Annex I-IV: Instituto Nacional de Estatística / Statistics Portugal

Annex I-IV: Business Statistics Unit, Department of Economic Statistics

Av. António José de Almeida

1000-043 Lisboa

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 non-financial business economy with the exception of agricultural activities and personal services. Limited information is available on banking, insurance and pension funds.

 Main characteristics (variables) of the SBS data category:

• Business demographic variables (e.g. Number of enterprises)
• "Output related" variables (e.g. Turnover, Value added)
• "Input related" variables: labour input (e.g. Employment, Hours worked); goods and services input (e.g. Total of purchases); capital input (e.g. Material investments)

Statistical Classification of Economic Activities in the European Community (NACE): NACE Rev.1 was used until 2001, NACE Rev. 1.1 since 2002, and NACE Rev 2 is used from 2008 onwards. Key data were double reported in NACE Rev.1.1 and NACE Rev.2 for 2008. From 2009 onwards, only NACE Rev.2 data are available.

The regional breakdown of the EU Member States is based on the Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS). Detailed information about the consecutive NUTS Regulations can be found at Eurostat's website.

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).

The SBS coverage was limited to Sections C to K of NACE Rev.1.1 until 2007. Starting from the reference year 2008 data is available for Sections B to N and Division S95 of NACE Rev.2. With 2013 as the first reference year information is published on NACE codes K6411, K6419 and K65 and its breakdown.

The statistical characteristics are defined in Annex I of Commission Regulation (EC) No 250/2009.

Portuguese data and data broken down by size class of the number of persons employed both refer to enterprises.

The enterprise is the smallest combination of legal units that is an organizational unit producing goods or services, which benefits from a certain degree of autonomy in decision-making, especially for the allocation of its current resources. An enterprise carries out one or more activities at one or more locations. An enterprise may be a sole legal unit.

Regional data refer to local units.

The local unit is an enterprise or part thereof (e.g. a workshop, factory, warehouse, office, mine, or depot) situated in a geographically identified place. At or from this place economic activity is carried out for which - save for certain exceptions - one or more persons work (even if only part-time) for one and the same enterprise.

For detailed information on statistical units, please see Council Regulation (EEC) No 696/93 of 15 March 1993 on the statistical units for the observation and analysis of the production system in the Community (Official Journal of the European Communities No L 076, 30/03/1993, p. 1), Section III of 15.03.1993 on the statistical units for the observation and analysis of the production system in the Community.

We include the branches of foreign enterprises, as long as they are registered in the public register. We also include the activities abroad of the reporting countries, because we are not able to split the value produced "domestically" from the global value. We consider the total value given by the enterprise, irrespective of where the value is produced. However, in Portugal, only in the construction sector the value produced abroad is significant.

In the context of the local units, we exclude the foreign local units (e.g. the local units of the reporting countries, but located in a foreign territory), since we are only able to identify the number of enterprises, wages, and persons employed, as requested in series 1C, 2C, 3C e 4C. So, in that context, the information given to Eurostat considers only the value produced domestically.

In the other series, where we have to produce detailed information on production, gross value added and so on, we are not able, so far, to split between domestic and global values.

Structural Business Statistics comprise all territories of Portugal.

The length of time series is 1996-2020. However, the length of comparable time periods is the following: (1) 2004-2007; (2) 2008-2020.

Break in data series between 2007 and 2008:

In the Portuguese statistical system, SBS data is one of the main inputs for the compilation of annual national accounts. The implementation of ESA 2010 in the National Accounts brought some changes that also affect business statistics, namely, changes in the classification of the institutional sector of the entities, thus affecting the delimitation of the business sector. One of the most important changes was the reclassification of several public institutional units, previously in the non-financial companies sector, in the sector of Public Administrations, such as the cases of enterprise-hospitals.

Another change was related to the classification of the institutional sector of some entities, and it is necessary to distinguish the Holding Companies from Head-offices. In National Accounts, the former are excluded from the institutional sector of non-financial companies, while the latter is part of that sector. These changes had an immediate impact on IBAS, which, in order to increase consistency with the National Accounts, resulted in a revision of the business statistics data series.

