1. Summary overview of Quality Information for Overseas Trade Statistics (OTS) and Regional Trade Statistics (RTS) HMRC Trade Statistics Version No:1.0 Date:16/10/2012

2. Quality Assurance Quality assurance of collected data is a significant part of the compilation process prior to publication of the Overseas Trade Statistics (OTS) & Regional Trade Statistics (RTS). Post-publication quality assurance is also conducted where potential anomalies are identified. The Quality Assurance web page gives information on how data users can assess the quality of published data Quality Assurance

3. What is Quality The six output quality dimensions of the European Statistical System (ESS) are defined in EU LegislationEU Legislation For international trade statistics, there are more specific indicators of quality as detailed in the Eurostat requirements (Doc MET 1000) – Quality items and requirements for reference year 2009Doc MET 1000 The quality of the OTS are assessed against these indicators in line with EU legislation

4. Quality report HMRC Trade Statistics produces an annual Overseas Trade Statistics and Regional Trade Statistics Quality Report, based on the Government Statistical Service (GSS) guidelines. See the latest report.latest report

5. How Eurostat assessed us Eurostat carry out an annual quality assessment based on quality indicators and requirements agreed beforehand with the national authorities This is the latest Eurostat assessment of the UK international trade datatrade data Eurostat also produce a Summary Quality Report for all EU Member States, and an annual EU Quality ReportSummary Quality ReportEU Quality Report In addition, Eurostat visits Member States to discuss methodologies on data production. The final report relates to the most recent visit to the UK.final report

6. How the ONS assess us The Balance of Payments (BoP) published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) uses OTS data The ONS quality requirement is that at least 92% of the value of the first detailed EU trade output should come from business declarations. The rest of the data provided is estimated estimated An assessment of this quality requirement is shown in the graphgraph

7. Adherence to EU Legislation How the OTS compiles with EU legislation governing its compilation can be found in this linked summarysummary

8. Asymmetries Asymmetries are the differences between the trade statistics of partner countries. Asymmetries are investigated by Member States for internal Quality Assurance. See the link for a detailed overview of asymmetries asymmetries The latest reconciliation of asymmetries in trade-in-goods statistics published by UK and other European Union (EU) Member States was published in July 2012July 2012

9. To find out more information? For more details on the Quality Information published by HMRC Trade Statistics, go to the Quality Assurance web page and related links. Quality Assurance UKtradeinfo Customer Services Tel no: 01702 367485 Email:uktradeinfo@hmrc.gsi.gov.ukuktradeinfo@hmrc.gsi.gov.uk