Experiences in application of the European Statistical System Business Registers Recommendations Manual

Abstract

The main objectives of the Manual are:

To provide guidelines for implementation of the EU Regulation;

To support the harmonisation between the registers in the various Member States;

To explain the Regulation’s provisions.

A recent survey has established that the statisticians in the European Statistical System dealing with the maintenance and development of national Statistical Business Registers find useful that they can find in the Manual the information necessary to allow the correct and consistent interpretation of the Regulation and recommendations on best practices of various countries in building and operating registers and in treatment of special cases. Users also appreciate that each chapter is capable of being read separately, whilst still forming part of a coherent set.

The EU Regulation also legislates on the exchange of confidential data. This was the pillar on which was built the EuroGroups Register of multinational enterprise groups, managed by Eurostat with the participation of all European countries.

A revision of the Manual will be necessary, in order to take on board the provisions of the upcoming new Regulation, as well as some new recommendations originated by the on-going Data Quality Programme for the Statistical Business Registers in the European Statistical System.