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.
Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Union
1.2. Contact organisation unit
[4D1_G1] Eurostat - Infrastructures; short-term business indicators
1.3. Contact name
Confidential because of GDPR
1.4. Contact person function
Confidential because of GDPR
1.5. Contact mail address
European Commission
DG Eurostat, Unit G.1
L- 2920 Luxembourg
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
30 May 2025
2.2. Metadata last posted
30 May 2025
2.3. Metadata last update
30 May 2025
3.1. Data description
Eurostat together with the National Statistical Institutes of EU Member States and European Free Trade Association (EFTA) countries has set up and maintains a unique statistical business register called the EuroGroups Register (EGR) gathering information on multinational enterprise group operating in Europe (EU Member States and EFTA countries).
Based on the annual EGR final frame, Eurostat releases aggregated data on multinational enterprise groups as experimental statistics in the following tables:
Multinational enterprise groups in EU-EFTA countries by controlling country (egr_mne).
Number of multinational enterprise groups having at least one legal unit located in the EU-EFTA by controlling country/area. The controlling area is defined by the location of the Ultimate controlling institutional unit (UCI).
Persons employed in multinational enterprise groups by size class (egr_emp).
Persons employed (employees and self-employed persons) by multinational enterprise groups in the EU-EFTA countries by controling country/area, main activity and worldwide size class of multinational enterprise groups, and country/area of work.
The percentage of total employment refers to Structural business statistical figures. From 2018-2020 the total employment considers persons working in the non-financial business economy (B to N excluding K). From 2021 onwards, with the SBS extended scope, the total employment considers the person working in the activity B to S excluding O and S94. This change explains the break in the time series.
Concentration of multinational enterprise groups by NACE Rev. 2 activity (egr_conc).
Share of total employment in EU of the largest MNE groups by NACE activity of the enterprises belonging to the groups. The total employment used Structural business statistical figures.
Multinational enterprise groups in EU-EFTA countries by controlling country, size class and NACE Rev. 2 activity.
Number of multinational enterprise groups having at least one legal unit located in the EU-EFTA by controlling country/area, main activity and worldwide size class of multinational enterprise groups (egr_mne_n2sc).
Multinational enterprise groups employment by controlling country group size class NACE Rev. 2 and country of work (egr_mne_empw).
Persons employed (employees and self-employed persons) by multinational enterprise groups by controlling country/area, main activity and worldwide size class of multinational enterprise groups, and country/area of work.
The EGR covers multinational enterprise groups having at least one Legal unit located in the EU Member States or EFTA countries. The EGR includes micro data about the control structures of multinational enterprise groups, their constituent Legal units and corresponding Enterprises. The core variables for multinational enterprise groups, enterprises and legal units, are:
The EGR statistical frame has the purpose to improve the consistency of national statistics on cross border phenomena and thus better measure the economic globalization in the European Union. The EGR offers to the statistical users a tool for coordinating their frame population, for deriving consistent statistical output with improved quality, and for creating new statistical output and breakdowns. This is achieved by allowing microdata linking to many business statistics and providing insights in measuring global activities of European enterprises part of multinational enterprise groups.
The EGR is a statistical business register and can be used for statistical use only by users of the National Statistical Institutes, National Central Banks and the European Central Bank.
3.2. Classification system
Classification systems and main code lists used in the EGR are as follows:
Statistical classification of economic activities in the European Community (NACE Rev. 2)
Institutional sector classification as defined in the European System of Accounts (ESA 2010)
List of 2-digit country codes (ISO 3166-1)
List of legal forms for legal units
Currency codes (ISO 4217).
3.3. Coverage - sector
The EGR frames cover the following economic activities:
any activity comprising the offer of goods and services on a given market
non-market services contributing to the GDP
direct and indirect holdings of active legal units.
Holding assets and/or liabilities are also considered an economic activity.
3.4. Statistical concepts and definitions
EGR final frame
The EGR final frame is the annual output that reflects the state of the EuroGroups Register at the end of the yearly cycle. It includes all the active units at the end of the reference year.
Eurostat keeps that frame for at least 30 years for the purpose of analysis.
Frame reference year
Reference dates of all variables in the final frame refer to the reference year T, reflecting the final picture of the EGR of the reference year T.
Global group head
The global group head (GGH) of an enterprise group is the parent legal unit that is not controlled either directly or indirectly by any other legal unit. The subsidiary legal units of a subsidiary legal unit are considered to be subsidiaries of the parent legal unit.
Global decision centre
The global decision centre (GDC) of an enterprise group is the unit where the enterprise group level’s strategic decisions are taken. A group may have several decision-making centres, or several units dedicated to a particular internal function, for example accounting or human resources. However, the decisions about the group are made only in the GDC. The GDC may be the GGH or another legal unit under the GGH.
Ultimate Controlling Institutional unit
The ultimate controlling institutional unit (UCI) of a foreign affiliate means the institutional unit higher up a foreign affiliate’s chain of control that is not controlled by another institutional unit.
Active statistical unit, i.e., enterprises and enterprise groups
A statistical unit is considered to have been active during the reference period, if in said period it either realized positive net turnover or produced outputs or had employees or performed investments. The ‘production of output’ includes any offer of goods and services on a given market even if this has not resulted in turnover, as well as any non-market services contributing to the GDP. The ‘performance of investments’ includes direct and indirect holdings of active legal units and may include holding assets and/or liabilities.
