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): We don't have SPE:s in OFATS.
Description of the treatment of equally shared control: We dont have equally shared control in OFATS.
Description of the treatment of multiple minority ownership: We dont have multiple minority ownership in OFATS.
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
Sweden
3.8. Coverage - Time
Data is available between 2007 and 2023
3.9. Base period
Not applicable
Number of enterprises, employment variables and personell cost are recorded in absolute figures.
Monetary data of enterprises are recorded in thousands of SEK.
Data refers to the calendar year, which in some cases corresponds to the fiscal year.
6.1. Institutional Mandate - legal acts and other agreements
In line with the Community legal framework and the European Statistics Code of Practice, Statistics Sweden disseminates national OFATS statistics on Growth Analysis website respecting professional independence and in an objective, professional and transparent manner in which all users are treated equitably.
Outward FATS follows national regulations and consultations with The Board of Swedish Industry and Commerce for Better Regulation (NNR) but doesn't follow a general quality management system.
11.2. Quality management - assessment
Part of the survey is considered to be of high quality due to access to administrative data (SBS and EGR) and a long history of gathering this data. This regards to: employees, turnover and NACE. However there are issues with personell costs and investments due to high partial non-response. Many repondents can't or won't answer for those economic variables. So those variables are often imputed using various statistical methods and are considered to be of poor quality.
12.1. Relevance - User Needs
Users of Outward FATS are:
Internal users:
Analytics (to link FATS data with other surveys)
External users:
European Commission services
International organisations
Ministries
Chambers of commerce
Trade unions
Journalists
Researchers etc.
User needs go beyond what data compilers can provide.
12.2. Relevance - User Satisfaction
In general the users are satisfied with the statistics Statistics Sweden can provide. Outward FATS are not used for national accounts.
12.3. Completeness
The survey covers all the variables required by Eurostat regulations and guidelines (Completeness in a percentage of the number of required cells = 100%).
12.3.1. Data completeness - rate
Please see Table 12.3.1 in the Annex at the bottom.
13.1. Accuracy - overall
The overall accuracy of the results can be assessed as very good. The data for Outward FATS is obtained by combining administrative information (EGR) and statistical questionnaires.
For variables where data was missing, we have implemented various means of compensating for the missing data, including imputation and weighting. Imputation methods were used to fill in missing values based on the available data and statistical models, while weighting schemes were applied to account for the missing data and ensure that the sample is representative of the population. Personell cost (48%) and gross investments (70%) are the variables most impacted by missing values.
The types of errors that may have impacted the accuracy of the data include sampling errors, non-response errors, and data processing errors. Sampling errors occur due to the random selection of samples from the population, while non-response errors occur when respondents do not provide complete or accurate information. Data processing errors occur during the processing and manipulation of the data.
In cases where contradictory information was encountered, we prioritized the information from the most reliable sources, such as administrative data. We also used statistical models to estimate the missing values and consolidate the information and conducted data validation checks to ensure that the consolidated data is consistent and accurate.
13.1.1. Use of residual geographic codes (Extra EU-27 not allocated, etc.)
Population for OFATS is compiled through EGR and improved through a survey using questionnaire. There are no extra EU-27 (D09) enterprises in these sources.
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 are no enterprises without a NACE activity in Swedish OFATS.
13.1.4. UCI Approach applied to identify the relevant population of reporting units
GGH from EGR is used as a proxy for UCI.
13.1.5. Update date (or frequency of updates) of the information regarding the country of the UCI by the “source administration”
We use the information from EGR and only update if we find obvious errors. For instance if the UCI has claimed that they are under foreign controll.
13.2. Sampling error
Survey is a census so no sampling is done.
13.2.1. Sampling error - indicators
Not applicable. Survey is a census and no extra estimations due to sampling.
13.3. Non-sampling error
Outward FATS in Sweden is a census survey mainly utilizing EGR and SBS as sources for the population and parts of the economical variables. The coverage of these sources are considered high although there could be issues with both under- and over-coverage. No statistical method is used to handle coverage errors within Outwad FATS.
13.3.1. Coverage error
There could be a coverage error in the sources that Statistics Sweden utilize in Outward FATS. This partly handled in the questionnaire which has filter questions where respondents can mark their enterprises as either not owned from Sweden or don't have subsidiaries abroad. These enterprises are removed from that years survey and the next year. However there is a risk that these enterprises don't respond and are included in the survey results with data from EGR, SBS and imputed values.
