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.
Institutul National de Statistica (INS) Bulevardul Libertatii 16., Bucharest 5 RO-050706
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
26 May 2025
2.2. Metadata last posted
26 May 2025
2.3. Metadata last update
26 May 2025
3.1. Data description
Building permits: number of dwellings (B411); square metres of useful floor area (B412). The indicator is used for illustrating the future development of construction market in terms of number of dwellings planned to be build in the future.
3.2. Classification system
NACE Rev. 2., Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics and CPA classification
3.3. Coverage - sector
Activities covered: This indicator is compiled monthly for building construction - residential and non-residential buildings.
Size classes covered: The survey is exhaustive.
3.4. Statistical concepts and definitions
The number and square meters of useful floor area for building permits for residential buildings, residences for communities, office buildings and other buildings. Construction licence is the official document of local administration which ensures the application of legal measures referring to the location, design, execution and functioning of construction. Residential buildings are buildings which are totally or mostly (over 50 percent of living space or constructed volume) used for habitation. Residential buildings for communities are residential buildings used as collective dwellings, such as: nurseries, orphanages, hostels and hospital type hostels for elderly persons, etc. Non-residential buildings are exclusively or mainly meant for other purposes than residential ones, in this category being included administrative buildings and other buildings. Other buildings category includes: hotels and similar buildings, buildings for wholesale and retail trade, buildings for transport and communications, industrial and agricultural buildings, education, science, culture and art buildings, health care, physical culture and recreation, etc. (Total) useful floor (area) results from the built area from which is subtracted the area occupied by the walls (excluding fixed walls). Definition of building permits is in line with Eurostat recommandations and STS methodological manual.
3.5. Statistical unit
Reporting unit : Local public administration fill in the statistical questionnaire
Observation unit(s): New residential buildings (for number) and new residential buildind and non residential building (for useful floor area)
3.6. Statistical population
Exaustive survey to all local public administration (cities hall) from the country . There are around 3300 respondents.
3.7. Reference area
All regions of Romania are covered
3.8. Coverage - Time
2001 (2000 was estimated).
3.9. Base period
Not applicable- building permits data are expressed in absolute value.
Number of permits and usefull floor area in square meters. Data on building permits are both transmitted to Eurostat and published nationally in absolute value.
Month
6.1. Institutional Mandate - legal acts and other agreements
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 IMPLEMENTING REGULATION (EU) 2020/1197 of 30 July 2020 laying down technical specifications and arrangements pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2019/2152 of the European Parliament and of the Council on European business statistics repealing 10 legal acts in the field of business statistics: UE Regulations
According to Law no. 226/2009 all individuals and legal units are required to submit data to the INS on request. Sanctions are possible but the INS prefers to use persuasion to gain the necessary data.All statistical data are collected on the basis of national legal acts approved by Romanian Government ( i.e. the " Programme os Statistical Surveys of Official Statistics).
6.2. Institutional Mandate - data sharing
In the present there are no other data transmission to international organisation like FMI, OECD and UN.
7.1. Confidentiality - policy
All statistics collected and published by INS are governed by the statistical Law no. 226/2009 regarding the organisation of official statistics.
The Law specifies that: the official statistical services are authorised to ask for and receive free of charge statistical data and information from all natural and legal persons who are located, hold any kind of capital or carry out any type of activity on the Romanian territory.
Also under the provision of this law, INS cannot publish, or otherwise make available to one individual or organisation, statistics that could enable the identification of data for any individual person or entity.
INS has been repeatedly and publicly recognised by the government as fully intellectually independent: it decides by itself which data to collect, which methodology to use, and which results, methodological notes and commentaries are published. Under the provision of the statistical law, INS cannot publish, or otherwise make available to one individual or organisation, statistics that could enable the identification of data for any individual person or entity. No government official outside the National Institute of Statistics has access to the data before release to the public.
The most important aspects on the organisation of the official statistics in Romanian are posted on the National Institute of Statistics Internet website NIS website. Copies of the statistical laws are available in Romanian from the library of the National Institute of Statistics, 16, Libertatii Avenue, Bucharest, District 5.
7.2. Confidentiality - data treatment
The data are not considered to be confidential
8.1. Release calendar
There is an advance release calendar of data dissemination which can be found on the website
The results of the monthly survey are disseminated at M+30 days by press release and via INS Internet website Release calendar and published at M+57 days in the Monthly Statistical Bulletin. The data can be found also in the TEMPO data base
8.2. Release calendar access
The release calendar is available on the NIS website
Monthly data are available to all users simultaneously at the time of release through the press release and via INS Internet website NIS website.
