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.
Department for Strategy, Transport Policy and Clean Mobility Unit
1.3. Contact name
Confidential because of GDPR
1.4. Contact person function
Confidential because of GDPR
1.5. Contact mail address
Nabrezi Ludvika Svobody 1222/12
110 15 Prague 1, Czech Republic
1.6. Contact email address
Confidential because of GDPR
1.7. Contact phone number
Confidential because of GDPR
1.8. Contact fax number
Confidential because of GDPR
2.1. Metadata last certified
10 December 2025
2.2. Metadata last posted
10 December 2025
2.3. Metadata last update
10 December 2025
3.1. Data description
Road freight data collection consists of three datasets with quarterly periodicity:
Vehicle related variables dataset for a sample of road good motor vehicles contain, among others, indication about the type and age of the vehicle, the economic activity of the owner of the vehicle, the total kilometres loaded or empty.
Journey related variables dataset which contain, among other indications about weight of goods, regions of loading and unloading, distance driven, and tonne-kilometres performed during a journey.
Goods related variables dataset which contain among others the type of goods transported and their weight and distance travelled, regions of loading and unloading.
3.2. Classification system
Statistics on carriage of goods by road apply the following statistical classifications:
The type of goods transported by road was collected, until reference year 2007 (included), according to the 24 groups of goods following the "Standard Goods Classification for Transport Statistics/Revised (NST/R )", (see the RAMON classification server on Eurostat's web site). From 2008 onwards, goods have been classified according to "Standard goods classification for transport statistics 2007, NST 2007". The principles of these two classifications are different: NST/R was based on physical characteristics of goods, whereas the NST 2007 basis is production process where the goods are coming from. In this way, NST 2007 belongs to the same family of classifications as CPA ("Statistical Classification of Products by Activity, 2008 version")
The optional variable type of cargo follows the Classification of Cargo Types of UNECE (United Nations, Economic Commission for Europe - codes for types of cargo, packages and packaging materials, Recommendation 21 adopted by the Working Party on Facilitation of International Trade Procedures, Geneva, March 1986).
3.3. Coverage - sector
Statistics produced in compliance with the Regulation No. 70/2012 covers the following road freight transport operations on the CZ territory as well as abroad by goods vehicles registered in the Czech Republic with a load capacity equal or more than 2 tons:
Commercial road freight transport referred to as "Hire or reward" road freight transport.
Road freight transpor by vehicles owned by companies classified in other classes than professional road freight transport. This kind of transport is identified as "Own account" transport.
Transport by smaller vehicles (less than 2 tons of load capacity) is not covered by this statistics.
Road freight statistics carried out according to the mentioned EU legal act is a sample survey.
3.4. Statistical concepts and definitions
The main concepts used in Road freight statistics are the following, more details can be found in the Road freight transport methodology
A goods road motor vehicle is any single road transport vehicle (lorry), or combination of road vehicles, namely road train (lorry with trailer) or articulated vehicle (road tractor with semi-trailer), designed to carry goods Cross-trade is international road transport between two different countries performed by a road motor vehicle registered in a third country. National transport is Road transport between two places (a place of loading and a place of unloading) located in the same country by a vehicle registered in that country. International transport is Road transport between two places (a place of loading and a place of unloading) in two different countries and cabotage by road. It may involve transit through one or more additional country or countries. Cross trade is International road transport between two different countries performed by a road motor vehicle registered in a third country. Transit is any loaded or empty road motor vehicle, which enters and leaves a country at different points by whatever means of transport, provided the total journey within the country is by road and that there is no loading or unloading in the country. Goods carried by road are any goods moved by goods vehicle Place of loading/unloading of a goods road vehicle on another mode of transport
Place of loading (of the goods road transport vehicle on another mode of transport): The place of loading is the first place where the goods road motor vehicle was loaded on to another mode of transport (usually a ship or a rail wagon).
Place of unloading (of the goods road transport vehicle from another mode of transport): The place of unloading is the last place where the goods road motor vehicle was unloaded from another mode of transport (usually a ship or a rail wagon).
3.5. Statistical unit
The reporting unit for road freight transport statistics is a goods road transport vehicle.
3.6. Statistical population
As the total number of statistical units (most commonly vehicles) is very large, sample surveys are carried out to collect information.
3.7. Reference area
The data provided are goods vehicles registered in the Czech Republic uniquely.
3.8. Coverage - Time
The first reference year of reporting data on road freight transport was 2004
3.9. Base period
Not applicable.
Data are collected in tonnes, tonne-kilometres, vehicle-kilometres and in number of journeys (journey data)
The road data are collected on a quarterly basis and are reported to Eurostat five months after the end of the reference period.
