Statistical Service of Cyprus (Cystat)

Business Statistics Unit

Michael Karaoli str., 1444 Nicosia, Cyprus

Quarterly business demography(QBD): Quarterly data on registrations of new businesses and declarations of bankruptcies. Statistics are based on existing administrative data.

NACE Rev. 2.

Market units in industry, construction, trade and services (except public administration, defence, compulsory social security, activities of membership organisations, activities of households as employers and extra-territorial organisations and bodies).

Applies to all activities listed in NACE Sections B to N and P to R and Divisions S95 and S96.

Definitions of the variables are given below:

REGISTRATIONS: The number of legal units entered in the registration register at any time during the reference quarter, according to the respective administrative or legal procedure.

Registrations is an early indicator to measure business intentions. In every country, administrative rules of registrations differ, so the quarterly data are presented as an index series to improve comparability.

BANKRUPTCIES: The number of legal units that have started the procedure of being declared bankrupt, by issuing a court declaration, at any time during the reference quarter (this declaration may be provisional and does not always mean cessation of an activity).

Legal unit.

New registrations and declarations of bankruptcies under NACE headings B to N +P+Q+R+S95+S96. 

Sole proprietors are included in the statistics.

Republic of Cyprus

Data are available as from the first quarter of 2021 on a quarterly basis.

Data are transmitted to Eurostat in absolute figures. However, data on registrations and bankruptcies are disseminated by Eurostat as indices. As from March 2024 onwards, Eurostat publishes indices with base year 2021. The whole time series has been recalculated / rescaled accordingly. Therefore, the data with reference year 2023 are published in Eurostat’s database with base year 2021.

Absolute value for registrations and declarations of bankruptcies.

Quarterly 

At national level:

Article 3 of the National Official Statistics Law, No. 25(I) of 2021 defines the functions of the Statistical Service of Cyprus regarding the production and dissemination of official statistics. Moreover, Article 13, explicitly stipulates the mandate for data collection and introduces a mandatory response to statistical enquiries by stipulating the obligation of respondents to reply to surveys and provide the data required. This relates not only to national but also to European statistics which, by virtue of Article 8 of the said Law, are incorporated in the annual and multiannual programmes of work without any further procedure.

Link to the National Official Statistics Law, No. 25(I) of 2021 can be found at: https://www.cystat.gov.cy/en/StaticPage?id=1074

At European level:

The legal basis for the short-term statistics is 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 former legal basis for the STS indicators is the Council Regulation No 1165/98 of 19 May 1998 concerning short-term statistics and subsequent amending regulations.

References to the EBS Regulation and its implementing legal acts can be found on the Eurostat website:Legislation - Eurostat (europa.eu).

Data on registrations of new businesses and declarations of bankruptcies are transmitted on a quarterly basis to Eurostat only. Data are not transmitted to any other international organization.

Official statistics are released in accordance to all confidentiality provisions of the following:

• National Official Statistics Law No. 25(I) of 2021 (especially Article 16 on statistical confidentiality).
• Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 March 2009 on European statistics and its later amendments (especially Chapter 5 on statistical confidentiality).
• European Statistics Code of Practice (especially Principle 5 on statistical confidentiality).
• CYSTAT's Code of Practice for the Collection, Publication and Storage of Statistical Data.

Links to all of the above documents:

• Statistics Law No. 25(I) of 2021: 

https://www.cystat.gov.cy/en/StaticPage?id=1074  

• Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 on European statistics (consolidated text):

 http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:02009R0223-20150608&qid=1504858409240&from=EN

• European Statistics Code of Practice:

European Statistics Code of Practice — revised edition 2017 - Products Catalogues - Eurostat (europa.eu)

• Code of Practice for the Collection, Publication and Storage of Statistical Data: 

https://www.cystat.gov.cy/en/StaticPage?id=1066

No data is considered confidential at the level published. The treatment of confidential data is regulated by CYSTAT's Code of Practice for the Collection, Publication and Storage of Statistical Data.  