The statistical unit Enterprises with an end date prior to the 31/12/T are discarded from the EGR final frame.
Number of employees and self-employed persons
The number of employees and self-employed persons is the sum of the Number of employees and Number of self-employed persons.
The Number of employees is the average number of persons who were, at some time during the reference period, employees of the statistical unit.
The number of self-employed persons is the average number of persons who were at some time during the reference period the sole owners or joint owners of the statistical unit in which they work. Family workers and outworkers whose income is a function of the value of the outputs of the statistical unit are also included.
For all activities except for NACE 64, 65 and some activities of NACE 66 net turnover consists of all income arising during the reference period in the course of ordinary activities of the statistical unit, and is presented net of all price reductions, discounts and rebates granted by it.
Income is defined as increases in economic benefits during the reference period in the form of inflows or enhancements of assets or decreases of liabilities that result in increases in equity, other than those relating to contributions from equity participants.
The inflows referred to arise from contracts with customers and are realised through the satisfaction by the statistical unit of performance obligations as foreseen in said contracts. Usually, a performance obligation is represented by the sale (transfer) of goods or the rendering of services. However, the gross inflows can also contain revenues obtained as a yield on the use by others of the statistical unit’s assets.
Excluded from net turnover are:
all taxes, duties or levies linked directly to revenue;
any amounts collected on behalf of any principal, if the statistical unit is acting as an agent in its relationship with said principal;
all income not arising in the course of ordinary activities of the statistical unit. Usually, these types of income are classified as “Other (operating) income”, “Financial income”, “Extra-ordinary income” or under a similar heading, depending on the respective set of generally accepted accounting standards used to prepare the financial statements.
Infra-annual statistics may not be able to take into account aspects such as annual price reductions, subsidies, rebates and discounts.
For the activities of NACE K6411, K6419 and K649 net turnover is defined as the value of output minus subsidies or government grants.
For the activities of NACE K642 and K643 net turnover can be approximated by the total operating costs if net turnover is not available in the financial statements.
For the activities of NACE K6511, K6512 and K652 net turnover is defined as Gross premiums earned.
For the activities of NACE K653 the net turnover is defined as total pension contributions.
For activities of NACE K66 for which net turnover is not available in the financial statements, net turnover is defined as the value of output minus subsidies or government grants. For activities of NACE K66 for which net turnover is available in the financial statements, the standard definition of net turnover applies.
The total assets refers to the sum of the balance sheet items at the end of the accounting period. They cover economic assets, which are divided into financial and non-financial assets.
Principal activity
The principal (or main) activity is the activity that contributes most to the total value added of a unit under consideration. Ideally, the principal activity of the unit should be determined with reference to the value added to the goods and services produced, by applying the top-down method. The top-down method follows a hierarchical principle: the classification of the unit at the lowest level of the classification must be consistent with the classification of the unit at higher levels. The principal activity so identified does not necessarily account for 50 % or more of the unit’s total value added.
In the European Union the classification of principal activity is determined by reference to NACE Rev. 2, first at the highest level of classification and then at more detailed levels (top-down method).
The statistical units maintained in the EGR are defined in accordance with Regulation (EEC) No 696/93 on the statistical units for the observation and analysis of the production system in the Community.
The EGR frame contains the following units:
Legal units
Legal units include:
legal persons whose existence is recognized by law independently of the individuals or institutions that may own them or are members of them
natural persons who are engaged in an economic activity in their own right.
Enterprise
The enterprise is the smallest combination of legal units that is an organizational unit producing goods or services, which benefits from a certain degree of autonomy in decision-making, especially for the allocation of its current resources. An enterprise carries out one or more activities at one or more locations. An enterprise may be a sole legal unit.
Enterprise group
An enterprise group is a statistical unit made of a set of a least two legal units or enterprises bound by legal and/or financial links. An enterprise group is empowered to make choice concerning the units it comprises. It may centralize certain aspects of financial management and taxation.
Multinational enterprise group
'Multinational enterprise group' means an enterprise group with at least two enterprises or legal units each of which is located in a different country. In business statistics also term ‘global enterprise group’ is used.
3.6. Statistical population
The EGR target population is the Multinational enterprise groups having at least two legal units out of which at least one is located in EU Member States or EFTA countries, their Legal units, andEnterprises.
The EGR is the authoritative source for the European Statistical System (ESS) as a register population for business statistics requiring the coordination of cross-border information related to multinational enterprise groups. EBS Regulation (Art 3) 'authoritative source' means the sole provider of data records containing national statistical business register and EuroGroups register data in accordance with quality standards.
3.7. Reference area
The reference area of the EGR is the world, although the main interest is the areas of EU and EFTA countries. Multinational enterprise groups active exclusively outside the EU and EFTA are not of interest to the EGR.
3.8. Coverage - Time
The EGR frames are available since 2008 reference year. The latest EGR final frame, released in March 2025, consists of the final annual master frame for the 2023 reference year.
3.9. Base period
Not applicable.
The economic variables on employment are recorded in absolute figures.
Monetary variables are expressed in units for enterprises and in millions for enterprise groups. The corresponding currency code is indicated.
The reference period for the EGR final frame reflects the picture of 31 December of the given reference year.
