Reference metadata describe statistical concepts and methodologies used for the collection and generation of data. They provide information on data quality and, since they are strongly content-oriented, assist users in interpreting the data. Reference metadata, unlike structural metadata, can be decoupled from the data.
Statistics on international supply of services (ISS) by modes of supply (MoS) show how and where services are supplied internationally, namely by answering the question of 'how' services are exchanged across countries and 'where' services are supplied to foreign customers. Detailed information on international supply of services statistics by services category, mode of supply and partner country help policymakers carry out the ongoing and future trade negotiating agenda with facts and strong, evidence-based arguments and they allow to monitor the impact of services trade agreements.
The General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), the first multilateral agreement to cover trade in services, defines trade in services as the supply of a service through any of four modes of supply, outlined in the bullet points below.
Mode 1 - cross-border supply: from the territory of one country into the territory of another country;
Mode 2 - consumption abroad: in the territory of one country to the service consumer of another country;
Mode 3 - commercial presence: by a service supplier of one country, through a commercial presence in the territory of another country. The FATS framework is designed to provide information on the activities of enterprises located in foreign markets;
Mode 4 - presence of natural persons: by a service supplier of one country, through the presence of natural persons of that country in the territory of any other country.
Total international supply of services (total of modes 1, 2, 3 and 4)
Mode 1 (‘cross border transactions’),
Mode 2 (‘consumption abroad’),
Mode 3 (‘commercial presence’), and
Mode 4 (‘presence of natural persons’).
3.5. Statistical unit
Not applicable.
3.6. Statistical population
Total international supply of services by all four modes of supply.
3.7. Reference area
Ireland
3.8. Coverage - Time
National data are available from 2021, while data under Regulation (EU) 2019/2152 have been available since the reference year 2023.
3.9. Base period
Not applicable.
Data are reported in national currency (thousands).
Eurostat disseminates data in million euro.
Calendar year.
6.1. Institutional Mandate - legal acts and other agreements
Regulation (EU) 2019/2152 on European business statistics sets the data requirements in the field of international supply of services by modes for the EU Member States and EFTA countries. The exact technical specifications are listed in Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/1197. The requirements concerning the MoS domain are defined in table 38 "Statistics on international activities – International Supply of Services by Mode of Supply – annual data" of the Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/1197. The variable must be reported annually with first reference year 2023.
6.2. Institutional Mandate - data sharing
Apart from the quarterly and annual surveyed data which is obtained from direct collection, internal CSO or external administrative sources, ancillary information to assist with the compilation of results is also used. This largely consists of Irish Stock Exchange listings, currency exchange and interest rates, CBI statistics, government department statistics and their agencies such as the office of the Revenue Commissionersany and other relevant statistical information from industry associations or other sources.
Quarterly travel information is obtained from the relevant compiling divisions within the CSO.
Arrangements have been put in place, in co-operation with the CBI, for the collection and compilation of statistics for banks, investment funds and financial vehicle corporations (e.g. FVCs). The system has been in operation since 2008 and has significantly reduced the burden on respondents as one return now meets a number of requirements for CSO and CBI. This development is in line with our commitment to minimise the burden on data providers.
Qualitative information useful for statistical register purposes is obtained from the CSO Central Business Register (CBR) and from other sources. In addition, information from the Department of Finance, the CBI and the Companies Registration Office (CRO) is used in the maintenance of the financial services enterprises section of the register. Useful information from newspapers, periodicals, etc., are also used as inputs into the statistical register system.
7.1. Confidentiality - policy
The confidentiality of individual data collected for compilation of BOP and other related statistics is protected under the provisions of the CSO Statistics Act, 1993 and, where relevant, under European legislation i.e. Council Regulation (EC) No. 322/97 of 17 February 1997 repealed by regulation (EC) No. 223/2009 of 11 March 2009 (Chapter V “Statistical confidentiality”) which regulates the protection and transmissions of confidential data within ESS and ESCB. Article 10 of the Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/119711 says: “Member States shall provide all levels of aggregation of the breakdowns as defined in the tables of Annex I, Part B and the data transmitted shall contain, where applicable, all primary and secondary confidentiality flags in accordance with the confidentiality rules existing at national level.”.
The confidentiality status attribute is mandatory in the MoS domain and thus each observation must be flagged with a confidentiality status.
Aggregated statistical results which are published nationally or transmitted internationally may include statistical elements which are statistically confidential and which therefore must to be suppressed. Such confidential data can arise where there are a small number of contributors (enterprises) to a particular piece of information or in other cases where one or two contributors are very dominant. The information is suppressed in a way that renders it undisclosed either directly or indirectly by derivation.
