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Statistics on Affiliates of Foreign Companies in Spain

• 1Contact
  • 1.1Contact organisation
    National Statistics Institute of Spain
    
  • 1.5Contact mail address

    Avenida de Manoteras 50-52 - 28050 Madrid

    
    
• 2Metadata update
  • 2.1Metadata last certified
    23/09/2022
  • 2.2Metadata last posted
    28/09/2021
  • 2.3Metadata last update
    23/09/2022
• 3Statistical presentation
  • 3.1Data description

    AIMS OF THE STATISTICAL OPERATION:  

    The main objective of the Statistics on Affiliates of Foreign Enterprises in Spain (Inward FATS) is to provide information on the main characteristics and economic indicators that determine the structure and activity of affiliates of foreign enterprises in Spain, in the industrial, trade and  non-financial services sectors sectors.

    
    FILINT has been designed to respond, within the scope of the industrial and services sectors, to the requirements of the Inward Annex of Regulation (EC) No 716/2007 of the European Parliament and Council of 20 June 2007 on EU statistics relating to the structure and activity of foreign affiliates (FATS Regulation), i.e. the investigation of foreign affiliates within each country.

     

    CLASSIFICATION VARIABLES:

    Economic Activity. The economic activity carried out by an enterprise is defined as the creation of added value by means of the production of goods and services.

    
    Each one of the statistical units (enterprises) studied frequently carries out various activities that should be classified in separate classes of the National Classification of Economic Activities. In general, the activities carried out by an economic unit may be of three types: main, secondary and auxiliary activities. The main activity differs from secondary activities in that it generates greater added value; whilst auxiliary activities are those that generate services that are not sold on the market and that only serve the unit on which they depend (administration departments, transport services or storage).

     
    For the purposes of this statistical operation, affiliates are classified according to their main activity, that is, the one that provides the greatest added value. However, in view of the difficulty that the calculation or estimation of this variable may sometimes imply for companies, if this information is not available, the main activity will be considered to be that which generates the greatest turnover or, failing this, that which employs the greatest number of employees.

    Enterprise Size. The size can be established regarding the magnitude of the turnover or the production value or by considering the number of persons constituting the enterprise's workforce. In this statistical operation, this second option is chosen to determine the size of the enterprises.

    Geographical variables.The geographical variable used is the country where the company that ultimately owns the foreign affiliate resident in Spain is located. The ultimate owner of an affiliate is the institutional unit located at the upper end of the control chain of a foreign affiliate and not controlled by any other institutional unit.

     

    ANALYSIS VARIABLES:

    • Number of affiliates
    • Turnover
    • Employed persons
    • Production value
    • Value added at factor cost
    • Purchases and work carried out by other companies
    • Staff costs
    • External Services
    • Gross investment in material fixed assets
    • Total operating income
    • Total operating costs
    • Sales a broad

    Data is also provided for the following economic indicators:

    • Productivity: Added value / employed persons
    • Average salary: Wages and salaries / wage-earners
    • Added value rate: Added value / production value
    • Staff costs rate: Staff costs / added value
  • 3.2Classification system
    • Clasificaciones utilizadas

      Actividad económica. Esta operación estadística utiliza la Clasificación Nacional de Actividades Económicas CNAE-2009 para codificar la actividad de las empresas, procesar y difundir sus datos. Se establecen dos niveles distintos de desagregación de la actividad de las empresas:

      
      
      

      a)    Clasificación de las empresas según sector de actividad; Industria, Comercio , Servicios. 

      
      
      

      b)    Clasificación de las empresas según rama de actividad desagregada.  