The latest EGR final frame, released in March 2025, consists of the final annual master frame for the 2023 reference year.
The economic variables (Number of employees and self-employed persons, net turnover, total assets and economic activity) refer to the 2023 reference year.
6.1. Institutional Mandate - legal acts and other agreements
From the reference year 2021 onwards, the content of the EGR final frame is defined according to:
The legal framework setting up the procedures for EGR data exchanges is defined in Art. 10 of the EBS Regulation (EU) 2019/2152.
7.1. Confidentiality - policy
According to the Regulation (EU) 2019/2152 on European business statistics, confidential data transmitted to the Commission (Eurostat) by the appropriate national authorities shall be flagged as confidential in accordance with national legislation.
To ensure a consistent record of data, the Commission (Eurostat) shall, exclusively for Statistical purpose (s), transmit to the appropriate national authorities of Member States other than the reporting country, data concerning Multinational enterprise group (s) and their constituent units, including confidentiality flags, when at least one legal unit of the group is in the territory of that Member State.
The same policy refers to the data exchange between the Commission (Eurostat) and the EFTA countries.
7.2. Confidentiality - data treatment
EGR data are stored by the Commission (Eurostat) and by the national statistical authorities (NSAs) in the EU MSs and EFTA countries in a secure area with restricted and controlled access.
The transmission of the EGR data is done in an encrypted form and by electronic means via the Commission (Eurostat) single entry point for exchange of confidential data EDAMIS.
EGR data and metadata are exchanged in electronic form between the appropriate national authorities and the Commission (Eurostat). The transmission format is conforming to international SDMX data and metadata exchange standards specified by the Commission (Eurostat).
8.1. Release calendar
For the reference year T the EGR frames are released according to the following table:
EGR frames
Released dates
Final frame
T+15 months
Preliminary frame
T+13 months
Initial frame
T+12 months
Early initial frame
T+4 months
The Eurobase tables and Statistics Explained articles are published following the release of the EGR final frame on the Eurostat website as Experimental Statistics.
8.2. Release calendar access
Information on the release calendar is communicated to the EGR correspondents in the EU-EFTA countries before the beginning of the EGR cycle.
8.3. Release policy - user access
EGR data are available to the statistical producers in the national statistical institutes of the EU Member States and EFTA countries exclusively for statistical purposes only. Members of the European System of Central Banks (ESCB) also have access to the EGR data explicitly for the statistical purposes to ensure the quality of the information on multinational enterprises in Europe, provided that an authorization from the respective national statistical institute is given, according to Art. 10 of the EBS Regulation.
For national statistical institutes and national central banks, the access to the EGR data is restricted to information on those multinational enterprise groups, when at least one legal unit of a specific multinational enterprise group is located at the territory of the country of that national statistical institute or national central bank.
Therefore, the EGR users can access country specific sub-population of the total EGR population via the EGR FATS and/or EGR IM user interfaces or by downloading the EGR data via EDAMIS.
EGR microdata are not accessible to the public.
The EGR final frame is released annually, and it is transmitted to the national statistical institutes and to the national central banks and the European Central Bank (ECB).
Access to micro data via on-line interface is open to National Statistical Institutes (NSIs), authorized National Central Banks (NCBs) and ECB on a continuous basis (except for some periods during which maintenance operations occur).
SMEs - independent and in enterprise groups This article compares the data on SMEs and large enterprises that are independent and the ones that are part of enterprise groups.
Guidelines and publication on Statistical Business registers quality
The following 5 tables displayed multinational enterprise groups aggregates.
Multinational enterprise groups in EU-EFTA countries by controlling country (egr_mne).
Persons employed in multinational enterprise groups by size class (egr_emp).
Concentration of multinational enterprise groups by NACE Rev.2 activity (egr_conc).
Multinational enterprise groups in EU-EFTA countries by controlling country, size class and NACE Rev.2 activity (egr_mne_n2sc).
Multinational enterprise groups employment by controlling country group size class NACE Rev 2 and country of work (egr_mne_empw).
The EGR FATS and EGR IM user interfaces allow national statistical institutes’ producers and users to consult and to download the EGR microdata via online applications. EGR FATS and EGR IM applications are accessible by all national statistical institutes in the EU and EFTA countries and by the ESCB members.
10.4. Dissemination format - microdata access
The microdata exchange of confidential data on multinational enterprise groups and on the statistical units belonging to those groups shall take place, exclusively for statistical purposes, between national statistical authorities of the EU Member States and EFTA countries and the European Commission (Eurostat).
Publicly available information on the EGR, its data, methodology and quality management can be found on the Overview - Eurostat (europa.eu).
11.1. Quality assurance
The EGR quality management is based on a set of coordinated procedures between the business registers team in the National Statistical Institutes (NSIs) and Eurostat.
Quality management of EGR inputs delivered by NSIs
The quality of the data files sent by NSIs is validated twice:
Business registers team in NSIs must validate data files before sending them to Eurostat, according to the provided validation rules
Automatic validation of the files is handled by the platform EDAMIS used by the national statistical institutes to send their files to EGR.
Quality management during the EGR production process
The quality of the EGR data during the process is checked by Eurostat and validated by NSIs under request. When errors are identified, Eurostat corrects them or if necessary notifies the respective business register team of the national statistical institute.
