Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT)

- Business Statistics Division

Structural Business Statistics Section

Peireos 46 & Eponiton,

185 10 Piraeus

GREECE

Structural business statistics (SBS) describes the structure, conduct and performance of economic activities, down to the most detailed activity level (several hundred economic sectors). SBS covers all activities of the business economy with the exception of agricultural activities, public administration and (largely) non-market services such as education and health. Main characteristics (variables) of the SBS data category:

• Business demographic variables (e.g. Number of active enterprises)

• "Output related" variables (e.g. Net turnover, Value added)

• "Input related" variables: labour input (e.g. Number of employees and self-employed persons, Hours worked by employees); goods and services input (e.g. Purchases of goods and services); capital input (e.g. Gross investments)

Business services statistics (BS) collection contains harmonised statistics on business services. From 2008 onwards BS become part of the regular mandatory annual data collection of SBS. The BS’s data requirement includes variable “Turnover” broken down by products and by type of residence of client. 

The annual regional statistics collection includes three characteristics due by NUTS-2 country region and detailed on NACE Rev 2 division level (2-digits).

Statistical Classification of Economic Activities in the European Community (NACE): NACE Rev.2 is used from 2008 onwards. Key data were double reported in NACE Rev.1.1 and NACE Rev.2 only for 2008. From 2002 to 2007 NACE Rev. 1.1 was used and until 2001, NACE Rev.1.

The regional breakdown of the EU Member States is based on the Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS). 

The product breakdown is based on the Classification of Products by Activity (CPA) as stated in the Regulation establishing CPA 2008 and its amending Commission Regulation (EU) No 1209/2014 (from reference year 2015 onwards).

Starting reference year 2021 onwards SBS cover the economic activities of market producers within the NACE Rev. 2 Sections B to N, P to R and Divisions S95 and S96.
Until 2007 the SBS coverage was limited to Sections C to K of NACE Rev.1.1 and from the reference year 2008 to 2020 data was available for Sections B to N and Division S95 of NACE Rev.2.

From 2008 reference year the data collection Business services covers NACE Rev 2 codes: J62, N78, J582, J631, M731, M691, M692, M702, M712, M732, M7111, and M7112.
From 2013, as the first reference year, to 2020 information is published on NACE codes K6411, K6419 and K65 and its breakdown.

SBS constitutes an important and integrated part of the new European Business Statistics Regulation N° 2152/2019

Data requirements, simplifications and technical definitions are defined in Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/1197

Statistical unit enterprise according to Regulation (EEC) 696/93 of the Council.

The total of active enterprises residing in Greece and being market producers of NACE Sections B to N and P to R and divisions S95 and S96.

The statistical business register is the frame for identifying units for the population. No thresholds are applied.

Greece

2007-2021

Not applicable.

• Number of enterprises and number of local units are expressed in units.

• Monetary data are expressed in millions of €.

• Employment variables are expressed in units.

• Per head values are expressed in thousands of € per head. 

Ratios are expressed in percentages.

Data refer to calendar year 2021.

Starting with reference year 2021 two new regulations currently form the legal basis of SBS:

• Regulation (EU) 2019/2152 repealing 10 legal acts in the field of business statistics (EBS Regulation), and
• Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/1197 laying down technical specifications and arrangements (general implementing act) pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2019/2152

Year 1995 was the first year for the implementation of the Council Regulation No 58/97 (SBS Regulation).

The Council Regulation No 58/97 has been amended three times: by Council Regulation No 410/98, Commission Regulation No 1614/2002 and European Parliament and Council Regulation No 2056/2002. As a new amendment of the basic Regulation it was decided to recast the Regulation No 58/97 in order to obtain a new "clean" legal text. In 2008 the European Parliament and Council adopted Regulation No 295/2008 and the provisions of this Regulation were applicable from the reference year 2008 to reference year 2020. Regulation No 295/2008 was amended by Commission Regulation (EU) No 446/2014.

Not applicable.

Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the transmission of data subject to statistical confidentiality to the Statistical Office of the European Communities.

The issues concerning the observance of statistical confidentiality by the Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT) are arranged by articles 7, 8 and 9 of the Law 3832/2010 as in force, by Articles 8, 10 and 11(2) of the Regulation on Statistical Obligations of the agencies of the Hellenic Statistical System and by Articles 10 and 15 of the Regulation on the Operation and Administration of ELSTAT, which is available at the following link: http://www.statistics.gr/en/statistical-confidentiality

The Statistical Confidentiality Policy of ELSTAT includes the rules and principles implemented by ELSTAT for the observance of statistical confidentiality and is available at: http://www.statistics.gr/documents/20181/1609796/ELSTAT_Statistical_Confidentiality_Policy_EN.pdf/c79e5ac8-469c-433d-b4e6-8433319b21d2

Both primary and secondary confidentiality are applied on the data series, flags A and D for confidentiality are applied accordingly. The flag A is used for the primary confidentiality, in the case there are too few enterprises (the rule is less than 3 enterprises). The flag D is used for the secondary confidentiality, in order to protect primary confidential data.

