COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT Quality Report on National and Regional Accounts. 2016 data. Accompanying the document Report from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council on the application of Regulation (EU) No 549/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 May 2013 on the European System of national and regional accounts in the European Union and on the application of the granted derogations
Date: 2018-06-29
Institutions: European Commission, Eurostat
Subjects: EU statistics, Economic and Monetary Union, European accounting system, application of EU law, data collection, data transmission, economic analysis, economic statistics, national accounts, statistical method

EN 

  EN 

   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 29.6.2018 SWD(2018) 355 final  COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT Quality Report on National and Regional Accounts. 2016 data. Accompanying the document Report from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council on the application of Regulation (EU) No 549/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 May 2013 on the European System of national and regional accounts in the European Union and on the application of the granted derogations {COM(2018) 506 final} - {SWD(2018) 354 final}  
 
 
 
 
 
 
Executive summary 

Table of contents 

Executive summary ...................................................................................................... 4 

1. Introduction ............................................................................................................... 6 

2. Scope of the quality assessment ............................................................................ 7 

3. Legislation, classifications, manuals ..................................................................... 9 

3.1.  Legislation .......................................................................................................................... 9 

3.1.1. 
3.1.2. 

Legal basis for ESA 2010 .......................................................................................... 9 
Other legal acts ........................................................................................................ 10 

3.2.  Classifications used in the ESA 2010 ............................................................................ 11 

3.3.  Manuals and guidelines ................................................................................................... 11 

3.4.  Other information ............................................................................................................. 11 

4. Relevance ................................................................................................................ 13 

4.1.  Use of ESA 2010 data ...................................................................................................... 13 

4.1.1. 
4.1.2. 
4.1.3. 
4.1.4. 
4.1.5. 
4.1.6. 

National uses of ESA 2010 data .............................................................................. 13 
European Semester ................................................................................................. 14 
Business cycle and macroeconomic policy analysis ............................................... 15 
EU cohesion policies ............................................................................................... 16 
Use in other EU policy areas ................................................................................... 16 
Use for EU administrative purposes ........................................................................ 17 

4.2.  User satisfaction .............................................................................................................. 17 

4.3.  Further actions to meet user needs ............................................................................... 20 

4.4.  Completeness rate ........................................................................................................... 21 

4.4.1. 
4.4.2. 

Quarterly data .......................................................................................................... 21 
Annual data .............................................................................................................. 23 

4.5.  Completeness rate of data underlying key indicators .................................................. 29 

5. Accuracy .................................................................................................................. 31 

5.1.  Revision policy ................................................................................................................. 31 

5.1.1. 
5.1.2. 

Harmonised European revision policy ..................................................................... 32 
Documentation on national data revision policy ...................................................... 32 

5.2.  Revisions of data submitted by Member States ........................................................... 32 

5.3.  Revisions of European aggregates ................................................................................ 35 

6. Timeliness and punctuality .................................................................................... 39 

6.1.  Timeliness ......................................................................................................................... 39 

6.2.  Punctuality of ESA 2010 tables ....................................................................................... 40 

6.2.1. 

Quarterly data .......................................................................................................... 40 

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Executive summary 

6.2.2. 

Annual data .............................................................................................................. 41 

6.3.  Punctuality of data underlying key indicators .............................................................. 47 

7. Accessibility and clarity ......................................................................................... 52 

7.1.  Dissemination by Eurostat .............................................................................................. 52 

7.2.  ESA 2010 metadata .......................................................................................................... 52 

7.3. 

Inventories ........................................................................................................................ 53 

7.3.1.  Mandatory inventories ............................................................................................. 53 
Voluntary inventories ............................................................................................... 55 
7.3.2. 

7.4. 

International data sharing ............................................................................................... 56 

8. Comparability .......................................................................................................... 57 

8.1.  Methodological soundness ............................................................................................. 57 

8.1.1. 
8.1.2. 
8.1.3. 
8.1.4. 

Validation process for national accounts ................................................................. 57 
Statistical cooperation and harmonisation ............................................................... 58 
Gross national income ............................................................................................. 59 
Excessive deficit procedure and government finance statistics ............................... 60 

8.2.  Comparability over time .................................................................................................. 61 

9. Coherence ............................................................................................................... 62 

9.1.  Coherence between quarterly and annual data ............................................................ 62 

9.2.  Coherence between totals and sum of components .................................................... 63 

9.3.  Coherence of identical variables across national accounts main aggregates tables 63 

10. Cost and burden ................................................................................................... 65 

11. Overall quality assessment results and recommendations ............................. 66 

Annexes ....................................................................................................................... 69 

Tables included in the ESA 2010 Transmission Programme and deadlines for data 
transmission................................................................................................................................ 69 

List of figures .............................................................................................................................. 71 

List of tables ................................................................................................................................ 73 

List of acronyms ......................................................................................................................... 74 

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Executive summary 

Executive summary 

This  document  presents  Eurostat’s  assessment  of  the  quality  of  the  national  and  regional 
accounts submitted by the EU Member States, Iceland, Norway and Switzerland  in 2016, and 
quality information on Eurostat’s own publications of European aggregates. 

The  quality  assessment  was  carried  out  in  accordance  with  Article  4  of  Regulation  (EU)  No 
549/2013,  also  called  the  ESA  2010  Regulation,  which  requires  the  quality  of  national  and 
regional  accounts  data  sent  to  Eurostat  to  be  assessed  against  the  quality  criteria  set  out  in 
Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 on European statistics. Commission Implementing Regulation No 
2016/2304  sets  out  the  modalities,  structure,  periodicity  and  indicators  of  the  assessment 
process. 

This  quality  report  presents  the  first  assessment  results  since  1  September  2014,  when  the 
European  System  of  Accounts  (ESA  2010)  was  introduced  and  data  started  being  sent 
according  to  the  new  methodology.  The  assessment  is  based  on  national  quality  reports 
introduced in 2017. Quality reporting will now be carried out annually. 

This  year’s  report  is  based  on  a  number  of  quality  indicators  (completeness,  revision  policy, 
punctuality, coherence between sub-annual and annual statistics and within tables for selected 
variables and datasets, documentation on methodology). In 2019, in the third quality reporting 
round, the report will be extended to include additional indicators on revision rates of quarterly 
and annual data for selected variables as well as coherence between non-financial and financial 
accounts.  Finally,  in  2021,  when  the  existing  ESA  2010  derogations  fully  expire,  the  quality 
reporting  will  be  conducted  within  a  full  scope  of  all  quality  indicators  foreseen  in  the  above 
mentioned Implementing regulation. 

Chapters 1 and 2 of the document introduce the quality reporting and assessment framework of 
the  European  Statistical  System  (ESS)  applied  to  national  and  regional  accounts.  Chapter  3 
presents the body of legislation and guidance documents pertinent to ESA 2010. Chapters 4 to 
9 provide an analysis of country data sent in 2016 and some European aggregates published by 
Eurostat  in  line  with  the  ESS  quality  criteria,  namely  relevance,  accuracy,  timeliness  and 
punctuality,  accessibility  and  clarity,  comparability  and  coherence.  Where  appropriate,  this 
analysis  interprets  the  results  of  data  delivery  in  the  context  of  compilation  of  EU  policy 
indicators  such  as  the  Principal  European  Economic  Indicators  (PEEIs)  and  indicators  in 
support of the Macroeconomic Imbalance Procedure (MIP). Chapter 10 presents ongoing work 
to assess the cost of statistics. The overall assessment results and Eurostat’s recommendations 
to countries are summarised in Chapter 11 of the report. 

The data sent in 2016 were broadly in line with the ESS quality standards and the ESA 2010 
Regulation.  Member  States  have  been  able  to  comply  with  the  new  data  requirements  and 
methodology, while the process of adapting national data compilation systems will continue until 
2020. The overall results for the different quality criteria are as follows: 

Relevance 

National and regional accounts data are highly relevant to users as 
demonstrated by the results of the latest user satisfaction survey of 
Eurostat. Their completeness rate was very high, both for quarterly 
and  annual  tables.  The  average  completeness  rate  for  national 
account  main  aggregates  (NAMA),  government  finance  statistics 
(GFS), non-financial sector accounts (NFSA) and financial accounts 
was  between  95 %  and  100 %;  for  supply,  use  and  input-output 
tables  (SUIOT)  and  regional  accounts  it  was  between  88 %  and 
97 %. All countries sent non-required additional data on a voluntary 
basis. 

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Executive summary 

Accuracy 

Timeliness and 
punctuality 

Accessibility and 
clarity 

Most  EU  Member  States,  Iceland  and  Norway  publish  online 
information  on  their  national  revision  policies.  Even  though  a 
detailed  revision  analysis  of  data  sent  by  Member  States  was  not 
carried  out  for  this  report,  the  analysis  of  the  revision  rates  of  key 
European aggregates showed that countries contribute with data of 
good  quality,  enabling  Eurostat  to  publish  early  and  reliable  GDP 
and employment estimates for both the EU and the euro area (EA) 
aggregates. 

In  2016,  thanks  to  the  data  sent  by  EU  Member  States,  the 
timeliness of European aggregates was significantly improved. The 
preliminary  EU/EA  GDP  flash  estimates  were  published  15  days 
earlier and the euro area quarterly sector accounts 18 days earlier. 
Overall,  the  punctuality  of  transmission  of  quarterly  national 
accounts was relatively high while the punctuality of transmission of 
annual data was rather low: this is an area for improvement. 

All EU Member States as well as the EFTA countries publish online 
documentation  on  national  accounts  methodology  and  compilation 
methods.  However,  the  content  of  the  available  information  varies 
substantially  among  countries  and  could  be  enriched  in  some 
cases. Specific information on implemented revisions by ESA 2010 
table or domain is often missing. 

Coherence 

The overall internal coherence within and between selected NAMA 
tables  was  very  high  for  nearly  all  countries.  Small  discrepancies 
noted  for  a  few  countries  were  mainly  caused  by  rounding 
practices. 

Based  on  the  quality  assessment,  Eurostat  makes  the  following  general  recommendations  to 
countries: 

  Continue the adaptation of national statistical systems to achieve full implementation of 

ESA 2010. 

  Ensure  full  data  completeness  of  mandatory  data  in  order  to  comply  with  Regulation 

(EC) No 549/2013. 

  Respect  the  transmission  deadlines  set  out  in  Regulation  (EC)  No  549/2013  and 

address the overall delayed delivery of annual data. 

  Make  specific  information  on  implemented  major  revisions  by  ESA  2010  table  or 

domain publicly available on national websites. 

  Enrich  the  online  documentation  on  methodology,  including  metadata,  available  on 

national websites to better inform users.  

  When sending data, use the structural validation  service set up by Eurostat to ensure 

compliance with the statistical data and metadata exchange (SDMX) standard. 

In  addition,  Eurostat  bilaterally  provided  country-specific  recommendations  based  on  national 
quality reports and analysis of submitted data. 

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Table of content 

1.   Introduction 

Data  on  national  and  regional  accounts  underpin  the  development,  implementation  and 
monitoring  of  a  broad  range  of  European  policies.  These  data  are  indispensable  for  the 
description and analysis of the economy of the EU, the euro area, and individual Member States 
and  EU  regions.  They  are  used  for  administrative  purposes as well,  e.g.  for  the  calculation of 
Member  State  contributions  to  the  EU  budget.  Therefore,  it  is  of  high  importance  that  these 
European statistics are accurate, timely and complete and that information about their quality is 
communicated to users regularly and in a transparent way. 

Publication of national accounts data aggregated at European level started in the 1970s. Since 
then,  the  methodological  framework  has  been  updated  several  times,  in  line  with  the 
developments  of  the  United  Nations  System  of  National  Accounts  (SNA).  The  current 
compilation  requirements  have  been  established  by  Regulation  (EU)  No  549/2013  which 
defines the European system of national and regional accounts of 2010 (ESA 2010). ESA 2010 
corresponds  to  the  2008  edition  of  the  SNA  and  has  been  used  in  the  EU  since  September 
2014. 

Regulation (EU) No 549/2013 prescribes that the quality of national and regional accounts data 
sent in to Eurostat are assessed according to the quality criteria set out by Regulation (EC) No 
223/2009 on European statistics. The modalities, periodicity and indicators of this assessment 
process are defined in Commission Implementing Regulation No 2304/2016. Every year, under 
Article 4(2) of the ESA 2010 Regulation, each Member State provides a report on the quality of 
data sent to Eurostat. Based on these country reports, Eurostat prepares an overall assessment 
in  accordance  with  Article  4(4).  Under  Article  12,  every  fifth  year  starting  from  2018  the 
Commission will inform the European Parliament and the Council about the quality of national 
and regional accounts. The country reports and Eurostat reports follow the recommendations of 
the European Statistical System (ESS) Handbook for Quality Reports. The information provided 
by all reports covers all ESA 2010 domains, namely the main aggregates, government finance 
statistics,  non-financial  sector  accounts,  regional  accounts,  and  supply,  use  and  input-output 
tables. 

This  quality  report  presents  Eurostat’s  assessment  of  the  quality  of  data  sent  in  by  Member 
States in 2016 and includes information on the quality of key European aggregates published by 
Eurostat. It is addressed to users and is therefore structured to provide information which helps 
understand  the  published  data  and,  where  applicable,  the  factors  that  improve  or  limit  their 
quality.  Although  the  report  contains  specific  information  and  indicators  for  individual  Member 
States, its focus is solely on data quality. The Commission (Eurostat) assesses Member States’ 
adherence  to  the  requirements  of  Regulation  (EC)  No  549/2013  (the  ESA  2010  Regulation) 
separately. 

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Scope of the quality assessment 

2 

2.  Scope of the quality 

assessment  

Eurostat’s quality  assessment  of national  and regional  accounts  covers  data submitted by EU 
Member  States,  EFTA  countries  and  Switzerland  as  well  as  own  publications of  EU  and  euro 
area aggregates. 

The  quality  reporting  and  assessment  exercise  starts  on  15  February.  Eurostat  provides 
countries with pre-filled national quality reports containing quantitative indicators and qualitative 
information.  The  countries  complement  the  national  quality  reports  and  send  them  back  to 
Eurostat  by  the  end  of  May.  Eurostat  assesses  the  results  and  prepares  and  publishes  an 
overall assessment based on the national quality reports and other available information. This 
exercise was carried out for the first time in 2017 and will be repeated on an annual basis. 

Data transmissions  based on  the ESA 2010 methodology started from 1 September  2014. By 
2020, after the expiry of derogations granted by the Commission to the Member States, they will 
all  be  made  in  line  with  all  provisions  set  out  in  the  ESA  2010  Transmission  Programme. 
Consequently,  the  quality  reporting  is  being  introduced  gradually  in  three  steps.  The  first  two 
quality exercises in 2017 and 2018 require that countries report to Eurostat on a limited number 
of  quality  indicators  (completeness,  published  revision  policy,  punctuality,  coherence  between 
sub-annual  and  annual  statistics  and  within  tables  for  selected  variables,  documentation  on 
methodology). With the third quality exercise in 2019, the quality reporting will be extended to 
additional indicators (revision  rates of quarterly and annual data for selected variables as well 
as  coherence  between  non-financial  and  financial  accounts).  In  2021,  when  the  existing  ESA 
2010  derogations  fully  expire,  quality  reporting  will  be  conducted  fully  within  the  scope  of  the 
Transmission Programme and include the last envisaged indicators (e.g. revision rates of other 
quarterly variables as well as cross-table consistency). 

This  assessment  report  concerns  the  ESA  2010  mandatory  data  submitted  by  countries  to 
Eurostat in 2016. Due to the temporary derogations, countries did not send the same data. Only 
the Czech Republic was due to submit all data; other countries were exempt from certain data 
requirements  in  2016.  More  specifically,  for  the  NFSA  domain  data  requirements  differ 
depending on if the country is a small or a big economy and if it is a member of the euro area or 
not. These differences in mandatory data requirements are reflected in Eurostat’s assessment. 

National  data  submitted  on  a  voluntary  basis  are  not  part  of  this  quality  assessment.  The 
references  to  voluntary  data  made  in  this  report  are  there  to  acknowledge  the  efforts  of 
countries to make additional data available to users. 

In  addition  to  national  quality  reports,  the  following  sources  were  also  used  to  prepare  this 
quality  assessment:  information  collected  during  the  data  validation  process;  information 
contained  in  the  provided  mandatory  and  voluntary  inventories  of  methods  and  data  sources; 
information  collected  in  surveys,  during  the  verification  processes  for  EDP  and  GNI  and  from 
country  visits.  More  specifically,  for  data  used  to  compile  the  Macroeconomic  Imbalance 
Procedure  (MIP)  indicators,  available  country  self-assessment  reports  and  ECB  metadata  for 
data compiled by national central banks are taken into account. 

When national data or EU/EA aggregates are used to compile policy indicators such as the MIP 

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Scope of the quality assessment 

2 

and  the  Principal  European  Economic  Indicators  (PEEIs),  the  assessment  draws  information 
from the quality requirements  applied to these indicators. This report covers  the headline MIP 
indicators based on national ESA 2010 data, namely the nominal unit labour cost index, general 
government gross debt, private sector credit flow, private sector debt and total non-consolidated 
financial sector liabilities. The report also includes the quarterly EU/EA aggregates published in 
Eurostat’s  news  releases  as  PEEIs:  GDP  growth  rates,  gross  fixed  capital  formation  and 
household  and  non-profit  institutions  serving  households  final  consumption,  employment 
volume growth rates, government deficit and debt, investment rates of non-financial institutions 
and household saving rates.  

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Legislation, classifications, manuals 

3 

3.  Legislation, 

classifications, manuals 

3.1. Legislation 

3.1.1. 

