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.
DS 44 data compilation and dissemination of external statistics
1.3. Contact name
Confidential because of GDPR
1.4. Contact person function
Confidential because of GDPR
1.5. Contact mail address
Wilhelm-Epstein-Str. 14
60431 Frankfurt
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
22 April 2026
2.2. Metadata last posted
22 April 2026
2.3. Metadata last update
22 April 2026
3.1. Data description
Statistics on international supply of services (ISS) by modes of supply (MoS) show how and where services are supplied internationally, namely by answering the question of 'how' services are exchanged across countries and 'where' services are supplied to foreign customers. Detailed information on international supply of services statistics by services category, mode of supply and partner country help policymakers carry out the ongoing and future trade negotiating agenda with facts and strong, evidence-based arguments and they allow to monitor the impact of services trade agreements.
The General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), the first multilateral agreement to cover trade in services, defines trade in services as the supply of a service through any of four modes of supply, outlined in the bullet points below.
Mode 1 - cross-border supply: from the territory of one country into the territory of another country;
Mode 2 - consumption abroad: in the territory of one country to the service consumer of another country;
Mode 3 - commercial presence: by a service supplier of one country, through a commercial presence in the territory of another country. The FATS framework is designed to provide information on the activities of enterprises located in foreign markets;
Mode 4 - presence of natural persons: by a service supplier of one country, through the presence of natural persons of that country in the territory of any other country.
Total international supply of services (total of modes 1, 2, 3 and 4)
Mode 1 (‘cross border transactions’),
Mode 2 (‘consumption abroad’),
Mode 3 (‘commercial presence’), and
Mode 4 (‘presence of natural persons’).
3.5. Statistical unit
Not applicable.
3.6. Statistical population
Total international supply of services by all four modes of supply.
3.7. Reference area
Germany
3.8. Coverage - Time
Data available for ref. year 2023 onwards.
3.9. Base period
Not applicable.
Data are reported in national currency (thousands).
Eurostat disseminates data in million euro.
Calender year
6.1. Institutional Mandate - legal acts and other agreements
Regulation (EU) 2019/2152 on European business statistics sets the data requirements in the field of international supply of services by modes for the EU Member States and EFTA countries. The exact technical specifications are listed in Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/1197. The requirements concerning the MoS domain are defined in table 38 "Statistics on international activities – International Supply of Services by Mode of Supply – annual data" of the Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/1197. The variable must be reported annually with first reference year 2023.
The importance of the quality of statistical data is emphasised and promoted throughout the Bundesbank. A commitment to compiling and disseminating high-quality statistics, considered fundamental to well-founded economic decision-making as sound forecasting, is communicated to the public through relevant publications, the Bundesbank’s website, as well as in public speeches or statements.
As a member of the ESCB, the Bundesbank shares the mission, strategic intent, and organisational principles of the ESCB, which are laid down in the public commitment statements on European statistics. In short, and in line with the Eurosystem Mission Statement, ESCB Statistics are governed by a set of principles referring to the ESCB´s institutional environment, statistical processes and statistical output. Amongst other things, these principles highlight the importance that the ESCB attaches to credibility, trust, transparency, and accountability in fulfilling its tasks. The mission statement, strategic intent, and organisational principles of the Eurosystem are distributed to all staff and are published by all ESCB members.
Staff training in statistics, both through formal courses and on-the-job training, highlights the importance of data quality.
11.2. Quality management - assessment
In general, according to the information available from the quality reports, the data providers have applied the recommendations available in the Regulation (EU) 2019/2152.
12.1. Relevance - User Needs
Data are used for service trade related analyisis in context of trade negotiations.
12.2. Relevance - User Satisfaction
Not evaluated yet.
12.3. Completeness
Data are complete.
12.3.1. Data completeness - rate
100% of the mandatory data points are reported.
13.1. Accuracy - overall
a small share of data is attributed to "not allocated world" W19 due to estimations.
