Statistical Service of Cyprus (CYSTAT)

ICT Surveys 

STATISTICAL SERVICE OF CYPRUS

CY-1444,

NICOSIA

CYPRUS

Data on the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) usage and e-commerce in enterprises are survey data. They are collected by the National Statistical Institutes or Ministries and are in principle based on Eurostat's annual model questionnaires on ICT usage and e-commerce in enterprises.

Large part of the data collected is used to measure the progress in the implementation of one of the main political priorities of the European Commission for 2019 to 2024 – A Europe fit for the digital age. Part of this is the "European strategy for data", envisioning a single market for data to ensure the EU's global competitiveness and data sovereignty, in which context a comprehensive set of new rules for all digital services was proposed: the Digital Services Act and the Digital Markets Act, which are centrepieces of the EU digital strategy. Furthermore, the Commission and the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy presented a new “EU cybersecurity strategy”, which is intended to bolster the EU's collective resilience against cyber threats, safeguard a global and open internet and protect EU values and the fundamental rights of its people. Furthermore, data will allow monitoring the progress towards  A Europe fit for the digital age, one of the six priorities for the period 2019-2024 of the von der Leyen European Commission.

The aim of the European survey on ICT usage and e-commerce in enterprises is to collect and disseminate harmonised and comparable information at European level.

 NACE Rev.2 2008

All economic activities in the scope of Annex I of the Commission Regulation are intended to be included in the general survey, covering enterprises with 10 or more employees and self-employed persons. These activities are: NACE Rev. 2 sections C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, L, M and N, division 95.1.

For micro-enterprises see the sub-concepts below.

Micro-enterprises were not included in the survey

Micro-enterprises were not included in the survey

The model questionnaire on ICT usage and e-commerce in enterprises provides a large variety of variables covering among others the following areas:

-          Access to and use of the Internet

-          E-commerce and e-business

-          Use of cloud computing services

-          Artificial Intelligence

-          Other topics: Data utilisation, sharing, analytics and trading, Invoicing.

The annual model questionnaires and the European businesses statistics compliers’ manual for ICT usage and e-commerce in enterprises comprise definitions and explanations regarding the topics of the survey.

Enterprise

Target Population

As required by Annex of the Commission Implementing Regulation, enterprises with 10 or more employees and self-employed persons shall be covered by the survey.

For micro-enterprises see the sub-concepts below.

Not Applicable

Government controlled areas of the Republic of Cyprus

Years 2022 and 2023.

Not applicable

Percentages of enterprises, Percentages of turnover, Percentages of employees and self-employed persons.

The reference periods defined in the model questionnaire were followed in the national survey.

The legal basis for the 2023 EU survey on the  ICT Usage and E-Commerce in enterprises is the Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2022/1344 of 01 August 2022 laying down the technical specifications of data requirements for the topic ‘ICT usage and e-commerce’ for the reference year 2023, pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2019/2152 of the European Parliament and of the Council. 

Complementary national legislation constituting the legal basis for the survey on the use of ICT in enterprises:

Article 3 of the 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.

Not Applicable

Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 on European statistics (recital 24 and Article 20(4)) of 11 March 2009 (OJ L 87, p. 164), stipulates the need to establish common principles and guidelines ensuring the confidentiality of data used for the production of European statistics and the access to those confidential data with due account for technical developments and the requirements of users in a democratic society.

At national level : 

Official statistics are released in accordance to all confidentiality provisions of the following:

• National 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).
• CYSTAT's Code of Practice for the Collection, Publication and Storage of Statistical Data.

Data are transmitted via eDamis (encrypted) and delivered to a secure environment where they are treated. Flags are added for confidentiality in case results must not be disclosed.

At national level : 

The treatment of confidential data is regulated by CYSTAT's Code of Practice for the Collection, Publication and Storage of Statistical Data.

Notifications about the dissemination of statistics are published in the release calendar, which is available on CYSTAT’s website. The annual release calendar, announced during the 4^th quarter of the each year, includes provisional dates which are finalised the week before publication.

The release calendar is available on the website of the Statistical Service of Cyprus.

According to the Dissemination and Pricing Policy of the Statistical Service of Cyprus (section 2.3), CYSTAT΄s main channel for dissemination of statistics is the website, which offers the same conditions to everyone and is updated at the same time every working day (12:00 noon). No privileged pre-released access is granted.

In addition to the annual release calendar, users are informed of the various statistical releases through the “Alert” service provided by CYSTAT.

Notifications about the dissemination of statistics are published in the release calendar, which is available on CYSTAT’s website.

The annual release calendar, announced during the 4^th quarter of the each year, includes provisional dates which are finalised the week before publication.

The Release Calendar is updated every Friday and contains the following:

(a) Confirmed announcements: announcements which are scheduled to be released in the following week, 

(b) Preliminary announcements: announcements to be released until the end of the year, and

(c) Published announcements: published announcements.

The data release policy of CyStat regarding the ICT data is the same as the general policy.

Annual

Survey Results (press / news release) from the survey are available on the website of the Statistical Service of Cyprus under the Statistical Theme “Science and Technology / Information Society”.

Survey Results (publications) from the survey are available on the web portal of the Statistical Service of Cyprus under the Statistical Theme “Science and Technology / Information Society”.

See detailed section 10.3.1.

Results for selected variables collected in the framework of this survey are available for all participating countries on Digital economy and society of Eurostat website.

At national level :

Survey Results from the survey are available on the web portal of the Statistical Service of Cyprus under the Statistical Theme “Science and Technology / Information Society”.

Not Applicable

Not requested

Not requested

"Summary Results" describing the results of the survey illustrated with figures (see Annexes - Summary Results: ICT usage and e- commerce in enterprises, 2023)

 "Enumerators Instructions" (see Annexes - Enumerators Instructions ICT usage and e-commerce in enterprises, 2023)

Not requested

CYSTAT has set its strategic goal to provide high-quality statistical information in an objective, transparent, reliable and timely manner. For this reason, CYSTAT established the "Quality Policy" which forms the basis of all statistical activities and leads towards continuous improvement of its statistical output.

The European businesses statistics compliers’ manual for ICT usage and e-commerce in enterprises provides guidelines and standards for the implementation of the surveys. It is updated every year according to the changed contents of the model questionnaires.

At national level :

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 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 level :

At European level, the recommended use of the annual Eurostat model questionnaire aims at improving comparability of the results among the countries that conduct the survey on ICT usage and e-commerce in enterprises. Moreover, the Methodological Manual provides guidelines and clarifications for the implementation of the surveys.

National level :

The Methodological Manual provided by Eurostat includes the guidelines and standards used by CYSTAT for the implementation of the survey. The Eurostat model questionnaire on ICT usage and e-Commerce in enterprises for 2023 was used.

European level : 

At European level, European Commission users (e.g. DG CNECT, DG GROW, DG JUST, DG REGIO, DG JRC) are the principal users of the data on ICT usage and e-commerce in enterprises and contribute in identifying/defining the topics to be covered. Hence, main users are consulted regularly (at hearings, task forces, ad hoc meetings) for their needs and are involved in the process of the development of the model questionnaires at a very early stage.

User needs are considered throughout the whole discussion process of the model questionnaires aiming at providing relevant statistical data for monitoring and benchmarking of European policies.

National level :

Not Available

European level : 

At European level, contacts within the Commission, the OECD and other stakeholders give a clear picture about the key users' satisfaction as to the following data quality aspects: accuracy and reliability of results, timeliness, satisfactory accessibility, clarity and comparability over time and between countries, completeness and relevance. Overall users have evaluated positively (good, very good) the data quality on the ICT usage and e-commerce in enterprises.

National level :

Since 2008 (with the exception of 2010, 2013 and 2020) CYSTAT carries out an annual online “Users Satisfaction Survey”. The results of the surveys are available on CYSTAT’s web portal. Overall, there is a high level of satisfaction of the users of statistical data published by CYSTAT.

Detailed information is available in “ Annex I _ Completeness “ excel file - related to questionnaire, coverage, additional questions.

Not requested. 

Comments on reliability and representativeness of results and completeness of dataset

These comments reflect overall standard errors reported for the indicators and breakdowns in section 13.2.1 (Sampling error - indicators) and the rest of the breakdowns for national and European aggregates, as well as other accuracy measurements. The estimated standard error should not exceed 2pp for the overall proportions and should not exceed 5pp for the proportions related to the different subgroups of the population (for those NACE aggregates for the calculation and dissemination of national aggregates). If problems were found, these could have implications for future surveys (e.g. need to improve sampling design, to increase sample sizes, to increase the response rates).

More detailed information is available in “ Annex II. _ Accuracy “ excel file - related to European aggregates, comments on reliability and use of flag.

For calculation of the standard error see 13.2.1.1.

Standard error (for selected indicators and breakdowns)

Precision measures related to variability due to sampling, unit non-response (the size of the subset of respondents is smaller than the size of the original sample) and other (imputation for item non-response, calibration etc.) are not (yet) required from the Member states for all indicators.  Eurostat will make basic assumptions to compute these measures for all indicators produced (e.g. stratified random sampling assuming as strata the crossing of the variables “Number of employees and self-employed persons” and “Economic Activity” as it was defined in the 3 tables of section 18.1).

More detailed information is available in“ Sample and standard error tables 2023 “ excel file – worksheets starting with “Standard error".

Calculation of the standard error

Various methods can be used for the calculation of the standard error for an estimated proportion. The aim is to incorporate into the standard error the sampling variability but also variability due to unit non-response, item non-response (imputation), calibration etc. In case of census / take-all strata, the aim is to calculate the standard errors comprising the variability due to unit non-response and item non-response.

See detailed sections below.

See concept 18.1.1. A) Description of  frame population.

The un-weighted over - coverage rate defined as the ratio of out of scope enterprises to the total number of enterprises is 1,8%.

Not requested

1)       Measurement errors: Not applicable

2)       Questionnaire design and testing: The questionnaire used was the model questionnaire provided by Eurostat. No additional efforts were made regarding the questionnaire design and testing. 

3)       Interviewer training: The interviewers engaged for the survey were trained before the beginning of the survey about:

•  different aspects of the questionnaire (different topics covered by the survey, concepts and definitions),
• the use of CAWI and CATI, 
• interview techniques (provide assistance in cases were it was needed),
• procedures regarding the day to day operation of the survey (contacting enterprises informing them about the survey and when needed requesting clarifications regarding the data collected) 

 They were also provided with a set of enumerators instructions (see annex attached-Enumerators Instructions - ICT usage and e-commerce in enterprises, 2023). During the survey period they were monitored on a regularly basis by the responsible officer (supervisor).

See detailed sections below.

See detailed sub-concepts below.

The following table contains the number of units (i.e. enterprises), by type of response to the survey and by the percentage of these values in relation to the gross sample size.

In order to minimize the unit non-response rate the following measures were applied:

a) informative e-mail to the IT manager of the enterprise just before the beginning of the data collection period,

b) e-mail reminders were sent, 

c) telephone reminders,

d) offer of telephone assistance when needed.

Not Applicable

Item non-response rate was 1.1% only for question X3 on turnover. 

Other comments relating to the item non-response

No processing errors were detected.

Not requested

See detailed section below.

Not applicable

European level : 

Data are to be delivered to Eurostat in the fourth quarter of the reference year (due date for the finalised dataset is 5th October). European results are released before the end of the survey year or in the beginning of the year following the survey year (T=reference year, T+0 for indicators referring to the current year, T+12 months for other indicators referring to the previous year e.g. e-commerce).

At national level : 

No deviation from the above statement. Data (finalised dataset) were delivered to Eurostat before the due date (5th October).  

 See detailed section below.

The last fully validated delivery of data was on the 28th September 2023, eight days earlier than the target date.

The time lag (in days) between the actual delivery of the data and the target date was (-8) days.

The model questionnaire is generally used by the countries that conduct the survey on ICT usage and e-commerce in enterprises. Due to (small) differences in translation, in the used survey vehicle, in non-response treatment or different routing through the questionnaire, some results for some countries may be of reduced comparability. In these cases, notes are added in the data.

There were no deviations from the model questionnaire or the concepts described in the Methodological manual that would affect the comparability of data.

Detailed information on differences in the wording of the questions in the national questionnaires is available in “ Annex I _ Completeness “ excel file - related to questionnaire, coverage, additional questions.

Not applicable

See section below.

The length of comparable time series depends on the module and the variable considered within each survey module. Additional information is available in annexes attached to the European metadata.

No changes were made in the survey which may have an impact on the comparability of the results.

Not applicable

 Not applicable

Not applicable

Not applicable

A data revision policy is in place at CYSTAT. It is published on CYSTAT’s web portal.

CYSTAT also publishes a list of scheduled revisions (regular or major revisions), also published on its website.

Not Applicable: there are no revisions to report

 Not requested

A) Frame population description and distribution

For more information see concept 18.1.1.

B) Sampling design - Sampling method

Description of the sampling method used (e.g. stratified random sample, quota sampling, cluster sampling; one-stage or two-stage sampling) and information which variables were used to stratify, the categories of those variables, in particular for the NACE Rev. 2 categories related to the "possible calculation of European aggregates", and the final number of strata: 

Not Applicable since for the year 2023 it has been decided to cover all small, medium and large enterprises enterprises (census of enterprises) with 10 or more employees and self-employed persons. In the frame there were 32 NACE groups and 3 size groups.

C) Gross sample distribution

More detailed information is available in “ Sample and standard error tables 2023  “ excel file (Worksheet: GROSS SAMPLE)

D) Net sample distribution

More detailed information is available in “ Sample and standard error tables 2023  “ excel file (Worksheet: NET SAMPLE)

A) Description of frame population

 B) Frame population distribution

More detailed information is available in “ Sample and standard error tables 2023  “ excel file (Worksheet: FRAME POPULATION)

Annual

See detailed sections below.

Web survey. The web questionnaire was available online during the entire survey period. The enterprises were informed about the web survey by email and by telephone.  

When needed (by the enterprise), telephone assistance was provided by trained Cystat interviewers. 

Data have been validated according to Eurostat’s standards. 

Year to year checks were also carried out before data transmission.

Grossing-up procedures

Imputation of the mean within classes for item-non-response was used only for question X3 on turnover, where the item non-response was 1,1%. For all other variables, no imputation was carried out.

Not applicable

Not applicable

Problems encountered and lessons to be learnt: No other comments