Quality description: Foreign trade of goods by types of enterprise proprietors

1. Relevance of statistics

1.1 Content and use of statistics

Foreign trade of goods by the types of enterprise proprietors describes the development of export and import according to the categories of enterprise proprietors. In this survey, the data by the types of enterprise proprietors were calculated by both industries (NACE) and products by activities (CPA).

Foreign trade of goods by the types of enterprise proprietors describes the development of foreign trade of private domestic companies, companies owned by foreign proprietors, and the public sector. The survey provides background information for decision makers as well as planners and researchers in the public and private sectors, both at the national level and within the operations of the EU and several international organizations.

1.2 Central concepts and classifications

Information on the internal trade i.e. the trade between the EU Member States is collected through the Intrastat system from the operators who are obliged to provide information. The statistics on the external trade i.e. the trade with countries not in the EU are obtained from the customs clearance system.

The compilation of statistics on commodities is based on the Combined Nomenclature CN of the EU. The export statistics are gathered as per the countries of destination according to the FOB ("free on board") value, and the import statistics as per the countries of origin according to the CIF ("cost, insurance, and freight") value. The country of origin is the country in which the goods were produced or in which the latest economically important stage of production took place. The packaging of the commodities is not regarded as production. As for export, the country of destination is the last country known at the time of the export of the commodities from Finland, either direct or via another country.

In the survey by the types of the enterprise proprietors, the CN-based statistical material has been combined according to the following classifications:

- Classification of Products by Activities (CPA)

- Classification of the European Community according to industries i.e. Nomenclature générale des activités économiques dans les Communautés européennes (NACE 2002). The NACE category data of each enterprise are composed according to its main branch of industry.

The data by the types of enterprise proprietors are formed at the Statistics Finland. The contents of the proprietor categories applied by the National Board of Customs comply with those of the Statistics Finland. As regards the business register data, the latest available information is used in the survey. The up-date delay is one year plus two months. This means that the business register material supplied in, say, year 2007 contains the definite enterprise data relating to the statistical year of 2005.

The Statistics Finland classifies enterprises into the types of enterprise proprietors as follows:

- private domestic, public sector, municipality, �land Province, foreign, other type of proprietor

- the proprietor defined for each enterprise is the one controlling more than 50% of the company vote

1.3 Acts and Decrees

Foreign trade statistics are based on the legislation of the European Community as well as the national Statistics Act (280/4) and Customs Act (1466/94). Within the EU legislation, the compilation of statistics is steered by the Basic Regulation on internal trade statistics (EC, 638/2004), Basic Regulation on external trade statistics (EC, 1172/95), and the respective implementation provisions.

The country classification is based on the Commission Regulation (EC, 1833/2006) on the country classification of the statistics on the Community external trade and the trade between the Member States. The country codes comply with those of the ISO/DIS 3166 standard of the International Organization for Standardization.

2. Method description

The information on the trade carried on by Finland with the other EU Member States is collected from the compulsory statistical declarations provided monthly by importers and exporters through the Intrastat system of the internal trade. The information on the trade between Finland and Third Countries is obtained from customs declarations, which have to be submitted on every import and export consignment. The data on both internal and external trade are put together to form statistics on the foreign trade of Finland.

The National Board of Customs produces the data for the survey on the foreign trade by the enterprise sizes through combining the material on foreign trade with the business register material of the Statistics Finland.

3. Correctness and accuracy of information

The survey on foreign trade of goods by the types of enterprise proprietors is produced annually on the basis of the definite statistics on the foreign trade.

4. Up-to-dateness and timeliness of published data

The survey on foreign trade of goods by the types of enterprise proprietors is published not later than eight months upon the expiry of the statistical year. The accurate publication date is announced on the web site of the National Board of Customs about one week in advance.

5. Availability and transparency / clarity of data

The survey on foreign trade of goods by the types of enterprise proprietors is published on the web site of the National Board of Customs on the dates announced in advance. It can also be ordered to be transmitted by e-mail.

Further information on the statistics on foreign trade is available on the web site of Customs -> Foreign trade statistics. This site comprises e.g. the principles of compiling foreign trade statistics as well as all the surveys on the foreign trade of Finland published by the National Board of Customs.

Further information is also available from the Statistics Service at:
- telephone: +358 9 6141 (exchange) or +358 20 690 603 (Statistics Service direct)
- e-mail: statistics[at]tulli.fi    (replace [at] in the address with @)
- Internet: www.tulli.fi
- Statistical database Uljas: uljas.tulli.fi

6. Comparability of statistics

The survey foreign trade of goods by the types of enterprise proprietors was first produced in 2005.

7. Clarity and consistency / coherence

Beside foreign trade statistics, statistical information on foreign trade is available from the National Accounts of the Statistics Finland and the Balance of Payments statistics of the Bank of Finland.

Statistics on the foreign trade of other countries are also accessible at the reading room of the Statistics Service.

Statistical information on the foreign trade of the EU Member States is available from the publications, web site, and Easy Comext database of Eurostat. This database can be consulted through Internet free of charge.

The dissimilarities of the concepts and definitions applied by the EU Member States and their most important trading partners may affect the comparability of statistics.


Shortcuts