Federal Statistical Office of Germany

G31: Fundamental Questions, Quality Assurance and Dissemination of Foreign Trade Statistics

Statistisches Bundesamt

Graurheindorfer Str. 198

53117 Bonn

The main objective of the trade in goods statistics by enterprise characteristics (TEC) is to bridge two major statistical domains which have traditionally been compiled and used separately, business statistics and international trade in goods statistics (ITGS). Specifically, this new domain was created to answer questions such as:

• What kind of businesses are behind the trade flows of goods?
• What is the contribution of a particular activity sector to trade?
• What is the share of small and medium-sized enterprises to total trade?
• What is the share of enterprises that trade with a certain partner country and the amount of trade value they account for?

For this purpose, the trade in goods between countries is broken down by economic activity, size-class of enterprises, trade concentration, geographical diversification and products traded. The new information is used to carry out more sophisticated kinds of analysis, e.g. to evaluate the role of European companies in the context of globalisation or to assess the impact of international trade in goods on employment, production and value added, essential in a globalised world where economies are increasingly interconnected.

Available datasets

TEC data are grouped into ten datasets, each one focusing on a specific aspect:

1. Trade by activity sector and enterprise size class — Trade by activity sector and employment size class shows the contributions of economic activities and size classes (measured in terms of number of employees until 2021 and in term of number of employees and self-employed from 2022 reference year) to total trade. This allows the impact of international trade on employment to be analysed and the importance of small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) to be estimated.

2. Concentration of trade by activity — International trade being typically dominated by a few businesses, this indicator shows the share of the total trade accounted for by the top 5, 10, 20, etc. companies.

3. Trade by partner country and activity — Trade by partner country shows how many companies were trading with certain partner countries or country zones, and the value they accounted for. This indicator enables the most typical export or import markets to be identified.

4. Trade by number of partner countries and activity — Trade by number of partner countries shows how geographically diversified the export markets are. For imports, it shows the number of countries from which goods are imported.

5. Trade by commodity and activity — Trade by commodity and activity sector allocates the trade of each commodity to the activity of the trading enterprise. This indicator shows which sectors were involved in the trading of each product group.

6. Trade by type of trader — This indicator provides information on how traders are involved in international trade. It shows the number of companies trading within only one flow or in both flows and the trade value these companies account for.

7. Trade by type of ownership — The type of ownership is referring to the concept of control and to affiliation of an enterprise. It indicates whether an enterprise is domestically or foreign controlled and, if domestically controlled, whether it has affiliates abroad or not. This indicator can be used to analyse the impact of globalisation on international trade and to estimate the importance of multinational companies for trade.

8. Trade by export intensity — Export intensity categorises enterprises according to the importance of foreign markets in their sales. It refers to the share of exports in total turnover.

9. Trade by activity sector — In comparison with trade by activity and enterprise size class (first dataset), this indicator provides more details on the activity sector (2- or 3-digit level) but does not contain information about the enterprise size.

10. Trade by partner country and size class — This indicator aims to give insights into the internationalisation of small- and medium sized enterprises. It complements indicator 3 on trade by partner country and activity by applying the same detailed breakdown of partner countries but categorising enterprises by size class instead of activity sector.

Classification of economic activities

Economic activities are classified according to the ‘statistical classification of economic activities in the European Community’ (NACE Rev. 2). NACE Rev. 2 is based on the fourth revision of the United Nations’ International Standard Industrial Classification of All Economic Activities (ISIC Rev. 4). Within the international trade in goods statistics, the NACE classification refers to the economic activity of enterprises that are active in international trade in goods.

Product classification

As the TEC domain aims to categorise trade flows according to economic activities, product classifications which are based on the industrial origin of the goods are more suitable for analysis than classifications based on material of goods. For this reason, the Classification of Products by Activity (CPA) is used as the product classification in TEC. CPA is a European version of the United Nations’ Central Product Classification (CPC), but arranged so that each product heading is assignable to a single heading of the European activity classification, the NACE Rev. 2. CPA version 2008 is used for TEC data relating to the reference years 2012-2015. CPA version 2.1 is used since 2016 as reference year.

