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.
Foreign Affiliates Statistics (FATS) measure the commercial presence through affiliates in foreign markets.
In country-level business statisticsoutward foreign affiliates statistics (OFATS) describe the activity of domestic affiliates of every resident ultimate controlling institutional unit which has at least one foreign affiliate and the activity of foreign-controlling enterprises resident in the compiling country (Table 15 of the EBS Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/1197).
In statistics on international activities outward foreign affiliates statistics (OFATS) describe the activity of foreign affiliates abroad ultimately controlled by an institutional unit resident in the compiling country (Table 33 of the EBS Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/1197).
Variables on country-level business activities in the OFATS data category:
Number of foreign-controlling enterprises (UCI concept) and domestic affiliates
Number of employees and self-employed persons in foreign-controlling enterprises (UCI concept) and domestic affiliates
Net turnover of foreign-controlling enterprises (UCI concept) and domestic affiliates
Variables on the international activities in the OFATS data category:
Number of enterprises abroad ultimately controlled by institutional units of the reporting country
Number of employees and self-employed persons in enterprises abroad ultimately controlled by institutional units of the reporting country
Employee benefits expense in enterprises abroad ultimately controlled by institutional units of the reporting country
Gross investment in tangible non-current assets of enterprises abroad ultimately controlled by institutional units of the reporting country
Net turnover of enterprises abroad ultimately controlled by institutional units of the reporting country
3.2. Classification system
Classification systems used in the FATS are as follows:
Statistical classification of economic activities in the European Community (NACE Rev. 2);
List of 2-digit country codes (ISO 3166-1);
Currency codes (ISO 4217).
3.3. Coverage - sector
Market producers of NACE Sections B to N and P to S.
3.4. Statistical concepts and definitions
In country-level business statisticsOutward Foreign Affiliates Statistics (OFATS) describe the activity of domestic affiliates of every resident ultimate controlling institutional unit which has at least one foreign affiliate and the activity of foreign-controlling enterprises resident in the compiling country (Table 15 of the EBS Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/1197).
In statistics on international activities Outward Foreign Affiliates Statistics (OFATS) describe the activity of foreign affiliates abroad ultimately controlled by an institutional unit resident in the compiling country (Table 33 of the EBS Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/1197).
Foreign affiliate in the framework of outward FATS is an enterprise or branch not resident in the compiling country over which an institutional unit resident in the compiling country has ultimate (direct or indirect) control.
Domestic affiliate shall mean an enterprise resident in the compiling country over which a UCI resident in the same compiling country has control.
Ultimate Controlling Institutional of a foreign affiliate (UCI) shall mean the institutional unit, proceeding up a foreign affiliate’s chain of control, which is not controlled by another institutional unit.
Control is the ability to determine the general policy of the affiliate by choosing appropriate directors, if necessary. In this context, enterprise A is deemed to be controlled by an institutional unit B when B controls, whether directly or indirectly, more than half of the shareholders' voting power or more than half of the shares.
Indirect control means that an institutional unit may have control through another affiliate which has control over enterprise A.
Active enterprise is a statistical units which at any time during the reference period was ‘enterprise’, as defined in Regulation (EEC) No 696/93, and also active during the same reference period. A statistical unit is considered to have been active during the reference period if, in said period, it either realized positive net turnover or produced outputs or had employees or performed investments.
Employees and self-employed persons are persons who work for an observation unit on the basis of a contract of employment and receives compensation in the form of wages, salaries, fees, gratuities, piecework pay or remuneration in kind; and persons who are the sole owners or joint owners of the statistical unit in which they work. Family workers and outworkers, whose income is a function of the value of the outputs of the statistical unit, are also included.
Employee benefits expense contains all expenses arising in relation with employee benefits, recognized by the statistical unit during the reference period. Those are are all forms of consideration given by the statistical unit in exchange for service rendered by employees or for the termination of employment.