Quality management of the EGR output, i.e. EGR final frame
The final EGR frame is validated by Eurostat before any dissemination. The EGR quality is part of the data quality programme for European statistical business registers. Moreover, to ensure a frequent treatment, and improve the quality and the coverage, as of this reference year 2023, the profiling data of several multinational enterprise groups with potential sizable effect on the economy (Top-Tier groups) have been integrated in the EGR final frame.
11.2. Quality management - assessment
The quality of the data of the most relevant multinational enterprise groups profiled during the profiling cycle, which are integrated to the initial frame of the EGR, is assessed through a manual validation of the exported profiling data, and by integrating first in an acceptance environment of the EGR, where the structure of the profiled groups is being checked before the integration takes place in the production environment.
The assessment of the quality of the files transmitted to EGR by NSIs is done using a set of 4 quality indicators monitoring the punctuality, the completeness, the accuracy and reliability and the coherence and comparability. Moreover, since the EGR 2021 cycle, NSIs sent to Eurostat metadata about their inputs.
The throughput indicators or key process indicators (KPIs) monitor data on legal units, relationships, enterprises and enterprise groups and measure the changes of these source data during the EGR data processing. When these KPIs are not met, Eurostat reacts by taking the appropriate actions.
Before release, Eurostat asses the quality of the final frame, especially the completeness of the mandatory variables. Later he coverage is assessed using cross-domain comparison, such as EGR-FATS comparison.
No definition available for this concept
12.1. Relevance - User Needs
The EGR provides harmonized information on multinational enterprise groups and their enterprises in the EU and EFTA countries. The statistical users can use EGR coordinated frame populations to derive consistent statistical output with an improved quality in measuring global activities of European enterprises that are part of multinational enterprise groups. Multinational enterprise groups' information is used for statistics related to globalization, such as Statistics on foreign affiliates (FATS), Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), Gross National Income (GNI), etc.
Aiming to respond to the needs of users from macroeconomics and business statistics for a more systematic approach to the multinational enterprise groups, a two-tier approach has been implemented in the EGR, where the first tier consists of a coordinated cross-country thorough treatment of the largest and most complex multinational enterprise groups, through profiling, and the second tier consists of a coordinated cross-country information on the full population of the multinational enterprise groups operating in the EU Member States and EFTA countries. This tier needs an automated process to produce annual frames sufficiently timely to allow the EGR serving as supplementary frame for national surveys.
The EGR country specific frames are used as a basis for European profiling of the largest and most complex multinational enterprise groups in the EU.
EGR information may also be used for quality checks, as a secondary source or for deriving statistics on multinational enterprise groups, etc.
12.2. Relevance - User Satisfaction
To meet user needs, Eurostat runs a regular SBR user survey including EGR and national statistical business registers. The SBR user survey questionnaire targets collecting information on current and future needs regarding the EGR and statistical business registers in general.
In 2017, Eurostat conducted the first SBR user survey addressing the satisfaction of users and potential users with the quality of the national statistical business registers (NSBR) and the EuroGroups Register (EGR). The second round of the SBR user survey was carried out by statistical users between November 2019 and March 2020.
The third round of the SBR user survey was carried out by statistical users between March and April 2023.
The 2023 SBR user survey results show that the EGR is used as an authoritative source for the ESS by 66% of the users. However, this share is 100% for the users in international trade, 71% for economy and finance, 57% for industry trade and services.
Regarding the type of unit used from EGR the most common information used is the one on the Legal Unit (86%), followed by Multinational Enterprise Group (66%) and statistical unit Enterprise (62%). The frequently used information for those units is: Identification Variables, Stratification Parameters and Demographic Events.
Overall, the users assessed the EGR quality with favorable answers. The EGR respondents rated quality aspects with the following ranking: Coverage (the most fulfilled quality aspect), Coherence and comparability, Completeness, Accuracy and reliability, Timeliness.
12.3. Completeness
The completeness of the EGR final frame is annually assessed by Eurostat. The EGR assessment results are provided to EU Member States and EFTA countries and are presented at the Statistical Business Registers Working Group.
The overall accuracy of the EGR final frame is presented in the following table by type of unit and geographical area.
For the EU-EFTA units the accuracy is a summary of the EU-EFTA national statistical institutes assessments and for the units outside the EU-EFTA the accuracy is evaluated by Eurostat.
