NOTES ON METHODOLOGY 2015.
After the accession of the Republic of Croatia to the European Union, on 1 July 2013, data on foreign trade in goods statistics of the Republic of Croatia are acquired from two different sources: the Intrastat form for the statistics on the trading in goods between EU Member States (Intrastat) and the Single Administrative Document for statistics on the trading in goods with non-EU countries (Extrastat).
Legal basis
The legal basis for the conduct of the Intrastat survey is the European legislation related to the statistics on the trading in goods between EU Member States (Regulation No 638/2004 and amending regulations Nos 222/2009 and 659/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council as well as the Commission Implementing Regulation No 1982/2004 and the Commission amending regulations Nos 1915/2005, 91/2010, 96/2010 and 1093/2013), the Official Statistics Act (NN, Nos 103/03, 75/09, 59/12 and 12/13 – consolidated text), the Annual Implementation Plan of Statistical Activities of the Republic of Croatia (NN, No. 21/15), the Programme of Statistical Activities of the Republic of Croatia (NN, No. 69/13) and the Customs Administration Act (NN, Nos 68/13 and 30/14).
The legal basis for the Extrastat is the European legislation related to the statistics on the trading in goods with third countries (the Regulation (EC) No 471/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council, the Commission Regulation (EU) No 92/2010 and the Commission Regulation (EU) No 113/2010), the EU Customs Regulations Implementation Act (NN, No. 54/13), the Official Statistics Act (NN, Nos 103/03, 75/09, 59/12 and 12/13 – consolidated text), the Annual Implementation Plan of Statistical Activities of the Republic of Croatia (NN, No. 21/15), the Programme of Statistical Activities of the Republic of Croatia (NN, No. 69/13), the Customs Administration Act (NN, Nos 68/13 and 30/14) and the Ordinance on Filling the Single Administrative Document (NN, No. 77/13).
Source and methods of data collection
The data source for the statistics on the trading in goods with EU Member States is the Intrastat form used by reporting units to report on arrivals and/or dispatches on the monthly basis, that is, in a month in which goods physically enter or leave the territory of the Republic of Croatia. The reporting units are all business entities, value added tax payers, whose value of trading in goods with EU Member States exceeds the exemption threshold determined for the reference year. For 2015, the value of 1.8 million kuna of the exemption threshold for arrivals and of 1 million kuna for dispatches has been determined. In order to achieve the complete harmonisation with the EU methodology and legislation, the data have been supplemented with the trade value below the exemption threshold, after being estimated on the basis of data on supplies and acquisitions of goods in/from EU Member States provided by the Tax Administration Office of the Republic of Croatia.
Data sources for the statistics on the trading in goods with third countries, that is, non-EU countries, are Single Administrative Documents on export and import of goods. The Croatian Bureau of Statistics receives the reviewed Single Administrative Documents from the Customs Administration of the Republic of Croatia in the form of data records.
Following the basic methodological recommendations of the UN Statistical Office and Eurostat, the Croatian Bureau of Statistics statistically processes and disseminates the collected Intrastat and Extrastat data as unique information on the foreign trade in goods of the Republic of Croatia.
Coverage and comparability
The statistics on foreign trade in goods comprises all the goods exported from or imported into the country. Data on foreign trade in goods include both export and import based on gross inward and outward processing.
In inward and outward processing, the total value of goods is monitored. Thus, in the case of an active transfer, the value of goods imported for inward processing, that is, the full value of goods exported after inward processing (including the value of imported goods, the value of domestic material and the value of domestic services).
Besides commercial transactions (which includes charges), the statistics also comprises goods for which the trade, that is, export and import, is performed without the payment of the counter value. This statistics does not include temporary export and import (less than two years) of goods that are returned to the owner in an unaltered state, services, monetary gold, fuel supply of domestic motor vehicles abroad and foreign motor vehicles in the country, supplying of Croatian diplomatic missions abroad, temporary export and import for repair, personal luggage and tourist movables and re-export.
All the data on export and import are expressed in values and quantities. Value of goods is determined on the basis of original documents of business entities (contracts, invoices). Data on quantity are collected as net mass.
The values expressed are real values achieved at the time deals were contracted (invoice values), which are then further recalculated according to deliveries at the Croatian border.
The export values are calculated on the basis of the FOB parity. It means that the invoice value is reduced for transportation and other costs incurred from the Croatian border to the place of delivery abroad, if it is agreed that goods are delivered abroad. If it is agreed for delivery to take place in the country (Republic of Croatia), the invoice value is increased by the costs incurred from the place of delivery in Croatia to the Croatian border.
The import values are calculated on the basis of the CIF parity. It means that the invoice value is increased by transportation and other costs incurred from the place of delivery abroad to the Croatian border, if it is agreed that goods are delivered abroad. If it is agreed for delivery to take place in the country (Republic of Croatia), the invoice value is reduced for the costs incurred from the Croatian border to the place of delivery in Croatia.
The amounts expressed in foreign currencies are converted into kuna, euros and American dollars according to the monthly exchange rate lists determined for the reporting month. The mean exchange rate of the Croatian National Bank is used.
Since 1 January 2002, the 8-digit code of the Combined Nomenclature, the EU customs and statistical classification of products, has been used in data collection and it is harmonised up to the 6-digit code level with the Harmonised system.
Data on the export are shown by countries of destination. In Extrastat, data on the import are shown by countries of the origin of goods, while in Intrastat data on the arrivals of goods are presented by countries of dispatch.
The economic classification of countries refers to:
European Union – EU (Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Hungary, Malta, the Netherlands, Germany, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom)
European Free Trade Association – EFTA (Island, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland)
Central European Free Trade Agreement – CEFTA (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Kosovo, Macedonia, Moldova, Serbia)
Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries – OPEC (Algeria, Angola, Ecuador, Iraq, Qatar, Kuwait, the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and the Islamic Republic of Iran).
Abbreviations
CIF cost, insurance and freight
Eurostat Statistical Office of the European Communities
FOB free on board
NN Narodne novine, official gazette of the Republic of Croatia
UN United Nations
Prepared by:
Vesna Polančec
Dubravka Drempetić
Zrinka Lokas
Boro Žderić