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.
Size classes covered: No size threshold is applied.
3.4. Statistical concepts and definitions
List and definition of variables:
Turnover: Value of sales and services to third parties, VAT excluded. Turnover includes main activity as well as secondary activities. Third parties are consumers and enterprises not belonging to (the Dutch part of) the own group of companies.
Changes in information collected: Statistics Netherlands uses VAT data for most divisions since 2011/2012. Complex enterprises still receive questionnaires.
Accounting conventions: Data refers to the calendar quarter.
3.5. Statistical unit
Reporting unit: The reporting unit is the enterprise.
Observation unit(s): The observation unit is the enterprise.
3.6. Statistical population
The statistical population comprises the observation units (about 605.000 units/enterprises in the 4th quarter of 2023) that are economically active in one of the above-mentioned sectors in the period under review.
3.7. Reference area
The geographic area is the Netherlands, there are no exclusions.
3.8. Coverage - Time
From 2021 - today.
3.9. Base period
Base (reference) year: Year 2021 = 100.
Indices, percentage change (%).
Reference year of this report: 2021.
The periodicity of the data is monthly.
6.1. Institutional Mandate - legal acts and other agreements
Legal basis: Statistics Netherlands is fully independent in terms of its statistical operations with respect to methodology and publications. Independence was granted by the Royal Act of 1899 and reconfirmed by law in 1996 and 2003. The CBS Law of 2003 is available in English and Dutch. The public can find it at https://www.cbs.nl/nl-nl/over-ons/organisatie/jaarverslag/statistics-netherlands-act .
Obligation on units to provide data: The Law of 2003 established the Central Bureau of Statistics and the Central Commission for Statistics. Section 3 states: “The task of the CBS is to carry out statistical research for the government for practice, policy and research purposes and to publish the statistics compiled on the basis of such research". For the surveys carried out under the provisions of the Law of 2003 irregularities with respect the obligation to provide information can be punished with a fine of a maximum of EUR 5,000.
Planned changes in legal basis, obligation to respond and frame used: No changes in legal basis are planned.
The Law of 2003 established the Central Bureau of Statistics and the Central Commission for Statistics. Section 3 states: “The task of the CBS is to carry out statistical research for the government for practice, policy and research purposes and to publish the statistics compiled on the basis of such research". Sections 33 through 36 describe the collection of information, sections 37 and 38 describe the use of information gathering and sections 39 through 42 the dissemination of results. The most relevant clauses are the following. Section 33: “The director general is authorised to use, for statistical purposes, data from registers (..) the director general is authorised to request, for statistical purposes, data (..) from the categories of companies, independent professionals, institutions and legal persons (..).” Section 37: “The data (..) shall be used solely for statistical purposes. The data (..)shall only be published in such a way that no recognisable data can be derived from them about an individual person, household, company or institution, unless, (..) there are good reasons to assume that the company or institution concerned will not have any objections to the publication.” The CBS Law of 2003 is available in English and Dutch. The public can find it at the CBS website https://www.cbs.nl/nl-nl/over-ons/organisatie/jaarverslag/statistics-netherlands-act.