Units
EU-EFTA
Outside EU-EFTA
Legal units
Very good
Good
Enterprises
Good
Satisfactory
Multinational enterprise groups*
Satisfactory
Satisfactory
* The nationality of a multinational enterprise group is the country of the group global decision center (c.f. section 3.4)
The accuracy of the EU-EFTA units is based on:
the comprehensive administrative data sources and cross-checking with national statistical
the integration of survey feedback, profiling activity and data validation at enterprise level
the availability of global data for multinational enterprise groups
The accuracy of the units outside EU-EFTA is based on:
the share of missing units' characteristics
the evaluation of potential inconsistencies at group level
the share of the multinational enterprise groups with global employment equal to zero
the share of multinational enterprise groups with global employment lower than the sum of their EU-EFTA enterprises employment
EU-EFTA
Outside EU-EFTA
Units
Issue
Importance
Issue
Importance
Legal units
Difficulties to identify foreign units
Over-coverage
Misclassification
Mostly for Extra EU units
Very few duplicates
Few wrong NACE code
Missing information
Only the VAT-ID do not get a good coverage
Enterprises
Misclassification
Late data availability
Few wrong NACE code
Some delay on the availability of economic variable
Missing information
Net turnover and employment do not have a good coverage
Multinational enterprise groups
Missing information
Mostly impacting small multinational enterprise groups
Missing information
Net turnover and assets do not have a good coverage
* The nationality of a multinational enterprise group is the country of the group global decision center (c.f. section 3.4)
The following actions to improve the quality of EU-EFTA units were taken:
Implemented automated validation procedures
Conducted cross-referencing with multiple data sources
IT procedures to ensure data consistency and correct classifications
Closer collaboration between domains for accurate data profiling
The following actions to improve the quality of units outside the EU-EFTA were taken:
Use of the Companies House data and throughout analisis of commercial data
Use of additional data sources for global values (Wikipedia, EDGAR)
The EGR 2023 final frame was produced and released to its users at T+15 months: in March 2025.
The EGR 2023 preliminary frame was produced and released to its users at T+13: in January 2025.
The EGR 2023 initial was produced and released to its users at T+12: in December 2024.
The EGR 2023 early initial was produced and released to its users at T+4: in April 2024.
14.2. Punctuality
All EGR frames (early initial, initial, preliminary and final) were delivered on time without delays.
15.1. Comparability - geographical
The EGR frame allows geographical comparability of information on MNE groups provided by countries. The units provided by countries are based on harmonized statistical units defined in Council Regulation (EEC) No 696/93 and the MNE groups information is comparable across the countries.
15.2. Comparability - over time
Considering the used EGR process versions, the data source and UK status, the comparability over the time is as follow:
Comparable reference years
EGR system version
Data sources
2008-2011
EGR 1.0
Mainly commercial data
2012-2013
EGR 1.0 and EGR 2.0
Mainly NSIs data completed by commercial data
2014-2019
EGR 2.0
Mainly NSIs data completed by commercial data
2019- 2021
EGR 2.0
Mainly NSIs data completed by commercial data especially for UK data.
2022- Onwards
EGR 2.0
Mainly NSIs data (including data of MNE groups profiled in the interactive profiling tool, which are then automatically integrated in EGR), completed by commercial data. In addition, since 2022 data from Companies House for the UK and from 2023 data from EDGAR (SEC's register of traded companies) and Wikipedia are included.
15.3. Coherence - cross domain
Information on multinational enterprise groups as provided by the EGR may be used for production of statistics related to globalization in the EU Member States and EFTA countries, for example:
Statistics on foreign affiliates (FATS)
Foreign direct investment statistics (FDI)
Statistics on small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs)
Macroeconomics statistics.
Statistical data producers can use the EGR as a coordinated frame population and derive consistent statistical output with an improved quality in measuring global activities of European enterprises part of multinational groups.
The EGR frame provides harmonized information on the multinational enterprise groups active in the EU MSs and EFTA countries.
Statistical users can use EGR as a coordinated frame population in order to derive consistent statistical output, with an improved quality in measuring global activities of European enterprises that are part of multinational enterprise groups.
NSIs can handle comparisons at micro-level. For instance, for the EGR – FATS comparison, NSIs compare the units in the respective populations, the coverage of variables, and mainly the Ultimate Controlling Institutional unit (UCI) of the Multinational enterprise groups from the EGR final frame with their data from FATS surveys.
15.4. Coherence - internal
The internal coherence within the EGR frame is largely depending on the quality of national statistical business registers, as well as by the process, and the priority rules which are handling in a systematic way the conflicting data coming from different data sources. In these conflicting cases, the agreed priority rules with the national statistical institutes give priority first to the profiling data, then to the business registers data and last to the commercial data source.
Potential shortcomings are addressed by a data quality program for European statistical business registers aiming at:
harmonizing methodologies, statistical units, concepts and processes in the production and dissemination of NSBRs and EGR as far as necessary and possible;
promoting the use of common tools and best practices;
ensuring the quality by setting and monitoring a set of quality indicators.
EGR data are provided by the national statistical business registers, commercial data provider and open data sources; no burden on enterprises is created.
The cost for EGR production has been substantially reduced as the data for the EU and EFTA countries are provided by the national statistical institutes and the acquisition of commercial data is focused mainly on the non-EU and non-EFTA units.
17.1. Data revision - policy
As the aggregates figures on multinational enterprise groups, derived from the EGR and, released by Eurostat constitute experimental statistics, there is no specific revision policy for them.
The revision practices applied for these experimental statistics are described under sub-concept 17.2 (data revision - practice).
17.2. Data revision - practice
Once experimental statistics data are disseminated for a time period, they are never corrected or otherwise revised for that time period.
18.1. Source data
The sources for the EGR 2023 frame are:
National statistical business registers of EU Member States and EFTA countries
Commercial data source
Companies House, the official UK agency that incorporates and dissolves limited companies and registers company information
SEC’s electronic data gathering, analysis, and retrieval (EDGAR) system for multinational enterprise groups traded in the US stock market
Wikipedia as a complementary source for multinational enterprise group data.
