1. Business Registers Recommendations Manual Presentation by Eurostat Zsolt.Volfinger@ec.europa.eu

2. Objectives of the Manual To provide guidelines for implementation of the BR regulation. To support the harmonisation between the registers in the various Member States To explain the Regulation - to explain the reasoning behind the provisions in the Regulation. The Manual aims to provide the extra information necessary to allow the correct and consistent interpretation of the Regulation in all countries. To go beyond the Regulation and guide BR developments - identifying and recommending best practices, experiences of other countries how to build and operate registers To present special cases and their treatment

3. Structure of the Manual The Manual is written and published by Eurostat. The Manual has no legal force, it includes recommendations. The latest published version is 2003. The latest draft version is the 2010 draft edition. 24 chapters, 234 pages of recommendations and a Glossary on additional 87 pages. 23 chapters of the previous 2003 version were updated, the updates were discussed with Member States. One new chapter was added on statistical units in the public sector. The drafts will be discussed this week by the Eurostat BR Working Group.

4. Structure of the Manual The Manual is presented as a set of different parts, dealing with the following issues: The basics: Objectives, units, contents and access (chapters 1–10) –Scope of the recommendations –Harmonisation of business registers –Objectives and uses of the business registers for statistical purposes –Maintenance of the register –Contents of the register (characteristics) –Coverage of the –Legal unit and enterprise –Local units in Business Registers –Access to the register –Quality policy

5. Structure of the Manual Unit demography: Changes and continuity (chapters 11–16, 21–22) –The general approach to the handling of changes –A general overview of demographic events –Demographic changes concerning the enterprise –Continuity rules for the enterprise –Demographic changes concerning the local unit –Continuity rules for the local unit –Enterprise groups –Demographic changes and continuity rules for the enterprise group

6. Structure of the Manual Contents: Updates and development (chapters 17–20) –The handling of changes to characteristics –The handling of errors –The handling of large and complex businesses –The use of administrative sources Guidelines for specific domains (chapters 23–24) –Statistical units in agriculture, forestry and fishing –Statistical units in public sector Glossary for business registers

7. Structure of the Manual The structure of the Manual is not rigid. New chapters may be added to reflect new developments and existing chapters can be revised when necessary. The Manual is primarily designed for electronic dissemination via the Internet. The advantage of this is that readers can be sure that they always have the latest version. Each chapter is capable of being read separately, whilst still forming part of a coherent set. Each chapter is clearly marked with the date and current status, indicating whether it is a draft or agreed text. The finalised chapters are available on the Eurostat website’s RAMON server, the consulted drafts are available on CIRCA / BRnet.