REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL on the implementation of Decision No 1297/2008/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 December 2008 on a Programme for the Modernisation of European Enterprise and Trade Statistics (MEETS)
Date: 2012-11-27
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: EU programme, EU statistics, branch of activity, economic recession, economic statistics, modernisation aid, trade statistics

EUROPEAN 
COMMISSION 

Brussels, 27.11.2012  
COM(2012) 699 final 

REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND 
THE COUNCIL 

on the implementation of Decision No 1297/2008/EC of the European Parliament and of 
the Council of 16 December 2008 on a Programme for the Modernisation of European 
Enterprise and Trade Statistics (MEETS) 

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REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND 
THE COUNCIL 

on the implementation of Decision No 1297/2008/EC of the European Parliament and of 
the Council of 16 December 2008 on a Programme for the Modernisation of European 
Enterprise and Trade Statistics (MEETS) 

1. 

INTRODUCTION 

Under the terms of Article 6 of Decision No 1297/2008/EC of the European Parliament and of 
the  Council  of  16  December  2008  on  a  Programme  for  the  Modernisation  of  European 
Enterprise  and  Trade  Statistics  (MEETS),  (hereinafter  referred  to  as  the  MEETS  Decision), 
the Commission shall “by 31 December 2010, and thereafter on an annual basis until 2013, … 
submit  to  the  European  Parliament  and  the  Council  a  report  on  the  implementation  of  the 
MEETS Programme”.  

The emphasis in the first report was on the actions started and/or continued in the annual work 
programmes for 2009 and 2010. The second report covered the initial main results achieved, 
as well as the major initiatives covered by the annual work programme for 2011, which was 
adopted  in  2010.  For  2011,  the  level  of  implementation  of  MEETS  operational  credits  was 
97%1. 

This  third  report  provides  an  overview  of  the  progress  made  by  the  Member  States  and  the 
Commission  (Eurostat)  in  implementing  the  activities  under  the  MEETS  Programme  during 
2012.  

All MEETS activities are in line with the strategy set out in the Communication of 10 August 
2009  from  the  Commission  to  the  European  Parliament  and  the  Council  on  the  production 
method of EU statistics: a vision for the next decade2. 

2. 

OBJECTIVES, ANNUAL ACTIONS AND PRIORITIES 

In 2011, consideration was given to streamlining the MEETS Programme as part of the wider 
discussion on negative priorities within the European Statistical System (ESS). This resulted 
in a number of MEETS actions being integrated. 

The  collaborative  networks  in  the  ESS,  known  as  ‘ESSnets’,  remain  a  major  means  of 
implementing the objectives of the MEETS Programme. ESSnets are a way to develop new 
projects  where  a  few  Member  States  interested  in  a  specific  field  actively  collaborate  on 
common tasks and then disseminate the results to the non-participating Member States. This 

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Including a clearing of 15% of the budget in September 2011. 
COM(2009) 404. 

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helps  to  harness  synergies,  save  costs  and  share  best  practices,  while  developing  specific 
actions that are beneficial for the ESS as a whole.  

All the ESSnets operating within the MEETS Programme were launched during the first three 
years of the Programme. The annual work programme for 2012 continued the actions started 
by these ESSnets for the modernisation of enterprise and trade statistics. In addition, further 
action was initiated in 2012 to help Member States achieve the goals of reducing the burden 
on  businesses  and,  at  the  same  time,  enable  the  ESS  to  respond  to  new  needs  for  statistical 
information. 

In total, the EU budget for the 2012 work programme is set at nearly € 9 million, and it covers 
17  annual  actions,  plus  the  necessary  technical  and  administrative  support  to  implement  the 
programme.  Grants,  either  through  ESSnets  or  in  the  form  of  individual  grants  (at  82%), 
remain the most common instrument for financing the actions. 

2.1. 

Objective  1:  To  review  priorities  and  develop  target  sets  of  indicators  for  new 
areas 

Identifying areas of lesser importance 

Since  the  ESSC  adopted  a  new  strategy-driven  approach  in  November  2010,  the  areas  of 
lesser importance in business and trade statistics have been identified in the framework of the 
annual  strategic  review  of  Eurostat's  priorities.  The  review  in  2010  resulted  in  the 
streamlining  of  the  MEETS  programme  and  the  identification  of  a  number  of  negative 
priorities  which  need  to  be  developed  further  into  concrete  proposals  for  amending  existing 
legal  acts.  The  negative  priorities  listed  for  2012  concern  the  statistics/series  on  Kind  of 
Activity Unit in Annexes 2 and 4 of the Structural Business Statistics (SBS) Regulation3 and 
the industrial new orders variable of Annex A to the Short-Term Statistics (STS) Regulation4. 
Furthermore, discussions started on reducing the requirements for Intrastat and on rebalancing 
the international trade statistics for goods and services in favour of services. 