Gross investment in tangible non-current assets includes all additions to tangible non-current assets, recognized as such by the statistical unit during the reference period, except any increases from revaluations or reversals of previously recognized impairment losses and from reclassifications (transfers) of other tangible non-current assets.
Net turnover consists of all income arising during the reference period in the course of ordinary activities of the statistical unit, and is presented net of all price reductions, discounts and rebates granted by it.
Description of the coverage of Special Purpose Entities (SPE): There are no Special Purpose Entities in the target population.
Description of the treatment of equally shared control: There are no equally shared controlled enterprises in the target population.
Description of the treatment of multiple minority ownership: It can be individually checked whether the minority share provides enough control. If it does, the company is added to the frame.
3.5. Statistical unit
The statistical unit of FATS is the enterprise as defined in line with the Regulation (EEC) No 696/93 on the statistical units for the observation and analysis of the production system in the Community.
3.6. Statistical population
Market producers of NACE Sections B to N and P to S (for the EBS Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/1197 table 15) and market producers of NACE Sections B to N and P to S abroad (should cover the foreign affiliates of all ultimate controlling institutional units of the reporting country) (for the EBS Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/1197 table 33).
3.7. Reference area
Hungary
3.8. Coverage - Time
Data are available from 2004 to 2005 and from 2007 to 2023.
3.9. Base period
Not applicable
Number of enterprises and employment variables are recorded in absolute figures.
Monetary data of enterprises are recorded in thousands in HUF currency.
This quality report covers the reference year 2023.
Data refer to calendar year.
6.1. Institutional Mandate - legal acts and other agreements
Primary and secondary confidentiality rules are applied.
Primary encryption is applied to aggregates where Number of enterprises (ENT) is one or two, in order to avoid disclosure.
Secondary encryption is applied so that aggregates marked as primary confidential should not be deducible.
Please see Table 7.2 in the Annex at the bottom.
8.1. Release calendar
National OFATS data are published once a year in the STADAT tables on 29 September. Release dates are announced in the Publication and revision calendar on the website of HCSO.
In line with the Community legal framework and the European Statistics Code of Practice, Hungarian Statistical Office disseminates national OFATS statistics on website (table 9.1.1.34 and 9.1.1.35) respecting professional independence and in an objective, professional and transparent manner in which all users are treated equitably. HCSO’s Dissemination and communication policy is available on its website.
Annual
10.1. Dissemination format - News release
There are no news releases.
10.2. Dissemination format - Publications
There are no publications.
10.3. Dissemination format - online database
Online database (STADAT table) is available on the website (table 9.1.1.34 and 9.1.1.35) of HCSO.
10.3.1. Data tables - consultations
Online database (STADAT table) is available on the website (table 9.1.1.34 and 9.1.1.35) of HCSO.
10.4. Dissemination format - microdata access
Micro-data are not disseminated.
10.5. Dissemination format - other
There is no other dissemination format.
10.5.1. Metadata - consultations
There is no other dissemination format.
10.6. Documentation on methodology
Documentation on methodology is available on HCSO's website.
10.6.1. Metadata completeness - rate
Not available
10.7. Quality management - documentation
There is public documentation (meta information) on HCSO's website which contains information about the main characteristics of quality data.
The processing of outward FATS data has been developed according to these regulations.
12.1. Relevance - User Needs
Users of outward FATS are: European Commission services, ministries, researchers etc.
12.2. Relevance - User Satisfaction
There are no indicators of users' satisfactions in outward FATS.
12.3. Completeness
All data are available compared with the requirements in terms of characteristics, geographical and activity breakdown, as specified in European Business Statistics (EBS Regulation (EU) 2019/2152 and EBS Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/1197).
12.3.1. Data completeness - rate
Please see Table 12.3.1 in the Annex at the bottom.
13.1. Accuracy - overall
Accuracy of statistical outputs in the general statistical sense in outward FATS is the degree of closeness of estimates to the true values.
The overall accuracy of the results (for Table 15 and Table 33) can be assessed as very good.
