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
The reference area is the Republic of Croatia.
3.8. Coverage - Time
The first reference year for STEC series 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
Memorandum of Understanding between Croatian National Bank and Croatian Bureau of Statistics.
7.1. Confidentiality - policy
Confidentiality of individual data obtained for statistical purposes is insured by Official Statistics Act.
7.2. Confidentiality - data treatment
If an aggregated indicator is being presented broken down by required characteristics (NACE, geo, size, type of ownership) and this presentation comprises cells including less than three reporting units, there is a rule that those cells have confidentiality status "N".
There is a predefined release calendar which is strictly followed. This calendar contains the planned data releases of the Croatian National Bank and the relevant selected data of the Croatian Bureau of Statistics and the Ministry of Finance for the current year.
8.2. Release calendar access
The Croation release calendar is accessible under the link: Release calendar.
8.3. Release policy - user access
Release calendar contains the planned data releases of the Croatian National Bank and the relevant selected data of the Croatian Bureau of Statistics and the Ministry of Finance for the current year.
Annual.
10.1. Dissemination format - News release
There is no News release directly linked to STEC statistics.
10.2. Dissemination format - Publications
There is no Publications directly linked to STEC statistics.
10.3. Dissemination format - online database
There is no online database directly linked to STEC statistics.
10.3.1. Data tables - consultations
Not applicable.
10.4. Dissemination format - microdata access
There is no access to microdata of STEC statistics.
In order to assure the quality of the report, the process of data control starts with the data collection phase. All deviations from expected values are being verified with the reporting units.
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 5% of the dataset was flagged as confidential.
12.1. Relevance - User Needs
Internal and external users of the Croatian National Bank are:
1. CNB analysts
2. Other institutions (GOvernment agencies, Ministries, ...)
3. Independent analysts
4. Journalists
12.2. Relevance - User Satisfaction
Users are generally satisfied.
12.3. Completeness
Completeness is fully satisfied.
12.3.1. Data completeness - rate
Mandatory cells completeness is 100%.
13.1. Accuracy - overall
If suspicious values are observed in the microdata during the verification process, the reporting units are contacted to check their reported values and resend accurate ones.
Sometimes, it can be noticed late reporting that is usually fixed in short term.
13.2. Sampling error
For the most of the surveys conducted, cut off tale sampling is applied with estimated coverage of 90% or more targeted population, depending on the relative importance of service. The rest of the population is being estimated. Therefore, sampling error is assessed as not significant.
13.2.1. Sampling error - indicators
Not applicable.
13.3. Non-sampling error
Non-response error is minimised at the point of compiling STEC statistics.
13.3.1. Coverage error
Coverage of surveys is for the most cases assessed as adequate. However, it is possible that reporting units due to wrong interpretation of specific service, report their transaction under a service that is different from what it essentially is. In some cases, it is very difficult to notice it.
This could lead to possible under or overcoverage of one service at the expense of another and consequently to under or overestimations.
In terms of possible coverage errors, continuous actions are being taken in order to reduce them. Survey samples are being checked at least once annually using available administrative data (VAT data) in order to check sample coverage and its adequacy.
13.3.1.1. Over-coverage - rate
Not applicable.
13.3.1.2. Common units - proportion
The proportion of common units covered by both the survey and the administrative sources in relation to the total number of units in the survey is equal to zero since administrative sources are not used in ITS compilation as a basic source for STEC statistics.
13.3.2. Measurement error
Measurement errors are easily noticeable in most cases or at least more relevant cases.
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
If it happens, it is usually easily noticable and can be corrected in short time. However, in case it happenes, it immediately implies imposing additional processing controls in order to avoid it in the future.
13.3.5. Model assumption error
Not applicable.
14.1. Timeliness
Length of time between data availability and the event or phenomenon they describe depends on the time when statistical business registar becomes available to the CNB.
Data on ITS are available aproximatelly two months after the end of the reporting quarter.
14.1.1. Time lag - first result
Not applicable.
14.1.2. Time lag - final result
18 months
14.2. Punctuality
The Croatian National Bank transmits the requested dataset to Eurostat within the official deadline.
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
Croatia makes regular annual revision in the course of compiling ITS statistics.
Such revisions would also have impact on STEC reports.
15.2.1. Length of comparable time series
Not applicable.
15.3. Coherence - cross domain
STEC statistics is fully reconciable with ITS statistics, as reqiured.
15.3.1. Coherence - sub annual and annual statistics
Not applicable.
15.3.2. Coherence - National Accounts
Not applicable.
15.4. Coherence - internal
Full internal consistency is fulfilled.
There is no additional burden imposed on reporting units.
17.1. Data revision - policy
STEC report is subject of benchmark revisions as well as planned and unplanned revisions due to occasional corrections on the side of the data sources and also to the regular updating of the reporting samples.
17.2. Data revision - practice
STEC data are revised in line with the BOP and ITS data revisions.
17.2.1. Data revision - average size
Not applicable.
18.1. Source data
Statistical surveys are dominant data sources for almost all kind of services (reported unde BoP and ITS domains).
The CNB conducts several statistical surveys:
International transactions relating to construction
Services in international transport
Manufacturing services with nonresidents
International transactions relating to insurance
Services in the balance of payments.
The first four listed surveys are used to collect data for the compilation of specific services, while the fifth survey collects data for the compilation of all other services.
The frequency of data collection is quarterly with data reported on monthly basis (BoP domain).
Samples are designed applying cut-off tale method with intended coverage of at least 90%.
The total population is estimated applying grossing-up method which implies multiplying of data collected by a survey with a specific coefficient determined by the estimated proportion of population being covered with a survey.
