National Institute of Statistics (NIS)

Department of Agriculture and Environmental Statistics

Bd. Libertatii no 16, Zip code 050706, Bucharest-Romania

See sub-concepts below.

The data set comprises the annual sales of active substances contained in plant protection products placed on the national market for one calendar year according to the Regulation (EC) No 1185/2009 as amended by Commission Regulation (EU) 2017/269 of 16 February 2017 as regards the list of active substances.

- Government Ordonance No 4 of 20 January 1995 on the manufacture, marketing and use plant protection products for combating diseases, pests and weeds in agriculture and forestry;

- Government Ordinance No 41 of 22 August 2007 on PPP (Pesticides placed on the market) merchandising and changing and repealing several judicial acts in the plant health domain.

http://old.madr.ro/pages/legislatie/ordonanta-4-1995.pdf

http://old.madr.ro/pages/legislatie/ordonanta-41-2007.pdf

Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development - National Plant Protection Authority.

1995

2007

All variables required under EU regulation are covered by national legislation.

There is no divergence between national definitions and those in the EU regulation.

The data are expressed in kilograms of active substances.

The classification of the active substances in plant protection products is annexed (Annex III) to Commission Regulation (EU) 2017/269 of 16 February 2017 amending Regulation (EC) No 1185/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning statistics on pesticides.

The active substances are classified according to chemical and functional similarity. Aggregation levels in descending order comprise: major groups, categories of products, chemical classes and active substances.

The statistics cover the wholesale and retail trade sector operating in placing plant protection products on the market.

All authorisation holders of plant protection products report the quantity of all active substances that are placed on the market nationally (incl. import and export data).

This data collection comprises pesticide sales data based on the term 'placing on the market' as defined in Regulation (EC) No 1107/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 October 2009 concerning the placing of plant protection products on the market. The scope of the Regulation covers plant protection products and their active substances as can be seen from the key terms of the act immediately below:

Plant protection products: products consisting of or containing active substances, safeners or synergists, and intended for one of the following uses:

• protecting plants or plant products against all harmful organisms or preventing the action of such organisms, unless the main purpose of these products is considered to be for reasons of hygiene rather than for the protection of plants or plant products;
• influencing the life processes of plants, such as substances influencing their growth, other than as a nutrient;
• preserving plant products, in so far as such substances or products are not subject to special Community provisions on preservatives;
• destroying undesired plants or parts of plants, except algae unless the products are applied on soil or water to protect plants;
• checking or preventing undesired growth of plants, except algae.

Active substances: substances or micro-organisms, including viruses, having general or specific action against harmful organisms or on plants, parts of plants or plant products.

Quantity: implies kilograms of the active substances sold.

Regulation (EC) No 1185/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council establishes a common framework for the systematic production of Community statistics on the placing on the market and agricultural use of those pesticides which are plant protection products as defined in Article 2 (a)(i). The statistics shall apply to the annual amounts of pesticides active substances placed on the market in accordance with Annex I and the quantity of active substances shall be aggregated according to the list in Annex III (as amended).

Enterprise placing plant protection products on the market; authorisation holder or holder of parallel trade permits.

All enterprises placing plant protection products on the market; authorisation holders and holders of parallel trade permits.

See sub-concepts below.

The entire territory of the country.

Not applicable.

2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019.

Not applicable for pesticide sales statistics, because it is not based on an index number of time series.

See sub-concepts below.

Not applicable.

This was a statistical survey covering the certified pesticide selling units and including the economic operators and the certified natural persons registered for PPP (Pesticides placed on the market) merchandising on the Romanian market.

Annually.

The data providers were the pesticide all economic operators/certified natural persons which have sold the plant protection products. The data were collected based on a face-to-face interview by statistical operators though the PPP-Pesticides placed on the market in 2019 questionnaire. The data collection period was March 2020.

Methodology for statistical research on Pesticides placed on the market, http://80.96.186.4:81/metadata/viewStatisticalResearch.htm?researchId=4750 (only available in romanian: QUESTIONNAIRE_PPP_2019.pdf; METHODOLOGY_PPP_2019.pdf).

Validate data by comparing it with the previous year and with data from statistical surveys or from administrative sources (import/export, domestic production, stocks, sales).

The statistical survey questionnaire was designed based on requirements Regulation (EC) No 1185/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 November 2009 concerning the statistics on pesticides, which amending, Commission Regulation (EU) 2017/269 and the specificity of the Romanian pesticide market.

The main variables included in the survey are the following: total number of PPPs placed on the market, the quantity of pesticides placed on the market, the quantity of sold pesticides and the stocks.

