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.
Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union
1.2. Contact organisation unit
Eurostat Unit G6: Trade in services; Globalisation
1.3. Contact name
Restricted from publication
1.4. Contact person function
Restricted from publication
1.5. Contact mail address
European Commission, Eurostat L-2920 Luxembourg
1.6. Contact email address
Restricted from publication
1.7. Contact phone number
Restricted from publication
1.8. Contact fax number
Restricted from publication
2.1. Metadata last certified
21 November 2024
2.2. Metadata last posted
21 November 2024
2.3. Metadata last update
21 November 2024
3.1. Data description
Foreign Affiliates Statistics (FATS) measure the commercial presence through affiliates in foreign markets.
Inward foreign affiliates statistics (IFATS) shall mean statistics describing the activity of foreign affiliates resident in the compiling country.
In country-level business statistics foreign-controlled enterprise shall mean an enterprise resident in the compiling country over which an ultimate controlling institutional unit not resident in the compiling country has control.(Table 14 of the EBS Regulation (EU) 2019/2152).
Variables on the country-level business activities in the IFATS data category:
220101. Number of employees and self-employed persons
220301. Employee benefits expense
230101. Intramural R & D expenditure
230201. R & D personnel
240101. Total purchases of goods and services
240102. Purchases of goods and services for resale
250101. Net turnover
250301. Value of output
250401. Value added
260101. Gross investment in tangible non-current assets
Eurostat compiles and disseminates additional variables:
Number of persons employed per enterprise
Apparent labour productivity
Wage adjusted labour productivity
Gross operating surplus
Gross operating surplus per person employed
Gross operative rate
Investment per employee - tangible non-current assets
Net turnover per person employed
Value added per enterprise
Net turnover per enterprise
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
For all variables except for variables Intramural R & D expenditure, Intramural R & D expenditure in foreign-controlled enterprises, R & D personnel and R & D personnel in foreign-controlled enterprises: Market producers of NACE Sections B to N and P to R and divisions S95 and S96;
For variables Intramural R & D expenditure, Intramural R & D expenditure in foreign-controlled enterprises, R & D personnel and R & D personnel in foreign-controlled enterprises: Market producers of NACE Sections B to F.
3.4. Statistical concepts and definitions
Foreign Affiliates Statistics (FATS) measure the commercial presence through affiliates in foreign markets.
Inward foreign affiliates statistics (IFATS) shall mean statistics describing the activity of foreign affiliates resident in the compiling country.
In country-level business statistics foreign-controlled enterprise shall mean an enterprise resident in the compiling country over which an ultimate controlling institutional unit not resident in the compiling country has control.(Table 14 of the EBS Regulation (EU) 2019/2152).
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 Council 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.
Research and experimental development (R & D) comprise creative and systematic work undertaken in order to increase the stock of knowledge – including knowledge of humankind, culture and society – and to devise new applications of available knowledge. Expenditures on intramural R & D represent the amount of money spent on R & D that is performed within a reporting unit. Intramural R & D expenditures are all current expenditures plus gross fixed capital expenditures for R & D performed within a statistical unit during a specific reference period whatever the source of funds. R & D current expenditures include labour costs for internal R & D personnel and other current costs (costs for external R & D personnel, purchase of services.). Gross fixed capital expenditures for R & D include: acquisition of land, acquisition of buildings, acquisition of information and communication equipment, acquisition of transport equipment, acquisition of other machinery and equipment, acquisition of capitalised computer software, acquisition of other intellectual property products.
R & D personnel in a statistical unit include all persons engaged directly in R & D, whether employed by the statistical unit or external contributors fully integrated into the statistical unit’s R & D activities, as well as those providing direct services for the R & D activities (such as R & D managers, administrators, technicians and clerical staff).
Total purchases of goods and services contains all amount of goods and services purchased by the statistical unit, recognized in accounting as either current assets or expenses during the reference period.
Purchases of goods and services for resale in are purchases of goods for resale to third parties without further processing. It also includes purchases of services by ‘invoicing’ service companies, i.e. those whose turnover is composed not only of agency fees charged on a service transaction (as in the case of estate agents) but also the actual amount involved in the service transaction, e.g. transport purchases by travel agents.