Legal basis for ESA 2010 

  Regulation  (EU)  No  549/2013  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  of  21  May 
2013, on the European system of national and regional accounts in the European Union, OJ 
L 174, 26 June 2013, p. 1-727 

  Commission  Implementing  Decision  of  26  June  2014  on  granting  derogations  to  Member 
States  with  respect  to  the  transmission  of  statistics  pursuant  to  Regulation  (EU)  No 
549/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning the European system 
of national and regional accounts in the European Union (notified under document C(2014) 
4164), OJ L 174, 26.6.2013, p. 1 

  Commission  Implementing  Regulation  (EU)  No  724/2014  of  26  June  2014  on  the 
interchange  standard  for  the  transmission  of  data  required  under  Regulation  (EU)  No 
549/2013  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  on  the  European  system  of 
national and regional accounts in the European Union, OJ L 174, 26.6.2013, p. 1 

  Commission  Delegated  Regulation  (EU)  2015/1365  of  30  April  2015  on  the  transmission 

format for research and development expenditure data, OJ L 174, 26.6.2013, p. 1 

  Commission  Delegated  Regulation  (EU)  2015/1342  of  22  April  2015  amending  the 
methodology  for  the  classification  of  products  by  activity  given  in  Annex  A  to  Regulation 
(EU) No 549/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council, OJ L 174, 26.6.2013, p. 1 

  Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 
2016/2304  of  19  December  2016  on  the  modalities,  structure,  periodicity  and  assessment 
indicators of the quality reports on data transmitted under Regulation (EU) No 549/2013 of 
the  European  Parliament  and  the  Council  of  21  May  2013  on  the  European  system  of 
national and regional accounts in the European Union, OJ L 174, 21.5.2013, p. 1 

Regulation  (EU)  No  549/2013  defines  the  methodology  (Annex  A)  and  the  transmission 
programme  (called  ESA  2010  Transmission  Programme,  Annex  B)  for  the  compilation  of 
national  and  regional  accounts.  Methodology  comprises  the  common  standards,  definitions, 
classifications  and  accounting  rules.  The  transmission  programme  sets  out  the  accounts  and 
tables  as  well  as  the  legal  deadlines  by  which  Member  States  must  submit  data  to  the 
Commission (Eurostat). The complete list of tables is presented in the Annex, Table 12. For the 
purpose of this report, these tables are organised in the following six groups: 

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Legislation, classifications, manuals 

3 

ESA 2010 domain 

Tables  of 
Programme 

the  ESA  2010  Transmission 

National  accounts  main  aggregates 
(NAMA) 

1A, 1Q, 3, 5, 20, 22 

Government finance statistics (GFS) 

2, 9, 11, 27, 28 

Annual financial accounts (AFA) 

6, 7 

Non-financial sector accounts (NFSA) 

8, 801 

Regional accounts (RA) 

10, 12, 13 

Supply,  use  and 
(SUIOT) 

input-output 

tables 

15, 16, 17 

The  Commission  has  granted  around  800  derogations  from  mandatory  data  transmission 
requirements  on  the  request  of  EU  Member  States.  These  derogations  are  temporary  and 
expire progressively by 2020. They vary in substance and the number of variables included, e.g. 
different  years  (quarters),  different  prices,  seasonally  or  non-seasonally  adjusted  data, 
breakdown  of  the  Statistical  Classification  of  Economic  Activities  in  the  European  Community 
(NACE  Rev.  2).  Derogations  have  also  been  agreed  with  Iceland  and  Norway  and  are  being 
discussed with Switzerland. 

3.1.2. 

Other legal acts 

  Regulation  (EC)  No  223/2009  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  of  11 March 
2009 on European statistics, OJ L 087 31.3.2009, p. 164, as amended by Regulation (EU) 
2015/759  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  of  29  April  2015,  OJ  L  123, 
19.5.2015, p. 90–97 

  Regulation (EU) No 99/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 January 
2013  on  the  European  statistical  programme  2013-2017,  OJ  L  39,  9.2.2013, p. 12–29  and 
the  related  Annual  Statistical  Programme  2016,  http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/ess/-/the-
european-statistics-annual-work-programme-2016  

Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 sets out the legal framework for the development, production and 
dissemination  of  European  statistics.  European  statistics  are  determined  in  the  European 
statistical programmes and are developed according to the statistical principles of professional 
independence, impartiality, objectivity, reliability, statistical confidentiality and cost effectiveness. 
National and regional accounts data submitted in 2016 and covered by this report are produced 
under  the  European  statistical  programme  2013-2017  and  the  Annual  Statistical  Programme 
2016. 

Furthermore, Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 sets out the requirements on statistical quality. The 
quality  criteria  applied  to  European  statistics  are  as  follows:  relevance,  accuracy,  timeliness, 
punctuality, accessibility and clarity, comparability and coherence. Member States must provide 
the Commission (Eurostat) with reports on the quality of data submitted, including any concerns 
they  have  regarding  data  accuracy.  The  Commission  (Eurostat)  assesses  the  quality  of 
submitted  data  based  on  an  appropriate  analysis,  and  prepares  and  publishes  reports  and 
communications  on  the  quality  of  European  statistics.  In  the  interest  of  transparency,  the 
Commission (Eurostat) must make public its assessment of the quality of national contributions 
to European statistics, where appropriate. Specific quality requirements, such as target values 
and  minimum  standards  for  the  production  of  statistics,  may  also  be  set  out  in  sectoral 
legislation. 

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Legislation, classifications, manuals 

3 

3.2. Classifications used in the ESA 2010 

  Statistical Classification of Economic Activities in the European Community (NACE), Rev. 2 

(2008)  

  Statistical Classification of Products by Activity, Version 2.1 (CPA)  

  Classification of Individual Consumption by Purpose (COICOP), 1999 version 

  Classifications of functions of government, 1999 version, 

  Classification of the Purposes of (Private) Non-Profit Institutions serving Households, 1999 

version (COPNI)   

  Classification of institutional sectors 

  NUTS 

3.3. Manuals and guidelines 

  System of National Accounts 2008 (SNA 2008)   

  ESS Guidelines on national and regional accounts  

The  ESA  2010  is  aligned  with  the  SNA  2008  to  make  comparable  analysis  with  non-EU 
economies possible. 

The ESS has put together several manuals and guidelines to facilitate the implementation of the 
ESA 2010 in the EU. Their application is not mandatory for Member States. 

3.4. Other information 
Additional information on national and regional accounts is available on the following sections of 
Eurostat’s website: 

  ESA 2010  

  National accounts (including GDP)  

  Government finance statistics  

  European sector accounts  

  Supply, use and input-output tables  

  Regional economic accounts  

Data  submitted  under  the  ESA  2010  Transmission  Programme  is  assessed  in  the  context  of 
what  is  needed  at  policy  level  for  the  principal  European  economic 
indicators,  the 
Macroeconomic Imbalance Procedure indicators, the calculation of GNI for the purposes of EU 

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Legislation, classifications, manuals 

3 

budget own resources and the excessive deficit procedure indicators. Additional information is 
available in the following sections of Eurostat’s website: 

  Principal European Economic Indicators  

  Macroeconomic Imbalance Procedure  

  GNI for own resource purposes  

  Excessive Deficit Procedure  

The  activities  of  multinational  enterprises  are  increasingly  important  for  the  compilation  of 
national  accounts.  National  compilers  and  international  organisations  are  working  together  to 
further develop the concepts and methods that address the globalisation phenomenon. 

  Economic globalisation  

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12 

 
 
Legislation, classifications, manuals 

3 

4.  Relevance 

Relevance is the degree to which statistics meet current and potential user needs. 

It  examines  whether  all  the  statistics  that  are needed  are  produced  and  the  extent  to 
which the concepts used (definitions, classifications, etc.) reflect user needs. 

4.1. Use of ESA 2010 data 

National  accounts  can  be  used  for  various  types  of  analysis  and  evaluation.  The  use  of 
internationally  accepted  concepts  and  definitions  makes  it  possible  to  carry  out  different 
analyses, such as of the interdependencies between the economies of EU Member States, or a 
comparison between EU and non-member countries. 

Effective  policy  and  decision-making  depends  on  the  regular  supply  of  reliable  information. 
Statistics are one of the principal sources of such information, providing quantitative support to 
policy  development,  implementation,  and  monitoring.  They  are  also  a  powerful  tool  for 
communicating with the general public. 

Policymakers  often  require  highly  aggregated  indicators  which  provide  a  comprehensive  and 
clear  picture  of  the  different  phenomena  in  which  they  are  interested.  Statisticians  therefore 
have to filter and aggregate basic, detailed data in order to increase data readability and extract 
information (or indicators). 

Eurostat,  together  with  other  European  Commission  services,  has  responded  to  decision 
makers’ needs by helping to develop sets of indicators on EU policies and initiatives. In recent 
years,  a  number  of  indicator-based  tools  have  been  developed  with  Eurostat’s  involvement. 
This  chapter  gives  an  overview  of  the  main  uses  of  ESA  2010  data,  with  a  focus  on  the  EU 
context. 

4.1.1. 

National uses of ESA 2010 data 

National accounts statistics are used in decision-making processes at national level. 

National accounts are often explicitly included in decision making on investment, consumption 
and wages. Statistics on the growth of national economies are used as an indicator of financial 
strength and economic performance. National accounts are also used for setting up indicators 
of various public policies or tax or aid measures at national or regional level. Price indices from 
the  national  accounts  can  also  serve  as  an  automatic  adjustment  for  price  changes.  National 
budgetary cycles also require up-to-date and comprehensive national accounts statistics. 

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Relevance 

4 

4.1.2. 

European Semester 

Launched  in  2010  as  a  response  to  the  global  financial  and  economic  crisis,  the  European 
Semester is a policy coordination tool, developed to ensure stronger economic governance and 
better policy coordination across the EU. This framework governs the: 

- 

- 

- 

implementation of structural reforms to ensure progress towards the agreed goals of the 
Europe 2020 strategy; 

implementation  of  fiscal  policies  under  the  Stability  and  Growth  Pact  to  strengthen 
economic governance and ensure budgetary discipline; 

prevention of excessive macroeconomic imbalances. 

The European Semester is an annual country assessment cycle starting in November. With the 
publication  of  several documents  on  economic  policy  and  fiscal stance  in  the  Member  States, 
the Commission sets out general economic priorities for the EU and provides EU countries with 
policy guidance for the following year. Based on these inputs, national reform programmes and 
stability and convergence programmes are reviewed and updated later in the cycle. The Council 
concludes  the  European  Semester  in  June/July  by  agreeing  on  a  set  of  country-specific 
recommendations, highlighting areas where EU Member States need to take further action. 

The role of Eurostat in the context of the European Semester is to: 

- 

- 

- 

- 

provide methodological support in the process of choosing and defining indicators; 

liaise  with  the  other  European  Commission  Directorate-Generals,  in  particular  on  the 
definition and choice of indicators to support the strategy; 

produce and supply the relevant statistical data; 

ensure high quality standards for all data. 

MACROECONOMIC IMBALANCE PROCEDURE 

One  of  the  principal  EU  policy  initiatives  launched  in  response  to  the  financial,  economic  and 
sovereign  debt  crisis  of  2008  was  the  establishment  of  the  Macroeconomic  Imbalance 
Procedure  (MIP).  The  procedure  focuses  on  the  identification  and  correction  of  emerging  or 
persistent macroeconomic imbalances in a Member State at an early stage. The MIP is part of a 
surveillance framework that aims to identify potential macroeconomic risks early on, prevent the 
emergence of harmful macroeconomic imbalances and correct the imbalances that are already 
in  place.  It  is  a  system  for  monitoring  economic  policies  and  detecting  potential  risks  to  the 
proper  functioning  of  the  economy  of  a  Member  State,  of  the  economic  and  monetary  union, 
and of the EU as a whole. 

The MIP comprises a number of sequential steps, with the Alert Mechanism Report as a starting 
point.  It  contains  a  scoreboard  which  consists  of  a  number  of  relevant,  practical,  simple, 
measurable  and  available  macroeconomic  and  macro-financial  indicators.  Once  a  year,  a 
snapshot  of  the  latest  available  data  on  the  MIP  scoreboard  is  taken  and  combined  with 
economic reading (assessment / evaluation) to form the basis for the Alert Mechanism Report 
— one of the major components of a set of documents kicking off the European Semester. 

The  MIP scoreboard  indicators cover  the  major  sources  of  macroeconomic  imbalances with  a 
particular  focus  on  the  smooth  functioning  of  the  euro  area.  The  scoreboard  consists  of 
indicators  which  can  monitor  external  imbalances,  competitiveness  positions  and  internal 
imbalances.  Indicative  thresholds  have  been  set  for  each  indicator.  The  MIP  scoreboard 
indicators  should  not  be  regarded  as  either  policy  targets  or  policy  instruments;  their 
interpretation  is  supplemented  by  economic  judgment  and  expertise  specific  to  each  Member 

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Relevance 

4 

State. 

In addition, a set of 28 auxiliary indicators provide additional information on aspects linked to the 
general macroeconomic situation, nominal and real convergence inside and outside the EU and 
the  euro  area.  The  auxiliary  indicators  widen  the  scope  of  information  to  better  understand 
potential imbalances and adjust the capacity of the economy. 

The national accounts are one of the major data sources that underpin the MIP indicators. Five 
out of 14 headline MIP scoreboard indicators and ten out of 28 auxiliary ones are derived from 
national accounts. Moreover, many of the MIP indicators are expressed relative to GDP. 

STABILITY AND GROWTH PACT 

The  Stability  and  Growth  Pact  (SGP)  is  a  set  of  rules  designed  to  ensure  that  the  Member 
States pursue sound public finances and coordinate their fiscal policies. Some of the pact's rules 
aim  to  prevent  fiscal  policies  from  heading  in  potentially  problematic  directions  (the  so-called 
‘preventive arm’ of the SGP), while others are there to correct excessive budget deficits or excessive 
public  debt  burdens  (the  so-called  ‘corrective  arm’,  also  known  as  the  Excessive  Deficit  Procedure 
(EDP)). The SGP is based on two main principles: that the general government deficit (planned 
or  actual)  must  not  exceed  3 %  of  GDP  and  that  the  general  government  debt-to-GDP  ratio 
should not be more than (or should be falling towards) 60 %. 

In  the  annual  cycle  of  the  European  Semester,  the  Member  States  provide  the  European 
Commission  with  detailed  information  on  the  state  of  their  public  finances  and  their  medium-
term  fiscal  plans.  Euro  area  countries  provide  this  information  in  the  context  of  the  stability 
programmes, while other Member States do so in the context of the convergence programmes. 
The  Commission  assesses  whether  the  policies  are  in  line  with  the  SGP  rules  and  issues 
proposals for country-specific recommendations to be adopted by the Council. In case of breach 
of the deficit and debt criteria mentioned above, an EDP can be opened. 

4.1.3. 

Business cycle and macroeconomic policy 

analysis 

PRINCIPAL EUROPEAN ECONOMIC INDICATORS 

One  of  the  main  uses  of  national  accounts  data  is  to  support  European  economic  policy 
decisions  and  the  achievement  of  economic  and  monetary  union  objectives  with  high-quality 
short-term statistics that make it possible to monitor macroeconomic developments and derive 
macroeconomic  policy  advice.  For  instance,  one  of  the  most  basic  and  long-standing  uses  of 
national accounts is to quantify the rate of growth of an economy, in simple terms the growth of 
GDP. Core national accounts figures are notably used to develop and monitor macroeconomic 
policies, while detailed national accounts data can also be used to develop sectoral or industrial 
policies, particularly through an analysis of input-output tables. 

Since  2001,  euro  indicators/Principal  European  Economic  Indicators  (PEEIs)  have  been  the 
reference  point 
for  all  users  of  official  statistics  dealing  with  short-term  data.  Euro 
indicators/PEEIs aim to supply business-cycle analysts, policymakers, the media, researchers, 
students, and other interested parties with a comprehensive, well-structured and high-quality set 
of information which is useful for their daily work. They include a set of statistical indicators that 
give an accurate and as timely as possible overview of the economic evolution of the euro area, 
the  EU,  and  individual  EU  Member  States.  The  following  indicators  are  derived  from  national 
accounts: 

-  GDP in current prices and volume, 

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4 

- 

- 

- 

- 

- 

- 

- 

household and NPISH final consumption, 

gross fixed capital formation, 

household saving rates, 

investment rates of non-financial institutions, 

government deficit, 

government debt, 

employment volume growth rates. 

Each  year,  in  cooperation  with  the  European  Central  Bank,  Eurostat  drafts  a  status  report  on 
information requirements in the European economic and monetary union which is first submitted 
to  the  Council's  Economic  and  Financial  Committee  and  then  to  the  Economic  and  Financial 
Affairs Council. 

4.1.4. 

EU cohesion policies 

The  allocation  of  expenditure  for  cohesion  policy  funds  is  based  on  data  from  the  ESA  2010 
regional  accounts.  Regional  statistics  are  also  used  for  ex-post  assessment  of  the  results  of 
regional and cohesion policy. 

The  EU’s  cohesion  policy  is  set  out  in  seven-year  programming  periods.  The  current  period 
covers  2014–2020,  and  almost  €352  billion  has  been  allocated  for  cohesion  policy  measures 
put in place during this time across the EU. This is equivalent to almost one-third (32.5 %) of the 
total EU budget.  

The Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS) is used to define regional boundaries 
and to determine geographic eligibility for European structural and investment funds. Regional 
eligibility  for  the  European  Regional  Development  Fund  during  the  2014–2020  programming 
period was calculated based on regional GDP per inhabitant (in pps) averaged over the 2007–
2009 period. NUTS2 regions were ranked into three groups:  

- 

- 

less  developed  regions  where  GDP  per  inhabitant  was  less  than  75 %  of  the  EU-28 
average; 

transition regions where GDP per inhabitant was between 75 % and 90 % of the EU-28 
average; and 

-  more developed regions where GDP per inhabitant was more than 90 % of the EU-28 

average. 

Regional  eligibility  for  the Cohesion  Fund  was calculated  based on  gross  national  income per 
inhabitant (in pps) and averaged over the 2008–2010 period. Only Member States whose gross 
national income per inhabitant was less than 90 % of the EU-28 average are supported. 

4.1.5. 

Use in other EU policy areas 

One  of  the  seven  flagship  initiatives  of  the  Europe  2020  strategy  is  its  industrial  policy:  ‘An 
integrated  industrial  policy  for  the  globalisation  era’  to  improve  the  business  environment, 
notably  for  small  and  medium  enterprises,  and  to  support  the  development  of  a  strong  and 
sustainable  industrial  base  able  to  compete  globally.’  Reliable  indicators  of  economic 
globalisation and its impact on the EU economy are essential for the effective implementation of 
this policy. 

Economic  globalisation  indicators  provide  an  overview  of  main  globalisation  trends.  They  are 

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4 

based  on  data  already  available  in  the  Eurostat  database  and  have  been  constructed  so  that 
they can be meaningfully compared across countries. 

Inter-country supply, use and input-output tables typically serve to support the analyses of the 
economic,  social  and  environmental  consequences  of  globalisation  by  means  of  studies  on 
competitiveness,  growth,  productivity,  employment,  environmental  footprints  and  international 
trade  (e.g.  global  value  chains).  For  this  purpose,  Eurostat  and  the  Joint  Research  Centre 
together are developing the FIGARO tables (full international and global accounts for research 
in  input-output  analysis),  which  aim  to  be  the  reference  tool  for  policy  makers  in  the  above 
domains. 

The  FIGARO  tables  help  measure  the  EU’s  progress  in  relation  to  several  of  the  UN’s  17 
sustainable goals (Goal 8: promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full 
and  productive  employment  and  decent  work  for  all;  and  Goal  12:  ensure  sustainable 
consumption and production patterns). 

4.1.6. 

Use for EU administrative purposes 

National accounts data are used for administrative purposes in the EU. For instance, this is the 
case when the contribution of EU Member States or the EFTA countries to the EU budget are 
determined or when the Commission calculates and proposes to the Court of Justice lump sum 
and  penalty  payments  to  be  used  in  infringement  proceedings.  Among  these  uses,  it  is 
important  to  highlight  the  use  of  data  in  the  budgetary  context  where  a  reinforced  quality 
assurance is applied. 