Country classification

Except for the cases listed below, the reporting and partner countries are classified according to the ‘Nomenclature of countries and territories for the external trade statistics of the Community and statistics of trade between Member States’, known as the ‘Geonomenclature’. An alpha-2 coding applies, which means that each country is identified with a two-letter alphabetical code. See the publication Geonomenclature applicable to European statistics on international trade in goods for more information. Exceptions: code CN_X_HK instead of CN for China (except Hong Kong); code UK instead of GB for United Kingdom; code EL instead of GR for Greece.

Statistical classifications can be accessed here.

Economic activities are classified according to NACE Rev 2. Main economic sectors covered: industry, commerce and services. Further the data set contains economic activity at 3-digit level of NACE Rev.2.

Trade value

The value of traded goods is calculated at the national frontier, on a FOB basis (free on board) for exports and a CIF (cost, insurance, freight) basis for imports. Hence, only incidental expenses (freight, insurance) are included and they are incurred for:

• exports in the part of the journey located on the territory of the country where the goods are exported from;
• imports in the part of the journey located outside the territory of the country where the goods are imported to.

Number of enterprises

The number of enterprises consists of a count of the number of enterprises involved in trade during at least a part of the reference period. For intra-EU trade, VAT data are used to identify the smallest traders (and to estimate their trade value), which are exempted from Intrastat reporting. These traders account for a limited share of the trade value. In line with the legal requirements, this share should not exceed 3 % of the total value of the intra-EU exports and 7 % of the total value of the intra-EU imports. However, in terms of number of enterprises the smallest enterprises below threshold trade consitute the majority.

Partner country

Trade flows are broken down by partner country.

• For exports it is the country of destination of the goods. That is the last country to which it is known that, at the time of export, the goods are to be delivered.
• For imports, the definition of the partner country differs between Intrastat and Extrastat. For extra-EU imports it is the country of origin of the goods; for intra-EU imports it is the country (EU Member State) of consignment of goods.

Product

The product is the outcome of economic activity and the generic term used for goods and services.

Product classifications are designed to categorise goods and services that have common characteristics. They provide the basis for preparing statistics on the production, consumption, international trade and distributive trade. However, the scope of TEC is limited to the trade in goods.

Economic activity

The economic activity consists in offering goods and services on a given market. An activity is characterised by an input of products, a production process and an output of products. In other words, an economic activity is said to take place when resources such as equipment, labour, manufacturing techniques, information networks or products are combined, leading to the creation of specific goods or services.

Classifications of economic activities are designed to categorise data that can be related to the unit of activity. They provide the basis for preparing statistics of output, the various inputs to the production process, capital formation and the financial transactions of such units. Economic activities are classified according to NACE, the classification used to classify economic entities (enterprises, local units and similar statistical units). Within the international trade statistics, the NACE classification refers to the economic activity of traders, i.e. enterprises that are active in international trade.

Number of employees and self-employed persons

The number of employees refered to the number of those persons who work for an employer and who have a contract of employment and receive compensation in the form of wages, salaries, fees, gratuities, piecework pay or remuneration in kind. A worker is considered to be a wage or salary earner of a particular unit if he receives a wage or salary from the unit regardless of where the work is done (in or outside the production unit).

The number of self-employed persons is the number of sole or joint owners working for the enterprise including family workers.

The variable is based on the annual average.

Until reference year 2021 only the number of employees was used to determine enterprise size classes.

Type of traders

In the context of the TEC data, the type of trader specifies the type of trade activity of the enterprise. It indicates whether the enterprise is involved only in exports or only imports or trade in both flows.

The type of trader aims to describe the heterogeneity of enterprises according to their involvement in trade.

Type of ownership

In the context of the TEC data, the type of ownership refers to the concept of control and to the affiliation of an enterprise. It indicates whether an enterprise is domestically or foreign controlled and if it is domestically controlled, whether it has affiliates abroad or not. In other words, the type of ownership refers to the delineation of enterprise groups and categorising them. In this context, the concept of control prevails as referred in article 3 (4) of the Business Register Regulation (EC) No 177/2008. This Regulation applies the European System of Accounts (ESA) definition for the control as set out in point 2.26 of Annex A to Regulation (EC) no 2223/96. The concept of control prevails also in the FATS Regulation and is defined as follows: "‘control’ shall mean the ability to determine the general policy of an enterprise by choosing appropriate directors, if necessary. In this context, enterprise A is deemed to be controlled by an institutional unit B when B controls, whether directly or indirectly, more than half of the shareholders’ voting power or more than half of the shares". This definition is consistent with the ESA definition. 

