1. The Regional Accounts System of the EU Andreas Krüger (Eurostat) Eurostat - Unit C2 National Accounts - production

2. Structure of the presentation  ESA95: Legal basis  Key elements  Who does what?  Available data  Quality Monitoring  Future Developments  Conclusions

3. ESA95: Legal basis  Council Regulation No. 2223/1996  Chapter 13: Basic definitions for Regional Accounts  Annex B: Obligatory data transmission programme (Regional accounts: Tables 1000, 1200 and 1300)  Methodological Recommendations published separately

4. Key elements  Same concepts and definitions as on national level  Common rules and definitions on basic issues  Common data transmission programme  GVA compilation: Mostly production, some income, but no expenditure approach  No obligation for using specific sources or regionalisation methods  Only current prices; but some NSIs have also COP

5. Who does what?  National Statistical Institutes (NSIs):  Primary data collection  Data compilation at regional levels NUTS1-NUTS3  Transmission of data to Eurostat in national currency  Eurostat  Validation of data received  Conversion into € and PPS  Estimation of regional GDP  Calculation of per-inhabitant figures and 3-year averages  Development work

6. Available data (1) Regional level NUTS 2 (254 units in the EU-25):  GVA, compensation of employees, employment (total and employees) in persons, GFCF for 17 industries  Regional GDP (calculated by Eurostat)  Primary income of households: Property income (paid and received), operating surplus/mixed income, compensation of employees  Secondary distribution of household income: Taxes on income/wealth, social contributions, social benefits, other current transfers (paid and received)

7. Available data (2) Regional level NUTS 3 (1213 units in the EU-25):  GVA at 3 industries  Employment (total and employees) in persons for 3 industries  Regional GDP (calculated by Eurostat)

8. Quality Monitoring  Quality reporting project (1999-2005) led by CBS Netherlands  Future quality monitoring:  Lighter, but more regular and accessible  Concentrates on accuracy and comparability  Inventories  Quality standards: difficult

9. Future Developments  More focused data transmission programme: GVA in A6, employment in hours worked  Regular calculation of regional growth rates (voluntary)  Quality monitoring  Methodological work: Extra-regio, FISIM, growth rates

10. Conclusions (1) What helps to make good regional accounts:  Up-to-date business register with local KAUs  Detailed Structural Business Statistics  Access to appropriate administrative data  Regional classification  Regions that are comparable in population  Stability over time: Avoids breaks

11. Conclusions (2) Lessons learnt:  Don’t estimate variables at too much regional detail  Protect regional classification against political pressure  Don’t be too ambitious (example: regional FISIM)  If resources dictate priorities, go first for GVA, then household accounts and GFCF

12. Contact: Andreas.Krueger@cec.eu.int