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.
INE - Instituto Nacional de Estatística, Statistics Portugal
1.2. Contact organisation unit
EE – Serviço de Estatísticas da Economia Externa - External Economy Statistics Unit
1.3. Contact name
Confidential because of GDPR
1.4. Contact person function
Confidential because of GDPR
1.5. Contact mail address
Instituto Nacional de Estatística
Av. António José de Almeida
1000-043 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
11 August 2021
2.2. Metadata last posted
4 October 2024
2.3. Metadata last update
31 August 2024
3.1. Data description
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.
3.2. Classification system
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.
TEC data cover all activity sectors, from sections A to U of the NACE Rev. 2 classification.
3.4. Statistical concepts and definitions
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 estimate the number of traders and trade value of the smallest traders which are exempted from Intrastat reporting. These traders account for a limited share of the trade value – at most 3 % of the total value of the intra-EU exports and 7 % of the total value of the intra-EU imports – but in terms of number of enterprises they consist of 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 refers 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).
A self-employed person is the sole or joint owner of the unincorporated enterprise (one that has not been incorporated i.e. formed into a legal corporation) in which he/she works, unless they are also in paid employment which is their main activity (in that case, they are considered to be employees). Self-employed people also include:
unpaid family workers;
outworkers (who work outside the usual workplace, such as at home);
workers engaged in production done entirely for their own final use or own capital formation, either individually or collectively
Until reference year 2021 only the number of employees was used to determine enterprise size classes.
The number of employees is a mandatory variable to be recorded in the business registers for each enterprise and local unit. According to the Business Register Regulation, the intention is to use the situation at the end of the year. However, as the end date approach is not harmonised the annual average can also be used as reference.
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.
3.5. Statistical unit
The statistical unit is the legal unit.The Business Register Regulation defines the link between the legal unit and the enterprise. The same regulation also establishes a link between the business registers and the registers of intra- and extra- EU trade operators through a common unit of reference, namely the legal unit. The enterprise is the statistical unit to be used, which means that trade data must be linked to characteristics available in the Business Register for the enterprise through the legal unit. In this way, trade data are connected with the characteristics of an enterprise and they can be reported in terms of the economic activity and number of employees of the whole enterprise concerned.
In Portugal however, the statistical unit is a trader, i.e. the legal unit, therefore business characteristics, such as economic activity, number of employees and others reflect characteristics of the legal unit.
3.6. Statistical population
The statistical population comprises all the traders involved in intra- and extra-EU trade flows.
The data for Portugal contains the population defined in the “European business statistics compilers' manual for trade by enterprise characteristics” ( BR, PI, NRT, NCL , U and BRM).
There is a small number of trade carried out by non-resident traders which cannot be identified or linked with the Business register.
Data disseminated by Eurostat only refers 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. Are out of scope:
Adjustments for missing trade (trade below threshold and non-response in intra-EU trade; missing, delayed and incomplete records for extra-EU trade);
Trade carried out by non-resident traders as such traders cannot be associated to an enterprise via the national Business Register; and
Trade carried out by private individuals.
3.7. Reference area
Portugal
3.8. Coverage - Time
TEC data disseminated by Eurostat
From 2012 as reference year The procedures concerning the construction of the TEC population changed significantly in 2018 (reference year of the data).
TEC data disseminated at national level
At national level Portugal produces TEC data sets starting from the reference year 2006 (2008 for dataset 6).
3.9. Base period
Not applicable.
Trade value in thousands 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.
6.1. Institutional Mandate - legal acts and other agreements
Legal acts and other agreements - EU level
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.
Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council on European statistics
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.
Regulation (EU) 2019/2152 on European business statistics (Article 19), of 27 November 2019 (OJ L 327, p. 18) determines that only upon request of an importer or exporter of goods, the NSA shall decide whether to disseminate statistical results relating to the respective imports or exports without any amendment or, following a reasoned request by that importer or exporter, to amend the statistical results so as to make it impossible to identify that importer or exporter in order to comply with the principle of statistical confidentiality, in accordance with point (a) of Article 20(3) of Regulation (EC) No 223/2009.
As a general definition, data used by national and EU authorities for producing statistics are considered confidential if statistical units can be identified, either directly or indirectly, and information about individuals or businesses is disclosed as a result.
For TEC data, the principle of active confidentiality applies, which means that the National Statistical Authorities (NSAs) take the initiative to identify the data whose dissemination by Eurostat would make it possible to identify an enterprise or a trader. The identification of an enterprise or a trader is possible only if a specific value corresponds to data from less than 3 enterprises or traders.
