Commission Working Document assessing the quality of data reported by Member States in 2011 on balance of payments, international trade in services and foreign direct investment

Article 4(3) of Regulation (EC) No 184/2005 of the European Parliament and of the Council on Community statistics concerning balance of payments, international trade in services and foreign direct investment (the "BoP Regulation") specifies that ‘The quality of the data transmitted shall be assessed, on the basis of the quality reports, by the Commission with the assistance of the Balance of Payments Committee referred to in Article 11(1). This assessment by the Commission shall be sent to the European Parliament for information.’

This working document assesses the quality of the data reported by the Member States in 2011. It was prepared with the assistance of the Balance of Payments Committee, as required by the BoP Regulation. It is the first working document on this subject prepared by Eurostat for the European Parliament and is based on the results of the balance of payments (BoP) quality assessment exercise undertaken by Eurostat between January and June 2012.

After a short description of the principles that guide any assessment of the quality of official statistics and a brief overview of the challenges encountered in compiling BoP data in a globalised environment, this document analyses the extent to which BoP data comply with the quality principles that guide the European Statistical System (ESS).

EUR-Lex: COM(2012)674: Follow the progress of this document through the decision-making procedure http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/HIS/?uri=COM:2012:674:FIN

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