Reference metadata describe statistical concepts and methodologies used for the collection and generation of data. They provide information on data quality and, since they are strongly content-oriented, assist users in interpreting the data. Reference metadata, unlike structural metadata, can be decoupled from the data.
"Short-term Business Statistics and Statistics of Transport" Department
1.3. Contact name
Confidential because of GDPR
1.4. Contact person function
Confidential because of GDPR
1.5. Contact mail address
2, P. Volov Str.; 1038 Sofia, Bulgaria
1.6. Contact email address
Confidential because of GDPR
1.7. Contact phone number
Confidential because of GDPR
1.8. Contact fax number
Confidential because of GDPR
2.1. Metadata last certified
30 May 2025
2.2. Metadata last posted
30 May 2025
2.3. Metadata last update
30 May 2025
3.1. Data description
Data for issued permits of new buildings provide information on issued permits by type of buildings - residential buildings and their dwellings, administrative buildings and other buildings and their gross building area. The statistical information on issued building permits is a short-term indicator indicating the future development of construction business and it is used for analyzes of the activities of construction enterprises.
The main source is the quarterly Questionnaire on issued building permits and started construction of new buildings.
3.2. Classification system
Classification of Types of Construction (CC) or the CPA classification (Statistical Classification of Products by Activity in the European Economic Community) which are equivalent at the required level of detail.
3.3. Coverage - sector
Activities covered: This indicator is compiled quarterly for building construction - residential and non-residential buildings.
Size classes covered: The survey is exhaustive.
3.4. Statistical concepts and definitions
The numbers of issued building permits are classified according to the Classification of Types of Construction (CC).
Building is a roofed construction site which can be used separately, and it is built for permanent purposes. Buildings are subdivided into residential and non-residential buildings.
Residential buildings are buildings in which at least half of the useful floor area is used for permanent residential habitation.
The residential buildings are subdivided into:
one-dwelling buildings - houses, villas, bungalows for living by one household
two-and more dwelling buildings - buildings such as flat blocks, apartment houses, detached houses, semi-detached or terraced houses with two and more dwellings and they have a common entrance
residences for communities - residences and service residences for the elderly, students, children and other social groups, e.g. retirement homes, works’ hostels, hostels for the homeless, etc.(exclude-hotels).
Dwelling - is one or more rooms for living and service floor area in a building with solid structure for own use. The dwelling must have an exit to a generally accessible part (stairs, yard or straight on the street).
Non-residential buildings are buildings which are mainly used or intended for use for non-residential purpose.
The non-residential buildings are subdivided into:
office buildings - buildings used as places for business and administrative purpose, e.g. banks, post offices, government department offices, conference and congress centers, law courts, parliament buildings
other non-residential buildings - all other buildings not mentioned in the previous definition used for industrial, wholesale and retail trade, traffic and communication, public entertainment, agriculture, education purposes, hospitals, hotels and others.
Gross building area - a sum of all floors areas in external dimensions (including functional areas and covered thoroughfares for ancillary use).
The data are collected for the reference quarter.
3.5. Statistical unit
Reporting unit: Municipal authorities - which are issued building permits.
Observation unit(s): Municipalities.
3.6. Statistical population
The survey is exhaustive and statistical population covers all municipal authorities, which are issued permits of new buildings. All municipal authorities are 300 in the country.
3.7. Reference area
All regions of Bulgaria are covered.
3.8. Coverage - Time
From 2005 to the latest quarter of the reference year.
3.9. Base period
Not applicable. Absolute figures are published.
The units of measure are number of dwellings and square meters.
Quarter
6.1. Institutional Mandate - legal acts and other agreements
National Legal basis: National Law on Statistics (Article 20) states that all persons that manage or represent legal persons, are obliged to provide the National Statistical Institute and the Bodies of Statistics with reliable data when filling-in forms and questionnaires on surveys included in the National Statistical Programme, for which mandatory participation is provided.Obligation on units to provide data: The survey is included into the National Statistical Programme – it is compulsory.The Law of statistics includes provisions relating to fines, which can be imposed for refusal, non-response and delay. They are laid down in specific Chapter 9 “Administrative and liability provisions” in article 52.
EU Legislation: The European Parliament and Council adopted the European Business Statistics (EBS) Regulation (EU) 2019/2152 on 27 November 2019, followed by the Commission Implementing Regulation 2020/1197 laying down technical specifications and arrangements pursuant to the mentioned EBS Regulation (General Implementing Act).
