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) published by Eurostat measure the value and quantity of goods traded between the EU Member States (intra-EU trade) and goods traded by the EU Member States with non-EU countries (extra-EU trade). ‘Goods’ means all movable property including electricity. ‘European’ means that the statistics 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 for extra-EU trade. The invoicing currency is the currency in which the commercial invoice is drawn up. Data by invoicing currency can be used for instance to explore the use of the euro in the EU’s international trade, to compare it with the role of the United States dollar (USD) or to analyse the role of the euro in the euro area and in the EU. 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;
partner 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 (Publications).
3.3. Coverage - sector
The scope of TIC data is the same as for monthly detailed data on extra-EU trade in goods. They cover all goods entering (imports) or leaving (exports) the national statistical territory and for which the trading partner is a non-EU country. Note that the statistical territory of Ireland 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 ‘extra-EU’.
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). Additionally, since 2021 reference period, TIC data are available also by 10 individual SITC sections.
Currency – The invoicing currency is the currency in which the commercial invoice is drawn up. Its definition is provided by the customs legislation. The following invoicing currencies or groups of currencies are considered for data transmission to Eurostat:
Common currencies to be reported whatever the data source used:
Euro (‘EUR’)
UK pound sterling (‘GBP’)
US dollar (‘USD’)
National currencies of non-euro area Member States (‘XU3’)
Other not specified currencies (‘_X’)
Unknown currency (‘_U’)
Total ‘_T’
Additional invoicing currency breakdown since the data source is the customs declaration:
Brazilian real (‘BRL’)
Canadian dollar (‘CAD’)
Swiss franc (‘CHF’)
Chinese yuan renminbi (‘CNY’)
Indian rupee (‘INR’)
Japanese yen (‘JPY’)
South Korean won (‘KRW’)
Mexican peso (‘MXN’)
Norwegian krone (‘NOK’)
Russian rouble (‘RUB’)
Singapore dollar (‘SGD’)
Turkish lira (‘TRY’)
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.
The set of collected currencies has been evolving over time. Initially, only 5 currencies were collected (EUR, USD, _X, XU3 and _T). Since 2020 reference year, _U currency was added. The full set mentioned above has been collected only since 2021 reference year.
3.5. Statistical unit
All VAT registered businesses who export or import goods. VIMA receives a file every two months from the Revenue Commissioners which contains a list of all VAT registered companies and uses this list to update its own register.
3.6. Statistical population
The statistical population comprise all VAT registered businesses who export or import goods.
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 extra-EU 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 Irish National Customs Authority.
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
Implementing Regulation (EU) 2021/1225 specifying the arrangements for the data exchanges and amending Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/1197, as regards the Member State of extra-Union export and the obligations of reporting units
Delegated Regulation (EU) 2021/1704 further specifying the details for the statistical information to be provided by tax and customs authorities and amending Annexes V and VI of Regulation (EU) 2019/2152
Extra-EU trade legislation (or Extrastat) - legislation applicable up to 1 January 2022
Basic Act: 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
Confidentiality policy in the Central Statistics Office is governed by the Statistics Act 1993, which guarantees confidentiality for any provider of statistical information. No company or individual can be separately identified in any CSO publication. Trade in Goods Exports and Imports operates a system of passive confidentiality. Confidentiality applies only where a trader requests that its data be treated as confidential and where it would be possible to identify that trader if full data was disclosed. The value of such confidential trade is included in the overall total value of imports or exports. However, the value, quantity or country of transaction maybe concealed at the detailed level.
7.2. Confidentiality - data treatment
The TIC data are the results of aggregation of large volumes of customs data. Due to the high level of aggregation the issue of confidentiality does not arise.
8.1. Release calendar
TIC data are only disseminated by Eurostat. See item 8.1 ‘Release calendar’ of the related metadata ‘ext_tic - International trade in goods – trade by invoicing currency (TIC)’ for more details.
8.2. Release calendar access
TIC data are only disseminated by Eurostat. See item 8.2 ‘Release calendar access’ of the related metadata ‘ext_tic - International trade in goods – trade by invoicing currency’ for more details.
8.3. Release policy - user access
TIC data are only disseminated by Eurostat. See item 8.3 ‘Release policy - user access’ of the related metadata ‘ext_tic - International trade in goods – trade by invoicing currency’ for more details.
TIC data are only disseminated by Eurostat. See item 9 ‘Frequency of dissemination’ of the related metadata ‘ext_tic - International trade in goods – trade by invoicing currency’ for more details.
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. See item 10.3 ‘Dissemination format - online database’ of the related metadata ‘ext_tic - International trade in goods – trade by invoicing currency’ for more details.
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.
See item 11.2 ‘Quality management - assessment' of the related metadata ‘ext_tic - International trade in goods – trade by invoicing currency’ for more details.
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.
The European ITGS benefit from well-established data collection systems supported by effective validation and compilation tools. In the case of TIC data, the data are received from customs authorities and are therefore considered to be a complete record of all transactions.
