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.
National and Regional Accounts and Short Term Statistics
1.3. Contact name
Confidential because of GDPR
1.4. Contact person function
Confidential because of GDPR
1.5. Contact mail address
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
21 August 2024
2.2. Metadata last posted
21 August 2024
2.3. Metadata last update
21 August 2024
3.1. Data description
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.
1. Manufacturing services on physical inputs owned by others
2. Maintenance and repair services n.i.e.
3. Transport
4. Travel
5. Construction
6. Insurance and pension services
7. Financial services
8. Charges for the use of intellectual property n.i.e.
9. Telecommunications, computer, and information services
10. Other business services
10.1. Research and development services
10.2. Professional and management consulting services
10.3. Technical, trade-related, and other business services
11. Personal, cultural and recreational services
12. Government goods and services, n.i.e.
3.5. Statistical unit
Enterprise.
3.6. Statistical population
The statistical population comprises all traders involved in ITSS reporting.
The activity breakdown covers NACE sections from A to U.
The product breakdown covers EBOPS 2010 main items.
3.7. Reference area
Belgium
3.8. Coverage - Time
STEC data disseminated by Eurostat The EU aggregates are available for reference year 2022 and onwards.
STEC data disseminated at national level None We are currently investigating whether we can publish the STEC data nationally in March, aligning this with the most recent 'BPM6_ITS_A' data (September).
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) 2019/2152on 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
Not applicable
7.1. Confidentiality - policy
Application of active confidentiality meaning that the NCB takes the initiative to suppress the data without informing the trade operator concerned.
7.2. Confidentiality - data treatment
Minimum 2 reporting entities, none of them could exceed 80% of the total value of the reported data.
8.1. Release calendar
There is no release calendar for STEC statistical outputs.
News releases on-line are published following the updates of the Eurostat reference database, once per year with the publication of the annual STEC data.
In compiling STEC data, quality dimensions in terms of relevance, accuracy and timeliness, are taken into account
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 19% of the dataset was flagged as confidential.
12.1. Relevance - User Needs
Not available
12.2. Relevance - User Satisfaction
Not available
12.3. Completeness
100% for mandatory STEC datasets
12.3.1. Data completeness - rate
100%
13.1. Accuracy - overall
The accuracy of STEC data depends not only on the accuracy of trade in service statistics but also on the quality of the business register. The trade in services is largely based on survey data supplemented with other (administrative) sources. There are exhaustive surveys for the most relevant enterprises and specific surveys for the remaining enterprises. Non-response for the exhaustive surveys is improved by an internally developed estimation (/extrapolation) tool and the non-exhaustive surveys are extrapolated and compared to VAT data to maximize accuracy.
13.2. Sampling error
Non-response for the exhaustive surveys is improved by an internally developed estimation (/extrapolation) tool and the non-exhaustive surveys are extrapolated and compared to VAT data to maximize accuracy
13.2.1. Sampling error - indicators
Not applicable.
13.3. Non-sampling error
Non-response for the exhaustive surveys is improved by an internally developed estimation (/extrapolation) tool and the non-exhaustive surveys are extrapolated and compared to VAT data to maximize accuracy
13.3.1. Coverage error
Non-response for the exhaustive surveys is improved by an internally developed estimation (/extrapolation) tool and the non-exhaustive surveys are extrapolated and compared to VAT data to maximize accuracy
13.3.1.1. Over-coverage - rate
Not applicable.
13.3.1.2. Common units - proportion
Not applicable.
13.3.2. Measurement error
Not applicable.
13.3.3. Non response error
Non-response for the exhaustive surveys is improved by an internally developed estimation (/extrapolation) tool and the non-exhaustive surveys are extrapolated and compared to VAT data to maximize accuracy.
13.3.3.1. Unit non-response - rate
Non-response for the exhaustive surveys is improved by an internally developed estimation (/extrapolation) tool and the non-exhaustive surveys are extrapolated and compared to VAT data to maximize accuracy
13.3.3.2. Item non-response - rate
Non-response for the exhaustive surveys is improved by an internally developed estimation (/extrapolation) tool and the non-exhaustive surveys are extrapolated and compared to VAT data to maximize accuracy
13.3.4. Processing error
Not applicable.
13.3.5. Model assumption error
Not applicable.
14.1. Timeliness
The data transmission deadline for all tables is by 18 months after the end of the reference period (T+18M).
14.1.1. Time lag - first result
Not applicable.
14.1.2. Time lag - final result
Not applicable.
14.2. Punctuality
Transmission date: 19 June 2025
Data transmission deadline: 30 June 2025
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.
The reported geographical breakdowns are:
World
Intra-Union
Extra-Union
15.1.1. Asymmetry for mirror flow statistics - coefficient
Not applicable.
