HELLENIC STATISTICAL AUTHORITY

BUSINESS STATISTICS DIVISION

STRUCTURAL BUSINESS STATISTICS SECTION

PIREOS 46 & EPONITON STR

GR 18510 PIREAS GREECE

Data on the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) usage and e-commerce in enterprises are survey data. They are collected by the National Statistical Institutes or Ministries and are in principle based on Eurostat's annual model questionnaires on ICT usage and e-commerce in enterprises.

Large part of the data collected is used to measure the progress in the implementation of one of the main political priorities of the European Commission for 2019 to 2024 – A Europe fit for the digital age. Part of this is the "European strategy for data", envisioning a single market for data to ensure the EU's global competitiveness and data sovereignty, in which context a comprehensive set of new rules for all digital services was proposed: the Digital Services Act and the Digital Markets Act, which are centrepieces of the EU digital strategy. Furthermore, the Commission and the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy presented a new “EU cybersecurity strategy”, which is intended to bolster the EU's collective resilience against cyber threats, safeguard a global and open internet and protect EU values and the fundamental rights of its people. Furthermore, data will allow monitoring the progress towards  A Europe fit for the digital age, one of the six priorities for the period 2019-2024 of the von der Leyen European Commission.

The aim of the European survey on ICT usage and e-commerce in enterprises is to collect and disseminate harmonised and comparable information at European level.

 NACE Rev.2 2008

All economic activities in the scope of Annex I of the Commission Regulation are intended to be included in the general survey, covering enterprises with 10 or more employees and self-employed persons. These activities are: NACE Rev. 2 sections C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, L, M and N, division 95.1.

For micro-enterprises see the sub-concepts below.

Micro -enterprises are not covered in the survey.

The model questionnaire on ICT usage and e-commerce in enterprises provides a large variety of variables covering among others the following areas:

-          Access to and use of the Internet

-          E-commerce and e-business

-          Use of cloud computing services

-          Artificial Intelligence

-          Other topics: Data utilisation, sharing, analytics and trading, Invoicing.

The annual model questionnaires and the European businesses statistics compliers’ manual for ICT usage and e-commerce in enterprises comprise definitions and explanations regarding the topics of the survey.

The statistical unit is the enterprise.

Target Population

As required by Annex of the Commission Implementing Regulation, enterprises with 10 or more employees and self-employed persons shall be covered by the survey.

For micro-enterprises see the sub-concepts below.

-

Not applicable

All territories of country were  included.

Years 2022 and 2023.

Not applicable

Percentages of enterprises, Percentages of turnover, Percentages of employees and self-employed persons, Million euro.

Reference periods as defined in the model questionnaire for specific variables were followed in the national survey.

Complementary national legislation constituting the legal basis for the survey on the use of ICT in enterprises:

The legal framework concerning the organization and operation of ELSTAT is as follows:

• Law 3832/2010 (Government Gazette No 38, Issue Α): “Hellenic Statistical System Establishment of the Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT) as an Independent Authority”, as amended by article 90 paragraphs 8 and 9 of the Law3842/2010 (Government Gazette No 58, Issue Α): “Restoration of fiscal justice, confrontation of tax evasion and other provisions”, by article 10 of the Law 3899/2010 (Government Gazette No 212, Issue A): “Urgent measures for the implementation of the assistance program of the Greek Economy”, by article 45 of the Law 3943/2011 (Government Gazette No 66, Issue A): “Combating tax evasion, staffing of auditing services and other provisions falling within the competence of the Ministry of Finance”, by article 22 paragraph 1 of the Law 3965/2011 (Government Gazette No 113, Issue A): “Operations Reform of the Consignment and Loan Fund, Public Debt Management Agency, Public Enterprises and Government bodies, the establishment of the General Secretary of Public Property and other provisions” and by article 51 of the Law 4021/2011 (Government Gazette No 218, Issue A): “Enhanced measures for the supervision and restructuring of Credit Institutions – Regulation of issues of financial nature – Ratification of the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) Framework-Agreement and its amendments and other provisions.”
• Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council, on the European statistics (Official Journal of the European Union L 87/164).
• Article 14 of the Law 3470/2006 (Government Gazette No 132, Issue A): “National Export Council, tax regulations and other provisions”.
• Article 3, paragraph 1c, of the Law 3448/2006 (Government Gazette No 57, Issue A): “For the further use of information coming from the public sector and the settlement of matters falling within the responsibility of the Ministry of Interior, Public Administration and Decentralization”.
• European Statistics Code of Practice adopted by the Statistical Programme Committee on 24 February 2005 and promulgated in the Commission Recommendation of 25 May 2005 on the independence, integrity and accountability of the national and Community statistical Authorities, after its revision, which was adopted on 28 September 2011 by the European Statistical System Committee.
• Presidential Decree 226/2000 (Government Gazette No 195, Issue Α): “Organization of the General Secretariat of the National Statistical Service of Greece”.
• Articles 4, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15 and 16 of the Law 2392/1996 (Government Gazette No 60, Issue Α): “Access of the General Secretariat of the National Statistical Service of Greece to administrative sources and administrative files, Statistical Confidentiality Committee, settlement of matters concerning the conduct of censuses and statistical works, as well as of matters of the General Secretariat of the National Statistical Service of Greece”.

