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.
Directorate for Economic Statistics (DCSE) Division for Statistics on Production and Foreign Trade (SEB)
1.3. Contact name
Confidential because of GDPR
1.4. Contact person function
Confidential because of GDPR
1.5. Contact mail address
Via Tuscolana, 1788
00173 Rome Italy
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
6 June 2025
2.2. Metadata last posted
6 June 2025
2.3. Metadata last update
6 June 2025
3.1. Data description
Services Producer Price Indices (SPPIs)- Business-to-All (BtoAll)- measure quarterly changes in producer prices (output prices) of services sold by enterprises on all markets. They cover sales of services by enterprises regardless of customer type; therefore, they refer to transactions with enterprises (Business-to-Business, BtoB), public sector (Business-to-Government, BtoG) and private consumers (Business-to-Consumer, BtoC). From here on, BtoB is to be understood as BtoB+BtoG. BtoB and BtoAll SPPI are also used as a deflator in the National accounts and for the STS service turnover index.
3.2. Classification system
NACE Rev. 2.
CPA 2.1 (a modified version of CPA 2.1)
3.3. Coverage - sector
As requested by the EU Regulations (see further) activities of the NACE Rev. 2 covered are:
Services producer price indices BtoB (BtoB+BtoG in a broad sense) are referred to Business-to-Business and Business-to-Government transactions.
They are compiled using:
data collected through a sample survey and detected both on domestic and non-domestic market, for most part of economic activity sectors
administrative sources for a subset of activity sectors.
The prices are the effective transaction prices reflecting the revenue received by the producer for services actually sold to customers. They exclude taxes (VAT) whereas they include subsidies on products received by the producer. Moreover, they take into account any applicable discounts, rebates, surcharges, etc. applied to the customers.
In addition to the production prices of services related to the most relevant products in terms of their sales, companies are also required to provide the turnover associated with these products-
The price-type surveyed may be different: (i) average unit value, ratio between the quarterly turnover and the volume of services sold; (ii) contract price; (iii) estimated price for a standardized service whose specifications remain constant over time (model pricing); (iv) actual transaction price.
Harmonized index of consumer prices at constant tax rates (HICP-CT) related to services are used for Business-to-Consumer transactions (BtoC).
BtoAll services producer price indexes are calculated by aggregating BtoB and BtoC indexes, using appropriate weights derived from National accounts Use tables.
Planned changes in the information collected:
None
Accounting conventions:
The concept of “basic price” is adopted: prices exclude VAT and similar deductible taxes directly linked to turnover as well as all duties and taxes on the goods and services invoiced by the unit; subsidies on products received by the producer, if there are any, are added
Data refers to the calendar quarter.
3.5. Statistical unit
Reporting unit: KAU
Observation unit(s): Enterprise’ activities (primary or secondary) according to service products sold in CPA classes/categories are observation units.
3.6. Statistical population
The statistical population of services enterprise is defined by Structural Business Statistics (Frame-SBS business register), covering almost 1.9 million legal units of sections H, I, J, L, M (excluding M701, M72, M75), N. For BtoB SPPIs that do not come from a direct survey, samples have been made up of enterprises identified by linking administrative data from the Italian Revenue Agency Register (ISA forms) and from the National Social Security Agency INPS (Social Security Working Positions) and enterprises selected from the Italian Business Register (SBS).
3.7. Reference area
Whole national territory
3.8. Coverage - Time
Date of first use as a source:
2021 (first quarter) for NACE Sections from H to N (excluding K) and corresponding divisions.
For NACE divisions H51, H53, J61, J62, J63, M69, M73 (provided to Eurostat only), M70.2, M71, N78 and N80 indices have been reconstructed from 2010 (first quarter).
3.9. Base period
The indices are chain-type indices.
Reference period: 2021=100
Base period: The base period of the index of year y is the fourth quarter of the previous year y-1.
Indices.
Quarter
6.1. Institutional Mandate - legal acts and other agreements
Legal basis:
National level: This is one of the compulsory surveys fixed every year by a Decree of the President of the Republic (D.P.R.).
Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/1197 of 30 July 2020 laying down technical specifications and arrangements under 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;
Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2021/1003 of 18 June 2021 granting derogations to certain Member States concerning the transmission of statistics according to Regulation (EU) 2019/2152 of the European Parliament and of the Council and Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/1197;
Obligation on units to provide data: Surveys are mandatory. Penalties are foreseen for non-response.
