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.
Statistics Department - External Statistics Division
1.3. Contact name
Confidential because of GDPR
1.4. Contact person function
Confidential because of GDPR
1.5. Contact mail address
Banco de Portugal, Statistics Department, External Statistics Division, Avenida Álvaro Pais, 2, 1600-007 Lisboa, Portugal
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
28 August 2025
2.2. Metadata last posted
28 August 2025
2.3. Metadata last update
28 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.
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 activity breakdown covers NACE sections from A to U.
The product breakdown covers EBOPS 2010 main items.
3.7. Reference area
This concept identifies the reference area for the time series encoded using the relevant code list of the DSD. The reference area is a country for which STEC statistics are provided. The country code list follows the ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 classification and is a cross-domain code list, used also in business statistics, balance of payment and national accounts. Portugal data includes Açores and Madeira.
3.8. Coverage - Time
The first reference period 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
Besides rules deriving from the statistical law, Banco de Portugal established memorandums of understanding with several public institutions to have access to data exclusively for statistical purposes, in particular INE - Statistics Portugal.
7.1. Confidentiality - policy
The confidenciality of individual data is explicitly stated at article 80 of decree-law n.º 298/92, of December 31, on credit institutions and financial institutions which also aplies to Banco de Portugal. Further the national statistical law (law nº 22/2008, of May 13) also describes procedures which should be taken to comply with the principle of statistical secrecy.
The Banco de Portugal internal code of conduct also provides reassurance of the compliance of these principles.
Besides the statistical compilation is also governed by European Regulation (EC) n.º 2533/98 do Conselho, of November 23, with modifications of Regulation (EC) n.º 951/2009 of October 9. Individual data protection is also established by an ECB Guideline (BCE/1998/NP28).
Furthermore, Banco de Portugal has in place security measures to access its permises as well as to its IT infraestructure in order to prevent access to non-public information.
7.2. Confidentiality - data treatment
Chapter V ‘Statistical confidentiality’ of Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 on European statistics regulates protection and transmission of confidential data within the European Statistical System (ESS) and the European System of Central Banks (ESCB). Article 10 of the Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/1197 says: ‘Member States shall provide all levels of aggregation of the breakdowns as defined in the tables of Annex I, Part B and the data transmitted shall contain, where applicable, all primary and secondary confidentiality flags in accordance with the confidentiality rules existing at national level.’. The confidentiality status allocation is mandatory in the STEC domain and therefore each observation is flagged with a confidentiality status from the following list: F – Free (free for publication); N – Not for publication, restricted for internal use only; C – Confidential statistical information; D – Secondary confidentiality set by the sender, not for publication; S – Secondary confidentiality set and managed by the receiver, not for publication.
8.1. Release calendar
Eurostat release calendar can be found under release calendar. No national publication is foreseen for the moment.
8.2. Release calendar access
Please refer to the Eurostat release calendar.
8.3. Release policy - user access
Please refer to the Eurostat release policy.
Annual.
10.1. Dissemination format - News release
No national publication is foreseen for the moment.
10.2. Dissemination format - Publications
No national publication is foreseen for the moment.
10.3. Dissemination format - online database
No national publication is foreseen for the moment.
10.3.1. Data tables - consultations
Not applicable.
10.4. Dissemination format - microdata access
No national publication is foreseen for the moment.
10.5. Dissemination format - other
No national publication is foreseen for the moment.
BoP/IIP statistics are subjected to several levels of quality assessment and monitoring:
Internal quality control of the data;
Internal checks on the validity and plausibility of the compiled data;
Monthly discussion within Banco de Portugal;
Regular meetings with reporting agents;
Continuous training;
Quality assessments made by international organizations: ECB, Eurostat, etc;
Data used in the compilation of national accounts;
Monitoring of the data by the internal Statistical Quality Unit;
Statistical compilation process subject to planned audit revisions made by BdP’s Internal Audit Department and by IO, namely the ECB.
11.1. Quality assurance
Banco de Portugal acknowledges that quality is a cornerstone of statistical work. For more details, please see 10.7.
11.2. Quality management - assessment
Data is consistent within STEC and with all other external statistics data compiled for Portugal, namely BoP and ITSS.
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 13% of the dataset was flagged as confidential.
12.1. Relevance - User Needs
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. This information is in high and growing demand by academics and policy makers, given the increasingly important role that services play in international trade.
12.2. Relevance - User Satisfaction
No user satisfaction measures exist for the moment.
12.3. Completeness
Banco de Portugal compiles all data foreseen in the STEC requirements.
12.3.1. Data completeness - rate
100%
13.1. Accuracy - overall
In the specific case of STEC, revisions will match eventual revisions of ITSS totals. Revisions by breakdown (product, type of control and number of employees) may occur if there is new, up-to-date information on IES - Simplified Corporate Information. For more information, see Related metadata.
13.2. Sampling error
Not applicable as the compilation is based on censitary information.
13.2.1. Sampling error - indicators
Not applicable as the compilation is based on censitary information.
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
Measurement error is minimized through several controls.
Compilation of BoP uses a very diverse set of data sources, though the COPE (Communication of external transactions and positions) report is the dedicated source for this domain.
The data received is analysed by BdP's team and reporting agents are questioned whenever data does not seem to be completely correct or when major transactions exist, in order to gather additional information on the underlying operations.
