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.
Services Trade by Enterprise Characteristics (STEC) statistics provide information on the types of enterprises engaged in international trade in services and show how enterprises in different industries supply services and how this relates to their primary activity. STEC disclose additional insights into trade statistics, by allowing the profiling of the enterprises according to selected characteristics such as number of employees, type of ownership and economic activity.
A+B - Agriculture, forestry, and fishing; mining and quarrying,
D+E - Electricity, gas, steam, and air conditioning supply; water supply; sewerage, waste management and remediation activities,
I+L+O+P+Q+R+S+T+U - Accommodation and food service activities; real estate activities; public administration, defence; compulsory social security; education; human health and social work activities; other services.
NACE Sections:
C - Manufacturing,
F - Construction,
G - Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles,
H - Transportation and storage,
J - Information and communication,
K - Financial and insurance activities,
M - Professional, scientific, and technical activities,
N - Administrative and support service activities.
Manufacturing services on physical inputs owned by others
Maintenance and repair services n.i.e.
Transport
Travel
Construction
Insurance and pension services
Financial services
Charges for the use of intellectual property n.i.e.
Telecommunications, computer, and information services
Other business services
Research and development services
Professional and management consulting services
Technical, trade-related, and other business services
Personal, cultural and recreational services
Government goods and services, n.i.e.
3.5. Statistical unit
Enterprise.
3.6. Statistical population
The activity breakdown covers NACE sections from A to U.
The product breakdown covers EBOPS 2010 main items.
3.7. Reference area
Austria
3.8. Coverage - Time
2023 according to Regulation (EU) 2019/2152 on European business statistics (with the first reference year 2022).
Back data available until 2013.
3.9. Base period
Not applicable.
The data are presented in thousands of Euro.
Calendar 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 services trade by enterprise characteristics for the EU Member States and EFTA countries. The exact technical specifications are listed in the Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/1197, table 17 "Country-level business statistics on trade in services by enterprise characteristics (STEC) – annual data".
The variable must be reported annually with first reference year 2022.
6.2. Institutional Mandate - data sharing
In Austria, the Central Bank has the responsibility to compile data regarding the Balance of Payments and related statistics. This is laid down in the Foreign Exchange Act 2004.
To compile the data, not only for the BoP but also for other macroeconomic statistics, which are produced in Austria, the Central Bank has entered into a basic cooperation agreement with the NSI which is updated every 5 years to capture current topics of statistics production.
For the BoP in particular, the Central Bank has set up a service provider contract with the NSI to compile data on services trade. With this, the Central Bank concentrates on the compilation of data on financial services, i.e. the financial sector of the economy, while the NSI compiles data on the non-financial sector.
The Central Bank aggegates the basic data to compile the statistics ouput,i.e. the BoP and STEC.
The Central Bank is then responsible to transmit the data to EUROSTAT and to disseminate it on its webiste.
7.1. Confidentiality - policy
The Central Bank follows the current confidentiality rules as laid down by the ECB and EUROSTAT.
7.2. Confidentiality - data treatment
In practice, the Central Bank follows the rule that for every STEC cell, there shall be not less than 3 respondents.
To each respondent, not more than 85% of the data shall be attributed.
If these thresholds are surpassed, the data are classified as confidential.
Regarding secondary confidentiality, it shall not be possible to display a confidential cell by using information from other STEC tables.
8.1. Release calendar
The data are disseminated nationally by the end of July every year.
Until end of June, the data are reported to EUROSTAT via EDAMIS.
In accordance with EUROSTAT's publication, data are disseminated until July, 15 (or next working day) on the OeNB website.
The tables correspond with the EUROSTAT format.
For the 2022 data (the first reference year according to Regulation (EU) 2019/2152 on European business statistics), the Central Bank informed about the new official statistis via a press release and an accompanying article.
There are various quality measures implemented to compile trade in services in Austria, among them, periodical update of the reporting population, use of administrative data sources, comparison with other statistics.
For STEC in particular, current register data are used for every time-period.