Dissemination of terms and conditions under which official statistics are produced, including confidentiality of individual responses: Statistics Netherlands is fully independent in terms of its statistical operations with respect to methodology and publications. Independence was granted by the Royal Act of 1899 and reconfirmed by law in 1996 and 2003. Data provision was made compulsory by law in 1936. Confidentiality is guaranteed. Individual data are never published without consent. The Royal Act of 1899 and the Law of 1996 have been repealed by the Law of 20 November 2003. This Law on the Central Bureau of Statistics describes the independence of the director-general of Statistics Netherlands: “The director general shall determine the methods by which the studies included in the work programme and the multiannual programme will be carried out and the manner in which the results of those studies will be published”. The Law of 2003 established the Central Bureau of Statistics and the Central Commission for Statistics. Section 3 states: “The task of the CBS is to carry out statistical research for the government for practice, policy and research purposes and to publish the statistics compiled on the basis of such research". Sections 33 through 36 describe the collection of information, sections 37 and 38 describe the use of information gathering and sections 39 through 42 the dissemination of results. The most relevant clauses are the following. Section 33: “The director general is authorised to use, for statistical purposes, data from registers (..) the director general is authorised to request, for statistical purposes, data (..) from the categories of companies, independent professionals, institutions and legal persons (..).” Section 37: “The data (..) shall be used solely for statistical purposes. The data (..) shall only be published in such a way that no recognisable data can be derived from them about an individual person, household, company or institution, unless, (..) there are good reasons to assume that the company or institution concerned will not have any objections to the publication.” The CBS Law of 2003 is available in English and Dutch. The public can find it at the CBS website https://www.cbs.nl/en-gb/participants-survey/overzicht/businesses/meer-over-cbs-enquetes/enforcement.
7.2. Confidentiality - data treatment
Confidential data are treated by suppression or by aggregation.
8.1. Release calendar
Advance dissemination of release calendar: A rolling 5 months-ahead release calendar is published in the schedule by date of Statistics Netherlands https://www.cbs.nl/en-gb/publication-calendar (https://www.cbs.nl/en-gb/publication-calendar). When approximate release dates are given, the precise dates are announced on the last working day of the week prior to the release.
Simultaneous release to all interested parties: The data are released simultaneously to all interested parties by loading them into the online database StatLine on the internet-site www.cbs.nl and posting a notification under “updates” on the home-page of the web-site. At the same time the data is also sent to subscribers by e-mail for some branches.
Identification of internal government access to data before release: There is no internal government access to the data before their release to the public.
Transmission to Eurostat and further use of the statistics: Data are to be transmitted to Eurostat when they are first published in the Netherlands. The transmission is done by use of eDAMIS Web Application using the SDMX coding system.
Results are disseminated every month.
10.1. Dissemination format - News release
Identification of ministerial commentary on the occasion of statistical releases: Ministerial commentary and data from Statistics Netherlands are fully separated.
New data for the whole domain is available every month through the online database StatLine. The results for Nace I are spublished in a press release every quarter. Data of Nace M and N are published in a web magazine.
10.2. Dissemination format - Publications
Name of national paper publications: There are no paper publications of these results.
Name of national electronic dissemination: The data of division 55 and 56 are published in a press release. Summary results of other divisions are to be published in different web magazines.
10.3. Dissemination format - online database
The data are published on the CBS Website (http://www.cbs.nl) in StatLine.
10.4. Dissemination format - microdata access
There is no user access to microdata.
10.5. Dissemination format - other
Planned changes in national dissemination methods: None.
Data are sent to Eurostat (eDamis) in SDMX format.
10.6. Documentation on methodology
A short description is available at https://www.cbs.nl/nl-nl/onze-diensten/methoden (dutch only). Standard tables consist of index numbers and annual growth rates. The groupings are a mixture of 1-, 2-, 3-, 4-, and 5-digit levels, as well as a number of standard aggregations.
10.7. Quality management - documentation
Not available.
11.1. Quality assurance
Summary description of quality criteria calculated for national purposes: The weighted response rate has to be above 70% for a total division if turnover figures are to be published.
There are different policies and procedures guarantying quality. Statical improvements are reviewed by an independent department. There is also a list of methods that have been accepted as best practice. New statistics should use these methods or only deviate with good reasons. Every quarter the results of BCS statistics are validated by an independent statistician.
11.2. Quality management - assessment
The quality of the BCS statistics are considered good. All quality aspects for BCS statistics have been covered.
12.1. Relevance - User Needs
BCS statistics provide statistical information necessary to monitor the competitiveness and performance of the business community in the EU. The BCS statistics are used by different users (European Commission and ECB, national governments and central banks, economic analysts in private companies and financial institutions) and serve different purposes.