13.3.1.1. Over-coverage - rate
Not available. No such estimations are calculated.
13.3.1.2. Common units - proportion
All enterprises in EGR are included in Outward FATS.
13.3.1.3. Misclassification errors
There is a risk that enterprises respond with the wrong definition of employees. Data validation is in place to compare the swedish part of the enterprise group with the data from SBS. The same is done with affiliates abroad and EGR. However if the affiliates abroad are not present in EGR or economic data is lacking in EGR, there is no method in place.
13.3.1.4. Under- and over-coverage problems
There could be under- and over-coverage problems. Over-coverage is mostly handled in the questionnaire. For under-coverage there is a data validation process while creating the population. Enterprise groups that was in the survey the year before are checked to see if they should remain in the survey. If there are cases with enterprise groups that should be in the survey, they are added to the population and the information is passed on to the EGR team.
13.3.2. Measurement error
Outward FATS has not encountered this, but this can be handled in the post production process.
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
If processing errors are found they should be handled in the post production process.
13.3.5. Model assumption error
If model assumption errors are found they should be handled in the post production process.
14.1. Timeliness
OFATS statistics are calculated annually for reference year T.
Data collection takes place at t+16-18 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+21-22 months.
14.1.1. Time lag - first result
See info on final result since we only produce final results.
14.1.2. Time lag - final result
Final data dissemination at national level takes place at t+21-22 months.
14.2. Punctuality
Final data are disseminated and published on time.
14.2.1. Punctuality - delivery and publication
Final data are delivered and published on time.
15.1. Comparability - geographical
Not applicable
15.1.1. Asymmetry for mirror flow statistics - coefficient
Assymetry between countries are unfortunately a problem and the difference between some countries can be quite large. Statistics Sweden engage in activities to minimize this problem.
15.2. Comparability - over time
The lenght of the time series is 2007-2023.
15.2.1. Length of comparable time series
Length of comparable time series:
2007,
2008-2017
2018-2020
2021-onwards.
15.2.2. Reasons and differences in concepts and measurement methods for breaks in time series
2007: NACE Rev. 1.1 activity classification was in use. Starting from 2008 NACE Rev. 2 was implemented.
2008-2017: Starting from reference year 2018 a change of statistical unit (from legal unit to enterprise). From 2018 the source of the population was changed from Bisnode to EGR.
2018-2020: In reference year 2021 a new Regulation (EU) 2019/2152 (EBS Regulation) replaced the old FATS regulation introducing some changes such as:
extension in coverage (NACE)
change in coverage of the basic statistics (national SBS: inclusion of micro enterprises)
changes in definition of characteristics
2021 – onwards
15.3. Coherence - cross domain
OFATS use EGR as a base and should have high coherence. SBS is used for domestic economic data and should have high coherence. Other surveys aren't involved in OFATS.
15.3.1. Coherence - sub annual and annual statistics
Not applicable
15.3.2. Coherence - National Accounts
Not applicable. There is no cooperation between OFATS and National accounts in Sweden.
15.3.3. Coherence – Foreign Direct Investment (FDI)
Not applicable. There is no cooperation between OFATS and FDI in Sweden.
15.3.4. Coherence – EuroGroups Register (EGR)
EGR is the source for the population of OFATS. Coherence with EGR should be high.
15.4. Coherence - internal
OFATS data on enterprises abroad is not consistent with any internal dataset.
Answering the survey takes about 20 minutes on average and we get around 3500 responses per year. Statistics Sweden work to lower the response burden.
17.1. Data revision - policy
Data is revised if a large error is found.
17.2. Data revision - practice
See Table 17.2. in the Annex at the bottom.
17.2.1. Data revision - average size
No revisions have been made in the last 10 years or more.
18.1. Source data
EGR is used as a source to identify the UCI. GGH is used as a proxy for UCI.
18.1.1. Methodological approach
EGR is the source for the population of Outward FATS. Work begins on the day of release, 31st of March and the questionnaire is sent a week later to all UCI:s. Data is validated and delivered to Growth Analysis in the end of June. Data is published in September-October.
No sample or cut off is used in the survey. All enterprises with affiliates abroad are included in OFATS.