13.2. Sampling error
International trade in goods statistics are not collected via samples and so are not impacted by sampling errors. Extra-EU trade data are based on the records of trade transactions in customs declarations and are so considered to be of administrative source.
13.2.1. Sampling error - indicators
Not applicable.
13.3. Non-sampling error
Estimates for missing extra-EU trade – Theoretically, the problem of late or non-response should not exist for extra-EU trade data as Extrastat, the data collection system, is based on customs declarations. Nevertheless, estimates may be still necessary to compensate for delayed or incomplete customs records. It should also be noted that, for simplification purposes, the reporting countries are allowed to compile less detailed information for transactions below the statistical threshold of EUR 1 000 and 1 000 kilograms.
Asymmetries exist between Irish trade data and many other Member States. Resources, time constraints and competing priorities prevent the CSO from carrying out any major investigative work on this issue in order to find the exact magnitude or the reasons behind the asymmetries.
15.1.1. Asymmetry for mirror flow statistics - coefficient
Not applicable.
15.2. Comparability - over time
There are no time series breaks from 1993 to date in EXTRASTAT data. The only changes relate to the definition of the intra- versus extra-EU areas following Croatia's adhesion to the EU in 2013 (from extra-EU27 to extra-EU28 partner areas), and the UK leaving the EU, in 2020 and the single market in 2021.
15.2.1. Length of comparable time series
Comparable TIC data are available for the years 2010 – 2024. Note: The time series is available since 2010 according to mandatory bi-annual compilation and delivery of TIC-data as well as the additional voluntary compilation and delivery of TIC-data for years 2017, 2019 and 2021.
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
See item 15.4 ‘Coherence - internal' of the related metadata ‘ext_tic - International trade in goods – trade by invoicing currency’ for more details.
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 Authorities, which is considered as minor given the small number of records.
17.1. Data revision - policy
Trade figures are subject to revision on the incorporation of late returns and corrections made by traders. When the preliminary results for a month are published, the results for months t-1 and t-6 are revised.
17.2. Data revision - practice
Major revisions are generally related to Aircraft trade, and are due to information on trade in aircraft being made available to us subsequent to the publication of the original data. These are generally companies who have not yet been captured in the Intrastat survey, or who have traded aircraft with Extra-EU countries, and have not completed a SAD form as the aircraft has not entered the country.
TIC data is required before the data for the reporting year has been fully finalized, however there are no revisions to currency reported on SADs and therefore we do not expect any revisions to currency ratios reported on TIC.
17.2.1. Data revision - average size
Not available.
18.1. Source data
TIC data are mainly derived from the combination of two types of information collected via customs declarations:
Trade in goods transactions; and
The invoicing currency associated to these transactions.
The CSO also conducts a separate survey of Aircraft Leasing Companies to monitor the trade in aircraft under economic ownership. This data does not contain information on invoicing currency. Therefore the currency is unknown, and allocated on a pro-rata basis based on received data
18.2. Frequency of data collection
Collection of trade in goods data: every month via customs declarations
Collection of the invoicing currency: every month via customs declarations
18.3. Data collection
Collection of trade in goods data
The data is collected from Single Administrative Documents collected by customs authorities.
Collection of the invoicing currency
The invoicing currency is the currency in which the commercial invoice is drawn up. This information is collected by the Customs National Authorities though SAD.
18.4. Data validation
The compilation process in the Trade section involves a two step process which is applied to each of the four monthly Extrastat data files.
Step 1 generates query files which are edited and forwarded to VIMA for follow-up with the traders.
Step2 incorporates revisions to the data. Following the processing, data are transferred to EUROSTAT, published in the monthly the Statistical Release and Trade Statistics book and made available on the CSO’s Databank.
TIC data is validated at an aggregate level, comparisons are made with historical data to look for significant differences.
Irish 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:
The editing method applied examines the data for anomalies by checking the consistency of the figures against previous and other returns at micro and macro level. Companies are contacted by VIMA if necessary to confirm the accuracy of their figures. Extra-EU trade figures are based on the completion of SAD’s by traders. No imputation is needed because the system is a census of traders rather than a sample survey. The figures are collected by the Customs AEP system and forwarded to VIMA and then to the CSO. Non-EU trade in goods by parcel post, not the subject of customs entries, is also estimated each month, based on information provided by private courier companies and Revenue Office (Customs) staff located in postal depots around the country. No grossing is necessary for the compilation of extra-EU trade data because all traders are covered by the SADs collected by the Customs. Once the estimates are generated for non-response and below threshold data, the aggregate outputs are aggregated, computed and published by the CSO.
Where currency data is not available the currency is allocated on a pro-rata basis from received data as per Eurostat recommendations. The majority of data which does not have currency available is due to additions of aircraft transactions due to change of ownership. These are not available on Customs documentation, but come from alternative data sources, and do not have data on invoicing currency available.
At European level:
The share of each invoicing currency in the imports and exports of Ireland is calculated on the basis of the transmitted trade values.
18.5.1. Imputation - rate
At national level:
Imputation of invoicing currency was 3.6% of total trade value. This is largely attributable to the inclusion of aircraft on a change of ownership basis, for which invoicing currency is not available.