The  reduction  and  other  simplification  actions  listed  for  2013  include  the  simplification/ 
harmonisation of revision policies in Business Statistics, the continuation of the work for the 
provision  of  common  tools,  for  example  EGR;  the  discussion  on  the  review  of  the  multi-
annual series in the SBS Regulation Annexes 2-4 was also reopened. 

There  will  be  a  fundamental  revision  and  integration  of  business  related  statistics  via  a 
common legal framework for the collection,  compilation,  transmission and  dissemination of 
statistics  on  the  economic  activities  of  the  business  sector,  the  Framework  Regulation 
Integrating Business Statistics (FRIBS). The common denominators used in all domains will 
be NACE (for activities) and CPA (for products). Overall, this approach is expected to reduce 

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Regulation  (EC)  No  295/2008  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  of  11  March  2008 
concerning structural business statistics (recast). OJ L 97, 9.4.2008, p. 13. 
Council  Regulation  (EC)  No  1165/98  of  19  May  1998  concerning  short-term  statistics.  OJ  L  162, 
5.6.1998, p. 1. 

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the  statistical  burden  on  businesses  and  on  the  NSIs.  As  part  of  this,  Eurostat’s  aim  isto 
reform Intrastat5 by means of the so-called international trade package or SIMSTAT, which 
tackles  the  simplification  of  Intrastat,  the  much  needed  improvement  of  the  quality  of  the 
related statistical data and the need to develop international trade in services statistics at one 
and  the  same  time.  Currently,  Intrastat  is  the  most  burdensome  statistical  area.  It  imposes 
more than 50% of all statistical burden on businesses. 

Developing new areas (enterprise groups, globalisation, entrepreneurship, innovation) 

Globalisation and entrepreneurship are two policy areas for which statistics are not yet fully 
developed. Further work will be carried out in 2013 to follow up the progress on methodology 
and to test results.  

As  a  result  of  the  streamlining  undertaken  in  2011,  further  methodological  work  and 
indicators  on 
the  methodology  developed  for  compiling  economic 
assessment  of 
globalisation and statistics on enterprise groups have been carried out in the framework of 
two ESSnets. Definition and development of a target set of globalisation indicators has been 
dealt with by the ESSnet on measuring global value chains, whereas the general assessment of 
the methodological work on new indicators based on enterprise groups was undertaken by the 
ESSnet on profiling of large and complex multinational enterprise groups. 

Cooperation  with  the  OECD  on  further  development  of  the  joint  Entrepreneurship 
Indicator  Programme  (EIP)  continued  in  2012.  In  particular,  the  focus  has  been  on 
establishing  high-growth  indicators  for  innovative  firms,  that  are  servicing  the  newly 
established ‘Innovation Union headline indicator’. At the same time, an initiative to provide a 
legal basis for employer business demography was launched in order to produce harmonised 
data from all EU Member States in line with international data in the EIP. Support continued 
to be provided for developing and establishing new indicators describing the framework for 
determining 
technology’, 
‘capabilities/skills’ and ‘culture for entrepreneurship’.  

the  areas  of  ‘access 

to  finance’,  ‘R&D, 

innovation  and 

2.2. 

Objective 2: To achieve a streamlined framework of business-related statistics 

Integrating concepts and methods within the legal framework 

Business  statistics  are  compiled  in  accordance  with  Community  legislation,  which  has 
developed  over  the  years  and  is  not  necessarily  consistent  in  terms  of  concepts,  scope, 
definitions,  methodology,  etc.  As  mentioned  above,  the  MEETS  Programme  envisages  an 
overhaul  of  the  legislation  in  order  to  streamline  the  framework  for  business  statistics.  This 
revision  is  needed  in  order  to  enable  users  to  use  and  compare  statistics  from  different 
sources.  Another  driver  for  more  consistent  legislation  and  methodology  is  the  emerging 

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Regulation (EC) No 638/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 31 March 2004 relating 
to the trading of goods between Member States and repealing Council Regulation (EEC) No 3330/91 
(OJ L 102, 7.4.2004, p.1), amended by Regulation (EC) No 222/2009 of the European Parliament and 
of the Council (OJ L 87, 31.3.2009, p. 160). 