Owing to an exceptionally large population of road carriers, revenues and expenditures on the basis of road freight transportation has been compiled on the basis of data from export customs declarations of the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) and estimates of the Road Freight Transporters Association. Expenditures on the basis of road freight transportation equal transportation and insurance costs related to imports of goods which belong to non-residents and which are estimated by adjusting the value of imports at c.i.f. parity to the value of imports f.o.b.
FISIM is calculated in full conformity with international methodology using data from monetary and external debt statistics.
Travel revenues are calculated by the method that uses data on card consumption by non-residents (foreigners and Croatian citizens living outside Croatia) from the CNB's payment statistics and data on the use of cash and cards for payment transactions from the fiscalised consumption statistics of the Ministry of Finance - Tax Administration. The scope of the use of Tax Administration data is limited to fiscalised consumption statistics' data on only three divisions of NACE Rev. 2: retail trade, accommodation and food and beverage service activities.
Travel expenditures are calculated similary to the method for revenues using data on card consumption of Croatian residents abroad from the CNB's payments statistics and the share of cards payment in the total fiscalised payments in Croatia.
Data from Statistical Business Register are obtained from CBS using secure protocol for data exchange.
Data on international trade in services statistics are combined with data from Statistical Business Register in order to produce STEC report.
18.2. Frequency of data collection
Annual.
18.3. Data collection
Gathering of files from respondents is carried out through the Croatian National Bank's System for secure data exchange.
Data are regularly validated upon receipt using predefined automated formal and logical controls. Following this initial validation, routine checks are performed on individual units to identify both obvious and subtle reporting errors or inconsistencies. These checks focus on unusually high or low figures, as well as values that deviate from the typical pattern of a given unit—when such a pattern can be established.
18.5. Data compilation
When compiling STEC reports, the imputation procedure is not carried out.
STEC report is compiled using two data sources: ITS data collected by the CNB and Statistical Business Register, mantained by the CBS.
Data from these two sources are linked using a unique identifier (VAT number) of reporting units (enterprises) in order to form unique record, aggregated at the level of all required breakdowns: type of product, trade flow, activity, size class, geo breakdown and type of control.
Exact breakdowns for each table(STEC01, STEC02; STEC03) are made according to the methodological requirements.
18.5.1. Imputation - rate
The ratio of the number of replaced values to the total number of values for a given variable is equal to zero.
18.6. Adjustment
No adjustment are being made.
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.
Enterprise.
The activity breakdown covers NACE sections from A to U.
The product breakdown covers EBOPS 2010 main items.
The reference area is the Republic of Croatia.
Calendar year.
If suspicious values are observed in the microdata during the verification process, the reporting units are contacted to check their reported values and resend accurate ones.
Sometimes, it can be noticed late reporting that is usually fixed in short term.
The data are presented in thousands of Euro.
When compiling STEC reports, the imputation procedure is not carried out.
STEC report is compiled using two data sources: ITS data collected by the CNB and Statistical Business Register, mantained by the CBS.
Data from these two sources are linked using a unique identifier (VAT number) of reporting units (enterprises) in order to form unique record, aggregated at the level of all required breakdowns: type of product, trade flow, activity, size class, geo breakdown and type of control.
Exact breakdowns for each table(STEC01, STEC02; STEC03) are made according to the methodological requirements.
Statistical surveys are dominant data sources for almost all kind of services (reported unde BoP and ITS domains).
The CNB conducts several statistical surveys:
International transactions relating to construction
Services in international transport
Manufacturing services with nonresidents
International transactions relating to insurance
Services in the balance of payments.
The first four listed surveys are used to collect data for the compilation of specific services, while the fifth survey collects data for the compilation of all other services.
The frequency of data collection is quarterly with data reported on monthly basis (BoP domain).
Samples are designed applying cut-off tale method with intended coverage of at least 90%.
The total population is estimated applying grossing-up method which implies multiplying of data collected by a survey with a specific coefficient determined by the estimated proportion of population being covered with a survey.
Owing to an exceptionally large population of road carriers, revenues and expenditures on the basis of road freight transportation has been compiled on the basis of data from export customs declarations of the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) and estimates of the Road Freight Transporters Association. Expenditures on the basis of road freight transportation equal transportation and insurance costs related to imports of goods which belong to non-residents and which are estimated by adjusting the value of imports at c.i.f. parity to the value of imports f.o.b.
FISIM is calculated in full conformity with international methodology using data from monetary and external debt statistics.
Travel revenues are calculated by the method that uses data on card consumption by non-residents (foreigners and Croatian citizens living outside Croatia) from the CNB's payment statistics and data on the use of cash and cards for payment transactions from the fiscalised consumption statistics of the Ministry of Finance - Tax Administration. The scope of the use of Tax Administration data is limited to fiscalised consumption statistics' data on only three divisions of NACE Rev. 2: retail trade, accommodation and food and beverage service activities.
Travel expenditures are calculated similary to the method for revenues using data on card consumption of Croatian residents abroad from the CNB's payments statistics and the share of cards payment in the total fiscalised payments in Croatia.
Data from Statistical Business Register are obtained from CBS using secure protocol for data exchange.
Data on international trade in services statistics are combined with data from Statistical Business Register in order to produce STEC report.
Annual.
Length of time between data availability and the event or phenomenon they describe depends on the time when statistical business registar becomes available to the CNB.
Data on ITS are available aproximatelly two months after the end of the reporting quarter.
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.
Croatia makes regular annual revision in the course of compiling ITS statistics.
Such revisions would also have impact on STEC reports.
