HELLENIC STATISTICAL AUTHORITY (ELSTAT)

Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Environmental Statistics Division (B2)

Energy & Environment Statistics Section (B24)

46, Peiraios & Eponiton, 185 10, Piraeus, Greece

Data presents environmental tax revenue by tax category (energy, transport, pollution, and resource taxes) broken down by economic activity (taxpayer). Breakdown follows the NACE Rev.2 classification for industries and services sectors extended to cover taxes paid by households and non-residents.

Environmental tax revenue is broken down by:
A. type of environmental tax,
B. sector/industry of taxpayer

A. Classification according to type of environmental tax

For analytical purposes, the environmental taxes are divided into four categories:
1. energy taxes (including CO₂ taxes)
2. transport taxes
3. pollution taxes
4. resource taxes (excluding taxes on oil and gas extraction)

B. Environmental taxes by economic activity

Environmental tax revenue are allocated to the different taxpayers:
• by economic activity according to the statistical classification of economic activities in the European Community (NACE Rev.2)
• households as consumers
• non-residents
• not allocated (impossible to be allocated to one of the categories mentioned above)

Environmental taxes by economic activity data cover taxes paid by all sectors of the economy: industries and services (economic activities by NACE Rev.2), households as consumers and non-residents on territory.

The environmental tax statistics are compiled according to Eurostat’s 2013 “Environmental taxes - a statistical guide”. Environmental tax is defined as “A tax whose tax base is a physical unit (or a proxy of a physical unit) of something that has a proven, specific negative impact on the environment, and which is identified in ESA2010 as a tax”.

Environmental tax statistics are part of European environmental economic accounts, which constitute satellite accounts to national accounts. Thus, environmental tax statistics follows ESA2010 definition of “taxes”. Consequently, only payments that are identified as taxes in the national accounts can be reported as environmental taxes whereas other types of payments to government are excluded from the scope of the data collection. Compliance with the tax definition of the national accounts improves international comparability of the statistics, and is in line with the guidance, concepts, and definitions of the System of environmental and economic accounting (SEEA).

Data refer to environmental taxes paid by the different economic agents and collected by the government.

The target population are all production sectors by NACE Rev.2, households as consumers and non-residents.

At national level: data refer to Greece total.

The time period covered by annual data is from 2008 to 2021.

Not applicable.

Million Euros (M€)

Data disseminated via the 2023 questionnaire corresponds to reference year 2021.

At National level:

The legal framework concerning the organization and operation of ELSTAT is available at the following link:

https://www.statistics.gr/en/legal-framework

At European level:

Statistics on environmental taxes are based on Regulation (EC) No. 691/2011 (Annex II) on European environmental economic accounts as amended by Regulation 538/2014, as well as legal acts in the area of national accounts. Data transmission became obligatory in September 2013. Before, Eurostat collected the data on a voluntary basis.

The basis for the national accounts tax aggregates is Table 9 "Detailed tax and social contribution receipts by type of tax or social contribution and receiving sub-sector including the list of taxes and social contributions according to national classification" of the ESA2010 transmission programme - Annex B of Regulation (EU) No. 549/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 May 2013 on the European system of national and regional accounts in the European Union. Moreover, Commission Regulation (EC) N° 995/2001 of 22 May 2001 implementing Council and European Parliament Regulation (EC) N° 2516/2000 of 10 July 2000 on the recording of taxes and social contributions sets the rules for the data sources, time of recording and comparable treatment of taxes and social contributions assessed but unlikely to be collected.

Not applicable.

The issues concerning the observance of statistical confidentiality by the Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT) are arranged by articles 7, 8 and 9 of the Law 3832/2010 as in force, by Articles 8, 10 and 11(2) of the Regulation on Statistical Obligations of the agencies of the Hellenic Statistical System and by Articles 10 and 15 of the Regulation on the Operation and Administration of ELSTAT.