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.
Value of output represents the value of the total output of the statistical unit, generated during the reference period.
Value added is a composite indicator of net operating income, adjusted for depreciation, amortization and employee benefits, all components being recognized as such by the statistical unit during the reference period.
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.
Apparent labour productivity is defined as value added at factor costs divided by the number of persons employed. This ratio is generally presented in thousands of euros per person employed.
The wage-adjusted labour productivity ratio is an indicator of labour productivity that is derived from structural business statistics. It is defined as value added divided by personnel costs which is subsequently adjusted by the share of paid employees in the total number of persons employed, or more simply, apparent labour productivity divided by average personnel costs (expressed as a ratio in percentage terms). Given that this indicator is based on expenditure for labour input rather than a headcount of labour input, it is more relevant for comparisons across activities (or countries) with very different incidences of part-time employment or self-employment.
Gross operating surplus or profits is defined, in the context of structural business statistics, as value added minus personnel costs. It is the surplus generated by operating activities after the labour factor input has been recompensed. It is the balance available to a unit which allows it to recompense the providers of own funds and debt, to pay taxes and to finance all or a part of its investment. Income and expenditure classified as financial or extraordinary in company accounts is excluded from gross operating surplus.
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
For all variables except for variables 230101 (Intramural R & D expenditure), 230301 (Intramural R & D expenditure in foreign-controlled enterprises), 230201 (R & D personnel) and 230401 (R & D personnel in foreign-controlled enterprises): Market producers of NACE Sections B to N and P to R and divisions S95 and S96;
For variables 230101 (Intramural R & D expenditure), 230301 (Intramural R & D expenditure in foreign-controlled enterprises), 230201 (R & D personnel) and 230401 (R & D personnel in foreign-controlled enterprises): Market producers of NACE Sections B to F.
3.7. Reference area
The data category covers EU Member States, Norway, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Serbia.
In cases of statistical confidentiality (i.e. where the contribution of a concrete enterprise to the published figures can be identified) Member States put a confidentiality flag on the respective data cell. Such cells are published empty with an appropriate symbol :(c). Also all other data cells which could be used to indirectly derive the value of the confidential data cell are suppressed and published empty with the same symbol. They are identified and flagged by Member States during the primary and secondary confidentiality treatment.
8.1. Release calendar
Data are published two years after the end of reference year (T+23).
8.2. Release calendar access
Please consult the online release calendar on Eurostat website, under "Industry, trade and services" theme.
8.3. Release policy - user access
In line with the Community legal framework and the European Statistics Code of Practice, Eurostat disseminates European FATS statistics on its website respecting professional independence and in an objective, professional and transparent manner in which all users are treated equitably.
Annual for all variables except Intramural R & D expenditure and R & D personnel that are reported on biennial basis (every odd-numbered year).
10.1. Dissemination format - News release
News article released on the date of EU aggregates publication.
Eurostat asseses and ensures the quality of the national FATS data and EU aggregates.
11.2. Quality management - assessment
According to the information available from the national metadata reports, the national data reporters apply the recommendations available in the EU Regulations.
12.1. Relevance - User Needs
Users of FATS are: European Commission services, international organisations, ministries, chambers of commerce, trade unions, journalists, researchers, etc. User needs go beyond what data compilers can provide.
All transmitted non-confidential FATS data of sufficient quality is published.
13.1. Accuracy - overall
In most countries a combination of survey and administrative data is used. In a number of Member States size thresholds are applied to the survey population, i.e. only larger enterprises are surveyed exhaustively; smaller units are sampled or not included at all. If size thresholds are applied, the missing part of the population should be estimated, based on the information obtained from the sample survey or another source.
13.2. Sampling error
FATS data are compiled on the basis of the structural business statistics survey in most EU Member States; the sampling error is therefore the same.
15.1.1. Asymmetry for mirror flow statistics - coefficient
See national metadata report when available.
15.2. Comparability - over time
Particular reasons for breaks in time series in FATS data are the implementation of the EBS regulation (for reference year 2021).
15.2.1. Length of comparable time series
2008-2020 data is comparable if not indicated otherwise in the database for specific cases.
2021-2022 data is comparable if not indicated otherwise in the database for specific cases.