15.2. Comparability - over time
STEC 2022 and 2023 data should be comparable over time , because the source data are generally considered highly comparable over time.
15.2.1. Length of comparable time series
Not applicable.
15.3. Coherence - cross domain
The STEC data is consistent to the latest annual production round (i.e. September 2024) of the yearly ITSS data.
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 (STEC01, STEC02, STEC03) are internally consistent
Extra burden on respondent None, STEC data is about linking of micro data already collected or available.
Production costs 0.2 man-year. Extra burden on production costs mainly due to secondary confidentiality requirements.
17.1. Data revision - policy
The data set is not revised except for exceptional reasons (e.g. Benchmark Revision 2024).
17.2. Data revision - practice
Not applicable
17.2.1. Data revision - average size
Not applicable.
18.1. Source data
International trade in service statistics by enterprise characteristics are derived from two data sources: the yearly detailed trade in service data and data taken from the business register.
Trade in service data are collected on the basis of several surveys aimed at residents: For non-financial sector enterprises, the selection is based on a mix of capping and sampling techniques. There is an extensive survey for the most relevant enterprises (monthly or quarterly) and specific surveys for the remaining enterprises (monthly or quarterly). For the financial sector enterprise, three surveys have been defined, each covering a specific subsector: credit institutions, insurance and reinsurance companies and other financial institutions. The entire population of these sub-sectors is subject to reporting, but the frequency can be monthly, quarterly or annual.
18.2. Frequency of data collection
Yearly detailed trade in service data, based on
Surveys: monthly, quarterly or yearly
Business register : yearly
18.3. Data collection
Surveys Declarations (for administrative data)
The maintenance of the business register is normally based on the effective use of various administrative and statistical data sources
18.4. Data validation
Validation occurs at the data source level. For later data linking, ITSS and Business Register data are deemed as validated.
18.5. Data compilation
The operations performed to compile STEC is mainly to link the business register with the trade in service database.
The 'non-attributed'/non-linked services (travel, FISIM, CIF/FOB adjustment, Governement services + other) and extrapolated non-exhaustive survey data based on VAT data are considered as 'Unknown'.
18.5.1. Imputation - rate
Not applicable
18.6. Adjustment
There are no specific adjustments made to the STEC data.
18.6.1. Seasonal adjustment
Not applicable.
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.
1. Manufacturing services on physical inputs owned by others
2. Maintenance and repair services n.i.e.
3. Transport
4. Travel
5. Construction
6. Insurance and pension services
7. Financial services
8. Charges for the use of intellectual property n.i.e.
9. Telecommunications, computer, and information services
10. Other business services
10.1. Research and development services
10.2. Professional and management consulting services
10.3. Technical, trade-related, and other business services
11. Personal, cultural and recreational services
12. Government goods and services, n.i.e.
Enterprise.
The statistical population comprises all traders involved in ITSS reporting.
The activity breakdown covers NACE sections from A to U.
The product breakdown covers EBOPS 2010 main items.
Belgium
Calendar year.
The accuracy of STEC data depends not only on the accuracy of trade in service statistics but also on the quality of the business register. The trade in services is largely based on survey data supplemented with other (administrative) sources. There are exhaustive surveys for the most relevant enterprises and specific surveys for the remaining enterprises. Non-response for the exhaustive surveys is improved by an internally developed estimation (/extrapolation) tool and the non-exhaustive surveys are extrapolated and compared to VAT data to maximize accuracy.
The data are presented in thousands of Euro
The operations performed to compile STEC is mainly to link the business register with the trade in service database.
The 'non-attributed'/non-linked services (travel, FISIM, CIF/FOB adjustment, Governement services + other) and extrapolated non-exhaustive survey data based on VAT data are considered as 'Unknown'.
International trade in service statistics by enterprise characteristics are derived from two data sources: the yearly detailed trade in service data and data taken from the business register.
Trade in service data are collected on the basis of several surveys aimed at residents: For non-financial sector enterprises, the selection is based on a mix of capping and sampling techniques. There is an extensive survey for the most relevant enterprises (monthly or quarterly) and specific surveys for the remaining enterprises (monthly or quarterly). For the financial sector enterprise, three surveys have been defined, each covering a specific subsector: credit institutions, insurance and reinsurance companies and other financial institutions. The entire population of these sub-sectors is subject to reporting, but the frequency can be monthly, quarterly or annual.
Annual.
The data transmission deadline for all tables is by 18 months after the end of the reference period (T+18M).
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.
The reported geographical breakdowns are:
World
Intra-Union
Extra-Union
STEC 2022 and 2023 data should be comparable over time , because the source data are generally considered highly comparable over time.