Planned changes in legal basis, obligation to respond and frame used: None.
6.2. Institutional Mandate - data sharing
Data on service producer price index are transmitted to Eurostat on a quarterly basis and disseminated at the national level through a quarterly press release.
7.1. Confidentiality - policy
Several national legal acts guarantee the confidentiality of data requested for statistical purposes.
According to Art. 9, paragraph 1 of the Legislative Decree n. According to 322 of 1989, personal data can only be disseminated in an aggregate form, making it impossible to identify individuals.
The Personal Data Protection Code introduced by the Legislative Decree No. 196 of 30 June 2003 (this document is only available in Italian) and the Legislative Decree No. 101/2018 General Data Protection Regulation (this document is only available in Italian), provides special rules concerning the processing of personal data for statistical purposes within the National Statistical System (Sistan).
Further, in order to make statistical secrecy and protection of personal data effective, Istat is currently taking appropriate organizational, logistical, methodological and statistical measures by internationally established standards.
Links to relevant legal acts on statistics are also listed on the website of Sistan.
7.2. Confidentiality - data treatment
Survey elementary data are treated as confidential. Aggregated data are disseminated in IstatData Some variables can be transmitted to Eurostat as confidential when they are not disseminated in Italy.
8.1. Release calendar
Every year, in December, Istat publishes a release calendar providing the precise release dates for the coming year. The calendar is distributed to the press and is available free of charge to interested parties.
Data are released simultaneously to all interested parties by issuing the press release on producer prices. There is no pre-release access. The press release (Italian version and short English version) is subsequently posted on the Istat's, section Prices.
Data are also sent to Eurostat according to the required standards by EDAMIS using SDMX format to Eurostat at the same time as the quarterly data release. The information is also used for quarterly and annual National Accounts.
Indices are published in the "Annuario Statistico Italiano" (ASI) - Italian Statistical Yearbook - Chapter 16 Annuario Statistico Italiano/Prezzi (this document is only available in Italian).
10.3. Dissemination format - online database
Data are disseminated in IstatData, the Italian National Institute of Statistics data warehouse – category Prices.
10.4. Dissemination format - microdata access
Validated microdata are stored in the repository of the Institute, ARMIDA.
The ARMIDA repository (Archive of validated microdata) was established with the main objective of preserving and documenting the data produced by Istat surveys, and has subsequently supported the objective of disseminating data. The data archived in ARMIDA supplies the different channels for the dissemination of microdata (for internal use at the Institute through the "Memorandum of access to microdata of ARMIDA "internal users", for authorities in Sistan, for research files, for standard files, etc.).
10.5. Dissemination format - other
Data are sent to Eurostat according to the required standards by EDAMIS using SDMX format. Eurostat receives embargoed data in advance of its publishing date.
10.6. Documentation on methodology
Characteristics of the survey on BtoB services producer prices and a description of the methodology concerning the BtoAll indices are reported in the methodological note attached to the press release, regularly updated.
A synthetic description of methodology and statistical sources used for the compilation of indices is available in the Information System for Survey Documentation and Quality Control (SIQual). This system manages qualitative information related to every single phase of a survey's production process.
10.7. Quality management - documentation
More information about procedures applied for quality management and quality assessment in the document Quality Guidelines for Statistical
Istat reference framework for quality policies relies on the European Statistics Code of Practice adopted in 2005 (last revised in 2017), on the Eurostat Quality Definition and on the recommendations of the LEG on Quality. The Data Quality Assessment Framework, developed by the International Monetary Fund, also represents an important reference. Following the principles of the European Statistics Code of Practice, Italy has adopted the Italian Code of Official Statistics in order to promote quality improvements of the statistics produced by the Italian National Statistical System. (Directive No. 12/COMSTAT in Italian Official Journal No. 23, General Series of 29 January 2022).
Following the Eurostat Quality Definition, the requirements of statistical products are: to be relevant concerning users’ information needs;
to be accurate, that is to provide estimates or indicators that are as reliable as possible;
to be timely, catching the phenomena to be observed;
to be easily accessible and supported by metadata, allowing for a full understanding of the data; to enable comparisons over time or among different sources.
A description of methodology and sources used in preparing statistics is also contained in the Information System for Survey Documentation and Quality Control (SIQual).