This revision included, on the one hand, the reclassification of business units between section K of the NACE Rev. 2.1 - Financial and insurance activities and section M - Professional, scientific and technical activities. We took advantage of this moment to update the calculation of the main economic indicators for section K.

Taking the opportunity to review the series of statistical data, certain improvements were made in the treatment of information, namely in what regards the treatment of some tax on products and the concept of enterprise, which has led to adding companies previously not considered and to the revision of economic data of others.

In the case of the tax on products, where these values were included in the value of sales, they were reclassified as other gains, which affects, consequently, the final turnover and GVA. This amendment is in line with the recommendations of the European regulation, and also with the treatment of data carried out in the context of the National Accounts.

Taking these into account, Statistics Portugal revised data for the years 2008 to 2014. These data were sent to Eurostat between March and April 2017.

The data series for 2020 was sent in June 2022.

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.

SBS data refer to the calendar year and in most cases corresponds to the fiscal year. This report is based on the reference year 2020.

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. The European Parliament and Council Regulation No 295/2008 was adopted on 14/02/2008 and the provisions of this Regulation are applicable from the reference year 2008. Regulation No 295/2008 has been amended by Commission Regulation (EU) No 446/2014.

At the national level, the activity of Statistics Portugal is ruled by Law of the National Statistical System, Law no 22/2008, (Official Journal (OJ) no 92 1st Series, of 13th May 2008), that defines the general basis of the National Statistical System. The Decree-Law n. 136/2012, (OJ no 126 1st Series, of 2nd July 2012) defines the organic structure of Statistics Portugal.

Portaria nº 423/2012, (D.R. nº 251 – 1ª Série, de 2012-12-28), amended by Portaria nº 120/2014 (D.R. nº 110 – 1ª Série, de 2014-06-09) and by Portaria nº 68/2019, de 25 de fevereiro (DR nº 39 - 1ª Série, de 2019-02-25) – Approval of the Statutory Laws of Statistics Portugal, defining its internal organization.

Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Directive 95/46/EC General Data Protection Regulation). Corrigendum to Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Directive 95/46/EC (General Data Protection Regulation).

The Presidency of the Council of Ministers, Decree-Law nº 126-A/2011 (OJ no 249 1st Series, of 29th December 2011), that approves the Organic Law of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers.

Portugal makes available all non-confidential and sufficiently reliable data on its dissemination website.

The Statistical Confidentiality Policy of Statistics Portugal is based on the Constitution of the Portuguese Republic, Law 22/2008 of 13 May, which establishes the principles, rules, and structure of the National Statistical System, and in particular the Principle of Statistical Confidentiality (Article 6), Regulation 223/2009 of 11 March (Article 20 et seq.), as amended by Regulation 2015/759 of 29 April, establishing the legal framework for the development, production, and dissemination of European statistics and Regulation (EU) 557/2013, of 17 June, as regards access to confidential data for scientific purposes.

It is also governed by the principles agreed between the EU Member States and inscribed in the European Statistics Code of Conduct (2nd revision/2017), in particular, Principle 5 on Statistical Confidentiality and, more broadly, the Fundamental Principles of Statistics Officials, established by the United Nations Statistical Commission in 1994 and approved by the United Nations General Assembly in January 2014 (Principle 6).

Regarding the processing of personal data, the exercise of statistical activity also complies with Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April laying down rules for the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data and to the free movement of such data and other applicable legislation in this matter.

Please consult the following URL for more information (web address): https://www.ine.pt/xportal/xmain?xpid=INE&xpgid=ine_inst_confestatistica&xlang=en

Confidentiality - if data are of a truly confidential nature according to the above mentioned regulation, they have to be flagged confidential, and they will not be published by Eurostat. Eurostat makes available all non-confidential data on its dissemination website.

Statistics Portugal (SP) uses Tau-Argus for confidentiality treatment. Concerning primary confidentiality, the rule is that any cell with 1 or 2 enterprises is confidential. For the secondary confidentiality, we give an indication in Tau-Argus to choose, in the first place, cells with lower turnover. We do not use the dominance rule. 