The legal framework governing the “Survey on ICT usage and e-commerce in enterprises” is as follows:

1. Regulation (EC) No 2019/2152 of The European Parliament and of the Council

        2.The relevant implementing Regulation, by year, which allows for a certain level of flexibility as regards the content of the survey variables. As regards the 2022 survey, it is governed by implementing Commission Regulation (EU) No 2022/1344.

None

Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 on European statistics (recital 24 and Article 20(4)) of 11 March 2009 (OJ L 87, p. 164), stipulates the need to establish common principles and guidelines ensuring the confidentiality of data used for the production of European statistics and the access to those confidential data with due account for technical developments and the requirements of users in a democratic society.

At national level :

The issues concerning the observance of statistical confidentiality by the Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT) are arranged by articles 6, 7 and 8 of the Law 3832/2010, as in force.

Furthermore, ELSTAT disseminates the statistics in compliance with the statistical principles of the European Statistics Code of Practice and in particular with the principle of statistical confidentiality, at the following link:

https://www.statistics.gr/en/policies

Finally, the rule applied  for primary confidentiality is the minimum number of enterprises for breakdowns to be 3. The link for the Statistical Confidentiality Policy of ELSTAT is:

https://www.statistics.gr/en/policies

Data are transmitted via eDamis (encrypted) and delivered to a secure environment where they are treated. Flags are added for confidentiality in case results must not be disclosed.

At national level : 

ELSTAT protects and does not disseminate data it has obtained or it has access to, which enable the direct or indirect identification of the statistical units that have provided them by the disclosure of individual information directly received for statistical purposes or indirectly supplied from administrative or other sources. ELSTAT takes all appropriate preventive measures so as to render impossible the identification of individual statistical units by technical or other means that might reasonably be used by a third party. Statistical data that could potentially enable the identification of the statistical unit are disseminated by ELSTAT if and only if:

a) these data have been treated, as it is specifically set out in the Regulation on Statistical Obligations of the agencies of the Hellenic Statistical System (ELSS), in such a way that their dissemination does not prejudice statistical confidentiality or

b) the statistical unit has given its consent, without any reservations, for the disclosure of data.

- The confidential data that are transmitted by ELSS agencies to ELSTAT are used exclusively for statistical purposes and the only persons who have the right to have access to these data are the personnel engaged in this task and appointed by an act of the President of ELSTAT.

- ELSTAT may grant researchers conducting statistical analyses for scientific purposes access to data that enable the indirect identification of the statistical units concerned. The access is granted if the following conditions are satisfied:

a) an appropriate request together with a detailed research proposal in conformity with current scientific standards have been submitted;

b) the research proposal indicates in sufficient detail the set of data to be accessed, the methods of analyzing them, and the time needed for the research;

c) a contract specifying the conditions for access, the obligations of the researchers, the measures for respecting the confidentiality of statistical data and the sanctions in case of breach of these obligations has been signed by the individual researcher, by his/her institution, or by the organization commissioning the research, as the case may be, and by ELSTAT.

- Issues referring to the observance of statistical confidentiality are examined by the Statistical Confidentiality Committee (SCC) operating in ELSTAT. The responsibilities of this Committee are to make recommendations to the President of ELSTAT on:

•  the level of detail at which statistical data can be disseminated, so as the identification, either directly or indirectly, of the surveyed statistical unit is not possible;
• the anonymization criteria for the microdata provided to users;
•  the granting to researchers access to confidential data for scientific purposes.

