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.
International trade in goods statistics (ITGS) measure the value and quantity of goods traded with the rest of the world. ‘Goods’ means all movable property including electricity. ITGS published by Eurostat are compiled on the basis of the concepts and definitions set out in EU legislation.
Trade by invoicing currency (TIC) data are part of the information available. The invoicing currency is the currency in which the commercial invoice is drawn up. These statistics are very useful to central banks, including the European Central Bank, for comparing the euro with other major international currencies. These data are also used by financial market segments or foreign investors.
Statistical dimensions available for TIC data:
reporting country;
reference period;
trade flows;
product; and
currency.
3.2. Classification system
Product classification
The Standard International Trade Classification (SITC) is managed by the United Nations and correlated with the subheadings of the Harmonised System. SITC Rev. 4 comprises 2 970 basing headings which are aggregated into 262 groups, 67 divisions and 10 sections. TIC data are based on the section level complemented by the division 33 ‘oil”.
Country classification
The ‘Nomenclature of countries and territories for the external trade statistics of the Union and statistics of trade between Member States’, known as the ‘Geonomenclature’, is used to collect detailed statistics on exchanges of goods. TIC data are only disseminated at an aggregated partner level: partner ‘extra-EU’ for TIC data reported by the EU Member States and partner ‘world’ for the TIC data reported by the EFTA and enlargement countries. See the publication Geonomenclature applicable to European statistics on international trade in goods for more information.
3.3. Coverage - sector
The scope of TIC data is the same as for monthly detailed data on trade in goods. They cover all goods entering (imports) or leaving (exports) the statistical territory of Switzerland.
Certain types of goods or movements of goods (such as industrial plants, aircraft, military goods, waste products or electricity and gas) are subject to specific provisions, while others are excluded (e.g. monetary gold, means of payment which are legal tender and securities).
Note that the statistical territory of Switzerland corresponds to its customs territory.
As ITGS in general, TIC data cover all sectors of the economy.
3.4. Statistical concepts and definitions
Reporting country – Except for some specific goods like vessels and aircraft, ITGS follow the physical movements of the goods. A country should record an import when goods enter its statistical territory and an export when goods leave that territory except if those goods are in simple transit.
Partner country – At detailed level, this is the last known country of destination for exports and the country of origin for imports. However individual partner countries are not kept in the dissemination of data by invoicing currency. They are replaced by the partner area ‘World’.
Product – Goods are primarily classified by commodity code as set out in the EU Combined Nomenclature. TIC data are compiled on the basis of a correspondence table enabling the transposition of detailed data collected according to the Combined Nomenclature into the Standard International Trade Classification (SITC). TIC data are available by three product groups: Raw materials without oil (SITC sections 0-4, excluding division 33), Oil (SITC division 33) and Manufactured products (SITC sections 5-8).
Currency – The invoicing currency is the currency in which the commercial invoice is drawn up. Its definition is provided by the customs legislation. Only the following currencies or groups of invoicing currencies are considered for data transmission to Eurostat:
euro;
national currencies of EU Member States not belonging to the euro area;
US dollar;
‘other’ (i.e. aggregated group of currencies of all non-EU countries except the United States); and
'unknown'.
Note on ‘unknown’ currency: Trade for which the currency is unknown should be distributed over the individual currencies or groups of currencies proportionally to their relative share except if it is known that such a distribution would skew the data in a too significant extent. In such a case, the code UNK ‘Unknown’ could exceptionally be used.
As from 2028, we should be able to transmit all the currencies.
3.5. Statistical unit
The statistical unit is any natural and legal person lodging a customs declaration in Switzerland on the condition that the customs procedure is of statistical relevance.
3.6. Statistical population
The statistical population comprise all the legal or natural persons who lodged a customs declaration with the Federal Office for Customs and Border Security
3.7. Reference area
Switzerland
3.8. Coverage - Time
TIC data must be compiled once every two years starting with 2012 as reference year for Switzerland as a EFTA country. Note that Liechtenstein is exempted from providing TIC data. From 2024 Switerland provides the data annually.
For data transmission to Eurostat – Trade values (in national currency units) by invoicing currency. The value of traded goods is calculated at the national frontier, on a FOB (free on board) basis 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.