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architecture  of  integrated  production  systems  for  business  statistics.  Without  further 
harmonisation of concepts, definitions and methodologies, this integration cannot take place. 
To tackle this issue, the ESSnet on Consistency of concepts and methods of business and 
trade related statistics was set up. In 2010 and 2011, two work packages were launched in 
order to analyse the possible lack of consistency in statistical units, resp. in population frames 
for  different  surveys,  classifications  and  their  applications.  Work  on  the  above  issues  has 
continued  in  2012.  Furthermore,  in  2012  a  third  work  package  was  launched  to  analyse  the 
problems of consistency related to characteristics and definitions.  

Developing statistics on enterprise groups 

A great deal of progress has been made in the context of the EuroGroups Register6 (EGR), 
the  aim  of  which  is  to  provide  consistent  and  coordinated  survey  frames  for  high  quality 
statistics relating to globalisation.  

The ESSnet on EGR methodology was set up in 2008. In 2009 and 2010, EGR populations 
of 5000 multinational enterprise groups (MNEs) were produced. In 2011, the EGR population 
was  extended  to  10  000  MNEs.  In  2012,  the  methodology  for  central  and  national  EGR 
processes  and  the  data  model  was  further  developed  (EGR  version  2)  along  with  a  plan  for 
future management of the EGR. Dissemination has been improved by opening a web platform 
for the EGR documentation. A new ESSnet was launched in 2012 and continued to work with 
a view to achieving full coverage of the EGR population for FATS and FDI and associating 
national central banks in the EGR as producers and users. The aim is to have a stable system 
in  place,  by  the  end  of  2013,  with  a  coverage  that  serves  FATS  and  FDI  statistics.  Remote 
access  for  users  of  national  statistical  offices  and  national  central  banks  should  also  be  in 
place. The main objective is the integration of the frame populations of EGR, FATS and FDI. 

At the end of 2009, the ESSnet on profiling of large and complex multinational enterprise 
groups  was  launched  in  order  to  develop  and  implement  a  methodology  for  profiling.  In 
2012, the ESSnet continued its work on the methodology by taking into account the results of 
the  tests  carried  out  in  2011.  Guidelines  and  documentation  have  been  developed  and  the 
implementation  of  the  operating  methods  for  the  profiling  model  in  Member  States  was 
funded. In 2012, a start was made on the work to test and assess the methodological work on 
statistics based on enterprise groups in non-ESSnet Member States.  

Conducting Community surveys to minimise the burden on enterprises 

Following  preparations  carried  out  in  2011,  a  study  was  undertaken  in  2012  to  provide 
methodologies for the use of EU sampling schemes in data collections. 

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The legal basis was established by Regulation (EC) No 177/2008 of the European Parliament and of the 
Council  of  20 February  2008  establishing  a  common  framework  for  business  registers  for  statistical 
purposes and repealing Council Regulation (EEC) No 2186/93. OJ L 61, 5.3.2008, p.6. 

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2.3. 

Objective  3:  To  support  the  implementation  of  a  more  efficient  method  of 
producing enterprise and trade statistics 

Making  better  use  of  data  that  already  exist  in  the  statistical  system,  including  the 
possibility of estimates 

The work on "data warehousing and data linking in the production of business statistics” 
is  being  carried  out  by  an  ESSnet  that  was  set  up  in  the  second  half  of  2010.  In  2011  the 
ESSnet focussed on reviewing current practices in integrated business data systems in the ESS 
Member States and on identifying the main common problems in this area. In 2012 the work 
focussed  on  three  main  areas  containing  all  the subjects identified by the Member States as 
most relevant in a statistical data warehouse, namely: metadata related to the statistical data 
warehouse  and  the  two  major  aspects  for  building  and  implementing  the  statistical  data 
warehouse,  namely  the  methodological  aspect  and  the  architectural/technical  aspect.  The 
initial results were presented and discussed with the ESS Member States in a workshop which 
took place in May 2012. This work will continue in 2013 and the next workshop is scheduled 
for February 2013.  

Furthermore, a great deal of progress was achieved in the three projects covering the linking 
of micro-data for individual statistics:  

The  project  on  linking  micro  data  on  international  sourcing  with  business  statistics  data 
continued. The ESSnet on measuring global value chains, which started in 2011, continued 
the methodological development work to compile data on the increasingly globalised manner 
in  which  businesses  organise  their  activities  and  how  this  impacts  on  job  creation  and 
sustainable  growth.  The  aim  of  the  project  is  to  help  policy  makers  to  take  better  informed 
decisions  and  to  monitor  the  globalisation/internationalisation  of  economies  by  developing 
and  providing  indicators  on  economic  globalisation.  In  2012  the  grant  agreements  for  the 
micro data linking were signed, and in 2013 participating Member States will assess and test 
the  micro  data  linking  methodology  and  produce  linked  micro  data  sets  for  the  impact 
analysis of internationally fragmented production chains. 