12.2. Relevance - User Satisfaction
User satisfaction is measured via download statistics of the online databank and with ad hoc user consultations.
12.3. Completeness
Unadjusted and seasonnally adjusted figures are published. Working day adjusted figures are included.
13.1. Accuracy - overall
The accuracy is tackled by eliminating as much as possible non-sampling errors, by calculating sampling errors and studying and analysing revisions. Sources: The most important sources are the business register, survey data and VAT-data. For services turnover an integral dataset is created each quarter. Only the most large and complex companies are surveyed, turnover from the remaining enterprises is obtained from VAT. The quality of both surveys and VAT-data is considered good. The statistical errors are considered small. The business registered is considered to be a good source for producing unbiased BCS figures. The business register is updated every month using both information of the chambers of commerce and information from the Tax authorities. The over/undercoverage of the business register is very small. The linking efficiency with VAT-data is over 99,5%. Since the business register is used to derive the population frame no significant bias is expected for the BCS totals. "The survey results are usually also of good quality. In some instances though, enterprises provide the wrong information. Some reasons for providing wrong information are: * Enterprises provide information in euro's instead of k-euro's. * Enterprises fill in information for only part of the business unit (for example 1 legal unit). * Enterprises fill in the results for the wrong period. In these cases extensive editing is necessary to correct the results." The VAT-data is of high quality. In some cases records are edit to adjust inplausible VAT-patterns. Because VAT-data itself is of high quality and is available for each company, a high quality integral dataset is obtained. * The quality of the T+60 figures is slightly lower then the definite estimates, as a result of late respondents and the fact that VAT-information of companies that provide this information to the tax office on a yearly basis is simply not available before the end of a reporting year. These records are imputed before yearly figures become available. The impact of non-response is only limited due to high respons percentages (see 13.3) and high coverage of the VAT-data.
13.2. Sampling error
The first 2 months of a quarter are calculated on a panel basis. For this purpose, the monthly observation has been extended with effect from 2021. On a quarterly basis, the entire population is used to arrive at higher-quality figures. The first two months are then adjusted and fitted into the new quarterly figure.
As the turnover of services is estimated using an integral dataset (without sampling) no sampling errors occur.
13.3. Non-sampling error
Response rate: The surveys are compulsory. When first published, the weighted response rates are usually around 92%. The final indicators are normally based on weighted response rates of about 97%. Actions to speed up or increase the rate of response: Missing responses are followed up by reminders in a first stage and then by telephone contacts. The results of the questionaires are extensively checked and if necessary edited. For the largest units, the results are checked by a specialised organisational unit within Statistics Netherlands. This special unit has the ability to check the results with other data sources, profiling information and information derived from account management. For the smaller units the VAT-data of a specific enterprise is checked mainly by the use of time series information of the unit. The final estimates also have little or no bias.
14.1. Timeliness
Timeliness: The first preliminary results are to be published 60 days after the reference month. Data will be revised for the last time on the last working day of June of the following year.
Timetable of data collection:
Quarterly questionnaires are sent to the reporting unit at the end of the reference quarter asking for a reply within two weeks.
Monthly questionnaires are sent at the end of the reference month, asking for a reply within 10 working days. Data collection is closed in March of the following year.
14.2. Punctuality
All releases are published according to the release calendar.
15.1. Comparability - geographical
The BCS Regulations and the BCS methodological guidelines are applied by the countries transmitting BCS data. This ensures a good comparability between national data and good-quality European aggregates. However, the data are not 100% comparable with other countries. Each country may apply different collection methods (surveys, use of administrative sources) and different calculation procedures for the data. Within the Netherlands, no seperate geographical data is compiled, thus there is no comparability between regions.
15.2. Comparability - over time
The time series 2021-2023 should be comparable over time.
15.3. Coherence - cross domain
BCS turnover is for the greater part measured by using VAT-data. Apart from the VAT-data a rather small sample survey is being used. There is no other statistical product that could be used instead of the current indicator other than survey/vat.
