VALSTYBĖS DUOMENŲ AGENTŪRA / STATISTICS LITHUANIA

Knowledge Economy and Special Surveys Statistics Devision

29 Gedimino ave., LT - 01500 Vilnius, Lithuania

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

Data for a specific set of variables on NUTS 2 regional level NUTS 2 – Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics

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 included 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:

• General information about ICT systems
• Access to and use of the internet including mobile use of the internet
• e-commerce
• e-business including Cloud computing, Internet of Things, Big data analytics, 3D printing, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, etc.
• ICT specialists, training on ICT and e-skills
• ICT security

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 - enterprise.

 Enterprise with 10 and more persons employed. 

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

Enterprises located in the territory of whole country.

Data for a specific set of variables were delivered on NUTS 2 regional level.

Years 2022 and 2023.

Not applicable

Percentages of enterprises,

Percentages of turnover,

Turnover in million euro,

Percentages of employees and self-employed persons.

Year 2022 for the e-commerce data and where specified. Where not specified - current situation (survey period in 2023)

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

Official Statistics Programme (in Lithuanian)

Based on EU legislation:

 Regulation (EU) 2019/2152 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 November 2019 on European business statistics, repealing 10 legal acts in the field of business statistics and Commission  and yearly Implementing Regulations laying down the technical specifications of data requirements for the topic ‘ICT usage and ecommerce’ for the reference years>

Not applicable

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 : 

In the process of statistical data collection, processing and analysis and dissemination of statistical information, Statistics Lithuania fully guarantees confidentiality of the data submitted by respondents (households, enterprises, institutions, organisations and other statistical units), as defined in the Confidentiality Policy Guidelines of Statistics Lithuania. 

 By national policy on confidentiality the minimum number of enterprises in breakdowns must be 3 enterprises.

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 : 

Statistical Disclosure Control Manual, approved by Order No DĮ-107 of 26 April 2022 of the Director General of Statistics Lithuania;

The State Data Governance Information System Data Security Regulations and Rules for the Secure Management of Electronic Information in the State Data Governance Information System, approved by Order No DĮ-202 of 27 August 2021 of the Director General of Statistics Lithuania.

Statistical information is published on the Official Statistics Portal according to the Official Statistics Calendar.

Lithuanian Official Statistics Calendar

Statistical information is prepared and disseminated under the principle of impartiality and objectivity, i.e. in a systematic, reliable and unbiased manner, following professional and ethical standards (the European Statistics Code of Practice), and the policies and practices followed are transparent to users and survey respondents.

 All users have equal access to statistical information. All statistical information is published at the same time – at 9 a.m. on the day of publication of statistical information as indicated in the calendar on the Official Statistics Portal. Relevant statistical information is sent automatically to news subscribers.

 The President and Prime Minister of the Republic of Lithuania, their advisers, the Ministers of Finance, Economy and Innovation, as well as Social Security and Labour or their authorized persons, as well as, in exceptional cases, external experts and researchers have the right to receive early statistical information. The specified persons are entitled to receive statistical reports on GDP, inflation, employment and unemployment and other particularly relevant statistical reports one day prior to the publication of this statistical information on the Official Statistics Portal. Before exercising the right of early receipt of statistical information, a person shall sign an undertaking not to disseminate the statistical information received before it has been officially published.

 Statistical information is published following the Official Statistics Dissemination Policy Guidelines and Statistical Information Dissemination and Communication Rules of Statistics Lithuania approved by Order No DĮ-176 of 2 July 2021 of the Director General of Statistics Lithuania.

Annual

Short sentences on indicators DB news on publication day.

Information is published in the e-publication:

Digital Economy and Society in Lithuania (edition 2022)

Lithuania in figures

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.

At national level :

On Lithuanian Database of Indicators (Science and technology -> Information and communication technologies -> Use of information and communication technologies in enterprises)

Not applicable

Not requested

Not requested

Methodological documents are published on the Lithuaanian Official Statistics Portal section  Information and communication technologies.

Not requested

Quality of statistical information and its production process is ensured by the provisions of the European Statistics Code of Practice and ESS Quality Assurance Framework.

 In 2007, a quality management system, conforming to the requirements of the international quality management system standard ISO 9001, was introduced at Statistics Lithuania. The main trends in activity of Statistics Lithuania aimed at quality management and continuous development in the institution are established in the Quality Policy.