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.

ELSTAT’s Statistical Confidentiality Policy is available at: http://www.statistics.gr/en/statistical-confidentiality?inheritRedirect=true

ELSTAT plans to perform cross checks with confidentiality flags of Business Demography data in the future, in order to reduce the number of confidential cells. 

National SBS data are published once a year in September. Release dates are announced in ELSTAT's release calendar.

Release calendar can be found at: https://www.statistics.gr/en/calendar

In line with the Community legal framework and the European Statistics Code of Practice, ELSTAT disseminates national SBS statistics on its website respecting professional independence and in an objective, professional and transparent manner in which all users are treated equitably.

Annual.

The Announcement on SBS Statistics of the year 2021 is available at: https://www.statistics.gr/en/statistics/-/publication/SDE03/- 

The Announcement on SBS Statistics of the year 2021 is available at: https://www.statistics.gr/en/statistics/-/publication/SDE03/- 

Additionally, Structural Business Statistics data tables are available at the following links: https://www.statistics.gr/en/statistics/-/publication/SDE03/-

Publications are available in Greek and in English.

Not available.

Ad-hoc access upon users' requests.

Data are transmitted to Eurostat for the compilation of European aggregates and disseminated at the level of Member States in Eurostat's database.

The national documentation on methodology is updated according to the European Business Statistics' Regulations: EBS Regulation (EU) 2019/2152 and EBS Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/1197.

Quality report is transmitted to Eurostat, on an annual basis, when the compilation and validation of Structural Business Statistics is completed. SBS national metadata are published online at: https://www.statistics.gr/en/statistics/-/publication/SDE03/-  SBS metadata are available in Greek and in English.

The applied methodology is harmonized with the relevant decisions endorsed in the meetings of the European Working Group on Structural Business Statistics (SBS) which take place under the coordination of Eurostat, as well as the recommendations of the Task Forces that are established for reviewing specific important issues related to Structural Business Statistics.

ELSTAT’s policy for quality assurance is described at: http://www.statistics.gr/en/quality-asurance-framework

Structural Business Statistics refer to a census survey, based on ELSTAT’s available Business Register which is updated on a yearly basis.

SBS survey is conducted on the large enterprises of each sector which affect their economy. Administrative tax and other data were used for the compilation of SBS, with main source the tax declaration form “E3”, which provides most of the required information on the economic results of enterprises.

Additionally, the continuous collaboration of ELSTAT with tax and other administrative authorities that provide data to ELSTAT, harmonizing, as much as possible, the statistical variables with tax and other administrative variables and also adding questions to tax and administrative documents covering statistical needs, is further improving the quality of the statistics produced.

Coherence quality controls are applied by elaborating data in comparison with data of the previous year from the same survey.

The evaluation of the quality is performed on the basis of the quality report compiled for each reference year and to which information on all the quality indicators are recorded (relevance, accuracy and reliability, timeliness and punctuality, coherence and comparability, accessibility and clarity).

Data of Structural Business Statistics are provided to users for the response to their requests, in accordance with the Statistical Confidentiality Policy and the Dissemination Policy of ELSTAT.

The main users of SBS are:

Internal: government departments, national central bank, employers' organisations, trade unions, media, researchers, economic analysts, doctoral candidates, students and enterprises.

External: Eurostat, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, ECB, international organisations, etc.

The degree of satisfaction of users is assessed by their comments and remarks expressed: a) at the annual Users’ Conferences organized by ELSTAT, b) at the meetings of the Advisory Committee of the Hellenic Statistical System (SYEPELSS), in which representatives of bodies using statistics participate and c) through the User Satisfaction Survey conducted by the competent Statistical Data Dissemination Section of ELSTAT: http://www.statistics.gr/en/user-satisfaction-survey

Structural Business Statistics cover the total set of variables defined by the relevant Regulations of the European Union.

For the compilation of Structural Business Statistics administrative, tax data are used, as well as data that are collected in the framework of a small scaled survey conducted only to large enterprises (in terms of the turnover or employment), which dominate the economy of each activity class. The aim of the survey is to collect data for the total set of variables that are required by the Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on Structural Business Statistics (recast), given that the administrative, tax data do not cover all the required statistical variables.

