Regulation 2008/177 - Common framework for business registers for statistical purposes - Main contents

Summary of Legislation
Legislative text

1. Summary of Legislation

Business registers for statistical purposes

SUMMARY OF:

Regulation (EC) No 177/2008 — standard rules for business statistics

WHAT IS THE AIM OF THE REGULATION?

Repealing and replacing Regulation (EEC) No 2186/93, this regulation seeks to lay down standard rules for statistical business registers* in every European Union (EU) country, to ensure they compile reliable and comparable data that will help the EU institutions analyse business activity across Europe.

KEY POINTS

Every EU country is required to set up at least 1 standardised statistical business register containing the following statistical units:

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all companies that contribute to the gross domestic product of the EU country where they are based and their local units (such as a warehouse, factory or workshop);
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the ‘legal units’ (people, organisations, etc.) that make up a statistical unit;
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multinational groups (i.e. those composed of at least 2 legal units located in different countries);
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all legal units of a multinational group that are based in that country;
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groups that are entirely based (all companies) in that country (‘all-resident groups’).

For more details on these units, and their precise definition, see the Annex in Regulation (EEC) No 696/93.

National obligations

Each EU country must:

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ensure their statistical business registers provide reliable, accurate and up-to-date data (and demonstrate this in a report if requested to by the EU statistics office, Eurostat)
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update their registers at least once a year (entries and removals)
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carry out statistical analyses using data in their registers and send these to the Commission.

EuropeanCommission obligations

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The European Commission is to publish a business registers recommendation manual, for national authorities, to explain the details of the regulation and how to implement it.

FROM WHEN DOES THIS REGULATION APPLY?

It has applied since 25 March 2008.

BACKGROUND

For more information, see:

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Building the System of National Accounts - business register and statistical classifications on Eurostat’s website.

*

KEY TERMS

Business registers: databases used to produce business statistics. They contain lists of statistical units that map all the relevant actors in the economy, e.g., companies, public and non-profit bodies. They also record information on changes in the composition of these units (start-ups, closures and any changes brought about, for example, by mergers, takeovers or restructuring), employment, turnover, etc.

MAIN DOCUMENT

Regulation (EC) No 177/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 February 2008 establishing a common framework for business registers for statistical purposes and repealing Council Regulation (EEC) No 2186/93 (OJ L 61, 5.3.2008, pp. 6-16)

Contents

1.

Summary of Legislation

2.

Legislative text