Besides, time-series anaysis is employed.
11.2. Quality management - assessment
Eurostat assessed the completeness and accessibility of the 2023 dataset by evaluating the proportion of mandatory cells reported and the extent of confidentiality.
All mandatory cells across all tables were fully reported (100%), while approximately 4% of the dataset was flagged as confidential.
12.1. Relevance - User Needs
STEC data are used for economic policy analysis, e.g. by the Chamber of Commerce in Austria, as well as by researchers.
12.2. Relevance - User Satisfaction
The Central Bank has a cooperation agreement with the Chamber of Commerce for regular information exchange.
It further has close contact with the academia in Austria.
12.3. Completeness
Official STEC data fulfill user needs to a large extent.
Beyond this, regional information on STEC for the 9 federal states in Austria are provided on demand.
Also special micro data needs are considered for analytical purposes with respect to the confidentiality rules of the Central Bank.
12.3.1. Data completeness - rate
100%
13.1. Accuracy - overall
100% accuracy with respect to the trade in services balance in the Austrian BoP.
13.2. Sampling error
Sampling error in trade in services survey is not considered to be relevant.
With the survey in the non-financial sector, at least 90% of the total services exports and imports in Austria are captured.
For the financial sector, there is almost total compilation.
13.2.1. Sampling error - indicators
Not applicable.
13.3. Non-sampling error
Non-standard non-sampling error not assumed.
13.3.1. Coverage error
The total population of trade in services in the non-financial sector is captured in Austria via 1) the survey reporters, 2) VIES data, 3) Structural Business Statistics, 4) Foreign Trade Statistics.
The threshold for reporting is set so that at least 90% of services exports and imports are captured.
Transactions below thresholds are captured by administrative data.
Transactions directly reported are cross-checked with administrative data.
For the financial sector, all insurance corporations have to report directly.
For banks, there is almost full reporting following the cutting-off-the-tale rule of supervisory data.
13.3.1.1. Over-coverage - rate
Not applicable.
13.3.1.2. Common units - proportion
Ratio calculated for 2023, services exports: 9,081
13.3.2. Measurement error
The trade in services survey has been introduced in Austria in 2006.
It has had high performance from the beginning and is well understood by respondents.
There is also close contact with respondents directly or with the Financial Market Authority in the case of financial reporters.
Additionally, the use of VIES has been incorporated since 2011.
Therefore the measurement error is thought to be low.
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
There are standard procedures for micro data linking established.
Therefore there is no processing error assumed.
In the future, the data production will be incorporated in the standard BoP compilation system.
13.3.5. Model assumption error
Not applicable.
14.1. Timeliness
T+18 months
14.1.1. Time lag - first result
Not applicable.
14.1.2. Time lag - final result
T+18 months
14.2. Punctuality
T-8 days
14.2.1. Punctuality - delivery and publication
Not applicable.
15.1. Comparability - geographical
STEC data are compiled in accordance with the methodology set out in Regulation (EU) 2019/2152, ensuring a high degree of geographical comparability across reporting countries.
15.1.1. Asymmetry for mirror flow statistics - coefficient
Not applicable.
15.2. Comparability - over time
2013-2023
15.2.1. Length of comparable time series
Not applicable.
15.3. Coherence - cross domain
100% coherence with services account in the Austrian BoP.
15.3.1. Coherence - sub annual and annual statistics
Not applicable.
15.3.2. Coherence - National Accounts
Not applicable.
15.4. Coherence - internal
All STEC tables are internally consistent.
The Central Bank does not collect information on respondent's burden.
From regular feedback from the Chamber of Commerce, the costs for reporting for the trade in services survey are considered releatively high when compared with other statistics.
The reasons are that EBOPS does not correspond - or only to a little extent - with internal reports.
In Austria though, the reports are well known to respondents and the reporting application is very easy to handle.
Regarding the internal procedures at the Central Bank to produce STEC, they have been well elaborated ove the years.
Still, quality checks are necessary at various steps of the production and secondary confidentiality has to be set manually.