      
      
      

      Tamaño de la empresa: Se  establecen dos niveles distintos de desagregación, definiendo tramos de tamaño en función del personal ocupado (en media anual) de la empresa:

      
      
      

      a) Clasificación de las empresas  según tamaño agregado:

      
      
      

      
      
      • De  menos de 10 personas ocupadas
      
      
      • De 10 a 49   personas ocupadas
      
      
      • De  50 a 249 personas ocupadas
      
      
      • De 250 o más personas ocupadas
      
      

      
      
      

       

      
      
      

      b) Clasificación de las empresas filiales según intervalo de tamaño desagregado:

      
      
      

      
      
      • De menos de  10  personas ocupadas
      
      
      • De    10  a    19  personas ocupadas
      
      
      • De    20  a    49  personas ocupadas
      
      
      • De    50  a    99  personas ocupadas
      
      
      • De  100  a  249  personas ocupadas
      
      
      • De  250  a  499  personas ocupadas
      
      
      • De  500  a  999  personas ocupadas
  • 3.3Sector coverage

    The detail of the activities (sections) included in the CNAE-2009 that constitute the population scope of this statistical operation is as follows: 

    B Mining and quarrying
    C Manufacturing
    D Electricity, gas, steam, and air conditioning supply
    E Water supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation activities
    G Wholesale and retail trade; Repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles
    H Transportation and storage
    I Accommodation and food service activities
    J Information and communication
    L Real estate activities
    M Professional, scientific and technical activities
    N Administrative and support service activities

  • 3.4Statistical concepts and definitions
    • Branch under foreign control
      A local unit, without its own legal identity, which depends on a company under foreign control.
    • 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.
    • Expenses on external services
      This concept comprises the total amount corresponding to the set of operating expenses of a different nature, carried out by the company during the reference year, such as expenditure on research and development, leases and taxes, repairs and preservation, independent professional services, transport, insurance premiums, bank services and the like, advertising, propaganda and public relations, supplies and other services.
    • 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.
    • Gross investment in material fixed assets
      The concept of investment includes those capital material goods acquired from third parties, as well as those produced by the unit itself (that is, the capitalised production of material goods) that have a useful life longer than one year.
      Investments are considered to be gross, that is, before the value adjustment and the adjustment of deducting the income obtained from grants. The goods purchased are valued at the purchase price, that is, including transport and installation costs, fees, taxes and other property transfer costs. Self-produced material goods are valued at the production cost. The goods incorporated as a result of business restructuring (mergers, segregations, etc.) should not be considered in the concept of investment. Purchases of small tools that are not capitalised and are included as current expenses, should not be considered part thereof either.
      From the accounting perspective, investment in material fixed assets encompasses the concepts of land and natural goods, buildings, technical installations, machinery, tools, other installations, furniture, information processing equipment, transport elements and other material fixed assets.
    • Leadership
      Leadership is regarded as the ability to determine the general policy of a company by designating suitable managers where necessary.
    • Personnel costs
      Personnel costs means the total remuneration, in cash or in kind, to be paid by an employer to an employee (either fixed, temporary or homeworker) in exchange for a work done by this person during the reference period.
      Staff costs also include taxes and social security contributions of employees retained by the unit, as well as the employer's compulsory and voluntary social contributions.
      Staff costs are composed of:
      -Salaries and salaries
      -Employer costs of social security
      Any remuneration paid during the reference period is included, regardless of whether it is paid on the basis of the working day, the production or the piecework, and whether it is paid periodically or not. Also included are all bonuses, productivity and performance premiums, unpaid payments, extraordinary (and similar) pay, redundancy allowances, accommodation and transportation, cost-of-living premiums and Family allowances, commissions, attendance bonuses, overtime, night work, etc., as well as taxes, social security contributions and other amounts payable by employees and retained at the source by Employers.
      The employer's social security costs are also included. These include the employer's social security contributions aimed at covering retirement, sickness, maternity, disability, unemployment, occupational accidents and illnesses, family allowances and other contingencies. These costs are included regardless of whether they are statutory, the subject of a collective agreement, contractual or voluntary
    • Production value
      The production value measures the amount actually produced by the unit, based on sales, including changes in stocks and the resale of goods and services.
      
      The production value is defined as turnover or revenue from sales of goods and rendering of services, plus or minus the changes in stocks of finished products, work in progress and goods and services purchased for resale, minus the purchases of goods and services for resale (only for the goods and services sold during the reporting period and excluding the costs of storage and transport of the goods purchased for resale), plus capitalised production, plus other (operating and extra-ordinary) income (excluding subsidies). Income and expenditure classified as financial or as revenue in the form of interests and dividends in company accounts is excluded from production value. Included in purchases of goods and services for resale are the purchases of services purchased in order to be rendered to third parties in the same condition.
      