In summary the suppression of data in the Balance of Payments Division (which includes quarterly BOP, International Trade in Services, STEC, MoS, FDI and IIP statistics) is based on two principal rules, the frequency and the dominance rule.
7.2. Confidentiality - data treatment
The rules used to define and suppress a confidential cell are as follows:
The suppression of data is based on two principal rules. The frequency and the dominance rule.
Suppression is applied when there are a small number of enterprises contributing to a data value (eg a frequency less than three/four)
Suppression is applied when one or two enterprises significantly dominate a data value.
If a suppression is applied then suppressing only that value is not sufficient. In a data table if subtotal are available, it is still possible to determine the suppressed cell's actual value. Other cell values are therefore suppressed in a row or column to protect the primary data value. The suppression of these other values is secondary suppression.
8.1. Release calendar
The MoS stistics are not currently published by the Central Statistics Office (CSO).
8.2. Release calendar access
The CSO release calendar can be accessed at the following link:
Key interested users are notified by email of the press conference which is held on the day of the quarterly International Accounts release. A strict embargo is imposed to prevent early public disclosure of the results.
The scheduled release date for the annual STEC data is listed on the CSO release calendar. A press statement is not available for the STEC release.
The MoS stistics are not currently published by the Central Statistics Office (CSO).
Annual.
10.1. Dissemination format - News release
There are no current press releases or ad-hoc releases linked to the annual MoS statistics
10.2. Dissemination format - Publications
The MoS statistics are not currently published on the CSO website.
10.3. Dissemination format - online database
The Central Statistics Office CSO database can be accessed at the following link: https://data.cso.ie/#
The MoS data is not currently published on the CSO database.
The Bop statutory inquiries are conducted to meet the requirements of Regulation (EC) No 184/2005 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 January 2005 on community statistics concerning Balance of Payments, international trade in services and foreign direct investment (as amended by Regulation Nos. 601/2006, 602/2006, 1137/2008, 707/2009, 555/2012 and 2016/1013) and the ECB Guideline ECB/2004/15 (as amended by ECB Guideline ECB/2007/3 , recast in Guideline ECB/2011/23 as amended by ECB Guideline ECB/2013/25 of 30 July 2013 and EU Guideline 2016/231 of 26 November 2015) on the statistical reporting requirements of the European Central Bank in the field of Balance of Payments and international investment position statistics.
In fulfilling its mandate the CSO applies the best statistical standards and methodology, and adheres to the highest professional standards of impartiality, integrity and independence. The Office fully subscribes to the UN Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics.
The CSO operates under a strict legal regime, supported by a robust quality framework, the backbone of which is the European Statistics Code of Practice (ESCOP). This Code of Practice is made up of 16 principles covering the institutional environment, the statistical production process and the output of statistics. The Central Statistics Office (CSO) as a member of the European Statistical system is duty-bound and committed to following the Code. Each of the 16 principles has a number of specific indicator measures which are enacted through the policies, standards and practices of the CSO.
In accordance with the ESCOP quality standards, the quality requirements of CSO’s statistical outputs are:
to be relevant with regard to meeting users information needs
to be accurate so that estimates or indicators accurately and reliably portray reality
to be timely so that statistics are made available to users in a timely and punctual manner
to be accessible so that statistics are presented to users in a clear, understandable form, released in a suitable and convenient manner, available and accessible on an impartial basis with supporting metadata
to be comparable and coherent to enable comparison internally, over time or among related sources
The Quality Policy for the Office is set out in “Quality in Statistics - A Handbook of Quality Standards and Guidelines” . This provides information and recommendations on best practice and contains clear guidelines and standards to ensure that the quality of our processes and outputs are of the highest standard.
The CSO’s commitment to the quality of the statistics produced and disseminated is set out in its quality statement (see Central Statistics Office Quality Statement (PDF 101KB) ). This is further supported by the Government of Ireland adopted “Commitment on Confidence in Statistics” which declares support for the existing laws and for those policies and practices instigated by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) to meet its obligations under the European Statistics Code of Practice.
Standard reports on methods and quality for each statistical output are available on the Methods page of the CSO website. These reports provide information to users on the methodology in place in the particular survey area together with an assessment of the quality of the resulting survey output in terms of the quality dimensions set out in the European Statistics Code of Practice.
11.2. Quality management - assessment
Not applicable for the first reference year.