- The staff of ELSTAT, under any employment status, as well as the temporary survey workers who are employed for the collection of statistical data in statistical surveys conducted by ELSTAT and acquire access by any means to confidential data, are bound by the principle of confidentiality and must use these data exclusively for the statistical purposes of ELSTAT. After the termination of their term of office, they are not allowed to use these data for any purpose.

- Violation of data confidentiality and/or statistical confidentiality by any civil servant or employee of ELSTAT constitutes the disciplinary offence of violation of duty and may be punished with the penalty of final dismissal.

ELSTAT, by its decision, may impose a penalty amounting from ten thousand (10,000) up to two hundred thousand (200,000) euros to anyone who violates the confidentiality of data and/or statistical confidentiality. The penalty is always imposed after the hearing of the defence of the person liable for the breach, depending on the gravity and the repercussions of the violation. Any relapse constitutes an aggravating factor for the assessment of the administrative sanction.

There is no specific release date of the results of ICT Usage & e-commerce in Enterprises. They are usually announced in December of each year, after their transmission to the European Statistical Service (Eurostat) in October of each year and their validation by it.

The release calendar of ELSTAT is available at the following link:

Release Calendar - ELSTAT (statistics.gr)

Users can have access to the survey results after submitting a relevant data request to the Section of Dissemination of Statistical Information, provided the requested data are not confidential.

Annual

National dissemination of results

The Press Release of ICT results on the year 2023 is available at the following link:

Statistics - ELSTAT

National dissemination of results

It will be published in mid December 2023

http://www.statistics.gr/en/statistics/ind

See detailed section 10.3.1.

Results for selected variables collected in the framework of this survey are available for all participating countries on Digital economy and society of Eurostat website.

Yes, the results are available on the Eurostat's website under the theme Information Society.

At national level :

Not available

Not applicable

Not requested

Not requested

Metadata file available are published both in Greek and in English in SIMS format.

Not requested

The Methodological Manual compiled by Eurostat provides common standards for the implementation of the survey in all EU Member States. In addition, the use of Eurostat’s standard questionnaire enhances the comparability of results among Member States and ensures quality of produced statistics.

Furthermore, the external survey workers who fill in the questionnaire are well trained, thus ensuring quality of results. In addition, the detailed checking of the questionnaires by ELSTAT staff, as well as the logical checks carried out by the tabulation software guarantee the final quality for the results.

Finally, quality is ensured through the Quality Policy implemented by ELSTAT, which is available at the following link:

http://www.statistics.gr/en/policies

The Methodological Manual provides guidelines and standards for the implementation of the surveys in the Member States. It is updated every year according to the changed contents of the model questionnaires.

 At national level :

It is available at the following link of ELSTAT website :

Policies - ELSTAT (statistics.gr)

European level :

At European level, the recommended use of the annual Eurostat model questionnaire aims at improving comparability of the results among the countries that conduct the survey on ICT usage and e-commerce in enterprises. Moreover, the Methodological Manual provides guidelines and clarifications for the implementation of the surveys.

National level :

ELSTAT applies to the maximum possible extent the Methodological Manual in the implementation of the ICT survey. Moreover ELSTAT makes use and utilizes the most recent available statistical data of enterprises in the Business Register and from SBS results for the design of the survey, the processing of the data and in the grossing up process.

European level : 

At European level, European Commission users (e.g. DG CNECT, DG GROW, DG JUST, DG REGIO, DG JRC) are the principal users of the data on ICT usage and e-commerce in enterprises and contribute in identifying/defining the topics to be covered. Hence, main users are consulted regularly (at hearings, task forces, ad hoc meetings) for their needs and are involved in the process of the development of the model questionnaires at a very early stage.

User needs are considered throughout the whole discussion process of the model questionnaires aiming at providing relevant statistical data for monitoring and benchmarking of European policies.

National level :

There is no involvement of users at national level, concerning the development of the model questionnaires at a very early stage.

European level : 

At European level, contacts within the Commission, the OECD and other stakeholders give a clear picture about the key users' satisfaction as to the following data quality aspects: accuracy and reliability of results, timeliness, satisfactory accessibility, clarity and comparability over time and between countries, completeness and relevance. Overall users have evaluated positively (good, very good) the data quality on the ICT usage and e-commerce in enterprises.