7.2. Confidentiality - data treatment
Confidential data is defined as ‘data which allow statistical units to be identified, either directly or indirectly, thereby disclosing individual information. To determine whether a statistical unit is identifiable, account shall be taken of all relevant means that might reasonably be used by a third party to identify the statistical unit’.
For TEC data, the principle of active confidentiality applies, which means that the National Statistical Authorities (NSAs) take the initiative to suppress the data whose dissemination by Eurostat would make it possible to identify an enterprise or a trader. The legal provisions (articles 13a (8) of Regulation (EC) No 1982/2004 and 15(9) of Regulation (EU) No 113/2010, respectively relating to the compilation of statistics on trade by enterprise characteristics for intra- and extra-EU) define only the principle to be applied.
The only confidentiality rule applied is related with the number of observations: in case a value relates to less than 3 (three) enterprises/traders, it should be considered as confidential and flagged with (‘C’). Additionally, secondary confidentiality is also applied, whenever there is only one confidential flag in a dataset and the related cell is under an aggregate. In this case, the cell marked as confidential could be revealed by simply subtracting the aggregate of the rest of the cells from the total.
There is also an overall analysis of confidentiality by cross checking the links between the several TEC datasets. This means that a record referring to an activity sector which is marked as confidential in one dataset, e.g. Dataset 2 should also be marked as confidential in any related dataset, e.g. Dataset 6.
8.1. Release calendar
TEC data disseminated at national level
At national level, the dissemination of the main results of TEC data (datasets 1 to 5) is made in the Portuguese Official Statistics Portal (in the theme International Trade), as statistical indicators, corresponding to the definitive results of intenational trade in goods statistics (ITGS) and Business Statistics (BS) once they are provided to Eurostat (with regard to year Y the deadline is 15 October of year Y+2) and have passed all the Eurostat quality checks;
Extraordinary revisions are still possible and they will be disseminated as soon as possible.
TEC data 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)’.
8.2. Release calendar access
Not applicable.
8.3. Release policy - user access
TEC data disseminated at national level
The main results of TEC data (datasets 1 to 5) are available as statistical indicators on the Portuguese Official Statistics Portal (in the theme International Trade) and so these statistical data are disseminated to all users at the same time. Users are informed that these indicators are updated through an indication of update and also by the respective date of update.
TEC data 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)’.
Statistics by enterprise characteristics are updated once a year with a new reference year. Historical data are exceptionally revised.
10.1. Dissemination format - News release
TEC data disseminated at national level
No news release. TEC data is only disseminated as statistical indicators on the Portuguese Official Statistics Portal (in the theme International Trade).
TEC data disseminated by Eurostat
No news release
10.2. Dissemination format - Publications
TEC data disseminated at national level
The main results of TEC data are disseminated in the specific publication “Statistical Yearbook of Portugal”, in July of year Y+2
TEC data 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)’.
10.3. Dissemination format - online database
TEC data disseminated at national level
At national level, the main statistical data of TEC data (datasets 1 to 5) are available as statistical indicators on the Portuguese Official Statistics Portal (in the theme International Trade), namely:
From the reference year 2006 for data relating to datasets 2, 3 and 5 and intra- and extra-EU trade and for data relating to dataset 4 (coherent series since 2010);
From the reference year 2008 for data relating to dataset 6 and intra- and extra-EU trade (coherent series since 2010);
From the reference year 2010 for data relating to datasets 2, 3, 5 and 6 and total trade.
TEC data 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)’.
10.3.1. Data tables - consultations
Not available.
10.4. Dissemination format - microdata access
The TEC data is not available as micro-data access, however the sources used for the TEC compilation (ITGS and BS) have both micro-databases available for researchers, so they are able to link both databases (both databases have a specific ID to allow this linkage ).
10.5. Dissemination format - other
Not applicable.
10.5.1. Metadata - consultations
Not available.
10.6. Documentation on methodology
TEC data disseminated at national level
The methodology is available in the Metadata System, a specific area on the Portuguese Official Statistics Portal. An explanation on the TEC methodology is included in the ITGS methodological document:
Also specific statistical indicators with TEC results are available at the Portuguese Official Statistics Portal, with specific metadata available in the notes (see the folowing link for an example):
See item 10.6 ‘Documentation on methodology’ of the related metadata ‘ext_tec_sims - International trade in goods – trade by enterprise characteristics (TEC)’.
10.6.1. Metadata completeness - rate
100%
10.7. Quality management - documentation
TEC data disseminated at national level
Not available.
TEC data 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)’.
