MEETS programme
From Statistics Explained
This article provides an overview of the European Commission programme called 'Modernisation of European Enterprise and Trade Statistics', or 'MEETS' for short.
Business and trade statistics are facing major challenges: the world economy has become more integrated, and statistics have to respond to reflect the new phenomena adequately. At the same time there is strong pressure to cut red tape and reduce the burden on business. New ways of producing business statistics, taking advantage of technological progress, have to be explored.
To address this, the MEETS programme was adopted by the European Parliament and the Council in December 2008. The programme, which is to run over a period of five years from 2009 to 2013, will help to adapt business statistics to new needs and also adjust the system for the production of statistics to reduce the burden on enterprises. It will provide substantial financial resources - an overall amount of 42.5 million euros is envisaged - to support development in several areas in the European Union (EU) Member States.
The strategy is fully in line with the vision of European statistics for the next decade as defined in Communication COM(2009) 404 on the production method of EU statistics: a vision for the next decade; its legal basis is Decision 1297/2008/EC of 16 December 2008 on a Programme for the Modernisation of European Enterprise and Trade Statistics (MEETS).
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Objectives and work programmes
The programme should contribute to achieving the following general objectives:
(1) Review priorities and develop target of indicators for new areas
It is important to identify and agree on the new areas to be portrayed. Together with all stakeholders, target sets of indicators need to be defined and underpinned by agreements on methodology, so that comparable data sets can be produced. Very often these indicator sets will cut cross the boundaries between statistical domains. In the context of entrepreneurship in a globalised economy, structural business statistics have to intersect with trade statistics, statistics on innovation, etc. It goes without saying that a changing environment creates not only new requirements, but also the need for permanent review of old requirements.
(2) Achieve a streamlined framework for business-related statistics
Efforts are needed to progress with the integration of the different areas of business statistics. The integration of statistics will include: coordination of legal acts, harmonisation of methodologies, and linking and harmonising statistical classifications, business registers and related sources. It also calls for the inclusion of multinational enterprise groups in an appropriate way and the introduction of reporting on such groups.
(3) Support the implementation of a more efficient way of producing enterprise and trade statistics
Integration is also needed on the data collection and data processing side. Either by integrating all collected data into a single system or by using microdata linking techniques, it should be possible to make much more effective use of already existing statistical information. In addition, the use of administrative data needs to be increased. However, guaranteeing data quality requires considerable effort, because very often the administrative data are not available in the form needed. Other issues addressed under this objective are the harmonisation of accounting standards and standard estimation techniques.
(4) Modernise Intrastat
Simplification of the Intrastat system will continue along traditional lines (thresholds, ICT improvements, nomenclatures, etc.). Furthermore, switching to a single flow system will be investigated. This could considerably reduce the burden while at the same time maintaining the most important information. To make sure that the transition is carried out effectively and to safeguard the quality of statistical information, this process needs to be handled carefully.
For all the objectives, broad actions have been defined in the legal basis. They will be implemented through annual work programmes adopted by the Commission after consultation of the relevant technical bodies.
For more information on the annual work programmes see:
- Commission Decision of 25 October 2012 on the annual work programme for 2013 for the implementation of Decision 1297/2008/EC on a Programme for the Modernisation of European Enterprise and Trade Statistics (MEETS);
- Commission Decision of 28 October 2011 on the annual work programme for 2012 for the implementation of Decision 1297/2008/EC on a Programme for the Modernisation of European Enterprise and Trade Statistics (MEETS);
- Commission Decision of 26 November 2010 on the annual work programme for 2011 for the implementation of Decision 1297/2008/EC on a Programme for the Modernisation of European Enterprise and Trade Statistics (MEETS);
- Commission Decision of 30 November 2009 on the annual work programme for 2010 for the implementation of Decision 1297/2008/EC on a Programme for the Modernisation of European Enterprise and Trade Statistics (MEETS);
- Commission Decision of 24 April 2009 on the annual work programme for 2009 for the implementation of Decision 1297/2008/EC on a Programme for the Modernisation of European Enterprise and Trade Statistics (MEETS).
MEETS – part of an overall strategy
The ‘Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council on the production methods of EU statistics: a vision for the next decade’ provides a comprehensive and holistic approach to changing the way European statistics are produced. The objective is to increase the overall efficiency and effectiveness of the system and to ensure that new user demands can be met in the future. It describes the fundamental dilemma posed by increasing demands, resource constraints and the need to reduce burden on respondents. It also calls for close cooperation within the European statistical system (ESS) to achieve the necessary efficiency gains.
The MEETS programme is the application of this vision to the area of business and trade statistics. ESSnets are a way to develop new projects where a few Member States interested in a specific domain actively collaborate on a common task and then disseminate the results to those not participating. This helps to harness synergies, to save costs and to share best practice while developing specific actions beneficial for the whole of the ESS. ESSnets have been set up for the main projects:
- Consistency of concepts and methods for business and trade-related statistics;
- EuroGroups register methodology and profiling;
- Use of administrative data, data warehouse and linking;
- Methodology for modern business statistics.
These projects are described in more detail below.