18.1.2. Use of cut-off thresholds
No cut-off is used.
18.2. Frequency of data collection
Data is collected annually
18.3. Data collection
Source to define your population:
100 % EuroGroups Register (EGR) (survey is used to improve the data)
Economic data obtained using:
30% census survey
4% Structural Business Statistics (SBS)
66% EuroGroups Register (EGR)
18.4. Data validation
Data is validated on both a micro and macro level. On a micro level the primary goal is to search for turnover errors. Where respondents have supplied turnover as SEK rather than thousand SEK. Calculatations are used to investigate, for instance turnover per employee and a number of other calculated values. On a macro level data is compared to last year and both countries and NACE aggregates are investigated. If there is a change above or below 10/15%, the country or NACE is investigated on a micro level.
18.5. Data compilation
Data is compiled from EGR, SBS and a census survey.
18.5.1. Imputation - rate
Imputation rate per variable for OFATS 2023:
NACE: 34,5%
Number of enterprises: 3,2%
Number of employees: 9,3%
Net turnover: 9,7%
Employee benefits expense: 48,0%
Gross investment: 70,0%
18.5.2. Use of a method to deal with non-response (both unit and item non-response)
Unit non-response:
For unit non-response information from EGR, last years survey and SBS is used. EGR is the primary source for these imputations. But it is also possible to fill gaps from last years survey and for the Swedish side
Item non-response:
For item non-response different kinds of imputations are made.
NACE: Information from last year is used, or in case of missing NACE code abroad the NACE for the Swedish side of the enterprise is used. If NACE is still missing we use SBS or Business Register. If the NACE is head office (7010) or missing (9996) we use information from SBS. If there are still missing NACE we manually check these and update.
Number of enterprises: Information from EGR or last years survey is used. If no other information is available number of enterprises is set to 1 for that country code.
Net turnover: For imputations of turnover different calculations are made. Turnover per enterprise and turnover per employee. Calculations are made for both total OFATS and per 2-digit NACE. Outliers are removed before calculations are made.
Employees: Average turnover per employee and 2-digit NACE is used to calculate the number of employees if there is information on turnover. Also turnover for total OFATS for enterprises in some NACE codes. Outliers are removed before calculations are made.
Employee benefits expense: If the enterprise lack employees this variable is set to zero. For national enterprises data from SBS is used. For those still missing data we use average personell cost per employee. For the larger aggregates we use the average personell cost per employee per 2-digit NACE. For the smaller aggregates we use the total average.
Gross investments: For national enterprises data from SBS is used. For the rest we use an average investment as part of turnover. So the missing values are then imputed based on turnover and this average investment number.
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
27 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): We don't have SPE:s in OFATS.
Description of the treatment of equally shared control: We dont have equally shared control in OFATS.
Description of the treatment of multiple minority ownership: We dont have multiple minority ownership in OFATS.
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).
Sweden
Data refers to the calendar year, which in some cases corresponds to the fiscal year.
The overall accuracy of the results can be assessed as very good. The data for Outward FATS is obtained by combining administrative information (EGR) and statistical questionnaires.
For variables where data was missing, we have implemented various means of compensating for the missing data, including imputation and weighting. Imputation methods were used to fill in missing values based on the available data and statistical models, while weighting schemes were applied to account for the missing data and ensure that the sample is representative of the population. Personell cost (48%) and gross investments (70%) are the variables most impacted by missing values.
The types of errors that may have impacted the accuracy of the data include sampling errors, non-response errors, and data processing errors. Sampling errors occur due to the random selection of samples from the population, while non-response errors occur when respondents do not provide complete or accurate information. Data processing errors occur during the processing and manipulation of the data.
In cases where contradictory information was encountered, we prioritized the information from the most reliable sources, such as administrative data. We also used statistical models to estimate the missing values and consolidate the information and conducted data validation checks to ensure that the consolidated data is consistent and accurate.
Number of enterprises, employment variables and personell cost are recorded in absolute figures.
Monetary data of enterprises are recorded in thousands of SEK.
Data is compiled from EGR, SBS and a census survey.
EGR is used as a source to identify the UCI. GGH is used as a proxy for UCI.
Annual
OFATS statistics are calculated annually for reference year T.
Data collection takes place at t+16-18 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+21-22 months.