      Note : Capitalised production includes the own-account production of all goods that are retained by their producers as investment. The latter includes the production of fixed tangible assets (buildings, etc.) as well as intangible assets (development of software, etc.). Capitalised production is unsold production and is valued at production cost. Note that these capital goods are also to be included in investment.
      
      Note : Other (operating and extra-ordinary) income is a company accounting heading. The contents of this heading may vary between sectors and over time and as such can not be defined precisely for statistical purposes.
      
      For the statistics on activities of NACE Rev.2 groups 65.1 and 65.2, the production value is defined gross premiums earned plus total portfolio investment income plus other services produced minus gross claims incurred, excluding claims management expenses plus capital gains and provisions.
      
      For the statistics on activities defined in Section 3 of Annex VI of Regulation (EC) No 295/2008, the production value is defined as interest receivable and similar income less interest payable and similar charges plus commissions receivable plus income from shares and other variable-yield securities plus net profit or net loss on financial operations plus other operating income.
      
      For the statistics on activities defined in Section 3 of Annex VII of Regulation (EC) No 295/2008, the production value is defined as turnover less insurance premiums payable plus investment income plus other income plus insurance claims receivable less total expenditure on pensions less net change in technical provisions.
      
      For the enterprises of the NACE Rev.2 class 64.11 (central banks) the production value is defined as interest receivable and similar income less interest payable
    • Purchases and work carried out by other companies
      The total purchases of goods and services include the value of all of the goods and services acquired by the company during the reference year for resale or consumption in the production process. The goods and services in question may be resold with or without subsequent transformation, be used completely in the production process or be stored.
      Included in the global concept of purchases are the materials that are directly incorporated into the goods produced (raw materials, intermediate products, components), as well as the small tools and non-capitalised capital goods. This also includes the value of the complementary materials (lubricants, water, packages, maintenance and repair materials, office material), energy products used in the production process and purchases of materials used by the unit itself in the production of capital goods.
      The total purchases of goods and services are valued at their purchase price, excluding deductible VAT and other deductible taxes that are directly linked to turnover.
    • Sales a broad
      Sales out of Spain to total turnover
    • Subsidiary
      A subsidiary is understood to be a company with offices in Spain but controlled by a foreign company.
    • Total operating costs
      This is the total amount obtained as a result of aggregating different expenses linked to use carried out by the company during the reference year (purchases and work carried out by other companies; aforementioned activities; external services; and other operating expenses). Internal expenses are valuated at the production cost and include all operating costs, including labour costs and capital expenditure.
    • Total operating income
      This is the total amount obtained as a result of aggregating different income linked to operation, obtained by the company during the reference year (net value of turnover; tasks performed by the company for its assets; subsidies, gifts and legacies; and the remainder of operating income).
    • 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.
    • Value added at factor cost
      The value added at factor cost is the gross income from operating activities after adjusting for operating subsidies and indirect taxes.
      
      It can be calculated from turnover, plus capitalised production, plus other operating income (including operating subsidies), plus or minus the changes in stocks, minus the purchases of goods and services, minus other taxes on products which are linked to turnover but not deductible, minus the duties and taxes linked to production. The duties and taxes linked to production are compulsory, unrequited payments, in cash or in kind which are levied by general government, or by the Institutions of the European Union, in respect of the production and importation of goods and services, the employment of labour, the ownership or use of land, buildings or other assets used in production irrespective of the quantity or the value of goods and services produced or sold. Alternatively it can be calculated from gross operating surplus by adding personnel costs.
      
      Income and expenditure classified as financial in company accounts according to the 4th Accounting Directive (78/660/EEC) is excluded from value added. Income and expenditure classified as interest income, dividend income, foreign exchange gain from foreign currency borrowings related to interest costs, gains on redemption and extinguishment of debt or finance costs according to Commission Regulation (EC) 1725/2003 are excluded from value added.
      
      Value added at factor costs is calculated "gross" as value adjustments (such as depreciation and impairment losses) are not subtracted.
      
      For the statistics on activities of NACE rev.2 groups 65.1 and 65.2, the value added at factor costs is defined as production value minus gross value of reinsurance services received minus commissions minus other external expenditure on goods and services.
      