The references to the EBS Regulation and its implementing legal acts can be found on the Eurostat website.
6.2. Institutional Mandate - data sharing
Issued building permits are published on the NSI website and INFOSTAT information system, and the data are available to the users.
According to the EBS Regulation data is transmitted to Eurostat. Data are sent to other international organizations on request.
7.1. Confidentiality - policy
The Law on Statistics includes provisions relating to data confidentiality and protection of secrecy, which are in compliance with the EU legislation and standard European practice. In the Law is stated that individual data received and collected at the time of statistical surveys shall be statistical confidentiality and shall be used only for statistical purposes. Individual data, obtained for the purposes of the statistical surveys, shall not be used as evidence to the bodies of the executive powers and the judicial authorities. Requirements, obligations and measures for data protection, as well as fines that can be imposed, are treated in separate chapters, namely Chapter 6 on "Protection of secrecy” and Chapter 9 on "Administrative penal provisions”.
7.2. Confidentiality - data treatment
Article 25 of the Law of Statistics defines the criteria by which can not be distributed or published statistical information. Statistical information which aggregates data about less than three statistical units or about a population in which the relative share of the value of a surveyed parameter of a single unit exceeds 85 percent of the value of such parameter for all units in the population.
Confidential data, accordance with the Law of statistics not publish. In order not to identify individual data using the method of suppression or aggregation of information disclosed.
8.1. Release calendar
The date for publication of statistical information is given in the Release Calendar presenting the results of the statistical surveys carried out by the National Statistical Institute, which is available on NSI website. The data on issued building permits for new buildings by type and their gross building area are published 30 days after the reference quarter.
Data on building permits is published on the NSI website in accordance with the Law on Statistics and the European Statistics Code of Practice respecting the professional independence and aimed at objectivity, transparency and equal treatment of all consumers.
No data produced and disseminated by the National Statistical Institute are provided to government officials outside of the NSI before being disseminated to the public.
Data for building permits are transmitted to Eurostat at the time of national publication with the required level of detail and timeliness. Data are also transmitted to various institutes and ministries.
Quarterly
10.1. Dissemination format - News release
NSI publishes regular quarterly press release on building permits issued for new buildings 30 days after the end of the reference quarter. News releases are available online.
10.2. Dissemination format - Publications
Name of national paper publications:
statistical reference book
statistical year book.
10.3. Dissemination format - online database
Data on for building permits issued of new buildings are available to all users of the NSI website under the headings Statistical data - Business statistics - Short-term business statistics – Other monthly and quarterly data -Building permits issued for construction of new buildings or in the on-line database INFOSTAT.
Indicators of issued building permits are compiled for the:
number of new residential building by type and number of dwellings
number of new non-residential buildings by type – administrative buildings/offices and other buildings
gross building area (square meters) by type of buildings.
10.4. Dissemination format - microdata access
On request, according to the rules on individual data protection.
10.5. Dissemination format - other
Indicators are transmitted to Eurostat at the same time with their national publication.
Data transmission to Eurostat is performed each quarterly. The transmission is carried out in SDMX-ML format via eDAMIS system.
Special tables may be obtained from “Relation with users and e-services” department of NSI.
10.6. Documentation on methodology
The methodology for Building permits is available on the NSI website.
Advance notice is given to the public when major changes are introduced in methodology, source of data and statistical techniques.
10.7. Quality management - documentation
The documentation on quality management is available on the NSI website.
11.1. Quality assurance
The legal framework which regulates the production of data from Short-term business statistics states that statistical data compiled within the EU system must be of satisfactory quality and produced data are comparable between Member States. Verification of data is done during the process of conducting of the statistical survey - from respondents, from experts in the regional statistical offices and from national experts in NSI. Identified inaccuracies and errors are removed timely and provide comparable data with good quality.
The quality of statistical information and its production process is ensured by the provisions of the European Statistics Code of Practice. The documentation on quality management is available on the NSI website.
11.2. Quality management - assessment
The quality of the short-term indicators is measured by each Member State in accordance with the general criteria. Calculation of the variables is carried out in accordance with EBS Regulation.
The survey on building permits is exhaustive and response rate is close to 100%, the produced indicators are of good quality.
12.1. Relevance - User Needs
The main users: Eurostat, state governing bodies, associations, businesses, media and other users.
12.2. Relevance - User Satisfaction
Not measured yet.
12.3. Completeness
Statistical data on building permits issued for new buildings are provides at all level of detail that are required by the EBS Regulation.