11.2. Quality management - assessment
Data meet the quality criteria of relevance, accuracy, timeliness and punctuality, coherence and accessibility. They are computed according to the recommendations of the Methodological guide for developing producer price indices for services (OECD/Eurostat) and the Producer Price Index Manual: Theory and Practice (IMF) as well.
government departments, ECB, national central bank, international organizations, etc.
social actors: employers' organizations, trade unions, lobby groups, etc.
media
researchers & students
enterprises/businesses
internal users
Eurostat.
12.2. Relevance - User Satisfaction
Not available
12.3. Completeness
Requirements according to EU regulations and national laws are fulfilled.
13.1. Accuracy - overall
Samples are designed with the cut-off method for the majority of NACE sectors covered. Accuracy can be evaluated relying on the non-sampling error component.
Non-sampling errors are reduced or eliminated in the collection phase using an electronic questionnaire useful for debugging and increasing of the response rate. Sampling errors is not measured. Data check procedure is also very effective. The response rate is very high for each NACE sector. The overall response rate is on average 90%.
13.2. Sampling error
Not applicable/measured as a non-probability sampling method (cut-off) is used for the majority of NACE sectors covered.
13.3. Non-sampling error
The response rate varies from 80% to 100%, according to the different NACE sectors.
To speed up and increase the rate of response, scheduled reminders are sent to non-respondents. Non-respondents are also contacted directly by phone more than once.
14.1. Timeliness
Data are released about Q+60 days after the end of the referring period (quarter Q).
14.2. Punctuality
All releases are delivered according to the official timetable, both at national and European level.
15.1. Comparability - geographical
Not applicable, only national level.
15.2. Comparability - over time
Time series BtoAll SPPIs in reference base year 2021 for NACE Sections from H to N (excluding K) and corresponding divisions are available since 2021 (first quarter).
Indexes for NACE divisions H51, H53, J61, J62, J63, M69, M73 (provided to Eurostat only), M70.2, M71, N78 and N80 have been reconstructed from 2010 (first quarter).
15.3. Coherence - cross domain
Some cross-checks are possible between SPPIs and the service turnover index or the consumer price index, but the results can be affected by the different targets of the three indices and different methodologies followed to compile them.
15.4. Coherence - internal
Data are internally coherent. High-level aggregations are computed as a weighted average mean (Laspeyres type index) of sub-indices.
The cost estimate is compiled in terms of the total number of hours worked (THW). It is equal to the product of three terms: (total) Annual Working Days (AWD), (total) Hours Worked per Day (HWD), Number of Persons involved in the Survey (NPS).
AWD
HWD
NPS
Cost estimate (THW)
220
7.12
7
10,965
The burden estimate is compiled in terms of the total number ofminutes (TNM) taken to fill in the (web) questionnaire. The burden is applied to the respondent, i.e. the person who fills in the questionnaire on behalf of the enterprise. To estimate it, two elements have been taken into account. The former distinguishes between beginner and expert respondents, to point out respectively the person who fills in the web questionnaire for the first time and the one who is familiar with filling in the form. The latter closely concerns the information that has to be provided monthly. On average, by combining these two elements, the time spent to fill in the questionnaire (just the burden) is estimated in terms of the total number of minutes between a minimum and a maximum threshold.
Type of Respondent
Burden estimate (TNM)
Beginner
10 min. ≤ burden ≤ 20 min.
Expert
5 min. ≤ burden ≤ 10 min.
17.1. Data revision - policy
Quarterly, final data are disseminated as indices.
Major changes in methodology are announced in ad hoc publications.
Advance notification of methodological changes is also provided through seminars and papers disseminated throughout the scientific community.
Any unplanned revisions are communicated to the users in a transparent manner. The same revision policy is applied nationally and in transmissions to Eurostat.
17.2. Data revision - practice
At present, Services producer price indices are both not revised and both not seasonally adjusted. Final data are published about 60 days after the end of the reference quarter.
18.1. Source data
For the BtoB price indexes, data are mainly collected through a statistical survey and obtained from administrative sources only for a few NACE sectors. SBS data is used as a sample frame. The survey is conducted on the basis of a sample (based both non-probabilistic design – for the majority of NACE sectors – and non non-probabilistic one). The survey includes around 1,200 enterprises that report prices for more than 7,000 types of services per quarter. HIPC-CT indices are used for the BtoC price component, as already explained.
