Transcript OECD Working Group on Trade in Goods and Trade in Services Eurostat activities in trade in services and related balance of payments areas 24

OECD Working Group on Trade in Goods and
Trade in Services
Eurostat activities in trade in services
and related balance of payments areas
24 September 2008
1. Balance of payments quality report
 In October 2007 Eurostat launched the first quality
reporting cycle.
 The reports addressed: methodological soundness,
stability, plausibility, consistency, and reconciliation
BoP/FTS.
 The assessment procedure was based on two pillars:
– an individual country assessment by Eurostat
– a more general assessment of BoP data quality in the EU
 The individual country assessment reports and the
summary report were discussed and approved at the
meeting of the Eurostat BoP Committee in July 2008.
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2. Revision of international standards
 Active participation in the revision process (BD4, BPM6,
MSITS, 2008 SNA, ESA95)
 Implementation of the manuals
 The CMFB in July 2008:
– proposed simultaneous implementation of BPM6 and ESA
(scheduled for 2014);
– an exception for FDI statistics: may be implemented in line
with OECD recommendations (scheduled for 2010);
 The ECB and Eurostat are currently preparing a road map
 Eurostat is also planning to organise two workshops in
2009 to discuss concrete implementation issues
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3. Implementation of NACE rev.2 in BoP
 The Eurostat BoP Committee approved the final
implementation plan for the NACE Rev.2 for BOP domain:
– First reference year will be 2010, and first data are to be
delivered in September 2011
– Activity breakdown for reporting data on FDI is modified to
reflect NACE rev.2
– Back-casting will be carried out for reference years 2008 and
2009 and delivered in September 2011
 In order to assist in the implementation and the back
casting, Eurostat will organise a seminar in November
2008
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4. Foreign affiliates statistics (FATS)
 FATS Regulation was adopted in June 2007
 Outward FATS: Transmission of data on turnover, persons
employed and no. of enterprises on a mandatory basis
(first reference year: 2007)
 Pilot studies on some additional variables in order to
assess the relevance and feasibility of collecting data
 Eurostat has published a recommendation manual which
contains definitions and supplementary guidance
 The next meeting of the FATS WG is scheduled for 25-26
September 2008. Will focus on quality standards and
quality reporting.
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5. Remittances
 Ad-hoc survey was carried out in May 2007
 In December 2007 data on remittance flows to and from
the EU-27 were published for the first time
 In addition, major corridors of both remittances and "net
CoE" flows were identified and quantified
 Eurostat will propose Member States to provide data on a
regular basis
 The draft version of the compilation guide, prepared by
“Luxembourg Group on Remittances”, will be made
available soon on the IMF's website for comments.
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6. Technical Group Travel
 Activities concentrates on follow-up and monitoring of the
implementation of national collection systems
 Multilateral forum to analyse bilateral travel figures
 May 2008 meeting concentrated on the following issues:
– State of implementation of national plans to collect data
– Common methodological problems
– Bilateral comparison of travel figures and related physical
indicators
– Action plan for reducing asymmetries
 The next meeting is scheduled for early June 2009
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7. Task Force on RoW account
 TF-RoW was created to support work on reconciliation of
BoP and RoW account, addressed methodological aspects
and ran a survey on empirical differences
 Although a final report was presented in 2007, was asked
to give further clarification on following points:
– the issue of price gaps in transit trade activities,
– legal aspects related to the use of credit card data and
– guidelines for the implementation of the recommendations.
 it is foreseen that questionnaires for biannual monitoring
will be sent in October 2008 and that the results will be
reported back in January 2009
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8. Task Force reconciliation BoP/FTS
 The main objective is to improve coherence between BOP
and FTS statistics
 During the last meeting, on 29-30 May 2008, the TF:
– developed recommendations on minimum quality
considerations for making the CIF/FOB adjustment;
– analysed data related to goods for processing;
– discussed possible ways for introducing concepts suited to
BoP needs in the drafts of the Intrastat and Extrastat
implementing provisions;
– analysed how to record aircraft leasing in NA, BoP and FTS;
– considered the problems that non-residents with a national
VAT number were posing to BoP and FTS statistics.
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9. EuroGroup register
 The EGR aims for covering MNE groups with heads in and
outside EU and their members in EU.
 currently contains 600 MNE groups with at least one group
member in the EU
 In 2008, a stakeholder analysis of the need of FATS and
BoP compilers was carried out.
 The EGR coverage will be increased to cover 5000 largest
enterprise groups by the end of 2008.
 Extension of the coverage to 10 000 MNEs in 2010-2011
 Full coverage to be reached in 2013.
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10. Work on asymmetries
 Asymmetries are a main concern for Eurostat as they
reflect on the quality and credibility of the BoP data.
 In the BoP WG of March 2008, Eurostat presented a
document illustrating developments, scale and the
persistence of asymmetries.
 Eurostat is facilitating a 3-country exercise involving LU,
NL and UK concerning exchange of FDI data.
 A report on this reconciliation exercise will be presented
at October 2008 Eurostat BOP Working Group meeting.
 Eurostat is cooperating with the ECB in enhancing
consistency of BOP data.
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11. Network group direct reporting
 The aim is to facilitate exchange of experience on
implementation of direct reporting procedures and
organising workshops on specific issues.
 The first workshop was held in 2007 and was considered
to be very fruitful and informative. The formula of a
workshop was considered adequate as it allows focusing
on strategic BoP data collection issues, besides
establishing a network of informal contacts.
 A second workshop is planned for spring 2009.
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12. Threshold for statistical reporting
 EU Regulation sets a threshold of €12 500 below which
banks are exempted from reporting obligations.
 Commission drafted a new draft Regulation asking:
– to increase the reporting threshold up to 50 000 € by 1/1/2010
– complete exemption of payment service providers from BoP
reporting by 1/1/2012
– This will not prevent the collection of readily available
information and aggregated data which have no impact on
the straight through processing of the payments
 The European Commission is expected to adopt the new
draft regulation before the end of the year, which will then
be proposed to the European Parliament and Council.
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13. PHARE projects
 The purpose is to assist countries to attain better quality
of data and timeliness.
 One project involving HU, SK, LT and RO and concerning
compilation of FATS data ended in 2007 with the delivery
of data set, methodological report and final report.
 A second involving TR and HR started on 1st January
2007.
 The final report on results achieved, compliance with the
FATS Regulation and remaining issues to be solved in
each country, are due by end of September 2008.
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Thank you for your attention
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