13.2. Sampling error
Basedata are not collected with a survey, therefore no sampling error
13.2.1. Sampling error - indicators
Not applicable.
13.3. Non-sampling error
Collection system covers all transactions above 12,500 €, estimations for transactions below the threshold are applied where necessary.
13.3.1. Coverage error
Collection system covers all transactions above 12,500 €, estimations for transactions below the threshold are applied where necessary.
13.3.1.1. Over-coverage - rate
Not applicable.
13.3.1.2. Common units - proportion
Not applicable
13.3.2. Measurement error
Not available
13.3.3. Non response error
Not applicable.
13.3.3.1. Unit non-response - rate
Not applicable.
13.3.3.2. Item non-response - rate
Not applicable.
13.3.4. Processing error
Not available
13.3.5. Model assumption error
Not available
14.1. Timeliness
MoS statistcs are caculated annually for the reference year T-1 for mode 1,2,4 and t-2 for mode 3
Data collection takes place monthly at t+2 weeks after the end of the month
Data transmission to Eurostat takes place at t+10 months.
Data dissemination at national level is not decided yet
Geographical data are compareable to all external statistics e.g. balance of payments, international investment position and FDI statistics (EU-regulation 184/2005)
15.1.1. Asymmetry for mirror flow statistics - coefficient
Not applicable.
15.2. Comparability - over time
data are compareable starting with reference year 2023.
15.2.1. Length of comparable time series
data are compareable starting with reference year 2023.
15.3. Coherence - cross domain
Data are compareable to all external statistics e.g. balance of payments, international investment position and FDI statistics (EU-regulation 184/2005).
Data on ITSS and FATS are used as sources and cross checks are made to ensure coherence.
15.3.1. Coherence - sub annual and annual statistics
Not applicable.
15.3.2. Coherence - National Accounts
Not applicable.
15.4. Coherence - internal
Ccross checks are made to ensure internal coherence.
MoS only uses existing data. Costs are only internal.
17.1. Data revision - policy
with the publication of mode 3 also mode 1,2 and 4 gets revised.
17.2. Data revision - practice
with the publication of mode 3 also mode 1,2 and 4 gets revised.
17.2.1. Data revision - average size
Not applicable.
18.1. Source data
Services collected due to EU-Regulation 184/2005 and Structural Business Statistics (SBS) and Trade by Enterprise Characteristics (TEC) and Inward foreign affiliates statistics (IFATS)
18.2. Frequency of data collection
Source data BOP: monthly
IFATS: annual
compilation of MoS: annual
18.3. Data collection
MoS only uses existing data.
International trade in service statistics
Information is collected directly from the trader including estimations for specific service items like travel and transactions below the reporting threshold and non-responses.
18.4. Data validation
International trade in service statistics
External sector reporting data are assessed by the Primary Datacollection Division in the Central Office. Several validation procedures and plausibility checks are in place both at the individual data level and at the aggregated level.
lnitially, all incoming electronic reports are checked for comprehensiveness and formal consistency. Non response is assessed by comparing expectation value derived from the reporting history of single respondents. Reporting gaps are traced by monitoring available information about large companies. There are procedures installed to identify double reports and systematic errors as well as to verify cancellation-reports.
For each reporting subject an identification code is assigned
The reports are then stored on an individual respondent basis in the primary database
MoS
In addition to the primary use of the services account, information is needed to determine the share of goods in various EBOPS items for which possible information from a continuous annual household survey is used. The survey is carried out by an institute that is ISO 20252 certified for market, opinion and social research. Quality assurance covers all processes involved, from conception to implementation to reporting.
For estimating trade margins in the Structural Business Statistics (SBS) and Trade by Enterprise Characteristics (TEC) datasets are used for which validation procedures are established in the corresponding Institutions that are publishing the data.
The mode 3 compilation is based on two distinct sources of information: inward FATS (compiled by the NSI, and outward FATS (compiled by the Central Bank). Adjustments (as described in the MoS compilers guide) are made based on TEC and STEC data.