11.1. Quality assurance
See item 11.1 ‘Quality assurance’ of the related metadata ‘ext_tec_sims - International trade in goods – trade by enterprise characteristics (TEC)’.
11.2. Quality management - assessment
See item 11.2 ‘Quality management - assessment’ of the related metadata ‘ext_tec_sims - International trade in goods – trade by enterprise characteristics (TEC)’.
12.1. Relevance - User Needs
Direct feedback from main users, such as journalists, indicates a special interest in the concentration of trade (to analyse the trade accounted for by the top 5, 10, 20, etc. enterprises) and the trade by number of partner countries (to analyse the diversification of export markets).
12.2. Relevance - User Satisfaction
No user satisfaction survey specific on TEC data was carried out so far.
12.3. Completeness
See item 12.3 ‘Completeness’ of the related metadata ‘ext_tec_sims - International trade in goods – trade by enterprise characteristics (TEC)’.
See item 15.1 ‘Comparability - geographical’ of the related metadata ‘ext_tec_sims - International trade in goods – trade by enterprise characteristics (TEC)’.
15.1.1. Asymmetry for mirror flow statistics - coefficient
Not applicable.
15.2. Comparability - over time
The major methodological change in recent years relates to the harmonisation among Member States of the treatment of non-resident traders. Since the reference year 2018 the non-resident traders should be systematically allocated to a specific population and excluded from TEC data sets.
In Portugal this change has affected the comparability of 2018 data with the previous years as concerns the total number and the structure of traders.
It has to be noted that the data published on the Portuguese national website includes non-resident traders in TEC population, therefore the results are different and not comparable.
15.2.1. Length of comparable time series
2012-2017
15.3. Coherence - cross domain
See item 15.3 ‘Coherence - cross domain’ of the related metadata ‘ext_tec_sims - International trade in goods – trade by enterprise characteristics (TEC)’.
The major methodological change in recent years relates to the harmonisation among Member States of the treatment of non-resident traders. Since the reference year 2018 the non-resident traders should be systematically allocated to a specific population and excluded from TEC data sets.
In Portugal this change has affected the comparability of 2018 data with the previous years as concerns the total number and the structure of traders.
It has to be noted that the data published on the Portuguese national website includes non-resident traders in TEC population, therefore the results are different and not comparable.
Since 2020, the composition of the partner areas has changed, with the United Kingdom (UK) dropping the European Union (EU), and thus the data released by type of trade have suffered a series break due to this country being one of the main markets for the transaction of goods in Portugal. These values were imputed to extra EU trade.
15.3.1. Coherence - sub annual and annual statistics
Not applicable.
15.3.2. Coherence - National Accounts
Not applicable.
15.4. Coherence - internal
See item 15.4 ‘Coherence - internal’ of the related metadata ‘ext_tec_sims - International trade in goods – trade by enterprise characteristics (TEC)’.
TEC data are derived from information made available by two major statistical domains: the international trade in goods statistics and the business statistics. No specific data collection is then necessary, which means that the burden is null for the respondents, i.e. for the traders and businesses.
The cost of TEC data only relates to the compilation step carried out by the National Statistical Authorities.
17.1. Data revision - policy
At European level
TEC data is based on definitive results of ITGS and BS, therefore only if an extraordinary revision occurs in ITGS will be transmitted revised TEC data to Eurostat.
To avoid revisions in dataset 7 (‘Trade by activity sector and type of ownership’), since the deadlines for the compilation and transmission to Eurostat of data on Inward and Outward FATS is only in August, the current practice is to provide these data to Eurostat only after the final compilation of FATS data (in late August/September).
At national level
TEC data disseminated as statistical indicators on the Portuguese Official Statistics Portal concerns the definitive results of ITGS and BS.
17.2. Data revision - practice
Revised TEC data will be transmitted to Eurostat only if an extraordinary revision occurs in ITGS
17.2.1. Data revision - average size
Not applicable.
18.1. Source data
International trade in goods statistics by enterprise characteristics are derived from two data sources: the monthly international trade in goods data and data taken from the business statistics.
International trade in goods data are collected on the basis of:
For the intra-EU trade: Intrastat declarations from the traders whose annual Intra-EU trade value is above the Intrastat exemption threshold and who are then liable to submit an Intrastat declaration; and the missing data estimated (includes Intra-EU traders below the Intrastat exemption threshold, missing or incomplete Intrastat declarations and specific movements) in order to reach trade in goods data covering 100% of the trade but those data are not part of TEC data disseminated on Eurostat website.
For the extra-EU trade: administrative forms, the customs declarations.