SP takes measures to reduce the number of confidential cells. We have made several and different kinds of tests, in order to find the best combination that ensured the lowest level of confidentiality cells. The impact of the applied measures to reduce the number of confidential cells is very good.

Preliminary data were published 10 months after the end of the reference year (T+1) and final data were published 15 months after the end of the reference year (T+2).

Access to the release calendar is granted through the following link.

In line with the Community legal framework and the European Statistics Code of Practice Statistics Portugal (SP) disseminates SBS data on SP's website respecting professional independence and in an objective, professional and transparent manner in which all users are treated equitably.

The Dissemination policy of Statistics Portugal lays down the fundamental principles governing the dissemination of official statistics, directly or indirectly produced under its responsibility. It should have as main reference the applicable principles of the National Statistical System: technical independence, statistical confidentiality, quality, and accessibility.

Annual

The SBS data can be accessed on the Statistics Portugal website.

With regards to the reference year 2020, the preliminary results were published in a press release, while the final results were published in a publication and in a press release. The releases provide the main statistical findings regarding the structure and evolution of the Portuguese non-financial business sector. The results/data are published in graphs and tables. The publications are available in English, but please note that only a part of the publication is presented in the English language.

There are numerous online databases available on the Statistics Portugal webpage, accessible through the link provided here. Additional information can be requested by filling out an online form, which is available here.

As a rule, data in online databases are updated concurrently with the press releases and publications. In the case of 2020 data, preliminary data were published 10 months after the end of the reference year (T+1), and final data were published 15 months after the end of the reference year (T+2).

Information on the number of accesses is detailed in Section 12.2, "Relevance - User Satisfaction".

In the field of SBS, researchers can access anonymised microdata in a way that does not allow the identification of the company.

The academic community has special statistical requirements, notably for carrying out research work and preparing Masters and Doctoral theses.

In this context, Statistics Portugal has established a Protocol with the Ministry of Education and Science, with a view to making it easier for researchers to access the statistics they need to carry out their activity.

For that purpose, the Direção Geral de Estatísticas da Educação e Ciência ("PT version only", Directorate-General for Education and Science Statistics, the Ministry’s former Planning, Strategy, Assessment and International Relations Office, DGEEC) gives interested parties prior accreditation, and also provides them with all the necessary information.

For each scientific research project, an application for accreditation must be made to DGEEC, which must include the following documents:

- Accreditation and Statistical Data Transfer Request Form: pdf

- Statement of Agreement: pdf

- Privacy Notice and Consent: pdf

Before applying for credentials, consult the databases accessible under this protocol. The accreditation of researchers is only made for access to the databases available under this project. Free access to statistical micro-databases for research purposes is only possible for accredited researchers, in accordance with the Protocol established with the Statistics Portugal.

Internet address: www.ine.pt

Users can submit specific requests for data from the Statistics Portugal website.

A short explanation related to the definitions of the main concepts and methodological explanations are provided to users in the end of press releases and publications. Additional support information is given to users when needed or required. Also the methodological notes are published at the Metadata System.

The structural business statistics unit documents all the work process and procedure for the SBS for internal purposes. For more information please consult the following (in English) URL (web address): https://www.ine.pt/xportal/xmain?xpid=INE&xpgid=ine_qualidade

SBS data is compared with previous year's data and checked for any large changes in the data, especially due to large deviations in the main variables concerned. When available the data is checked with other information sources for confirmation.

Statistics Portugal applies the recommendations available in the EU Regulations.

The most recent comparable data cover the period 2008-2020.

Considering that we use administrative sources for almost all the information, and that the non response rate is very low, we consider that we have a (very) small bias.

Users of SBS data are classified as external and internal.

The main internal users are:

• National Accounts Department;
• Territorial Statistics Office;
• Department of Methodologies and Information Systems.

The main external users are:

• Ministries and public administrations that use these data for economic and social policy planning purposes;
• Universities and research organizations;
• General public which gets the information via mass media through publications made by SP.

The data published at national level are different from the data sent to Eurostat, since we provide more detailed information at geographic level and at code of economic activity. However the data for the same variable are the same.