In general, according to the information available from the quality reports, the data providers have applied the recommendations available in the Regulation (EU) 2019/2152.
12.1. Relevance - User Needs
Our Internal user is predominantly The External Trade Division. National users are researchers and economists.
12.2. Relevance - User Satisfaction
The views from our limited users of MoS statistics are noted on an ongoing basis
12.3. Completeness
100% of the required relevant data cells are available.
12.3.1. Data completeness - rate
100% of the required relevant data cells are available.
13.1. Accuracy - overall
The MoS data is currently compiled using the Eurostat-WTO model and using available in-house knowledge.
13.2. Sampling error
Not yet applicable
13.2.1. Sampling error - indicators
Not applicable.
13.3. Non-sampling error
Not yet applicable
13.3.1. Coverage error
Not applicable
13.3.1.1. Over-coverage - rate
Not applicable.
13.3.1.2. Common units - proportion
Not applicable
13.3.2. Measurement error
Not applicable
13.3.3. Non response error
Not applicable.
13.3.3.1. Unit non-response - rate
Not applicable.
13.3.3.2. Item non-response - rate
Not applicable.
13.3.4. Processing error
Not applicable
13.3.5. Model assumption error
Not applicable
14.1. Timeliness
The transmission deadline for modes 1 ,2 and 4 is T+10 months
The transmission deadline for mode 3 is T+22 months
The MoS data is transmitted before these deadlines
14.1.1. Time lag - first result
Not applicable.
14.1.2. Time lag - final result
The MoS data is transmitted before the deadlines
14.2. Punctuality
Not applicable.
14.2.1. Punctuality - delivery and publication
Not applicable.
15.1. Comparability - geographical
No asymmetries analysis have been carrried out on the data
15.1.1. Asymmetry for mirror flow statistics - coefficient
Not applicable.
15.2. Comparability - over time
Not yet applicable
15.2.1. Length of comparable time series
Not applicable.
15.3. Coherence - cross domain
Not applicable
15.3.1. Coherence - sub annual and annual statistics
Not applicable.
15.3.2. Coherence - National Accounts
Not applicable.
15.4. Coherence - internal
There were no reported inconsistencies with integrity rules for the MoS data transmitted.
Not applicable
17.1. Data revision - policy
Figures, particularly of a quarterly frequency, may be revised more frequently than described if a very significant revision is required or following introduction of significant methodological changes. The nationally published detailed annual results are normally revised once and are then considered final. A very similar revision and results finalization policy applies to the data sent to Eurostat, ECB, IMF and OECD.
17.2. Data revision - practice
Currently the MoS data is published once (similar to the Business statistics data). We will consider moving to the standard annual revision policy for transmitted MoS data when resources are available.
17.2.1. Data revision - average size
Not applicable.
18.1. Source data
The MoS data is currently compiled using the Eurostat-WTO model and using available in-house knowledge.
18.2. Frequency of data collection
Annual.
18.3. Data collection
The MoS data is currently compiled using the Eurostat-WTO model for modes 1,2 and 4 and using available in-house knowledge for mode 3..
18.4. Data validation
Service categories and geographic categories in MoS tables are check for consistency with ITS services categories and geographic split.
18.5. Data compilation
The MoS data is currently compiled using the Eurostat-WTO model and using available in-house knowledge.
The 2023 ISS data include distribution services in mode one, while the values of goods are not excluded from the EBOPS items SB, SD, SE and SL.
18.5.1. Imputation - rate
Not currently applicatable
18.6. Adjustment
Not applicable
18.6.1. Seasonal adjustment
Not applicable.
Statistics on international supply of services (ISS) by modes of supply (MoS) show how and where services are supplied internationally, namely by answering the question of 'how' services are exchanged across countries and 'where' services are supplied to foreign customers. Detailed information on international supply of services statistics by services category, mode of supply and partner country help policymakers carry out the ongoing and future trade negotiating agenda with facts and strong, evidence-based arguments and they allow to monitor the impact of services trade agreements.
The General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), the first multilateral agreement to cover trade in services, defines trade in services as the supply of a service through any of four modes of supply, outlined in the bullet points below.
Mode 1 - cross-border supply: from the territory of one country into the territory of another country;
Mode 2 - consumption abroad: in the territory of one country to the service consumer of another country;
Mode 3 - commercial presence: by a service supplier of one country, through a commercial presence in the territory of another country. The FATS framework is designed to provide information on the activities of enterprises located in foreign markets;
Mode 4 - presence of natural persons: by a service supplier of one country, through the presence of natural persons of that country in the territory of any other country.