The accuracy and reliability of Structural Business Statistics depends largely on the accuracy and completeness of the data that are provided from administrative, tax sources and are used for their compilation. In general, it is difficult to estimate the accuracy of administrative, tax data and it does not exist a quantitative indicator for its evaluation. The administrative, tax data that are used for the compilation of Structural Business Statistics are checked as regards their completeness and their correctness, mainly through their comparison with data from other available sources, as well as with data from the Statistical Business Register. In addition, the administrative, tax data are checked in terms of their relevance with the statistical variables, based on the definitions of these variables. In cases administrative, tax data are missing or they are not correct or their complete correction is not feasible, the imputation method is applied.

For the compilation of the statistical variables that cannot be calculated from the administrative, tax data for the total population of enterprises, the data that are collected through the survey on large enterprises are used and appropriate estimation methods are applied, namely the proportion of a component variable method, predictive models, the simple ratio adjustment method.

On the basis of the above, the accuracy of Structural Business Statistics is evaluated as very high.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

The time-lag between the reference period of Structural Business Statistics data and their availability is 18 months.

Structural Business statistics are calculated annually for reference year T.

Data collection takes place between T+10 to T+16 months after the end of the reference period.

Data transmission to Eurostat takes place at T+18 months.

Data dissemination at national level takes place at T+21 months.

All deadlines are met. 

The same statistical concepts applied in the entire national territory.

The time series of Structural Business Statistics starts from the reference year 2000.

In the reference year 2008 there is a discontinuity in the comparability over time of the time series due to the revision of the statistical classification of economic activities that is used (transition from the classification NACE Rev 1.1. to the classification NACE Rev. 2). In order to address the discontinuity in the time series due to the use of different statistical classifications, data on Structural Business Statistics for the year 2008 have been compiled with both the statistical classifications NACE Rev. 1.1 and NACE Rev. 2.

In the reference year 2014 there is a discontinuity in the comparability over time of the time series due to the change in the compilation method of Structural Business Statistics with the transition from the sampling survey and the extrapolation of the results to the population of enterprises, to the introduction of the use of administrative, tax data. Due to the fact that ELSTAT was not granted with access to analytical administrative, tax data for the reference year 2013 and the previous years, this discontinuity in the time series of Structural Business Statistics is not possible to be addressed. The Greek SBS data for the reference year 2014 onwards, introduce a break in the timeseries. In the reference year 2018 there is a discontinuity in the comparability over time of the time series, due to the full implementation of the statistical unit "enterprise".

Not available.

The internal data consistency (between the characteristics) is tested by ELSTAT during the final data processing stages and validation. Inconsistent results out of the established thresholds are rare.

The access of ELSTAT to data of administrative sources that are used for the compilation of Structural Business Statistics is free of charge. Also, using data from administrative sources to update Structural Business Statistics does not cause any burden on the surveyed legal units.

The use, by ELSTAT, of automated logical and statistical checks for the processing of the above data results in saving time and resources for the compilation of Structural Business Statistics.

The small scaled survey on the large enterprises of the different economic activity classes is mainly conducted by ELSTAT’s staff. External private collaborators who collect questionnaires work for a small share of the enterprises of the region. For the Structural Business Statistics of the year 2021, the cost of the survey which corresponds to the cost of private collaborators was 23,021.56€.

The Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT) adopts the current revision policy defining standard rules and principles for data revisions, in accordance with the European Statistics Code of Practice and the principles for a common revision policy for European Statistics contained in the Annex of the European Statistical System (ESS). ELSTAT's revision policy is available at: http://www.statistics.gr/policies

There was no revision for the year 2021.

The primary data that are used for the compilation of Structural Business Statistics are administrative data, data that are collected through statistical surveys conducted by ELSTAT on large enterprises and data from the Statistical Business Register of ELSTAT.

The administrative data received by ELSTAT and used for the compilation of Structural Business Statistics are transmitted from the Independent Authority of Public Revenues (IAPR) and include: (a) financial data of freelancers, physical and legal persons that are obliged, by the law, to submit tax declarations on their income from economic activity, (b) data on the compensations of employees deriving from the Electronic Earnings Attestations that employers are obliged to submit for the employees they occupy.

Through the survey on the large enterprises that is conducted by ELSTAT, analytical financial data on income and expenditure are collected as regards the economic activity of the enterprises.

Data on the status of enterprises (active, inactive, etc), on the branch of their economic activity, on the residence of the enterprise, employment data (number of persons employed and number of employees) and data on the local units of enterprises are received from the Statistical Business Register.

Annual data collection.

Surveys:

The method used for the basic data collection from the reporting units is the electronic questionnaire in which built-in/consistency checks are applied. The respondents are contacted by email and in case of non-response re-contacted firstly by email and secondarily by phone. 

