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| The Data: Coverage, Periodicity, and Timeliness | ||||||||||||
| Coverage characteristics | 5.1.1 Statistical presentation Quarterly national accounts are compiled in accordance with the European System of Accounts - ESA 1995 (Council Regulation 2223/96). Annex B of the Regulation consists of a comprehensive list of the variables calculated and their timeliness. The domain quarterly national accounts encompasses the main aggregates on quarterly national accounts, including: GDP and its components, employment, final consumption aggregates, income, saving and net lending/borrowing, exports and imports. Breakdowns exist for certain variables by economic activity (industries), investment products and final consumption purpose (COICOP). Almost all of these quarterly variables are also compiled on an annual basis, the corresponding data can be found in the domain annual national accounts. The domain quarterly national accounts does not cover financial accounts, sector accounts (in particular government accounts), input-output tables, nor regional accounts. There are separate domains for all of those. The domain consists of the following collections: GDP and main aggregates. The data are recorded at current and constant prices and include the corresponding implicit price indices. Final consumption aggregates, including the split into household and government consumption. The data are recorded at current and constant prices and include the corresponding implicit price indices. Income, saving and net lending / net borrowing at current prices. Disposable income is also shown in real terms. Exports and imports by Member States of the EU/third countries. The data are recorded at current and constant prices and include the corresponding implicit price indices. Breakdowns of gross value added, compensation of employees, wages and salaries, operating surplus and employment (domestic scope) by industry; investment by products and household final consumption by consumption purposes. The data are recorded at current and constant prices and include the corresponding implicit price indices. Auxiliary indicators such as population and employment (national) data and contributions to GDP growth are available. Geographical entities covered are the European Union (EU25), the euro area, EU Member States, Candidate Countries, The data are published: - in ECU/euro, in national currencies (including euro converted from former national currencies using the irrevocably fixed rate for all quarters); - at current prices and in volume terms; - Population and employment are measured in persons. Employment is also measured in total hours worked. Unadjusted (NSA) and seasonally adjusted (SA). For some countries, the seasonal adjustment includes a working day correction. Metadata in SDDS format are also available on Eurostat Website at | |||||||||||
| Periodicity | 4.1.1 Periodicity Quarterly | |||||||||||
| Timeliness | 4.1.2 Timeliness Each quarter Eurostat produces four releases of figures for the EU25 and the euro area: · At some 45 days after the end of the reference quarter ('t+45 days'): flash GDP estimate. The only variable estimated is GDP growth rate (both seasonally adjusted and unadjusted). · At some t+65 days: first quarterly GDP release. Variables estimated are GDP and components from output and expenditure side, at current and constant prices. · At some t+75 days: first quarterly employment release. The only variable estimated is the total employment (domestic scope) in persons. At some t+105 days: second quarterly release. The variables estimated at t+65 days and t+75 days are revised. Additional variables estimated are: GDP income side components (including A6 industry breakdowns), population & national employment, breakdowns of exports & imports, GFCF and domestic employment. | |||||||||||
| Access by the Public | ||||||||||||
| Advance dissemination of release calendar | 5.1.3 Advance release calendar The precise date of data release is disseminated on the Eurostat website at http://europa.eu.int/comm/eurostat and on the Advance Release Calendar of the Euro Area Page on the DSBB. National data are published by the National Statistical Institutes (NSI) following national dissemination calendars. Please consult NSI's websites to get national dissemination calendar. Links are given on the Eurostat website.) National data are published by Eurostat immediately after their reception. | |||||||||||
| Simultaneous release to all interested parties | 5.1.4 Simultaneous release Data are disseminated simultaneously to all interested parties through a database update and on Eurostat's website. | |||||||||||
| Integrity | ||||||||||||
| Dissemination of terms and conditions under which official statistics are produced, including those relating to the confidentiality of individually identifiable information | 0.1.1 Responsibility for collecting, processing, and disseminating statistics Eurostat Rules on statistical compilation Council Regulation (EC) N° 322/97 of 17 February 1997 on Community Statistics (OJ N° L 52/1) sets the rules for General provisions, the Community statistical program and its implementation, Principles, Dissemination, Statistical confidentiality and Final provisions. National accounts National Accounts are compiled in accordance with the European System of Accounts (ESA 1995) adopted in the form of a Council Regulation 2223/96 of dated 25 June 1996 (originally published in the Official Journal L310 of the 30/11/1996), and subsequent amendments. There is a list of legal amendments here. Commission Decision 98/715 of 30 November 1998 and Commission Decision 2002/990 of 17 December 2002 on measurement of price and volumes in national accounts. 0.1.3 Confidentiality of individual reporters' data Eurostat Council Regulation (CE) No 322/97 of 17 February 1997 (OJ No L 52/1) and Council Regulation (EURATOM, EEC) no 1588/90 of 11 June 1990 on the transmission of the data subject to statistical confidentiality to the Statistical Office of the European Communities (OJ No L 151/ 1) stipulates the detailed rules used for receiving, processing and disseminating the confidential data. | |||||||||||