18.5. Data compilation
The compilation process consists of the following steps:
International trade in service data is adjusted for items that include a share of goods, by using information from a household survey and based on expert knowledge.
Estimation of trade margins (distribution services) from Structural Business Statistics (SBS) and Trade by Enterprise Characteristics (TEC) datasets are made for mode 1.
Categorizing the service items to modes of supply (mode 1,2 and 4) according to the European business statistics compilers guide for European statistics on international supply of services by mode of supply (2023 edition)
Mode 3 services imports and exports are estimates exclusively for the activity sector F. Services imports are based on the net turnover from IFATS adjusted for services exports as well as goods transactions. Both adjustments are derived from STEC and TEC data. For services exports based on OFATS data similar adjustments are made while applying relative information for exports and goods coming from IFATS.
18.5.1. Imputation - rate
0
18.6. Adjustment
Not applicable.
18.6.1. Seasonal adjustment
Not applicable.
Statistics on international supply of services (ISS) by modes of supply (MoS) show how and where services are supplied internationally, namely by answering the question of 'how' services are exchanged across countries and 'where' services are supplied to foreign customers. Detailed information on international supply of services statistics by services category, mode of supply and partner country help policymakers carry out the ongoing and future trade negotiating agenda with facts and strong, evidence-based arguments and they allow to monitor the impact of services trade agreements.
The General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), the first multilateral agreement to cover trade in services, defines trade in services as the supply of a service through any of four modes of supply, outlined in the bullet points below.
Mode 1 - cross-border supply: from the territory of one country into the territory of another country;
Mode 2 - consumption abroad: in the territory of one country to the service consumer of another country;
Mode 3 - commercial presence: by a service supplier of one country, through a commercial presence in the territory of another country. The FATS framework is designed to provide information on the activities of enterprises located in foreign markets;
Mode 4 - presence of natural persons: by a service supplier of one country, through the presence of natural persons of that country in the territory of any other country.
Total international supply of services (total of modes 1, 2, 3 and 4)
Mode 1 (‘cross border transactions’),
Mode 2 (‘consumption abroad’),
Mode 3 (‘commercial presence’), and
Mode 4 (‘presence of natural persons’).
Not applicable.
Total international supply of services by all four modes of supply.
Germany
Calender year
a small share of data is attributed to "not allocated world" W19 due to estimations.
Data are reported in national currency (thousands).
Eurostat disseminates data in million euro.
The compilation process consists of the following steps:
International trade in service data is adjusted for items that include a share of goods, by using information from a household survey and based on expert knowledge.
Estimation of trade margins (distribution services) from Structural Business Statistics (SBS) and Trade by Enterprise Characteristics (TEC) datasets are made for mode 1.
Categorizing the service items to modes of supply (mode 1,2 and 4) according to the European business statistics compilers guide for European statistics on international supply of services by mode of supply (2023 edition)
Mode 3 services imports and exports are estimates exclusively for the activity sector F. Services imports are based on the net turnover from IFATS adjusted for services exports as well as goods transactions. Both adjustments are derived from STEC and TEC data. For services exports based on OFATS data similar adjustments are made while applying relative information for exports and goods coming from IFATS.
Services collected due to EU-Regulation 184/2005 and Structural Business Statistics (SBS) and Trade by Enterprise Characteristics (TEC) and Inward foreign affiliates statistics (IFATS)
Annual.
MoS statistcs are caculated annually for the reference year T-1 for mode 1,2,4 and t-2 for mode 3
Data collection takes place monthly at t+2 weeks after the end of the month
Data transmission to Eurostat takes place at t+10 months.
Data dissemination at national level is not decided yet
Geographical data are compareable to all external statistics e.g. balance of payments, international investment position and FDI statistics (EU-regulation 184/2005)
data are compareable starting with reference year 2023.