For data dissemination on Eurostat website – Share of each invoicing currency in world imports and exports
Theoretically, the reference period for the information on international trade in goods transactions should be the calendar month of export or import of the goods. However, in practice the reference period is generally the calendar month during which the customs declaration is accepted by the Federal Office for Customs and Border Security
The reference years for which TIC data are disseminated result from the aggregation of monthly figures from January to December.
6.1. Institutional Mandate - legal acts and other agreements
General statistical legislation
Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council on European statistics.
Extra-EU trade legislation (or Extrastat)
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.
All regulations relevant for the European statistics on international trade in goods can be found in the publication Legislation on European statistics on international trade in goods or consulted from the Legislation page of the International trade in goods section on Eurostat website. All legal texts of the EU are accessible on Eur-Lex.
6.2. Institutional Mandate - data sharing
Not applicable.
7.1. Confidentiality - policy
Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 on European statistics (recital 24 and Article 20(4)) of 11 March 2009 (OJ L 87, p. 164), stipulates the need to establish common principles and guidelines ensuring the confidentiality of data used for the production of European statistics and the access to those confidential data with due account for technical developments and the requirements of users in a democratic society.
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.
Data by invoicing currency are not detailed enough to make it possible to identify a specific trader. Therefore no specific data treatment applies.
TIC data are the results of the aggregation of real trade data. The SITC-1 digit codes are not accurate enough to disclose confidential information. There are no national confidentiality rules on SITC-1 digit codes.
8.1. Release calendar
TIC data are only disseminated by Eurostat. According to Eurostat, there is no publication calendar as such, but the practice of publishing TIC data at country level once they have passed all quality checks. If all validation rules are fulfilled, this means that they are published within a few days after the reporting country transmits the data to Eurostat. Note that this practice applies to a new reporting year as well as to revisions.
TIC data are only disseminated by Eurostat. Therefore its publication following policy applies: In line with the EU legal framework and the European Statistics Code of Practice Eurostat disseminates European statistics on Eurostat's website (see item 10 'Accessibility and clarity') respecting professional independence and in an objective, professional and transparent manner in which all users are treated equitably. The detailed arrangements are governed by the Eurostat protocol on impartial access to Eurostat data for users.
TIC data are only disseminated by Eurostat. According to Eurostat, TIC data are updated every year in April/May with a new reference year. However it should be noted that only TIC data relating to even years (e.g. 2020, 2022) are to be mandatorily provided to Eurostat. The geographical coverage might thus be incomplete for reference periods corresponding to odd years (e.g. 2021).
Revisions of historical data may occur at any time but remain exceptional.
10.1. Dissemination format - News release
TIC data are only disseminated by Eurostat. See item 10.1 ‘Dissemination format - News release’ of the related metadata ‘ext_tic - International trade in goods – trade by invoicing currency’ for more details.
10.2. Dissemination format - Publications
TIC data are only disseminated by Eurostat. See item 10.2 ‘Dissemination format - Publications’ of the related metadata ‘ext_tic - International trade in goods – trade by invoicing currency’ for more details.
10.3. Dissemination format - online database
TIC data are only disseminated by Eurostat. Therefore the TIC data can be accessed via the Data Navigation Tree, under the ‘International trade’ theme and the ‘International trade in goods’ branch. Two views are available:
Trade shares by invoicing currency with additional currency and SITC product group breakdowns (from 2021 onwards) (EXT_TIC02)
Trade shares by invoicing currency (from 2010 onwards) (EXT_LT_INVCUR)
TIC data are only disseminated by Eurostat. See item 10.6 ‘Documentation on methodology' of the related metadata ‘ext_tic - International trade in goods – trade by invoicing currency’ for more details.
10.6.1. Metadata completeness - rate
100%
10.7. Quality management - documentation
TIC data are only disseminated by Eurostat. See item 10.7 ‘Quality management - documentation’ of the related metadata ‘ext_tic - International trade in goods – trade by invoicing currency’ for more details.
11.1. Quality assurance
The Swiss Foreign Trade statistics apllies a quality management system, which is process-oriented.