Unallocated geographical codes (Extra EU-27 not allocated) or unallocated activity codes (NACE activity not allocated) were not used.
Only minor under coverage error and non-response error occured.
The coverage error was due to the cut-off threshold used for foreign affiliates statistics. Reporting units with direct investment of less than 40.000 EUR are not included in the FDI target population, so our figures are slightly underestimated. We have no tools to estimate the missing part of the data.
Non-response errors included unit non-response and item non-response.
Unit non-response occurs when not all the reporting units in the sample participate in the survey, while item non-response occurs when respondents provide incomplate information.
Non-response treatment was not applied, non-responding enterprises were not included in the population.
The target population and the number of response units are very small, threfore it is not possible to form different kinds of imputation groups based on special characteristics.
13.1.1. Use of residual geographic codes (Extra EU-27 not allocated, etc.)
Please see Table 13.1.in the Annex at the bottom.
13.1.2. Use of residual activity codes (NACE activity “not allocated”)
Please see Table 13.1.in the Annex at the bottom.
13.1.3. Comments on the Extra EU-27 not allocated and on the Activity “not allocated”
There were not any value on Extra EU-27 not allocated geographical category and on the Activity “not allocated” activity code.
13.1.4. UCI Approach applied to identify the relevant population of reporting units
The main data sources used to identify the reporting units (UCIs) are FDI statistics, Business Register, publicly available sources and EGR.
The target population of reporting units (UCIs) is harmonised with the foreign direct investment (FDI) statistics.
UCI information is harmonised across enterprises belonging to the same enterprise group in our country.
Major entries and exits of reporting units (UCI) are monitored from administrative or publicly available sources (e.g. mass media, annual reports).
13.1.5. Update date (or frequency of updates) of the information regarding the country of the UCI by the “source administration”
The UCI data are based on the information available at the end of the given reference year (31st of December).
13.2. Sampling error
Not applicable. There is no separate survey for outward FATS.
13.2.1. Sampling error - indicators
Not applicable. There is no separate survey for outward FATS.
13.3. Non-sampling error
Only coverage error and non response error occured.
13.3.1. Coverage error
Under-coverage problem occured. As a cut-off threshold is used, our figures are slightly underestimated. We have no tools to estimate the missing part of the data.
13.3.1.1. Over-coverage - rate
There was no over-coverage problem.
13.3.1.2. Common units - proportion
There was no common units problem.
13.3.1.3. Misclassification errors
There was no misclassification problem.
13.3.1.4. Under- and over-coverage problems
Under-coverage: As a cut-off threshold is used, our figures are slightly underestimated. We have no tools to estimate the missing part of the data.
Over-coverage: There was no over-coverage problem.
13.3.2. Measurement error
There was no measurement problem.
13.3.3. Non response error
Unit non-response occurs when not all the reporting units in the sample participate in the survey.
Item non-response occurs when a respondent provides some, but not all, of the information requested or if the information reported is unusable (note that entirely unusable questionnaires are already counted in the unit non-response).
13.3.3.1. Unit non-response - rate
See Table 13.3.3 in the Annex at the bottom.
13.3.3.2. Item non-response - rate
See Table 13.3.3 in the Annex at the bottom.
13.3.4. Processing error
There was no processing problem.
13.3.5. Model assumption error
There was no model assumption problem.
14.1. Timeliness
OFATS statistics are calculated annually for reference year T.
Data collection takes place at t+18 months after the end of the reference period.
Data transmission to Eurostat takes place at t+20 months.
Data dissemination at national level takes place at t+21 months.
14.1.1. Time lag - first result
28 August 2025
14.1.2. Time lag - final result
28 August 2025
14.2. Punctuality
Final data has been delivered to Eurostat without delay. The delivery date was one day before the target date.
14.2.1. Punctuality - delivery and publication
Target date of data transmission: 29 August 2025.
Date of transmission of final data: 28 August 2025.