18.2. Frequency of data collection
The national statistical institutes statistical business registers contribute to the production of the EGR frame by delivering data during the annual EGR cycle:
to the EGR Identification System (EGR IS). The frequency is annual, and data delivery takes place at T + 5 months
to the EGR Core application (EGR CORE). The frequency is annual and takes place from T + 10 up to T + 15 months
to the interactive web interface EGR Interactive Module (EGR IM) to support the validation and repair of multinational group structures – from T+12 up to T+14 months.
18.3. Data collection
During the EGR cycle, Eurostat collects data from the EU-EFTA national statistical institutes, one commercial data provider and open sources.
The Commercial data providers and open sources especially provide Eurostat with data mainly on Extra-EU and EFTA statistical units. The data on Extra-EU statistical units is injected into the EGR during the production cycle and all the data are made available to the Member States for consultation, check, and challenge.
For the EGR process Eurostat collects data on legal units, enterprises and multinational enterprise groups and their characteristics, and relationships between legal units.
18.4. Data validation
The EGR data validation process takes place continuously during the EGR production process in between T+5 and T+15 months. The national statistical institutes contribute to the validation process of the multinational enterprise group structures during the repair phase by delivering relationships and data on enterprise groups to the EGR and also by pre-validation of the EGR input file. At Eurostat level, data quality checks and validation actions are carried out at all relevant stages of the EGR production cycle. Additionally, to improve the quality of the data, Eurostat has integrated validated profiling data of a selected number of the most important groups, the so-called Top-tier groups.
18.5. Data compilation
The EGR data compilation creates the enterprise groups structures by using the information on direct shareholdings and control between pair-wise legal units. An algorithm in the EGR CORE reconstructs the full chain of direct and indirect relationships.
18.6. Adjustment
Not applicable.
All modules of the EGR system version 2.0 have been in production since 2015. There is continuous improvement of the EGR production process aiming at ensuring the output quality.
The release of April 2023, included the version with integration of the Interactive Profiling Tool (IPT) and allows the integration of the data of the MNE groups being profiled annually according to the European profiling programme, as well as the introduction of the Early Initial Frame.
Eurostat together with the National Statistical Institutes of EU Member States and European Free Trade Association (EFTA) countries has set up and maintains a unique statistical business register called the EuroGroups Register (EGR) gathering information on multinational enterprise group operating in Europe (EU Member States and EFTA countries).
Based on the annual EGR final frame, Eurostat releases aggregated data on multinational enterprise groups as experimental statistics in the following tables:
Multinational enterprise groups in EU-EFTA countries by controlling country (egr_mne).
Number of multinational enterprise groups having at least one legal unit located in the EU-EFTA by controlling country/area. The controlling area is defined by the location of the Ultimate controlling institutional unit (UCI).
Persons employed in multinational enterprise groups by size class (egr_emp).
Persons employed (employees and self-employed persons) by multinational enterprise groups in the EU-EFTA countries by controling country/area, main activity and worldwide size class of multinational enterprise groups, and country/area of work.
The percentage of total employment refers to Structural business statistical figures. From 2018-2020 the total employment considers persons working in the non-financial business economy (B to N excluding K). From 2021 onwards, with the SBS extended scope, the total employment considers the person working in the activity B to S excluding O and S94. This change explains the break in the time series.
Concentration of multinational enterprise groups by NACE Rev. 2 activity (egr_conc).
Share of total employment in EU of the largest MNE groups by NACE activity of the enterprises belonging to the groups. The total employment used Structural business statistical figures.
Multinational enterprise groups in EU-EFTA countries by controlling country, size class and NACE Rev. 2 activity.
Number of multinational enterprise groups having at least one legal unit located in the EU-EFTA by controlling country/area, main activity and worldwide size class of multinational enterprise groups (egr_mne_n2sc).
Multinational enterprise groups employment by controlling country group size class NACE Rev. 2 and country of work (egr_mne_empw).
Persons employed (employees and self-employed persons) by multinational enterprise groups by controlling country/area, main activity and worldwide size class of multinational enterprise groups, and country/area of work.
The EGR covers multinational enterprise groups having at least one Legal unit located in the EU Member States or EFTA countries. The EGR includes micro data about the control structures of multinational enterprise groups, their constituent Legal units and corresponding Enterprises. The core variables for multinational enterprise groups, enterprises and legal units, are:
The EGR statistical frame has the purpose to improve the consistency of national statistics on cross border phenomena and thus better measure the economic globalization in the European Union. The EGR offers to the statistical users a tool for coordinating their frame population, for deriving consistent statistical output with improved quality, and for creating new statistical output and breakdowns. This is achieved by allowing microdata linking to many business statistics and providing insights in measuring global activities of European enterprises part of multinational enterprise groups.
The EGR is a statistical business register and can be used for statistical use only by users of the National Statistical Institutes, National Central Banks and the European Central Bank.
30 May 2025
EGR final frame
The EGR final frame is the annual output that reflects the state of the EuroGroups Register at the end of the yearly cycle. It includes all the active units at the end of the reference year.
Eurostat keeps that frame for at least 30 years for the purpose of analysis.
Frame reference year
Reference dates of all variables in the final frame refer to the reference year T, reflecting the final picture of the EGR of the reference year T.
Global group head
The global group head (GGH) of an enterprise group is the parent legal unit that is not controlled either directly or indirectly by any other legal unit. The subsidiary legal units of a subsidiary legal unit are considered to be subsidiaries of the parent legal unit.