Criteria for stratification:
non-probabilistic design: the sample is drawn by a turnover cut-off (with a census above the cut-off). The chosen threshold guarantees a good/sufficient coverage in terms of turnover
probabilistic design: enterprise turnover is used to create strata in which enterprises are chosen with a probabilistic approach
judgmental sampling for only two sectors.
18.2. Frequency of data collection
Quarterly
18.3. Data collection
The questionnaires are different according to the economic sector they refer to collected through a web portal called Portale Imprese.
Respondents need to log in to insert data in the web questionnaire.
18.4. Data validation
Before compiling each index, data are validated by observing both levels and prices rates of change.
18.5. Data compilation
Index Calculation
BtoAll SPPIs are compiled according to the methodology of the annual chain-linking on a quarterly basis (chain-linked Laspeyres type formula).
The index processing starts from the calculation base indices, both for the BtoB and the BtoC components.
For the business market, the compilation of BtoB SPPIs is made up as follow: indices are compiled by enterprise and then aggregated in a weighted arithmetic average by NACE aggregations up to the total index.
For indices compiled from data collected, weighting coefficients at enterprise and service level correspond to the annual business-to-business turnover and the annual turnover share per service sold for the year t-1, directly provided by respondent units. For indices that do not come from survey but are compiled using other data sources, the weighting coefficients at enterprise level are derived from the Italian Revenue Agency Register and from the Business register.
For NACE aggregations, weights are estimated using domestic and foreign turnover data derived from Frame-SBS Register.
For the consumer domain, quarterly consumer price indices (Hicp-ct) are derived from the monthly indices by arithmetic average, and then aggregated to obtain NACE groups (or divisions) BtoC indices, according to the correspondence established between the ECOICOP and the NACE classifications.
For all the NACE aggregations required by EU regulations, the BtoAll calculation base indices are compiled as a weighted average of the BtoC and BtoB components. The weights, derived from the National accounts Use table, are respectively the share of domestic production referred to final household consumption and the share of domestic production devoted to intermediate consumption, investment, exports and Government final consumption.
Weights
For the BtoB indexes, the weights structure at product and enterprise level is defined by the BtoB turnover information provided by the surveyed enterprises. Both for the BtoB and BtoC indexes, SBS turnover data are used to aggregate indexes from the lower detail levels up to the higher ones, after splitting it into the two components, business and consumer, on the basis of the latest National accounts Use table data.
At level of Nace aggregations, the final BtoAll index is a combination of the component BtoB and BtoC, weighting them with the respective shares of domestic production by economic destination, as they result from the Use table.
18.6. Adjustment
Seasonally adjusted indices are not calculated.
No further comments.
Services Producer Price Indices (SPPIs)- Business-to-All (BtoAll)- measure quarterly changes in producer prices (output prices) of services sold by enterprises on all markets. They cover sales of services by enterprises regardless of customer type; therefore, they refer to transactions with enterprises (Business-to-Business, BtoB), public sector (Business-to-Government, BtoG) and private consumers (Business-to-Consumer, BtoC). From here on, BtoB is to be understood as BtoB+BtoG. BtoB and BtoAll SPPI are also used as a deflator in the National accounts and for the STS service turnover index.
6 June 2025
List and definition of variables:
Services producer price indices BtoB (BtoB+BtoG in a broad sense) are referred to Business-to-Business and Business-to-Government transactions.
They are compiled using:
data collected through a sample survey and detected both on domestic and non-domestic market, for most part of economic activity sectors
administrative sources for a subset of activity sectors.
The prices are the effective transaction prices reflecting the revenue received by the producer for services actually sold to customers. They exclude taxes (VAT) whereas they include subsidies on products received by the producer. Moreover, they take into account any applicable discounts, rebates, surcharges, etc. applied to the customers.
In addition to the production prices of services related to the most relevant products in terms of their sales, companies are also required to provide the turnover associated with these products-
The price-type surveyed may be different: (i) average unit value, ratio between the quarterly turnover and the volume of services sold; (ii) contract price; (iii) estimated price for a standardized service whose specifications remain constant over time (model pricing); (iv) actual transaction price.
Harmonized index of consumer prices at constant tax rates (HICP-CT) related to services are used for Business-to-Consumer transactions (BtoC).
BtoAll services producer price indexes are calculated by aggregating BtoB and BtoC indexes, using appropriate weights derived from National accounts Use tables.
