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.
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
Finland
3.8. Coverage - Time
2003-2023
3.9. Base period
Not applicable
Number of enterprises and employment variables are recorded in absolute figures.
Monetary data of enterprises are recorded in national currency.
calendar year 2023
6.1. Institutional Mandate - legal acts and other agreements
Anonymized microdata is accessible for research purposes only.
10.5. Dissemination format - other
Not available
10.5.1. Metadata - consultations
Not available
10.6. Documentation on methodology
Methodological guideline and statistical metadata
10.6.1. Metadata completeness - rate
Complete
10.7. Quality management - documentation
Quality guideline
11.1. Quality assurance
The following documents are the basis for qality assurance:
Commitment to support the credibility of official national statistics INS quality statement.
Code of good practice of European statistics - 2017; 2011; 2005.
The quality guide of official statistics from Romania.
Methodological guide for data editing.
11.2. Quality management - assessment
The overall assessment of data quality is good and is based on standard quality criteria
12.1. Relevance - User Needs
The main internal users are the national accounts department and other statistical departments in the NSI. Other internal users are: media, researchers and businesses.
External users are: Eurostat other international organisations.
12.2. Relevance - User Satisfaction
General user satisfaction is carried out on a multi-annual basis.
12.3. Completeness
All the requested variables are compiled and transmited
12.3.1. Data completeness - rate
Please see Table 12.3.1 in the Annex at the bottom.
13.1. Accuracy - overall
The accuracy of the data is good.
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”
Not aplicable
13.1.4. UCI Approach applied to identify the relevant population of reporting units
UCI approach is applied to identify the relevant population. Information available in the EGR are used
13.1.5. Update date (or frequency of updates) of the information regarding the country of the UCI by the “source administration”
The update is done before launching the survey
13.2. Sampling error
Not aplicable
13.2.1. Sampling error - indicators
Not applicable
13.3. Non-sampling error
Not identified
13.3.1. Coverage error
There were not identified any divergence between the frame population and the target population
13.3.1.1. Over-coverage - rate
Not aplicable
13.3.1.2. Common units - proportion
Common units are covered by both the survey and the administrative sources
13.3.1.3. Misclassification errors
Given the small number of OFATS units we did not encountered misclassification errors
13.3.1.4. Under- and over-coverage problems
The main problem regarding coverage is related to the fact that we are surveying all units under Romanian control and there might be the case that affiliates abroad are inactive. About such unit there are not information available in order to exclude them from the population frame.
13.3.2. Measurement error
No errors were identified during data collection and cause recorded values of variables that are different from the true ones.
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 were not identified any processing errors
13.3.5. Model assumption error
Not aplicable
14.1. Timeliness
OFATS statistics are calculated annually for reference year T.
Data collection takes place at t+5 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
not aplicable
14.1.2. Time lag - final result
T+21 months
14.2. Punctuality
There is not time lag between the actual delivery of the data and the target date
14.2.1. Punctuality - delivery and publication
0 days delay
15.1. Comparability - geographical
Not applicable
15.1.1. Asymmetry for mirror flow statistics - coefficient
Not applicable
15.2. Comparability - over time
Statistics are comparable or reconcilable over time.
15.2.1. Length of comparable time series
Length of time series: 2005, 2007-2023
Length of comparable time series: 2007-2023
15.2.2. Reasons and differences in concepts and measurement methods for breaks in time series
Not aplicable
15.3. Coherence - cross domain
Data are coherent with those obtained through other data sources or statistical domains
15.3.1. Coherence - sub annual and annual statistics
Not applicable
15.3.2. Coherence - National Accounts
OFATS data are send to National Accounts department upon request
15.3.3. Coherence – Foreign Direct Investment (FDI)
Checks with FDI information are carried out
15.3.4. Coherence – EuroGroups Register (EGR)
EGR is the sources of information for the NSBR
15.4. Coherence - internal
Statistics are consistent internely.
Not available
17.1. Data revision - policy
The National Institute of Statistics / Romania (INS) adopted the revision policy which defines the standard rules and the principles for statistical data revision. This revision policy is compliant with: the European Statistics Code of Practice, the European Statistical System Guidelines on the revision policy of the Principal European Economic Indicators, as well as with its annexes which comprise the principles of a common policy on European statistics revision; and with the Quality Guidelines for Romanian Official Statistics issued by INS Romania in 2009.
17.2. Data revision - practice
See Table 17.2. in the Annex at the bottom.
Data are revised in case errors are detected. The revision policy is applied.
17.2.1. Data revision - average size
Not the case
18.1. Source data
The main data sources used to identify UCI are
survey data,
SBS data
EuroGroups Register
Foreign Direct Investment data
administrative sources
statistical business register
18.1.1. Methodological approach
The method used is census survey given the number of domestically controlled enterprises with affiliates abroad.
The information used to construct the population frame is the NSBR.
18.1.2. Use of cut-off thresholds
No cut-off thresholds are used
18.2. Frequency of data collection
Data are collected annual
18.3. Data collection
Source to define your population:
Structural Business Statistics (SBS)
EuroGroups Register (EGR)
Statistical Business Register (SBR)
Economic data obtained using:
29% census survey
71 % Structural Business Statistics (SBS)
18.4. Data validation
The method used for validation of FATS data is linking several sources of data and information.
18.5. Data compilation
Data are collected on paper questionnaires and the information are edited using inhourse develeped tool.
18.5.1. Imputation - rate
Not aplicable
18.5.2. Use of a method to deal with non-response (both unit and item non-response)
There are no information to be used to impute the non-responses.
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
16 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.
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).
Finland
calendar year 2023
The accuracy of the data is good.
Number of enterprises and employment variables are recorded in absolute figures.
Monetary data of enterprises are recorded in national currency.
Data are collected on paper questionnaires and the information are edited using inhourse develeped tool.
The main data sources used to identify UCI are
survey data,
SBS data
EuroGroups Register
Foreign Direct Investment data
administrative sources
statistical business register
Annual
OFATS statistics are calculated annually for reference year T.
Data collection takes place at t+5 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.
Not applicable
Statistics are comparable or reconcilable over time.