The EU has its 'own resources' to finance its administrative expenditure. There are three kinds 
of own resources: 

 

traditional  own  resources  (mainly  customs  duties  on  imports  from  outside  the  EU  and 
sugar levies), 

  own resource from value added tax (VAT), 
  own resource based on gross national income (GNI). 

The GNI own resource is a uniform percentage rate applied to the GNI of each Member State 
(Article 2(1c) of Council Decision 2014/335 on the system of the European Communities’ own 
resources  (Own  Resource  Decision)).  GNI  has  become  the  largest  source  of  own  resources 
and today accounts for around three quarters of total EU revenue. 

Article 2(7) of the Own Resource Decision states that GNI must be defined in accordance with 
the  European  system  of  national  and  regional  accounts  (ESA  2010).  GNI  represents  total 
primary income receivable by resident institutional units: compensation of employees, taxes on 
production  and  imports  less  subsidies,  property  income  (receivable  less  payable),  gross 
operating surplus and gross mixed income. It equals the better-known gross domestic product 
minus  primary  income  payable  by  resident  units  to  non-resident  units,  plus  primary  income 
receivable by resident units from the rest of the world. 

4.2. User satisfaction 

Statistical  offices  and  national  central banks conduct  regular surveys  to  better  understand the 
needs  of  national  accounts  data  users.  The  surveys  are  addressed  to  a  wide  range  of  users, 
including research institutes and professional associations. User data requests and inquiries are 
also scrutinised to identify data needs. 

National statistical institutes and national central banks also carry out regular enquires related to 

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4 

user satisfaction. The results are published at national level. 

Each year, Eurostat conducts an EU-level user satisfaction survey. This survey is based  on a 
model  questionnaire  designed  to  obtain  a  better  knowledge  about  users,  their  needs  and 
satisfaction with the services provided by Eurostat. The ESA 2010 domains are included in the 
‘Economy and Finance’ theme and grouped as follows: national accounts (including GDP, main 
aggregates,  sector  accounts,  input-output  tables  and  regional  accounts)  and  governance 
finance statistics. 

The 2016 user satisfaction survey is the most recent one for which the results were published. 
They  are  based  on  3038  replies.  ‘Economy  and  finance’  is  one  of  the  most  often  utilised 
statistical  areas  and  received  the  highest  positive  evaluation  (63.2 %  of  ‘very  good/good’ 
answers)  for  the  overall  quality  of  statistics,  including  for  timeliness,  completeness  and 
comparability.  At  a  more  disaggregated  level,  respondents  ranked  ‘National  accounts’  first 
(67.0 % of ‘very good/good’ assessments), with ‘Government finance statistics’ following closely 
with 62.2 %. 

Figure 1: User satisfaction survey — overall quality of ‘National accounts’ — 2016 as compared to 
2015 

Figure 2: User satisfaction survey — overall quality of ‘Government finance statistics’ — 2016 as 
compared to 2015 

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In 2016, the overall quality of ‘National accounts’ was perceived as very good or good by 67 % 
of  users,  which  represents  an  increase  of  3.7  percentage  points  as  compared  to  2015.  The 
overall  quality  of  ‘Government  finance  statistics’  received  62.2 %  of  ‘very  good/good’ 
assessments, which was 2.4 percentage points more than in 2015. 

The  data  completeness  of  ‘National  accounts’  and  ‘Government  finance  statistics’  was 
perceived as very good or good by 58.4 % of users in 2016, timeliness by 57.4 % of users and 
data comparability by 56.7 %. 

Eurostat regularly measures the impact of European statistics by monitoring: 

 

 

the number of downloads from its database containing national and regional accounts 
data, 

the impact after a news release is issued. 

The results for national and regional accounts data published in 2016 are summarised below. 

Downloads  of  main  aggregates  of  national  accounts  accounted  for  nearly  60 %  of  downloads 
from  Eurostat’s  database  containing  national  and  regional  accounts  (see  Figure  3).  Further, 
21 % of downloads were in government finance statistics and 12 % in regional accounts. 

Figure 3: Number of downloads from the database containing national and regional accounts data 
in 2016 

2%  2% 

4% 

12% 

21% 

59% 

National accounts main
aggregates
Government finance
statistics
Regional accounts

Non-financial sector
accounts
SUIOT

Financial accounts

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Eurostat  measures  the  impact  after  issuing  a  news  release  by  monitoring  the  number  of 
downloads of each news release. 

The  news  releases  related  to  ESA  2010  domains  were  among  the  most  popular  of  all  the 
releases published by Eurostat in 2016. In this year, 15.3 % of news releases downloaded from 
Eurostat’s  website  were  on  national  accounts  and  government  finance  statistics,  an  increase 
compared to 2015 (from 13.8 %). 

Two national accounts news releases were among the top 10 releases published by Eurostat in 
2016: 

-       on regional GDP for the reference year 2014, issued in February 2016, 
-       on quarterly national GDP for the 1st quarter of 2016, issued at the end of May. 

In 2016, the total number of downloaded news releases on national accounts and government 
finance  statistics  reached  over  three  hundred  eighty  thousand.  Quarterly  GDP  releases 
represented  48 %  of  these  downloads,  followed  by  Government  Finance  Statistics  news 
releases — 24 % (see Figure 4). 

Figure 4: Number of downloads of national accounts news releases in 2016. 

9% 

9% 

48% 

10% 

24% 

GDP

Government finance
statistics

Households and company
accounts

Employment

Regional GDP

4.3. Further actions to meet user needs 

Many  users  from  European  and  international  organisations  as  well  as  from  the  research 
community  request  longer  time  series  and  more  granular  breakdowns,  enabling  additional 
analysis of macro-economic developments. To address these user demands, Eurostat together 
with  Member  States  analysed  the  potential  for  voluntary  transmission  of  additional  national 
accounts data that are available at the national level. 

To  better  understand  the  needs  of  the  main  users,  Eurostat  collected  data  requests  from  the 
OECD, DG ECFIN and the ECB. It sent two questionnaires on the availability of the requested 
voluntary data: one on financial and another on non-financial accounts data. The questionnaire 
on the data requests for non-financial accounts covered issues related to all tables of the ESA 
2010 Transmission Programme, except the Government Finance Statistics tables (where user 

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needs had already resulted in voluntary transmissions having been set up prior to the exercise 
conducted  by  other  national  accounts  domains),  and  included  a  broad  range  of  topics  and 
questions on ‘main aggregates’, ‘sector accounts’ and ‘supply and use/input output tables’. The 
questionnaire on the data requests for financial accounts, compiled jointly by Eurostat and the 
ECB, covered both annual and quarterly data. 

For the non-financial accounts, it was agreed that the technical infrastructure would be prepared 
in  2017,  whenever  at  least  nine  countries  were  able  to  send  voluntary  data.  For  the  financial 
accounts,  the  request  for  back  data  can  generally  be  satisfied  from  1995  onwards  by  all 
countries apart from Croatia and Luxembourg, who have derogations until 2020. The ESA 2010 
transmission  programme  also  contains  many  voluntary  series  relevant  to  the  data  request, 
including who-to-whom tables. Eurostat strongly encourages countries to submit these voluntary 
data series where feasible. 

4.4. Completeness rate 

The  ESA  2010  Transmission  Programme  specifies  the  data  requirements  for  Member  States. 
However,  due  to  the  derogations  from  the  data  transmission  requirements  up  to  2020,  the 
scope  of  data  to  be  submitted  to  Eurostat  is  not  the  same  for  all  countries.  Derogations  have 
also been established for Iceland and Norway and are being negotiated with Switzerland.  

This section provides an overview of  the  data that countries were expected to submit by ESA 
2010  domain  and  the  data  that  were  actually  received/validated  by  Eurostat.  To  allow  for 
comparable  assessment,  the  percentages  are  defined  based  on  the  number  of  data  cells 
included in the tables. The information covers all reference periods specified in the ESA 2010 
Transmission  Programme.  The  indicator  is  derived  from  the  data  received  by  Eurostat  from  1 
January 2016 to 31 December 2016. 

4.4.1. 

Quarterly data 

The ESA 2010 Transmission Programme requires EU Member States to submit quarterly tables 
for: 

  national accounts main aggregates (Table 1), 
  government finance statistics (Tables 27 and 28), 
  non-financial sector accounts (Table 801). 

The  overall  completeness  rate  measured  at  the  data  cell  level  was  very  high  in  2016  for  the 
majority  of  EU  countries.  22  out  of  28  EU  Member  States  submitted  all  or  nearly  all  required 
data  (above  95 %,  see  Figure  5).  Seven  countries  achieved  a  full  completeness  rate  for  all 
quarterly  tables:  Belgium,  Denmark,  Italy,  the  Netherlands,  Portugal,  Finland  and  the  United 
Kingdom. 

A  relatively  low  completeness  rate  for  quarterly  data  submissions  was  observed  in  2016  for 
Luxembourg,  the  Czech  Republic  and  Cyprus1.  Data  submitted  by  the  two  EFTA  countries  – 
Norway and Iceland – also had a low completeness rate. 

Figure 5: Completeness rate of national accounts quarterly tables reported in 2016 

1 Luxembourg, the Czech Republic and Cyprus put in place improvement actions for quarterly data; it is expected that 
the quality report  for 2017 data transmissions will show progress 

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For  quarterly  national  accounts  main  aggregates,  data  availability  was  high,  reaching  on 
average  96.7 %  in  the  four  quarters  from  Q42015  until  Q32016  for  the  EU-28.  A  100 % 
completeness rate was observed in twelve Member States. The completeness rate was below 
90 %  in  four  Member  States  (the  Czech  Republic,  Cyprus,  Luxembourg  and  Romania)  and  in 
the two EFTA countries. 

Figure 6: Quarterly national accounts main aggregates (T1), average data availability for 2015Q4-
2016Q3 (as reported in 2016) 

The  completeness  rate  of  quarterly  government  finance  statistics  was  on  average  higher 
than  the  one  observed  for  tables  submitted  for  other  quarterly  national  accounts  domains.  It 
reached 99.8 % in 2016. Completeness was 100 % for almost all EU Member States as well as 
for Norway and Iceland. 

All  submitted  mandatory  series  were  validated  and  published  in  Eurobase  for  all  EU  Member 
States,  except  for Table 27 (Financial  accounts  of general government) submitted  by  Greece. 
The  data  could  not  be  validated  and  published  due  to  non-adherence  to  ESA  2010  rules. 
Significant concerns about the quality of supplied information have prevented the validation and 
publication of Greek Table 27 since October 2015. 

Figure 7: Quarterly government finance statistics (T27 and T28), average data availability for 2015Q4-
2016Q3 (as reported in 2016) 

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For quarterly non-financial sector accounts, the completeness rate was 94.9 % on average. 
Figure  8  presents  the  percentages  of  data  provided  by  individual  Member  States  for  the  four 
reference quarters Q42015 - Q32016. For 20 Member States, the completeness rate was higher 
than the EU average; this includes the twelve countries that submitted all required data. In five 
EU  countries  and  in  Norway,  the  completeness  rate  was  relatively  low  —  below  90 %.  The 
lowest completeness rate was observed for Luxembourg, for which an informal dialogue, in the 
context of Themis/EU pilot, is currently taking place between Eurostat and the Grand Duchy of 
Luxembourg. The delivery of missing data is expected by the end of 2017-2018. 

Croatia and Bulgaria submitted very few series that were fully complete. In addition, there were 
quality  issues  with  the  submitted  data.  Both  countries  are  in  communication  with  Eurostat  in 
order to address the situation regarding data timeliness and relevance. 

Figure 8: Quarterly non-financial sector accounts (T801), average data availability for 2015Q4-
2016Q3 (as reported in 2016) 

4.4.2. 

Annual data 

In 2016, the 28 EU Member States as well as Norway and Iceland reported mandatory annual 
national accounts tables for six domains: 

-  National accounts main aggregates (Tables 1, 3, 5 and 20), 

-  Government finance statistics (Tables 2, 9, 11), 

-  Non-financial sector accounts (Table 8), 

-  Financial accounts (Tables 6 and 7), 

-  Supply, use and input-output tables (Tables 15, 16, 17), 

Quality report on National and Regional Accounts. 2016 data. 

23 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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4 

-  Regional accounts (Tables 10, 12, 13). 

The  completeness  rate  of  2016  annual  data  was  high  for  all  domains,  on  average  between 
87.9 % for annual supply and use tables  and  99.8 % for annual government finance statistics. 
Twelve  countries  submitted  all  or  nearly  all  mandatory  data  (less  than  one  per  cent  of 
incomplete  tables).  Two  EU  Member  States  (Luxembourg  and  Cyprus)  and  both  EFTA 
countries  had  relatively  low  completeness  rates  (on  average  more  than  15 %  incomplete 
tables).  Eight  countries,  including  six  EU  Member  States  (Bulgaria,  Luxembourg,  Cyprus, 
Croatia, Poland, Ireland), submitted 15 or more incomplete annual tables in 2016. 

National accounts main aggregates 

For annual national accounts main aggregates, the overall completeness rate was very high 
in 2016. On average, it exceeded 97 % for all tables. 

For  main  aggregates  —  Table  1  (Figure  10)  —  19  countries  submitted  all  or  nearly  all 
mandatory data (completeness rate above 99 %) and only three EU Member States (Bulgaria, 
the Czech Republic and Cyprus) and Iceland recorded a completeness rate below 90 %. 

The  MIP  scoreboard  headline  indicator  of  unit  labour  cost  is  derived  from  Table  1  of  national 
accounts main aggregates, combining GDP volumes, compensation of employees, employment 
and  employee  data.  The  transmission  of  complete  and  consistent  time  series  is  therefore 
important for the quality assessment of Unit labour cost (ULC) figures. 

Figure 9: Completeness rate of national accounts annual tables reported in 2016 

Figure 10: Annual national accounts main aggregates (T1); average data availability as reported 

Quality report on National and Regional Accounts. 2016 data. 

24 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
in 2016 

Relevance 

4 

The  annual  tables  by  industry  (Table  3)  and  on  household  final  consumption  expenditure  by 
purpose  (Table  5),  had  an  average  98.2 %  completeness  rate  (see  Figure  11).  Only  one  EU 
Member  State  (Cyprus)  submitted  Tables  3  and  5  less  than  90 %  complete  and  20  Member 
States submitted all mandatory data. 

Figure 11: Annual tables by industry (T3) and for household final consumption expenditure by 
purpose (T5); average data availability as reported in 2016 

In  2016,  the  completeness  rate  for  the  mandatory  annual  Table  20  was  high,  on  average 
97.9 %. 20 countries submitted 99 % or more of mandatory data and only 1 EU Member State 
(Bulgaria) and the 2 EFTA countries had a completeness rate lower than 90 %. 

Figure 12: Annual tables on cross classification of fixed assets by industry and by asset (T20), 
cross classification of gross fixed capital formation by industry and by asset (T22) and balance 
sheets for non-financial assets (T26); average data availability as reported in 2016 

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4 

Government finance statistics 

The  average  completeness  rate  for  annual  government  finance  statistics  was  highest  from 
among all ESA 2010 domains. The average completeness rate of main aggregates of general 
government (Table 2) was 99.8 % while for detailed tax and social contribution receipts (Table 
9) and general government expenditure by function (Table 11) it reached an average of 99.3 %. 

For main aggregates of general government, all EU Member States and Norway submitted all or 
nearly all mandatory data (more than 97 % complete tables, see Figure 13). For Tables 9 and 
11, the incompleteness was slightly higher (Figure 14). 

Figure 13: Annual main aggregates of general government (T2); average data availability as 
reported in 2016 

Figure 14: Annual detailed tax and social contribution receipts by type of tax and social 
contribution and receiving subsector including the list of taxes and social contributions according 
to national classification (T9) and general government expenditure by function (T11); average 
data availability as reported in 2016 

Non-financial sector accounts 

The overall completeness rate of non-financial sector accounts (Table 8) was relatively high 
—  94.7 %  on  average  for  EU  Member  States.  This  was,  however,  lower  than  in  national 
accounts  main  aggregates  and  government  finance  statistics.  14  countries  submitted  all  or 
nearly  all  mandatory  data  while  four  EU  Member  States  (Bulgaria,  Croatia,  Cyprus, 
Luxembourg)  and  Norway  submitted  less  than  90 %  of  data  required  by  the  ESA  2010 
Transmission  Programme.  The  lowest  completeness  rate  was  recorded  in  the  case  of 
Luxembourg  for  which  a  dialogue,  in  the  context  of  Themis/EU  pilot  was  initiated  in  2016  to 
address the situation (see also the completeness rate of quarterly data). 

Croatia and Bulgaria failed to submit a significant number of series, and certain submitted series 
were incomplete. In addition, there were quality issues with the submitted data. Both countries 

Quality report on National and Regional Accounts. 2016 data. 

26 

 
 
 
 
 
 
are in communication with Eurostat in order to address the situation regarding data timeliness 
and relevance. 

Figure 15: Annual non-financial sector accounts (T8); average data availability as reported in 2016 

Relevance 

4 

Financial Accounts 

For  annual  financial  accounts,  22  EU  Member  States  submitted  all  or  nearly  all  (99 %  or 
more)  mandatory  data.  Relatively  low  completeness  rates  were  observed  for  France  and  the 
two EFTA countries. For France,2 the low completeness rate was mainly related to the limited 
availability of aggregated series and technical difficulties with submitting data according to the 
established data exchange standard. 

On  average,  the  completeness  rate  of  annual  financial  accounts  by  sector  (transactions)  and 
balance sheets for financial assets and liabilities reached 97.2 % in 2016. 

Three MIP headline indicators are derived from annual financial accounts: private sector debt, 
private  sector  credit  flow  and  total  financial  sector  liabilities.  The  2016  data  underlying  MIP 
indicators were sufficiently complete for their validation for MIP purposes. 

Figure 16: Annual financial accounts by sector; transactions (T6) and balance sheets for financial 
assets and liabilities (T7); average data availability as reported in 2016 

Supply, use and input-output tables 

For supply, use and input-output tables, the average completeness rate was relatively low as 
compared to other national accounts tables. The completeness rate recorded for annual supply 
and use tables (15 and 16) for reference year 2013 was 87.9 % on average. Five EU Member 
States3 (Malta, Cyprus, Latvia, Bulgaria, Poland) did not submit the mandatory data for 2013 (or 

2 France put in place improvement actions; it is anticipated that the 2017 quality report will show progress. 
3 Croatia has a derogation; Malta should have submitted  year 2011 data by the end of 2016. Cyprus achieved progress 
which will be reflected in the next quality report. 

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27 

 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                           
Relevance 

4 

another  mandatory  year  specified  under  the  derogations  act)  in  2016.  18  countries  submitted 
complete annual supply and use tables. 