      For the statistics on activities defined in Section 3 of Annex VI of Regulation (EC) No 295/2008, the value added at factor costs is defined as production value less total purchases of goods and services.
      
      For the statistics on activities defined in Section 3 of Annex VII of Regulation (EC) No 295/2008, the value added at factor costs is defined as production value less total purchases of goods and services.
      
      For the enterprises of the NACE Rev.2 class 64.11, the value added at factor costs is defined as production value less total purchases of goods and services.
  • 3.5Statistical unit

    STATISTICAL UNIT

    The basic statistical unit of analysis is the company or branch under foreign control.

    • The statistical definition of the “Enterprise” statistical unit is established by a regulation of the European Union (696/93) that defines it as “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. An enterprise carries out one or more activities at one or more locations. An enterprise may be a sole legal unit’   
    • A branch is understood to be the local unit without its own legal identity that depends on a company under foreign control.

    Specifically, for IFATS statistics, statistical units are considered to be affiliated enterprises or branches of foreign enterprises whose main economic activity is included, according to CNAE-2009, in any of the investigated sectors (industry, commerce and other non-financial market services)

     

    New as of the 2018 reference year: new practical implementation of the ‘enterprise’ statistical unit.

    Until the 2017 reference year, the INE, like most European Union statistical offices, has identified the enterprise statistical unit with the Legal Unit (in the Spanish case, through the NIF) for operational purposes. Thus, for statistical purposes each Legal Unit formed an enterprise.

    However, the progressive complexity of the way in which enterprise groups operate internally nowadays caused the European Statistical System (ESS) to search for an improvement as regards the way in which the activity of these groups is reflected in enterprises’ official statistics. Legal Units that belong to enterprise groups sometimes sell their products or provide their services exclusively or mainly within the group, without being market-oriented or having decision-making power over the entire production process.

    For all these reasons, and in accordance with the European Statistical System (ESS), based on data referring to the year 2018, the Structural Enterprise Statistics -among which is the Statistics on affiliates of foreign companies in Spain (Inward FATS)- establish a new practical application of the statistical concept of Enterprise, by which a 'enterprise' can be formed by a single Legal Unit (as it had been until 2017) or, in the case of enterprise groups, by several Legal Units.

    This change in the treatment of companies has also been implemented in the Statistical Exploitation of the Central Directory of Companies (DIRCE). For more information on the delineation of the Statistical unit Enterprise within the enterprise groups, the following link can be consulted:

    https://www.ine.es/metodologia/t37/t3730200_profiling.pdf

    The adoption of the concept of the Statistical Enterprise implies that, when the Enterprise is made up of more than one Legal Unit (LU), its LUs must be grouped, condensing all economic and employment figures into the Statistical Enterprise. Furthermore, when certain relationships exist between the Enterprise's LUs (such as vertical integration of industrial activities, and/or Industry-Trade relationships, and/or auxiliary relationships), certain intra-company flows must be consolidated. For this consolidation, the entry/input in some LUs and their corresponding expense/output counterpart in the other LUs involved in the internal flow must be deducted.

    To understand in greater detail how the “enterprise statistical units” have been constructed in Inward FAT statistics, consult the methodology of the Structural Business Statistics (SBS): Industrial Sector, Trade Sector, and Services Sector.

    https://ine.es/metodologia/t37/metodologia_eee2020.pdf

    It should be noted that most of the Enterprises are independent Legal Units, so the Enterprise=Legal Unit identity remains valid. The change will only affect Legal Units (LU) that are part of Enterprise Groups. The latter are quite important in economic and employment terms, however, meaning that the Inward FAT data series prepared under the new Statistical Enterprise approach is not strictly comparable to that of previous years, prepared under the traditional criteria based on separate Legal Units.

     

    REPORTING UNIT

    The reporting unit, or rather, the unit from which the basic information is obtained is the Legal Unit, since being perfectly defined and located and having accounting and employment data, the answer is facilitated and homogeneous information is obtained. Legal Units can be legal persons (commercial companies) or natural persons (individual entrepreneurs).