–  The project on data linking of trade and business statistics will start up again in 2013. 
Prior to 2011 an external study was conducted to develop the methodological framework in 
order  to  produce  statistical  indicators  on  external  trade  by  business  characteristics,  and  a 
pilot data collection took place to test its feasibility. In 2013, Member States will develop 
and compile an extended set of indicators based on trade and business micro data. The new 
indicators will then be included in the TEC (trade by enterprise characteristics) database. 

–  The  ESSnet  on  linking  micro-data  on  ICT  usage  was  finalised  in  2012,  and  produced 
new statistical indicators by linking data from business registers, statistical surveys on ICT 
use and e-commerce in enterprises, structural business statistics and innovation surveys. It 
also produced an extended toolbox to analyse the impact of ICT on enterprise performance, 
including a metadata repository and software for linking and analysing micro datasets. In 
addition  to  analysis  of  linked  businesses'  data,  the  ESSnet  analysed  the  situation  in 
participating countries with regard to the survey and sampling strategies related to business 
statistics,  and  made  recommendations  to  improve  the  representativeness  of  linked  data. 

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The  ESSnet  drew  up  and  agreed  a  protocol  containing  rules  and  conditions  for 
disseminating the results of the data analysis to a wider public. 

integration  of  ESS  business  statistics.  In  addition 

The  ESSnet  on  "Methodology  for  modern  business  statistics  (optimal  sampling,  model 
based estimation, data integration)" was launched in 2010 and started the second phase of 
its  programme  at  the  end  of  2012.  Its  main  aim  is  to  provide  methodological  guidance  to 
support  modernisation  and 
to 
methodological  developments  concerning  specific  production  steps  (design,  data  collection 
and  estimation),  the  project  summarises  the  body  of  business  statistics  methods  in  the 
coherent framework of an electronic handbook. The handbook will be both a reference work 
and a training manual. In the second and final phase, the ESSnet will draw conclusions on the 
work done on the specific production steps and complete the handbook to cover every step of 
the  statistical  production  process,  thereby  contributing  to  the  optimisation  of  ESS  business 
statistics. 

Making better use of data that already exist in the economy 

The ESSnet on the use of administrative and accounts data, which was launched in 2009, 
continued  to  investigate  the  practical  issues  related  to  the  use  of  these  data  for  business 
statistics purposes. The results of the research and analytical work done during the three years 
of  activity  has  been  further  developed  into  recommendations  and  dissemination  of  good 
practices. The main results achieved so far concern the preparation of the overview of national 
practices on the use of administrative data, the description of the methods used for estimation 
of  incomplete  data  sets  when  using  administrative  data  for  short-term  statistics,  and  the 
production  of  a  list  of  indicators  for  assessing  the  quality  of  business  statistics  based  on 
administrative data.  

In  order  to  help  Member  States  to  use  administrative  data  in  the  most  efficient  way  for 
statistical purposes, the MEETS programme has continued to provide support to the NSIs to 
develop  their  systems,  with  the  aim  of  integrating  data  from  different  sources  into  the 
statistical  production  process.  This  should  lead  to  a  reduction  in  the  reporting  burden  on 
companies and an improvement in the quality of statistical information. 

In  2012,  the  Member  States  were  invited  to  participate  in  the  project  "Facilitation  of  data 
transfer  from  enterprises  to  national  statistical  institutes".  Support  was  provided  for  the 
development  of  IT  systems  for  the  collection  of  statistical  data  from  enterprises,  the 
development of national statistical taxonomies and the creation of national statistical XBRL 
taxonomies.  

Developing tools for the more efficient extraction, transmission and treatment of data 

New grant agreements with Member States were signed in 2012 as part of the project entitled 
"Making better use of customs data in external trade statistics (Extrastat)". This support helps 

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Member  States  to  adapt  their  data  collection  systems  for  Extrastat  statistics  to  the  new 
customs systems of the Modernised Customs Code7.  

2.4. 