Geographical comparability with all EU Member States is therefore fully ensured.
15.1.1. Asymmetry for mirror flow statistics - coefficient
Not applicable
15.2. Comparability - over time
Outward FATS statistics can be compared over time for the corresponding time series.
15.2.1. Length of comparable time series
Length of time series: 2004-2005, 2007-2023
Length of comparable time series: 2007-2009, 2010-2023
15.2.2. Reasons and differences in concepts and measurement methods for breaks in time series
For the reference year 2004-2005 the data collection was voluntary. Because of this the response rate was low (50%).
From the reference year 2007 the data collection was compulsory and the questionnaire was combined with the annual FDI questionnaire, so the response rate is higher.
From the reference year 2010 the NACE Rev 2 are used.
15.3. Coherence - cross domain
The otuward FATS data are coherent with National Accounts, FDI, SBS and Inward FATS statistics.
15.3.1. Coherence - sub annual and annual statistics
Not applicable
15.3.2. Coherence - National Accounts
The otuward FATS data are coherent with National Accounts statistics.
15.3.3. Coherence – Foreign Direct Investment (FDI)
The outward FATS data are coherent with FDI statistics.
15.3.4. Coherence – EuroGroups Register (EGR)
The outward FATS data are coherent with EGR data.
15.4. Coherence - internal
The outward FATS data are coherent with SBS and Inward FATS statistics.
There are no costs and burden on respondents because there is no separate data collection for outward FATS. The data are coming from secondary data sources.
17.1. Data revision - policy
There are no routine revisions, the published data are final.
17.2. Data revision - practice
See Table 17.2. in the Annex at the bottom.
17.2.1. Data revision - average size
There are no routine revisions, the published data are final.
18.1. Source data
For outward FATS statistics the data of foreign affiliates abroad on investments exceeding HUF 10 million are collected by the Hungarian National Bank in the "Registry information of the final investors and non-resident partners of data suppliers involved in capital investment" and in "Annual data supply of capital investments" (OSAP No. 2381).
The share of dependence on a given source: Target population - 100% from FDI questionnaire, variables - 100% from FDI questionnaire, UCI - 100% from inward FATS database.
The data of foreign-controlling enterprises and their domestic affiliates active in Hungary comes from the SBS database. The sources of the SBS data are: data collection by questionnaire (number of persons employed is more than 19), tax returns (number of persons employed is less than 20 and the non response enterprises), Hungarian Financial Supervisory Authority (HFSA).
18.1.1. Methodological approach
The approache best describes the methodology adopted to produce outward FATS data is census survey.
It is compulsory, the legal basis / statistical framework is: Annual Report of Capital Investments (counducted by the Central Bank of Hungary).
18.1.2. Use of cut-off thresholds
The direct investment in foreign affiliates by parent companies (reporting units) is required to be more than 40.000 EUR and more than 10 percent of the total amount of the capital.
Reporting units with direct investment of less than 40.000 EUR are not included in the FDI target population (the cost of observing these units would greatly exceed the benefits from the results).
However, reporting units with less than 50 percent of the FDI in the statistical units are supposed not to have a controlling interest in the affiliates, therefore they are excluded from the Outward FATS frame as a main rule.
Cases of multiple minority ownership are individually checked in the case of large parent companies.
18.2. Frequency of data collection
annual
18.3. Data collection
Source to define your population:
… % census survey
… % sample survey
… % Structural Business Statistics (SBS)
100 % Foreign Direct Investment (FDI)
… % EuroGroups Register (EGR)
… % Statistical Business Register (SBR)
… % Administrative sources
… % Private data sources
… % Publicly available sources
… % Other data sources (indication of the sources: ...)
Economic data obtained using:
… % census survey
… % sample survey
… % Structural Business Statistics (SBS)
100 % Foreign Direct Investment (FDI)
… % EuroGroups Register (EGR)
… % Statistical Business Register (SBR)
… % Administrative sources
… % Private data sources
… % Publicly available sources
… % Other data sources (indication of the sources: ...)