Figure 17: Supply and use annual tables (T15 and T16), average data availability for 2010-2013 
as reported in 2016 

The overall completeness of supply and use tables for the reference year 2010 submitted with 
lower  frequency  (every  5  years)  was  higher  than  for  annual  tables.  It  reached  93.5 %  on 
average for EU Member States. Luxembourg did not submit these tables in 2016, even though it 
was not granted a derogation. 23 EU Member States submitted complete tables. 

Figure 18: Five-yearly use tables (T16XX), average data availability as reported in 2016 

The  symmetric  input-output  tables  for  2010  were  submitted  by  all  EU  Member  States  and 
Norway.  On  average,  the  completeness  rate  reached  96.6 %  for  EU  countries.  The  lowest 
completeness  rate  was  recorded  for  Luxembourg,  who  submitted  only  one  mandatory  table. 
Most  countries  (25  EU  Member  States)  submitted  complete  input-output  tables,  either  by 
product or by industry. Three Member States (the Czech Republic, Italy and Hungary) submitted 
both sets of tables. 

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28 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Figure 19: Five-yearly input output tables (T17, 18 and 19), average data availability as reported in 
2016

Relevance 

4 

Regional accounts 

For regional accounts, the average completeness rate reached 93.9 %. 

In 2016, 18 EU Member States submitted all or nearly all mandatory regional accounts tables. 
The relatively low completeness rate recorded for Cyprus was related to technical issues (codes 
used  in  the  transmission)  which  were  corrected  promptly.  For  Luxembourg,  the  low 
completeness rate of Table 13 (household accounts) was related to the low completeness rate 
in  non-financial  sector  accounts.  The  results  of  the  EU  pilot  project  for  non-financial  sector 
accounts could have a positive impact also on the completeness of regional accounts data. 

A  below  average  completeness  rate  was  also  observed  for  Croatia,  France  and  Hungary.

Figure 20: Annual regional accounts (T10, T12 and T13), average data availability as reported in 
2016 

4.5. Completeness rate of data underlying 

key indicators 

MIP indicators 

The analysis in the Alert Mechanism Report builds on the economic reading of a scoreboard of 
14  headline  indicators  covering  the  most  relevant  areas  of  macroeconomic  imbalances, 

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29 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Relevance 

4 

competitiveness, and adjustment issues. These 14 indicators are complemented by 28 auxiliary 
indicators providing additional information. 

The national accounts are one of the major sources of data underlining the MIP indicators. Five 
out of 14 headline MIP scoreboard indicators and ten out of 25 auxiliary ones are derived from 
national accounts. Moreover, many of the MIP indicators are compiled relative to GDP. 

The economic rationale defining the medium- to long-term horizon for MIP analysis requires the 
availability  of  10-years’  worth  of  time  series  for  all  MIP  indicators.  The  10-year  indicators 
scoreboard is published in November each year in the Statistical Annex to the Alert Mechanism 
Report. This package forms one of the major components launching the European Semester in 
the Autumn of each year. 

The  quality  of  MIP-underlying  data  has  improved  as  a  consequence  of  the  entry  into  force  of 
ESA  2010  in  2014.  However,  the  process  of  implementing  the  new  statistical  standard  led  to 
revisions and, due  to derogations, temporarily shortened  the available series. Since 2014, the 
overall  completeness  of  underlying  data  for  MIP  indicators  has  substantially  improved  and  in 
2016 was very high for all EU Member States. Data coverage for the ten year timespan needed 
for the 2017 Statistical Annex (2006-2015) was very high for all headline indicators. In terms of 
auxiliary  indicators,  the  overall  completeness  rate  was  also  nearly  100 %.  However,  for  the 
nominal unit labour cost (as 10-year % change) and residential construction (as % of GDP), a 
few  countries  still  did  not  submit  all  required  statistics.  The  underlying  Unit  Labour  Cost  time 
series  for  the  MIP  auxiliary  indicator  of  Croatia,  Malta  and  Poland  only  begins  in  2010.  For 
residential construction, Croatia did not submit data and Romania submitted time series only up 
to 2014. The missing information will be gradually submitted in the coming years after the ESA 
2010 derogations expire. 

The key part of the MIP, however, covers in-depth reviews, which in line with Regulation (EU) 
No 1176/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the prevention and correction 
of macroeconomic imbalances establish whether imbalances exist. For these in-depth reviews, 
the  completeness  and  availability  of  detailed  ESA  2010  data  is  essential.  In  particular  cross-
country benchmarking and analytical assessment tools used in the in-depth reviews depend on 
the timeliness, accuracy and completeness of national accounts, government finance statistics, 
and non-financial and financial sector accounts. 

Quality report on National and Regional Accounts. 2016 data. 

30 

 
 
 
 
Accuracy 

5 

5.  Accuracy 

Accuracy of statistical outputs in the general statistical sense is the degree of 
closeness of computations or estimates to the exact or true values that the statistics 
were intended to measure. 

In  national  accounts,  a  direct  approach  for  measuring  accuracy  is  difficult  to  apply,  thus  the 
main instrument used is the analysis of revisions. 

Revisions  are  broadly  defined  as  any  change  in  a  value  of  a  statistic  released  to  the  public. 
Revisions are made when new data sources and better information become available and thus 
result  in  more  accurate  observations.  Therefore,  revisions  are  inevitable  whenever  produced 
statistics  report  promptly  on  economic  developments  despite  the  fact  that  some  relevant 
information is still outstanding. 

Revisions  should  be  considered  a  normal  phenomenon  to  progressively  increase  the  quality 
and  in  particular  the  accuracy  of  data.  Revision  policy  should  be  recognised  as  an  important 
aspect  of  good  governance  in  statistics.  Good  governance  in  statistics,  in  turn,  is  part  of  the 
broader areas of public sector transparency and accountability. 

Revisions and their proper interpretation have two-sided effects on both users and producers of 
statistical  data.  From  the  users’  perspective,  revisions  improve  the  information  available  and 
thus  are  welcome.  However,  they  may  also  lead  to  an  adjustment  of  measures  used  in 
economic  analysis  and  as  a  consequence  result  in  different  assessment  of  the  state  of  the 
economy.  From  the  producers’  perspective,  the  new  information  brought  by  the  revisions 
describe  economic  developments  more  precisely,  yet,  frequent  and/or  major  revisions  can 
damage  data  credibility.  Finally,  an  absence  of  revisions  can  also  indicate  that  indicators  for 
which  more  accurate  source  data  are available  are  not  being  updated  and  that  errors  are not 
being corrected; i.e. that the statistics published are stable but potentially inaccurate. 

It  follows  that  a  well-established  and  publicly  communicated  revision  policy  is  a  sign  of  the 
strength of the statistical system in question. 

5.1. Revision policy 

The  importance  of  developing  a  revision  policy  and  performing  revision  analysis  is  being 
increasingly  recognised  and  considerable  work  has  been  done  in  this  field  over  the  past  few 
years, both by national and international statistical organisations. 

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31 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Accuracy 

5 

5.1.1. 

Harmonised European revision policy 

The  2012  harmonised  European  revision  policy  (HERP)  endorsed  by  the  Committee  on 
Monetary, Finance and Balance of Payments statistics (CMFB) was adopted shortly before the 
introduction  of  the  new  statistical  manuals  and  revised  transmission  programmes  in  2014.  In 
principle, the scope of the 2012 HERP extended across the national accounts and balance of 
payments  domains,  in  major  as  well  as  routine  revisions,  and  in  both  quarterly  and  annual 
frequencies. It was envisaged that countries would start implementing the 2012 HERP with the 
introduction  of  the  new  standards  under  the  ESA  2010  and  the  6th  edition  of  the  Balance  of 
payments and international investment position manual in 2014.  

A recent stocktaking, reported to the CMFB in July 2015, conveyed implementation difficulties: 9 
countries had implemented the policy by 2014, 8 did not, and 12 implemented it only partially. 
As a follow-up, the CMFB established the Task Force on Harmonised European Revision Policy 
(Task Force-HERP) in its July 2015 meeting to address issues related to routine revisions. The 
Directors  of  Macroeconomic  Statistics  of  the  European  Statistical  System  (ESS)  mandated  a 
separate  Task  Force  on  Benchmark  Revision  Policy  to  investigate  benchmark  revisions.  After 
two  years  of  intensive  work,  adaptations  were  made  where  appropriate  and  the  CMFB 
published  a  communication  on  Harmonised  Revision  Policy  for  Macroeconomic  Statistics 
supported by Eurostat and the ECB. It was recommended that Member States disseminate the 
results  of  the  next  benchmark  revisions  in  2019  and  2024  and  that  they  follow  a  specific 
sequence of routine revisions for annual and quarterly data. 

5.1.2. 

Documentation on national data revision 

policy 

Most EU Member States and  the two EFTA countries provide information on national revision 
policies online. Only Ireland, Croatia and Luxembourg do not publish online information in this 
area.  However,  these  three  countries  provided  the  requested  information  to  Eurostat  in  the 
context of the quality reporting and envisaged plans for developing their online documentation 
on  national  revision  policy  and  its  communication  to  users.  Belgium  and  Italy  published 
information  on  their  national  revision  policies  in  2017.  Switzerland  did  not  provide  any 
information. 

The  content  of  available  information  on  national  revisions  varies  substantially  among  the 
countries for which the information is publicly available. Only 11 EU Member States (see Table 
1)  provide  users  with  information  on  data  revisions  by  national  accounts  domain.  Nearly  all 
countries  publish  information  on  their  national  revision  policy  for  quarterly  national  accounts, 
while the information on revisions for financial accounts, regional accounts and supply-use input 
and output tables is missing on most national websites. 

5.2. Revisions of data submitted by Member 

States 

There  are  two  important  types  of  revisions  that  represent  the  core  of  national  accounts 
compilation,  namely  routine  revisions  and  major  revisions,  due  to  changes  in  methods  and 
sources. 

Routine  revisions  are  changes  in  published  data  which  are  related  to  the  regular  data 
production  process  (e.g.  estimated  values  for  missing  responses  are  replaced  by  reported 
figures). Normally, these routine revisions follow a revision policy and are published according 
to a publicly available pre-announced release/revision calendar. 

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32 

 
 
Accuracy 

5 

Availability of detailed information 
by domain 

financial accounts 

P 

P 

P 

Y 

Y 

P 

N 

P 

Y 

P 

N 

Y 

P 

P 

Y 

N 

P 

P 

P 

Y 

P 

P 

Y 

Y 

P 

Y 

Y 

Y 

P 

P 

N 

Y 

Y 

N 

Y 

N 

N 

N 

N 

Y 

N 

N 

Y 

N 

N 

Y 

N 

N 

N 

N 

Y 

N 

N 

Y 

Y 

N 

Y 

Y 

Y 

N 

N 

Table 1: Availability of information on national revision policy 

Country 

Revision policy available online 

provided to 
Eurostat (if not 
online) 
Y 

Y 

Y 

Y 

Y 

N 

Y* 

Y 

Y 

Y 

Y 

Y 

N 

Y 

Y 

Y 

N 

Y* 

Y 

Y 

Y 

N 

Y 

Y** 

Y 

Y 

Y 

Y 

Y 

Y 

Y 

Y 

Y 

Y 

Y 

Y 

N 

BE 

BG 

CZ 

DK 

DE 

EE 

IE 

EL 

ES 

FR 

HR 

IT 

CY 

LV 

LT 

LU 

HU 

MT 

NL 

AT 

PL 

PT 

RO 

SI 

SK 

FI 

SE 

UK 

IS 

NO 

CH 

*developed in 2017 
** GNI Inventory available online 

Y (Yes) — revisions policy is documented 
N (No) — no information available 
P (Partial) — only partial information available 

Quality report on National and Regional Accounts. 2016 data. 

33 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Accuracy 

5 

There are two types of major revisions: 

-  major ad-hoc revisions which originate from methodological changes or special events, 

and 

- 

benchmark revisions that take place on a regular basis (5 to 10 years) to incorporate 
results of changes in basic data sources and/ or new estimation methods. 

In  2016,  10  EU  Member  States  and  Iceland  carried  out  either  major  ad-hoc  or  benchmark 
revisions of their national accounts data. The reasons behind these regular revisions are listed 
in Table 2. They are mainly related to further implementation of statistical standards (Manual on 
Government  Deficit  and  Debt),  Gross  National  Income  reservations  or  revisions  of  related 
statistics e.g. the balance of payments or structural business statistics.    

In 2016, a substantial revision of national accounts was introduced by the Irish Central Statistics 
Office. GDP for 2015 was revised upwards by 26.3 %. This was primarily due to the relocation 
of  a  number of  big  economic  operators  to  Ireland  and  can  be  seen  as  an  effect  of  increasing 
globalisation. 

A detailed quantitative analysis of the revision rates for data submitted by Member States will be 
performed  as  from  2019  within  the  context  of  this  quality  reporting,  as  indicated  in  the 
implementing act. 

Table 2: Major routine and benchmark revisions carried out in 2016 

Country  Major ad-hoc revisions 

Benchmark revisions 

BG 

DK 

IE 

- perpetual inventory method for the 
calculation of the consumption of 
fixed capital in the non-market sector 

- supply and use tables for 2010 

- additional units reclassified in S13 

institutional sector 

- resulting from revision in balance of 

payments statistics 

- resulting from revision in balance 

of payments statistics 

- increase in the number of new 
aircraft imports for international 
leasing activities 

- corporate restructuring both through 

imports of individual assets and 
reclassification of entire balance 
sheets 

IT 

- further work on GNI transversal 

reservation concerning the 
calculation of intermediate 
consumption for actual and imputed 
rentals 

- new statistical treatment of Euro 

banknotes in balance of payments / 
international investment position 
statistics 

- new estimation of property income 
flows due to the effects voluntary 
disclosure 

- implementation of the new 2016 

Quality report on National and Regional Accounts. 2016 data. 

34 

 
 
 
 
 
 
Accuracy 

5 

Eurostat Manual on Government 
Deficit and Debt  

CY 

LV 

LU 

- reclassification of the national 

railway company  

MT 

- Structural Business Statistics Survey 

results for 2014 

- gambling and betting activities 

update  

PL 

UK 

IS 

- revised method and better source 
data in the deflation of actual and 
imputed rentals for housing in 
household final consumption 
expenditure 

- recalculation of financial 

intermediation services indirectly 
measured 

- open GNI reservations 

implementation 

- further implementation of the 2016 

edition of the Manual on 
Government Deficit and Debt  

- reclassification of institutional units  

- improvements to current price 

GDP implemented in Blue Book 
2016  

5.3. Revisions of European aggregates 

The  revision  rates  for  European  aggregates  (GDP  and  employment)  presented  in  this  sub-
chapter  are  based  on  two  commonly  used  statistical  measures  for  interpreting  the  outputs  of 
revision  analysis  for  economic  variables  published  on  an  intra-annual  frequency:  average 
revision rates and average absolute revision rates. Both measures gauge the size of revisions 
of  subsequent  EU  and  EA  aggregates  released  between  2014Q3  and  2016Q4.  The  absolute 
average  is  a  better  measure  as  compared  to  the  simple  average  because  it  avoids  offsetting 
effects on the indicator from negative and positive revisions. 

Revisions of GDP for the euro area (EA-19) and the EU-28 

The quarter-on-quarter GDP growth rates for the euro area are given in the left part of Tables 
3-6.  The  revisions  of  the  growth  rates  appear  on  the  right  side  of  the  tables.  The  last  column 
contains many cells with missing data because Eurostat did not estimate GDP at t+100 in the 
first  seven  quarters  after  the  transmissions  under  ESA 2010  started.  These  estimates  were 
reintroduced in the second quarter of 2016 and are now regularly done. 

In general, the four GDP estimates (at t+30, t+45, t+65 and t+100) were rather stable as both 
average revision and average absolute revision were relatively small. 

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35 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Accuracy 

5 

Table 3: Revisions of quarterly GDP for the euro area aggregates (quarter-on-quarter growth 
rates); based on data published between 2014Q3 and 2016Q3 

Quarter-on-quarter, Eurostat growth estimates 

Quarter-on-quarter revisions 

EA 17/18/19 

t+30 

t+45 

t+65 

t+100 

45-30 

65-30 

65-45 

100-30 

2014Q3 

0.13 

0.16 

0.16 

2014Q4 

0.22 

0.34 

0.33 

2015Q1 

0.29 

0.40 

0.37 

2015Q2 

0.27 

0.31 

0.36 

2015Q3 

0.26 

0.30 

0.29 

2015Q4 

0.24 

0.27 

0.31 

2016Q1 

0.55 

0.52 

0.55 

2016Q2 

0.29 

0.28 

0.30 

0.29 

2016Q3 

0.34 

0.35 

0.35 

0.44 

0.03 

0.12 

0.11 

0.04 

0.04 

0.03 

-0.03 

-0.01 

0.01 

0.03 

0.00 

0.11 

-0.01 

0.08 

-0.03 

0.09 

0.05 

0.03 

-0.01 

0.07 

0.00 

0.01 

0.01 

0.05 

0.03 

0.02 

0.00 

0.01 

0.09 

EA 17/18/19 

45-30 

65-30 

65-45 

100-30 

Average revision 

Average abs. revision 

0.04 

0.05 

0.05 

0.05 

0.01 

0.02 

0.05 

0.05 

Table 4: Revisions of quarterly GDP for the euro area aggregates (year-on-year growth rates); 
based on data published between 2014Q3 and 2016Q3 

Year-on-year, Eurostat growth estimates 

Year-on-year revisions 

EU 17/18/19 

t+30 

t+45 

t+65 

t+100 

45-30 

65-30 

65-45 

100-30 

2014Q3 

0.75 

0.78 

0.79 

2014Q4 

0.76 

0.88 

0.86 

2015Q1 

0.88 

0.99 

1.01 

2015Q2 

1.18 

1.22 

1.53 

2015Q3 

1.53 

1.57 

1.59 

2015Q4 

1.47 

1.49 

1.58 

2016Q1 

1.56 

1.53 

1.67 

2016Q2 

1.58 

1.57 

1.62 

1.61 

2016Q3 

1.61 

1.62 

1.67 

1.76 

0.03 

0.12 

0.11 

0.04 

0.04 

0.03 

-0.03 

-0.01 

0.01 

0.04 

0.00 

0.10 

-0.02 

0.14 

0.35 

0.06 

0.11 

0.11 

0.04 

0.06 

0.03 

0.31 

0.02 

0.09 

0.14 

0.05 

0.06 

0.03 

0.15 

EA 17/18/19 

45-30 

65-30 

65-45 

100-30 

Average revision 

Average abs. revision 

0.04 

0.05 

0.11 

0.11 

0.08 

0.08 

0.09 

0.09 

Quality report on National and Regional Accounts. 2016 data. 

