Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/1030 of 15 July 2020 laying down the technical specifications of data requirements for the topic ‘ICT usage and e-commerce’ for the reference year 2021, pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2019/2152 of the European Parliament and of the Council (Text with EEA relevance)
Date: 2020-07-15
Institutions: European Commission, Eurostat
Subjects: EU Member State, EU statistics, data collection, electronic commerce, information technology, technical specification








L_2020227EN.01001201.xml










16.7.2020   


EN


Official Journal of the European Union


L 227/12








            COMMISSION IMPLEMENTING REGULATION (EU) 2020/1030
of 15 July 2020
         
laying down the technical specifications of data requirements for the topic ‘ICT usage and e-commerce’ for the reference year 2021, pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2019/2152 of the European Parliament and of the Council
(Text with EEA relevance)


THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,

Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,


Having regard to Regulation (EU) 2019/2152 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 November 2019 on European business statistics, repealing 10 legal acts in the field of business statistics (1), and in particular Article 7(1) and Article 17(6) thereof,

Whereas:







(1)


To ensure the correct implementation of the topic ‘ICT usage and e-commerce’ listed in Annex I to Regulation (EU) 2019/2152, the Commission should specify the variables, the measurement unit, the statistical population, the classifications and breakdowns and the data transmission deadline in order to produce data on ICT usage and e-commerce which is comparable and harmonised between Member States.












(2)


Member States should provide metadata and quality reports for the national statistical business registers and all business statistics. It is therefore necessary to define the arrangements for, content of and deadlines of those reports.












(3)


The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the European Statistical System Committee,





HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:



Article 1
For the topic ‘ICT usage and e-commerce’, as referred to in Annex I to Regulation (EU) 2019/2152, Member States shall transmit the data according to the technical specifications of data requirements for the reference year 2021 in accordance with the Annex to this Regulation.


Article 2
The annual metadata report for the topic ‘ICT usage and e-commerce’, as referred to in Annex I to Regulation (EU) 2019/2152, shall be transmitted to the Commission (Eurostat) by 31 May 2021.
The annual quality report for the topic ‘ICT usage and e-commerce’, as referred to in Annex I to Regulation (EU) 2019/2152, shall be transmitted to the Commission (Eurostat) by 5 November 2021.


Article 3
This Regulation shall enter into force on the twentieth day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.




This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.
Done at Brussels, 15 July 2020.


For the Commission


The President

Ursula VON DER LEYEN
            





(1)  
            OJ L 327, 17.12.2019, p. 1.




ANNEX
Technical specifications of data requirements for the topic ‘ICT usage and e-commerce’
         







Mandatory/optional


Scope (filter)


Variable




Mandatory variables








(i)


for all enterprises:












(1)


main economic activity of the enterprise, in the previous calendar year










(2)


average number of employees and self-employed persons, in the previous calendar year










(3)


total value of turnover (excluding VAT), in the previous calendar year










(4)


number of employees and self-employed persons or percentage of the total number of employees and self-employed persons who have access to the internet for business purposes














(ii)


for enterprises with employees and self-employed persons who have access to the internet for business purposes:












(5)


internet connection: use of any type of fixed line connection










(6)


use of the following social media: social networks










(7)


use of the following social media: enterprise’s blog or microblogs










(8)


use of the following social media: multimedia content sharing websites or apps










(9)


use of the following social media: wiki based knowledge sharing tools










(10)


web sales of goods or services via the enterprises’ websites or apps (including extranets), in the previous calendar year










(11)


web sales of goods or services via e-commerce marketplace websites or apps used by several enterprises for trading goods or services, in the previous calendar year










(12)


EDI-type sales (receipt of orders placed via Electronic Data Interchange messages) of goods or services, in the previous calendar year










(13)


use of ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) software










(14)


use of a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) software to manage the collection, storing and making available information on customers to various business functions










(15)


use of a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) software to manage the analysis of information on customers for marketing purposes (such as setting prices, sales promotion, choosing distribution channels)










(16)


buying cloud computing services used over the internet










(17)


use of interconnected devices or systems that can be monitored or remotely controlled via the internet (Internet of Things)










(18)


use of Artificial Intelligence technologies performing analysis of written language (text mining)










(19)


use of Artificial Intelligence technologies converting spoken language into machine-readable format (speech recognition)










(20)


use of Artificial Intelligence technologies generating written or spoken language (natural language generation)










(21)


use of Artificial Intelligence technologies identifying objects or persons based on images (image recognition, image processing)










(22)


use of machine learning (such as deep learning) for data analysis










(23)


use of Artificial Intelligence technologies automating different workflows or assisting in decision-making (Artificial Intelligence based software robotic process automation)










(24)


use of Artificial Intelligence technologies enabling physical movement of machines via autonomous decisions based on observation of surroundings (autonomous robots, self-driving vehicles, autonomous drones)














(iii)


for enterprises using any type of fixed line internet connection:












(25)


maximum contracted download speed of the fastest fixed line internet connection in the ranges: [0 Mbit/s, < 30 Mbit/s], [30 Mbit/s, < 100 Mbit/s], [100 Mbit/s, < 500 Mbit/s], [500 Mbit/s, < 1 Gbit/s], [≥ 1 Gbit/s]














(iv)


for enterprises which had web sales, in the previous calendar year:












(26)


value of web sales of goods or services, or percentage of total turnover generated by web sales of goods and services, in the previous calendar year










(27)


percentage of value of web sales generated by web sales to private consumers (Business to Consumers: B2C), in the previous calendar year










(28)


percentage of value of web sales generated by web sales to other enterprises (Business to Business: B2B) and to public sector (Business to Government: B2G), in the previous calendar year










(29)


web sales to customers located in the own country, in the previous calendar year










(30)


web sales to customers located in other Member States, in the previous calendar year










(31)


web sales to customers located in the rest of the world, in the previous calendar year














(v)


for enterprises which had web sales of goods and services via the enterprise’s websites or apps and via e-commerce marketplace websites or apps used by several enterprises for trading goods or services, in the previous calendar year:












(32)


percentage of value of web sales of goods or services generated by sales via the enterprise’s websites or apps, in the previous calendar year










(33)


percentage of value of web sales of goods or services generated by sales via e-commerce marketplace websites or apps used by several enterprises for trading goods or services, in the previous calendar year














(vi)


for enterprises which had web sales to customers located in at least two of the following geographic areas: own country, other Member States or rest of the world, in the previous calendar year:












(34)


percentage of value of web sales generated by sales to customers located in enterprise’s own country, in the previous calendar year










(35)


percentage of value of web sales generated by sales to customers located in other Member States, in the previous calendar year










(36)


percentage of value of web sales generated by sales to customers located in the rest of the world, in the previous calendar year














(vii)


for enterprises which had web sales to other Member States, in the previous calendar year:












(37)


difficulties experienced when selling to other Member States: high costs of delivering or returning products, in the previous calendar year










(38)


difficulties experienced when selling to other Member States: difficulties related to resolving complaints and disputes, in the previous calendar year










(39)


difficulties experienced when selling to other Member States: adapting product labelling for sales to other Member States, in the previous calendar year










(40)


difficulties experienced when selling to other Member States: lack of knowledge of foreign languages for communicating with customers in other Member States, in the previous calendar year










(41)


difficulties experienced when selling to other Member States: restrictions from enterprise's business partners to sell to certain Member States, in the previous calendar year










(42)


difficulties experienced when selling to other Member States: difficulties related to the VAT system in other Member States (such as uncertainty regarding VAT treatment in different countries), in the previous calendar year














(viii)


for enterprises which had EDI-type sales, in the previous calendar year:












(43)


value of EDI-type sales of goods or services or percentage of the total turnover generated by EDI-type sales of goods or services, in the previous calendar year










(44)


sales via EDI-type messages to customers located in enterprise’s own country, in the previous calendar year










(45)


sales via EDI-type messages to customers located in other Member States, in the previous calendar year










(46)


sales via EDI-type messages to customers located in the rest of the world, in the previous calendar year














(ix)


for enterprises buying cloud computing services used over the internet:












(47)


buying e-mail as a cloud computing service










(48)


buying office software (such as word processors or spreadsheets) as a cloud computing service










(49)


buying finance or accounting software applications as a cloud computing service










(50)


buying Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software applications as cloud computing service










(51)


buying Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software applications as a cloud computing service










(52)


buying security software applications (such as antivirus program, network access control) as cloud computing service










(53)


buying hosting the enterprise’s database(s) as a cloud computing service










(54)


buying storage of files as a cloud computing service










(55)


buying computing power to run the enterprise’s own software as a cloud computing service










(56)


buying computing platform providing a hosted environment for application development, testing or deployment (such as reusable software modules, application programming interfaces (APIs)) as a cloud computing service














(x)


for enterprises using interconnected devices or systems that can be monitored or remotely controlled via the internet (Internet of Things):












(57)


for energy consumption management (such as ‘smart’-meters, -thermostats or -lamps (lights))










(58)


for premises’ security (such as ‘smart’-alarm systems, -smoke detectors, -door locks or ‐security cameras)










(59)


for production processes (such as sensors or RFID tags that are monitored/controlled via the internet and used to monitor or automate the process)










(60)


for logistics management (such as sensors monitored/controlled via the internet for tracking products or vehicles in warehouse management)










(61)


for condition-based maintenance (such as sensors monitored/controlled via the internet to monitor maintenance needs of machines or vehicles)










(62)


for customer service (such as ‘smart’ cameras or sensors monitored/controlled via the internet to monitor customers’ activities or offer them a personalised shopping experience)










(63)


for other purposes














(xi)


For enterprises using Artificial Intelligence technologies, referring specifically to mandatory variables (18) to (24), purpose of use:












(64)


for marketing or sales (such as chatbots based on natural language processing for customer support, customer profiling, price optimisation, personalised marketing offers, market analysis based on machine learning)










(65)


for production processes (such as predictive maintenance based on machine learning, tools to classify products or find defects in products based on computer vision, autonomous drones for production surveillance, security or inspection tasks, assembly works performed by autonomous robots)










(66)


for organisation of business administration processes (such as business virtual assistants based on machine learning and/or natural language processing, voice to text conversion based on speech recognition for document drafting, automated planning or scheduling based on machine learning, machine translation)










(67)


for management of enterprises (such as machine learning to analyse data and help make investment or other decisions, sales or business forecasting based on machine learning, risk assessment based on machine learning)










(68)


for logistics (such as autonomous robots for pick-and-pack solutions in warehouses, route optimisation based on machine learning, autonomous robots for parcel shipping, tracing, distribution and sorting, autonomous drones for parcel delivery)










(69)


for ICT security (such as face recognition based on computer vision for authentication of ICT users, detection and prevention of cyber-attacks based on machine learning)










(70)


for human resources management or recruiting (such as candidates pre-selection screening, automation of recruiting based on machine learning, employee profiling or performance analysis based on machine learning, chatbots based on natural language processing for recruiting or supporting human resources management)








Optional variables








(i)


for enterprises with employees and self-employed persons who have access to the internet for business purposes:












(1)


provision of portable devices that allow a mobile connection to the internet using mobile telephone networks for business purposes










(2)


having a website














(ii)


for enterprises that provide their employees and self-employed persons portable devices that allow a mobile connection to the internet using mobile telephone networks for business purposes:












(3)


number of employees and self-employed persons, or percentage of the total number of employees and self-employed persons, using a portable device provided by the enterprise that allows internet connection via mobile telephone networks for business purposes














(iii)


for enterprises having a website:












(4)


enterprise’s website has a description of goods or services, price information










(5)


enterprise’s website has online ordering or reservation or booking, such as shopping cart










(6)


enterprise’s website has a possibility for visitors to customise or design online goods or services