11.2. Quality management - assessment
TIC data are derived from monthly detailed trade in goods data combined with additional information on invoicing currencies. Therefore their quality primarily depends on the quality of these two data sources.
12.1. Relevance - User Needs
TIC data are only disseminated by Eurostat. See item 12.1 ‘Relevance - User Needs’ of the related metadata ‘ext_tic - International trade in goods – trade by invoicing currency’ for more details.
12.2. Relevance - User Satisfaction
TIC data are only disseminated by Eurostat. See item 12.2 ‘Relevance - User Satisfaction’ of the related metadata ‘ext_tic - International trade in goods – trade by invoicing currency’ for more details.
12.3. Completeness
See item 12.3 ‘Completeness’ of the related metadata ‘ext_tic - International trade in goods – trade by invoicing currency’ for more details.
See item 13.1 ‘Accuracy - overall' of the related metadata ‘ext_tic - International trade in goods – trade by invoicing currency’ for more details.
13.2. Sampling error
Not applicable as TIC data are generally entirely derived from information collected via customs declarations.
13.2.1. Sampling error - indicators
Not applicable.
13.3. Non-sampling error
The accuracy of TIC data is primarily impacted by issues in the collection and compilation of detailed trade in goods statistics (e.g. delayed declarations, estimated trade value) combined with issues in the reporting of the invoicing currency by the trader.
From a methodological point of view, the comparability across countries is ensured by the implementation of the concepts and definitions set up by the EU legislation and by the application of the complementary guidelines provided by the European business statistics compilers' manual for international trade in goods.
15.1.1. Asymmetry for mirror flow statistics - coefficient
Not applicable.
15.2. Comparability - over time
No break in national TIC data since 2012.
15.2.1. Length of comparable time series
The time series are comparable since 2012.
15.3. Coherence - cross domain
See item 15.3 ‘Coherence - cross domain' of the related metadata ‘ext_tic - International trade in goods – trade by invoicing currency’ for more details.
15.3.1. Coherence - sub annual and annual statistics
Not applicable.
15.3.2. Coherence - National Accounts
Not applicable.
15.4. Coherence - internal
Not applicable.
TIC data are derived from information collected via customs declarations. 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 TIC data only relates to the compilation step carried out by the National Statistical Authority, which is considered as minor given the small number of records.
17.1. Data revision - policy
Revisions are not requested for TIC data unless when correcting a mistake which affects the figures considerably.
17.2. Data revision - practice
Statistics by invoicing currency are only exceptionally revised.
17.2.1. Data revision - average size
Not available.
18.1. Source data
TIC data are derived from the combination of two types of information via customs declarations for imports and exports:
Trade in goods transactions and
The invoicing currency associated to these transactions.
18.2. Frequency of data collection
Collection of trade in goods data: continuously via customs declarations
Collection of the invoicing currency: continuously via customs declarations or on an ad-hoc basis via dedicated surveys
18.3. Data collection
Collection of trade in goods data
The standard source of information on trade transactions is the customs declaration submitted by businesses 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. The customs declarations are transmitted in xml format.
Collection of the invoicing currency
The invoicing currency is the currency in which the commercial invoice is drawn up. It is mandatory information to be collected by the Customs National Authorities for imported and exported goods.
18.4. Data validation
At national level, same quality checks are conducted as for regular ITGS statistics, i.e. for data completeness, validity and credibility.
Swiss TIC data disseminated by Eurostat have passed the following quality checks:
Intra-dataset checks: completeness of the dataset and uniqueness of the records, validity of the codes, validity of code combinations across the different dimensions, inter-record consistency checks;
Intra-domain check: check of the coherence between trade values published in the TIC dataset and trade values coming from aggregated and detailed trade in goods data.
18.5. Data compilation
At national level:
TIC data are calculated on the basis of the transmitted trade values and their associated invoicing currency.
At European level:
The share of each invoicing currency in the imports and exports of Switzerland is calculated on the basis of the transmitted trade values.
18.5.1. Imputation - rate
At national level:
No imputation is made by Swiss Foreign Trade Statistics
At European level:
No imputation is made by Eurostat.
18.6. Adjustment
Not applicable.