Global decision centre
The global decision centre (GDC) of an enterprise group is the unit where the enterprise group level’s strategic decisions are taken. A group may have several decision-making centres, or several units dedicated to a particular internal function, for example accounting or human resources. However, the decisions about the group are made only in the GDC. The GDC may be the GGH or another legal unit under the GGH.
Ultimate Controlling Institutional unit
The ultimate controlling institutional unit (UCI) of a foreign affiliate means the institutional unit higher up a foreign affiliate’s chain of control that is not controlled by another institutional unit.
Active statistical unit, i.e., enterprises and enterprise groups
A statistical unit is considered to have been active during the reference period, if in said period it either realized positive net turnover or produced outputs or had employees or performed investments. The ‘production of output’ includes any offer of goods and services on a given market even if this has not resulted in turnover, as well as any non-market services contributing to the GDP. The ‘performance of investments’ includes direct and indirect holdings of active legal units and may include holding assets and/or liabilities.
The statistical unit Enterprises with an end date prior to the 31/12/T are discarded from the EGR final frame.
Number of employees and self-employed persons
The number of employees and self-employed persons is the sum of the Number of employees and Number of self-employed persons.
The Number of employees is the average number of persons who were, at some time during the reference period, employees of the statistical unit.
The number of self-employed persons is the average number of persons who were at some time during the reference period the sole owners or joint owners of the statistical unit in which they work. Family workers and outworkers whose income is a function of the value of the outputs of the statistical unit are also included.
For all activities except for NACE 64, 65 and some activities of NACE 66 net turnover consists of all income arising during the reference period in the course of ordinary activities of the statistical unit, and is presented net of all price reductions, discounts and rebates granted by it.
Income is defined as increases in economic benefits during the reference period in the form of inflows or enhancements of assets or decreases of liabilities that result in increases in equity, other than those relating to contributions from equity participants.
The inflows referred to arise from contracts with customers and are realised through the satisfaction by the statistical unit of performance obligations as foreseen in said contracts. Usually, a performance obligation is represented by the sale (transfer) of goods or the rendering of services. However, the gross inflows can also contain revenues obtained as a yield on the use by others of the statistical unit’s assets.
Excluded from net turnover are:
all taxes, duties or levies linked directly to revenue;
any amounts collected on behalf of any principal, if the statistical unit is acting as an agent in its relationship with said principal;
all income not arising in the course of ordinary activities of the statistical unit. Usually, these types of income are classified as “Other (operating) income”, “Financial income”, “Extra-ordinary income” or under a similar heading, depending on the respective set of generally accepted accounting standards used to prepare the financial statements.
Infra-annual statistics may not be able to take into account aspects such as annual price reductions, subsidies, rebates and discounts.
For the activities of NACE K6411, K6419 and K649 net turnover is defined as the value of output minus subsidies or government grants.
For the activities of NACE K642 and K643 net turnover can be approximated by the total operating costs if net turnover is not available in the financial statements.
For the activities of NACE K6511, K6512 and K652 net turnover is defined as Gross premiums earned.
For the activities of NACE K653 the net turnover is defined as total pension contributions.
For activities of NACE K66 for which net turnover is not available in the financial statements, net turnover is defined as the value of output minus subsidies or government grants. For activities of NACE K66 for which net turnover is available in the financial statements, the standard definition of net turnover applies.
The total assets refers to the sum of the balance sheet items at the end of the accounting period. They cover economic assets, which are divided into financial and non-financial assets.
Principal activity
The principal (or main) activity is the activity that contributes most to the total value added of a unit under consideration. Ideally, the principal activity of the unit should be determined with reference to the value added to the goods and services produced, by applying the top-down method. The top-down method follows a hierarchical principle: the classification of the unit at the lowest level of the classification must be consistent with the classification of the unit at higher levels. The principal activity so identified does not necessarily account for 50 % or more of the unit’s total value added.
In the European Union the classification of principal activity is determined by reference to NACE Rev. 2, first at the highest level of classification and then at more detailed levels (top-down method).
The statistical units maintained in the EGR are defined in accordance with Regulation (EEC) No 696/93 on the statistical units for the observation and analysis of the production system in the Community.
The EGR frame contains the following units:
Legal units
Legal units include:
legal persons whose existence is recognized by law independently of the individuals or institutions that may own them or are members of them
natural persons who are engaged in an economic activity in their own right.
Enterprise
The enterprise is the smallest combination of legal units that is an organizational unit producing goods or services, which benefits from a certain degree of autonomy in decision-making, especially for the allocation of its current resources. An enterprise carries out one or more activities at one or more locations. An enterprise may be a sole legal unit.
Enterprise group
An enterprise group is a statistical unit made of a set of a least two legal units or enterprises bound by legal and/or financial links. An enterprise group is empowered to make choice concerning the units it comprises. It may centralize certain aspects of financial management and taxation.
Multinational enterprise group
'Multinational enterprise group' means an enterprise group with at least two enterprises or legal units each of which is located in a different country. In business statistics also term ‘global enterprise group’ is used.
The EGR target population is the Multinational enterprise groups having at least two legal units out of which at least one is located in EU Member States or EFTA countries, their Legal units, andEnterprises.
