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.
The EuroGroups register (EGR) is the statistical business register of Eurostat and the EU Member States and European Free Trade Association (EFTA) countries for multinational enterprise groups. The purpose of the EGR is to offer to statistical users a tool for coordinating frame population, to derive consistent statistical output with an improved quality in measuring global activities of European enterprises part of multinational enterprise groups.
The EGR produces data in yearly cycles and covers microdata on the groups and their enterprises and legal units. The EGR aims to register all multinational enterprise groups that have enterprises in EU Member States or EFTA countries, including European and non-European groups.
The Member States, EFTA countries and Eurostat exchange data on multinational enterprise groups and on the units belonging to those groups for the purposes of the European framework for statistical business registers to ensure the quality of the multinational enterprise group’s information in the Union.
The EGR brings together microdata on multinational enterprise groups from the EU and the EFTA countries' national statistical institutes, in line with the requirements of the Regulation (EU) No 2152/2019, and from a commercial data source for data outside the EU and EFTA.
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.);
The coverage of the data transmitted to the EGR is defined in the Regulation (EU) 2019/2152 on European business statistics.
For the purposes of the European framework for statistical business registers, the following economic activities are considered:
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
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.
Number of employees
Number of persons employed by the legal unit (in head counts).
Principal activity
NACE Rev. 2 main activity code.
3.5. Statistical unit
The statistical units maintained in the EGR are defined in accordance with the 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, Enterprises and Multinational enterprise groups.
Legal units include:
legal persons whose existence is recognized by law independently of the individuals or institutions which may own them or are members of them,
natural persons who are engaged in an economic activity in their own right.
The legal unit always forms, either by itself or sometimes in combination with other legal units, the legal basis for the statistical unit known as the 'enterprise'.
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.
Multinational enterprise group
A multinational enterprise group is an enterprise group that has at least two enterprises or legal units located in different countries. In business statistics also term ‘global enterprise group’ is used.
3.6. Statistical population
The data transmitted to the EGR during the cycle is made of the following datasets.
The data set with information on all incorporated resident legal units for the EGR Identification Service.
ISRLE file includes full population of resident legal units is sent to EGR for identification.
The data set with information on foreign legal units for the EGR Identification Service.
ISNORLE file including full population of foreign legal unit recorded in national statistical business register is sent to EGR for identification.
The data set with information on legal units.
LEU file including all resident legal unit belonging to a global enterprise group is sent to EGR for processing.
The data set with information on relationships of ownership and control.
REL file including all relationships between legal units is sent to EGR for processing:
two resident legal units
one resident and one foreign legal unit
two foreign legal units from non EU+EFTA countries.
Relationships in the REL are:
control relationships (>50%)
minority relationships (<50%)
The data set with information on enterprises.
ENT file including all enterprises made of legal unit sent in LEU files is sent to EGR for processing.
The Data set with information on links between enterprises and legal units.
LEL file including all links between enterprise (ENT) and legal units (LEU) is sent to EGR for processing.
The Data set with information on enterprise groups of which country is the GDC country for the EuroGroups Register.
GEG file, including the TOP spanish monitorised groups data, is sent to the EGR for processing.
3.7. Reference area
Relating Global Enterprise Groups every country is considered. For national units, the referenced area is the territory of the country.
3.8. Coverage - Time
The EGR frames are available from reference year 2008 onwards. NSI transmits data for the EGR production cycle since 2010 year.
3.9. Base period
Not applicable
The economic variables on employment are recorded in absolute figures.
The net turnover for enterprises is recorded in EURO currency.
The net turnover and net total asset is recorded in millions in EURO currency.
The reference period for data sent to the EGR reflects the picture of 31 December of the given reference year.
Data transmitted to EGR during the EGR 2024 cycle includes data for the 2023 reference year. The identification, economic variables (number of employees, turnover and economic activity) refer to the 2023 reference year.
6.1. Institutional Mandate - legal acts and other agreements
The content of the national data sent to EGR is defined according the Regulation (EU) 2019/2152 on European business statistics.
Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/1197 of 30 July 2020 is laying down the technical specifications and arrangements pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2019/2152 of the European Parliament and of the Council on European business statistics.
6.2. Institutional Mandate - data sharing
The legal framework setting up the procedures for EGR data exchanges and access to confidential data for the purpose of the European framework for statistical business registers are defined in the Regulation (EU) 2019/2152 on European business statistics (Art.10).
EGR data are stored by the Commission (Eurostat) and by the national statistical authorities (NSAs) in the EU Member States 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.
Rules applied for treating the data set to ensure statistical confidentiality and prevent unauthorised disclosure are defined according to the policy rules (see section 7.1).