Business statistics serve as the sources for the enterprise characteristics, namely:
Structural Business Statistics (SBS):
The main objective of SBS consists in the characterisation of the economic and financial behaviour of the enterprises. In that sense, SBS is responsible for producing a set of variables and indicators, mainly based in the information provided in the financial statements. The scope of the economic activity under analysis encompasses the enterprises classified under sections A to S of the Portuguese Classification of Economic Activities (CAE Rev.3), with the exception of Public Administration and Defence; Compulsory Social Security (Section O of the CAE Rev.3). Bearing in mind the very specific characteristics of Financial and Insurance Activities (Section K), which are quite different from those belonging to the non-financial universe, specific indicators are created for this subset.
Business Register (BR):
The national business registers (BR) serve as the sources for the enterprise characteristics. No samples are drawn from the registers, but the full registers are processed. Some differences in the coverage among the countries can occur. Different administrative sources depending on national law, as well as surveys, are used to update the business registers, and in some countries VAT thresholds for registration apply.
18.2. Frequency of data collection
Annually for the collection of TEC data.
Monthly for the collection of ITGS.
Annually for the collection of SBS.
18.3. Data collection
Collection of international trade in goods data
For intra EU trade, all traders whose annual Intra-EU trade value is above the Intrastat exemption threshold are liable to submit an Intrastat declaration on a monthly basis within a fixed deadline, using the various media available (in paper or electronic form). All enterprises are legally required to provide information on their total sales and purchases to and from other EU countries on their VAT returns, this information is used to compile missing data (namely Intra-EU traders below the Intrastat exemption threshold and missing or incomplete Intrastat declarations). Specific movements (namely electricity transactions, imports of used vehicles and data from customs declarations of Intra-EU movements) are compiled using other specific sources.
For extra-EU trade, the data source is the customs declaration submitted by enterprises and, in some cases, by private individuals involved in an international transaction of goods with a non-EU country. The customs declaration may be in paper form — the Single Administrative Document (SAD) — but is most commonly in electronic format.
Collection of data for the Business Statistics
Collection of data for the SBS:
Collection of data SBS results from a process of statistical data integration that covers enterprises and is based on administrative data, with an emphasis on Simplified Business Information (IES). This data is complemented with information collected from sole proprietors and independent workers from the Ministry of Finance and from Statistics Portugal’s Business Register.
Collection of data for the Business Register:
The maintenance of business registers is normally based on the effective use of various administrative and statistical data sources. The frequency of updating the business registers depends on the kind of unit, the variable considered, the size of the unit and the source generally used for the update. As a general rule, key characteristics such as economic/stratification variables should be updated annually. Characteristics which are considered to evolve rapidly or are regarded as key units by users should be updated more frequently. Examples include large and complex units and units classified to economic activities which are known to change frequently.
18.4. Data validation
TEC data transmitted to Eurostat have passed the following quality checks:
Intra-dataset checks: completeness of each dataset and inter-record consistency checks;
Inter-dataset checks: consistency of trade values and numbers of enterprises related to similar combinations across the datasets;
Intra-domain check: check of the coherence between trade values published in TEC datasets and ITGS.
TEC data is compiled by linking, by enterprise, international trade in goods statistics (ITGS) and business statistics (BS), following the concepts, reference population, classifications and breakdowns defined by Eurostat.
In intra-EU trade, TEC data includes adjustments for non-response by enterprise and trade below thresholds by enterprise (procedure only implemented for the TEC compilation).
18.5.1. Imputation - rate
No imputation made by Eurostat
18.6. Adjustment
Not applicable
18.6.1. Seasonal adjustment
Not applicable.
All reference documents and relevant information on TEC data can be found on the Overview page of the ‘International trade in goods’ section on Eurostat website.
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.
31 August 2024
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 estimate the number of traders and trade value of the smallest traders which are exempted from Intrastat reporting. These traders account for a limited share of the trade value – at most 3 % of the total value of the intra-EU exports and 7 % of the total value of the intra-EU imports – but in terms of number of enterprises they consist of 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 refers 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).
A self-employed person is the sole or joint owner of the unincorporated enterprise (one that has not been incorporated i.e. formed into a legal corporation) in which he/she works, unless they are also in paid employment which is their main activity (in that case, they are considered to be employees). Self-employed people also include:
unpaid family workers;
outworkers (who work outside the usual workplace, such as at home);
workers engaged in production done entirely for their own final use or own capital formation, either individually or collectively
Until reference year 2021 only the number of employees was used to determine enterprise size classes.
