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 (Implementing regulation - 2020/1470 - EN - EUR-Lex).
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 the country 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. Only the following currencies or groups of invoicing currencies are considered for data transmission to Eurostat:
euro ('EUR');
UK pound ('GBP');
US dollar ('USD');
national currencies of EU Member States not belonging to the euro area (‘XU3’);
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
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 Revenue Administration
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 for EU Member States, or in world imports and exports for EFTA and enlargement countries
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 National Revenue Administration
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
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 - 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
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.
7.2. Confidentiality - data treatment
There are no national confidentiality rules on SITC-1 digit codes. 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
TIC data is not disseminated at national level, yet. TIC data are only disseminated by Eurostat.
8.2. Release calendar access
TIC data are only disseminated by Eurostat, we do not share at national level
8.3. Release policy - user access
TIC data are only disseminated by Eurostat, we do not share at national level
TIC data are only disseminated by Eurostat.
10.1. Dissemination format - News release
TIC data are only disseminated by Eurostat.
10.2. Dissemination format - Publications
TIC data are only disseminated by Eurostat. We do not publish this data at this time.
The Extrastat regulation includes standardised quality articles. These articles are in line with the ESS Quality definition, European Statistics Code of Practice and the Regulation of European Statistics. In particular, they require the reporting countries to provide Eurostat with annual quality reports within a fixed deadline. Those reports are used for quality and compliance assessments. The following indicators are compiled for each reference year, as: statistical information required by the legislation but not or partially provided or timeliness and punctuality of TIC data.
We will ensure the completeness and accuracy of the data. Checks on the data provided are carried out by Eurostat, primarily to ensure that the transmission of the requested data meets the requirements. The data sets are complete, error-free and any outliers are confirmed with the source data, i.e. customs declarations.
11.2. Quality management - assessment
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.Currently, if necessary, TIC data are transferred to the Narodowy Bank Polski (the National Bank of Poland)
12.2. Relevance - User Satisfaction
Users express their opinions and needs through direct or indirect contact with statistics staff.
12.3. Completeness
See the publication International trade in goods – trade by invoicing currency’ for more details.
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
TIC data is available every year. There are no break in time series.
15.2.1. Length of comparable time series
Not applicable
15.3. Coherence - cross domain
See the publication 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 the publication 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 statistics, which is considered as minor given the small number of records.
17.1. Data revision - policy
TIC data are not revised because they are not disseminated at national level. The data comes from customs declarations, which means that data changes are minor.
17.2. Data revision - practice
Not available
17.2.1. Data revision - average size
Not available.
18.1. Source data
TIC data are derived from trade in goods transactions collected via customs declarations
18.2. Frequency of data collection
Collection of trade in goods data are every month via customs declarations
18.3. Data collection
The source of information on the invoicing currency 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 is in electronic format.
18.4. Data validation
Check if the currency code is filled and valid according to the currency code nomenclature, check the length of the currency code, TIC data disseminated by Eurostat passed the following quality checks. We check the data in the dataset for completeness of data and uniqueness of records, current and valid codes, consistency between records. In addition, we check the consistency between the trade values published in the TIC dataset and the trade values derived from the goods trade data.
18.5. Data compilation
At national level
Data on the invoicing currency is compiled from customs declarations
At European level:
The share of each invoicing currency in the imports and exports of the reporting country is calculated on the basis of the transmitted trade values. Additionally, Eurostat derives TIC data for the EU and the euro area as reporting entities by aggregating the trade values reported by the Member States.
18.5.1. Imputation - rate
At national level:
No imputation is made by the Statistics Poland
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) 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.
21 March 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. Only the following currencies or groups of invoicing currencies are considered for data transmission to Eurostat:
euro ('EUR');
UK pound ('GBP');
US dollar ('USD');
national currencies of EU Member States not belonging to the euro area (‘XU3’);
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.
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 Revenue Administration
Poland Extra EU trade
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 National Revenue Administration
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 extra-EU imports and exports for EU Member States, or in world imports and exports for EFTA and enlargement countries
At national level
Data on the invoicing currency is compiled from customs declarations
At European level:
The share of each invoicing currency in the imports and exports of the reporting country is calculated on the basis of the transmitted trade values. Additionally, Eurostat derives TIC data for the EU and the euro area as reporting entities by aggregating the trade values reported by the Member States.
TIC data are derived from trade in goods transactions collected via customs declarations
TIC data are only disseminated by Eurostat.
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.
TIC data is available every year. There are no break in time series.
