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.
Direction Générale des statistiques, des études et de l'international - Direction de la balance des paiements
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
2.1. Metadata last certified
19 August 2024
2.2. Metadata last posted
19 August 2024
2.3. Metadata last update
26 August 2025
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.
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
The statistical unit is the enterprise, in accordance with STEC regulation.
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
France
3.8. Coverage - Time
The first reference year is 2022.
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
Not applicable
7.1. Confidentiality - policy
Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 on European statistics (recital 24 and Article 20(4)) of 11 March 2009 (OJ L 87, p. 164), stipulates the need to establish common principles and guidelines ensuring the confidentiality of data used for the production of European statistics and the access to those confidential data with due account for technical developments and the requirements of users in a democratic society.
7.2. Confidentiality - data treatment
STEC data are transmitted to Eurostat with a primary confidentiality status, depending on the weight and the number of enterprises of a cell. Then, a secondary confidentiality treatment is applied in order to avoid direct or indirect recalculation of confidential cells.
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 9% of the dataset was flagged as confidential.
12.1. Relevance - User Needs
Annual service flows by enterprise characteristics of France.
12.2. Relevance - User Satisfaction
Not available
12.3. Completeness
The dataset is complete.
12.3.1. Data completeness - rate
Complete data consistent with the balance of payments of France.
13.1. Accuracy - overall
Data on services come from a variety of surveys where the data can be reported either by the banks or directly by the enterprises.
Reported data are checked for their consistency and plausibility.
If any problems are detected (such as cross-domain inconsistency, outliers or atypical variations), Banque de France contacts the bank/enterprise to check the figures and/or correct their reporting.
13.2. Sampling error
Not applicable.
13.2.1. Sampling error - indicators
Not applicable.
13.3. Non-sampling error
Not applicable.
13.3.1. Coverage error
Not applicable.
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
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 applicable.
13.3.5. Model assumption error
Not applicable.
14.1. Timeliness
Datasets are sent to Eurostat 18 month after the reference period.
14.1.1. Time lag - first result
Not applicable.
14.1.2. Time lag - final result
Not applicable.
14.2. Punctuality
The dissemination of the STEC data in the Eurostat reference database is scheduled once per year.
The first official dissemination for the EU aggregates for reference year 2022 took place on 01 October 2024.
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
Not applicable.
15.2.1. Length of comparable time series
Not applicable.
15.3. Coherence - cross domain
STEC statistics for France are elaborated with SD30 version of balance of payments statistics, which is the second version of annual statistics.
Therefore, they are consistent with the second annual version of BOP and ITS statistics.
15.3.1. Coherence - sub annual and annual statistics
Not applicable.
15.3.2. Coherence - National Accounts
Not applicable.
15.4. Coherence - internal
The main principle of STEC is to fully break down a country’s foreign trade in services by enterprise characteristics.
However, due to the nature of some services categories, and the way in which trade in services statistics are compiled, not all parts of services trade can be linked to the business register to provide such breakdowns.
The so-called "not allocate"’ or "non-linkable" trade includes certain types of services for which it is not possible to know the trading enterprise. Examples for non-linkable trade are:
Travel services, which are based on a survey of persons.
Certain types of financial services are not compiled using an enterprise survey, but using modelling approaches, estimations and that makes it impossible to allocate these services to individual enterprises.
Trade by Special Purpose Entities (SPEs) is sometimes difficult to link to the business register.
More details are available in the Compilers guide for statistics on Services Trade by Enterprise Characteristics (STEC), 2017 edition.
Not applicable.
17.1. Data revision - policy
French STEC statistics complies with data revision policy set by Eurostat.
17.2. Data revision - practice
Not applicable
17.2.1. Data revision - average size
Not applicable.
18.1. Source data
Balance of Payments granular data by legal entity are merged with french detailed business registers provided by french National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (INSEE).
The databases provided by INSEE contains, for each legal unit, the characteristics at enterprise level required by STEC: Number of employees, Activity and type of control.
Each department of the Balance of Payments Directorate submits its granular STEC data by enterprise to the department in charge of compiling STEC dataset. Data is checked both ex ante and ex post to be consistent with balance of payments service flows.
18.5. Data compilation
Granular STEC data at legal unit level is merged with enterprise characteristics (INSEE databases) and agregated to build the STEC datasets.
18.5.1. Imputation - rate
No imputation.
18.6. Adjustment
No adjusments.
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.
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.
The statistical unit is the enterprise, in accordance with STEC regulation.
The activity breakdown covers NACE sections from A to U.
The product breakdown covers EBOPS 2010 main items.
France
Calendar year.
Data on services come from a variety of surveys where the data can be reported either by the banks or directly by the enterprises.
Reported data are checked for their consistency and plausibility.
If any problems are detected (such as cross-domain inconsistency, outliers or atypical variations), Banque de France contacts the bank/enterprise to check the figures and/or correct their reporting.
The data are presented in thousands of Euro.
Granular STEC data at legal unit level is merged with enterprise characteristics (INSEE databases) and agregated to build the STEC datasets.
Balance of Payments granular data by legal entity are merged with french detailed business registers provided by french National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (INSEE).
The databases provided by INSEE contains, for each legal unit, the characteristics at enterprise level required by STEC: Number of employees, Activity and type of control.
Annual.
Datasets are sent to Eurostat 18 month after the reference period.
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.