8.1. Release calendar
Not applicable.
8.2. Release calendar access
Not applicable.
8.3. Release policy - user access
Not applicable.
Not applicable.
10.1. Dissemination format - News release
Not applicable.
10.2. Dissemination format - Publications
Not applicable.
10.3. Dissemination format - online database
Not applicable.
10.4. Dissemination format - microdata access
The micro-data exchange of confidential data on multinational enterprise groups and on the statistical units belonging to those groups takes place, exclusively for statistical purposes, between EU Member States and EFTA countries and the European Commission (Eurostat).
Where such exchange of confidential data is carried out to ensure the quality of the multinational enterprise groups information in the Union and the exchange is explicitly authorised by the competent NSA which provides the data, national central banks may be party to the exchange of confidential data, exclusively for statistical purposes.
NSI exchanges information on multinational enterprise groups with:
Internal validation procedures are developed to check coherence between BR and EGR data
CONVAL and STRUVAL are used to validate formats and logical content of data
11.1. Quality assurance
Eurostat Data Quality Programme monitors the quality and compliance of the data transmitted by the countries to EGR using the instruments of the EBS quality framework.
At national level, the quality of the data sent to EGR is assured as follows:
BR consistency
Files validation
11.2. Quality management - assessment
The quality assessment procedure includes:
automatic validation procedures to check coherence between statistical units and their variables,
data format and logical content of data
crosschecks with other sources and data from previous years,
12.1. Relevance - User Needs
INWARD FATS
OUTWARD FATS
International trade in goods
Short term business statistics - construction
Structural Business Statistics
Trade in goods by enterprise characteristics
Foreign direct investment
12.2. Relevance - User Satisfaction
EU User survey is used to determine user satisfaction
12.3. Completeness
Data requiered are available
13.1. Accuracy - overall
The accuracy of the data transmitted to the EGR is:
Units Assessment Legal units Very good Relationships between legal units Very good Enterprises characteristics Good Enterprises perimeters Satisfactory Multinational enterprise group Very good
Provide the reasons of your assessment This accuracy assessment is based on:
Differences in the different EGR Frames;
Changes upon years;
Data availability and punctuality.
Describe the main sources of errors, by type of units, and provide a summary assessment of all errors with special focus on the impact. The main issues regarding accuracy of the data and issue importance are as follows: Units Issue Assessment Legal units: Active or Inactive unit, Liquidated units Relationships between legal units Broken links became into broken groups and duplicate them. Enterprises characteristics Many times they are not available on time Enterprise perimeter Units under control are not clearly defined for profiling activities so some legal units remains out of any MNE. Foreign units are difficult to evaluate. Multinational enterprise group (with Global decision centre in my country) Although many of them have a problem with punctuality, the most important MNEs are complete evaluated
The actions taken to monitor and to improve accuracy of the data sent to EGR are the following:
TOP MNEs data are monitorized by the BR unit and their core data revised.
TOP MNEs UCIs are update by the BR unit and we are trying to update the most important earlier.
13.2. Sampling error
Not applicable.
13.3. Non-sampling error
Not applicable.
14.1. Timeliness
The EGR process refers to a reference year T and is run yearly over a period of 11 months, between May T+1 and March T+2.
14.2. Punctuality
Data are sent according the time table specified in the wiki
15.1. Comparability - geographical
EGR data are comparable with other member states data
15.2. Comparability - over time
EGR ES data are comparable within the available years
15.3. Coherence - cross domain
Coherence of data sent to Eurostat with other data sources and statistical domains:
BR
Profiling
15.4. Coherence - internal
Data sent to EGR should be internally consistent. There is a set of standard quality checks that are routinely perform at national level before transmitting the data to Eurostat:
National legal unit in the BR are sent for identification
Not available.
17.1. Data revision - policy
Not applicable
17.2. Data revision - practice
Not applicable
18.1. Source data
The main source is the national BR.
18.2. Frequency of data collection
National data sent to EGR annually
18.3. Data collection
Data sent to EGR are collected from:
National Statistical business registers
Administrative data sources.
ESMA.
LCU Profiling activities
18.4. Data validation
During all the treatment there are validation process to assure coherence with BR. The guidelines are followed to assure comparability with other MS data
18.5. Data compilation
There´s no derived information
18.6. Adjustment
Not applicable.
No further comments.
The EuroGroups register (EGR) is the statistical business register of Eurostat and the EU Member States and European Free Trade Association (EFTA) countries for multinational enterprise groups. The purpose of the EGR is to offer to statistical users a tool for coordinating frame population, to derive consistent statistical output with an improved quality in measuring global activities of European enterprises part of multinational enterprise groups.