The type of ownership aims to describe the heterogeneity of enterprises according to their global status. A distinction of enterprises into domestically and foreign controlled enterprises has specific interest because of the important role of foreign affiliates. Furthermore, if domestically controlled enterprises with own affiliates abroad are further distinguished from all domestically controlled enterprises, the population all of multinational enterprises can be identified.

Exports intensity

The exports intensity refers to the share of exports of turnover (ratio between exports and turnover).

Exports intensity categorises enterprises according to the importance of foreign markets in their sales. The recent developments in the area of global value chains have raised a question on the heterogeneity of enterprises. It has been traditionally assumed that enterprises in the same activity sector are homogenous in terms of their productivity as well as in generating value-added and employment. However, this may not be a valid assumption any more in the globalised economy as productivity, value-added and employment may depend on the international orientation of enterprises, i.e. their involvement and position in the global value chains. Enterprises with high exports intensity are often also large-scale importers.

Legal units and VAT groups

The statistical population for TEC should comprise all resident enterprises involved in intra- and extra-EU trade flows. However, in practice, the linkage between the foreign trade data and the Business Register is not systematically straightforward. The following cases complicate matching with the Business Register :

• Intra-annual business demography changes
• Large and complex businesses
• VAT-groups

Incomplete business register data;Intra-annual business demography changes are not always perfectly recorded in both data sources. Differences e.g. in the tax ID or missing tax IDs will lead to lower matching rates. This is even more true for large and complex businesses that often change their internal structure and buy and sell business units.

In Germany, the problem of VAT groups in the context of TEC is larger than in other Member States. The VAT grouping is mandatory for businesses when the criteria are fulfilled, with no option to waive. The VAT group members are treated as a single taxable person. As a consequence, it is sufficient for the VAT group to report intra-EU imports and exports to foreign trade statistics as a whole, because the taxable person who reported the transaction in the VAT declaration is obliged to report to foreign trade statistics. There is no obligation to differentiate between the VAT group members. This is a major problem for the implementation of the concept of the statistical enterprise. Thus, if a VAT group consists of several statistical enterprises (which will be the case in most VAT groups), they cannot be identified.

Finally, there are missing business characteristics in the business register (tax IDs, turnover) that decrease matching rates between foreign trade data and business register and/or information of TEC data.

The reference population used in the compilation of TEC datasets relates to traders who have reported trade transactions under a valid ID number and were successfully matched with the Business Register. This means that the enterprise characteristics reported in the TEC datasets refer only to a part of total trade. The following exports and imports are excluded from TEC:

• Trade reported by or on behalf of non-resident traders is out of scope for TEC and therefore excluded.
• Trade carried out by private individuals or distance sales to private individuals is out of scope for TEC and therefore excluded.
• Trade carried out by unidentified traders is excluded
• Trade carried out by enterprises that could not be identified in the business register is excluded.

Germany

From 2012 as reference year

Not applicable.

• Trade value in thousands of euros
• Number of enterprises

The reference period is the same as for monthly trade in goods statistics. It should be the calendar month of export respectively that of import of the goods. However, in practice the reference period is in general:

• the calendar month during which the customs declaration is accepted by the national authorities for extra-EU trade; and
• the calendar month during which VAT becomes chargeable on intra-EU acquisitions for intra-EU trade.