13.1. Accuracy - overall
Maximum accuracy and reliability of the data on issued permits of new buildings is assured. The common errors are measurement errors where the respondent misunderstands what information is required or incomplete performance. Most of measurement errors are detected and corrected through the logical and arithmetical controls of the Information system “Business Cycles” (Online Information system for data collection, editing and processing of the STS information). The system carries out the statutory and warning controls and in a case there are errors, it displays a warning dialog error in the report. The system does not allow completion of the report until they have corrected these errors by statutory controls.
13.2. Sampling error
The survey is exhaustive.
13.3. Non-sampling error
The response rate is close to 100%.
The size-weighted unit response rate is 1.00.
Actions to ensure the survey coverage include: informing and sending reminders, when no-responding company may follows a phone call and / or direct contact to collect the data.
Technical errors are often recognized with automated checks during the data editing process. A lot of checks are carried out automatically, but under of human interaction. Original data from enterprises for a first time are checking from experts in RSOs. Final checks of data from respondents and the aggregated data analysis are done by responsible experts in Central office of NSI.
14.1. Timeliness
Information on building permits issued for new buildings is published 30 days after the reference quarter.
Data are collected through online Information system “Business Cycles” or using paper questionnaire. The System is open for data collection in the period 1 – 10 of the month after the end of the reference quarter.
14.2. Punctuality
NSI fulfils the timeliness requirements of the EBS Regulation. The data are released exactly as planned in the Release calendar. Data are transmitted to Eurostat at the day of the national publication.
15.1. Comparability - geographical
Data on building permits issued of new buildings are representative for the whole country, by districts and by municipalities.
15.2. Comparability - over time
The quarterly data on building permits issued for new buildings are presented as time series from first quarter of 2005. Data are comparable over time.
15.3. Coherence - cross domain
Statistical cross-check and provide assurance of reasonableness for building permits by type of buildings and by regions are used.
Data on building permits issued for new buildings are compared from the variables of started construction of new buildings.
15.4. Coherence - internal
The consistency of results relative to the previous quarter or previous years' results is checked.
The published data are coherent. The higher level aggregates – types of new buildings according to CC are coherent. Total data for dwellings and gross building area are consistent with their main sub-agreggates.
Since the beginning of 2012 NSI has been collecting and analysing information through an online information system.
17.1. Data revision - policy
Issued building permits data are usually considered to be final when first released.
Major revisions are made when there are change of classification and change of the methodology according to EBS Reglation. Users are informed about the results and changes immediately.
This revision policy is applied to data released nationally and transmitted to Eurostat.
17.2. Data revision - practice
Issued building permits data are usually considered to be final when first released.
Major revisions are made when necessary, small revisions are made in single cases when technical errors are detected in the previous quarter. In the case of revisions they are announced at the time of data dissemination.
Only final data are available on the NSI website or in the online database INFOSTAT.
There is no revision in the data for building permits (MAR=0 and MR=0).
18.1. Source data
The source of information is exhaustive quarterly statistical survey.
Frame on which the source is based on Register of statistical units. In this case the statistical units are districts and municipalities that are part of the Register.
The information is aggregated from the data in Questionnaire on issued building permits and started construction of new buildings. Source of data is construction documents issued from technical services of the municipal authorities.
18.2. Frequency of data collection
Quarterly
18.3. Data collection
The questionaire used is "Questionaire on issued and started construction of new buildings".
Data collection media:
online through Information system “Business Cycles”
paper questionnaire. The questionnaires are sent out to the respondents and collected by regional statistical offices, where the information is entered into IS BC.
18.4. Data validation
Validation data starts from the filling the reports by respondents. Control of the data is done by the regional statistical offices and by the National Statistical Institute. An information system ‘Business Cycles’ significantly contributes to the validation of the data submitted by set arithmetic and logical controls. Subsequent analysis of the experts, a phone call for additional clarification of data and elimination inconsistencies, minimize errors in the raw data and ensure accuracy of outputs at national level.
Before transmission to Eurostat, the structure of the data file and format is checked in detail.
18.5. Data compilation
Data on building permits issued for new buildings are collected from municipal authorities using paper questionnaire and send to Regional statistical offices (RSOs) or using online information system ‘Business Cycles’. First data control is made in RSOs, experts from RSOs make phone calls to provide timely information or to clarify the data.
Response rate is 100%.
After data validating by RSOs and after the deadline for data entry, experts from Central office of NSI make a final control, and aggregate data for total country level and by districts.