Statistics Portugal publish additional indicators together with the SBS at the national level, namely financial indicators from balance sheet and loss and profit accounts.

There has not been conducted a user satisfaction survey.

We do not receive a lot of feedback. Nevertheless, bearing in mind that users more easily complained when data has no quality or are missing, in SBS it is worth to point out that no complaints are received. Some users refer the need of producing data at a more detailed geographic breakdown.

For SBS 2010 onwards, hardcopies are not printed anymore.

The number of downloaded on-line SBS publications for the reference year 2020 is 5,144 during 2022 (12 months). The number of downloaded data from the on-line databases is 75,807 during 2022 (12 months).

Regarding completeness, structural business statistics are produced according to the European Commission (EC) regulations, namely Regulation (EC) N.º 1893/2006 for "Implementation of NACE Rev. 2 in SBS", Regulation (EC) No. 295/2008 for "Structural Business Statistics", Regulation (EC) No. 250/2009 for "Definitions used in Structural Business Statistics". The degree of completeness of the data, for the SBS 2020 is 100%, considering only the I-IV annexes.

We utilize the same methodology to produce both preliminary and definitive data, except for individual enterprises. Since we do not have access to updated administrative data for these entities, we rely on data from the previous year and apply a model based on the behavior of small-sized companies. The time period between the first release of preliminary data and the last release of definitive data is usually around 4-5 months.

Not applicable. We use only administrative information.

The methods used for taking into account the unit non-response include the comparison of the information obtained from administrative data with information from Business Register. The submisson of the information is mandatory, so the measures taken or envisaged for minimising the unit non-response is not applicable. Statistics Portugal can still apply fines to those who do not submit its Simplified Business Information declaration (IES).

In 2020, from the comparison between Business Register and administrative data, we have calculated around 12,233 non respondents units in the administrative source, which represents around 0.9% of total number of enterprises, and around 1.6% of persons employed and 1.2% of turnover. However, we can collect information from Business Register for variables 11110, 16110 and 12110. So, considering that there are variables that are directly calculated from the reference frame (drawn from the Business Register), our non-response rate for those variables are zero. The other variables are estimated, taking into account the turnover.

Considering that we use administrative sources for almost all the information, and that the non-response rate is very low, we consider that the bias is (very) low, meaning that this bias is limited in the overall accuracy of the estimate.

In order to detect the out-of-scope units, the activity codes unit and information about the institutional sector are used. The estimate number of deleted entities that are out-of-scope is around 15,900 units in 2020.

Preliminary data are normally released at national level within 10 months (T+1) after the end of the referente year and the definitive data within 15 months (T+2).

Regarding the data-collection, the administrative data of the companies are available from mid-July (T+1), since the administrative data of the individual enterprises are only available in November (T+1). The specific data from questionnaires is available in December (T+1).

Regarding the information sent to Eurostat, preliminary data are normally sent within 10 months after the end of the reference period and the definitive data within 18 months.

Final data ought to be sent to Eurostat 18 months after the end of the reference period (T). Preliminary data should be sent to Eurostat 10 months after the end of the reference period. Punctuality has improved over time.

Statistics Portugal uses methodological aspects that are based on concepts and definitions and guidelines of EU Regulation No. 295/2008 concerning SBS statistics and therefore Portuguese national SBS statistics could be comparable with the other EEA countries. The statistical concepts are applied in the entire national territory.

The length of comparable time series: 2004-2007 (NACE Rev. 2) and 2008-2020 (NACE Rev. 2).

Major revision of the methodology for the data starting with reference year 2005.

Break in data series between 2007 and 2008. For more information see above concept 3.5

In Structural Business Statisitcs we only consider enterprise units that have economic activity.

The SBS is compared with other projects, namely:

• Comparisons at the micro level between SBS and Prodcom are made and data is, in general, coherent taking into account the methodological differences;
• Regarding the Value added of national accounts, they exclude the production abroad (with significant values for construction activity);
• No exhaustive comparisons done so far between the evolution of turnover and persons employed from STS.

There are no inconsistencies between the total turnover reported for Annex VIII and the corresponding data to be reported under the provisions of Annex I.