36 

 
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
 
 
 
 
Accuracy 

5 

Table 5: Revisions of quarterly GDP for the EU aggregates (quarter-on-quarter growth rates); 
based on data published between 2014Q3 and 2016Q3 

Quarter-on-quarter, Eurostat growth estimates 

Quarter-on-quarter revisions 

EU 27/28 

t+30 

t+45 

t+65 

t+100 

45-30 

65-30 

65-45 

100-30 

2014Q3 

0.27 

0.30 

0.30 

2014Q4 

0.30 

0.38 

0.41 

2015Q1 

0.34 

0.42 

0.44 

2015Q2 

0.38 

0.41 

0.45 

2015Q3 

0.31 

0.37 

0.37 

2015Q4 

0.31 

0.35 

0.40 

2016Q1 

0.50 

0.48 

0.50 

2016Q2 

0.38 

0.38 

0.40 

2016Q3 

0.37 

0.38 

0.38 

0.41 

0.45 

0.03 

0.08 

0.08 

0.03 

0.06 

0.03 

-0.02 

0.00 

0.01 

0.02 

0.11 

0.10 

0.06 

0.06 

0.09 

0.00 

0.02 

0.01 

0.00 

0.03 

0.02 

0.03 

0.00 

0.06 

0.02 

0.02 

0.00 

0.04 

0.09 

EA 17/18/19 

45-30 

65-30 

65-45 

100-30 

Average revision 

Average abs. revision 

0.03 

0.04 

0.05 

0.05 

0.02 

0.02 

0.06 

0.06 

Table 6: Revisions of quarterly GDP for the EU aggregates (year-on-year growth rates); based on 
data published between 2014Q3 and 2016Q3 

Year-on-year, Eurostat growth estimates 

Year-on-year revisions 

EU 27/28 

t+30 

t+45 

t+65 

t+100 

45-30 

65-30 

65-45 

100-30 

2014Q3 

1.26 

1.29 

1.30 

2014Q4 

1.23 

1.32 

1.30 

2015Q1 

1.28 

1.36 

1.45 

2015Q2 

1.58 

1.61 

1.87 

2015Q3 

1.80 

1.86 

1.89 

2015Q4 

1.72 

1.76 

1.84 

2016Q1 

1.73 

1.72 

1.85 

2016Q2 

1.78 

1.78 

1.85 

2016Q3 

1.81 

1.82 

1.85 

1.83 

1.92 

0.03 

0.08 

0.08 

0.03 

0.06 

0.03 

-0.02 

0.00 

0.01 

0.04 

0.01 

0.07 

-0.01 

0.17 

0.29 

0.09 

0.11 

0.12 

0.07 

0.04 

0.09 

0.26 

0.03 

0.08 

0.13 

0.07 

0.03 

0.06 

0.10 

EA 17/18/19 

45-30 

65-30 

65-45 

100-30 

Average revision 

Average abs. revision 

0.04 

0.04 

0.11 

0.11 

0.08 

0.08 

0.08 

0.08 

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37 

 
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
 
 
 
 
Accuracy 

5 

Revisions of employment growth rates for the euro area (EA-19) and the EU-28 

Eurostat’s  employment  growth  estimates  generally  have  low  revisions  between  the  first 
estimate at t+75 days and the following at t+165 days. In the time period presented in Tables 7 
and 8 (2014Q3-2016Q3) the exception is 2015Q4 for the EU-28, which showed higher revisions 
than usual due to a transmission error by one of the larger Member States. 

There  is  a  tendency  to  revise  quarter-on-quarter  growth  rates  upwards,  even  if  very  slightly. 
Between 2013Q3 and 2017Q1, upward revisions took place for 13 out of 15 quarters (EU-28). 

Table 7: Revisions of quarterly employment growth estimates for the EU-28 aggregate; based on 
data published between 2014Q3 and 2016Q3 

Year-on-year employment growth 

Quarter-on-quarter employment growth 

EU 28 

t+75 

t+165 

165-75 

EU 28 

t+75 

t+165 

165-75 

2014Q3 

2014Q4 

2015Q1 

2015Q2 

2015Q3 

2015Q4 

2016Q1 

2016Q2 

2016Q3 

0.92 

0.98 

1.11 

0.88 

1.12 

0.97 

1.36 

1.47 

1.12 

0.90 

1.12 

1.01 

1.04 

1.04 

1.29 

1.40 

1.37 

1.07 

EU 28 

Average revision 

Average abs. 
revision 

-0.02 

2014Q3 

0.14 

2014Q4 

-0.10 

2015Q1 

0.16 

2015Q2 

-0.09 

2015Q3 

2015Q4 

2016Q1 

2016Q2 

2016Q3 

0.32 

0.05 

-0.09 

-0.05 

165-75 

0.04 

0.11 

0.29 

0.16 

0.29 

0.21 

0.36 

0.14 

0.35 

0.33 

0.19 

0.30 

0.19 

0.32 

0.27 

0.35 

0.35 

0.35 

0.34 

0.18 

EU 28 

Average revision 

Average abs. 
revision 

0.01 

0.03 

0.03 

0.05 

-0.02 

0.21 

0.00 

0.01 

-0.01 

165-75 

0.04 

0.04 

Table 8: Revisions of quarterly employment growth estimates for the EA-19 aggregate; based on 
data published between 2014Q3 and 2016Q3 

Year-on-year employment growth 

Quarter-on-quarter employment growth 

EA19 

t+75 

t+165 

165-75 

EA19 

t+75 

t+165 

165-75 

2014Q3 

2014Q4 

2015Q1 

2015Q2 

2015Q3 

2015Q4 

2016Q1 

2016Q2 

2016Q3 

0.64 

0.88 

0.81 

0.85 

1.09 

1.18 

1.41 

1.41 

1.18 

0.74 

0.85 

0.82 

0.98 

1.06 

1.24 

1.45 

1.34 

1.22 

0.10 

2014Q3 

-0.03 

2014Q4 

0.00 

0.14 

2015Q1 

2015Q2 

-0.03 

2015Q3 

0.06 

0.04 

2015Q4 

2016Q1 

-0.07 

2016Q2 

0.04 

2016Q3 

0.22 

0.13 

0.15 

0.33 

0.28 

0.31 

0.34 

0.39 

0.21 

0.23 

0.12 

0.19 

0.39 

0.31 

0.32 

0.35 

0.35 

0.20 

EA19 

Average revision 

Average abs. 
revision 

165-75 

0.03 

0.06 

EA19 

Average revision 

Average abs. 
revision 

0.01 

-0.01 

0.04 

0.06 

0.02 

0.01 

0.01 

-0.04 

-0.01 

165-75 

0.01 

0.02 

Quality report on National and Regional Accounts. 2016 data. 

38 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Timeliness and punctuality 

6 

6.  Timeliness and 

punctuality 

Timeliness is the period between the availability of the information and the event or 
phenomenon it describes. 

Punctuality is the time lag between the actual delivery of data and the target date on 
which they were scheduled for release as announced in an official release calendar, 
set out by regulations or previously agreed among partners. 

6.1. Timeliness 

With  the  introduction  of  the  ESA  2010  Transmission  Programme  in  September  2014,  new 
deadlines for countries’ submission of data to Eurostat were introduced and allowed for timelier 
delivery of information to users. Most notably, data for regional accounts became available 12 
months after the reference year. 

In 2016, further major improvements were achieved in relation to: 

- 

- 

the release of preliminary GDP flash estimates, and 

the advanced publication of the euro area quarterly sector accounts. 

QUARTERLY NATIONAL ACCOUNTS: PRELIMINARY GDP FLASH ESTIMATES 

A  major  (15  days’)  improvement  in  timeliness  was  achieved  with  the  first  publication  of  a 
preliminary t+30 flash estimate of GDP growth in the EU and the euro area on 29 April 2016. 
This was the result of work carried out by a task force of Member States. 

The  first  publication  of  the  t+30  flash  estimates  was  accompanied  by  two  statistical  working 
papers:  one  on  the  Eurostat  estimation  methodology  and  one  on  estimation  techniques  and 
methods for Member States’ early GDP estimates. 

The  t+30  GDP  flash  estimates  cover  on  average  94 %  of  EA-19  GDP  (91 %  of  EU-28  GDP). 
Revisions by the subsequent t+45 flash estimates, which cover 97 % of EA-19 GDP and 93 % of 
EU-28 GDP, were very limited. The first comprehensive estimate of quarterly and annual main 
aggregates was released after about t+65 for main output and expenditure aggregates and t+75 
for  employment,  income  and  additional  expenditure  breakdowns.  The  punctual  delivery  of 
country data enables the timely estimation of European aggregates. 

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39 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Timeliness and punctuality 

6 

EURO AREA QUARTERLY SECTOR ACCOUNTS 

The  timeliness  of  euro  area  quarterly  sector  accounts  substantially  improved  in  2016,  from 
around T+120 days to around T+102, and it has further advanced in 2017 to around T+94. The 
new first aggregation release of non-financial sector accounts is based on the preliminary data 
transmitted by euro-area Member States by T+85 days after the reference period. 

6.2. Punctuality of ESA 2010 tables 

Punctuality  is  calculated  as  the  actual  date  of  data  delivery  minus  the  scheduled  date  of 
transmission  to  Eurostat.  It  shows  how  many  calendar  days  the  first  data  transmission  was 
behind the legal deadline. Figures 21 to 35 present in detail the information on punctuality for 
each  national  accounts  domain  for  EU  Member  States  as  well  as  for  Iceland,  Norway  and 
Switzerland. 

The  ESA  2010  Transmission  Programme  specifies  the  deadlines  for  Member  States’  data 
deliveries.  However,  due  to  derogations,  the  transmission  dates  vary  across  countries.  The 
analyses  of  punctuality  in  this  section  take  into  account  country-specific  legal  deadlines.  The 
information covers data deliveries made in 2016. 

6.2.1. 

Quarterly data 

As defined in the ESA 2010 Transmission Programme, Member States must submit to Eurostat 
the following quarterly tables: 

- 

- 

- 

- 

national accounts main aggregates (Table 1), at t+2 and months, 
non-financial sector accounts (Table 801), at t+85 days3, 
financial accounts of general government (Table 27), at t+85 days and at t+3 months 4, 

government debt (Maastricht debt) for general government (Table 28), at t+3 months. 

The overall punctuality of quarterly national accounts was relatively high in 2016 as more than 
half of the countries submitted all mandatory quarterly accounts on time. 16 EU Member States 
(Belgium,  the  Czech  Republic,  Germany,  Estonia,  Spain,  France,  Latvia,  Lithuania,  the 
Netherlands, Austria,  Portugal,  Slovenia,  Slovakia,  Finland,  Sweden  and  the United  Kingdom) 
submitted data at or before the legal deadline. Four EU Member States (Germany, France, the 
Netherlands  and  Finland)  submitted  90 %  or  more  of  their  quarterly  tables  before  the  legal 
deadline.  

The  quarterly  main  aggregates  of  national  accounts  must  be  submitted  to  Eurostat  two 
months  after  the  reference  quarter.  Figure  21  presents  the  average  delay  in  four  reference 
quarters  of  2016  for  eight  sub-tables  of  the  mandatory  Table  1,  on  main  aggregates.  21 
countries  submitted  all  mandatory  main  aggregates  on  time.  The  worse  punctuality  was 
observed for Bulgaria, which transmitted less than 20 % of the mandatory tables on time. Low 
punctuality (over 40 % of tables delayed) was also observed for Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg and 
Poland  as  well  as  for  Iceland  and  Switzerland.  The  longest  delays  of  more  than  6  days  for 
around half of the tables were noted for Luxembourg and Iceland.  

4 The deadline of 85 days is applicable to Member States whose currency is the euro. For Member States whose 
currency is not the euro, the data transmission deadline is 3 months. 

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40 

 
 
 
 
 
                                                           
 
 
Timeliness and punctuality 

6 

Figure 21: Punctuality of quarterly national accounts main aggregates data (T1Q) for 2015Q4-
2016Q3 (as reported in 2016) 

The punctuality of quarterly government finance statistics was very high in 2016 and much 
higher  than  the  punctuality  of  quarterly  main  aggregates  and  non-financial  sector  accounts. 
Most  countries  submitted  all  data  before  the  legal  deadline.  Short,  isolated  delays  were 
observed only for Poland and Romania.  

19  countries  submitted  quarterly  non-financial  sector  accounts  on  time  (see  Figure  22). 
Substantial  delays  were  observed  for Bulgaria  and  Croatia.  Both  countries  are  in  contact  with 
Eurostat in order to address the situation regarding data timeliness. 

Figure 22: Punctuality of quarterly non-financial sector accounts data (T801Q) for 2015Q4-
2016Q3 (as reported in 2016) 

6.2.2. 

Annual data 

EU Member States must submit to Eurostat the annual national and regional accounts tables at 
the transmission deadlines as follows: 

- 

national accounts main aggregates, at t+2 and t+9 months, 

-  main aggregates of general government, at t+3 and t+9 months, 

- 

- 

tables by industry, at t+9 and t+21 months, 

household final consumption expenditure by purpose, at t+9 months, 

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41 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Timeliness and punctuality 

6 

- 

- 

- 

- 

- 

- 

- 

- 

- 

- 

- 

- 

- 

- 

financial accounts by sector (transactions), at t+9 months, 

balance sheets for financial assets and liabilities, at t+9 months, 

non-financial sector accounts, at t+9 months, 

detailed tax and social contribution receipts by type of tax and social contribution and 
receiving subsector including the list of taxes and social contributions according to 
national classification, at t+9 months, 

tables by industry and by region, NUTS level 2, at t+12 and t+24 months, 

general government expenditure by function, at t+12 months, 

tables by industry and by region, NUTS level 3, at t+24 months, 

household accounts by region, NUTS level 2, at t+24 months, 

supply table at basic prices incl. transformation into purchasers’ prices, at t+36 months, 

use table at purchasers’ prices, at t+36 months, 

symmetric input-output table at basic prices (five yearly), at t+36 months, 

cross classification of fixed assets by industry and by asset, at t+24 months, 

cross classification of gross fixed capital formation by industry and by asset, at t+24 
months, 

balance sheets for non-financial assets at t+24 months. 

The  overall  punctuality  of  ESA  2010  annual  tables  was  relatively  low  in  2016  as  only  eight 
countries  (Estonia,  Italy,  Hungary,  Austria,  Slovenia,  Slovakia,  Sweden  and  the  United 
Kingdom) submitted all required annual national and regional accounts tables on time. Six EU 
Member States (Belgium, Bulgaria, Spain, France, Cyprus and Poland) submitted ten or more 
tables after the legal deadline. 

National accounts main aggregates 

20  countries  submitted  annual  Table  1  of  national  accounts  main  aggregates  on  time. 
Bulgaria  and  Poland  submitted  most  of  their  tables  (sub-tables  of  Table  1)  after  the  deadline, 
and  Poland,  France  and  the  Czech  Republic  submitted  their  data  with  the  longest  delays, 
particularly for the T+2 submission. 

The MIP headline indicator of unit labour costs is derived from Table 1 data. The cut-off date for 
data extraction for the MIP scoreboard and Alert Report Mechanism’s statistical annex was on 
24  October  2016.  The  late  submission  of  Table  1,  particularly  more  than  one  month  past  the 
deadline (in dark blue on Figure 23), made it impossible to fully validate the data underlying unit 
labour  cost  calculation.  Poland  in  particular  had  significant  delays  in  providing  data  on  the 
compensation of employees, needed for the calculation of unit labour cost. 

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42 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Figure 23: Punctuality of annual national accounts main aggregates (T1) data submitted in 2016 

Timeliness and punctuality 

6 

The  overall  punctuality  of  tables  by  industry  (Table  3)  and  household  final  consumption 
expenditure by purpose (Table 5) was very high: 25 countries, including 23 EU Member States, 
submitted  these  tables  on  time.  However,  there  were  substantial  delays  for  three  countries: 
Bulgaria, Croatia and Spain (see Figure 24). 

All  reporting  countries  submitted  their  Cross-classification  of  fixed  assets  by  industry  and  by 
asset,  Cross-classification  of  gross  fixed  capital  formation  by  industry  and  by  asset  and  
Balance sheets for non-financial assets tables, due at t+24 months, on time in 2016.  

Figure 24: Punctuality of other annual national accounts main aggregates (T3, T5 and T2XX) data 
submitted in 2016 

Government finance statistics 

The punctuality of annual government finance statistics tables (Main aggregates of general 
government — Table 2, Detailed tax and social contribution receipts by type of tax and social 
contribution  and  receiving  subsector  including  the  list  of  taxes  and  social  contributions 
according  to  national  classification  —  Table  9,  General  government  expenditure  by  function 
Table 11) was very high. 22 EU Member States submitted all mandatory data on time. Bulgaria 
had  the  longest  delay,  submitting  its  main  aggregates  of  general  government  table  after  the 
legal  deadline  at  both  t+3  and  t+9.  None  of  the  countries  having  submitted  data  late  in  2016 
disrupted the Eurostat's publication schedule and issues encountered were isolated. 

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43 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Timeliness and punctuality 

6 

Figure 25: Punctuality of annual government finance statistics (T2, T9 and T11) data submitted in 
2016 

Non-financial sector accounts 

Annual non-financial sector accounts (Table 8), due in September 2016, were submitted on 
time by 21 countries (see Figure 26). Bulgaria did not submit its Table 8 in 2016, and Croatia 
showed the longest delay, of more than one month. Eurostat took specific actions vis-à-vis both 
EU  Member  States  in  order  to  improve  their  data  quality.  Three  other  EU  Member  States 
(Poland,  Greece  and  Luxemburg)  as  well  as  Iceland  and  Switzerland  had  delays  of  less  than 
one month. 

Figure 26: Punctuality of annual non-financial sector accounts (T8) data submitted in 2016 

Financial accounts 

Overall,  submission  of  the  financial  accounts  by  sector  (Table  6)  and  balance  sheets  for 
financial assets and liabilities (Table 7) was the most punctual of all national accounts tables. All 
28 EU Member States and Norway submitted these tables on time (see Figure 27). Particularly 
high  punctuality  was  seen  for  the  17  countries  that  submitted  their  annual  financial  accounts 
between three and seven months before the legal deadline. 

Three MIP headline indicators (private sector debt, private sector credit flow and total financial 
sector  liabilities)  are  derived  from  financial  accounts  tables.  Hence,  punctuality  in  submitting 
these  tables  is  of  utmost  importance  for  MIP  purposes.  In  2016,  all  EU  Member  States 
submitted the MIP-underlying data on time. 

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44 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Figure 27: Punctuality of annual financial accounts (T6 and T7) data submitted in 2016 

Timeliness and punctuality 

6 

Supply, use and input-output tables 

Most  countries  submitted  their  annual  supply  and  use  tables  for  2013  (supply  table  at  basic 
prices  incl.  transformation  into  purchasers’  prices  —  Table  15  and  use  table  at  purchasers’ 
prices  —  Table  16)  on  time  in  2016  (see  Figure  28).  Poland  delivered  the  annual  supply  and 
use tables for 2013 after the legal deadline. Bulgaria, Cyprus and Latvia did not submit data for 
2013. 