6.1. Institutional Mandate - legal acts and other agreements
National level:
Act No. 89/1995 Coll., on the State Statistical Service, as amended.
According to the above mentioned legal act, every year the Czech Statistical Office in cooperation the Ministries prepares a Program for statistical data collection in order to collect data and compile statistics for national as well as international purposes. After this program is approved by the government, all the respondents concerned are obliged to report to the Czech Statisticl Office or to the relevant Ministry
Detailed data are shared only upon request with state administration and only for statistical purposes. In some cases data are made available to researchers. Provisions of such data are subjected to signature of an agreement of use.
From Eurostat :
Eurostat submits annually semi-aggregated data (data exchange tables, see Commission Regulation (EU) No 202/2010 amending the Commission Regulation (EC) 6/2003) back to the reporting countries so that they can compile the total road freight transport on their national territories, including the operations by national hauliers and also those of all other reporting countries.
These data exchange tables include more detailed breakdowns than the publicly available tables. They also include, for each value, the information on the number of observations that the estimates are based on. In this way, the reporting countries can estimate the reliability of results that they aggregate from the data exchange tables.
7.1. Confidentiality - policy
National level:
Act No. 89/1995 Coll., on the State Statistical Service, as amended.
European level:
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.
7.2. Confidentiality - data treatment
According to the Czech legal base, data on an individual enterprise (or reporting unit) or data from which this information can be easily obtained cannot be published or otherwise disseminated. In practice it means that only aggregated data based on the data from at least 3 reporting units can be published. In road freight transport a problem arises if e.g. for some goods commodity data are aggregated on a low level, then these data could be considered as confidential.
The data are disseminated on the Ministry webside, available to all users.
Data on road freight statistics are published on quarterly basis cca 3 months after the reference period on the Ministry website Sydos , being preliminary until publishing the annual results. Annual data are published in Transport Yearbooks published on the website as well as in a paper copy.
10.1. Dissemination format - News release
Currently there are no regular news releases on road freight transport
10.2. Dissemination format - Publications
The data are published at the Ministry of Transport´s website in Czech and in English, quarterly data are available at Sydos website, Sydos Overview and annual data are available in Transport Yearbooks Sydos Yearbooks. Transport Yearbook copies are available also in print copies.
10.3. Dissemination format - online database
Online database is not available.
10.4. Dissemination format - microdata access
Microdata acceess is not available.
10.5. Dissemination format - other
Data are also published on the Czech Statistical Office´s website and in Statistical Yearbooks of the Czech Republic, issued by the Czech Statistical Office.
Before publishing data and transmitting them to Eurostat there are quality checks carried out and in case of any problems or unclearness data providers are contacted for further explanation, no specific documentation on this issue is available.
11.1. Quality assurance
Methodology follows the Eurostat guidelines.
Collected data are controled before downloading into the database and during whole process.
11.2. Quality management - assessment
The survey meets all the requirements for standard error, consistency, comparability, accuracy and punctuality.
12.1. Relevance - User Needs
The key users of road freight statistics are:
Ministry of Transport;
Czech Statistical Office;
Universities and research institites;
Professional public;
Journalists.
12.2. Relevance - User Satisfaction
Road freight transport statistics data are mostly available in time. Usual breakdown is available. Sometimes problems arise due to confidentiality when the Ministry of Transport cannot provide requested data (e.g. detailed breakdown etc.)
12.3. Completeness
The data collection on road freight transport statistics is in compliance with the Regulation (EU) No. 70/2012. Vehicles with load capacity equal or less than 2 tonnes are not included.
13.1. Accuracy - overall
Overall accuracy is in compliance with the relevant EU Regulation and thus annually cannot exeeds 5%
13.2. Sampling error
The percentage standard error of the annual aggregates for total tonnes transported, tonne kilometres performed and total loaded kilometres travelled and also for national goods road transport cannot exeed 5%
13.3. Non-sampling error
Various controls of non-sampling errors are carried out during entire process.
14.1. Timeliness
Data are normally updated once per quarter.
If new annual data (all four quarters of a calendar year) have become available, the annual datasets are also updated together with the quarterly datasets.
14.2. Punctuality
Road freight data are transmitted to Eurostat within 5 months after the end of the reference period, as specified in the Regulation (EU) 70//2012.
15.1. Comparability - geographical
Comparability between the EU countries is ensured by the methodology set up in the Regulation (EU) No 70/2012.