In the future, it is intended to automize the procedures and incorporate them into the regular BoP complation system.
17.1. Data revision - policy
With the dissemination of the current STEC year, data for the last dissemination are revised.
This is done in line with the BoP revision procedures, i.e. every September, BoP is revised back for three consecutive years.
17.2. Data revision - practice
No unplanned revisions.
These are harmonized with BoP procedures.
17.2.1. Data revision - average size
Not applicable.
18.1. Source data
Trade in services survey for the non-financial sector.
Trade in services survey for banks and insurance corporations.
Register information on industry, number of employees.
Information from FDI/FATS on foreign control and FDI abroad.
18.2. Frequency of data collection
Annual.
18.3. Data collection
Trade in services survey according to latest reporting regulation.
FDI data collection according to latest reporting regulation.
Register information regularly exchanged and harmoized with the Business register at the NSI.
There are various checks automized in the reporting system.
For example, the reports have to be complete, the classifications chosen have to be in line with official standards, the data reported are corss-checked with former reports.
After having accepted the data transmissions, the results are checked on a micro and macro level, taking into account other statistics and administrative data.
In recent years, mirror data from other countries and LCU analysis have become increasingly important.
18.5. Data compilation
Unit non-response (which is very low) is dealt with in various ways: firstly, the respondents receive written reminders, secondly the data are preliminarily estimated with formerly reported data and /or administrative data.
Imputation is made for transactions below thresholds. For this purpose, administrative data are used and so called "donors" are chosen from the survey, by industry and size.
18.5.1. Imputation - rate
Unweighted ratio for exports in 2023 = 0,103.
18.6. Adjustment
Not applicable.
18.6.1. Seasonal adjustment
Not applicable.
Metadata updated.
No change comapred to first data transmission.
Services Trade by Enterprise Characteristics (STEC) statistics provide information on the types of enterprises engaged in international trade in services and show how enterprises in different industries supply services and how this relates to their primary activity. STEC disclose additional insights into trade statistics, by allowing the profiling of the enterprises according to selected characteristics such as number of employees, type of ownership and economic activity.
A+B - Agriculture, forestry, and fishing; mining and quarrying,
D+E - Electricity, gas, steam, and air conditioning supply; water supply; sewerage, waste management and remediation activities,
I+L+O+P+Q+R+S+T+U - Accommodation and food service activities; real estate activities; public administration, defence; compulsory social security; education; human health and social work activities; other services.
NACE Sections:
C - Manufacturing,
F - Construction,
G - Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles,
H - Transportation and storage,
J - Information and communication,
K - Financial and insurance activities,
M - Professional, scientific, and technical activities,
N - Administrative and support service activities.
Manufacturing services on physical inputs owned by others
Maintenance and repair services n.i.e.
Transport
Travel
Construction
Insurance and pension services
Financial services
Charges for the use of intellectual property n.i.e.
Telecommunications, computer, and information services
Other business services
Research and development services
Professional and management consulting services
Technical, trade-related, and other business services
Personal, cultural and recreational services
Government goods and services, n.i.e.
Enterprise.
The activity breakdown covers NACE sections from A to U.
The product breakdown covers EBOPS 2010 main items.
Austria
Calendar year.
100% accuracy with respect to the trade in services balance in the Austrian BoP.
The data are presented in thousands of Euro.
Unit non-response (which is very low) is dealt with in various ways: firstly, the respondents receive written reminders, secondly the data are preliminarily estimated with formerly reported data and /or administrative data.
Imputation is made for transactions below thresholds. For this purpose, administrative data are used and so called "donors" are chosen from the survey, by industry and size.
Trade in services survey for the non-financial sector.
Trade in services survey for banks and insurance corporations.
Register information on industry, number of employees.
Information from FDI/FATS on foreign control and FDI abroad.
Annual.
T+18 months
STEC data are compiled in accordance with the methodology set out in Regulation (EU) 2019/2152, ensuring a high degree of geographical comparability across reporting countries.