No organisation or person outside the INS has pre-release access to the published data.
Data are transmitted monthly to Eurostat as absolute values by e-DAMIS using SDMX format within 30 days (calendar days) from the end of the month.
Monthly.
10.1. Dissemination format - News release
The results of the monthly survey are disseminated at M+30 days by press release on NIS website NIS website. No ministerial commentary is included in any of the statistical releases.
10.2. Dissemination format - Publications
Data for building permits are published in the "Buletin Statistic Lunar" (Monthly statistical bulletin); Seria Investitii-Constructii (Quarterly investment and construction series). All statistical publications are available in electronic format. The data are published at national, macroregion, region of development , counties and towns level.
10.3. Dissemination format - online database
The building permits are available also in our on line data base TEMPO TEMPO online which is available both in Romanian and English.
10.4. Dissemination format - microdata access
No microdata are disseminated.
10.5. Dissemination format - other
Data on building permits are sent to Eurostat both to be used in European aggregates as well as to be released as national data.
10.6. Documentation on methodology
Brief details of the methodology are included with the published data.
The system of official statistics follows international and European quality standards. NIS Romania has adopted the UN Fundamental Principles for Official Statistics as well as the European Statistics Code of Practice.
11.2. Quality management - assessment
The survey is evaluated with very high degree due to the completeness and high quality of the information received from the local authorities responsible for the documentation of every stage of the construction process.
12.1. Relevance - User Needs
Data are relevant because are required by Europen legislation.
The main national users are grouped as following: Presidential administration, Governmental bodies; National Commission for Prognosis; mass-media; other users.
Their main needs:The Monthly Survey on Short-Term Statistics outcomes, in relation with the information provided by other surveys, are used by policy makers in establishing the actions and measures for economic development strategies.
The Monthly Survey on building permits outcomes, in relation with the information provided by other surveys, are used by policy makers in establishing the actions and measures for economic development strategies.
12.2. Relevance - User Satisfaction
NIS Romania has conducted general surveys of user satisfaction in 2024, and plans to continue doing so every three years. The purpose is to know the perception of users regarding the quality of the information they use and if their needs are covered.
The users’ specific needs are considered when methodological revisions are carried out in order to tailor the content of the survey to the specific requirements of its users, thereby increasing their levels of satisfaction.
Data are compliant with European legislation and Eurostat requirments. All breakdowns and variable forms are provided, according to the EU regulations in force.
13.1. Accuracy - overall
The sampling error in the data is small, the first estimates are not biased. Usually the data became final at the end of the year.
13.2. Sampling error
Not applicable because is a census survey.
13.3. Non-sampling error
The response rate is 100%
14.1. Timeliness
The press release is issued 30 days after the end of the reference month. The publication is ready within 57 days of the end of the reference month.
The local administration units enterprises are requested to answer by the 10th of the following month. Data collection is normally closed 3 days before publication.
14.2. Punctuality
The process concerning the deadlines for the respondents to reply was performed as follows:
the units have to fill in the paper questionnaires and send them to the territorial statistical offices until 10th of the month following the reference month.
the units can also fill in the on line questionnaires until around 20rd of the month following the reference month.
The process concerning the covering recalls and follow-ups was performed as follows:
from 10th till the 20th of the month following the reference month, the territorial statistical offices had to perform data entry and data checking.
Data processing steps and the related periods were:
At local level (regional/county statistical office) the data processing consisted in:
data collection – until 10th of the following month of the reference month;
data entry and validation- from 10th of the following month of the reference month till the 24th day of the month;
At central level (INS) the data processing consisted in:
data validation – errors were detected and sent for correction or explanations to the statistical offices;
comparative analysis with the previous month, the same month of the previous year;
data tabulation;
monthly data preparation for dissemination in the press releases, the Monthly Statistical Bulletin, the TEMPO (on-line) database;
transposing into the STS standard format for data transmission designed by Eurostat;
transmission of final results to Eurostat.
The publication dates for the monthly indicators were disseminated in accordance with the legal requirements as follows:
European level (Eurostat): M+30 of each month
National level:
Press releases - M+30 of each month;
Monthly Statistical Bulletin (MSB) - M+57 and TEMPO data base - M+30 of each month.