Data are presented as absolute figures.
18.6. Adjustment
Data collected from the quarterly survey on building permits is used for compiling the variable ‘Building permits: number of dwellings’, which covers new residential buildings (excluding residencies for communities) and the variable ‘Building permits: square metres of gross building area’, which covers residential and non-residential buildings in absolute figures.
According to the EBS Regulation, the Building Permits indicators are to be calendar adjusted and seasonally adjusted. The software used for seasonally and calemdar adjustment is JDemetra + 2.2 package. The method used is TRAMO/SEATS. Direct seasonal adjustment is performed.
Data for issued permits of new buildings provide information on issued permits by type of buildings - residential buildings and their dwellings, administrative buildings and other buildings and their gross building area. The statistical information on issued building permits is a short-term indicator indicating the future development of construction business and it is used for analyzes of the activities of construction enterprises.
The main source is the quarterly Questionnaire on issued building permits and started construction of new buildings.
30 May 2025
The numbers of issued building permits are classified according to the Classification of Types of Construction (CC).
Building is a roofed construction site which can be used separately, and it is built for permanent purposes. Buildings are subdivided into residential and non-residential buildings.
Residential buildings are buildings in which at least half of the useful floor area is used for permanent residential habitation.
The residential buildings are subdivided into:
one-dwelling buildings - houses, villas, bungalows for living by one household
two-and more dwelling buildings - buildings such as flat blocks, apartment houses, detached houses, semi-detached or terraced houses with two and more dwellings and they have a common entrance
residences for communities - residences and service residences for the elderly, students, children and other social groups, e.g. retirement homes, works’ hostels, hostels for the homeless, etc.(exclude-hotels).
Dwelling - is one or more rooms for living and service floor area in a building with solid structure for own use. The dwelling must have an exit to a generally accessible part (stairs, yard or straight on the street).
Non-residential buildings are buildings which are mainly used or intended for use for non-residential purpose.
The non-residential buildings are subdivided into:
office buildings - buildings used as places for business and administrative purpose, e.g. banks, post offices, government department offices, conference and congress centers, law courts, parliament buildings
other non-residential buildings - all other buildings not mentioned in the previous definition used for industrial, wholesale and retail trade, traffic and communication, public entertainment, agriculture, education purposes, hospitals, hotels and others.
Gross building area - a sum of all floors areas in external dimensions (including functional areas and covered thoroughfares for ancillary use).
The data are collected for the reference quarter.
Reporting unit: Municipal authorities - which are issued building permits.
Observation unit(s): Municipalities.
The survey is exhaustive and statistical population covers all municipal authorities, which are issued permits of new buildings. All municipal authorities are 300 in the country.
All regions of Bulgaria are covered.
Quarter
Maximum accuracy and reliability of the data on issued permits of new buildings is assured. The common errors are measurement errors where the respondent misunderstands what information is required or incomplete performance. Most of measurement errors are detected and corrected through the logical and arithmetical controls of the Information system “Business Cycles” (Online Information system for data collection, editing and processing of the STS information). The system carries out the statutory and warning controls and in a case there are errors, it displays a warning dialog error in the report. The system does not allow completion of the report until they have corrected these errors by statutory controls.
The units of measure are number of dwellings and square meters.
Data on building permits issued for new buildings are collected from municipal authorities using paper questionnaire and send to Regional statistical offices (RSOs) or using online information system ‘Business Cycles’. First data control is made in RSOs, experts from RSOs make phone calls to provide timely information or to clarify the data.
Response rate is 100%.
After data validating by RSOs and after the deadline for data entry, experts from Central office of NSI make a final control, and aggregate data for total country level and by districts.
Data are presented as absolute figures.
The source of information is exhaustive quarterly statistical survey.
Frame on which the source is based on Register of statistical units. In this case the statistical units are districts and municipalities that are part of the Register.
The information is aggregated from the data in Questionnaire on issued building permits and started construction of new buildings. Source of data is construction documents issued from technical services of the municipal authorities.
Quarterly
Information on building permits issued for new buildings is published 30 days after the reference quarter.
Data are collected through online Information system “Business Cycles” or using paper questionnaire. The System is open for data collection in the period 1 – 10 of the month after the end of the reference quarter.
Data on building permits issued of new buildings are representative for the whole country, by districts and by municipalities.
The quarterly data on building permits issued for new buildings are presented as time series from first quarter of 2005. Data are comparable over time.