Objective 4: To modernise Intrastat 

Harmonising methods to improve quality under a simplified Intrastat 

As a result of the streamlining exercise, the two projects "Improvement of data quality under a 
simplified Intrastat system" and "Reduction of asymmetries in Intrastat" were merged into one 
at the end of 2010; the title of this new project was "Harmonising methods to improve quality 
in  intra  EU-trade  statistics".  In  2012  a  tender  was  launched  for  the  further  development  of 
methods and practices related to the compilation of EU trade statistics. Its aim was to update 
the relevant documentation and to identify recommended practices. In addition, support was 
provided  to  Member  States  to  implement  the  harmonized  methods  and  practices  needed  in 
order  to  improve  quality  in  intra-EU  trade  statistics.  The  work  to  reduce  assymetries  at 
detailed  and  aggregated  level  was  continued  by  providing  support  to  Member  States  to 
conduct bilateral or multilateral reconciliation studies. 

Making better use of administrative data 

Grants were also signed in 2012 to enhance the use of administrative data by Member States 
when  producing  intra-EU  trade  statistics.  Theiraim  is  to  reduce  the  response  burden  and 
improve the quality of intra-EU trade statistics. Work is focused on the use of administrative 
data  for  the  validation  of  data  collected  in  the  Intrastat  system  and  the  replacement  of 
statistical surveys, in addition to the (further) development of joint data collection systems in 
a number of Member States for Intrastat, VAT and VAT Information Exchange (VIES).  

Improving and facilitating data exchange within Intrastat  

The  studies  undertaken  and  the  support  provided  to  Member  States  have  resulted  in  the 
increased use of electronic means and technologies for data collection, production, exchange 
and  validation  through  automated  and  secure  processes,  and  the  application  of  advanced 
statistical concepts for error detection and auto-correction. 

3. 

CONCLUSION 

The MEETS Decision details the actions which are to be financed during the period covered 
by the programme. This substantiates the relatively large number of initiatives undertaken in 
the  first  two  years  of  the  programme.  However,  one  of  the  outcomes  of  the  economic  and 
financial  crisis  of  2008  was  a  "saturation"  of  financing  possibilities  in  the  NSIs,  due  to  the 
lack  of  human  resources.  Therefore,  there  was  a  need  to  streamline  the  programme  by 
integrating  certain  initiatives  and/or  focusing  them  on  the  six  main  areas  organised  through 
ESSnets, which are: consistency of concepts and methods; EGR; profiling large and complex 

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Regulation (EC) No 450/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 April 2008 laying 
down the Community Customs Code (Modernised Customs Code). OJ L 145, 4.6.2008, p.1. 

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multinational  enterprise  groups;  micro-data  linking  and  data  warehousing  in  statistical 
production; methodology for business statistics; and the use of administrative and accounting 
data. 

The ESSnets, especially those that started in 2009 and early 2010, have done sterling work, in 
particular  on  the  EGR  methodology,  Profiling  and  the Use of administrative data. As far as 
the other main pillars  of the  MEETS programme (consistency of legal acts,  data warehouse 
and  data  linking  initiatives)  are  concerned,  these  activities  are  also  now  well  on  track. 
Whereas  in  2011  they  were  still  dealing  with  preparatory  work,  putting  the  basic 
infrastructure  in  place  (launching  ESSnets,  multi-beneficiary  grant  agreements,  etc.)  and 
creating networks of national experts, in 2012 they have already started to produce practical 
results. 

In addition, financing through individual grants has continued, mainly in order to accompany 
the progress in methodology and to test certain methodological recommendations, but also to 
develop  the  tools  to  make  extraction,  transmission  and  processing  of  data  more  efficient.  A 
number of results are already available, but most actions are still ongoing. 

It  is  important  to  regard  all  actions  as  inter-connected  initiatives,  so  as  to  ensure  that  the 
national procedures for the collection of enterprise and trade statistics become more efficient. 
This demanded a long-term commitment and constant monitoring. 

The  2012  report  is  the  last  annual  report  of  the  MEETS  programme.  2013  will  be  the  last 
operational year of this programme. All actions will be finalised, and all of the concrete final 
results have to be available by 31 December 2013. The final report on the implementation of 
the  MEETS  programme  that  needs  to  be  submitted  to  the  European  Parliament  and  the 
Council  by  31  July  2014  must  therefore  also  include  all  of  the  actions  and  results  of  2013. 
Furthermore,  the  final  report  is  required,  in  the  light  of  the  expenditure  incurred  by  the 
Community, to assess the benefits of the actions that accrue to the Community, the Member 
States and providers and users of statistical information, in order to identify areas for potential 
improvement. 

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