At European level:
No imputation is made by Eurostat.
18.6. Adjustment
Not applicable.
18.6.1. Seasonal adjustment
Not applicable.
International trade in goods statistics (ITGS) published by Eurostat measure the value and quantity of goods traded between the EU Member States (intra-EU trade) and goods traded by the EU Member States with non-EU countries (extra-EU trade). ‘Goods’ means all movable property including electricity. ‘European’ means that the statistics 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 for extra-EU trade. The invoicing currency is the currency in which the commercial invoice is drawn up. Data by invoicing currency can be used for instance to explore the use of the euro in the EU’s international trade, to compare it with the role of the United States dollar (USD) or to analyse the role of the euro in the euro area and in the EU. 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;
partner country;
reference period;
trade flows;
product; and
currency.
5 November 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 ‘extra-EU’.
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). Additionally, since 2021 reference period, TIC data are available also by 10 individual SITC sections.
Currency – The invoicing currency is the currency in which the commercial invoice is drawn up. Its definition is provided by the customs legislation. The following invoicing currencies or groups of currencies are considered for data transmission to Eurostat:
Common currencies to be reported whatever the data source used:
Euro (‘EUR’)
UK pound sterling (‘GBP’)
US dollar (‘USD’)
National currencies of non-euro area Member States (‘XU3’)
Other not specified currencies (‘_X’)
Unknown currency (‘_U’)
Total ‘_T’
Additional invoicing currency breakdown since the data source is the customs declaration:
Brazilian real (‘BRL’)
Canadian dollar (‘CAD’)
Swiss franc (‘CHF’)
Chinese yuan renminbi (‘CNY’)
Indian rupee (‘INR’)
Japanese yen (‘JPY’)
South Korean won (‘KRW’)
Mexican peso (‘MXN’)
Norwegian krone (‘NOK’)
Russian rouble (‘RUB’)
Singapore dollar (‘SGD’)
Turkish lira (‘TRY’)
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.
The set of collected currencies has been evolving over time. Initially, only 5 currencies were collected (EUR, USD, _X, XU3 and _T). Since 2020 reference year, _U currency was added. The full set mentioned above has been collected only since 2021 reference year.
All VAT registered businesses who export or import goods. VIMA receives a file every two months from the Revenue Commissioners which contains a list of all VAT registered companies and uses this list to update its own register.
The statistical population comprise all VAT registered businesses who export or import goods.
Ireland
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 Irish National Customs Authority.
The reference years for which TIC data are disseminated result from the aggregation of monthly figures from January to December.
The European ITGS benefit from well-established data collection systems supported by effective validation and compilation tools. In the case of TIC data, the data are received from customs authorities and are therefore considered to be a complete record of all transactions.
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 extra-EU imports and exports.
At national level:
The editing method applied examines the data for anomalies by checking the consistency of the figures against previous and other returns at micro and macro level. Companies are contacted by VIMA if necessary to confirm the accuracy of their figures. Extra-EU trade figures are based on the completion of SAD’s by traders. No imputation is needed because the system is a census of traders rather than a sample survey. The figures are collected by the Customs AEP system and forwarded to VIMA and then to the CSO. Non-EU trade in goods by parcel post, not the subject of customs entries, is also estimated each month, based on information provided by private courier companies and Revenue Office (Customs) staff located in postal depots around the country. No grossing is necessary for the compilation of extra-EU trade data because all traders are covered by the SADs collected by the Customs. Once the estimates are generated for non-response and below threshold data, the aggregate outputs are aggregated, computed and published by the CSO.
Where currency data is not available the currency is allocated on a pro-rata basis from received data as per Eurostat recommendations. The majority of data which does not have currency available is due to additions of aircraft transactions due to change of ownership. These are not available on Customs documentation, but come from alternative data sources, and do not have data on invoicing currency available.
At European level:
The share of each invoicing currency in the imports and exports of Ireland is calculated on the basis of the transmitted trade values.
TIC data are mainly derived from the combination of two types of information collected via customs declarations:
Trade in goods transactions; and
The invoicing currency associated to these transactions.
The CSO also conducts a separate survey of Aircraft Leasing Companies to monitor the trade in aircraft under economic ownership. This data does not contain information on invoicing currency. Therefore the currency is unknown, and allocated on a pro-rata basis based on received data
TIC data are only disseminated by Eurostat. See item 9 ‘Frequency of dissemination’ of the related metadata ‘ext_tic - International trade in goods – trade by invoicing currency’ for more details.
See concepts 14.1.1 and 14.1.2.
Asymmetries exist between Irish trade data and many other Member States. Resources, time constraints and competing priorities prevent the CSO from carrying out any major investigative work on this issue in order to find the exact magnitude or the reasons behind the asymmetries.
There are no time series breaks from 1993 to date in EXTRASTAT data. The only changes relate to the definition of the intra- versus extra-EU areas following Croatia's adhesion to the EU in 2013 (from extra-EU27 to extra-EU28 partner areas), and the UK leaving the EU, in 2020 and the single market in 2021.