18.6.1. Seasonal adjustment
Not applicable.
No comments.
International trade in goods statistics (ITGS) measure the value and quantity of goods traded with the rest of the world. ‘Goods’ means all movable property including electricity. ITGS published by Eurostat are compiled on the basis of the concepts and definitions set out in EU legislation.
Trade by invoicing currency (TIC) data are part of the information available. The invoicing currency is the currency in which the commercial invoice is drawn up. These statistics are very useful to central banks, including the European Central Bank, for comparing the euro with other major international currencies. These data are also used by financial market segments or foreign investors.
Statistical dimensions available for TIC data:
reporting country;
reference period;
trade flows;
product; and
currency.
26 May 2025
Reporting country – Except for some specific goods like vessels and aircraft, ITGS follow the physical movements of the goods. A country should record an import when goods enter its statistical territory and an export when goods leave that territory except if those goods are in simple transit.
Partner country – At detailed level, this is the last known country of destination for exports and the country of origin for imports. However individual partner countries are not kept in the dissemination of data by invoicing currency. They are replaced by the partner area ‘World’.
Product – Goods are primarily classified by commodity code as set out in the EU Combined Nomenclature. TIC data are compiled on the basis of a correspondence table enabling the transposition of detailed data collected according to the Combined Nomenclature into the Standard International Trade Classification (SITC). TIC data are available by three product groups: Raw materials without oil (SITC sections 0-4, excluding division 33), Oil (SITC division 33) and Manufactured products (SITC sections 5-8).
Currency – The invoicing currency is the currency in which the commercial invoice is drawn up. Its definition is provided by the customs legislation. Only the following currencies or groups of invoicing currencies are considered for data transmission to Eurostat:
euro;
national currencies of EU Member States not belonging to the euro area;
US dollar;
‘other’ (i.e. aggregated group of currencies of all non-EU countries except the United States); and
'unknown'.
Note on ‘unknown’ currency: Trade for which the currency is unknown should be distributed over the individual currencies or groups of currencies proportionally to their relative share except if it is known that such a distribution would skew the data in a too significant extent. In such a case, the code UNK ‘Unknown’ could exceptionally be used.
As from 2028, we should be able to transmit all the currencies.
The statistical unit is any natural and legal person lodging a customs declaration in Switzerland on the condition that the customs procedure is of statistical relevance.
The statistical population comprise all the legal or natural persons who lodged a customs declaration with the Federal Office for Customs and Border Security
Switzerland
Theoretically, the reference period for the information on international trade in goods transactions should be the calendar month of export or import of the goods. However, in practice the reference period is generally the calendar month during which the customs declaration is accepted by the Federal Office for Customs and Border Security
The reference years for which TIC data are disseminated result from the aggregation of monthly figures from January to December.
See item 13.1 ‘Accuracy - overall' of the related metadata ‘ext_tic - International trade in goods – trade by invoicing currency’ for more details.
For data transmission to Eurostat – Trade values (in national currency units) by invoicing currency. The value of traded goods is calculated at the national frontier, on a FOB (free on board) basis 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.
For data dissemination on Eurostat website – Share of each invoicing currency in world imports and exports
At national level:
TIC data are calculated on the basis of the transmitted trade values and their associated invoicing currency.
At European level:
The share of each invoicing currency in the imports and exports of Switzerland is calculated on the basis of the transmitted trade values.
TIC data are derived from the combination of two types of information via customs declarations for imports and exports:
Trade in goods transactions and
The invoicing currency associated to these transactions.
TIC data are only disseminated by Eurostat. According to Eurostat, TIC data are updated every year in April/May with a new reference year. However it should be noted that only TIC data relating to even years (e.g. 2020, 2022) are to be mandatorily provided to Eurostat. The geographical coverage might thus be incomplete for reference periods corresponding to odd years (e.g. 2021).
Revisions of historical data may occur at any time but remain exceptional.
See concepts 14.1.1 and 14.1.2.
From a methodological point of view, the comparability across countries is ensured by the implementation of the concepts and definitions set up by the EU legislation and by the application of the complementary guidelines provided by the European business statistics compilers' manual for international trade in goods.