15.3. Coherence - cross domain
Consistency with structural business statistics is checked. There are no differences observed or they are in general quite insignificant. They may occur for the 'Total world' aggregate in cases of different data collection methods in SBS and FATS and additional data sources used in FATS.
15.3.1. Coherence - sub annual and annual statistics
Not applicable.
15.3.2. Coherence - National Accounts
Not applicable.
15.4. Coherence - internal
Member States may revise FATS national data. Eurostat publishes the revised national figures and EU aggregates together with the last reference year dissemination.
The revision practice effectively corresponds to the revision practice of the domain listed under sub‑concept 17.1 (data revision – policy).
All reported errors (once validated) result in corrections of the disseminated data. Reported errors are corrected in the disseminated data as soon as the correct data have been validated. Data are only published once they are deemed to be sufficiently complete for all data providers contributing to the EU aggregate. Whenever new data are provided and validated, the already disseminated data are updated. EU aggregates are also revised and updated.
Data are usually revised for the last 4 reference years. The entire time series is usually revised. Aggregates and components are revised at the same time. Routine and major revisions are reported by member states in the Balance of payments quality reports and communicated to the users biennially.
A limited number of countries provide with revisions on national data.
17.2.1. Data revision - average size
See national metadata report when available.
18.1. Source data
Data are compiled by matching different data sources according to the survey strategy adopted nationally, taking into account the costs, the quality and the response burden on enterprises. The main data source for FATS data is Structural Business Statistics survey and administrative sources, while the main data sources used for the attribution to the country of ultimate institutional controling unit are National Statistical Business Registers, FDI register, dedicated surveys and EuroGroups Register.
18.2. Frequency of data collection
Annual
18.3. Data collection
Statistical surveys are the main method of data collection in FATS.
18.4. Data validation
At Eurostat level, country data are validated before publishing. A number of arythmetic and logical checks are performed and the consistency between IFATS and SBS is checked as well.
18.5. Data compilation
Data compilation is performed by Member States. Eurostat is responsible for calculating European aggregates.
18.5.1. Imputation - rate
In order to protect confidential data at the national level, some of the EU aggregates were rounded (in the data dissemination tables these aggregates are marked with an "e").
18.6. Adjustment
Countries provide the data in national currency. For non-euro countries, the national currency is converted in euro on the basis of euro exchange rates.
18.6.1. Seasonal adjustment
Not applicable.
Foreign Affiliates Statistics (FATS) measure the commercial presence through affiliates in foreign markets.
Inward foreign affiliates statistics (IFATS) shall mean statistics describing the activity of foreign affiliates resident in the compiling country.
In country-level business statistics foreign-controlled enterprise shall mean an enterprise resident in the compiling country over which an ultimate controlling institutional unit not resident in the compiling country has control.(Table 14 of the EBS Regulation (EU) 2019/2152).
Variables on the country-level business activities in the IFATS data category:
220101. Number of employees and self-employed persons
220301. Employee benefits expense
230101. Intramural R & D expenditure
230201. R & D personnel
240101. Total purchases of goods and services
240102. Purchases of goods and services for resale
250101. Net turnover
250301. Value of output
250401. Value added
260101. Gross investment in tangible non-current assets
Eurostat compiles and disseminates additional variables:
Number of persons employed per enterprise
Apparent labour productivity
Wage adjusted labour productivity
Gross operating surplus
Gross operating surplus per person employed
Gross operative rate
Investment per employee - tangible non-current assets
Net turnover per person employed
Value added per enterprise
Net turnover per enterprise
21 November 2024
Foreign Affiliates Statistics (FATS) measure the commercial presence through affiliates in foreign markets.
Inward foreign affiliates statistics (IFATS) shall mean statistics describing the activity of foreign affiliates resident in the compiling country.
In country-level business statistics foreign-controlled enterprise shall mean an enterprise resident in the compiling country over which an ultimate controlling institutional unit not resident in the compiling country has control.(Table 14 of the EBS Regulation (EU) 2019/2152).
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 Council 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.