Administrative data:

Data are transmitted to ELSTAT from IAPR, according to the Memorandum of Understanding signed in 2014, between ELSTAT, the ex General Secretariat for Public Revenues (GSPR-currently IAPR), the General Secretariat for Information Systems (GSIS) and the ex Social Security Institution (IKA-currently EFKA). The tax data that are transmitted to ELSTAT from the IAPR, as well as their transmission time are specified in the Annexes of the Agreement that was signed in June 2016 between ELSTAT and GSPR.

There are no planned changes in methods.

Validation rules of EUROSTAT are applied.

Data from administrative sources

When the administrative data are received from IAPR, a comparison of their total number of records is made with all the other relevant administrative data files that ELSTAT is receiving from IAPR for the updating requirements of the Statistical Business Register. A comparison with the corresponding file of the previous year is made as well.

Moreover, the cases of enterprises that are recorded more than once in the file with the administrative data are checked. This is possible to occur when supplementary or modifying tax declarations are submitted by enterprises to IAPR.

After that, accounting-mathematical checks are conducted, concerning the following basic categories:

• fields that are related to the identity of the enterprise
• activity branch
• reference period
• verification of totals
• checks on the existence of basic financial data per enterprise
• correlation of employment and personnel costs data
• checks on negative values
• checks on the correctness of the financial result
• checks on the total income from services

The work of the correction of administrative data with the use of mathematical – accounting checks is divided into manual (at the enterprise level), automated and other corrections.

After the phase of processing and correction of the administrative data (E3 form), the calculation of the statistical variables follows. The calculation of the statistical variables is conducted with the use of a correspondence table between the E3 tax form fields and the statistical variables, which has been compiled by ELSTAT. Exceptions from this process are the statistical variables “number of persons employed” and “number of employees” which are directly received by the Statistical Business Register, as well as the variable “wages and salaries” that is calculated from the administrative datafile Electronic Earnings Attestation.

When the calculation of the statistical variables is completed, coherence and comparability checks are conducted and the processing of the data at the level of statistical variables initiates.

In particular, the following individual processing – checking tasks are performed:

• For specific activities (processing and trading of smoke products, alcoholic beverages, petroleum and pharmaceutical products), the values of turnover and of total purchases of goods and services are checked and corrected, when necessary, in order not to include the special consumption tax, rebates and claw backs.
• Examination, at enterprise level, of negative values in the statistical variables turnover and gross investments in tangible goods.
• Examination of the consistency between variables “personnel cost” and “wages and salaries”. The personnel cost is calculated from the fields of E3 tax form, while wages and salaries from the fields of the Electronic Earnings Attestation. Therefore, consistency problems may occur for some enterprises, as they come from different sources.
• Examination of the consistency of the variables “number of employees” and “wages and salaries”. This check mainly concerns the cases of enterprises that did not submit the Electronic Earnings Attestation or they have submitted it with zero data, but, at the same time, information on the existence of employees in these enterprises are available by another source (e.g. ex Social Security Institution (IKA-currently EFKA)).

Moreover, for the administrating companies of the maritime sector, a special treatment takes place, as regards the estimation of the statistical variables for the established offices/branches of non-resident enterprises as provided in article 25 of L. 27/1975. The relative activity codes of NACE Rev. 2 classification are: 5020, 5222, 5229.

These administrating companies are branches of non-resident enterprises and, in their majority, they declare only the personnel cost and the expenses they make for purchasing goods and services (the expenses of the office for the administration of the vessels), without submitting financial data on turnover either through the Structural Business Statistics survey or through the tax forms (E3, F2, etc).

Data collected through the survey on large enterprises

The data that are collected on large enterprises through the electronic questionnaire, are checked in terms of their completeness, validity and correctness in relation to the documents that these enterprises have also submitted (balance sheets, financial statements, tax forms, etc). Then, the calculation of the variables follows. 

Estimation of statistical variables that cannot be calculated from the administrative data

For the large enterprises, for which data are collected through the survey, the collected data are used.

For the rest of the enterprises of the active enterprises population, which are classified in the activity branches that are covered by the Structural Business Statistics, the following techniques – methods are applied:

-        Proportion of a component variable

-        Predictive models

-        Simple Ratio adjustment method

Synthesis of results

After the processing phases described previously have been completed, as well as after the completion of the survey on the large enterprises, the synthesis of Structural Business Statistics is conducted.

The SBS results for 2021 are compiled with the full implementation of the statistical unit enterprise. In particular, the SBS results of 2021 were initially compiled from the surveyed legal units. Then by eliminating from the results the intra-flows data (collected through a dedicated special survey) between the legal units of the same enterprises, the SBS results for 2021 were calculated with the implementation of the statistical unit “enterprise”.

Not applicable.

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