15.2. Comparability - over time
The time series are comparable since 2004 (CZ data provision to Eurostat)
15.3. Coherence - cross domain
Data are consistent
15.4. Coherence - internal
Data are consistent
Number of questionnaires per year is about 17500. Estimated time to fill in the questionnaire is about 45 minutes, expenses are covered by respondents
17.1. Data revision - policy
Data on road freight transport are usually not revised,nevertheless quarterly data published are considered provisional, similar as in other transport modes published statistics, unless annual data are published
17.2. Data revision - practice
Data on road freight transport are usually not revised,nevertheless quarterly data published are considered provisional unless annual data are published
18.1. Source data
Sampling register used for the survey
Name of register:
Central Register of Vehicles
Name of organisation who maintains the register:
Ministry of Transport
Frequency of update:
Continuously
Frequency of access to draw the samples:
Once a quarter
Arrangements for accessing the register:
Sample of road vehicles is being selected by the administrator of the Central Register of Vehicles following agreed criteria (according to territorial units and weight categories).
Information obtained from the register:
List of vehicles including assigned license plate, holders of vehicle company, territorial unit (districts), type of body of goods road vehicle, weight category, vehicle type, year of first registration, fuel used, load capacity, permissible weight and number of axles.
Used in stratification: Load capacity, vehicle type and territorial unit.
Procedure for reminders:
The questionnaire for a given period surveyed is sent one week in advance. The deadline for response is 12 days following the end of the period surveyed. The first reminder is sent 14 days following termination of the mentioned period. If no response is received within next 14 days, the second reminder is sent to the vehicles holder.
If the Ministry of Transport is informed about the recent change of the ownership of a vehicle (not recorded in the register yet) or about leasing of a vehicle, then, if possible a questionnaire is sent once more to the real operator of the vehicle.
The response rate is considered quite adequate, it varies around 91%.
18.2. Frequency of data collection
Data are collected weekly.
18.3. Data collection
Sampling methodology
Statistical unit:
Tractive vehicle
Types of units excluded:
Vehicles with a load capacity less than 2 tonnes and vehicles with oversized load, agriculture vehicles, military vehicles and public administration vehicles.
Time unit:
1 week
Time units of quarter 1 of 2019 included in the survey:
All (13 weeks)
Stratification:
The sample is stratified according to 4 weight categories and 8 territorial units.
Weight categories:
2 - 6 tonnes.
6 - 10 tonnes.
More than 10 tonnes.
Tractors.
Territorial units:
Praha
Střední Čechy
Jihozápad
Severozápad
Severovýchod
Jihovýchod
Střední Morava
Moravskoslezsko
The stratum code consists of 2 numbers. The first is the code of the weight category and the second is the code of the territorial unit (e.g. 11, 12, ..., 18, 21, 22, ..., 28, ..., 41, ..., 48).
Recording of weight of goods:
Gross weight of goods is collected. Large freight containers and swap bodies are excluded from the weight of goods. The pallets are included in the weight of goods.
Recording of journey data sent to Eurostat:
Single stop: Respondents can record only one type of goods, i.e. goods of largest weight.
Collection/delivery: The first place of loading of the goods and the furthermost place of unloading is being used.
Other variables: Most frequently used type and axle configuration of trailers or semi-trailers during a surveyed week is used for coding.
Calculation of weighting factors:
N = number of vehicles in the register (in a stratum)
S = number of questionnaires used in analysis (in A1 dataset)
S’= number of vehicles for which no activity was recorded, but vehicles could be considered as active (holiday, no work, etc.)
Optional variables covered:
A1. Vehicle-related variables:
possibility of using vehicles for combined transport (NO)
vehicle operator’s NACE Rev. 2 at class level (four-digit level) (YES)
vehicle empty kilometres (YES)
A2. Journey-related variables:
axle configuration according to the nomenclature defined in the Regulation on road transport statistics (YES)
place of loading, if any, of the road transport vehicle on another means of transport (NO)
place of unloading, if any, of the road transport vehicle from another means of transport (NO)
degree of loading: situation ‘fully loaded’ (procedure 2) or ‘not fully loaded’ (procedure 1) of the goods road transport vehicle during the journey in question, in terms of maximum volume of space used during the journey (procedure 0 = by convention for unladen journeys) (NO)
A3. Goods-related variables:
type of freight (Cargo types) as defined in the Regulation (YES)
Additional variables collected compared to the legal requirements:
Environmental impact-related variables: none
18.4. Data validation
National level :
Logical calculation is carried out when uploading received data into the database. Microdata are aggregated and compared to previous quarters and time series are checked.
From Eurostat :
Since 1999, micro-data from the reporting countries have to be submitted according to Commission Regulation 2163/2001. The data are then checked and validated by EUROSTAT (verification of many different codes used (NUTS 3, numeric or alphabetic variables) correctness of linked questionnaires in the different dataset, etc..). Detected errors are then reported back to the data sender with the request for correction, this is an iterative process until at least 99.5% of all data records are validated and loaded in the database.
