- Methods and Projects
- Standards and Classifications
Standardised Methodological Report
Statistics on Affiliates of Spanish Companies Abroad
- 1Contact
- 1.1Contact organisation
National Statistics Institute of Spain
- 1.5Contact mail address
Avenida de Manoteras 50-52 - 28050 Madrid
- 1.1Contact organisation
- 2Metadata update
- 2.1Metadata last certified
09/09/2022
- 2.2Metadata last posted
30/09/2020
- 2.3Metadata last update
09/09/2022
- 2.1Metadata last certified
- 3Statistical presentation
- 3.1Data description
The Outward Foreign Affiliates Statistics (FILEXT) is an annual structural statistic, whose main objective is to provide information on the key variables that determine the structure and activity of the affiliates of Spanish parent companies abroad.
The variables examined are number of affiliates, turnover and employed persons..
The affiliate's main economic activity, size and geographical location are used as classification variables.
The results of this statistic are prepared taking administrative information from the Register of Foreign Investments of the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism (MINCOTUR) as a base, which provides primary data to INE by virtue of a collaboration agreement between these.
- 3.2Classification system
- Clasificaciones utilizadas
The National Classification of Economic Activities (CNAE-2009) is used to codify the activity of the companies, process and release their data.
Regarding countries, the ISO 3166-1 codes are used and, for the aggregates of countries, the codes contained in the Eurostat's Balance of Payments Vademecum are used.
- Clasificaciones utilizadas
- 3.3Sector coverage
The target population of this statistic is formed of companies residing outside of Spain that are affiliates of Spanish parent companies and whose main activity is included in sections
- B to E (industry),
- F (construction) y
- G to S, except K y O (non-financial market services)
of CNAE 2009
- 3.4Statistical concepts and definitions
- Branch under Spanish control
A branch under Spanish control is regarded as a local unit with no legal identity of its own, under the control of a Spanish unit.
- Company
The company is the smallest combination of legal units that is an organizational unit producing goods or
services, which benefits from a certain degree of autonomy in decision-making, especially for the
allocation of its current resources. A company carries out one or more activities at one or more
locations. A company may be a sole legal unit. - Employed persons
Employed persons are understood to be the group of permanent and temporary employed persons who, during the reference year of the data, were carrying out paid or unpaid work for the company, and belonging to and being paid by said company.
Persons on leave for illness, paid holidays, unpaid occasional leave, on strike etc., are included, as are part-time workers who are regarded as such by the laws of the country in question and who appear on the company payroll, as well as seasonal workers, apprentices or persons working from home, but included in the company's payroll.
This also includes owners who regularly work in the unit, as well as family members and persons who regularly work there.
However, this does not include persons working for the company who are employed and paid by other companies or agencies; people who are carrying out maintenance or repair work in some of the company premises or establishments and being paid by other companies; as well as persons on sabattical, unlimited leave or retired. The members of the Board of Directors who are remunerated exclusively for their presence at Board Meetings and those partners or other persons that work less than 1/3 of the working day are also not included.
The concept of employed persons used in the survey refers to the average number of persons employed during the year. - Final Institutional control unit,
ICU. The final owner of an affiliate is that institutional unit or company that, proceeding hierarchically upwards along the chain of control of said
affiliate, exercises control over itself, not being controlled, in turn, by any other unit. Therefore, in our case, only results for affiliates abroad of parent companies or final owners resident in Spain are included in these statistics. - Leadership
Leadership is regarded as the ability to determine the general policy of a company by designating suitable managers where necessary.
- Subsidiary
A subsidiary is understood to be a company with offices abroad but controlled by a Spanish company.
- Turnover
This includes the total amounts invoiced by the observation unit, during the reference period, for the sales of goods and services supplied to third parties, considering both those carried out directly by the observation unit itself, and those from temporary outsourcing.
These sales of goods or services are accounted for in net terms, that is, including the charges to the client (transport, packages, etc.), though invoiced separately, but deducting the discount on sales for early payment, returns of sales or the value of returned packages, as well as taxes on sales. This includes taxes and fees on goods or services invoiced by the unit, but excludes the VAT paid by the client.
From an administrative point of view, the General Accounting Plan (PGC) (RD 1514/2007, of 16 November) defines the Total net value of turnover, using the following accounting items: C700+C701+C702+C703+C704+C705-C706-C708-C709 with:
C700. Sales of merchandise
C701. Sales of finished products
C702. Sales of semi-finished products
C703. Sales of sub-products and waste
C704. Sales of packages and packaging
C705. Provision of services
C706. Discount on sales for early payment
C708. Returns of sales and similar transactions
C709. "Taxes" on sales
Therefore, turnover includes neither subsidies nor other operating income. It also excludes financial and extraordinary income, and other income that affects the results of the fiscal year.
- Branch under Spanish control
- 3.5Statistical unit
The basic unit of analysis is the company or branch under Spanish control.
The statistical units of the survey are considered to be the affiliate companies or branches of Spanish companies, resident outside Spain and whose main economic activity is included, in accordance with CNAE-2009, in one of the sectors studied (industry, construction, trade and other non-financial market services). - 3.6Statistical population
The target population of study of this statistic for Spain is formed of the companies resident outside Spain that are affiliates of Spanish parent companies and whose main activity is included in sections B to E (industry), F (construction) and G to S, except K and O (non-financial market services) of CNAE-2009.
With regards to the population of respondent units, in accordance with the methodology established by Eurostat and included in the recommendations manual, the Member States should apply the criteria of the Ultimate controlling institutional unit (UCI).
The final owner of an affiliate is the institutional unit (company or private individual) that, proceeding hierarchically upwards along the chain of control of the aforementioned affiliate, exercises control over it, not being controlled, in turn, by any other unit. Therefore, in our case, only the results of affiliates abroad of parent companies or owners ultimately residing in Spain are included. - 3.7Reference area
From a geographical point of view, the statistic refers to affiliates of Spanish companies (according to the UCI criteria) resident outside Spain in any country in the world, both inside and outside the European Union. Broken down data for each of the countries of the world should be supplied, as well as certain aggregated data of these (Europe, EU, America, Africa, etc.).
- 3.8Time coverage
The FILEXT statistic has been producing results annually since 2011, when the results corresponding to 2009 were published. Thus the results published in the year T correspond to the annual period T-2
- 3.9Base period
Although the FILEXTstatistic does not use index numbers, the FATS-R establishes that
1. The first reference year for which annual statistics will be prepared will be the calendar year of the entry into force of the present Regulation (2007)
2. Henceforward the Member States will provide data relating to every calendar year.Nevertheless, in Spain, the official data began in 2009, due to a derogation granted to Spain and others and countries for two years, in application of the Community regulation.
- 3.1Data description
- 4Unit of measure
- 4.1Unit of measure
Turnover: Thousand Euros.
Employed persons: number of persons employed.
Companies: number of affiliates.
- 4.1Unit of measure
- 5Reference period
- 5.1Reference period
The statistic is annual (publication in year T) and the economic data obtained are also annual and refer to the corresponding reference calendar year that will correspond to 2 years before the year of publication (T-2).
Data referred to the period: Anual A: 2020
- 5.1Reference period
- 6Institutional mandate
- 6.1Legal acts and other agreements
The compilation and dissemination of the data are governed by the Statistical Law No. 12/1989 "Public Statistical Function" of May 9, 1989, and Law No. 4/1990 of June 29 on “National Budget of State for the year 1990" amended by Law No. 13/1996 "Fiscal, administrative and social measures" of December 30, 1996, makes compulsory all statistics included in the National Statistics Plan. The National Statistical Plan 2009-2012 was approved by the Royal Decree 1663/2008. It contains the statistics that must be developed in the four year period by the State General Administration's services or any other entity dependent on it. All statistics included in the National Statistics Plan are statistics for state purposes and are obligatory. The National Statistics Plan 2021-2024, approved by Royal Decree 1110/2020, of 15 December, is the Plan currently implemented. This statistical operation has governmental purposes, and it is included in the National Statistics Plan 2021-2024. (Statistics of the State Administration).
With regards to the OFATS, this is required by Regulation (EC) No 716/2007 of the European Parliament and of the Council (FATS-R) in its Annex II (Outward FATS) since in 2007 European Union authorities considered that the information on overseas affiliates provided in accordance with the Community legislation in force or available in Member States was insufficient, inadequate or barely comparable to be able to be used as a reliable basis in the work of the Commission.
In the aforementioned FATS-R, which is attached, the most important concepts are defined and key aspects such as the target population, statistical unit, variables to measure, frequency and quality are regulated.
https://www.ine.es/normativa/leyes/UE/minine.htm#30082
- 6.2Data sharing
The exchanges of information needed to elaborate statistics between the INE and the rest of the State statistical offices (Ministerial Departments, independent bodies and administrative bodies depending on the State General Administration), or between these offices and the Autonomic statistical offices, are regulated in the LFEP (Law of the Public Statistic Function). This law also regulates the mechanisms of statistical coordination, and concludes cooperation agreements between the different offices when necessary.
The FILEXT information essentially draws on two Administrative Registers:
1. The Register of Foreign Investments that depends on the Secretary of State for Trade of the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism (MINCOTUR). This Register is formed using model declarations that the General Directorate for International Trade and Investments compiles on overseas investments in Spanish companies and Spanish investment in overseas companies, both regarding flows and position (stock). FILEXT focuses on the stock of investment in overseas companies.
2. Information from the EuroGroups Register (EGR) is also used in order to obtain definitive results of the study. The EuroGroups Register is a statistical source prepared by Eurostat that has information on groups of companies from private databases and from units responsible for company registers in the statistical institutes of the various Member States as well as of countries that are members of the EFTA.
- 6.1Legal acts and other agreements
- 7Confidentiality
- 7.1Confidentiality - policy
The Statistical Law No. 12/1989 specifies that the INE cannot publish, or make otherwise available, individual data or statistics that would enable the identification of data for any individual person or entity. Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 on European statistics stipulates the need to establish common principles and guidelines ensuring the confidentiality of data used for the production of European statistics and the access to those confidential data with due account for technical developments and the requirements of users in a democratic society
- 7.2Confidentiality - data treatment
INE provides information on the protection of confidentiality at all stages of the statistical process: INE questionnaires for the operations in the national statistical plan include a legal clause protecting data under statistical confidentiality. Notices prior to data collection announcing a statistical operation notify respondents that data are subject to statistical confidentiality at all stages. For data processing, INE employees have available the INE data protection handbook, which specifies the steps that should be taken at each stage of processing to ensure reporting units' individual data are protected. The microdata files provided to users are anonymised.
In order to protect statistical confidentiality through the anonymisation of data, different procedures are used to guarantee statistical secrecy. Definitive data is presented in the form of a table which is broken down into the following variables: Number of Affiliates, Turnover and Number of employed persons by country, geographical region, sector of activity of the affiliate or the size of the affiliate in relation to the number of employed persons. In some cases it may be possible to deduce the identity of the affiliate(s), and of the parent company when the number of elements included in the cell is very low. The technique used to guarantee confidentiality is based on deleting cells.
In primary confidentiality, cells where three or fewer investors have provided information are deleted.
- 7.1Confidentiality - policy
- 8Release policy
- 8.1Release calendar
The advance release calendar that shows the precise release dates for the coming year is disseminated in the last quarter of each year.
- 8.2Release calendar access
The calendar is disseminated on the INEs Internet website (Publications Calendar)
- 8.3User access
The data are released simultaneously according to the advance release calendar to all interested parties by issuing the press release. At the same time, the data are posted on the INE's Internet website (www.ine.es/en) almost immediately after the press release is issued. Also some predefined tailor-made requests are sent to registered users. Some users could receive partial information under embargo as it is publicly described in the European Statistics Code of Practice
- 8.1Release calendar
- 9Frequency of dissemination
- 9.1Frequency of dissemination
The statistic is disseminated annually.
- 9.1Frequency of dissemination
- 10Accessibility and clarity
- 10.1News release
The results of the statistical operations are normally disseminated by using press releases that can be accessed via both the corresponding menu and the Press Releases Section in the web
- 10.2Publications
The results of the statistic are released through the INE web page (INEBase) and some results are covered in publications such as España en cifras (Spain in Figures), Cifras INE (INE Figures), etc.
- 10.3On-line database
INEbase is the system the INE uses to store statistical information on the Internet. It contains all the information the INE produces in electronic formats. The primary organisation of the information follows the theme-based classification of the Inventory of Statistical Operations of the State General Administration . The basic unit of INEbase is the statistical operation, defined as the set of activities that lead to obtaining statistical results on a determined sector or subject based on the individually collected data. Also included in the scope of this definition are synthesis preparation.
Information on the Outward Foreign Affiliates Statistics can be found at:
Number of consultations of the data tables AC1= 1,257.
Number of consultations of metdata AC2= 5,708.
- 10.4Micro-data access
A lot of statistical operations disseminate public domain anonymized files, available free of charge for downloading in the INE website Microdata Section
For this statistical operation no file of anonymised data is provided.
- 10.5Other
Users can request specific use of tailored data, that will be carried whilst preserving the confidentiality of the data in all cases, through the Information area at:
https://www.ine.es/prodyser/informacion
- 10.6Documentation on methodology
Methodology can be found at https://www.ine.es/metodologia/t37/t3730082.pdf
- 10.7Quality documentation
On the basis of Regulations 716/2007 and 834/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council, the European Commission (Eurostat) evaluates the quality of the transmitted data and prepares reports on the quality of European statistics. In the case in question, FILEXT is a part of the European O-FATS (Outwards Foreign Affiliates) statistics and Eurostat, with the data provided by each country, prepares an internal quality report that contains quantitative and qualitative information.
Sections 10.7 to 17 of this document are the user-oriented quality report for this operation.
- 10.1News release
- 11Quality management
- 11.1Quality assurance
Quality assurance framework for the INE statistics is based on the ESSCoP, the European Statistics Code of Practice made by EUROSTAT. The ESSCoP is made up of 16 principles, gathered in three areas: Institutional Environment, Processes and Products. Each principle is associated with some indicators which make possible to measure it. In order to evaluate quality, EUROSTAT provides different tools: the indicators mentioned above, Self-assessment based on the DESAP model, peer review, user satisfaction surveys and other proceedings for evaluation.
The statistic is guided by the European Statistics Code of Practice and, in line with this, is essentially focused on:
1. Evaluating and comparing the quality of primary data from the administrative registers of MINCOTUR and the Bank of Spain.
2. Guaranteeing statistical confidentiality.
3. Clear description of the methodology and annual revision of this.
4. Not adding statistical burden to the respondent units.
5. Comparing the coherence of both raw data for comparison of these with the Central Company Directory (CCD), the EuroGroup Register and the results of the statistic obtained each year. Regarding year-on-year comparisons as well as in the same period, comparing with data from other statistics produced by INE (FILEXT) or by external agencies (Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism).
6. Using the definitions and standards that allow for consistency with data from other European statistical institutes.
- 11.2Quality assessment
The fundamental source of improvement is based on the optimisation of the framework of companies with affiliates overseas that is currently based on the Register of Foreign Investments of the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism (MINCOTUR). This administrative register only affects investments made in companies whose equity is less than 1,502,530.27 Euros. Results of affiliates from the third level of the ownership chain are also not covered. Thus, the statistical framework should be formed in a way that complements the previous register with data from INE's Central Company Directory (DIRCE) and Eurostat's EuroGroups Register (EGR), whose updating has been improved year on year.
The statistics' strength is the complete coherence with the statistics on Spanish Direct Foreign Investment prepared by the Register of Foreign Investments of the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism.
- 11.1Quality assurance
- 12Relevance
- 12.1User needs
The primary users of this survey are the European Commission and the Spanish economic authorities, with the aim of applying and reviewing the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) and the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), and in light of the present and future negotiations of new agreements.
- 12.2User satisfaction
The INE has carried out general user satisfaction surveys in 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016 and 2019 and it plans to continue doing so every three years. The purpose of these surveys is to find out what users think about the quality of the information of the INE statistics and the extent to which their needs of information are covered. In addition, additional surveys are carried out in order to acknowledge better other fields such as dissemination of the information, quality of some publications...
On the INE website, in its section Methods and Projects / Quality and Code of Practice / INE quality management / User surveys are available surveys conducted to date.(Click next link)
The INE web page at https://www.ine.es/ss/Satellite?c=Page&cid=1259944133654&pagename=MetodologiaYEstandares%2FINELayout&L=0# contains the surveys carried out so far, where it is possible to see the evaluation of the “Industry” sector that frames this statistical operation, which could provide indications on users opinion on it.
- 12.3Completeness
The survey complies with the information requirements of the FATS regulation and of the National Statistical Plan in the section of structural information on affiliates for the industrial, trade, construction and non-financial services sectors.
The rate of available obligatory statistical results or the Rate of completeness of the data R1=100%
- 12.1User needs
- 13Accuracy and reliability
- 13.1Overall accuracy
The statistic makes use of the administrative registers that almost exhaustively cover the total target population of respondents for the most important variables: turnover and employed persons. However, the existence of a cut-off threshold in the MINCOTUR data requires an estimate to be made of the data from the missing part, through DIRCE and EGR data and, in addition, the quality of the data of the Administrative Registers is variable.
Therefore, there are three main sources of error:
1. Missing or erroneous data in the Register of Foreign Investments.
2. Lack of coverage that especially affects the variable number of companies and
3. Continuous errors and updates in EGR data.
- 13.2Sampling error
Not applicable as, since this is a survey that uses administrative registers provided by the Register of Foreign Investments, no sampling is used.
A1=N.A
- 13.3Non-sampling error
In the process prior to obtaining the results of the statistic, a sampling error check is carried out, arising from the lack of coverage of a source used, as well as duplications or the inclusion of affiliates that do not correspond, utilising information from the EuroGroups Register (EGR), cross checking with the statistics of Affiliates of Spanish Companies Abroad and diverse information appearing in the media.
This is a statistic that draws on two administrative registers that are mandatory for companies. One is the Register of Spanish Foreign Investment, which must be completed by all companies, dependent on the General Directorate for Trade and Investments of MINCOTUR and the other is dependent on the Bank of Spain for the financial companies supervised by it. Hence, the response rate is higher than that which could be obtained from a sample survey or, as was revealed in the pilot study, in its contrast with the EGR and in other countries.
In this respect, it can be mentioned that the EuroGroups Register database, which, in theory, would constitute the sampling framework, undercovers overseas affiliates of a greater size compared to those declared to the Register of Spanish Foreign Investment, which means that it is advisable to use the latter source.
A2=A3=A4=A5=N.A
On the other hand, with regards to imputation, referring to the process used to assign valid values for the lacking, invalid or inconsistent data that have been found through filtering, the rate of imputation A7=0.98% is obtained.
- 13.1Overall accuracy
- 14Timeliness and punctuality
- 14.1Timeliness
Firstly, regarding Opportunity first results TP1, no provisional results are prepared.
The FATS regulation requires that results be made available within 20 months after the end of the reference period (Year), with t=December of this period. The results are sent to Eurostat before the deadline and are published nationally onTP2=t+21 (before 30th September).
The 2020 reference data (December 2020=t) are published on 26th September 2022.
The time before publication of definitive data: Opportunity final results TP2 = 20 months + 26 days
- 14.2Punctuality
Punctuality (delay in publication) TP3 = Compliance with INE's release calendar.
- 14.1Timeliness
- 15Coherence and Comparability
- 15.1Comparability - geographical
The methodological adaptation to the FATS Regulation makes it possible to compare with the other European Union countries that release this same information for their respective sectors. The focus is on overseas affiliates of Spanish parent companies without considering the Autonomous Community in which the parent company is located.
- 15.2Comparability - over time
The continuity in the methodology applied since the introduction of this survey allows for comparability over time; the new national classification of economic activities (CNAE-2009) has been used for the data published for the 12 years in which the Statistic has been prepared (2009-2020).
The number of comparable elements of a time series before its last gap or the length of the comparable time series CC2 = 12
- 15.3Coherence - cross domain
As the source of the data is the Register of Foreign Investments of the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism (MINCOTUR), the data are coherent with operations concerning the position in Spanish Direct Foreign Investment prepared by the General Directorate for Trade and Investments and, more specifically, the Sub-directorate General for International Trade of Services and Investments of the aforementioned Ministry.
Given that the statistic uses the EuroGroups Register, managed by Eurostat, as an auxiliary source of information, the concepts used are harmonised with those used in other Eurostat countries so that the operations of Inward FATS of different EU countries reflect, and thus are coherent, with the data published in the Outward FATS of Spain, and vice versa.
- 15.4Coherence - internal
Internal coherence is guaranteed through the application of the quality assurance methodology at every stage of development of the statistic and especially in the filtration stage through the use of indicators based on variations of variables and ratios that allow for the detection of atypical values that are analysed in detail, in order to be maintained, corrected or deleted.
- 15.1Comparability - geographical
- 16Cost and burden
- 16.1Cost and burden
There is no additional burden on respondents to provide data, as data is used that was already under the authority of the administration or that came from much earlier surveys.
The 2022 Annual Programme estimate of the necessary budgetary appropriation to finance this statistic is 65.97 thousand Euros
.
- 16.1Cost and burden
- 17Data revision
- 17.1Data revision - policy
The INE of Spain has a policy which regulates the basic aspects of statistical data revision, seeking to ensure process transparency and product quality. This policy is laid out in the document approved by the INE board of directors on 13 March of 2015, which is available on the INE website, in the section "Methods and projects/Quality and Code of Practice/INE’s Quality management/INE’s Revision policy" (link).
This general policy sets the criteria that the different type of revisions should follow: routine revision- it is the case of statistics whose production process includes regular revisions-; more extensive revision- when methodological or basic reference source changes take place-; and exceptional revision- for instance, when an error appears in a published statistic-.
The data are definitive when they are published and they can be subject to review.
If errors are detected and the data must be modified, an explanatory note will be added to the information in order to alert users that the data have been changed. Where possible, users are directly informed of these errors. - 17.2Data revision - practice
The data are published when they are definitive and they may be subject to review if errors are detected in later years.
- 17.1Data revision - policy
- 18Statistical processing
- 18.1Source data
INE gets the information needed to obtain the results of this statistic from the Register of Foreign Investments of the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism (MINCOTUR).
This Register is formed using model declarations that the General Directorate for International Trade and Investment and, more specifically, the Sub-directorate General for International Trade of Services and Investments compile on overseas investment in Spanish companies and Spanish investment in overseas companies, both regarding flows and position (stock).
Specifically, in the case of the stock of Spanish investments in overseas companies, Spanish resident investors that make investments in overseas companies whose equity is more than 1,502,530.27 Euros (or its exchange value in the currency in which this figure is expressed) and in those in which the investor's share of the capital or of the total voting rights is equal to or greater than 10% must present an annual report on the development of the overseas investment in the first nine months of each calendar year (model D-8). This report is also presented for investments in overseas companies whose activity is the share ownership of the capital of other companies, regardless of the investment quantity. The owners of overseas branches will also present an annual report, regardless of the investment quantity.
In the report, information is obtained on the companies in which the investor has holdings, as well as on the companies in which these companies have holdings. Finally, the third level of the affiliates holdings chain is reached, although less information is collected from this final one.
The Register of Foreign Investments covers operations on the position in Direct Foreign Investment in Spain and Spanish Direct Foreign Investment, which is published annually and appears in the National Statistical Plan (NSP), and also the quarterly and biannual release operations on flows on Direct Foreign Investment in Spain and Spanish Direct Foreign Investment, also present in the NSP.
Statistics on Spanish Investment on Foreign Negotiable Securities and Foreign Investment on Spanish Negotiable Securities, both flows and position, are also obtained from the Register of Foreign Investment.
It must be noted that, even though the data derived from the aforementioned Register of Investments have been considered as the fundamental primary base for generating information, these data have been complemented with information from the EuroGroups Register in order to obtain definitive investigation results.
It must be borne in mind that the coverage of affiliates derived from the Register of Investments is incomplete regarding the population of affiliates referred to, as, in accordance with current regulation, companies are not required to declare investments made in companies whose equity less than 1,502,530.27 Euros on relevant administrative forms. Results of affiliates from the third level of the holdings chain are also not covered. As a consequence, it has been necessary to carry out an additional estimation process that concerns the activity of these affiliates and from which, through the appropriate adjustment process, the definitive results of the statistic can be obtained.
- 18.2Frequency of data collection
The data are obtained annually from the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism (MINCOTUR) at t+17 months and from the Bank of Spain, at t+18, with t being December of the reference year.
- 18.3Data collection
The Register of Foreign Investments of the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism (MINCOTUR) is formed using model declarations that the General Directorate for International Trade and Investment and, more specifically, the Sub-directorate General for International Trade of Services and Investments compile on overseas investment in Spanish companies and Spanish investment in overseas companies, both regarding flows and position (stock).
Specifically, in the case of the stock of Spanish investments in overseas companies, Spanish resident investors that make investments in overseas companies whose equity is more than 1,502,530.27 Euros (or its exchange value in the currency in which this figure is expressed) and in those in which the investorâs share of the capital or of the total voting rights is equal to or greater than 10% must present an annual report on the development of the overseas investment in the first nine months of each calendar year (model D-8). This report is also presented for investments in overseas companies whose activity is the share ownership of the capital of other companies, regardless of the investment quantity. The owners of overseas branches will also submit an annual report, regardless of the investment quantity.
For submission, existing support software can be used for the completion of forms or, in the case of non-telematic submission, preprinted forms should be used.
INE requests a series of model D-8 variables needed to obtain the target variables of the study, and the Ministry sends an XML file with the corresponding data.
- 18.4Data validation
Once the Production Unit has received the microdata from the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism (MINCOTUR) in the XML file, information coverage control is carried out in order to guarantee the completeness of the data received, to detect duplicates and coverage errors and, at the same time, to be able to effect the first evaluation of the quality of the variables.
Regarding the Bank of Spain, the data are received in an aggregated form, in a txt file, on which various validation tests are carried out (formats, codes used, totals equal to the sum of the parts...) in order to detect invalid data.
In both cases, the correction and resending of files is requested from respondents or, if the error is directly identifiable, it is corrected by the promoter unit.
- 18.5Data compilation
In the initial stage, a content error process is carried out, deleting those affiliates that do not depend on truly Spanish parent companies, duplicates, those that are not controlled (with a percentage greater than 50%), or whose activity is not within the target population of the study. Once this stage is complete, the calculation of elevation factors is carried out to correct the lack of coverage of data from the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism (MINCOTUR) and to adapt them to the target population and determine estimates of the various variables that were deleted due to the cut-off threshold.
The last stage, before the results are released, is the implementation of coherence controls between the different tables and break downs published both year-on-year and in the same year, identifying, in the latter case, the individual companies whose additions, deletions and modifications cause changes in the statistic for those data that are identified as atypical.
- 18.6Adjustment
Not applicable as it is not necessary to seasonally adjust the data.
- 18.1Source data
- 19Comment
- 19.1Comment
- 19.1Comment
Contact