15.4. Coherence - internal
The data is internally coherent.
The persons hour per year for SN is about 4000 hours. The respondents burden is estimated at 6000 hours per year.
17.1. Data revision - policy
The data published are provisional. Final data of a of a year are published six months after the ending of the fourth quarter of the reporting year (the end of June of the next year).
There is no delay, the data are transmitted to Eurostat and released nationally at the same day.
the same revision policy is applied internally and in transmission to Eurostat.
17.2. Data revision - practice
Provision of information about revision and advance notice of major changes in methodology: The revision policy is described in the explanation of the online database tables. In case of changes in methodology or major changes in the data, the public will be informed on the internet website of Statistics Netherlands.
The revised figures of the previous year are published nationally together with the publication of April of the next year and also sent to Eurostat to assure coherence.
Data from 2021 to 2023 were transmitted together, without revisions, therefor it is not possible to provide the MAR and MR this year.
18.1. Source data
Type of source: Partly statistical survey, partly administrative source (VAT register).
Frame on which the source is based: The General Business Register (Algemeen Bedrijfsregister - ABR).
Sample or census: Statistical survey.
VAT data from each industry is used, as well as a sample for the more complex enterprises.
Threshold values and percentages: Units with 1 or more persons employed can be sampled if no VAT is available. The sampling rates are as follows:
1 persons employed = 0.02%
2-4 persons employed = 0.1%
5-9 persons employed = 0.5%
10-19 persons employed = 1.3%
20-49 persons employed = 3.4%
50+ persons employed = 24.3%
Frequency of updating the sample: The sample is updated yearly, in January. Moreover there is a monthly refreshment for enterprise deaths and births.
18.2. Frequency of data collection
Periodicity of data collection: Data collection is basically monthly, but for some branches it is on a quarterly basis when there is enough monthly data.
18.3. Data collection
Questionnaires used in the survey: Besides the VAT-register, a questionnaire regarding total turnover is used.
Planned changes in national questionnaires: No changes in national questionnaires are planned.
Data collection media: This data collection is done by electronic means, both e-mail and direct connection, after receiving a log-in code by mail.
18.4. Data validation
Data validation is performed as a final step before releasing/disseminating the data. The validation is performed by an independent statistician.
18.5. Data compilation
Estimates for non-response: Non-response is treated using imputation technique (on a quarterly basis). The estimation is done by using growth rates of the known average of a given sample-cell (stratum) multiplied with the(estimated average) value of the previous period.
Estimates for grossing-up to population levels: The grossing up is based on the latest completed quarterly total number of enterprises per stratum in the General Business Register adjusted for population errors (such as non -active enterprises). The ratio of the total number of enterprise (N) within a given stratum to the corresponding number of enterprises (n) of the sample gives the grossing-up factor for the stratum.
Type of index: Statistics Netherlands calculates the turnover index as a chain index. For calculating monthly indices the Denton model is used.
Method of weighting and chaining: The composite index is weighted by the monthly values of the underlying strata. The base year weights are based on SBS information.
18.6. Adjustment
Seasonally adjusted and calendar-adjusted adjustments have been made.
No further comments.
Index numbers of turnover (value) of services.
13 June 2024
List and definition of variables:
Turnover: Value of sales and services to third parties, VAT excluded. Turnover includes main activity as well as secondary activities. Third parties are consumers and enterprises not belonging to (the Dutch part of) the own group of companies.
Changes in information collected: Statistics Netherlands uses VAT data for most divisions since 2011/2012. Complex enterprises still receive questionnaires.
Accounting conventions: Data refers to the calendar quarter.
Reporting unit: The reporting unit is the enterprise.
Observation unit(s): The observation unit is the enterprise.
The statistical population comprises the observation units (about 605.000 units/enterprises in the 4th quarter of 2023) that are economically active in one of the above-mentioned sectors in the period under review.
The geographic area is the Netherlands, there are no exclusions.
Reference year of this report: 2021.