Furthermore, ELSTAT disseminates the statistics in compliance with the statistical principles of the European Statistics Code of Practice and in particular with the principle of statistical confidentiality.

https://www.statistics.gr/en/statistical-confidentiality

• ELSTAT protects and does not disseminate data it has obtained, or it has access to, which enable the direct or indirect identification of the statistical units that have provided them by the disclosure of individual information directly received for statistical purposes or indirectly supplied from administrative or other sources. ELSTAT takes all appropriate preventive measures so as to render impossible the identification of individual statistical units by technical or other means that might reasonably be used by a third party. Statistical data that could potentially enable the identification of the statistical unit are disseminated by ELSTAT if and only if:

             a) these data have been treated, as it is specifically set out in the Regulation on Statistical Obligations of the agencies of the Hellenic Statistical System (ELSS), in such a way that their dissemination does not prejudice statistical confidentiality or
             b) the statistical unit has given its consent, without any reservations, for the disclosure of data.

• The confidential data that are transmitted by ELSS agencies to ELSTAT are used exclusively for statistical purposes and the only persons who have the right to have access to these data are the personnel engaged in this task and appointed by an act of the President of ELSTAT.
• ELSTAT may grant researchers conducting statistical analyses for scientific purposes access to data that enable the indirect identification of the statistical units concerned. The access is granted provided the following conditions are satisfied:
  a) an appropriate request together with a detailed research proposal in conformity with current scientific standards have been submitted;
  b) the research proposal indicates in sufficient detail the set of data to be accessed, the methods of analyzing them, and the time needed for the research;
  c) a contract specifying the conditions for access, the obligations of the researchers, the measures for respecting the confidentiality of statistical data and the sanctions in case of breach of these obligations has been signed by the individual researcher, by his/her institution, or by the organization commissioning the research, as the case may be, and by ELSTAT.
• Issues referring to the observance of statistical confidentiality are examined by the Statistical Confidentiality Committee (SCC) operating in ELSTAT. The responsibilities of this Committee are to make recommendations to the President of ELSTAT on:
  · the level of detail at which statistical data can be disseminated, so as the identification, either directly or indirectly, of the surveyed statistical unit is not possible;
  · the anonymization criteria for the microdata provided to users;
  · the granting to researchers access to confidential data for scientific purposes.
• The staff of ELSTAT, under any employment status, as well as the temporary survey workers who are employed for the collection of statistical data in statistical surveys conducted by ELSTAT, who acquire access by any means to confidential data, are bound by the principle of confidentiality and must use these data exclusively for the statistical purposes of ELSTAT. After the termination of their term of office, they are not allowed to use these data for any purpose.
• Violation of data confidentiality and/or statistical confidentiality by any civil servant or employee of ELSTAT constitutes the disciplinary offence of violation of duty and may be punished with the penalty of final dismissal.

ELSTAT, by its decision, may impose a penalty amounting from ten thousand (10,000) up to two hundred thousand (200,000) euros to anyone who violates the confidentiality of data and/or statistical confidentiality. The penalty is always imposed after the hearing of the defense of the person liable for the breach, depending on the gravity and the repercussions of the violation. Any relapse constitutes an aggravating factor for the assessment of the administrative sanction.

A news Release and respective data on Environmental Taxes are disseminated on Elstat's website according to the published release calendar (https://www.statistics.gr/en/calendar#42023).

The release calendar is available on Elstat's website (https://www.statistics.gr/en/calendar).

In compliance with Community legislation and the European Statistics Code of Practice, ELSTAT releases all national statistical data on its webpage, fully observing professional independence and with a view to ensuring the simultaneous, equal, and timely access of all users to statistical data.

Neither users nor any government bodies have access to data before their official release.

Data are disseminated annually.

A news release for the dissemination of ETEA data is scheduled to be published on September.

Data on ETEA are disseminated on ELSTAT’s web site.

ETEA data files are available on ELSTAT's website (https://www.statistics.gr/en/statistics/-/publication/SOP10/-)

Not applicable.

Microdata are made available to users after they submit a request to:
Division of Statistical Information and Publications
46, Peiraios and Eponiton Str.,
18510 Piraeus
Tel: +30 213 135 2173
e-mail: data.dissem@statistics.gr

Data can be provided to users (provided that restrictions on statistical confidentiality are fully met) usually by e-mail, by submitting a relevant data request. Users have to submit their request, describing in detail the requested data, to the Division of Statistical Information and Publications. The requests must be submitted electronically to the following e-mail address: data.dissem@statistics.gr.

