGR for processing.

The Data set with information on enterprise groups of which country is the GDC country for the EuroGroups Register.

GEG file including 5312 groups data is sent to the EGR for processing.

The groups’ variables are updated after receiving the preliminary frame. 

Government controlled areas of the Republic of Cyprus.

The EGR frames are available from reference year 2008 onwards. NSI transmits data for the EGR production cycle since 2008 reference year.

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The economic variables on employment are recorded in absolute figures.

The net turnover for enterprises is recorded in EUR currency.

The net turnover and net total asset is recorded in millions in EUR currency.

The reference period for data sent to the EGR reflects the picture of 31 December of the given reference year.

Data transmitted to EGR during the EGR 2022 cycle includes data for the 2022. reference year. The identification, economic variables (number of employees, turnover and economic activity) refer to the 2022 reference year.

The content of the national data sent to EGR is defined according the Regulation (EU) 2019/2152.

Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/1197 of 30 July 2020 is laying down the technical specifications and arrangements pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2019/2152 of the European Parliament and of the Council on European business statistics.

Article 3 of the national Official Statistics Law, No. 25(I) of 2021 defines the functions of the Statistical Service of Cyprus regarding the production and dissemination of official statistics. Moreover, Article 13, explicitly stipulates the mandate for data collection and introduces a mandatory response to statistical enquiries by stipulating the obligation of respondents to reply to surveys and provide the data required. This relates not only to national but also to European statistics which, by virtue of Article 8 of the said Law, are incorporated in the annual and multiannual programmes of work without any further procedure.

The legal framework setting up the procedures for EGR data exchanges and access to confidential data for the purpose of the European framework for statistical business registers are defined in the Regulation (EU) 2019/2152 on European business statistics (Art.10). 

European legislation:

• Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 on European statistics;
• Regulation - 2019/2152 - EN - EUR-Lex (europa.eu) on European business statistics (Art.10).

The national legislative measures or other formal procedures which prevent unauthorised disclosure of data that identify a person or economic entity either directly or indirectly include:

• National Official Statistics Law No. 25(I) of 2021 (especially Article 16 on statistical confidentiality).
• Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 March 2009 on European statistics and its later amendments (especially Chapter 5 on statistical confidentiality).
• European Statistics Code of Practice (especially Principle 5 on statistical confidentiality).
• Guidelines for the Protection of Confidential Data.

• Official Statistics Law No. 25(I) of 2021:
• https://www.cystat.gov.cy/en/StaticPage?id=1074  

• Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 on European statistics (consolidated text):
• http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:02009R0223-20150608&qid=1504858409240&from=EN
• European Statistics Code of Practice:
• http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/products-manuals-and-guidelines/-/KS-32-11-955
• Guidelines for the Protection of Confidential Data:
•  https://www.cystat.gov.cy/en/StaticPage?id=1066

EGR data are stored by the Commission (Eurostat) and by the national statistical authorities (NSAs) in the EU Member States and EFTA countries in a secure area with restricted and controlled access.

The transmission of the EGR data is done in an encrypted form and by electronic means via the Commission (Eurostat) single entry point for exchange of confidential data EDAMIS (europa.eu)

Rules applied for treating the data set to ensure statistical confidentiality and prevent unauthorised disclosure are defined according to the policy rules (see section 7.1).

The treatment of confidential data is regulated by Guidelines for the Protection of Confidential Data.

• Guidelines for the Protection of Confidential Data:
•  https://www.cystat.gov.cy/en/StaticPage?id=1066

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The micro-data exchange of confidential data on multinational enterprise groups and on the statistical units belonging to those groups takes place, exclusively for statistical purposes, between EU Member States and EFTA countries and the European Commission (Eurostat).

Where such exchange of confidential data is carried out to ensure the quality of the multinational enterprise groups information in the Union and the exchange is explicitly authorised by the competent NSA which provides the data, national central banks may be party to the exchange of confidential data, exclusively for statistical purposes.

NSI exchanges information on multinational enterprise groups with:

• Other Member States for purpose to ensure quality of the MNE information.
• National Central Bank (NCB) for for purpose to ensure quality of the MNE information and for statistical purposes.

In general, CYSTAT's policy on micodata exchange is as follows:

• Statistical micro-data from CYSTAT’s surveys are accessible for research purposes only and under strict provisions as described below:

   Under the provisions of the Official Statistics Law, CYSTAT may release microdata for the sole use of scientific research. Applicants have to submit the request form "APPLICATION FOR DATA FOR RESEARCH PURPOSES" giving thorough information on the project for which micro-data are needed.

   The application is evaluated by CYSTAT’s Confidentiality Committee and if the application is approved, a charge is fixed according to the volume and time consumed for preparation of the data. Micro-data may then be released after an anonymization process which ensures no direct identification of the statistical units but, at the same time, ensures usability of the data. The link for the application is attached below.

   Attach the following link:

  • Link to the application for access to microdata on CYSTAT's website:
  • https://www.cystat.gov.cy/en/DataRequestContactForm?fid=7

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• Producers and Users in the NSI and NCB can find information on the EGR process, methodology and quality indicators, on EGR wiki (restricted access).

  EGR EuroGroups Register communication space Home - EGR EuroGroups Register communication space - EC Extranet Wiki (europa.eu)

• Data on the EGR is publicaly available on the Eurostat website.

  European business statistics methodological manual for statistical business registers — 2021 edition - Products Manuals and Guidelines - Eurostat (europa.eu)

The quality management of EGR is documented in the EuroGroups Register communication space (EGR Wiki), under the section Quality Indicators.  These indicators assess the quality, especially the completeness of the mandatory variables, on Legal Units, Relationships, Enterprises and Enterprise Groups.  Furthermore the coverage is assessed using cross - domain comparison, the EGR-FATS indicators.