General statistical legislation

Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council on European statistics

International trade in goods statistics legislation:

Up to 31 December 2021, ITGS are based on the following regulations:

  Intra-EU trade legislation

• Regulation (EC) No 638/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council
• Implementing Commission Regulation (EC) No 1982/2004

  Extra-EU trade legislation

• Regulation (EC) No 471/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council
• Implementing Commission Regulation (EC) No 92/2010
• Implementing Commission Regulation (EC) No 113/2010

As of 1 January 2022, ITGS are based on the following regulations

• Regulation (EU) 2019/2152 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 November 2019 
• Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/1197 of 30 July 2020 
• Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2021/1225 of 27 July 2021
• Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2021/1704 of 14 July 2021

Business Registers legislation

• Regulation (EC) No 177/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing a common framework for Business Registers for statistical purposes
• Implementing Commission Regulation (EC) No 192/2009
• Implementing Commission Regulation (EU) No 1097/2010

All regulations relevant for the European statistics on international trade in goods can be consulted from the ‘Legislation’ page of the ‘International trade in goods’ section on Eurostat website. All legal texts are also accessible online on Eur-Lex.

Not applicable.

The individual data collected are kept secret in accordance with Article 16 of the Federal Statistics Law (BStatG).

TEC data are only disseminated by Eurostat. See item 8.1 ‘Release calendar’ of the related metadata ‘ext_tec_sims - International trade in goods – trade by enterprise characteristics (TEC)’ for more details.

Not applicable.

TEC data are only disseminated by Eurostat. See item 8.3 ‘Release policy - user access’ of the related metadata ‘ext_tec_sims - International trade in goods – trade by enterprise characteristics (TEC)’ for more details.

Statistics by enterprise characteristics are updated once a year with a new reference year. Historical data are exceptionally revised.

TEC data are only disseminated by Eurostat. See item 10.1 ‘Dissemination format - News release’ of the related metadata ‘ext_tec_sims - International trade in goods – trade by enterprise characteristics (TEC)’ for more details.

TEC data are only disseminated by Eurostat. See item 10.2 ‘Dissemination format - Publications’ of the related metadata ‘ext_tec_sims - International trade in goods – trade by enterprise characteristics (TEC)’ for more details.

TEC data are only disseminated by Eurostat. See item 10.3 ‘Dissemination format - online database’ of the related metadata ‘ext_tec_sims - International trade in goods – trade by enterprise characteristics (TEC)’ for more details.

Not available.

Not applicable

Not applicable

Not available.

TEC data are only disseminated by Eurostat. See item 10.6 ‘Documentation on methodology’ of the related metadata ‘ext_tec_sims - International trade in goods – trade by enterprise characteristics (TEC)’ for more details.

100%

TEC data are only disseminated by Eurostat. See item 10.7 ‘Quality management - documentation’ of the related metadata ‘ext_tec_sims - International trade in goods – trade by enterprise characteristics (TEC)’ for more details.

See item 11.1 ‘Quality assurance’ of the related metadata ‘ext_tec_sims - International trade in goods – trade by enterprise characteristics (TEC)’.

See item 11.2 ‘Quality management - assessment’ of the related metadata ‘ext_tec_sims - International trade in goods – trade by enterprise characteristics (TEC)’.

TEC data are only disseminated by Eurostat. See item 12.1 ‘Relevance - User Needs’ of the related metadata ‘ext_tec_sims - International trade in goods – trade by enterprise characteristics (TEC)’ for more details.

TEC data are only disseminated by Eurostat. See item 12.2 ‘Relevance - User Satisfaction’ of the related metadata ‘ext_tec_sims - International trade in goods – trade by enterprise characteristics (TEC)’ for more details.

See item 12.3 ‘Completeness’ of the related metadata ‘ext_tec_sims - International trade in goods – trade by enterprise characteristics (TEC)’.

See document TEC Quality indicators

See item 13.1 ‘Accuracy - overall’ of the related metadata ‘ext_tec_sims - International trade in goods – trade by enterprise characteristics (TEC)’.

Not applicable.

Neither the international trade in goods statistics, nor the business registers are affected by errors related to sample surveys.

Not applicable.

See item 13.3 ‘Non-sampling error’ of the related metadata ‘ext_tec_sims - International trade in goods – trade by enterprise characteristics (TEC)’.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

See item 13.3.3 of the related metadata ‘ext_tec_sims- International trade in goods – trade by enterprise characteristics (TEC)’

See document TEC Quality indicators

See document TEC Quality indicators

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

See item 14.1 ‘Timeliness’ of the related metadata ‘ext_tec_sims - International trade in goods – trade by enterprise characteristics (TEC)’.