National level :

A user satisfaction survey is conducted by the Data Dissemination Section of  ELSTAT and it is available at the following link:

Policies - ELSTAT (statistics.gr)

Detailed information is available in “ Annex I _ Completeness “ excel file - related to questionnaire, coverage, additional questions.

Not requested. 

Comments on reliability and representativeness of results and completeness of dataset

These comments reflect overall standard errors reported for the indicators and breakdowns in section 13.2.1 (Sampling error - indicators) and the rest of the breakdowns for national and European aggregates, as well as other accuracy measurements. The estimated standard error should not exceed 2pp for the overall proportions and should not exceed 5pp for the proportions related to the different subgroups of the population (for those NACE aggregates for the calculation and dissemination of national aggregates). If problems were found, these could have implications for future surveys (e.g. need to improve sampling design, to increase sample sizes, to increase the response rates).

More detailed information is available in “ Annex II. _ Accuracy “ excel file - related to European aggregates, comments on reliability and use of flag.

Comments on reliability and representativeness of results and completeness of dataset

These comments reflect overall standard errors reported for the indicators and breakdowns in section 13.2.1 (Sampling error - indicators) and the rest of the breakdowns for national and European aggregates, as well as other accuracy measurements. The estimated standard error should not exceed 2pp for the overall proportions and should not exceed 5pp for the proportions related to the different subgroups of the population (for those NACE aggregates for the calculation and dissemination of national aggregates). If problems were found, these could have implications for future surveys (e.g. need to improve sampling design, to increase sample sizes, to increase the response rates).

More detailed information is available in “ Annex II. _ Accuracy “ excel file - related to European aggregates, comments on reliability and use of flag.

Sampling errors are depicted by calculating the St. Errors of the main survey variables. For the calculation of the St. Errors see 13.2.1.1.

Standard error (for selected indicators and breakdowns)

Precision measures related to variability due to sampling, unit non-response (the size of the subset of respondents is smaller than the size of the original sample) and other (imputation for item non-response, calibration etc.) are not (yet) required from the Member states for all indicators.  Eurostat will make basic assumptions to compute these measures for all indicators produced (e.g. stratified random sampling assuming as strata the crossing of the variables “Number of employees and self-employed persons” and “Economic Activity” as it was defined in the 3 tables of section 18.1).

More detailed information is available in“ Sample and standard error tables 2023 “ excel file – worksheets starting with “Standard error".

Calculation of the standard error

Various methods can be used for the calculation of the standard error for an estimated proportion. The aim is to incorporate into the standard error the sampling variability but also variability due to unit non-response, item non-response (imputation), calibration etc. In case of census / take-all strata, the aim is to calculate the standard errors comprising the variability due to unit non-response and item non-response.

Leslie Kish: Survey Sampling,  Carl-Erik Särndal, Bengt Swensson & Jan Wretman: Model Assisted Survey Sampling

See detailed sections below.

See concept 18.1.1. A) Description of  frame population.

Over-coverage rate 1,84%

Not requested

Measurement errors occur at the completion of the questionnaire of the research. In cases of incomplete filling in of the questionnaire, the responsible person in the enterprise is contacted to get guidance on how to fill in the questionnaire correctly. In a few cases, the questions which have not been answered are imputed based on corresponding answers given by enterprises belonging to a corresponding branch of economic activity and having a corresponding size.

See detailed sections below.

See detailed sub-concepts below.

The following table contains the number of units (i.e. enterprises), by type of response to the survey and by the percentage of these values in relation to the gross sample size.

We inform all the enterprises through a letter about: the scope and the use of the survey, the legislation and we ask the correspondents to complete the questionnaire in a time period of a month after the reception of the questionnaire. Later, when this period expires we send a reminder.

When a reasonable additional period passes, we communicate by telephone with person takes place, and we try to explore the causes of non-response.

We offer them our help for filling the questionnaire, or in other cases we try to convince them  about the importance of statistical data.

After all, if the enterprise continues to refuse the collaboration with our service, we replace the enterprise with another  (with the same characteristics) from the auxiliary sample.

In case an enterprise refuses to respond the following steps are taken

1. An information note is sent to the enterprise

2. Contact over the phone with the IT responsible of the enterprise more than once.

In case of non-response, the enterprise is replaced by another one in a reserve sample.

