NOTES ON METHODOLOGY 2018

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 the reporting units to report on arrivals and/or dispatches on the monthly basis, that is, for each 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 2018, an exemption threshold of 1.9 million kuna for arrivals and of 1.0 million kuna for dispatches has been determined. In order to achieve the complete harmonisation with the EU methodology and legislation, data on foreign trade in goods have been supplemented with 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.

The data source 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 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.

Legal basis

The legal basis for the conduct of the Intrastat survey is the European legislation related to the statistics on trading in goods between EU Member States (Regulation (EC) No. 638/2004 and the 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 2018 (NN, No. 33/18) and the Customs Administration Act (NN, Nos 68/13, 30/14, 115/16 and 39/19). More detailed notes on the methodology of this survey are published on the web site of the Croatian Bureau of Statistics (http://www.dzs.hr/Eng/intrastat/intrastat.htm).

The legal basis for Extrastat is the European legislation related to the statistics on trading in goods with third countries (the Regulation (EC) No 471/2009 and the amending regulations Nos 2016/1724 and 2016/2119 of the European Parliament and of the Council, the Commission Regulation (EU) No. 92/2010 and the amending regulation No. 2016/1253 as well as the Commission Regulation (EU) No 113/2010), the EU Customs Legislations Implementation Act (NN, No. 40/16), 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 2018 (NN, No. 33/18), the Customs Administration Act (NN, Nos 68/13, 30/14, 115/16 and 39/19) and the Ordinance on Filling in the Single Administrative Document (NN, No. 77/13).

Coverage and comparability

Statistics on foreign trade in goods include all 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, goods used as carriers of customized information including software and software downloaded from the Internet, means of payment which are legal tender and securities, goods supplied free of charge which are not the subject of commercial transactions (advertising material and commercial samples), supplying of Croatian diplomatic missions abroad and foreign diplomatic missions in the Republic of Croatia, and temporary exports and imports for repair.

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).

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.

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.

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 export are shown by countries of destination. In Extrastat, data on 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 (Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland)

-       Central European Free Trade Agreement – CEFTA (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Kosovo, Moldova, North Macedonia and Serbia)

-       Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries – OPEC (Algeria, Angola, Ecuador, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Iraq, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Qatar, Congo, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela).

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:

Boro Žderić

Dubravka Drempetić

Saša Tomašević