18.4. Data validation
Table 33: Before outward FATS data compilation the economic variables are validated by the responsible domain. When T33 serie is ready the data are validated by InputHall.
Table 15: Before outward FATS data compilation the economic variables are validated during the SBS data processing. When T15 serie is ready the data are validated by InputHall.
18.5. Data compilation
The data source was FDI questionnaire in case of T33, and SBS database in case of T15.
There was no need to estimate characteristics or activities, as the information was available from the given sources.
18.5.1. Imputation - rate
There was no imputation when compiling outward FATS data.
18.5.2. Use of a method to deal with non-response (both unit and item non-response)
There is no non-response treatment because:
The target population and the number of response units are very small, threfore it is not possible to form different kinds of imputation groups based on special characteristics.
18.5.3. Share of estimated values
There was no estimation used for compiling outward FATS data.
Foreign Affiliates Statistics (FATS) measure the commercial presence through affiliates in foreign markets.
In country-level business statisticsoutward foreign affiliates statistics (OFATS) describe the activity of domestic affiliates of every resident ultimate controlling institutional unit which has at least one foreign affiliate and the activity of foreign-controlling enterprises resident in the compiling country (Table 15 of the EBS Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/1197).
In statistics on international activities outward foreign affiliates statistics (OFATS) describe the activity of foreign affiliates abroad ultimately controlled by an institutional unit resident in the compiling country (Table 33 of the EBS Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/1197).
Variables on country-level business activities in the OFATS data category:
Number of foreign-controlling enterprises (UCI concept) and domestic affiliates
Number of employees and self-employed persons in foreign-controlling enterprises (UCI concept) and domestic affiliates
Net turnover of foreign-controlling enterprises (UCI concept) and domestic affiliates
Variables on the international activities in the OFATS data category:
Number of enterprises abroad ultimately controlled by institutional units of the reporting country
Number of employees and self-employed persons in enterprises abroad ultimately controlled by institutional units of the reporting country
Employee benefits expense in enterprises abroad ultimately controlled by institutional units of the reporting country
Gross investment in tangible non-current assets of enterprises abroad ultimately controlled by institutional units of the reporting country
Net turnover of enterprises abroad ultimately controlled by institutional units of the reporting country
31 October 2025
In country-level business statisticsOutward Foreign Affiliates Statistics (OFATS) describe the activity of domestic affiliates of every resident ultimate controlling institutional unit which has at least one foreign affiliate and the activity of foreign-controlling enterprises resident in the compiling country (Table 15 of the EBS Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/1197).
In statistics on international activities Outward Foreign Affiliates Statistics (OFATS) describe the activity of foreign affiliates abroad ultimately controlled by an institutional unit resident in the compiling country (Table 33 of the EBS Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/1197).
Foreign affiliate in the framework of outward FATS is an enterprise or branch not resident in the compiling country over which an institutional unit resident in the compiling country has ultimate (direct or indirect) control.
Domestic affiliate shall mean an enterprise resident in the compiling country over which a UCI resident in the same compiling country has control.
Ultimate Controlling Institutional of a foreign affiliate (UCI) shall mean the institutional unit, proceeding up a foreign affiliate’s chain of control, which is not controlled by another institutional unit.
Control is the ability to determine the general policy of the affiliate by choosing appropriate directors, if necessary. In this context, enterprise A is deemed to be controlled by an institutional unit B when B controls, whether directly or indirectly, more than half of the shareholders' voting power or more than half of the shares.
Indirect control means that an institutional unit may have control through another affiliate which has control over enterprise A.
Active enterprise is a statistical units which at any time during the reference period was ‘enterprise’, as defined in Regulation (EEC) No 696/93, and also active during the same reference period. A statistical unit is considered to have been active during the reference period if, in said period, it either realized positive net turnover or produced outputs or had employees or performed investments.