The following figure shows the main links between the MEETS programme and the 'Vision':
Main Projects
Consistency of concepts and methods for business and trade-related statistics
This ESSnet on the consistency of concepts and methods for business and trade-related statistics is part of objective 2. An external study was carried out to evaluate the legal acts in the areas of statistics identified by Member States as needing revision. The study serves as a basis for the work programme of the ESSnet which was launched in 2010.
The aim of the ESSnet is to provide recommendations and detailed suggestions for improving consistency between the legal acts and methodologies analysed. In order to do this, the work is divided into three work packages concerning:
- statistical units;
- target population, frames, reference period, classifications and their applications (breakdowns, special aggregates);
- characteristics and their definition.
For more information see:
- Consistency on ESSnet portal
- External study on detail evaluation of the legal acts in the areas of statistics which were identified by member states as areas to revision
EuroGroups register (EGR)
The EGR project comes under MEETS objective 2 and is organised around three sub-projects:
- EGR methodology (ESSnet);
- Support for national implementation (individual grants);
- Methodology for profiling of large and complex enterprises (ESSnet).
Its main objectives are:
- To become the common coordination framework for all European statistical authorities, national statistical institutes and national central banks in sampling populations for the production of statistics on globalisation. The EGR should contain all information on multinational enterprise groups (MNE) with an interest in Europe and their constituent statistical units. This information can then be used in a coordinated manner by the European statistical authorities for identifyin survey populations, sampling, linking to other available data sources, etc.
- To develop of a methodology for and implement a network between business registers on MNEs (the EGR network).
- To develop and test a methodology to analyse the legal, operational and accounting structure of an enterprise group in order to establish the statistical units within that group and their links and to determine the most efficient structures for the collection of statistical data (profiling).
For more information see the EGR article, as well as:
- ESSnet - EGR;
- ESSnet - Profiling;
- EuroGroups Register (dedicated website);
- Eurostat - Business registers;
- Eurostat - EuroGroups register.
Use of already existing data in the statistical system
The following MEETS projects under objective 3 deal with data linking:
- Data warehousing and data linking in statistical data production (ESSnet). The aim of the ESSnet is to define a functional model for a data warehouse to serve as basis for assessing all issues raised in the ESSnet in a generic and standardised way.
- Linking of micro data on international sourcing (ESSnet and individual grants). The measurement and analysis of international sourcing and its consequences for European economies is one of the key objectives of this project. Another important objective is to develop a methodology for measuring the global value chain (GVC).
- Linking of micro-data on international trade and business statistics. The main objective of the project is to develop indicators that combine variables from external trade and business statistics.
- Linking of microdata on ICT usage (ESSnet). This ESSnet addresses the development of a micro-data linking approach to analyse the impact of ICT on the economic performance of enterprises. It also investigates in more detail how to adjust national survey strategies to optimise the results of microdata linking in the future.
- Methodology for modern business statistics - Memobust (ESSnet). The overall objective is to identify best practices and develop a common methodology and ESS guidelines for the efficient and integrated production of business statistics.
For more information see:
- ESSnet - Data Warehouse (data warehousing and data linking on ESSnet portal);
- ESSnet - Memobust (methodology for modern business statistics).
Use of already existing data in the economy
The following activities under objective 3 aim to improve the use of existing data in the economy:
- ESSnet on the use of administrative and accounts data for business statistics (ESSnet AdminData): its main objective is to investigate the possibilities of making wider use of administrative data for business statistics, to make best practices available to NSIs and to prepare some recommendations in this area. The ESSnet focuses on the common problems arising from the use of different data sources for producing business statistics.
- Individual grants to national statistical institutes for the use of administrative data: the aim is to support national statistical institutes in implementing more efficient ways of producing enterprise statistics and in improving the quality of statistical data.
- Facilitation of data transfer from enterprises to national statistical institutes: grants will be provided to national statistical institutes to introduce data collection systems that could simplify the reporting burden on businesses and to continue investigating the possibilities of using XBRL for statistical purposes.
For more information see:
- ESSnet - AdminData (use of administrative and accounts data for business statistics);
- Admin Data Wiktionary - The Use Of Administrative And Accounts Data For Business Statistics.
Modernisation of international trade statistics
The following projects aim to meet objective 4 of the MEETS programme:
- Harmonising methods to improve quality in intra-EU trade statistics (procurement and individual grants). The aim is to improve the quality of Intrastat data by defining a list of quality items and precise quality requirements and by providing recommendations.
- Better use of administrative data in Intrastat (individual grants). Support is provided for Member State actions to increase and improve the use of administrative data for the compilation of Intrastat data. resulting in better data quality while reducing the response burden for enterprises.
- Development of tools and methods for data exchange (former XT-NET) (procurement and individual grants). The objective of the project is to consolidate and further develop tools and standards in order to facilitate the supply of data on multinational enterprises and improve data quality to enable automated data exchange among Member States and Eurostat.
- Improvement of data exchange systems in external trade statistics (procurement).
Further Eurostat information
Publications
Dedicated section
Other information
- Communication COM(2009) 404 on the production method of EU statistics: a vision for the next decade
- Decision 1297/2008/EC of 16 December 2008 on a Programme for the Modernisation of European Enterprise and Trade Statistics (MEETS)
- Report COM(2010) 813 on the implementation of Decision 1297/2008/EC of 16 December 2008 on a Programme for the Modernisation of European Enterprise and Trade Statistics (MEETS)
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