The main indicators obtained after data processing were: the pesticide quantity placed on the market/sold by chemical group/chemical category/chemical class and active substance.

The quantity of products placed on the market is recorded in kilograms or liters depending on the form of conditioning product, and then through a computer application, it is transformed into active substance using the concentration of products from the Pestexpert database.

The central validation control is similar to the data validation module at county level. It is the first validation of the consolidated data after which the control and final tables are produced.

The data validation at county level was done by the two concerned institutions. The data files processed by the territorial statistical offices were sent to NIS by the end of April 2020, where they were validated, processed and analyzed by NIS and Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (National Plant Protection Authority) experts.

- The research nomenclature included all economic operators who have marketed plant protection products on the site of the National Plant Protection Authority;

- Validate data by comparing it with the previous year and with data from statistical surveys or from administrative sources (import/export, domestic production, stocks, sales).

The IT application has 3 modules:

1. Data collection/validation module

2. Data consolidation module at central level  

3. Control and final tables generation module

Programming language: Visual FoxPro

 1. Data collection module – County level

This is a desktop application and the data can be network loaded. Each county enters data from the associated nomenclature. Validation rules are applied to every questionnaire. The data collection ends with an integrity control performed at county level.

 2. Data consolidation module – Central level

The data files received from the counties are consolidated into a central database.

 3. Control and final tables generation module – Central level

The publication “Pesticides placed on the market in 2019” appeared at the end of December 2020 and it includes brief methodological specifications (general frame, survey description, survey tools), tables, graphs and the analysis of the results obtained in the 6 tables:

- Table 1. Pesticides placed on the market (sold + stocks) in 2019, by macro-region and development region;

- Table 2. Pesticides sold in 2019, by macro-region and development region, by pesticide category;

- Table 3. Pesticide quantity sold by chemical group/chemical category/chemical class and active substance;

- Table 4. Main 10 chemical classes of fungicides – active substance, merchandised in Romania, in 2019;

- Table 5. Main 10 chemical classes of herbicides – active substance, merchandised in Romania, in 2019;

- Table 6. Main 10 chemical classes of insecticides – active substance, merchandised in Romania, in 2019.

Not applicable for pesticide sales statistics, because the data collection is not based on time series.

Data are collected by specialized staff.

The survey is exhaustive, data are collected by specialized staff. The non-response rate is low (3,5%).

Were organized meetings with users inside the statistical system and outside the statistical system. The main national users of statistical data in the field are: the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, National Plant Protection Authority, the Plant Protection Units within the county and Bucharest Agricultural Departments, the Academy of Agricultural and Forestry Sciences, the National Institute Research and Development for Industrial Ecology, the Centre of Applied Biochemistry and Biotechnology, the Ministry of Environment, Ministry of Waters and Forest, the Institute of Research and Development for Plant Protection. Other users may be even economic operators/certified natural persons dealing with pesticide merchandising as producers, importers or distributors. The National Institute of Statistics co-operates with the main users of these statistical data and remains open to any request for new statistical information in the field of pesticides.

It has not been done.

The data collection covers all active substances of plant protection products placed on the national market and the information of all authorisation holders.

100%

See sub-concepts below.

Pesticides placed on the market in 2019 was a exhaustive statistical survey.

Not applicable for pesticide sales statistics, because the data collection is not based on samples, but covers the whole statistical population of authorisation holders and plant protection products placed on the national market.

Not applicable for pesticide sales statistics, because the data collection is not based on samples, but covers the whole statistical population of authorisation holders and plant protection products placed on the national market.

Introduction and processing errors.

The most frequent data collection or data entry errors were caused by unit of measure (kg or liter), the product denomination and code; these were below 1%. (The introduction and processing errors refer to errors caused by unit of measure).

Nomenclature has been updates according website the National Plant Protection Authority with the latest PPPs.

0.7%

Not applicable for pesticide sales statistics as the data stem from one source.

The most frequent data collection or data entry errors were caused by unit of measure (kg or liter), the product denomination and code; these were below 1%.

The non-response error is due to the missing values and it represents 3,5% (81 economic operators/certified natural persons).

The units with full interview had answer for all chapters of the questionnaire.

The non-response error represents 3,5% (81 economic operators/certified natural persons). According to the completeness code, we obtain the following statistics:

- refused interview for 48 economic operators/certified natural persons (2,1%);

- unidentified unit for 33 economic operators/certified natural persons (1,4%).

There was typical processing errors:

- wrong code assignment;

- the unit of measure was wrong completed.

