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.
State Statistical Office of the Republic of North Macedonia
1.2. Contact organisation unit
International trade in goods
1.3. Contact name
Confidential because of GDPR
1.4. Contact person function
Confidential because of GDPR
1.5. Contact mail address
Dame Gruev 4, 1000 Skopje, Republic of North Macedonia
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
13 May 2025
2.2. Metadata last posted
13 May 2025
2.3. Metadata last update
13 May 2025
3.1. Data description
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; and
product.
3.2. Classification system
Product classification The Standard International Trade Classification (SITC Rev.4). TIC data are based on the section level.Under the Extrastat legislation, 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). The new EBS Regulation requires SITC sections 0 to 9, as well as division 33, to be reported individually.
Country classification List of countries - alpha 2 code. TIC data are only disseminated at an aggregated partner level ‘world’.
3.3. Coverage - sector
The scope of TIC data is the same as for montly detailed data.They cover all goods entering (imports) or leaving (exports) the statistical territory of Republic of North Macedonia. The statistical teritory of the country correspodend 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 – This is the last known country of destination for exports and the country of origin for imports.
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). Up to reference period 2020 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).
Data for the reference period 2021 and 2022 are process acording the EBS Regulation.The new EBS Regulation requires SITC sections 0 to 9, as well as division 33, to be reported individually.The new EBS Regulation requires SITC sections total trade:
commodities and transactions not classified elsewhere in the SITC: code ‘SITC9’;
and oil according to SITC division 33: code ‘SITC33’.
Total trade covers SITC sections 0 to 9.
Division 33 is to be reported separately under SITC33, and should also be included in SITC3.
Currency – The invoicing currency is the currency in which the commercial invoice is drawn up in digital custom declaration.Up to reference period 2020 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;
unknown (only since 2020).
Under the EBS legislation (since 2021), trade flows shall be broken down into the following invoicing currencies: Currencies already required under Extrastat:
Euro,
National currencies of EU Member States not belonging to the euro area,
US dollar,
Other not specified currencies,
Unknown currency.
Additional invoicing currency breakdown:
national currency of the reporting country MKD;
additional currencies that are defined according to the data sources used to compile TIC statistics:
UK pound; Brazilian real, Canadian dollar, Swiss franc, Chinese renminbi-yuan, Indian rupee,Japanese yen, South Korean won, Mexican peso, Norwegian krone, Russian rouble,Singapore dollar, Turkish lira.
For compilation the detailed data we used the custom declaration.
3.5. Statistical unit
The statistical unit is any natural and legal person lodging a customs declaration in the reporting country 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 National Customs Authority.
3.7. Reference area
Republic of North Macedonia.
3.8. Coverage - Time
TIC data disseminated by Eurostat. See document TIC Quality indicators. TIC data disseminated at national level, for the referent period since 2013 onwards.
3.9. Base period
Not applicable.
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. For data dissemination – Share of each invoicing currency in world imports and exports.
The reference period for the TIC data is the calendar year.
6.1. Institutional Mandate - legal acts and other agreements
National: Law on State Statistics (“Official Gazette of the Republic of Macedonia” No. 54/97, 21/07, 51/11, 104/13, 42/14, 92/15, 27/16, and 83/18, 220/18, 31/20), Programme of Statistical Surveys 2018-2022 (“Official Gazette of the Republic of Macedonia” No. 20/13, 24/14 and 13/15 and 7/16, 22/18 and 224/18 and 29/23). International: Regulation General statistical legislation. Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council on European statistics. Legislation applicable as of 1 January 2022. Regulation (EU) 2019/2152 on European business statistics:
Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/1197 laying down technical specifications and arrangements pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2019/2152;
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.
6.2. Institutional Mandate - data sharing
Not applicable.
7.1. Confidentiality - policy
Individual data are protected by the Law on State Statistics. Data collected with statistical surveys from the reporting units or indirectly from administrative or other sources are confidential data and are used only for statistical purposes. Results from the statistical processing may also generate information considered as confidential, for example: anonymised individual data, tables with low level of aggregation, as well as unreleased data. The Policy on Statistical Confidentiality www.stat.gov.mk/pdf/PolitikaZaDoverlivost.pdf contains the basic principles used in the SSO.
Regulation (EC) No 2019/2152 of the European Parliament and of the Council.
7.2. Confidentiality - data treatment
As ITGS in general, TIC data are compiled according the passive confidentiality apllied in detaled data. Data by invoicing currency are not detailed enough to make it possible to identify a specific trader. Therefore no specific data treatment applies.
8.1. Release calendar
Data are released in accordance with the Release Calendar, which is published on the web site of the State Statistical Office. The Release Calendar is prepared annually before the beginning of each year and is updated quarterly. Publising the TIC data is in close link with the publising the press realise of final detaled data.Few days after the publication of the detaled data TIC dataset are prepared and disseminated in a national web database (MAKSTAT database).
In accordance with the dissemination policy, all users have equal access to statistical data at the same time. Data are released on the web site at the same time for all users, which are informed with the Release Calendar, and no user has privileged access. TIC data are disseminates in national web database (MAKSTAT database).
Trade by invoicing currency (TIC) data are updated once a year with a new reference year.
The commitment of the SSO to ensuring quality of products and services is described in the Law on State Statistics, the Strategy of the State Statistical Office and the Quality Policy of the State Statistical Office, as well as in the continuous efforts for harmonisation with the European Statistics Code of Practice. The main aspects and procedures for quality management in the phases and sub-phases of the Statistical Business Process Model, as well as the good practices for ensuring quality are documented in the internal document called “Guide for ensuring quality of statistical processes”. Input and output metadata, as well as relevant quality indicators for certain sub-processes are described in the document “Guide for survey managers”.