Figure 28: Punctuality of annual supply use tables (T15 and T16) submitted in 2016 

The  five  additional  use  tables  are  required  every  five  years.  They  provide  information  of  a 
higher granularity than annual tables. These tables are compulsory at basic prices for reference 
years ending in 0 or 5. This quality reporting exercise looked at the first delivery of these tables 
following ESA 2010 implementation. Figure 29 shows the average punctuality of Table 16XX for 
2010, due by the end of 2014. Half of the EU Member States submitted their use tables for 2010 
on  time.  Seven  countries  (Belgium,  Bulgaria,  Cyprus,  Spain,  Latvia,  Poland  and  Norway) 
submitted  their  tables  with  several  months’  delay.  Luxembourg  did  not  deliver  the  five-yearly 
use tables by the end of 2016 (it did so later in 2017). 

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45 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Figure 29: Punctuality of five-yearly use tables (T16XX) for the reference year 2010 

Timeliness and punctuality 

6 

The ESA 2010 Transmission Programme defines the obligation for EU Member States to deliver 
five-yearly input-output tables. These tables are compiled for the reference years ending with 
0  and  5.  This  quality  reporting  exercise  monitored  the  delivery  of  the  symmetric  input-output 
tables  for  the  reference  year  2010.  All  EU  Member  States  except  Portugal5  submitted  input-
output tables for 2010 either by product or by industry, while Hungary and Italy submitted both 
types of table. Luxembourg only submitted Table 17, and with a two-year delay. A substantial 
delay,  of  more  than  half  a  year,  was  also  observed  for  Belgium,  Bulgaria,  Cyprus,  Spain  and 
Poland. 

Figure 30: Punctuality of five-yearly input-output tables (T17, 18 and 19) for the reference year 
2010 

Regional accounts 

The overall punctuality of regional accounts in 2016 was very high. 22 countries submitted all 
regional  accounts  tables  on  time  (by  industry  and  by  region  at  NUTS  2  level  (Table  10)  and 
NUTS  3  level  (Table  12)  and  Household  accounts  by  region  (Table  13)),  see Figure  31.  Four 
countries (Belgium, France, Cyprus and Malta) submitted one of the mandatory tables within a 
month after the legal deadline. 

Three countries did not deliver some of the mandatory regional tables. Luxembourg’s Table 13 

5 Portugal submitted input-output tables for the year 2013. 

Quality report on National and Regional Accounts. 2016 data. 

46 

 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                           
Timeliness and punctuality 

6 

for household accounts by region will only become available after the EU pilot project on non-
financial  sector  accounts  is  complete.  Due  to  incorrect  coding  used  during  the  submission 
process, Cyprus did not submit some of its mandatory tables. Bulgaria only submitted its data 
after the quality reporting exercise had been launched. 

Figure 31: Punctuality of annual regional accounts (T10, T12 and T13) data submitted in 2016 

6.3. Punctuality of data underlying key 

indicators 

MIP indicators 

In  November  of  each  year,  at  the  beginning  of  the  European  Semester  process,  the 
Commission publishes the Alert Mechanism Report accompanied by a statistical annex on MIP 
indicators. 

The cut-off date for extracting data from the Eurostat database to prepare the Alert Mechanism 
Report  analysis  and  include  in  the  statistical  annex  is  fixed  each  year,  usually  at  the  end  of 
October or beginning of November. This makes it possible to analyse the most recent national 
accounts  data  submitted  by  Member  States  and  validated  by  Eurostat  in  the  Autumn 
transmission cycle. 

In 2016, the cut-off date for the preparation of the Statistical Annex 2017 was 24 October. The 
data  used  had  been  submitted  by  Member  States  at  T+9  months  and  successfully  passed 
Eurostat’s  validation  process.  The  timely  submission  of  all  relevant  national  accounts  data 
underlying  the  main  aggregates,  financial  and  non-financial  sector  accounts  as  well  as 
government  finance  statistics  (as  discussed  in  chapter  6.2.2)  made  possible  the  smooth 
validation and timely use of this data for MIP purposes. 

The punctuality of submitting data underlying the MIP was, however, coupled with the extensive 
use of flags indicating provisional or estimated data. In 2016, nine countries flagged at least one 
data cell used for an MIP headline  indicator either  as  provisional (‘p’  flag)  or as  estimated (‘e’ 
flag). The Netherlands flagged as provisional ULC data and three financial accounts indicators. 
Eight other countries flagged their ULC data. The use of flags was even more pronounced for 
auxiliary  indicators.  Netherlands  put  a  ‘p’  flag  on  all  auxiliary  indicators.  Greece,  Spain  and 
France flagged eight auxiliary indicators as provisional, Cyprus and Romania — seven, Bulgaria 
and Poland — three. Portugal put an ‘e’ flag on eight indicators. This situation is not satisfactory 
and needs to be addressed by concerned Member States. 

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47 

 
 
 
 
 
Timeliness and punctuality 

6 

Principal European Economic Indicators (PEEIs) 

PEEIs are the reference point for all users of official statistics dealing with short-term data. They 
comprise a set of statistical indicators giving an accurate and as timely as possible overview of 
the economic evolution of the euro area, the EU, and individual EU Member States. 

In order to supply business-cycle analysts, policymakers and other users with a comprehensive 
and  high-quality  set  of  information,  Eurostat  and  the  National  Statistical  Institutes  publish 
quarterly national accounts news releases on: 

-  GDP flash estimates, 

-  GDP estimates, including GDP components and contributions to growth, 

- 

- 

quarterly sector accounts, 

quarterly government finance statistics. 

The  transmission  dates  indicated  in  Figures  32-35  are  for  data  submissions  due  in  the  first 
quarter of 2017, relating to reference fourth quarter of 2016. 

First GDP (flash) estimates 

Eurostat  currently  publishes  two  GDP  flash  estimates  for  the  EU/EA:  t+30  preliminary  flash 
estimates  and  updated  t+45  GDP  (flash)  estimates.  The  second  news  release  contains 
published country estimates. Countries submit estimates to Eurostat on a voluntary basis. The 
news releases on GDP flash estimates are among Eurostat’s most downloaded news releases. 

Figure 32: First GDP flash estimate as submitted in 2017Q1 

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Timeliness and punctuality 

6 

GDP estimates and breakdowns 

GDP estimates with breakdowns for the EU/EA are released at around t+65 days each quarter. 
The exact release dates vary slightly each quarter depending on calendar constraints. 

The numbers in Figure 33 refer to the submission of data for the fourth quarter of 2016 which 
are usually published the next day. Validation problems and/or embargos can, however, cause 
some additional delays. 

Figure 33: GDP release containing components of GDP, transmission of 2016Q4 

Quarterly sector accounts (QSA)   

Quarterly  sector  accounts  for  2016Q4  were  due  by  26  March  2017  (t+85  days)  for  euro  area 
Members  States  and  by  31  March  2017  (t+3  months)  for  non-euro  area  Member  States.  For 
Member  States  whose  GDP  at  current  prices  is  less  than  1 %  of  the  corresponding  EU  total 
GDP, only data for selected items is compulsory. 

Key indicators and selected transactions for the euro area aggregates are published at around 
t+102, as of July 2017 in addition to at around t+94. Complete sector accounts data for the euro 
area are released at around t+120. 

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49 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Figure 34: Household and company accounts, transmission of 2016Q4 

Timeliness and punctuality 

6 

Quarterly government finance statistics  

The  transmission  dates  indicated  in  Figure  35  represent  submissions  due  on  31  March  2017, 
relating to reference quarter Q42016. Submissions are due at t+3 months, except for quarterly 
financial accounts for general government, where provisional data is due at t+85 days for euro 
area countries. Actual timeliness depends on the reference quarter, with data due on 31 March 
usually coming in later than in other quarters due to the incorporation of annual data. Releases 
are coordinated for the set of tables comprising quarterly government finance statistics and with 
EDP data. For this reason, no further improvement in timeliness is feasible in the medium-term. 
A use of provisional financial accounts data for release is also not feasible due to the high level 
of revisions in the transmission period. 

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Figure 35: Government finance statistics, transmission of 2016Q4 

Timeliness and punctuality 

6 

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Accessibility and clarity 

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7.  Accessibility and clarity 

Accessibility is the conditions by which users can obtain, use and interpret data. 

Clarity is the ways in which users can obtain, use and interpret data. It examines the 
data’s information environment to determine whether data are accompanied by 
appropriate metadata and illustrations such as graphs and maps, and whether 
information on their quality is also available. 

7.1. Dissemination by Eurostat 

Eurostat  disseminates  ESA  2010  data via  electronic  publications.  The  data  are  accessible via 
predefined  tables,  extractions  from  Eurostat’s  database  and  through  Statistics  Explained 
articles.  Key  variables  are  also  communicated  through  the  Eurostat  news  releases  on  GDP, 
employment,  household  saving  rate,  the  business  investment  rate  as  well  as  seasonally 
adjusted  government  deficit, 
taxes  and  social  contributions  and  general  government 
expenditure by function (COFOG). Information from national and regional accounts  as well as 
government finance statistics are also included in Eurostat’s yearbook and regional yearbook. In 
2016, all information was published on time. 

Eurostat  implements  a  policy  of  free  dissemination  thus  allowing  the  widest  possible  user 
access. 

7.2. ESA 2010 metadata 

To  make  data  easily  interpretable,  Eurostat  maintains  a  rich  depository  of  generic  metadata 
called RAMON, as well as metadata by ESA 2010 domain: 

-  Main aggregates (annual and quarterly); 

-  Government finance statistics -  

-  Government revenue, expenditure and main aggregates, 

-  General government expenditure by function (COFOG) , 

-  Main national accounts tax aggregates, 

-  Quarterly non-financial accounts for general government, 

-  Annual and quarterly financial accounts for general government, 

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Accessibility and clarity 

7 

-  Quarterly government debt, 

-  Non-financial sector accounts, 

-  Annual financial sector accounts, 

-  Supply, use and input-output tables, 

-  Regional accounts. 

7.3. Inventories 

In  addition  to  regular  metadata,  Member  States  also  describe  their  compilation  work  in 
dedicated  technical  documentation.  Some  of  it  is  produced  for  the  needs  of  GNI  for  own 
resources  or  EDP  verification  processes.  This  documentation  is  fully  or  partially  accessible 
through the Eurostat’s website. 

7.3.1. 

Mandatory inventories 

GROSS NATIONAL INCOME (GNI) 

Article 3 of the GNI Regulation requires Member States to provide Eurostat with an up-to-date 
inventory of the sources and methods used to calculate GNI and its components according to 
ESA (the GNI Inventories). These inventories are one of the main instruments enabling Eurostat 
to  assess  the  comparability,  reliability  and  exhaustiveness  of  Member  States’  GNI  data.  The 
inventories also include process tables showing all stages of the national accounts compilation 
process, from the statistical sources to the published national accounts data. 

Eurostat  checks  the  GNI  inventories  and  process  tables  using  a  GNI  Inventory  Assessment 
Questionnaire approved by the GNI Committee. The purpose of the questionnaire is to ensure a 
systematic, consistent and fair approach to the assessment of the quality of GNI data. 

All  EU  Member  States  submitted  their  GNI  inventories  to  Eurostat.  The  GNI  inventories  of  10 
countries are entirely available, while 18 countries allowed for the publication of only Chapter 1 
of their inventories (see Table 9). These are available on the CIRCABC website “Monitoring GNI 
for own resource purposes”. 

QUARTERLY FINANCIAL ACCOUNTS FOR GENERAL GOVERNMENT (QFAGG) 
AND NATIONAL TAX LISTS 

Under  Annex  B  of  Regulation  (EU)  No  549/2013,  all  European  Economic  Area  countries 
(subject  to  derogations)  must  regularly  submit  to  Eurostat  metadata  on  major  events  and 
revisions  for  QFAGG.  Data  sources  and  compilation  methods  are  described  in  the  updated 
QFAGG manual. For  taxes and  social contributions, the transmission programme provides for 
the transmission of ‘National Tax Lists’. 

EXCESSIVE DEFICIT PROCEDURE (EDP) 

EDP statistics are reported to and verified by Eurostat under the legal provisions of Article 126 
of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union and Protocol 12 and Regulation (EC) 
No  479/2009,  as  amended  by  Regulation  (EU)  No  220/2014.  In  this  legal  context,  Eurostat 
regularly and systematically reports to the Council (Economic and Financial Committee) and the 
European Parliament. 

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Table 9: Availability of mandatory and voluntary inventories on the Eurostat website and/or 
CIRCABC public website, as of 31 September 2017. 

Mandatory inventories 

Voluntary inventories 

GNI 

EDP 

QFAGG 

chapter 1 

Entire 
document6 
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BE 

BG 

CZ 

DK 

DE 

EE 

IE 

EL 

ES 

FR 

HR 

IT 

CY 

LV 

LT 

LU 

HU 

MT 

NL 

AT 

PL 

PT 

RO 

SI 

SK 

FI 

SE 

UK 

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National 
Tax Lists 

QNA 

✓ 
✓ 
✓ 
✓ 
✓ 
✓ 
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6 Only the publication of Chapter 1 of the GNI inventory is mandatory. 

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The  availability  of  detailed  and  comprehensive  EDP  inventories  is  of  vital  importance  for  the 
quality assessment of EDP and  government finance statistics data. Under Article  9 of Council 
Regulation  No  479/2009,  as  amended,  the  new  ESA  2010-based  EDP  inventory  of  the 
methods,  procedures  and  sources  used  to  compile  actual  deficit  and  debt  data  and  the 
underlying government  accounts  was  adopted  in  2014.  All  EU Member  States are  required to 
complete this EDP inventory. The inventories are publicly available on the Eurostat website. 

7.3.2. 

Voluntary inventories 

To  provide  comprehensive  information  on  sources  and  methods  used  in  the  compilation  of 
national accounts data, Eurostat helps countries compile quarterly national accounts inventories 
as well as annual and quarterly sector account inventories. The compilation and publication of 
these inventories is voluntary. 

QUARTERLY NATIONAL ACCOUNTS (QNA) 

Quarterly  national  accounts  inventories  are  a  useful  source  of  information  for  assessing  the 
quality  of  QNA  data.  The  methodology  descriptions  provided  by  reporting  countries  include 
references  to  relevant  manuals,  handbooks  or  guidelines  such  as  the  updated  Eurostat  QNA 
handbook, the handbook on price and volume measures or the seasonal adjustment guidelines. 
National Statistical Institutes indicate if they are in line with these handbooks/guidelines and/or 
provide  explanations  for  the  use  of  different  approaches.  QNA  inventories  follow  a  predefined 
structure and provide the following information: 

- 

- 

- 

overview  of  the  system  of  quarterly  national  accounts,  including  methods  used  for 
estimating volumes and seasonally adjusted figures, 

publication timetable, revisions policy and dissemination of QNA, 

overall QNA compilation approach, 

-  GDP components: the production approach, 

-  GDP components: the expenditure approach, 

-  GDP components: the income approach, 

- 

- 

population and employment, 

flash estimates, 

-  main data sources used. 

Seven  EU  Member  States  submitted  QNA  inventories  to  Eurostat  (see  Table  9);  these  are 
publicly available on the Eurostat website. 

ANNUAL AND QUARTERLY SECTOR ACCOUNTS (ASA / QSA) 

Annual  sector  account  inventories  aim  to  provide  a  comprehensive  overview  of  national 
compilation procedures used for annual non-financial accounts by institutional sector, according 
to  the  ESA  2010.  ASA  inventories  follow  a  standard  structure  and  include  the  following 
information: 

- 

- 

- 

- 

- 

organisation of annual sector account production, 

consistency with related data sets, 

data sources, 

compilation methods, 

detailed view by transaction and sector. 

This information is also important for understanding quarterly sector accounts production since 

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7 

most  comprehensive  data  sources  are  collected  annually,  hence  the  compilation  of  quarterly 
accounts relies on annual benchmarks whenever quarterly data are not available. 

Five EU Member States submitted their ASA inventories for publication on the Eurostat website 
and three submitted their QSA inventories. Only one EU Member State (Finland) submitted both 
inventories. 

CLASSIFICATION OF THE FUNCTIONS OF GOVERNMENT (COFOG) AND 
QUARTERLY NON-FINANCIAL ACCOUNTS FOR GENERAL GOVERNMENT 

Eurostat  is  in  the  process  of  collecting  updates  on  the  methods  and  sources  used  for  the 
compilation of COFOG and quarterly non-financial accounts for general government data. Once 
information  for  all  countries  is  available,  the  current  manuals  based  on  the  ESA95  will  be 
replaced. 

7.4. International data sharing 

Eurostat is an active member of the statistical inter-agency cooperation project on international 
data  sharing.  Since  2015,  thanks  to  the  G-20  Data  Gaps  Initiative,  GDP  and  other  related 
indicators  are  identical  across  the  respective  databases  of  several  international  organisations 
(Bank  for  International  Settlements,  the  European  Central  Bank,  Eurostat,  the  International 
Monetary  Fund,  the  Organisation  for  Economic  Cooperation  and  Development,  the  United 
Nations  and  the  World  Bank).  Eurostat  is  both  a  data  sender  and  a  data  receiver.  It  is 
responsible  for  the  validation  and  subsequent  sharing  of  the  data  of  EU  Member  States,  EU 
enlargement countries, EFTA countries and Switzerland. Eurostat receives data from the OECD 
for OECD members, key partners and accession countries not belonging to the country group 
above, and from the IMF for a selected range of non-OECD countries such as some of the EU’s 
main trading partners. These data are disseminated via Eurostat tables, enabling users to find 
available key macro-economic data for all countries in one single place. For GFS, Eurostat has 
long-standing data sharing arrangements in place with the OECD, ECB and IMF (in line with the 
GFS Manual 2014). 

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8.  Comparability 

Comparability is the measurement of the impact of differences in applied statistical 
concepts, measurement tools and procedures applied, when statistics are compared 
between geographical areas, sectoral domains or over time. 

8.1. Methodological soundness 

The ESA 2010 provides a harmonised methodological framework for the compilation of national 
and regional accounts throughout the EU, just as the SNA 2008 does across the world. 

Eurostat  ensures  the  methodological  soundness  of  national  accounts  data  submitted  by  EU 
Member  States  through  its  validation  process.  It  monitors  the  application  of  accounting  rules 
defined in the ESA 2010 Regulation 549/2013. 

In addition, methodological soundness is monitored through two verification cycles: 

-  Gross National Income (GNI) for the EU own resources, 

-  Excessive Deficit Procedure (EDP). 

These two verification procedures have their own legal basis (see GNI, EDP). 

When methodological improvements resulting from the GNI and EDP processes are introduced, 
Eurostat assesses whether they are applied to all sets of concerned accounts; it does so during 
the ESA 2010 data validation process. 

8.1.1. 

Validation process for national accounts 

The validation process for national accounts data follows the rules defined by the task force on 
data  validation  in  its  main  deliverable  —  the  ESA  2010  Validation  Handbook.  Some  of  the 
validation checks included in the handbook have already been added to the regular validation 
process  for  data  submitted  to  Eurostat,  while  others  are  in  the  design  and  implementation 
phases.  Chapter  4  of  the  handbook  provides  an  overview  of  all  the  checks  carried  out  by  the 
validation  task  force  across  the  ESA  2010  Transmission  Programme  areas  and  the  status  of 
these checks in terms of implementation progress. 

