Commission Working Document assessing the quality of data reported by Member States in 2012 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 2012. It was prepared with the assistance of the Balance of Payments Committee, as required by the BoP Regulation. It is based on the results of the balance of payments quality assessment exercise undertaken by Eurostat between January and June 2013.

After a short description of the principles applied for assessing 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 underpinning the European Statistical System (ESS).

In doing so, the report focuses primarily on the legal obligations on Member States to compile and transmit BoP data and how far they comply with them. It also provides information relevant for assessing the quality of the BoP data, with particular emphasis on total aggregates and the major components needed to compile the aggregates.

EUR-Lex: COM(2013)784: Follow the progress of this document through the decision-making procedure http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/HIS/?uri=COM:2013:784:FIN

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