The EGR produces data in yearly cycles and covers microdata on the groups and their enterprises and legal units. The EGR aims to register all multinational enterprise groups that have enterprises in EU Member States or EFTA countries, including European and non-European groups.
The Member States, EFTA countries and Eurostat exchange data on multinational enterprise groups and on the units belonging to those groups for the purposes of the European framework for statistical business registers to ensure the quality of the multinational enterprise group’s information in the Union.
The EGR brings together microdata on multinational enterprise groups from the EU and the EFTA countries' national statistical institutes, in line with the requirements of the Regulation (EU) No 2152/2019, and from a commercial data source for data outside the EU and EFTA.
8 May 2025
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.
Number of employees
Number of persons employed by the legal unit (in head counts).
Principal activity
NACE Rev. 2 main activity code.
The statistical units maintained in the EGR are defined in accordance with the 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, Enterprises and Multinational enterprise groups.
Legal units include:
legal persons whose existence is recognized by law independently of the individuals or institutions which may own them or are members of them,
natural persons who are engaged in an economic activity in their own right.
The legal unit always forms, either by itself or sometimes in combination with other legal units, the legal basis for the statistical unit known as the 'enterprise'.
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.
Multinational enterprise group
A multinational enterprise group is an enterprise group that has at least two enterprises or legal units located in different countries. In business statistics also term ‘global enterprise group’ is used.
The data transmitted to the EGR during the cycle is made of the following datasets.
The data set with information on all incorporated resident legal units for the EGR Identification Service.
ISRLE file includes full population of resident legal units is sent to EGR for identification.
The data set with information on foreign legal units for the EGR Identification Service.
ISNORLE file including full population of foreign legal unit recorded in national statistical business register is sent to EGR for identification.
The data set with information on legal units.
LEU file including all resident legal unit belonging to a global enterprise group is sent to EGR for processing.
The data set with information on relationships of ownership and control.
REL file including all relationships between legal units is sent to EGR for processing:
two resident legal units
one resident and one foreign legal unit
two foreign legal units from non EU+EFTA countries.
Relationships in the REL are:
control relationships (>50%)
minority relationships (<50%)
The data set with information on enterprises.
ENT file including all enterprises made of legal unit sent in LEU files is sent to EGR for processing.
The Data set with information on links between enterprises and legal units.
LEL file including all links between enterprise (ENT) and legal units (LEU) is sent to EGR for processing.
The Data set with information on enterprise groups of which country is the GDC country for the EuroGroups Register.
GEG file, including the TOP spanish monitorised groups data, is sent to the EGR for processing.
Relating Global Enterprise Groups every country is considered. For national units, the referenced area is the territory of the country.
The reference period for data sent to the EGR reflects the picture of 31 December of the given reference year.
Data transmitted to EGR during the EGR 2024 cycle includes data for the 2023 reference year. The identification, economic variables (number of employees, turnover and economic activity) refer to the 2023 reference year.
The accuracy of the data transmitted to the EGR is:
Units Assessment Legal units Very good Relationships between legal units Very good Enterprises characteristics Good Enterprises perimeters Satisfactory Multinational enterprise group Very good
Provide the reasons of your assessment This accuracy assessment is based on:
Differences in the different EGR Frames;
Changes upon years;
Data availability and punctuality.
Describe the main sources of errors, by type of units, and provide a summary assessment of all errors with special focus on the impact. The main issues regarding accuracy of the data and issue importance are as follows: Units Issue Assessment Legal units: Active or Inactive unit, Liquidated units Relationships between legal units Broken links became into broken groups and duplicate them. Enterprises characteristics Many times they are not available on time Enterprise perimeter Units under control are not clearly defined for profiling activities so some legal units remains out of any MNE. Foreign units are difficult to evaluate. Multinational enterprise group (with Global decision centre in my country) Although many of them have a problem with punctuality, the most important MNEs are complete evaluated
The actions taken to monitor and to improve accuracy of the data sent to EGR are the following:
TOP MNEs data are monitorized by the BR unit and their core data revised.
TOP MNEs UCIs are update by the BR unit and we are trying to update the most important earlier.
The economic variables on employment are recorded in absolute figures.
The net turnover for enterprises is recorded in EURO currency.
The net turnover and net total asset is recorded in millions in EURO currency.
There´s no derived information
The main source is the national BR.
Not applicable.
The EGR process refers to a reference year T and is run yearly over a period of 11 months, between May T+1 and March T+2.
EGR data are comparable with other member states data
EGR ES data are comparable within the available years