The task force on data validation was created in 2014 in order to address frequent errors in the 
transmission  process.  It  followed  guidance  issued  by  the  ESS  Vision  Infrastructure  Project  on 
Validation when reviewing and developing data validation rules for a pre-validation tool. Its main 
deliverables  and  detailed  structural  and  methodological  discussions  are  described  in  the  ESA 

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2010 Validation Handbook. The task force created the handbook as a living document that will 
be  updated  as  each  domain  conducts  regular  reviews  in  their  expert  specific  task  forces  and 
working groups. 

The  handbook  provides  a  detailed  description  of  the  validation  rules  discussed  and  agreed  in 
the  task  force  for  most  domains,  as  a  blueprint  for  the  validation  service.  Based  on  the  ESS 
Vision  Infrastructure  Project’s  suggested  structure  for  an  efficient  validation  process,  checks 
were split into five main groups: 

1.  Structural  checks  focusing  on compliance  with  the  statistical  data  and  metadata 

exchange standard (SDMX). 

2.  Basic logic checks, which cover consistency between the sender ID and reference area 
country,  ensuring  that  a  table  ID  was  present,  correct  use  of  flags  in  the  observation 
status  to  accompany  missing  values,  embargo  dates  and  correct  coding  of  the 
confidentiality  status,  and  a  valid  reference  year  price  for  the  chain-linked  volume 
series. 

3.  Basic  content  checks  which  identify  missing  or  unexpected  series  in  the  transmission 
along  with  holes  in  the  series.  This  group  also  includes  checks  for  zero  and  negative 
values.   

4.  General  plausibility  and  consistency  checks  focusing  on  content  within  the  file.  These 
include checking for additivity of breakdowns, outliers and consistency between prices.   

5.  Advanced  plausibility  and  consistency  checks  focusing  on  content  within  the  file  with 
information  stored  outside  the  file.  Examples  of  these  checks  include  revisions 
compared  to  a  previous  transmission,  the  sum  of  quarterly  series  compared  to  the 
annual  transmission,  and  consistency  in  the  value  of  the  series  submitted  across 
different tables in the ESA 2010 Transmission Programme. 

8.1.2. 

Statistical cooperation and harmonisation 

Cooperation  and  harmonisation  of  national  and  regional  accounts  in  the  ESS  are  coordinated 
through the National Accounts Working Group and the EDP Working Group under the guidance 
of Directors of Macroeconomic Statistics meetings. These groups prepared many manuals and 
guidance papers on a broad range of subjects before the ESA 2010 was introduced, including in 
cooperation with international partners.  This work is ongoing. 

In  2016,  the  EU  Member  States,  EFTA  countries,  Switzerland  and  Eurostat  finalised  the 
preparatory  work  on  quality  reporting  and  assessment,  which  led  to  the  production  of  this 
assessment report. Significant resources were dedicated to following up on the ESA 2010 data 
availability  and  derogations.  Attention  was  also  focused  on  the  further  availability  and 
harmonisation  of  metadata.  Together  with  the  CMFB  and  the  ECB,  the  revision  policy  was 
reviewed  and  adapted  as  concerns  benchmark  and  routine  revisions.  To  further  address  user 
needs, key institutional users expressed their data requests. 

the 
terms  of  specific  measurement  subjects,  recommendations  were  provided  on 
In 
implementation  of  the  principle  of  economic  ownership  and  the  recording  of  foreign  direct 
investment under the ESA 2010. Challenges of measuring the digital economy were discussed 
as  well.  A  task  force  concluded  its  work  by  proposing  updates  on  goods  for  reprocessing, 
merchandising,  gambling,  telecommunications,  trade  margins  and  ships  and  aircraft  in  the 
Handbook on Price and Volume Measures and by researching the issue of quality adjustments 
for  non-market  services.  Another  task  force,  jointly  run  with  the  OECD,  continued  its  work  on 
studying  the  balance  sheet  item  ‘Inventories’.  In  cooperation  with  the  Commission’s  Joint 
Research Centre, exploratory projects for compiling new data focused on productivity indicators 
and inter-country supply, use and input-output tables. A horizontal project was set up to address 
measurement challenges related to global production and integrated global accounts. 

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8.1.3. 

Gross national income (GNI) 

GNI  at  market  prices  is  the  main  indicator  on  the  basis  of  which  the  EU  determines  Member 
States’  financing  of  its  expenditure.  The  GNI  concept  stems  from  the  ESA  definitions.  As 
defined by the current GNI regulation (Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1287/2003), GNI 
equals  the  gross  domestic  product  (GDP)  minus  primary  income  payable  by  resident  units  to 
non-resident units plus primary income receivable by resident units from the rest of the world. 
The  specific  rules  for  GNI  quality  assurance  put  the  focus  on  the  comparability,  reliability  and 
exhaustiveness  of  GNI  data,  including  on  the  use  of  harmonised  definitions  and  accounting 
rules  as  well  as  appropriate  sources  and  compilation  methods.  The  Commission  (Eurostat) 
verifies the sources and methods used by Member States to calculate GNI and takes measures 
aimed at improving their quality, with the assistance of a dedicated committee. The verification 
process for GNI is a stricter procedure compared to the one for national accounts. 

Based on the GNI inventories presented by Member States at the beginning of 2016, Eurostat 
examines  the  implementation  of  the  ESA  2010  methodology  relevant  to  the  GNI  calculation 
individually  by  country.  Core  elements  of  the  verification  include  the  information  visits  to  the 
countries, action points for improvements and, when needed, formal reservations on the quality 
of GNI data. 

Under the GNI verification process, the following cross-country comparisons are ongoing: 

- 

- 

- 

- 

- 

- 

- 

exhaustiveness  (absence  and  misreporting,  statistical  deficiencies,  VAT  fraud,  use  of 
tax audit information, Illegal activities), 

balancing of GDP, 

dwelling services, 

financial services, including financial intermediation services indirectly measured, 

global  production,  balance  of  payments  (exports  and  imports  of  goods  and  services, 
cross-border  flows  of  income  of  labour,  cross-border  flows  of  property  income,  taxes 
and subsidies to/from the EU, special purpose entities, global production and relocation 
of multinational enterprises), 

changes between the ESA 95 and ESA 2010, 

research and development, 

-  weapon systems. 

The GNI Committee composed of representatives of Member States examines data supplied in 
reply  to  the  GNI  questionnaire,  GNI  quality  reports  and  other  reports  and  analyses.  This 
examination takes into account the following: 

- 

- 

- 

- 

the results of work to improve GNI data (including GDP) carried out in previous years, 

the reliability of the sources and methods used to calculate GNI, 

the  comparability  of  GNI data  through the  use  of  the  same definitions  and accounting 
rules, and 

the exhaustiveness of GNI estimates. 

Based  on  this  examination,  at  its  most  recent  meeting  in November 2017  the  GNI Committee 
observed that considerable improvements have been made in the harmonisation and quality of 
the  GNI  estimates of  the EU-27  Member  States.  It  considered  that,  taking  due  account  of the 
GNI  reservations set  for  the  EU-27  between  January  2012  and  October  2017,  these  data  are 
appropriate  for  use  for  own  resource  purposes  with  respect  to  reliability,  comparability  and 
exhaustiveness  in  accordance  with  Article  5(2)b  of  the  GNI  Regulation.  However,  the  GNI 
Committee also underlined that the improvement of GNI calculations and of national accounts, 
in  general,  is  a  continuous  process.  It  stressed  that  research  and  studies  should  be  taken 

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8 

further  and  that  work  should  be  pursued  with  an  appropriate  level  of  resources.  The  GNI 
Committee’s opinion on Croatia’s GNI data is an integral part of this general opinion. 

All  compilers  of  ESA  2010  data  closely  follow  methodological  improvements aimed at  GNI  for 
own resources. Such improvements are then applied to relevant ESA 2010 tables. 

8.1.4. 

Excessive deficit procedure (EDP) and 

government finance statistics 

Government finance statistics play a key role in the EU’s economic monitoring. They include in 
particular data on government debt and deficit, reported under the excessive deficit procedure 
(EDP).  On  behalf  of  the  Commission,  Eurostat  is  responsible  for  assessing  the  quality  of  the 
EDP  statistics  submitted  by  Member  States  and  for  providing  the  statistics  to  be  used  for  the 
EDP  (see  also  other  legal  basis).  It  is  solely  responsible  for  the  interpretation  of  the 
methodology  underlying  these statistics.  This  methodology  is  based  on  the  ESA  2010  and  on 
Eurostat’s  Manual  of  Government  Deficit  and  Debt,  as  well  as  Eurostat’s  decisions  and 
guidance  notes.  It  has  been  developed  based  on  a  broad  consensus  of  the  EU  statistical 
community. 

In  the  fields  of  EDP  and  government  finance  statistics  (GFS),  Eurostat’s  mission  is  to  be  the 
guardian of Member States’ implementation of the ESA and to develop, when necessary, sound 
interpretations of the ESA rules based on advice from the EU statistical community. In carrying 
out this responsibility, Eurostat respects the principles of equal treatment of Member States and 
of  the  Code  of  Practice  for  European  Statistics,  in  particular  professional  independence, 
objectivity and impartiality. It maintains a continuous dialogue with all relevant institutions in the 
Member  States,  and  provides  in  particular  bilateral  advice  for  specific  past  and  future 
transactions. 

In  its  assessment  of  the  quality  of  EDP  statistics  submitted  by  Member  States,  Eurostat  is 
committed to verifying: 

- 

- 

- 

- 

- 

- 

- 

national reporting authorities’ compliance with ESA accounting rules; 

the exhaustiveness of the coverage of the general government sector, in particular by 
means of a register of government-controlled entities; 

the quality of Member States’ ‘EDP Inventories of Methods, Procedures and Sources’; 

the reliability, timeliness and consistency of statistical data; 

the  consistency,  sustainability,  transparency,  documentation  and  control  of  the  EDP 
compilation processes within national statistical authorities; 

the conformity of these processes with the European Statistics Code of Practice; and 

the degree of assurance provided by internal controls and external audits by supreme 
audit institutions or other external audit bodies of the quality of public accounts used as 
inputs to the EDP compilation processes. 

Eurostat reports on EDP data in the context of its regular and exhaustive reports to the Council 
(Economic and Financial Committee) and European Parliament. 

In the field of GFS data reported in the ESA 2010 Transmission Programme, Eurostat, in close 
cooperation  with  Member  States,  ensures  the  consistency  of  data  within  the  dataset, 
consistency  with  other  GFS  data,  and  consistency  with  EDP  data.  In  the  context  of  regular 
transmission reports7, Member States and Eurostat ensure data coherence and accuracy. 

7 Covering completeness, coherence, basis and advance plausibility checks, revisions, growth rates, unexpected 
amounts, etc. and providing for Member States’ explanations. 

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60 

 
 
 
                                                           
Comparability 

8 

Results, including on data comparability (methodological interpretation), are reported in the GFS 
and  COFOG  task  forces  in  the  context  of  progress  reports  as  well  as  ad-hoc  studies  and 
discussions.  These  task  forces  routinely  report  their  findings  to  the  working  group  on  EDP 
statistics for validation. 

8.2. Comparability over time 

The  availability  of  consistent  historical  data  on  national  and  regional  accounts  is  essential  for 
the  needs  of  economic  analysis.  Depending  on  the ESA  2010  dataset,  countries  provide  time 
series back to reference years 2000 and even 1995. Quality reporting on breaks in time series 
of  submitted  data  will  be  introduced  in  2021.  This  report  comments  only  on  the  availability  of 
data for the last 10 years in the context of the MIP. 

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61 

 
 
 
 
 
 
Coherence 

9 

9.  Coherence  

Coherence is the capacity of the data to be reliably combined in different ways and for 
various uses. 
It focuses on the joint use of statistics that are produced for different primary purposes 
to show cases of incoherence rather than to prove coherence. 

Coherence  is  a  key  quality  criterion  to  assess  the  national  and  regional  accounts  data.  This 
year’s  edition  of  quality  reporting  assesses  it  with  the  help  of  three  quality  indicators,  as 
presented  below.  The  full  scope  of  nine  coherence  indicators  will  be  employed  in  the 
assessments carried out in 2019 and 2021. 

The  evaluation  of  consistency  within  this  quality  report  is  based  on  the  following  coherence 
indicators: 

- 
- 
- 

coherence between quarterly and annual data, 
coherence between totals and sum of components, 
coherence of identical variables across national accounts main aggregates tables. 

9.1. Coherence between quarterly and 

annual data 

When quarterly and annual data are submitted to Eurostat, it is important to ensure that these 
figures are consistent with annual data. Small differences may be tolerated, but not major ones. 

Consistency between annual data and the sum of the data for the four individual quarters was 
analysed  for  certain  key  EU  aggregates  in  the  context  of  the  2017  quality  reporting  exercise. 
The  analysis  covered  differences  identified  between  annual  data  and  the  sum  of  the  four-
quarter data in 2011-2015 for GDP (current prices, non-seasonally adjusted), total employment 
(in  thousands  of  persons,  non-seasonally  adjusted),  gross  operating  surplus,  gross  mixed 
income and gross disposable income. 

In  the  analysed  period  of 2011-2015,  for  national  accounts  main  aggregates,  only  very  few 
countries  (Cyprus,  Finland,  Romania)  showed  inconsistencies  between  annual  and  quarterly 
data. These exceeded 0.5 % for some years and possibly reflected vintage effects. 

For  non-financial  sector  accounts,  the  exercise  is  valid  only  for  countries  which  have 
complete  reporting  obligations  at  quarterly  level,  and  for  Croatia  and  Slovenia.  Consistency 
between  quarterly  and  annual  data  in  2011-2015  was  very  good  for  all  21  countries  involved, 
with  some  discrepancies  observed  only  for  Romania  (corrected  in  April  2017)  and  very  minor 
discrepancies observed for Greece and Finland. 

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Coherence 

9 

9.2. Coherence between totals and sum of 

components 

When data submitted to Eurostat can be broken down by activity (i.e. NACE Rev. 2 divisions), it 
is important to ensure that the figures add up and are consistent in terms of expected additivity 
rules (except in cases where additivity does not apply like the case of chain-linked volumes). 

The consistency checks performed in the context of the 2017 quality reporting exercise covered: 

- 

- 

- 

- 

gross  domestic  product  in  current  prices,  non-seasonally  adjusted,  total  and  sum  of 
expenditure components (quarterly and annual data), Table 1, 

gross  value  added,  current  prices,  total  and  NACE  Rev.  2(2),  level  A*10  breakdowns 
(quarterly and annual data), Table 1, 

total  employment  in  thousands  of  persons,  non-seasonally  adjusted,  total  and  sum  of 
employees and self- employed (quarterly and annual data), Table 1, 

total employment, in thousands of persons, total and sum of NACE Rev. 2, level A*10 
breakdowns (annual data), Table 1. 

In  the  analysed  period  of  2011-2015  and  for  the  latest  four  quarters,  the  overall  results  of 
consistency  checks  between  totals  and  sums  of  components  were  good.  Small  differences 
between the totals and sums of components for GVA, GDP and employment were only noted 
for a few countries (Denmark, Croatia and Slovakia) and remained below 0.5 %. 

9.3. Coherence of identical variables across 
national accounts main aggregates tables 

National  accounts  data  for  some  key  variables  are  sent  in  different  tables  of  the  ESA  2010 
Transmission Programme. This is the case for example for: GVA, compensation of employees, 
and employment which are sent in Tables 1 and 3; GDP is sent in Tables 1 and 8; gross fixed 
capital formation data is included in Tables 1, 3 and 22. 

Theoretically,  these  data  should  be  the  same  across  tables.  However,  for  practical  reasons, 
they  may  differ  for  some  tables  and  countries.  While  differences  due  to  different  vintages  are 
usually  limited,  there  are  also  cases  where  significant  revisions  are  introduced,  notably  in  the 
context of the EDP or GNI verification process. Until these can be incorporated into the full set 
of national accounts more substantial differences can be observed across tables. 

In  the  context  of  the  2017  quality  reporting  exercise,  the  average  and  absolute  maximum 
difference for the following variables were analysed: 

-  GDP in current prices for quarterly and annual data within Table 1 (GDP according to 

production, expenditure and income approach), 

- 

- 

- 

- 

gross value added in current prices for annual data between Tables 1 and 3, 

compensation of employees in current prices for annual data between Tables 1 and 3, 

gross fixed capital formation in current prices for annual data between Tables 1 and 3 
and Tables 1 and 22, 

exports  of  goods  and  services  in  current  prices  for  quarterly  and  annual  data  within 
Table  1  (taken  from  expenditure  components  of  gross  domestic  product  and  from  the 
detailed exports breakdown), 

- 

imports  of  goods  and  services  in  current  prices  for  quarterly  and  annual  data  within 

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63 

 
 
Coherence 

9 

Table  1  (taken  from  expenditure  components  of  gross  domestic  product  and  from  the 
detailed imports breakdown), 

- 

total  employment,  employees  and  self-employed  for  annual  data  in  thousands  of 
persons between Tables 1 and 3. 

In  the  analysed  period  of  2011-2015,  data  were  in  general  coherent  for  both  annual  and 
quarterly frequencies. A few more substantial differences were noticed between Tables T102A-
T2200A,  T102A-T302A  for  Germany,  the  Netherlands  and  the  United  Kingdom  as  well  as 
Tables  T102A-T120A  and  T102A-T121A  for  Poland  for  annual  data  and  France  for  quarterly 
data. 

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64 

 
 
 
 
 
Overall quality assessment and recommendations 

11 

10.  Cost and burden 

Cost and burden is the cost associated with the collection and production of a 
statistical product and burden on respondents. 

Two  cost  exercises  are  currently  carried  out  in  the  ESS,  as  decided  by  the  ESS  Resource 
Directors Group. These exercises assess the cost of the statistical processes at national level 
and in Eurostat as well as statistical products provided by Eurostat. 

The  first  phase  of  the  cost  analysis  of  European  statistics  collected  the  cost  and  full  time 
equivalent (FTE) information on a selected 26 statistical products. 23 Member States submitted 
2015 cost estimates to Eurostat. 

Six statistical products of the national accounts domains were covered: 

1. 

2. 

3. 

4. 

5. 

6. 

Annual national accounts, 

Quarterly national accounts, 

Regional accounts, 

Annual sector accounts — non-financial flows and stocks, 

Annual sector accounts — financial flows and stocks, 

Quarterly sector accounts. 

While total costs of producing these six products in the respondent countries showed average 
costs  of  around  3.1  million  euro/year/country,  in  terms  of  human  resources  on  average  42.3 
FTEs/year were involved in the production of the assessed national accounts domains. This is 
preliminary  information  compiled  only  based  on  the  cost  estimates  of  23  National  Statistical 
Institutes and does not cover other institutions compiling national accounts data. 