The number of employees is a mandatory variable to be recorded in the business registers for each enterprise and local unit. According to the Business Register Regulation, the intention is to use the situation at the end of the year. However, as the end date approach is not harmonised the annual average can also be used as reference.
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.
The statistical unit is the legal unit.The Business Register Regulation defines the link between the legal unit and the enterprise. The same regulation also establishes a link between the business registers and the registers of intra- and extra- EU trade operators through a common unit of reference, namely the legal unit. The enterprise is the statistical unit to be used, which means that trade data must be linked to characteristics available in the Business Register for the enterprise through the legal unit. In this way, trade data are connected with the characteristics of an enterprise and they can be reported in terms of the economic activity and number of employees of the whole enterprise concerned.
In Portugal however, the statistical unit is a trader, i.e. the legal unit, therefore business characteristics, such as economic activity, number of employees and others reflect characteristics of the legal unit.
The statistical population comprises all the traders involved in intra- and extra-EU trade flows.
The data for Portugal contains the population defined in the “European business statistics compilers' manual for trade by enterprise characteristics” ( BR, PI, NRT, NCL , U and BRM).
There is a small number of trade carried out by non-resident traders which cannot be identified or linked with the Business register.
Data disseminated by Eurostat only refers 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. Are out of scope:
Adjustments for missing trade (trade below threshold and non-response in intra-EU trade; missing, delayed and incomplete records for extra-EU trade);
Trade carried out by non-resident traders as such traders cannot be associated to an enterprise via the national Business Register; and
Trade carried out by private individuals.
Portugal
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.
See item 13.1 ‘Accuracy - overall’ of the related metadata ‘ext_tec_sims - International trade in goods – trade by enterprise characteristics (TEC)’.
Trade value in thousands euros
Number of enterprises
TEC data is compiled by linking, by enterprise, international trade in goods statistics (ITGS) and business statistics (BS), following the concepts, reference population, classifications and breakdowns defined by Eurostat.
In intra-EU trade, TEC data includes adjustments for non-response by enterprise and trade below thresholds by enterprise (procedure only implemented for the TEC compilation).
International trade in goods statistics by enterprise characteristics are derived from two data sources: the monthly international trade in goods data and data taken from the business statistics.
International trade in goods data are collected on the basis of:
For the intra-EU trade: Intrastat declarations from the traders whose annual Intra-EU trade value is above the Intrastat exemption threshold and who are then liable to submit an Intrastat declaration; and the missing data estimated (includes Intra-EU traders below the Intrastat exemption threshold, missing or incomplete Intrastat declarations and specific movements) in order to reach trade in goods data covering 100% of the trade but those data are not part of TEC data disseminated on Eurostat website.
For the extra-EU trade: administrative forms, the customs declarations.
Business statistics serve as the sources for the enterprise characteristics, namely:
Structural Business Statistics (SBS):
The main objective of SBS consists in the characterisation of the economic and financial behaviour of the enterprises. In that sense, SBS is responsible for producing a set of variables and indicators, mainly based in the information provided in the financial statements. The scope of the economic activity under analysis encompasses the enterprises classified under sections A to S of the Portuguese Classification of Economic Activities (CAE Rev.3), with the exception of Public Administration and Defence; Compulsory Social Security (Section O of the CAE Rev.3). Bearing in mind the very specific characteristics of Financial and Insurance Activities (Section K), which are quite different from those belonging to the non-financial universe, specific indicators are created for this subset.
Business Register (BR):
The national business registers (BR) serve as the sources for the enterprise characteristics. No samples are drawn from the registers, but the full registers are processed. Some differences in the coverage among the countries can occur. Different administrative sources depending on national law, as well as surveys, are used to update the business registers, and in some countries VAT thresholds for registration apply.
Statistics by enterprise characteristics are updated once a year with a new reference year. Historical data are exceptionally revised.
See item 14.1 ‘Timeliness’ of the related metadata ‘ext_tec_sims - International trade in goods – trade by enterprise characteristics (TEC)’.
See item 15.1 ‘Comparability - geographical’ of the related metadata ‘ext_tec_sims - International trade in goods – trade by enterprise characteristics (TEC)’.
The major methodological change in recent years relates to the harmonisation among Member States of the treatment of non-resident traders. Since the reference year 2018 the non-resident traders should be systematically allocated to a specific population and excluded from TEC data sets.
In Portugal this change has affected the comparability of 2018 data with the previous years as concerns the total number and the structure of traders.
It has to be noted that the data published on the Portuguese national website includes non-resident traders in TEC population, therefore the results are different and not comparable.