Furthermore, in order to reach final outputs, all sources have to be reconciled, which also contributes to minimize misclassifications and other errors. As some sources have longer disclosure delays this can lead to revisions which follow the Banco de Portugal revision policy.
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
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
Portugal fully complies with international reporting calendars.
14.2. Punctuality
Portugal fully complies with international reporting calendars.
14.2.1. Punctuality - delivery and publication
Not applicable.
15.1. Comparability - geographical
Banco de Portugal applies methodologies aligned with the international manuals and which are consistent over time.
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
Banco de Portugal applies methodologies aligned with the international manuals and which are consistent over time.
15.2.1. Length of comparable time series
Not applicable.
15.3. Coherence - cross domain
Consistency between the STEC totals and the annual ITSS totals is checked.
15.3.1. Coherence - sub annual and annual statistics
Not applicable.
15.3.2. Coherence - National Accounts
Not applicable.
15.4. Coherence - internal
STEC has a set of integrity rules to ensure the internal consistency of data, namely on what concerns: PRODUCT breakdown; Activity (NACE Rev 2) breakdown; NUMBER_EMPLOYEES (Enterprise size class) breakdown; TYPE_CTRL (Type of ownership) breakdown; COUNTERPART_AREA (Geographical breakdown).
The Banco de Portugal always assumes a strategy to have quality statistics in an efficient manner, minimizing costs for both reportants and for the compilation procedure.
17.1. Data revision - policy
Banco de Portugal follows its revision policy, which is aligned with international practices, and is available at statistics policy revisions.
In the specific case of STEC, revisions will match eventual revisions of ITSS totals.
17.2. Data revision - practice
Banco de Portugal follows its revision policy, which is aligned with international practices, and is available at statistics policy revisions.
17.2.1. Data revision - average size
Not applicable.
18.1. Source data
Exports and imports total amounts, by type of service and geographic counterpart are matched with Simplified Corporate Information (IES) at the enterprise-level to obtain the enterprise characteristics required by STEC, namely the statistical classification of economic activities (NACE), the number of employees, the type of control (foreign or domestic) and the information on affiliates. As the main source for STEC is the same that the one for BoP, for more information on the source data of BoP credits and debits total amounts, see Related metadata.
18.2. Frequency of data collection
Annual.
18.3. Data collection
The categories of services in STEC refer to the Extended Balance of Payments Services Classification (EBOPS 2010) data collection. The EBOPS 2010 classification provides a breakdown of the Balance of Payments Trade in Services items (debit and credit) as defined in BPM6, by types of services. The classification thereby meets a number of user requirements, including the provision of more detailed information on Trade in services as required in connection with the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS).
EBOPS 2010 is a primarily product-based classification of types of services, which in many cases may be described in terms of international classification of products as contained in CPC Ver. 2. However, the classification also includes transaction-based criteria (for example, Travel, Government services, and Construction Services).
Data are gathered from multiple sources. Outputs are subject to a set of consistency and integrity tests, followed by integration in harmonized databases for analysis and compilation.
18.4. Data validation
The integrity rules applied by Eurostat, as presented in STEC technical document, are replicated at the internal level in order to guarantee the consistency of data. Moreover, several validation processes are in place to guarantee the quality of the information on enterprises’ characteristics.
18.5. Data compilation
Compilation results from running procedures to gather and aggregate the data from all sources available for each item. Each item is compiled according to the best information to our knowledge and, besides raw data made available to the team, it also encompasses discussions with colleagues from other statistical domains and with reporting units.
18.5.1. Imputation - rate
Not applicable.
18.6. Adjustment
No adjustment is done to compilation outputs.
18.6.1. Seasonal adjustment
Not applicable.
Related Metadata:
See metadata of “Balance of payments - International transactions (BPM6) (bop_6)” (18.1.) for more information on the source data of BoP statistics.
See metadata of “Balance of payments - International transactions (BPM6) (bop_6)” (13.1.) for more information on the overall accuracy of BoP statistics.
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 activity breakdown covers NACE sections from A to U.
The product breakdown covers EBOPS 2010 main items.
This concept identifies the reference area for the time series encoded using the relevant code list of the DSD. The reference area is a country for which STEC statistics are provided. The country code list follows the ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 classification and is a cross-domain code list, used also in business statistics, balance of payment and national accounts. Portugal data includes Açores and Madeira.
Calendar year.
In the specific case of STEC, revisions will match eventual revisions of ITSS totals. Revisions by breakdown (product, type of control and number of employees) may occur if there is new, up-to-date information on IES - Simplified Corporate Information. For more information, see Related metadata.
The data are presented in thousands of Euro.
Compilation results from running procedures to gather and aggregate the data from all sources available for each item. Each item is compiled according to the best information to our knowledge and, besides raw data made available to the team, it also encompasses discussions with colleagues from other statistical domains and with reporting units.
Exports and imports total amounts, by type of service and geographic counterpart are matched with Simplified Corporate Information (IES) at the enterprise-level to obtain the enterprise characteristics required by STEC, namely the statistical classification of economic activities (NACE), the number of employees, the type of control (foreign or domestic) and the information on affiliates. As the main source for STEC is the same that the one for BoP, for more information on the source data of BoP credits and debits total amounts, see Related metadata.
Annual.
The data transmission deadline for all tables is by 18 months after the end of the reference period (T+18M).
Banco de Portugal applies methodologies aligned with the international manuals and which are consistent over time.
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.
Banco de Portugal applies methodologies aligned with the international manuals and which are consistent over time.
