| Objective 1 | : | To review priorities and develop target sets of indicators for new areas
Action 1.1: Identifying areas of lesser importance
| — | In a changing world, statistical needs will be reviewed periodically, not only as new statistical needs emerge, but as other needs become less important and even obsolete. Regular reviews of priorities will therefore be conducted in close cooperation with Member States in order to identify areas and characteristics which have lost priority and consequently can be deleted from the legal requirements. Such reviews will aim to simplify statistical requirements and reduce the response burden. The Commission may arrange for external studies to be conducted in this regard. |
Action 1.2: Developing new areas
| — | In a changing economic environment, it is important to define priority areas for statistics, such as trade in services, globalisation and entrepreneurship, and to agree at Community level on a target set of indicators for each of the priority areas. Such indicators need to be harmonised with international statistics as far as possible. |
| — | The statistics have to be compiled in an efficient way and need to be comparable. European statistics will therefore be modernised in strict accordance with the principle of coherence and comparability of data for the periods concerned. Work will therefore be carried out within the European Statistical System to achieve harmonised definitions of newly identified characteristics and indicators. |
| — | After agreeing target sets of indicators and harmonised definitions thereof, further work will be needed in order to develop and test ways of producing statistics in the priority areas. |
| — | In order to contribute to the development of new areas and the target sets of indicators, the Commission will launch studies, organise seminars and provide financial support to develop methods and ways to collect new statistics. |
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| Objective 2 | : | To achieve a streamlined framework for business-related statistics
Action 2.1: Integrating concepts and methods within the legal framework
| — | European statistics are compiled in accordance with Community legislation, which has developed over the years. An overhaul of that legislation is needed in order to ensure consistency. The Commission may therefore arrange for external studies to be conducted, aimed at reviewing the existing legal acts in order to provide a harmonised legal framework for the different areas of enterprise and trade statistics. |
| — | There are cross-cutting issues in statistics. For example, several statistical areas report on employment and may describe the same phenomenon from different perspectives. The Commission will therefore arrange for external studies to be conducted aimed at achieving harmonisation of the methodologies used across the relevant statistical areas. Financial support will be provided for Member States' projects in this regard. |
| — | It is important to guarantee consistency between areas of enterprise and trade statistics. Consistency may refer to the relationship between trade in goods statistics and balance of payments statistics, but also to that between structural business statistics and trade statistics. The Commission will arrange for external studies to be conducted and financial support will be provided for Member States' projects in this regard. |
Action 2.2: Developing statistics on enterprise groups
| — | The Commission has launched an initiative to establish a Community register of multinational enterprise groups. Such a register is a crucial basis for the production of harmonised statistics relating to the globalisation of the economy. The activities under this action will focus on completion of the register. The Commission will arrange for external studies to be conducted in this regard. |
| — | Creating such a register is not sufficient, so financial support will be provided to support actions in the Member States to develop more efficient data collection methods for enterprise groups and illustrate their importance for international trade. |
| — | As regards exploiting the Community register of multinational enterprise groups, European statistics will have to take a new perspective, so it will become important to set up specific Community surveys on enterprise groups. The Commission will arrange for external studies to be conducted and financial support will be provided for Member States' projects in this regard. |
Action 2.3: Conducting Community surveys to minimise the burden on enterprises
| — | To highlight new and emerging needs of Community statistics, specific Community surveys may be conducted on an ad-hoc basis. Such surveys will be set up by means of external studies, arranged by the Commission, and financial support to Member States. |
| — | In order to exploit the potential savings of Community sampling schemes in regular statistics, the Commission will arrange for external studies to be conducted to identify areas where Community aggregates would be sufficient and to develop new methods for data collection in those areas. Financial support will also be provided to enable Member States to adjust their data collection systems. There is no standard Community sampling scheme, however, and therefore sampling schemes will be adapted to the circumstances. |
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| Objective 3 | : | To support the implementation of a more efficient way of producing enterprise and trade statistics
Action 3.1: Making better use of data that already exist in the statistical system, including the possibility of estimates
| — | The ultimate aim of this action is to create fully integrated data sets for enterprise and trade statistics at micro level: a ‘data warehouse’ approach to statistics. To achieve that aim, Member States will be financially supported in order to link data or micro-data sets from different areas of enterprise and trade statistics, such as trade and business registers, and to link structural business statistics to research and development statistics and information society statistics. |
| — | Methodological studies will be carried out on new work processes to improve the use made of ongoing data collections, e.g. with a view to assessing the impact of information and communication technology (ICT) on business outcome by linking data from different sources. |
| — | The more efficient way of data collection aims at reducing the burden on enterprises. It must be ensured that statistical offices make the most efficient use of collected information. Financial support will therefore be provided for methodological studies to be conducted for the optimal allocation of sample sizes and their combined use with other sources and related estimation methods. Such financial support may also be provided for quality studies in cases where some enterprises (e.g. small and medium-sized enterprises) are excluded from statistical surveys, and for the development of appropriate, harmonised estimation methods. |
Action 3.2: Making better use of data that already exist in the economy
| — | Statistical information is sometimes collected twice: first for administrative purposes, such as taxes, and then for statistical purposes, in surveys. Such a double burden will be avoided to the largest extent possible. The MEETS programme will therefore provide financial support to projects on the use of administrative data for statistical purposes, including company accounts, by helping Member States to change over from statistical surveys to the use of administrative data while ensuring high data quality. |
| — | Within enterprises it makes sense to promote the integration of accounting systems and statistical reporting, so that data can be delivered for statistics in a simplified manner. The Commission will arrange for external studies to be conducted and financial support will be provided to Members States' projects in this regard. |
Action 3.3: Developing tools for the more efficient extraction, transmission and treatment of data
| — | New ICT offers opportunities for simplified reporting. This may be achieved by using company accounts and other financial reports drawn up according to international accounting standards, and appropriate technical standards for such reports, including eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL). Measures will be taken to give financial support for actions that facilitate data transfer from enterprises to the national statistical authorities. |
| — | A more efficient use of ICT tools will be supported to facilitate the exchange of information between the Commission and Member States. In addition there needs to be further development of tools for validation, error detection, correction, analysis and editorial work. Financial support will be provided for Member States' projects in this regard. |
| — | Taking into consideration the ongoing developments in the simplification of customs formalities on export and import, financial support will be provided for actions aimed at facilitating the exchange, processing and dissemination of high-quality and detailed trade statistics. |
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| Objective 4 | : | To modernise Intrastat
Action 4.1: Harmonising methods to improve quality under a simplified Intrastat
| — | Financial support will be provided for actions in Member States aimed at developing tools and methods for improving data quality and the data collection system. |
| — | Financial support will be provided for actions in Member States that are aimed at reducing asymmetries by avoiding misclassifications and harmonising the estimation and collection and processing systems, the rules for the handling of confidential data, the thresholds and the methods for adjustment. |
Action 4.2: Making better use of administrative data
| — | The re-use of administrative data being reported by enterprises for other purposes (in particular Value Added Tax reports and accounting) will be encouraged. Financial support will be provided for actions in this regard, including for the development of ICT tools and procedures. |
Action 4.3: Improving and facilitating data exchange within Intrastat
| — | The further development of tools and methods for data exchange within a centralised system is vital. Tools for validation, error detection, correction, analysis and editorial work in the field of intra-Community trade statistics need to be developed. Financial support will be provided for actions that focus on the legal and technical aspects of data exchange between Member States. |
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