| Identification of internal government access to data before release | 1.2.2 Internal governmental access to statistics prior to release National Accounts data are forwarded routinely to the European Central Bank. Part of the data may be circulated within the European institutions, especially the European Commission and the European Central Bank ahead of official release. | |||||||||||
| Identification of ministerial commentary on the occasion of statistical releases | 1.2.3 Attribution of statistical products There are no official comments from Eurostat at the time of the release of the European aggregates. Eurostat itself does not provide other comment than the text of the news release, if any. Comments may or may not be made by the European Commission or European Union Member States. For information on any comment possibly made by the Commission, please refer to http://europa.eu/press_room/. For further information on any comments possibly provided by National Statistical Institutes, National Central Banks or National Governments on their own data, please refer to their web sites (Links are given on the Eurostat website). | |||||||||||
| Provision of information about revision and advance notice of major changes in methodology | 4.3.1 Revision schedule Quarterly national accounts data are subject to continuous routine revisions as new input data becomes available. This is particularly true for the European aggregates, for which revisions to national data are superimposed on each other. Data are also subject to revision when new annual data are published, in order to ensure consistency between quarterly and national figures. For quarterly national accounts estimates, the main causes of revisions are: · Revisions in annual accounts. In addition, exceptional revisions will result from major changes in methodology. These major changes will be implemented with legislation, and therefore announced in the Official Journal of the European Union and other publications. Revision policy National data are revised according to national schedules, and revisions are applied to Eurostat’s online database as soon as they become available to Eurostat. Figures for the annual European aggregates are revised at least twice per quarter, with the 65 and the 105 days releases of quarterly accounts (for employment with the dedicated 75 days release and the 105 days release). These dates are pre-announced in the release calendar on Eurostat's web-site. Unless explicitly stated, no revisions are applied on publication of a flash estimate at 45 days after the end of the quarter. On each revision, the whole length of European time series will potentially be revised for all series.
1.2.4 Advance notice of major changes in methodology, source data, and statistical techniques. Major changes in methodology will usually be the result of legislation, and therefore announced in the Official Journal of the European Communities and other publications. | |||||||||||
| Quality | ||||||||||||
| Dissemination of documentation on methodology and sources used in preparing statistics | 5.2.1 Dissemination of documentation on concepts, scope, classifications, basis of recording, data sources, and statistical techniques Eurostat decisions and guidelines are explained in the ESA95 or the Handbook of Quarterly National Accounts. For ESA95, see the link given above under “Rules on statistical compilation”. The Handbook may be obtained in pdf format from the Eurostat web site or following this direct link. 5.2.2 Disseminated level of detail Metadata in SDDS format are also available on Eurostat Website at (See also summary methodology) | |||||||||||
| Dissemination of component detail, reconciliations with related data, and statistical frameworks that support statistical cross-checks and provide assurance of reasonableness | 4.2.1 Internal consistency Quarterly national accounts may be checked against the corresponding annual series, which are also available from Eurostat’s website. In addition, the annual series may offer more details, as for instance increased industry breakdowns, and some series may only be available on annual level. Note however, that for flow series, the sum of quarters usually compares to the annual value, whereas for stock series usually the average compares to the annual value. Most of the national data used in the calculation of euro area and European Union aggregates have originally been published by the National Statistical Institutes (NSI). These data may also be used for cross-checking. Most are disseminated via the NSI's websites. 4.2.2 Temporal consistency
Time coverage (i.e., length of the historical series) is different for European series and for national series. Full coverage is given for EU25 and euro area aggregates starting from 1995. The coverage for national data varies from country to country and can, in some cases, be substantially longer than for the EU25 totals 4.2.3 Intersectoral and cross-domain consistency In certain cases, data from other domains of economic statistics, i.e. balance of payments statistics, business statistics, household budget statistics or external trade statistics can be used for cross-checking purposes. These economic statistics are also available from the appropriate domains on Eurostat’s website. | |||||||||||
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