Employees and self-employed persons are persons who work for an observation unit on the basis of a contract of employment and receives compensation in the form of wages, salaries, fees, gratuities, piecework pay or remuneration in kind; and persons who are the sole owners or joint owners of the statistical unit in which they work. Family workers and outworkers, whose income is a function of the value of the outputs of the statistical unit, are also included.
Employee benefits expense contains all expenses arising in relation with employee benefits, recognized by the statistical unit during the reference period. Those are are all forms of consideration given by the statistical unit in exchange for service rendered by employees or for the termination of employment.
Gross investment in tangible non-current assets includes all additions to tangible non-current assets, recognized as such by the statistical unit during the reference period, except any increases from revaluations or reversals of previously recognized impairment losses and from reclassifications (transfers) of other tangible non-current assets.
Net turnover consists of all income arising during the reference period in the course of ordinary activities of the statistical unit, and is presented net of all price reductions, discounts and rebates granted by it.
Description of the coverage of Special Purpose Entities (SPE): There are no Special Purpose Entities in the target population.
Description of the treatment of equally shared control: There are no equally shared controlled enterprises in the target population.
Description of the treatment of multiple minority ownership: It can be individually checked whether the minority share provides enough control. If it does, the company is added to the frame.
The statistical unit of FATS is the enterprise as defined in line with the Regulation (EEC) No 696/93 on the statistical units for the observation and analysis of the production system in the Community.
Market producers of NACE Sections B to N and P to S (for the EBS Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/1197 table 15) and market producers of NACE Sections B to N and P to S abroad (should cover the foreign affiliates of all ultimate controlling institutional units of the reporting country) (for the EBS Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/1197 table 33).
Hungary
This quality report covers the reference year 2023.
Data refer to calendar year.
Accuracy of statistical outputs in the general statistical sense in outward FATS is the degree of closeness of estimates to the true values.
The overall accuracy of the results (for Table 15 and Table 33) can be assessed as very good.
Unallocated geographical codes (Extra EU-27 not allocated) or unallocated activity codes (NACE activity not allocated) were not used.
Only minor under coverage error and non-response error occured.
The coverage error was due to the cut-off threshold used for foreign affiliates statistics. Reporting units with direct investment of less than 40.000 EUR are not included in the FDI target population, so our figures are slightly underestimated. We have no tools to estimate the missing part of the data.
Non-response errors included unit non-response and item non-response.
Unit non-response occurs when not all the reporting units in the sample participate in the survey, while item non-response occurs when respondents provide incomplate information.
Non-response treatment was not applied, non-responding enterprises were not included in the population.
The target population and the number of response units are very small, threfore it is not possible to form different kinds of imputation groups based on special characteristics.
Number of enterprises and employment variables are recorded in absolute figures.
Monetary data of enterprises are recorded in thousands in HUF currency.
The data source was FDI questionnaire in case of T33, and SBS database in case of T15.
There was no need to estimate characteristics or activities, as the information was available from the given sources.
For outward FATS statistics the data of foreign affiliates abroad on investments exceeding HUF 10 million are collected by the Hungarian National Bank in the "Registry information of the final investors and non-resident partners of data suppliers involved in capital investment" and in "Annual data supply of capital investments" (OSAP No. 2381).
The share of dependence on a given source: Target population - 100% from FDI questionnaire, variables - 100% from FDI questionnaire, UCI - 100% from inward FATS database.
The data of foreign-controlling enterprises and their domestic affiliates active in Hungary comes from the SBS database. The sources of the SBS data are: data collection by questionnaire (number of persons employed is more than 19), tax returns (number of persons employed is less than 20 and the non response enterprises), Hungarian Financial Supervisory Authority (HFSA).
Annual
OFATS statistics are calculated annually for reference year T.
Data collection takes place at t+18 months after the end of the reference period.
Data transmission to Eurostat takes place at t+20 months.
Data dissemination at national level takes place at t+21 months.