 Monitoring of the quality indicators of statistical processes and their results and self-evaluation of statistical survey managers is regularly carried out in order to identify areas which need improvement and to promptly eliminate shortcomings.

 More information on assurance of quality of statistical information and its preparation is published in the Quality Management section on the Statistics Lithuania website.

The European businesses statistics compliers’ manual for ICT usage and e-commerce in enterprises provides guidelines and standards for the implementation of the surveys. It is updated every year according to the changed contents of the model questionnaires.

At national level :

In 2007, a quality management system, conforming to the requirements of the international quality management system standard ISO 9001, was introduced at Statistics Lithuania. The main trends in activity of Statistics Lithuania aimed at quality management and continuous development in the institution are established in the Quality Policy. Monitoring of the quality indicators of statistical processes and their results and self-evaluation of statistical survey managers is regularly carried out in order to identify areas which need improvement and to promptly eliminate shortcomings. More information on assurance of quality of statistical information and its preparation is published in the Quality Management section on the Statistics Lithuania website.

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 :

After survey implementation, the quality of obtained information is assessed. Outliers are identified and analysed. In case of significant discrepancies, data providers are contacted and reasons are determined. If inaccuracies are detected, data are corrected. The results are compared with the results of the previous year. Model errors and relative absolute error of estimate are estimated.

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 :

The main users of statistical information are State authorities and agencies, international organisations, the media, research and business communities, students, whose needs are satisfied without a breach of the confidentiality principle.

 Major share of the statistical information produced is used to set EU and national digital targets for 2030 and to measure their achievement through the Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI), which measures EU countries' progress and the European Digital Agenda. Need for additional indicators for planning and monitoring is presented by the Information Society Development Committee, Ministry of the Economy and Innovation of the Republic of Lithuania.

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 :

Since 2005, in Lithuania user opinion surveys have been conducted on a regular basis. Official Statistics Portal traffic is monitored, website visitor opinion polls, general opinion poll on the products and services of Statistics Lithuania, target user group opinion polls and other surveys are conducted. In 2007, the compilation of a user satisfaction index was launched. The said surveys are aimed at the assessment of the overall demand for and necessity of statistical information in general and specific statistical indicators in particular.

More information on user opinion surveys and results thereof are published in the User Surveys section on the Statistics Lithuania website.

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.

For calculation of the standard error 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.

See detailed sections below.

See concept 18.1.1. A) Description of  frame population.

The frame included only units that belong to the target population. Over-coverage was 0,5 %

Not requested

No measurement errors detected. 

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.

Not available

Not available

The survey are mandatory and only fully completed questionnaire are accepted.

Other comments relating to the item non-response

No processing errors were detected.

Not requested

See detailed section below.

The national first results published on 21 July 2023

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).

 The final national results published on 24 October 2023

 See detailed section below.

Revised data delivery to Eurostat -23/10/2023

First data delivery to Eurostat - 02/10/2023

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.

 Data for specific set of variables were delivered on NUTS 2 regional level. There is no problem of comparability across the country’s regions.

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.

Since 2004 for some variables.

Not applicable

 Not applicable

Not applicable

Not applicable

The revision policy applied by Statistics Lithuania is described in the Description of Procedure for Performance, Analysis and Publication of Revisions of Statistical Information.

Not available

 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 sample is stratified random sample made by use of register-based data and previous year sample data. The number of persons employed and economy activity were used to stratify the population. The were 32 NACE Rev. 2 groups and 3 enterprise size groups (10-49,50-249,250+). All enterprises from small groups (less than 20 units) by NACE Rev. 2 activities and number of persons employed groups were included into the sample. Within every NACE Rev. 2 groups the strata of enterprises were formed by number of persons employed groups. Then the Neyman optimal allocation (with variable number of persons employed) was used for determination of the sample size for each stratum specified. In each stratum sample random sampling was used. The final number of strata is 91. The sample was designed with no reference to other surveys.

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.

online web questionnaire

Server based EDIT validation

Grossing-up procedures

Strata are defined by crossing the following size classes of persons employed and NACE groupings. To conduct grossing up procedures, the initial sampling weight within each stratum is adjusted using the response rate for that stratum. This adjustment scales up the sample estimates to accurately represent the entire population.

Imputation was not used.

Not applicable

Not applicable

Problems encountered and lessons to be learnt: