1. EBS Manual Status quo with emphasis on Prodcom related issues Josef Richter, GOPA item 4 of the agenda
Prodcom Working Group Meeting October 21, 2013

2. Structure of the presentation
Preliminary remarks
Purpose of the EBS Manual
Contents of the Inventory - Draft Manual
Principles and characteristics of business statistics
Scope of business statistics
The role of consistency
Common methodological elements - cross cutting issues
Common business statistics specific methodological elements
Domain specific conceptual elements – Prodcom
Concluding remarks

3. Preliminary remarks
Objective of the presentation: provide an overview of the general structure of the ‘Inventory - Draft EBS Manual’.
Emphasis is laid on the chapters on Prodcom
Main objective of the ‘Inventory - Draft EBS Manual’ is to serve as a basis for the discussion in the Working Groups.

4. Purpose of the EBS Manual
EBS Manual is quite different compared to standard Manuals, mainly because the legal basis does not exist at the moment.
The accent is on concepts not on processes.
The EBS Manual does not cover data requirements.

5. Purpose of the EBS Manual
Two versions
Inventory – Draft EBS Manual’ organised according the present statistical domains.
Objectives:
Explain the present system of business statistics in a systematic form,
present the proposal included in the FRIBS packages,
identify existing inconsistencies and
present proposals how consistency in the system of business statistics could be improved.

6. Purpose of the EBS Manual
Two versions
EBS Manual no longer organised according to the present structure by domains.
Objectives:
Integrate the results from the internal Eurostat discussions and of WG Meetings.
Documentation of the definitions and methodological elements at present laid down in existing Regulations which will be repealed by FRIBS.
Important role in the FRIBS architecture

7. Contents of the Inventory – Draft Manual
1 Introduction
1.1 Purpose of the Manual
1.2 Role of the Manual in the FRIBS architecture
1.3 Relation to other handbooks and international standards
1.4 Scope of the Manual
1.5 Structure of the Manual
2 Business statistics
2.1 Introduction – Principles and characteristics of business statistics
2.2 Scope of business statistics
2.3 The role of consistency

8. Contents of the Inventory – Draft Manual
3 Conceptual framework of business statistics 3.1 Common methodological elements – cross cutting issues Statistical units Registers Classifications 3.2 Common business statistics specific methodological elements Target populations and frames including thresholds Characteristics and definitions Periodicity Timeliness Breakdown of results Classifications (specific)

9. Contents of the Inventory – Draft Manual
3 Conceptual framework of business statistics
3.3 Domain specific conceptual elements
SBS
FATS ..
Prodcom
4 Sources of inconsistencies – a synoptic overview
4.1 Inconsistencies in closely related fields
4.2 Inconsistencies in the overall system of business statistics
4.3 Inconsistencies in relation to National Accounts

10. Principles and characteristics of business statistics
Business statistics as part of European Statistics (ES) are governed by the principles as laid down in Article 2 of Regulation (EC) No 223/2009
Vision paper:
Consistency and coherence (horizontal and vertical)
Lower costs for NSIs
Reduction in response burden
More flexibility
Allowing more information (especially on services) to be collected

11. Principles and characteristics of business statistics
Business statistics aim to provide a quantitative description of a specific aspect of reality, namely the economic aspect.
Business statistics do not deal with all economic activities in a broad sense, limited to economic activities which are market oriented.
Specific feature: business statistics are the results of a process characterized by a high degree of division of labour.

12. Scope of business statistics
In a narrower sense:
All characteristics and economic activities of statistical units classified under NACE Rev. 2 B to N and P to S and classified in the institutional sectors S.11, S.12 and S.141 and S.142 (market activities).
Business statistics in FRIBS go beyond this narrow definition.

13. The role of consistency
Users’ perspective
Coherence is a necessary condition to ensure that information from different statistical sources can be combined in an analysis in a meaningful way.
Production side of statistics
When two statistical projects are based on the same statistical units, the same reference period, the same coverage and have some of the variables in common which are defined in an identical way, the information collected for the one project might also be used for the second project.

14. Sources for inconsistencies
Inconsistencies which occurred more or less “by accident”
‘Stove pipe’ principle
Lack of a ‘blueprint’
Inconsistencies because of differences in the underlying objectives
Different analytical orientation
Cost considerations
Need to reduce the response burden
Wish to grant flexibility

15. Common methodological elements - cross cutting issues
Business statistics are based on a number of concepts and
methodological elements the relevance of which is not limited
to business statistics.
Statistical units
Business Registers
Classification systems

16. Common business statistics specific methodological elements
Target populations and frames including thresholds
Characteristics and definitions
Periodicity
Timeliness
Breakdown of results
Classifications (specific)

17. Domain specific conceptual elements – Template
Documentation of the present situation
Presentation of the proposal included in the FRIBS packages
Sources of inconsistencies
Proposals for the reduction of inconsistencies

18. Prodcom
Prodcom is of strategic importance. It is one of the backbones of the system of business statistics. Within the system of business statistics it is the only project which provides information on domestic production in a product detail. Prodcom statistics provide an important source for National Accounts, environmental statistics and accounts and are a main source for the compilation of weighting schemes for PPIs.

19. Sources of inconsistencies – Prodcom
Scope – coverage
The coverage of the production in manufacturing by products by Prodcom can neither be solely described in a satisfactory way in terms of NACE Rev. 2 nor in terms of CPA.
The two criteria to include the production of all enterprises employing at least 20 people but at least 90 % of national production on the level of NACE Rev. 2 class can lead (even within the limits set by the ‘Prodcom list’) to very different degrees of coverage.

20. Sources of inconsistencies – Prodcom
Inconsistencies with respect to National Accounts
Statistical units
The incomplete and to a high degree undefined coverage both in the NACE Rev. 2 and the CPA dimension cause severe problems for the integration of Prodcom data in National Accounts.

21. Ideas for the reduction of inconsistencies – Prodcom
Statistical Business Registers
Clear provisions are required on the basis of which of the (infra-annual) vintages (snapshots) of the Statistical Business Registers the scope of Prodcom has to be defined.
Prodcom list – CPA
Full consistency should be achieved.

22. Ideas for the reduction of inconsistencies – Prodcom
CPA
Manufacturing services of other plastic products (*)
Sub-contracted operations as part of manufacturing of other plastic products (*)
Prodcom 
Plastic parts for machinery and mechanical appliances, excluding internal combustion piston engines, gas turbines
Plastic parts for apparatus of HS and 85.16
Plastic parts for turntables, record players, cassette-players, magnetic tape recorders, other sound or video recording/reproducing apparatus excluding pick-up cartridges
Code S

23. Ideas for the reduction of inconsistencies – Prodcom
Scope in the activity dimension
Enterprises classified in NACE Rev.2 Sections B and C with more than, but ...
Scope in the product dimension
Complete representation of the production programme of the enterprises classified in NACE Rev.2 Sections B and C, at least complete representation of CPA Sections B and C.

24. Prodcom scope – present situation A simplified description with respect to production sold
Activities, classified by NACE Rev. 2 ∑ A B C D E F
Others
Supply
Products classified according CPA and Prodcom

25. Prodcom scope – future situation
Prodcom scope – future situation? A simplified description with respect to production sold
Activities, classified by NACE Rev. 2 ∑ A B C D E F
Others
Supply
Products classified according CPA and Prodcom
Output

26. Ideas for the reduction of inconsistencies – Prodcom
Emphasis on production sold
In the case of productions that are not finished within the reference period the accent should be laid on production sold.
Goods and services purchased in order to be rendered to third parties in the same condition should not be included in the production even if they are not invoiced separately..
Better documentation of definitions, concepts

27. Key questions
Coverage – full coverage of all production activities of units classified in NACE B and C
Replacement of the ‘Prodcom list’ changing every year by a CPA compatible “Classification of products of manufacturing“
Enterprise as the only statistical unit
Key SBS compatible definitions

28. Thank you for your attention