The EGR is the authoritative source for the European Statistical System (ESS) as a register population for business statistics requiring the coordination of cross-border information related to multinational enterprise groups. EBS Regulation (Art 3) 'authoritative source' means the sole provider of data records containing national statistical business register and EuroGroups register data in accordance with quality standards.
The reference area of the EGR is the world, although the main interest is the areas of EU and EFTA countries. Multinational enterprise groups active exclusively outside the EU and EFTA are not of interest to the EGR.
The reference period for the EGR final frame reflects the picture of 31 December of the given reference year.
The latest EGR final frame, released in March 2025, consists of the final annual master frame for the 2023 reference year.
The economic variables (Number of employees and self-employed persons, net turnover, total assets and economic activity) refer to the 2023 reference year.
The overall accuracy of the EGR final frame is presented in the following table by type of unit and geographical area.
For the EU-EFTA units the accuracy is a summary of the EU-EFTA national statistical institutes assessments and for the units outside the EU-EFTA the accuracy is evaluated by Eurostat.
Units
EU-EFTA
Outside EU-EFTA
Legal units
Very good
Good
Enterprises
Good
Satisfactory
Multinational enterprise groups*
Satisfactory
Satisfactory
* The nationality of a multinational enterprise group is the country of the group global decision center (c.f. section 3.4)
The accuracy of the EU-EFTA units is based on:
the comprehensive administrative data sources and cross-checking with national statistical
the integration of survey feedback, profiling activity and data validation at enterprise level
the availability of global data for multinational enterprise groups
The accuracy of the units outside EU-EFTA is based on:
the share of missing units' characteristics
the evaluation of potential inconsistencies at group level
the share of the multinational enterprise groups with global employment equal to zero
the share of multinational enterprise groups with global employment lower than the sum of their EU-EFTA enterprises employment
EU-EFTA
Outside EU-EFTA
Units
Issue
Importance
Issue
Importance
Legal units
Difficulties to identify foreign units
Over-coverage
Misclassification
Mostly for Extra EU units
Very few duplicates
Few wrong NACE code
Missing information
Only the VAT-ID do not get a good coverage
Enterprises
Misclassification
Late data availability
Few wrong NACE code
Some delay on the availability of economic variable
Missing information
Net turnover and employment do not have a good coverage
Multinational enterprise groups
Missing information
Mostly impacting small multinational enterprise groups
Missing information
Net turnover and assets do not have a good coverage
* The nationality of a multinational enterprise group is the country of the group global decision center (c.f. section 3.4)
The following actions to improve the quality of EU-EFTA units were taken:
Implemented automated validation procedures
Conducted cross-referencing with multiple data sources
IT procedures to ensure data consistency and correct classifications
Closer collaboration between domains for accurate data profiling
The following actions to improve the quality of units outside the EU-EFTA were taken:
Use of the Companies House data and throughout analisis of commercial data
Use of additional data sources for global values (Wikipedia, EDGAR)
The economic variables on employment are recorded in absolute figures.
Monetary variables are expressed in units for enterprises and in millions for enterprise groups. The corresponding currency code is indicated.
The EGR data compilation creates the enterprise groups structures by using the information on direct shareholdings and control between pair-wise legal units. An algorithm in the EGR CORE reconstructs the full chain of direct and indirect relationships.
The sources for the EGR 2023 frame are:
National statistical business registers of EU Member States and EFTA countries
Commercial data source
Companies House, the official UK agency that incorporates and dissolves limited companies and registers company information
SEC’s electronic data gathering, analysis, and retrieval (EDGAR) system for multinational enterprise groups traded in the US stock market
Wikipedia as a complementary source for multinational enterprise group data.
The EGR final frame is released annually, and it is transmitted to the national statistical institutes and to the national central banks and the European Central Bank (ECB).
Access to micro data via on-line interface is open to National Statistical Institutes (NSIs), authorized National Central Banks (NCBs) and ECB on a continuous basis (except for some periods during which maintenance operations occur).
The EGR 2023 final frame was produced and released to its users at T+15 months: in March 2025.
The EGR 2023 preliminary frame was produced and released to its users at T+13: in January 2025.
The EGR 2023 initial was produced and released to its users at T+12: in December 2024.
The EGR 2023 early initial was produced and released to its users at T+4: in April 2024.
The EGR frame allows geographical comparability of information on MNE groups provided by countries. The units provided by countries are based on harmonized statistical units defined in Council Regulation (EEC) No 696/93 and the MNE groups information is comparable across the countries.
Considering the used EGR process versions, the data source and UK status, the comparability over the time is as follow:
Comparable reference years
EGR system version
Data sources
2008-2011
EGR 1.0
Mainly commercial data
2012-2013
EGR 1.0 and EGR 2.0
Mainly NSIs data completed by commercial data
2014-2019
EGR 2.0
Mainly NSIs data completed by commercial data
2019- 2021
EGR 2.0
Mainly NSIs data completed by commercial data especially for UK data.
2022- Onwards
EGR 2.0
Mainly NSIs data (including data of MNE groups profiled in the interactive profiling tool, which are then automatically integrated in EGR), completed by commercial data. In addition, since 2022 data from Companies House for the UK and from 2023 data from EDGAR (SEC's register of traded companies) and Wikipedia are included.