The periodicity of the data is monthly.
The accuracy is tackled by eliminating as much as possible non-sampling errors, by calculating sampling errors and studying and analysing revisions. Sources: The most important sources are the business register, survey data and VAT-data. For services turnover an integral dataset is created each quarter. Only the most large and complex companies are surveyed, turnover from the remaining enterprises is obtained from VAT. The quality of both surveys and VAT-data is considered good. The statistical errors are considered small. The business registered is considered to be a good source for producing unbiased BCS figures. The business register is updated every month using both information of the chambers of commerce and information from the Tax authorities. The over/undercoverage of the business register is very small. The linking efficiency with VAT-data is over 99,5%. Since the business register is used to derive the population frame no significant bias is expected for the BCS totals. "The survey results are usually also of good quality. In some instances though, enterprises provide the wrong information. Some reasons for providing wrong information are: * Enterprises provide information in euro's instead of k-euro's. * Enterprises fill in information for only part of the business unit (for example 1 legal unit). * Enterprises fill in the results for the wrong period. In these cases extensive editing is necessary to correct the results." The VAT-data is of high quality. In some cases records are edit to adjust inplausible VAT-patterns. Because VAT-data itself is of high quality and is available for each company, a high quality integral dataset is obtained. * The quality of the T+60 figures is slightly lower then the definite estimates, as a result of late respondents and the fact that VAT-information of companies that provide this information to the tax office on a yearly basis is simply not available before the end of a reporting year. These records are imputed before yearly figures become available. The impact of non-response is only limited due to high respons percentages (see 13.3) and high coverage of the VAT-data.
Indices, percentage change (%).
Estimates for non-response: Non-response is treated using imputation technique (on a quarterly basis). The estimation is done by using growth rates of the known average of a given sample-cell (stratum) multiplied with the(estimated average) value of the previous period.
Estimates for grossing-up to population levels: The grossing up is based on the latest completed quarterly total number of enterprises per stratum in the General Business Register adjusted for population errors (such as non -active enterprises). The ratio of the total number of enterprise (N) within a given stratum to the corresponding number of enterprises (n) of the sample gives the grossing-up factor for the stratum.
Type of index: Statistics Netherlands calculates the turnover index as a chain index. For calculating monthly indices the Denton model is used.
Method of weighting and chaining: The composite index is weighted by the monthly values of the underlying strata. The base year weights are based on SBS information.
Type of source: Partly statistical survey, partly administrative source (VAT register).
Frame on which the source is based: The General Business Register (Algemeen Bedrijfsregister - ABR).
Sample or census: Statistical survey.
VAT data from each industry is used, as well as a sample for the more complex enterprises.
Threshold values and percentages: Units with 1 or more persons employed can be sampled if no VAT is available. The sampling rates are as follows:
1 persons employed = 0.02%
2-4 persons employed = 0.1%
5-9 persons employed = 0.5%
10-19 persons employed = 1.3%
20-49 persons employed = 3.4%
50+ persons employed = 24.3%
Frequency of updating the sample: The sample is updated yearly, in January. Moreover there is a monthly refreshment for enterprise deaths and births.
Results are disseminated every month.
Timeliness: The first preliminary results are to be published 60 days after the reference month. Data will be revised for the last time on the last working day of June of the following year.
Timetable of data collection:
Quarterly questionnaires are sent to the reporting unit at the end of the reference quarter asking for a reply within two weeks.
Monthly questionnaires are sent at the end of the reference month, asking for a reply within 10 working days. Data collection is closed in March of the following year.
The BCS Regulations and the BCS methodological guidelines are applied by the countries transmitting BCS data. This ensures a good comparability between national data and good-quality European aggregates. However, the data are not 100% comparable with other countries. Each country may apply different collection methods (surveys, use of administrative sources) and different calculation procedures for the data. Within the Netherlands, no seperate geographical data is compiled, thus there is no comparability between regions.
The time series 2021-2023 should be comparable over time.