15.1. Comparability - geographical
There are not problem with data comparability. The statistical concepts and classification are applied in the entire national territory.
15.2. Comparability - over time
No major methodological changes over the last 10 years.
15.3. Coherence - cross domain
Comparison of quarterly data with survey on number of dwellings.
15.4. Coherence - internal
All data are coherent at different aggregation levels.
Number of units =3300;
Cost (NSI) hours per year= 4522
Burden (respondents) hours per year= 6500
17.1. Data revision - policy
Data revisions follow the Revision Policy of the NIS Romania, which represent one of the key documents of the office. The same revision policy is applied to STS data released nationally and transmitted to Eurostat.Calendar of standard revisions is being prepared together with the release calendar. Revision policy.
Notice about major changes as classification, base year is provided in advance of the change. For routine changes notice is given at the time the change is introduced.
Usually the building permits data are not revised.
Vintage database are not available. No benchmarking is done.
17.2. Data revision - practice
Usually the building permits data are not revised. MAR=MR=0
Major changes in methodology are announced in all statistical publications at the time of the change.
The status of data is clearly indicated in the publications.
18.1. Source data
Statistical survey carried out exhaustively to all 3300 administrations.
18.2. Frequency of data collection
Monthly
18.3. Data collection
The questionnaire is the ACC-"Statistical survey of building construction-building permits". Data are collected in principal using a web questionnaire. For the rest of the respondent units paper questionnaire or electronic format by e-mail is used. The paper questionnaires are sent to the reporting units and then collected by county statistical offices. From 2010 onwards data are collected online using the eSOP portal for statistical data collection. The percent of online data collection is about 98%.
18.4. Data validation
The "validation rules" or "check routines", that check for correctness, meaningfulness, and security of data that are input to the system. The rules are implemented via application program as logic validation during the data entry ( consistency checks, data type checks and logical checks). The first validation rule at NIS level is to check the data integrity (checks for missing records). All validation procedures are apllied on the level of unit data and aggregates using an in house IT programme before national disemmination. Before transmission to Eurostat the structure of data file and format is checked in detail.
18.5. Data compilation
All the 3300 respondents are in time and is not needed to estimate the missing data. After data validation at central level the results tables are compiled and approved
Building permits: number of dwellings (B411); square metres of useful floor area (B412). The indicator is used for illustrating the future development of construction market in terms of number of dwellings planned to be build in the future.
26 May 2025
The number and square meters of useful floor area for building permits for residential buildings, residences for communities, office buildings and other buildings. Construction licence is the official document of local administration which ensures the application of legal measures referring to the location, design, execution and functioning of construction. Residential buildings are buildings which are totally or mostly (over 50 percent of living space or constructed volume) used for habitation. Residential buildings for communities are residential buildings used as collective dwellings, such as: nurseries, orphanages, hostels and hospital type hostels for elderly persons, etc. Non-residential buildings are exclusively or mainly meant for other purposes than residential ones, in this category being included administrative buildings and other buildings. Other buildings category includes: hotels and similar buildings, buildings for wholesale and retail trade, buildings for transport and communications, industrial and agricultural buildings, education, science, culture and art buildings, health care, physical culture and recreation, etc. (Total) useful floor (area) results from the built area from which is subtracted the area occupied by the walls (excluding fixed walls). Definition of building permits is in line with Eurostat recommandations and STS methodological manual.
Reporting unit : Local public administration fill in the statistical questionnaire
Observation unit(s): New residential buildings (for number) and new residential buildind and non residential building (for useful floor area)
Exaustive survey to all local public administration (cities hall) from the country . There are around 3300 respondents.
All regions of Romania are covered
Month
The sampling error in the data is small, the first estimates are not biased. Usually the data became final at the end of the year.
Number of permits and usefull floor area in square meters. Data on building permits are both transmitted to Eurostat and published nationally in absolute value.
All the 3300 respondents are in time and is not needed to estimate the missing data. After data validation at central level the results tables are compiled and approved
Statistical survey carried out exhaustively to all 3300 administrations.
Monthly.
The press release is issued 30 days after the end of the reference month. The publication is ready within 57 days of the end of the reference month.
The local administration units enterprises are requested to answer by the 10th of the following month. Data collection is normally closed 3 days before publication.
There are not problem with data comparability. The statistical concepts and classification are applied in the entire national territory.
No major methodological changes over the last 10 years.