18.5. Data compilation
After various plausibility checks, the data received from a vehicle owner are compliled into quarterly data following the structure of the data sets in the Regulation (EC) 70/2012. Data are calculated on country level and on NUTS3 level.
18.6. Adjustment
Road freight data are not seasonally adjusted.
No comment
Road freight data collection consists of three datasets with quarterly periodicity:
Vehicle related variables dataset for a sample of road good motor vehicles contain, among others, indication about the type and age of the vehicle, the economic activity of the owner of the vehicle, the total kilometres loaded or empty.
Journey related variables dataset which contain, among other indications about weight of goods, regions of loading and unloading, distance driven, and tonne-kilometres performed during a journey.
Goods related variables dataset which contain among others the type of goods transported and their weight and distance travelled, regions of loading and unloading.
10 December 2025
The main concepts used in Road freight statistics are the following, more details can be found in the Road freight transport methodology
A goods road motor vehicle is any single road transport vehicle (lorry), or combination of road vehicles, namely road train (lorry with trailer) or articulated vehicle (road tractor with semi-trailer), designed to carry goods Cross-trade is international road transport between two different countries performed by a road motor vehicle registered in a third country. National transport is Road transport between two places (a place of loading and a place of unloading) located in the same country by a vehicle registered in that country. International transport is Road transport between two places (a place of loading and a place of unloading) in two different countries and cabotage by road. It may involve transit through one or more additional country or countries. Cross trade is International road transport between two different countries performed by a road motor vehicle registered in a third country. Transit is any loaded or empty road motor vehicle, which enters and leaves a country at different points by whatever means of transport, provided the total journey within the country is by road and that there is no loading or unloading in the country. Goods carried by road are any goods moved by goods vehicle Place of loading/unloading of a goods road vehicle on another mode of transport
Place of loading (of the goods road transport vehicle on another mode of transport): The place of loading is the first place where the goods road motor vehicle was loaded on to another mode of transport (usually a ship or a rail wagon).
Place of unloading (of the goods road transport vehicle from another mode of transport): The place of unloading is the last place where the goods road motor vehicle was unloaded from another mode of transport (usually a ship or a rail wagon).
The reporting unit for road freight transport statistics is a goods road transport vehicle.
As the total number of statistical units (most commonly vehicles) is very large, sample surveys are carried out to collect information.
The data provided are goods vehicles registered in the Czech Republic uniquely.
The road data are collected on a quarterly basis and are reported to Eurostat five months after the end of the reference period.
Overall accuracy is in compliance with the relevant EU Regulation and thus annually cannot exeeds 5%
Data are collected in tonnes, tonne-kilometres, vehicle-kilometres and in number of journeys (journey data)
After various plausibility checks, the data received from a vehicle owner are compliled into quarterly data following the structure of the data sets in the Regulation (EC) 70/2012. Data are calculated on country level and on NUTS3 level.
Sampling register used for the survey
Name of register:
Central Register of Vehicles
Name of organisation who maintains the register:
Ministry of Transport
Frequency of update:
Continuously
Frequency of access to draw the samples:
Once a quarter
Arrangements for accessing the register:
Sample of road vehicles is being selected by the administrator of the Central Register of Vehicles following agreed criteria (according to territorial units and weight categories).
Information obtained from the register:
List of vehicles including assigned license plate, holders of vehicle company, territorial unit (districts), type of body of goods road vehicle, weight category, vehicle type, year of first registration, fuel used, load capacity, permissible weight and number of axles.
Used in stratification: Load capacity, vehicle type and territorial unit.
Procedure for reminders:
The questionnaire for a given period surveyed is sent one week in advance. The deadline for response is 12 days following the end of the period surveyed. The first reminder is sent 14 days following termination of the mentioned period. If no response is received within next 14 days, the second reminder is sent to the vehicles holder.
If the Ministry of Transport is informed about the recent change of the ownership of a vehicle (not recorded in the register yet) or about leasing of a vehicle, then, if possible a questionnaire is sent once more to the real operator of the vehicle.
The response rate is considered quite adequate, it varies around 91%.
Data on road freight statistics are published on quarterly basis cca 3 months after the reference period on the Ministry website Sydos , being preliminary until publishing the annual results. Annual data are published in Transport Yearbooks published on the website as well as in a paper copy.
Data are normally updated once per quarter.
If new annual data (all four quarters of a calendar year) have become available, the annual datasets are also updated together with the quarterly datasets.
Comparability between the EU countries is ensured by the methodology set up in the Regulation (EU) No 70/2012.
The time series are comparable since 2004 (CZ data provision to Eurostat)