There  is  no  ongoing  work  to  assess  the  administrative  burden  of  the  ESA  2010.  National 
accounts  use  various  existing  data  sources  (administrative  data,  primary  statistical  data). 
Primary  data  originate  from  other  statistical  domains  and  are  reused  for  the  needs  of  the 
national and regional accounts. 

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65 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Annex 

12 

11.  Overall quality 

assessment results and 
recommendations 

This  chapter  summarises  the  results  of  the  quality  assessment  of  data  submitted  by  Member 
States  to  Eurostat  in  2016.  Such  an  assessment  is  carried  out  for  the  first  time  since  the 
introduction of the ESA 2010 in September 2014. It has a limited scope adjusted to the ongoing 
process  of  adapting  national  statistical  systems  to  the  new  requirements  of  the  ESA  2010  by 
2020. 

The data sent in 2016 were broadly in line with quality standards of the ESS and the ESA 2010 
Regulation.  Many  Member  States  have  been  able  to  comply  with  the  new  data  requirements 
and methodology, while the process of adapting national data compilation systems will continue 
until 2020. Based on the quality criteria used in the assessment, the overall results are detailed 
below. 

Relevance 

National and regional accounts data are highly relevant to users as demonstrated by the latest 
user satisfaction survey of Eurostat.  

In 2016, both quarterly and annual national accounts mandatory data had high completeness.  

The  average  completeness  rate  for  national  account  main  aggregates  (NAMA),  government 
finance  statistics  (GFS),  non-financial  sector  accounts  (NFSA)  and  financial  accounts  was 
between  95 %  and  100 %;  for  supply,  use  and  input-output  tables  (SUIOT)  and  regional 
accounts it was between 88 % and 97 %. 

The  average  completeness  rate  of  quarterly  data  ranged  from  94.7 %  for  NFSA  to  99.8 %  for 
GFS. The completeness of annual data was also high, ranging from 87.9 % for annual supply 
use tables to 99.8 % for annual main aggregates of GFS. 

For  quarterly  tables,  22  EU  Member  States  submitted  all  or  nearly  all  required  data  (above 
95 %),  while  seven  countries  achieved  a  full  completeness  rate.  In  terms  of  annual  data,  22 
countries  submitted  all  or  nearly  all  mandatory  data  (completeness  rate  above  95 %).  Eight 
countries, including six EU Member  States, submitted 15 or  more incomplete annual tables in 
2016. 

Eurostat finds it important to acknowledge the effort made by all countries to submit additional 
data on a voluntary basis for the benefit of users. 

Accuracy 

The  analysis  of  revision  rates  for  GDP  and  employment  flash  estimates  for  European 
aggregates showed that the accuracy of estimates in the analysed period was high. 

Under  the  Implementing  Act,  the  detailed  analysis  of  revision  rates  for  data  submitted  by 
Member  States  will  be  incorporated  into  quality  reporting  as  from  2019.  In  this  first  quality 
report, the assessment of accuracy is based on the qualitative information on revisions provided 
by the reporting countries. 

In  2016,  10  EU  Member  States  and  Iceland  performed  either  major  ad-hoc  or  benchmark 

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66 

 
 
 
 
 
Annex 

12 

revisions of their national accounts data. These revisions aimed to improve the quality of data 
and were mainly related to the further implementation of statistical standards, GNI reservations 
or resulting from revisions of related statistics e.g. balance of payments or structural business 
statistics. 

Most EU Member States as well as the two EFTA countries make information on their national 
revision policies available online. 

The  content  of  available  information  on  national  revisions  varies  substantially  among  the 
countries  for  which  the  information  is  publicly  available.  Demonstrating  good  practice,  11  EU 
Member  States  provide  users  with  information  on  specific  data  revisions  by  national  accounts 
domain.  Nearly  all  countries  publish  information  on  the  national  revision  policy  for  quarterly 
national  accounts.  On  the  contrary,  information  on  revisions  for  financial  accounts,  regional 
accounts and supply use input output tables is missing on most national websites. 

Timeliness and punctuality 

Thanks  to  the  data  submitted  by  EU  Member  States,  the  timeliness  of  European  aggregates 
significantly improved:  the preliminary GDP flash estimates were published 15 days earlier and 
the euro area quarterly sector accounts 18 days earlier. 

Overall,  the  punctuality  of  transmission  of  quarterly  national  accounts  was  relatively  high  in 
2016, while the punctuality of transmission of annual data was rather low. 

16 EU Member submitted all mandatory quarterly accounts at or before the legal deadline. For 
annual data, only eight countries submitted all required annual national and regional accounts 
tables on time. Six EU Member States submitted 10 or more tables after the legal deadline. 

Accessibility and clarity 

All EU Member States and EFTA countries publish online documentation on national accounts 
methodology and compilation methods. However, the content of the available information varies 
substantially across countries and could be enriched where appropriate. A comprehensive set 
of documentation is accessible online for around half of EU Member States. 

Coherence 

The  analysis  of  coherence  in  the  context  of  this  quality  report  is  limited  as  only  the  internal 
coherence of certain main aggregates tables was subject to detailed analysis in 2017. The full 
scope of nine coherence indicators will be employed in the assessments carried out in 2019 and 
2021. 

Overall internal coherence within (Table 1) and between Tables (1 and 3, 1 and 22) was very 
high for nearly all countries in 2016. Small discrepancies noted for a few countries were mainly 
caused by rounding practices. 

Based on the quality assessment, Eurostat makes the following general recommendations to 
countries: 

  Continue  to  adapt  national  statistical  systems  to  achieve  full  implementation  of  ESA 

2010. 

  Ensure full data completeness of mandatory data in order to comply with the ESA 2010 

Regulation. 

  Respect  the  transmission  deadlines  set  out  in  the  ESA  2010  Regulation  and  address 

the overall delayed delivery of annual data. 

  Make  specific  information  on  implemented  major  revisions  by  ESA  2010  table  or 

domain available to users on national websites. 

  Enrich  the  online  documentation  on  methodology,  including  metadata,  available  on 

national websites to better inform users. 

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67 

 
 
 
Annex 

12 

  When  sending  data,  use  the  structural  validation  service  established  by  Eurostat  to 

ensure compliance with the SDMX standard. 

In addition, based on national quality reports and analysis of submitted data, Eurostat provided 
country-specific recommendations bilaterally. These are summarised in Table 10. 

Table 10: Country-specific recommendations 

Recommendation 

Country 

Improve compliance in terms of completeness of certain 
tables (countries in bold to address major gaps) 

BG, CY, CZ, EE, EL, ES, FI, FR, HR, 
HU, IE, LT, LU, LV, MT, PL, PT, RO, SE, 
UK 

Develop and publish information on the national 
revision policy 

IS, NO 

HR, IE, LU 

CH  

Foster efforts towards alignment of the national revision 
policy to the harmonised European revision policy 
endorsed by the CMFB 

BE, DK, FI, FR, HR, HU, IE, LT, LU, MT, 
NL, SE, SI, UK 

Improve compliance in terms of punctuality of certain 
tables (countries in bold to address major gaps) 

BG, CZ, EL, ES, FR, HR, IE, LT, LU, LV, 
MT, PL, RO 

Widen the scope of the methodological documentation 
available online 

BG, CY, EL, HR, LV, MT, PT, RO 

CH, NO 

CH 

Implement the identified improvement actions on the 
ESA 2010 methodology 

All countries for which the actions have 
been identified in the GNI context (as of 
September 2017): BE, BG, AT, CY, CZ, 
DE, EE, EL, FR, HR, HU, IE, LT, LU, LV, 
MT, NL, PL, PT, RO, SE, UK 

Ensure further the consistency of annual and quarterly 
financial accounts 

BG, CZ, DK, IE, LT, LV, SK 

Reduce vertical discrepancies between financial and 
non-financial sector accounts 

BG, CZ, EL, FI, HR, LT, LV, MT, PL, SE, 
SK 

Address systematic difficulties in delivering NFSA data 
to Eurostat 

For Table 27, achieve adherence with ESA 2010 
methodology and comparability with related GFS tables  

Address outstanding data transmission issues, 
including when transmitting chain-linked volume and 
previous years’ prices data in later periods 

IS 

BG, HR, LU 

IS 

EL 

IE 

Estimate the black dividends for back periods in NFSA 

RO 

Provide employment figures in persons instead of jobs 
for RA 

AT 

Submit data on previous years’ prices for Table 1 

NO 

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68 

 
 
 
 
List of figures 

12.  Annexes 

Tables included in the ESA 2010 
Transmission Programme and deadlines 
for data transmission 

Table 11: Overview of the ESA 2010 Transmission Programme tables 

Table 
No 

Subject of the tables 

Frequency 

Period covered 

Deadline t 
+ months 
(days 
where 
specified) 

T5 

T1 
T1 
T2 
T3 

Main aggregates  
Main aggregates  
Main aggregates of general government  
Tables by industry  
Household final consumption expenditure by 
purpose 
T6 
Financial accounts by sector (transactions)  
T7 
Balance sheets for financial assets and liabilities  
T8 
Non-financial accounts by sector  
T801  Non-financial accounts by sector  

Detailed tax and social contribution receipts by 
type of tax and social contribution and receiving 
subsector including the list of taxes and social 
contributions according to national classification  
Tables by industry and by region, NUTS level 2  
General government expenditure by function  
Tables by industry and by region, NUTS level 3  
Household accounts by region, NUTS level 2  
Supply table at basic prices incl. transformation 
into purchasers’ prices  
Use table at purchasers’ prices  
Symmetric input-output table at basic prices  
Cross classification of fixed assets by industry and 
by asset  
Cross classification of gross fixed capital 
formation by industry and by asset 
Balance sheets for non-financial assets  

T9 

T10 
T11 
T12 
T13 

T15 

T16 
T17 

T20 

T22 

T26 

quarterly  
annual  
annual  
annual  

2  
2/9  
3/9  
9/21  

1995Q1 onwards 
1995 onwards 
1995 onwards 
1995 onwards 

annual 

9  

1995 onwards 

annual  
annual  
annual  
quarterly  

9  
9  
9  
85 days 

1995 onwards 
1995 onwards 
1995 onwards 
1999Q1 onwards 

annual 

9  

1995 onwards 

annual  
annual  
annual  
annual  

annual  

annual  
five yearly  

annual  

annual  

annual  

12/24  
12  
24  
24  

36  

36  
36  

24  

24  

24  

2000 onwards 
1995 onwards 
2000 onwards 
2000 onwards 

2010 onwards 

2010 onwards 
2010 onwards 

2000 onwards 

1995 onwards 

1995 onwards 

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List of figures 

T27 

T28 

T29 

Financial accounts of general government  
Government debt (Maastricht debt) for general 
government  
Accrued-to-date pension entitlements in social 
insurance  

quarterly  

85 days  

1999Q1 onwards 

quarterly  

3  

2000Q1 onwards 

three yearly  

24  

2012 onwards 

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70 

 
 
 
 
 
List of figures 

List of figures 

Figure 1: User satisfaction survey — overall quality of ‘National accounts’ — 2016 as compared 
to 2015 ............................................................................................................................................... 18 

Figure 2: User satisfaction survey — overall quality of ‘Government finance statistics’ — 2016 
as compared to 2015 ........................................................................................................................ 18 

Figure 3: Number of downloads from the database containing national and regional accounts 
data in 2016 ...................................................................................................................................... 19 

Figure 4: Number of downloads of national accounts news releases in 2016. ............................ 20 

Figure 5: Completeness rate of national accounts quarterly tables reported in 2016 ................. 21 

Figure 6: Quarterly national accounts main aggregates (T1), average data availability for 
2015Q4-2016Q3 (as reported in 2016) ........................................................................................... 21 

Figure 7: Quarterly government finance statistics (T27 and T28), average data availability for 
2015Q4-2016Q3 (as reported in 2016) ........................................................................................... 22 

Figure 8: Quarterly non-financial sector accounts (T801), average data availability for 2015Q4-
2016Q3 (as reported in 2016) ........................................................................................................... 23 

Figure 9: Completeness rate of national accounts annual tables reported in 2016 ........................ 24 

Figure 10: Annual national accounts main aggregates (T1); average data availability as reported 
in 2016 ............................................................................................................................................... 24 

Figure 11: Annual tables by industry (T3) and for household final consumption expenditure by 
purpose (T5); average data availability as reported in 2016 ........................................................... 25 

Figure 12: Annual tables on cross classification of fixed assets by industry and by asset (T20), 
cross classification of gross fixed capital formation by industry and by asset (T22) and balance 
sheets for non-financial assets (T26); average data availability as reported in 2016 ..................... 25 

Figure 13: Annual main aggregates of general government (T2); average data availability as 
reported in 2016 ................................................................................................................................ 26 

Figure 14: Annual detailed tax and social contribution receipts by type of tax and social 
contribution and receiving subsector including the list of taxes and social contributions according 
to national classification (T9) and general government expenditure by function (T11); average 
data availability as reported in 2016 ................................................................................................. 26 

Figure 15: Annual non-financial sector accounts (T8); average data availability as reported in 2016
 ........................................................................................................................................................... 27 

Figure 16: Annual financial accounts by sector; transactions (T6) and balance sheets for financial 
assets and liabilities (T7); average data availability as reported in 2016 ........................................ 27 

Figure 17: Supply and use annual tables (T15 and T16), average data availability for 2010-2013 
as reported in 2016 ........................................................................................................................... 28 

Figure 18: Five-yearly use tables (T16XX), average data availability as reported in 2016 ............ 28 

Figure 19: Five-yearly input output tables (T17, 18 and 19), average data availability as reported in 
2016 ................................................................................................................................................... 28 

Figure 20: Annual regional accounts (T10, T12 and T13), average data availability as reported in 
2016 ................................................................................................................................................... 29 

Figure 21: Punctuality of quarterly national accounts main aggregates data (T1Q) for 2015Q4-
2016Q3 (as reported in 2016) ........................................................................................................... 41 

Figure 22: Punctuality of quarterly non-financial sector accounts data (T801Q) for 2015Q4-
2016Q3 (as reported in 2016) ........................................................................................................... 41 

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71 

 
 
List of figures 

Figure 23: Punctuality of annual national accounts main aggregates (T1) data submitted in 201643 

Figure 24: Punctuality of other annual national accounts main aggregates (T3, T5 and T2XX) data 
submitted in 2016 .............................................................................................................................. 43 

Figure 25: Punctuality of annual government finance statistics (T2, T9 and T11) data submitted in 
2016 ................................................................................................................................................... 44 

Figure 26: Punctuality of annual non-financial sector accounts (T8) data submitted in 2016 ........ 44 

Figure 27: Punctuality of annual financial accounts (T6 and T7) data submitted in 2016 .............. 45 

Figure 28: Punctuality of annual supply use tables (T15 and T16) submitted in 2016 ................... 45 

Figure 29: Punctuality of five-yearly use tables (T16XX) for the reference year 2010 ................... 46 

Figure 30: Punctuality of five-yearly input-output tables (T17, 18 and 19) for the reference year 
2010 ................................................................................................................................................... 46 

Figure 31: Punctuality of annual regional accounts (T10, T12 and T13) data submitted in 2016 .. 47 

Figure 32: First GDP flash estimate as submitted in 2017Q1 ......................................................... 48 

Figure 33: GDP release containing components of GDP, transmission of 2016Q4 ....................... 49 

Figure 34: Household and company accounts, transmission of 2016Q4 ....................................... 50 

Figure 35: Government finance statistics, transmission of 2016Q4 ................................................ 51 

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72 

 
 
 
 
List of tables 

List of tables 

Table 1: Availability of information on national revision policy ......................................................... 33 

Table 2: Major routine and benchmark revisions carried out in 2016 ............................................. 34 

Table 3: Revisions of quarterly GDP for the euro area aggregates (quarter-on-quarter growth 
rates); based on data published between 2014Q3 and 2016Q3 ..................................................... 36 

Table 4: Revisions of quarterly GDP for the euro area aggregates (year-on-year growth rates); 
based on data published between 2014Q3 and 2016Q3 ................................................................ 36 

Table 5: Revisions of quarterly GDP for the EU aggregates (quarter-on-quarter growth rates); 
based on data published between 2014Q3 and 2016Q3 ................................................................ 37 

Table 6: Revisions of quarterly GDP for the EU aggregates (year-on-year growth rates); based on 
data published between 2014Q3 and 2016Q3 ................................................................................ 37 

Table 7: Revisions of quarterly employment growth estimates for the EU-28 aggregate; based on 
data published between 2014Q3 and 2016Q3 ................................................................................ 38 

Table 8: Revisions of quarterly employment growth estimates for the EA-19 aggregate; based on 
data published between 2014Q3 and 2016Q3 ................................................................................ 38 

Table 9: Availability of mandatory and voluntary inventories on the Eurostat website and/or 
CIRCABC public website, as of 31 September 2017. ...................................................................... 54 

Table 10: Country-specific recommendations .................................................................................. 68 

Table 11: Overview of the ESA 2010 Transmission Programme tables ......................................... 69 

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List of acronyms 

List of acronyms 

  ASA: annual non-financial sector accounts 

  CIRCABC: a collaborative platform of the European Commission, which offers an easy 

distribution and management of documents 

  CMFB: Committee on Monetary, Financial and Balance of Payments Statistics 

  EA: Euro area 

  ECFIN: Economic and Financial Affairs Directorate General of the European Commission 

  ECB: European Central Bank 

  EDP: Excessive deficit procedure 

  EFTA: European Free Trade Association 

  ESA 2010: European System of National and Regional Accounts 2010 

  ESS: European Statistical System 

  EU: European Union 

  Eurobase: statistical data base of Eurostat 

  FIGARO: Full International and Global Accounts for Research in Input-Output Analysis 

project 

  GDP: Gross domestic product 

  GFS: Government finance statistics 

  GNI: Gross national income 

  GVA: Gross value added 

  HERP: Harmonised European Revision Policy 

 

IMF: International Monetary Fund 

  MIP: Macroeconomic Imbalance Procedure 

  NACE: Statistical Classification of Economic Activities in the European Community 

(FR: Nomenclature statistique des activités économiques dans la Communauté 
européenne) 

  NAMA: national accounts main aggregates 

  NPISH: Non-profit institutions serving households 

  NSI: National Statistical Institute 

  NUTS: Nomenclature of territorial units for statistics  

(FR: Nomenclature des Unités territoriales statistiques) 

  PEEIs: Principal European Economic Indicators 

  OECD: Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development 

  QFAGG: quarterly financial accounts for general government 

  QNA: quarterly national accounts 

  QSA: quarterly non-financial sector accounts 

Quality report on National and Regional Accounts. 2016 data. 

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List of acronyms 

  SDMX: Statistical metadata and data exchange standard 

  SGP: Stability and Growth Pact 

  SNA 2008: System of National Accounts 2008 

  SUIOT: supply and use, input-output tables 

  ULC: Unit labour cost 

Quality report on National and Regional Accounts. 2016 data. 

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