The internal consistency of the data (links between variables, coherence between data series, etc.) are checked before it is finalised. The aggregates are always consistent with their main sub-aggregates.

Not available.

Revision policy of SBS data is done in accordance with general revision policy in order to ensure transparency, which must underline the production and dissemination of official statistics. More information can be found in the revisions policy publication, published in the SP's website.

The document on the revisions policy set out by Statistics Portugal, hereby presented, seeks to clarify the key factors of a revision, the typology of revision that may occur and the dimensions governing a revision’s analysis. It also explains the General and Operational Principles of the revisions policy that Statistics Portugal will consolidate in the future.

In 2017, the data for the years 2008-2014 was revised and sent to Eurostat (see section 15.2 of this report for more information).

Definitive data replace preliminary data as soon as they are available.

To compile preliminary data we use the same methodology as for companies. For individual enterprises, as we do not have by that time access to the updated administrative data, we use data from the previous year and we apply a model based on the behaviour of small dimension companies.

Definitive data are sometimes revised as well, since there is a need for revisions because of methodological improvements or statistical standards updating often decided at international level.

No revised data were submitted for the year 2020. Further explanations of the data comparability and revision can be found in sections 3.8. and 15.2. 

We have considered that administrative data is the only source of information, because more than 95% of data produced under SBS is based on that kind of information (at a national level we disseminate around 500 variables). There are specific surveys for Industry, Trade, Construction and environment, in order to produce the following information:

• Annex II – variables 20110, 21110, 21120 and 21140;
• Annex III – variable 18210;
• Annex IV – variables 20110, 23110 and 23120.

The SBS has the Simplified Business Information (IES) as basis. The IES is a system developed in cooperation with the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Justice, Statistics Portugal and Portuguese Central bank, under which enterprises can submit their micro data to fulfil several legal obligations in a single act that were previously dispersed and that implied the provision of information materially identical to different organisms of the Public Administration through different channels. One of these legal obligations include the statistical one. In Portugal, we consider legal unit the enterprise.

The administrative data can be revised frequently, since we receive information every day. However, we extract an image from the business register to produce SBS statistics in order to update the unit's principal activity (stability rules). The business register can be updated at any time.

Annual data collection.

We have considered that administrative data is the only source of information, because more than 95% of data produced under SBS is based on that kind of information (at a national level we disseminate around 500 variables). There are specific surveys for Industry, Trade, Construction and environment, in order to produce the following information:

Annex II – variables 20110; 21110; 21120; 21140

Annex III – variables 18210

Annex IV – variables 20110; 23110; 23120

Data are acquired by interviewing the sampled enterprises directly, normally using self-administered questionnaires.

Statistics Portugal is able to contact and if it is the case, data from statistical units can be revised.

In order to compile the SBS data, SP has implemented:

• completeness checks (data integrity rules)
• validity checks (internal consistency)        
• plausibility checks

The software that collects the administrative information has implemented around 2,000 completeness and validity checks, for about the 500 variables collected. During the production process of business statistics, we have implemented more than 60 plausibility checks, namely comparisons over time (eg. with the previous year), values per capita, etc.

Before sending the information to Eurostat, a number of logical checks between different variables are performed and the consistency of data over time is checked as well.

We have considered that administrative data is the only source of information, because more than 95% of data produced under SBS is based on that kind of information (at a national level we disseminate around 500 variables). There are specific surveys for Industry, Trade, Construction and environment, in order to produce the following information:

• Annex II – variables 20110, 21110, 21120 and 21140;
• Annex III – variable 18210;
• Annex IV – variables 20110, 23110 and 23120.

Administrative data have gone through an imputation procedure eliminating raw data flaws and imputing records not available. Generally speaking, we use the turnover (that is always observed) to impute the missing information. The imputation is done by strata.

Monetary variables are converted to and/or rounded to millions of euro.

Statistics Portugal does not make any adjustments, such as seasonal adjustment methods, time series decomposition, or other similar melhods).

When the reference period differs from the calendar year there is no procedure of correcting. Some companies can have a different taxable period, compared to the calendar year, however, these differences are counterbalanced on average.

No further comments.