See document TEC Quality indicators

Not applicable.

See item 14.2 ‘Punctuality’ of the related metadata ‘ext_tec_sims - International trade in goods – trade by enterprise characteristics (TEC)’.

See document TEC Quality indicators

See item 15.1 ‘Comparability - geographical’ of the related metadata ‘ext_tec_sims - International trade in goods – trade by enterprise characteristics (TEC)’.

Not applicable.

The comparability over the time series is in principle given, although methodological adjustments and improvements are implemented continuously over the years. However, there are two restrictions:

1. activity sector by NACE

the characteristic "activity sector by NACE" may be subject to greater fluctuations if changes are made in the classification of enterprises in the business register. This is all the more true the more important the re-classified enterprise is for the respective activity sector. Significant shifts and changes in the activity sectors can therefore be due to methodological reasons, not economic ones.

2. breakdown by population

In 2014/2015, NCL contained all enterprises that could not be matched with the SBR, including NRTs. In 2016/2017, NCL only contained German enterprises that could not be matched with the SBR, whereas NRTs were allocated to _U. Since 2018, NRT are identified separately in this breakdown.

3. 'Brexit'

Prior to 2020 transactions with the United Kingdom were part of Intra-EU trade. From 2020 onwards, due to the UK's decision to leave the EU, trade with the United Kingdom is part of extra-EU trade.

This leads to an increase in the reported number of firms trading with the UK in 2021, since firms that were below the intrastat exemption thresholds now have to report their trade with the UK.

In 2020, despite Brexit the UK was still part of the Intrastat-system for an interim period. From 2021 onwards, this is no longer the case. For firms below the exemption threshold, our estimation technique does currently not allow the identification of partner countries. Therefore, trade flows of firms below the exemption threshold with the UK could previously not be allocated to the UK. For reference period 2021, customs data were used for which no exemption thresholds applies. Therefore, firms previously below the exemption threshold are now identified as trading with the UK.

The increase is, therefore, driven by changes in the data collection and does not represent an actual increase in the number of firms trading with the UK.

4. Size class

Until reference year 2021, the size class was defined in terms of the number of employees. From reference year 2022 onwards, the size class is defined as the number of employees and self-employed persons.

5. Identification of non-resident traders

Non-resident traders may appoint tax representatives that take on their reporting obligations towards tax authorities and statistical agencies. This is especially relevant in case of quasi-imports where goods enter free circulation in Germany, but are immediately shipped to another member state. From reference year 2022 onwards, such transactions can be identified using nature of transaction codes, introduced in 2022, in combination with NACE sector "H" and are no longer included in TEC. This means that results for NACE activity sector "H" (Transporting and Storage) are not comparable pre and post 2022.

2012-2022

See item 15.3 ‘Coherence - cross domain’ of the related metadata ‘ext_tec_sims - International trade in goods – trade by enterprise characteristics (TEC)’.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

See item 15.4 ‘Coherence - internal’ of the related metadata ‘ext_tec_sims - International trade in goods – trade by enterprise characteristics (TEC)’.

Unknown

None, as the TEC data collection is based on final foreign trade data.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

Regulation (EU) 2019/2152 establishes a common legal framework for business statistics, including international trade in goods statistics, and statistical business registers.

Intra-EU trade

Statistics related to the trade of goods between Member States of the European Union are collected via the Intrastat system.

The main characteristics of the Intrastat system are:

• to collect information directly from traders: the traders provide a summary monthly declaration of their trade (dispatches and arrivals of goods) to the national statistical authorities;
• to have a close link with the VAT system related to intra-EU trade: the VAT declarations on intra-Community supplies and purchases form the administrative basis which, on the one hand, defines the scope of intra-EU trade statistics, and on the other hand, allows ensuring data completeness and accuracy;
• to reduce the burden on traders, while preserving an acceptable quality of statistical information: a system of thresholds is introduced in which traders under a predefined value (of 500,000 EUR for dispatches and 800,000 EUR for arrivals in 2018) provide limited or no information on intra-EU trade. These thresholds are set at a level that ensures that the value of at least 97% of the total dispatches and at least 93% of the total arrivals of the relevant Member State’s taxable persons is covered.
  Intra-EU trade statistics are compiled on a monthly basis. TEC data is based on final data of Intra EU trade statistics of 2022.