This information is not currently available.

Eurostat’s manual, “Environmental Taxes, A Statistical Guide” is available at:

http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/en/web/products-manuals-and-guidelines/-/KS-GQ-13-005

Rate of metadata completeness is 100%.

There is not currently available documentation on quality management practices.

The data for the compilation of environmental taxes derive from a) National Accounts and b) administrative sources which provide the official data of Greece (Independent Authority for Public Revenue).

The quality of the data is considered satisfactory.

Although the use on environmental taxes on national level is still relatively limited, the potential users could be Eurostat, government, ministries (Ministry of Environment and Energy, Ministry of Transport), universities, research centers, enterprises, students and the media.

The Statistical Information Dissemination Section of ELSTAT conducts a survey on user satisfaction, the results of which are available at the link:

https://www.statistics.gr/en/user-satisfaction-survey.

The requirements of the Regulation 691/2011 are fully met.

Rate of data completeness is 100%.

Data in the tables of environmental taxes derive from a combination of primary and administrative sources, therefore it is difficult to make a general evaluation of the data.

Overall accuracy relies, to a great extent, on the quality and completeness of the administrative data, requirements which must be met by the agencies that provide these data.

Not applicable.

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Not applicable.

See 14.1.1. and 14.1.2.

Data are compiled and disseminated 16 months after the end of the reference year.

The data for transport taxes are usually finalized 33 months after the reference year. However, this depends on NTL revisions.

Data for energy taxes are usually finalized 3 years after final estimate.

See 14.2.1.

Environmental taxes data are transmitted within the deadlines set out by Eurostat.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

See 15.2.1. and 15.2.2.

For energy taxes the length of comparability is 2008-2021.

For transport taxes is 2012-2021.

For pollution taxes is 2018-2021.

See 15.3.1. and 15.3.2.

The results are compiled on annual basis.

See 15.3.2.1.

The environmental taxes data are characterized by internal coherence.

The administrative data derive from the Independent Authority for Public Revenue. In addition, certain source data are also collected by ELSTAT. Approximately 0.5 FTE were used by ELSTAT for this ETEA transmission by ELSTAT.

The Revision Policy of ELSTAT for 2018 is implemented. The revision policy is available at the following link:

http://www.statistics.gr/documents/20181/1195539/ELSTAT_Revisions_Policy_25_10_2018_EN.pdf/604b51dd-5dc2-4c7c-8b74-2766bda16e5e

ETEA data revision depends on revisions of the National Tax List (NTL) data and the underlying data sources such as National Accounts data used for Energy and Pollution taxes.

Not applicable.

- Revisions in Energy taxes for years 2019 and 2020 reported in present transmission are due to data revision of National Accounts (https://www.statistics.gr/en/statistics/-/publication/SEL15/2021) and respective revision of underlying distribution variables based on SUT data for the period 2019-2020.

- Revisions in Transport taxes for years 2019 and 2020 reported in present transmission are due to the finalization and update of the ELSTAT statistical bussiness register that is used in the process of allocating taxes to the branches of economic activity A*64.

- Revisions in Pollution and Resource taxes for years 2019 and 2020 reported in present transmission are due to data revision of National Accounts (https://www.statistics.gr/en/statistics/-/publication/SEL15/2021) and respective revision of underlying distribution variables based on SUT data for the period 2019-2020.

Energy taxes: D2122 C01, D214A C02, D214A C07, D29F C01 & C02 (NA division, EUTL)

Transport taxes: D214A C01, D214D C01, D29E C03, D59D C01 (AADE, ELSTAT)

Pollution taxes: D214A C08, D214A C09

In 18.1.1., energy, transport and pollution taxes are in more detail with the relevant ESA code and their sources.

Data are collected on a yearly basis.