Research and experimental development (R & D) comprise creative and systematic work undertaken in order to increase the stock of knowledge – including knowledge of humankind, culture and society – and to devise new applications of available knowledge. Expenditures on intramural R & D represent the amount of money spent on R & D that is performed within a reporting unit. Intramural R & D expenditures are all current expenditures plus gross fixed capital expenditures for R & D performed within a statistical unit during a specific reference period whatever the source of funds. R & D current expenditures include labour costs for internal R & D personnel and other current costs (costs for external R & D personnel, purchase of services.). Gross fixed capital expenditures for R & D include: acquisition of land, acquisition of buildings, acquisition of information and communication equipment, acquisition of transport equipment, acquisition of other machinery and equipment, acquisition of capitalised computer software, acquisition of other intellectual property products.
R & D personnel in a statistical unit include all persons engaged directly in R & D, whether employed by the statistical unit or external contributors fully integrated into the statistical unit’s R & D activities, as well as those providing direct services for the R & D activities (such as R & D managers, administrators, technicians and clerical staff).
Total purchases of goods and services contains all amount of goods and services purchased by the statistical unit, recognized in accounting as either current assets or expenses during the reference period.
Purchases of goods and services for resale in are purchases of goods for resale to third parties without further processing. It also includes purchases of services by ‘invoicing’ service companies, i.e. those whose turnover is composed not only of agency fees charged on a service transaction (as in the case of estate agents) but also the actual amount involved in the service transaction, e.g. transport purchases by travel agents.
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.
Value of output represents the value of the total output of the statistical unit, generated during the reference period.
Value added is a composite indicator of net operating income, adjusted for depreciation, amortization and employee benefits, all components being recognized as such by the statistical unit during the reference period.
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.
Apparent labour productivity is defined as value added at factor costs divided by the number of persons employed. This ratio is generally presented in thousands of euros per person employed.
The wage-adjusted labour productivity ratio is an indicator of labour productivity that is derived from structural business statistics. It is defined as value added divided by personnel costs which is subsequently adjusted by the share of paid employees in the total number of persons employed, or more simply, apparent labour productivity divided by average personnel costs (expressed as a ratio in percentage terms). Given that this indicator is based on expenditure for labour input rather than a headcount of labour input, it is more relevant for comparisons across activities (or countries) with very different incidences of part-time employment or self-employment.
Gross operating surplus or profits is defined, in the context of structural business statistics, as value added minus personnel costs. It is the surplus generated by operating activities after the labour factor input has been recompensed. It is the balance available to a unit which allows it to recompense the providers of own funds and debt, to pay taxes and to finance all or a part of its investment. Income and expenditure classified as financial or extraordinary in company accounts is excluded from gross operating surplus.
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.
For all variables except for variables 230101 (Intramural R & D expenditure), 230301 (Intramural R & D expenditure in foreign-controlled enterprises), 230201 (R & D personnel) and 230401 (R & D personnel in foreign-controlled enterprises): Market producers of NACE Sections B to N and P to R and divisions S95 and S96;
For variables 230101 (Intramural R & D expenditure), 230301 (Intramural R & D expenditure in foreign-controlled enterprises), 230201 (R & D personnel) and 230401 (R & D personnel in foreign-controlled enterprises): Market producers of NACE Sections B to F.
The data category covers EU Member States, Norway, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Serbia.
Data refer to the calendar year and in most cases corresponds to the fiscal year.
In most countries a combination of survey and administrative data is used. In a number of Member States size thresholds are applied to the survey population, i.e. only larger enterprises are surveyed exhaustively; smaller units are sampled or not included at all. If size thresholds are applied, the missing part of the population should be estimated, based on the information obtained from the sample survey or another source.
Number of enterprises and employment variables are recorded in absolute figures.
Monetary data of enterprises are recorded in million euro.
Data compilation is performed by Member States. Eurostat is responsible for calculating European aggregates.
Data are compiled by matching different data sources according to the survey strategy adopted nationally, taking into account the costs, the quality and the response burden on enterprises. The main data source for FATS data is Structural Business Statistics survey and administrative sources, while the main data sources used for the attribution to the country of ultimate institutional controling unit are National Statistical Business Registers, FDI register, dedicated surveys and EuroGroups Register.
Annual for all variables except Intramural R & D expenditure and R & D personnel that are reported on biennial basis (every odd-numbered year).