Extra-EU trade

The customs declaration is the standard data source from which the statistical data are obtained for the compilation of extra-EU trade statistics. Extra-EU trade statistics are thus based on the use of administrative data. This ensures that the basic data collection is complete and based on sound and established administrative procedures. Customs data are also much aligned with the statistical concepts and definitions.

Extra-EU trade statistics are compiled monthly. TEC data is based on final data of Extra EU trade statistics of 2022.

Business Register

Statistical purposes of the BR:

• The detection and construction of statistical units.
• Tool for the preparation and coordination of surveys and for grossing-up survey results.
• Source for statistics and analysis of business population and its demography.
• Mobilisation of administrative data.
• Integration and dissemination tool.

The BR contains information on:

• identification characteristics (identity number, name, address, value added tax etc.);
• demographic characteristics (date of commencing and cessation of activities);
• economic/stratification characteristics (economic activity, number of employees, number of persons employed, turnover etc.);
• characteristics associated with the control and ownership relations between units (identity number of resident legal unit, country of registration, etc.);
• links with other registers (reference to the register of intra-Community operators, etc.).

TEC data is based on the annual BR of 2022.

Intra-EU trade and Extra-EU trade

Monthly

Business Register

The frequency of the collection depends on the administrative source.

TEC data

Annual

Intra-EU trade

Information is collected directly from the trader.

Extra-EU trade

The customs declaration is the data source from which the statistical data are obtained for the compilation of extra-EU trade statistics. Extra-EU trade statistics are thus based on the use of administrative data.

Business Register

Based on the use of administrative data.

Extra-EU trade

The data from the customs authorities, which are transmitted online, are directly processed in the mainframe computing system. A data processing program subjects all data a wide range of different plausibility checks. The plausibility checks consist of both code and combinations checks.

Code checks are designed to detect errors such as missing or wrong commodity codes, country codes, statistical values or quantities.

Combination checks examine different variables in combination with each other with the aim to detect implausibilities.

Intra-EU trade

Intra-Community trade data are transmitted online. Like extra-Community trade data, the Intrastat data are input into a separate network every day and are checked, corrected and prepared for publication as part of the automated processing system.

The completeness of intra-Community trade declarations is ensured by comparing of the statistical data with the VAT data from the tax offices. The data provided by the tax authorities on intra-Community acquisitions and deliveries of businesses are compared with the data collected by the Federal Statistical Office to determine if and to what extent businesses obliged to provide information have fulfilled their response obligations. If businesses have not (appropriately) fulfilled their obligation to provide information, the Federal Statistical Office asks them to transmit the missing data or explain the reasons for the discrepancies. If the required information is not supplied, the Federal Statistical Office can institute proceedings against the businesses concerned because of administrative offences, and it is entitled to impose fines.

• Compilation of foreign trade data by adjusting also for non-response and trade below the threshold.
• Preparation of active units from the business register.
• Linking of both data sources.
• Specification of the economic activity: Activities of head offices (70.1) by using information given in VAT statistics.

No imputation made by Eurostat

Intra-EU trade

• Adjustments (estimates) for trade below thresholds:

The Federal Statistical Office estimates the scope of intra-Community trade below the exemption threshold on the basis of the data provided by the tax authorities on the relevant intra-Community acquisitions and deliveries. The adjustments are broken down by countries, Bundesländer (German regions) and chapter level of the Commodity Classification for Foreign Trade Statistics.

• Adjustments for partial non-response or non-response:

As for intra-Community trade statistics, adjustments for non-response are made at the businesses level in a breakdown by partner countries, Bundesländer (German regions) and chapter levels of the Commodity Classification for Foreign Trade Statistics.

NB: The trade in goods data used to compile the TEC data do not include adjustments for missing trade (trade below threshold and non-response in intra-EU trade; missing, delayed and incomplete records for extra-EU trade). There are no specific adjustments made to the TEC data disseminated on Eurostat website.

Not applicable.

All reference documents and relevant information on TEC data can be found on the Overiew page of the ‘International trade in goods’ section on Eurostat website.