The data which are used for the compilation of environmental taxes statistics derive from:

- The Independent Authority for Public Revenue

- European Union Transaction Log (EUTL)

- National Accounts Division (use matrix cpa 19, cpa 35 and cpa 47)

- Business Statistics Division (Annual Industrial Survey)

- Air Emissions Accounts (AEA)

- Transport Statistics Section

The General Government Accounts Section of the National Accounts Division matches every ESA code of the National Accounts List pertaining to environmental taxes to one or more Revenue Code Numbers (ALE).

Regarding energy taxes (except "D29F C01" tax - "Taxes on pollution" related to CO₂ permits), they have been allocated to branches of economic activities A*64 and to households on the basis of “use matrix naio_cp16_r2 row cpa19” and “use matrix naio_cp16_r2 row cpa35” of National Accounts. For the allocation in industries C19 and C20, intermediate consumption data of CPA 19 from the Structural Business Statistics (SBS) are used.

For "D29F C01" tax, regarding emissions trading system, breakdown is based on the data of the European Union Transaction Log (EUTL) on verified emissions excluding reserve and free emissions allowances. Each enterprise (tax registration number) is then assigned to a NACE branch of economic activity A*64 by the Register and Big Enterprises Section of the Business Statistics Division of ELSTAT and aggregated data are finally calculated by NACE sector.

Regarding transport taxes, breakdown is based on the data of the environmental taxes by ALE and VAT registration number, delivered by the General Secretariat for Information Systems of the Ministry of Finance. The Register and Big Enterprises Section of the Business Statistics Division of ELSTAT is processing these data so that the tax registration number to be allocated to the branches of economic activity A*64 according to the statistical business register. As regards transport taxes of households, data derive from a) National Accounts, b) the Independent Authority for Public Revenue and, c) surveys conducted by ELSTAT.

Pollution tax "D214 C08 - Tax on plastic bag" has been imposed for the first time in 2018. Revenues from D214 C08 tax are allocated accordingly to economic activities A*64 and to households on the basis of “use matrix naio_cp16_r2 row cpa47” of National Accounts.

Pollution tax "D214 C09 - New green tax on diesel" has been imposed for the first time in 2021 as an addition to the other pollution tax "D214A C08" which is in force since 2018. For D214 C09 pollution tax, breakdown is based on information provided by annual emission inventories for the consumption of transport diesel by type of vehicle (passengers cars, heavy duty vehicles and light duty vehicles) according to the following: 

   a) Diesel consumption of passenger cars are exclusively attributed to Households-transport.

   b) Regarding the commercial transport sector:

       - HDVs diesel consumption is allocated to all NACE Rev.2 sectors using tonne-km (TKM) data from the annual transport survey of “National and International Road Freight Transport” compiled by ELSTAT’s Transport Statistics Section.

       - Light duty vehicles (LDVs) diesel consumtion is allocated to all NACE Rev.2 sections using auxiliary data from Use Tables (use matrix naio_cp16_r2 row cpa19) as provided by the National Accounts division.

Data are validated by Eurostat. Before their publication the data undergo a series of logical checks as regards their variables and consistency checks over time.

Once collected, the data undergo logical checks, they are processed by the competent sections of ELSTAT and then the relevant tables are compiled for every tax category.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

For energy taxes, the contribution of non-residents is calculated using auxiliary data derived from National Accounts. Specifically, for the part of Households we use information provided from National Accounts regarding exports to non-residents in national territory for cpa19 and cpa35, while for the part of freight transport we use Eurostat’s freight transport databases. Year-on-year changes in the non-residents' contribution to energy taxes, reflect oscillations in source databases.

In relation to transport taxes paid by non-residents, existing primary data indicate negligible contribution. Nevertheless, we constantly cooperate with several administrative data sources to validate this assumption.

For pollution taxes and specifically for "D214A C09 - New green tax on diesel", the contribution of non-residents is calculated using auxiliary data derived from the Air Emissions Accounts (AEA). This tax has been imposed for the first time in 2021 as an addition to the other pollution tax "D214A C08 - Tax on plastic bag" which is in force since 2018 and has no input from non-residents. This is the reason for the spike reported in the value of pollution taxes paid by non-residents during the transition from 2020 to 2021.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.