The link is as follows: https://www.cystat.gov.cy/en/StaticPage?id=1066

In the framework of its mission, CYSTAT provides high-quality statistical information, through the web portal and social media, with the use of statistical products such as announcements, interactive tables, predefined tables, metadata, infographics and publications. The principles and the legal framework governing the dissemination of official statistical data are defined and explained in the document “Dissemination Policy”. The means of dissemination, the main statistical products and the services provided to the users, are also presented. Additionally, the document describes the procedures for data revision and error treatment. The link is as follows:Dissemination Policy of the Statistical Service of Cyprus (cystat.gov.cy)

An annual release calendar is prepared and forwarded to Eurostat. At national level, a release calendar with preliminary dates for the next four months is published at Cystat's database. Announcements are confirmed on the Friday preceding their release. Notifications about the dissemination of statistics are published in the release calendar, which is available on CYSTAT’s database. The annual release calendar, announced during the 4th quarter of the year, includes provisional dates of publication for the following year, which are finalised the week before publication. The release calendar is not applicable for the short-term business statistics on business population since data are not published.

The release calendars published at national level can be found at: https://www.cystat.gov.cy/en/AnnouncementList

According to the Dissemination and Pricing Policy of the Statistical Service of Cyprus (section 2.3) CYSTAT΄s main channel for dissemination of statistics is the web portal, which offers the same conditions to everyone and is updated at the same time every working day (12:00 noon). No privileged pre-released access is granted.

In addition to the annual release calendar, users are informed of the various statistical releases through the “Alert” service provided by CYSTAT.

Link to the Dissemination and Pricing Policy of the Statistical Service of Cyprus can be found at:https://www.cystat.gov.cy/en/StaticPage?id=1064

European level: quarterly frequency

National level: no dissemination of data

There is no news release available.

There are no other publications available.

CYSTAT-DB is the online database of the Statistical Service of Cyprus. It gives users the ability to produce the desired table, to format the presentation, to edit and make calculations and to save it in any form available. Additionally, requests can be saved and used at a later stage to get the updated table with the latest available statistics. It is an interactive tool, providing the possibility to create customized tables for various statistics. CYSTAT-DB can be accessed from the home page or alternatively from the pages of statistical sub-themes.

Data on business registration and bankruptcy are not yet available at CYSTAT-DB Online Database.

There is no microdata access to outside users. 

Under the provisions of the Statistics Law, CYSTAT may release microdata for the sole use of scientific research. Applicants have to submit the request form "APPLICATION FOR DATA FOR RESEARCH PURPOSES" giving thorough information on the project for which micro-data are needed.The application is evaluated by CYSTAT’s Confidentiality Committee and if the application is approved, a charge is fixed according to the volume and time consumed for preparation of the data. Micro-data may then be released after an anonymisation process which ensures no direct identification of the statistical units but, at the same time, ensures usability of the data.

The link for the application is: https://www.cystat.gov.cy/en/DataRequestContactForm?fid=7

Not applicable. QBD data are transmitted to Eurostat within 40 days after the reference period. The data are transmitted via eDAMIS using the SDMX format.

Not available.

Not available.

The quality of statistics in CYSTAT is managed in the framework of the European Statistics Code of Practice which sets the standards for developing, producing and disseminating European Statistics as well as the ESS Quality Assurance Framework (QAF). CYSTAT endorses the Quality Declaration of the European Statistical System. In addition, CYSTAT is guided by the requirements provided for in Article 11 of the Statistics Law No. 25(I) of 2021 as well as Article 12 of Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 on European statistics, which sets out the quality criteria to be applied in the development, production and dissemination of European statistics and by the internal document "Quality Guidelines for Statistical Processes" which is available only in greek.

Links to all of the above documents:

• European Statistics Code of Practice:

European Statistics Code of Practice — revised edition 2017 - Products Catalogues - Eurostat (europa.eu)

• ESS Quality Assurance Framework (QAF): 

http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/documents/64157/4392716/ESS-QAF-V1-2final.pdf/bbf5970c-1adf-46c8-afc3-58ce177a0646

• Quality Declaration of the European Statistical System: 

http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/documents/4031688/8188985/KS0217428ENN_corr.pdf/116f7c85-cd3e-4bff-b695-4a8e71385fd4

• Statistics Law No. 25(I) of 2021: 

https://www.cystat.gov.cy/en/StaticPage?id=1074

• Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 on European statistics (consolidated text):

 http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:02009R0223-20150608&qid=1504858409240&from=EN

The quality assessment is based on the following criteria: relevance, accuracy, timelines and punctuality, accessibility and clarity, coherence and comparability.The data are assessed as being of good quality.

Eurostat, international organisations, national government departments, national accounts and researchers.

A user satisfaction survey is carried out on an annual basis since 2008 (with the exception of 2010, 2013 and 2020) but is not specific to short-term indicators. It does not allow for adequate conclusions to be made on this specific indicator. The results of the surveys are available on CYSTAT’s web portal at the link attached below. Overall, there is a high level of satisfaction of the users of statistical data published by CYSTAT.