Not available

Other comments relating to the item non-response

No processing errors were detected.

Not requested

See detailed section below.

Not applicable

European level : 

Data are to be delivered to Eurostat in the fourth quarter of the reference year (due date for the finalised dataset is 5th October). European results are released before the end of the survey year or in the beginning of the year following the survey year (T=reference year, T+0 for indicators referring to the current year, T+12 months for other indicators referring to the previous year e.g. e-commerce).

At national level : 

There is no deviation from the above.

 See detailed section below.

There is no time lag. ELSTAT delivered the data to Eurostat on 5/11/2023

The model questionnaire is generally used by the countries that conduct the survey on ICT usage and e-commerce in enterprises. Due to (small) differences in translation, in the used survey vehicle, in non-response treatment or different routing through the questionnaire, some results for some countries may be of reduced comparability. In these cases, notes are added in the data.

Detailed information on differences in the wording of the questions in the national questionnaires is available in “ Annex I _ Completeness “ excel file - related to questionnaire, coverage, additional questions.

The use of common definitions of variables and the implementation of common compilation methods all over Greece and in all EU Member States ensure geographical comparability of the results.

Not applicable

See section below.

The length of comparable time series depends on the module and the variable considered within each survey module. Additional information is available in annexes attached to the European metadata.

Generally, the main variables of the survey are comparable over time since there are no significant changes in methodology and definitions.

However, the continuous development of Information Technologies necessitates the inclusion of new variables in the survey questionnaire (implementing regulation every year).

Not applicable

 Not applicable

Not applicable

Not applicable

The revision of data, if necessary, is based on the circular concerning the Revision Policy of ELSTAT, which is available at the following link:

http://www.statistics.gr/el/policies

The procedure used for revising the data (if necessary) is based on the change of imputation coefficients, since the survey can not be re-conducted.

 Not requested

A) Frame population description and distribution

For more information see concept 18.1.1.

B) Sampling design - Sampling method

Description of the sampling method used (e.g. stratified random sample, quota sampling, cluster sampling; one-stage or two-stage sampling) and information which variables were used to stratify, the categories of those variables, in particular for the NACE Rev. 2 categories related to the "possible calculation of European aggregates", and the final number of strata: 

The applied sampling method is the single stratified sampling, with surveyed unit the enterprise with 10 or more employees and self-employed persons. The sampling frame used for the sample design was extracted from the Statistical Business Register of ELSTAT of reference year 2020.

The enterprises with 10 or more employees that fall under the ICT survey were stratified as follows:

1.               a.           By Region – NUTS 2
2.              b.           By aggregations of NACE Rev.2 subsections, as specified at the European business statistics compilers’ manual for statistics on the ICT usage and e-commerce – 2023 edition, within each Region
3.               c.           By size class of the enterprise. In each one of the major strata (major stratum = Region x Economic Activity), the enterprises were stratified into  size classes, according to their size, determined by their average annual number of employees in the Business Register, as follows:

Let h be one of the final strata (Final stratum = Region X Economic Activity X Size Class). The total number of final strata was 1.244. In each one of the final strata from the 1^st up to and including the 3^rd size class, a random sample of n_h enterprises was selected with equal probabilities from their total number of enterprises. The final strata from the 4th up to and including the 7th size class are census strata (take-all), because they comprise the large units and the element population variance for all variables is high.

The sample size is 10.568 enterprises (sampling fraction 29.48%). The determination of the sample size was carried out so that the estimated standard error for estimated variables not to exceed 5 percentage points for the different NACE subgroups of the population.

C) Gross sample distribution

More detailed information is available in “ Sample and standard error tables 2023  “ excel file (Worksheet: GROSS SAMPLE)

D) Net sample distribution

More detailed information is available in “ Sample and standard error tables 2023  “ excel file (Worksheet: NET SAMPLE)

A) Description of frame population

 B) Frame population distribution

More detailed information is available in “ Sample and standard error tables 2023  “ excel file (Worksheet: FRAME POPULATION)

Annual

See detailed sections below.

A combination of face-to-face interviews,self-administered mail,telephone interviews and web survey.

Server based EDAMIS validation was used.

Grossing-up procedures

see annex 'grossing-up Greece

Imputation was not used

Not applicable

Not applicable

Problems encountered and lessons to be learnt: