Rome – October 26 – 31, 2003
Session No 1aPaper N°8
[Matthias NAHM, Federal Statistical Office, Germany]
Progress Report
- Current Business Register System
The so-called Business Register System 95 was created in 1995. This was done by merging statistical address files which were available for individual sectors. To obtain information also on units not included in statistical reporting certain administrative data has to be used. As a general rule the following files are annually integrated into the current business register:
1)files from the tax authorities (VAT files; income and corporation tax files),
2)a file from the Federal Institute for Employment (FIE),
3)files from the Chambers of Commerce and Industry,
4)files from the Chambers of Crafts, and
5)a file from the Federal Finance Office (FFO).
In the years 1999 and 2000 the VAT files and the file from the FIE were used for business register purposes for the first time. By processing them a large number of extra units was integrated. In the following years the business register was updated continuously. Between 2000 and 2002 two register surveys were conducted to enhance the register quality by deleting double-recorded units, shutting down falsely active units and storing the correct relations between units.
At the beginning of 2003 the business register was updated with VAT data and with FIE data for the fourth time (for both reference year 2001). To replace the crafts report in the future the first update of the business register with the files from the Chambers of Crafts was completed in late summer (reference year 2002). By autumn 2003 the income and corporation tax files will have been integrated for the first time. The intention is to obtain legal units which neither are liable for VAT nor have any employees liable to pay social insurance contributions.
In the year 2003 the business register again forms the basis for many statistics. For example, the register provides information for the labour cost survey in order to obtain an efficient sample. This survey is carried out at four-yearly intervals and will proceed in 2004. The enterprises of the business register will be stratified according to NACE Sections, regions and size classes built upon the number of employees. Given this background, the EU Regulation concerning Structural Statistics on Earnings and on Labour Costs is going to be fulfilled.
The most important activities planned for the rest of the year 2003 and for the first half of 2004 are
- updating the business register with VAT data and data from the FIE (for the fourth time),
- updating the business register with the files from the Chambers of Crafts (for the second time),
- integrating the files from the Chambers of Commerce and Industry (for the first time),
- integrating the file from the FFO (for the first time), and
- publishing data from the business register (for the first time).
At the moment the statistical offices of the Länder are updating the register units with the latest information concerning the number of employees and extra units with the help of the FIE file. Along the way the files from the Chambers of Commerce and Industry are going to be processed based on the characteristic ‘trade register number’ obtained in this context. After that the variable ‘turnover’ will be obtained by processing the VAT files. Another intention is to update the business register with the files from the Chambers of Crafts in order to identify units as enterprises who consist of craftworkers. After analysing the file from the Federal Finance Office, business register units are planned to be identified as parent or as subsidiary companies. Apart from that the file opens a chance to resolve relations between parent companies and their subsidiary companies. The question of whether to include new units like subsidiary companies has to be decided in the near future. One of the most important among the planned activities is to publish data from the business register. The intention is to present preset tables. The tables will show e. g. the number of legal units by NACE Sections and the magnitude of VAT together with the number of employees liable for social insurance contributions. The publication will be issued in the first quarter of the year 2004.
- Plans for a new Business Register System
The current business register has been designed as a preliminary solution. Therefore German Statistics intends to introduce a new business register system. One of the main targets of this register will be to establish an enlarged unit model. The model is planned to include the enterprise and the local unit as statistical units, as well as legal units and local legal units. The model is also to include ownership and control relations between legal units. Another main target of the new business register is to improve the support of statistical surveys and to reduce the burden caused by surveys, e. g. by efficient rotation.
According to the federal structure of German Statistics the present business register is maintained in a decentralised way by the statistical offices of the Länder. Regarding the new business register, German Statistics is going to investigate technical solutions for a centralised business register with decentralised access by the statistical offices of the Länder.
- Business Register Systems and Methodological Aspects
3.1Statistical units
The methodological work of a working group on statistical units, consisting of experts of the statistical offices of the Länder and the Federal Statistical Office, has been continued. After developing a concept for a new definition of the enterprise term which comprises more than one legal unit, the working group has started to investigate ways of implementing it in statistical practice. To this end, a test survey has been conducted to clarify the empirical relevance of the concept. In the context of this voluntary survey a sample was drawn from the current business register. Using the bottom-up method, 10,000 selected legal units were asked, among other things, about their status as a part of an enterprise group and their links to other legal units within this group. The results will be presented in the session on statistical and administrative units.
3.2Concentration Statistics
The business register plays an important role in improving concentration statistics. In Germany, it is the duty of the Monopolies Commission to monitor the development of concentration. In order to base concentration analysis on enterprise groups the Monopolies Commission produced a data file which contains an assignment of enterprises (legal units) to enterprise groups by using commercial databases. The updated data file was transmitted to the Federal Statistical Office at the end of May 2003. It refers to the reporting year 2001 and contains about 390,000 controlled enterprises of all branches. About 38,000 legal units of NACE Sections C and D were selected from the current business register to match them with the units of the file of the Monopolies Commission. The matching process was based on the trade register numbers, names and addresses and additional reference data. By the end of the year 2003 the Federal Statistical Office will have completed the aggregation of enterprise data to obtain information on enterprise groups, in accordance with the file of the Monopolies Commission, and then calculate concentration indices for NACE Sections C and D.
3.3Uniform Identification Number
The intention of the German government is to construct an official administrative business register with uniform identification numbers for economic units in Germany. Pursuant to the ‘Law on the Testing of an Interadministrative and Countrywide Uniform Economic Identification Code’ a test started in July 2002 with the aim to evaluate the feasibility of the procedure in detail. The Federal Institute for Employment (FIE) as the agency responsible for the test distributed data on units included in its register to other agencies to match them with their data. However, the assignment proportions made clear that the data stocks of different agencies are quite different. Currently, a new law is being prepared whose aim is to introduce uniform tax numbers for legal units in Germany, which are also to serve as general identification numbers. The Federal Statistical Office will support the preparation of this measure in terms of content.
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