ESS GUIDELINES ON REVISION POLICY AND IMPACT STUDY IN NA AND BOP Hans Wouters EUROSTAT

Contents ESS Guidelines –Purpose and characteristics –Content and structure Impact study on the revision policy in National Accounts and Balance of Payments –Background –Purpose –Characteristics –Main results –Follow-up Requests to BoP Working Group

ESS GUIDELINES ON REVISION POLICY Provide guidance for developing revision policies Contribution for realising further harmonization of statistics to ensure comparability Recommendations – not legally binding Purpose and characteristics

Content and structure Definition of principles for good revision policy Cover all main aspects of revision policy: benefits and costs, general issues, routine revisions, major revisions, non- scheduled revisions, tracking vintages, revision analysis Standard structure of individual recommendations: - description of the issue - list of possible options - prioritised list of 3 alternatives: best, acceptable, to be avoided Focus on PEEIs, but applicable to other statistical domains

IMPACT STUDY REVISION POLICY IN NATIONAL ACCOUNTS AND BALANCE OF PAYMENTS Background July 2009: CMFB proposal for joint European revision policy in NA and BoP January 2010: CMFB decision to launch ‘impact study’ October 2011 – February 2012: impact study February 2012: CMFB decision for follow-up March 2012: DMES discussion on proposal for follow-up

Joint revision policy NA and BoP: purpose Improvement of consistency and quality of NA and BoP Alignment between domains at national level –Within NA (ANA, ASA, QNA, QSA, etc) and within BoP –Between NA and BoP –Result: prevention of vintage differences Alignment of national revision policies to proposed joint European policy –European revision policy is broadly defined: most national policies fit into it –Countries are allowed to revise less frequently or with shorter depth, however, if they revise it should be within the European revision windows

Joint revision policy NA and BoP: main characteristics Consistent with general ESS Guidelines First practical application of ESS Guidelines Encouraging a coordinated approach between two main areas of statistics Includes proposals on: scope, depth, frequency and timing of coordinated revisions

Main results impact study Most Member states are able to implement EU revision policy: –With a moderate effort –With low to moderate resource implications Some Member States mention drawbacks due to: –National policy calendars –Different views on stability/ continuity of data –Different views on consistency between domains –Ongoing discussion about the need for another European revision window

Follow-up Member States are invited to prepare an outline of a joint cross-domain national revision policy and an analysis of the differences with the proposed European policy Proposal: outline in the shape of a standardised questionnaire (annex 3 of the document) To be completed jointly by NCB’s and NSI’s

REQUESTS TO BOP WORKING GROUP WG BoP Members are invited to: Promote implementation of ESS Guidelines Support the proposed joint revision policy for NA and BoP Encourage national dialogue between stakeholders Support the launch of the proposed follow-up questionnaire

ESS GUIDELINES ON REVISION POLICY AND IMPACT STUDY IN NA AND BOP Hans Wouters EUROSTAT