Quality indicators - EGR EuroGroups Register communication space 

Eurostat Data Quality Programme monitors the quality and compliance of the data transmitted by the countries to EGR using the instruments of the EBS quality framework.

At national level, the quality of the data sent to EGR is assured as follows: 

• The quality of statistics in CYSTAT is managed in the framework of the European Statistics Code of Practice which sets the standards for developing, producing and disseminating European Statistics as well as the ESS Quality Assurance Framework (QAF). CYSTAT endorses the Quality Declaration of the European Statistical System. In addition, CYSTAT is guided by the requirements provided for in Article 11 of the Official Statistics Law No. 25(I) of 2021 as well as Article 12 of Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 on European statistics, which sets out the quality criteria to be applied in the development, production and dissemination of European statistics.

• European Statistics Code of Practice:

http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/products-manuals-and-guidelines/-/KS-32-11-955

• ESS Quality Assurance Framework (QAF):

http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/documents/64157/4392716/ESS-QAF-V1-2final.pdf/bbf5970c-1adf-46c8-afc3-58ce177a0646

• Quality Declaration of the European Statistical System:

http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/documents/4031688/8188985/KS0217428ENN_corr.pdf/116f7c85-cd3e-4bff-b695-4a8e71385fd4

• Official Statistics Law No. 25(I) of 2021:

https://www.cystat.gov.cy/en/StaticPage?id=1074

• Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 on European statistics (consolidated text):

http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:02009R0223-20150608&qid=1504858409240&from=EN

The quality assessment procedure includes:

• automatic validation procedures to check coherence between statistical units and their variables,
• data format and logical content of data
• crosschecks with other sources and data from previous years.

The statistical users have access to harmonised data on multinational enterprise groups and their enterprises in the EU and the EFTA countrries.  The data produced by the EGR is used on Profiling, foreign affiliates statistics (IFATS and OFATS), Foreigh Direct Investments (FDI) and Gross National Income (GNI).

The users' satisfaction is measured by the Statistical Business Register (SBR) user consultation survey, conducted by Eurostat.  The survey addresses the users of the national statistical business registers (NSBR) and the EuroGroups Register (EGR).

CYSTAT transmits to the EGR a complete dataset of the following:

EGR IS (for identification)

• All the incorporated resident  Legal Units (EGR_ISRLE)
• All non resident to the EGR IS for identification (EGR_ISNORLE)

EGR Core

• All the resident incorporated LeUs (EGR_LEU)
• All the relationships (resident and first level non-resident relatinships) (EGR_RELATIO)
• All the Enterprises delineated from those LeUs and the relationships (EGR_ENT)
• Relationships between Enterprises and LeUs (EGR_LEL)
• Global Enterpirse Groups (EGR_GEG)

The completeness is annually assessed by Eurostat.

The actions taken to monitor and to improve accuracy of the data sent to EGR are the following: 

• The accuracy of the final frame is evaluated by comparing at micro-level the Ultimate Controlling Institutional Units (UCI) of the Mutlinational Entrprise Groups from the final EGR final frame with the data produced from FATS.  Certain indicators are calculated.

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The EGR process refers to a reference year T and is run yearly over a period of 11 months, between May T+1 and March T+2.

The data is transmited on time with no delays.

The statistics produced by EGR, are comparable among Member States and EFTA countries, since they are produced in cooperation based on harmonised statistical units as defined in the Council Regulation (EEC) No 696/93.

EGR frames are comparable for the reference years from 2008 to 2011.  EGR version 1.0 was based on commercial data.

EGR frames are comparable for the reference years 2012 and 2013.  The input process was based on EGR version 2.0 and the output on EGR version 1.0.  The basis of the data were the National Statistical Business Registers of the EU member states and the EFTA countries.

Since reference year 2014 the EGR data is produced using version 2.0.

Coherence of data sent to Eurostat with other data sources and statistical domains:

• The EGR frame provides harmonised data on the multinational groups active in EU and EFTA countries.  The data can be used in FATS and Business Statistics, Profiling and GNI.
• EGR 2.0 allows comparability to previous years (backwards to 2014).
• Continuity is applied for legal units, enterprise and multinational enterprise groups.

Data sent to EGR should be internally consistent. There is a set of standard quality checks that are routinely perform at national level before transmitting the data to Eurostat:

The data sent to Eurostat is internally consistent.

• NSBR data is checked and updated using feedback from the business statistics surveys contacted by CYSTAT
• The continuity of the Enterprise and the Legal unit is applied in the NSBR
• Since the reference year 2008, the NSBR data is comparable

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The data is based on administrative sources and National Statistical Business Register data.

The administrative sources used are the following:

1. Department of Registrar of Companies and Intellectual Property
   • The Department of Companies and Intellectual Property register is the main source of the Legal Unit's identification and demographic characteristics and relationships.
2. Tax Department (VAT register)
   • The VAT register is the main source of turnover.  Furthermore is a source of economic activity code.
3. Social Insurance Services
   • The Social Insurance Services register is the main source of employment data.

National data is sent to EGR annually

Data sent to EGR are collected from:

• National Statistical business registers
• Administrative data sources.

The validation process is continuous and takes place during the T+5 and T+15 months of the EGR cycle.

CYSTAT validates the group structures during the repair phase by delivering relationships and data on enterprise groups to the EGR.  The validated data is sent to EGR via Edamis or through the interactive web interface EGR Interactive Module (EGR IM).  Furthermore, the EGR input file is pre-validated.

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