11.2. Quality management - assessment
The State Statistical Office carries out statistical activities in accordance with the Statistical Business Process Model, which is based on the international model - Generic Statistical Business Process Model (GSBPM). The application of this model and international standards in statistical production ensures a high level of accuracy and comparability of data.
12.1. Relevance - User Needs
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. The main users of TIC data are Ministry of finance and Central bank
12.2. Relevance - User Satisfaction
TIC data on national level are produced every year. Main users express the good level of satisfaction as regards the data coverage and timeliness. The State Statistical Office conducts the User Satisfaction Survey at the domain level. This Survey is conducted every three years and the last one was in 2019.
12.3. Completeness
About the data according the Regulation (EU) 2019/2152 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 November 2019 on European business statistics, SSO has a full coverage.
As the invoicing currency is a manadatory data in custom declaration the accuracy of the TIC data is on high level.
13.2. Sampling error
Not applicable.
13.2.1. Sampling error - indicators
Not applicable.
13.3. Non-sampling error
Data control done by checking data accuracy, reliability and completeness shows no error due to the fact that all nessesary variables are mandatory in digital custom declaration.
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 Compilers guide on European statistics on international trade in goods.
15.1.1. Asymmetry for mirror flow statistics - coefficient
Not applicable.
15.2. Comparability - over time
There were no changes, so the data are comparable in the entire series from 2013 to 2024.
15.2.1. Length of comparable time series
Time series from 2013 to 2024.
15.3. Coherence - cross domain
The intra-domain checks carried out by Eurostat before any data dissemination ensure the coherence between the trade values published in the TIC dataset and trade values coming from detailed trade in goods statistics.
15.3.1. Coherence - sub annual and annual statistics
Not applicable.
15.3.2. Coherence - National Accounts
Not applicable.
15.4. Coherence - internal
Internal coherence of data is ensured.
The cost of TIC data only relates to the compilation steps carried out by SSO in Microsoft access.
17.1. Data revision - policy
TIC data revision policy is in a close correlation with the detailed ITGS data revisions. Revisions are not foreseen for TIC data if they have passed all the validity checks and are approved by Eurostat.
17.2. Data revision - practice
Data revision partice is defined in revision polycy for the ITGS detailed data.
17.2.1. Data revision - average size
Not available.
18.1. Source data
TIC data are derived from the annual final detailed data.
18.2. Frequency of data collection
Annual.
18.3. Data collection
Collection of trade in goods data. Every monthly transmission from the CA, the xml data from the digital custom declaration for the recent period include also the revised data for the previous month and year. Period of transmission is not later than the 15th of the reference month. Collection of the invoicing currency. The invoicing currency is a manadatory data in custom declaration.
18.4. Data validation
TIC data 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 detailed trade in goods data.
18.5. Data compilation
The process of data compilation, starts with defining the requirments in EBS compilers’ manual for international trade in goods statistics – trade by invoicing currency. After application of the validation rules (checks of the accuracy, data completeness, compilation the time series) value by invoicing currency is calculated.
18.5.1. Imputation - rate
At national level:
No imputation.
At European level:
No imputation is made by Eurostat.
18.6. Adjustment
Not applicable.
18.6.1. Seasonal adjustment
Not applicable.
No further comments.
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; and
product.
13 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 – This is the last known country of destination for exports and the country of origin for imports.
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). Up to reference period 2020 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).
Data for the reference period 2021 and 2022 are process acording the EBS Regulation.The new EBS Regulation requires SITC sections 0 to 9, as well as division 33, to be reported individually.The new EBS Regulation requires SITC sections total trade:
commodities and transactions not classified elsewhere in the SITC: code ‘SITC9’;
and oil according to SITC division 33: code ‘SITC33’.
Total trade covers SITC sections 0 to 9.
Division 33 is to be reported separately under SITC33, and should also be included in SITC3.
Currency – The invoicing currency is the currency in which the commercial invoice is drawn up in digital custom declaration.Up to reference period 2020 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;
unknown (only since 2020).
Under the EBS legislation (since 2021), trade flows shall be broken down into the following invoicing currencies: Currencies already required under Extrastat:
Euro,
National currencies of EU Member States not belonging to the euro area,
US dollar,
Other not specified currencies,
Unknown currency.
Additional invoicing currency breakdown:
national currency of the reporting country MKD;
additional currencies that are defined according to the data sources used to compile TIC statistics:
UK pound; Brazilian real, Canadian dollar, Swiss franc, Chinese renminbi-yuan, Indian rupee,Japanese yen, South Korean won, Mexican peso, Norwegian krone, Russian rouble,Singapore dollar, Turkish lira.
For compilation the detailed data we used the custom declaration.
The statistical unit is any natural and legal person lodging a customs declaration in the reporting country 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 National Customs Authority.
Republic of North Macedonia.
The reference period for the TIC data is the calendar year.
As the invoicing currency is a manadatory data in custom declaration the accuracy of the TIC data is on high level.
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. For data dissemination – Share of each invoicing currency in world imports and exports.
The process of data compilation, starts with defining the requirments in EBS compilers’ manual for international trade in goods statistics – trade by invoicing currency. After application of the validation rules (checks of the accuracy, data completeness, compilation the time series) value by invoicing currency is calculated.
TIC data are derived from the annual final detailed data.
Trade by invoicing currency (TIC) data are updated once a year with a new reference year.
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 Compilers guide on European statistics on international trade in goods.
There were no changes, so the data are comparable in the entire series from 2013 to 2024.