(7)


enterprise’s website has tracking or status of orders placed










(8)


enterprise’s website has personalised content on the website for regular/recurrent visitors










(9)


enterprise’s website has links or references to the enterprise's social media profiles














(iv)


for enterprises which had web sales via e-commerce marketplace websites or apps used by several enterprises for trading goods or services, in the previous calendar year:












(10)


number of e-commerce marketplaces via which the enterprise had web sales in the previous calendar year: one, two, more than two














(v)


for enterprises which had web sales via two or more e-commerce marketplaces, in the previous calendar year:












(11)


information if more than half of the turnover from e-commerce marketplaces came from only one e-commerce marketplace, in the previous calendar year














(vi)


For enterprises using Artificial Intelligence technologies, referring specifically to mandatory variables (18) to (24):












(12)


use of Artificial Intelligence software or systems developed by own employees (including those employed in parent or affiliate enterprises)










(13)


use of commercial Artificial Intelligence software or systems modified by own employees (including those employed in parent of affiliate enterprises)










(14)


use of open-source Artificial Intelligence software or systems modified by own employees (including those employed in parent or affiliate enterprises)










(15)


use of commercial Artificial Intelligence software or systems purchased ready to use (including examples where it was already incorporated in a purchased item or system)










(16)


use of Artificial Intelligence software or systems developed or modified by contracted external providers














(vii)


For enterprises which did not use any Artificial Intelligence technologies, referring specifically to mandatory variables (18) to (24):












(17)


consideration of using of Artificial Intelligence technologies, referring specifically to mandatory variables (18) to (24)














(viii)


For enterprises which did not use but considered to use Artificial Intelligence technologies, referring specifically to mandatory variables (18) to (24):












(18)


Artificial Intelligence technologies not used because the costs seem too high










(19)


Artificial Intelligence technologies not used because there is a lack of relevant expertise in the enterprise










(20)


Artificial Intelligence technologies not used because of incompatibility with existing equipment, software or systems










(21)


Artificial Intelligence technologies not used because of difficulties with availability or quality of the necessary data










(22)


Artificial Intelligence technologies not used because of concerns regarding violation of data protection and privacy










(23)


use of artificial intelligence technologies not used because of lack of clarity about the legal consequences (such as liability in case of damage caused by the use of Artificial Intelligence)










(24)


Artificial Intelligence technologies not used because of ethical considerations










(25)


Artificial Intelligence technologies not used because they are not useful for the enterprise

















Measurement unit


Absolute figures, except for characteristics related to turnover in national currency (thousands) or percentage of (total) turnover




Statistical population



Activity coverage:

NACE Sections C to J, L to N and group 95.1

Size class coverage:

Enterprises with 10 or more employees and self-employed persons. Enterprises with less than 10 employees and self-employed persons may be covered optionally




Breakdowns



Activity breakdown


for calculation of national aggregates:







—


aggregates of NACE sections and group C+D+E+F+G+H+I+J+L+M+N+95.1, D+E










—


NACE sections: C, F, G, H, I, J, L, M, N










—


NACE divisions: 47, 55










—


aggregates of NACE divisions: 10+11+12+13+14+15+16+17+18, 19+20+21+22+23, 24+25, 26+27+28+29+30+31+32+33










—


aggregate of the divisions and groups: 26.1+26.2+26.3+26.4+26.8+46.5+58.2+61+62+63.1+95.1





for contribution to the European totals only







—


NACE sections: D, E










—


NACE divisions: 19, 20, 21, 26, 27, 28, 45, 46, 61, 72, 79










—


NACE group: 95.1










—


aggregates of NACE divisions: 10+11+12, 13+14+15, 16+17+18, 22+23, 29+30, 31+32+33, 58+59+60, 62+63, 69+70+71, 73+74+75, 77+78+80+81+82





Size class of number of employees and self-employed persons: 10+, 10–49, 50–249, 250+; optional: 0–9, 0–1, 2–9




Data transmission deadline


5 October 2021