0%

Not applicable for pesticide sales statistics, because the data collection is not based on estimations.

Not applicable for pesticide sales statistics, because the reported data on plant protection products covers the whole year.

The data revision policy is published on the NIS website: https://insse.ro/cms/files/sistemul%20statistic%20national/REVISION%20POLICY.pdf

No revision made.

No revision made.

According to the Regulation (EC) No 1185/2009, the data is published by Eurostat 15 months after the end of the reference year and the national quality report 20 months after the end of the reference year.

Not applicable for pesticide sales statistics as the data and national quality reports are only published once in a final result.

15 months after the end of the reference period for the data;

20 months after the end of the reference period for the national quality report.

According to the Regulation (EC) No 1185/2009, data must be transmitted until 30 December of the year t+1, and national quality reports until 31 March of the year t+2.

Delivery and publication data was carry out in December 2020.

Not applicable.

Data are collected on a country level (NUTS 0). They are not comparable on a regional level. The geographical comparability between countries is evaluated by Eurostat.

Not applicable, because there are no mirror flows in pesticide sales statistics.

It is the ninth statistical survey carry out.

The data series for the pesticide sales start with reference year 2011.

9 years

The data were compared against the domestic production, the import and export of pesticides or against data from administrative sources.

Not applicable for pesticide sales statistics, because the data collection is annual.

Not applicable, because it is not related to national accounts.

Yes, the dataset comes from the same data source.

No news release.

Yes, Pesticides placed on the market in 2019, https://insse.ro/cms/sites/default/files/field/publicatii/pesticide_plasate_pe_piata_in_anul_2019_0.pdf (only available in romanian).

No online database.

Not applicable.

In National Institute of Statistics there is a committee for confidentiality, which has developed general rules and depending on the requirements, they are analyzed and given to from case to case (data anonymized), based on a written commitment. There have been no requests for PPP (Pesticides placed on the market) data yet.

No other dissemination format.

Yes, Methodology for statistical research on Pesticides placed on the market, http://80.96.186.4:81/metadata/viewStatisticalResearch.htm?researchId=4750

Not available.

Not requested.

Not requested.

The financial resources were efficiently used. The response burden was proportionate to the users needs and not excessive for the respondents. According to the European Statistics Code of Practice the response burden should be measured in order to reduce the reporting burden of the respondents.

According to the European Statistics Code of Practice (principle 5) the confidentiality of the provided information and its exclusive use for statistical purposes is guaranteed.

The legal framework which guarantees the confidentiality and protection of statistical data is Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11.03.2009 on European statistics and Law No 226/2009 on the organization and functioning of official statistics in Romania.

The confidential statistical information relative to individual units are protected and used only for statistical purposes.

Law No 226/2009 of the Romanian official statistics stipulates at Art. 35 – Dissemination of individual data – data can be disseminated solely for research purposes.

At art. 36 – Confidentiality of official statistical data, par. (1) – statistical data are considered confidential if they refer to a single natural or legal person or if they allow the direct or indirect identification of the concerned natural or legal person.

The statistical data obtained after individual data processing can be disseminated after a suitable aggregation.

Art. 37 – NIS and the other official statistics producers are bound to ensure throughout the whole statistical process, administrative, organizational and technical measures to protect the confidentiality of individual statistical data and to prevent the unauthorized access to them, as well as their unpermitted dissemination, transfer and destruction. To this end, NIS drew up and approved implementation norms and procedures with respect to the measures foreseen by the law. NIS staff including the one belonging to the territorial offices along with the personnel temporarily employed in individual data collection and processing are obliged to observe data confidentiality for the duration and after the end of their employment.

Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 of the European Parliament and the Council of 11.03.2009 on European statistics: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:32009RO223&from=EN

Law No 226/2009 on the organization and functioning of official statistics in Romania: https://insse.ro/cms/files/legislatie/Legea%20nr.%20226%20-%20Organizarea%20si%20Functionarea%20Statisticii.pdf#page=1&zoom=auto,-128,1230 (only available in romanian)

European Statistics Code of Practice: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/documents/64157/4392716/Revised_CoP_Nov_2017.pdf

According to Law No 226/2009 on Romanian official organisation and functioning with its subsequent amendments and additions, the individual data registered on the PPP 2019 questionnaires are confidential and to be used only for statistical purposes.

Keeping the data confidential by NIS permanent staff is mandatory as provided by Law No 226/2009.

The statistical disclosure control by NIS temporary staff is mandatory as stipulated in their employment contracts.

Romania will continue to work with Eurostat experts within the concerned work group to improve this survey.