The results of Cystat's user satisfaction surveys can be found at: https://www.cystat.gov.cy/en/StaticPage?id=1144

Cyprus has been granted a derogation from the application of the EBS Regulation regarding the variables ‘110101-Registrations’ and ‘110102-Bankruptcies’ until the end of the reference year 2023. During the derogation period, the data on registrations transmitted to Eurostat refer to the previous quarter, while data on bankruptcies transmitted on time at Q+40 days at the required level of NACE breakdown.

Since data are entirely based on administrative data sources, measurement and non-response (missing data) errors may occur.

Not applicable.

As for other administrative event based data, the registration delays might be a source of errors, in particular for declarations of bankruptcies.

There might be a delay longer than 40 days for registering a declaration of bankruptcy for the reference quarter ("data collection and access error").

The data on declarations of bankruptcies are transmitted to Eurostat 40 days after the end of the reference quarter (Q+40), whereas the data on registrations are transmitted to Eurostat 120 days after the end of the reference quarter (Q+120).

All deadlines are respected, based on the scheduled release dates. Data on registrations transmitted to Eurostat refer to the previous quarter (see concept 12.3).

The EBS Regulation and the methodological guidelines are applied; therefore it is possible to compare the data with that of other European countries.

Comparable quarterly time series since 2021Q1.

Comparable annual time series since 2015 are available only for data on bankruptcies.

No breaks in series.

Registrations/bankruptcies cannot be directly compared with annual business demography data on births/deaths of enterprises, due to methodological differences:

• Registrations of businesses are part of administrative procedures, while annual data on enterprise births are based on the start-up of business activity in terms of having turnover, employment or investment.
• Quarterly statistics on bankruptcies are frequently different from annual business demography statistics on deaths of enterprises, because they cover deaths due to bankruptcies, as well as other reasons.
• Even if an enterprise has declared bankruptcy, it does not always mean that it ceases all activity and be recorded as an enterprise death.

The statistical unit in annual business demography statistics on births and deaths is enterprise, while quarterly data on registrations and bankruptcies refer to legal units.

For the quarterly business demography variables, the aggregate is coherent with the lower level NACE activities.

No cost and burden exercise has been recently performed. Data are based on existing administrative sources; therefore there is no extra cost and burden to businesses.

There is a formal revision policy at Cystat. Cystat publishes its Revision Policy on its web portal Revision Policy (cystat.gov.cy) describing the general rules and principles governing the procedure of revising data published by Cystat. The policy is based on the guidelines of the European Statistical System (ESS) regarding revision policies for Principal European Economic Indicators, also taking into account the Quality Assurance Framework of the ESS and the European Statistics Code of Practice. 

CYSTAT also publishes a list of scheduled revisions (regular or major revisions), also published on its web portal at: https://www.cystat.gov.cy/en/AnnouncementList

The same practice is applied both to data released nationally and to data transmitted to Eurostat. When revised data are transmitted to Eurostat, these are flagged accordingly and accompanied by the necessary explanations.

Furthermore, CYSTAT has set its strategic goal to provide high-quality statistical information in an objective, transparent, reliable and timely manner. CYSTAT consider quality to be its main advantage in a world experiencing a growing trend of instant information which often lacks the necessary proof of quality. In order to realise strategic goals it is imperative to establish policies which ensure that an organisation is moving towards the right direction. For this reason, CYSTAT establishes the "Quality Policy" which forms the basis of all statistical activities and leads towards continuous improvement of its statistical output.

Revisions will be done when newer or corrected figures for the variables are available. Currently, no routine data revision for the data on registrations and bankruptcies is planned.

Registrations of new businesses and bankruptcies are entirely based on administrative data sources. Therefore, the administrative sources used are the Social Insurance Register, the V.A.T. Register and the Office of the Registrar Register.

Data is available from administrative sources as follows:

• On a weekly basis from the Office of the Registrar
• Real-time access to the V.A.T. Register database
• On a monthly basis from the Social Insurance Register  

Data are provided from the administrative sources.

The data is checked when it arrives before any further actions. The following checks are performed: inter-variable plausibility, duplicity and completeness. In addition, the statistical results are compared to the previous period. Before the transmission to Eurostat, the structure and the format of the data file are checked in detail. 

Processing of absolute numbers from an administrative source is relatively simple. No grossing up or index calculation is applied for QBD.

Not applicable.

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