Planned changes in the information collected:
None
Accounting conventions:
The concept of “basic price” is adopted: prices exclude VAT and similar deductible taxes directly linked to turnover as well as all duties and taxes on the goods and services invoiced by the unit; subsidies on products received by the producer, if there are any, are added
Data refers to the calendar quarter.
Reporting unit: KAU
Observation unit(s): Enterprise’ activities (primary or secondary) according to service products sold in CPA classes/categories are observation units.
The statistical population of services enterprise is defined by Structural Business Statistics (Frame-SBS business register), covering almost 1.9 million legal units of sections H, I, J, L, M (excluding M701, M72, M75), N. For BtoB SPPIs that do not come from a direct survey, samples have been made up of enterprises identified by linking administrative data from the Italian Revenue Agency Register (ISA forms) and from the National Social Security Agency INPS (Social Security Working Positions) and enterprises selected from the Italian Business Register (SBS).
Whole national territory
Quarter
Samples are designed with the cut-off method for the majority of NACE sectors covered. Accuracy can be evaluated relying on the non-sampling error component.
Non-sampling errors are reduced or eliminated in the collection phase using an electronic questionnaire useful for debugging and increasing of the response rate. Sampling errors is not measured. Data check procedure is also very effective. The response rate is very high for each NACE sector. The overall response rate is on average 90%.
Indices.
Index Calculation
BtoAll SPPIs are compiled according to the methodology of the annual chain-linking on a quarterly basis (chain-linked Laspeyres type formula).
The index processing starts from the calculation base indices, both for the BtoB and the BtoC components.
For the business market, the compilation of BtoB SPPIs is made up as follow: indices are compiled by enterprise and then aggregated in a weighted arithmetic average by NACE aggregations up to the total index.
For indices compiled from data collected, weighting coefficients at enterprise and service level correspond to the annual business-to-business turnover and the annual turnover share per service sold for the year t-1, directly provided by respondent units. For indices that do not come from survey but are compiled using other data sources, the weighting coefficients at enterprise level are derived from the Italian Revenue Agency Register and from the Business register.
For NACE aggregations, weights are estimated using domestic and foreign turnover data derived from Frame-SBS Register.
For the consumer domain, quarterly consumer price indices (Hicp-ct) are derived from the monthly indices by arithmetic average, and then aggregated to obtain NACE groups (or divisions) BtoC indices, according to the correspondence established between the ECOICOP and the NACE classifications.
For all the NACE aggregations required by EU regulations, the BtoAll calculation base indices are compiled as a weighted average of the BtoC and BtoB components. The weights, derived from the National accounts Use table, are respectively the share of domestic production referred to final household consumption and the share of domestic production devoted to intermediate consumption, investment, exports and Government final consumption.
Weights
For the BtoB indexes, the weights structure at product and enterprise level is defined by the BtoB turnover information provided by the surveyed enterprises. Both for the BtoB and BtoC indexes, SBS turnover data are used to aggregate indexes from the lower detail levels up to the higher ones, after splitting it into the two components, business and consumer, on the basis of the latest National accounts Use table data.
At level of Nace aggregations, the final BtoAll index is a combination of the component BtoB and BtoC, weighting them with the respective shares of domestic production by economic destination, as they result from the Use table.
For the BtoB price indexes, data are mainly collected through a statistical survey and obtained from administrative sources only for a few NACE sectors. SBS data is used as a sample frame. The survey is conducted on the basis of a sample (based both non-probabilistic design – for the majority of NACE sectors – and non non-probabilistic one). The survey includes around 1,200 enterprises that report prices for more than 7,000 types of services per quarter. HIPC-CT indices are used for the BtoC price component, as already explained.
Criteria for stratification:
non-probabilistic design: the sample is drawn by a turnover cut-off (with a census above the cut-off). The chosen threshold guarantees a good/sufficient coverage in terms of turnover
probabilistic design: enterprise turnover is used to create strata in which enterprises are chosen with a probabilistic approach
judgmental sampling for only two sectors.
Quarterly
Data are released about Q+60 days after the end of the referring period (quarter Q).
Not applicable, only national level.
Time series BtoAll SPPIs in reference base year 2021 for NACE Sections from H to N (excluding K) and corresponding divisions are available since 2021 (first quarter).
Indexes for NACE divisions H51, H53, J61, J62, J63, M69, M73 (provided to Eurostat only), M70.2, M71, N78 and N80 have been reconstructed from 2010 (first quarter).