    Basic information on the Legal Units comes either from direct collection (by completing questionnaires) or, increasingly, from the use of administrative sources (tax data for economic variables, and data from the Social Security for variables related to employment).

  • 3.6Statistical population

    The population under study is made up of companies resident in Spain that are affiliates of foreign companies and whose main activity is included in sections B to E (industry) and G to J and L to N (non-financial market services) of the National Classification of Economic Activities 2009 (CNAE-2009). 

    According to the Manual of Recommendations on Affiliate Statistics “Foreign Affiliates Statistics (FATS)”, drawn up by the European Union Statistics Office (Eurostat) in collaboration with the different Member States, an affiliate is understood to be a company resident in Spain that is controlled by a foreign company according to the criterion of the ultimate owner (UCI). The final owner of a foreign affiliate is considered to be the 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 the results from parent affiliates or ultimate owners residing outside of Spain are included in this statistic.

    Control is understood as the ability to determine the general policy of a company through the appointment, if necessary, of the appropriate directors.

  • 3.7Reference area

    From a geographical point of view, the survey covers the entire national territory (with the exception of Ceuta and Melilla); i. e., the affiliates (study population) are companies resident in Spain, but their UCI (company that exercises control over the affiliate) may reside in any country in the rest of the World.

    With respect to publication, disaggregated data is provided for each of the European Union countries individually as well as for certain aggregations thereof (Europe, EU, Asia, Africa and Oceania, etc.).

  • 3.8Time coverage

    The statistics have annual periodicity.   

    The reference period for the data is the calendar year, which generally coincides with the annual accounting year.

    To date, the following statistical results are available:

    • Reference years 2005-2007 (only trade and services). CNAE-93. Results based on Legal Units.

    • Reference years 2008-2018 (industry, commerce and services). CNAE-2009. Results based on Legal Units.

    • Reference years 2018 onwards (industry, commerce and services). CNAE-2009. Results based on Statistical Enterprises.  

  • 3.9Base period

    As this is a continuous survey, 2008 is set as the base period, due to a logical gap in the series, as a consequence of the introduction of the new national classification of economic activities (CNAE-2009) and the publication of information on industrial activities.

• 4Unit of measure
  • 4.1Unit of measure
    • No. of affiliated companies: units
    • Employment: units (employed persons) and % represented by affiliates over the total number of companies
    • Economic variables: thousands of euros and % represented by affiliates over the total number of companies
    • Economic indicators: euros or specified in the variables
• 5Reference period
  • 5.1Reference period

    The data requested refers to the calendar year covered by the survey. As an exception, companies that operate by seasons or campaigns comprising two different years, and thus have accounted for their data in this way, the information refers to the season or campaign ending in that year. The year of publication or availability of the results corresponds to the 2 years following the reference year of the data.

    Data referred to the period: Anual A: 2020 

• 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).

    
    

    Regulation (EC) No 716/2007 of the European Parliament and Council of 20 June 2007 on European Union statistics on the structure and activity of foreign affiliates (FATS-R).
    https://www.ine.es/normativa/leyes/UE/minine.htm#30227

    This regulation FATS-R defines the most important concepts and regulates key aspects such as target population, statistical unit, variables to be measured, periodicity and quality.

  • 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.
    

    .

• 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.
    

    The technique used to guarantee statistical confidentiality is based on cell deletion.

• 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

    
    
• 9Frequency of dissemination
  • 9.1Frequency of dissemination

    The statistical results are published annually.

• 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 statistical results are published on the INE website and some results are included in publications such as the Anuario Estadistico [Statistical Yearbook], 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.

    
    

    Access to published tables:      

    From www.ine.es, in INEbase / Economy / Companies / Statistics on affiliates of foreign companies in Spain

    • From 2005-2007: https://www.ine.es/dyngs/INEbase/en/operacion.htm?c=Estadistica_C&cid=1254736176899&menu=resultados&idp=1254735576778
    • As of 2008: https://www.ine.es/dyngs/INEbase/en/operacion.htm?c=Estadistica_C&cid=1254736161127&menu=resultados&idp=1254735576550

    No. of consultations of data tables: AC1= 11,695 (consultations in 2021)

  • 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
    

    No anonymous data file is provided for this statistical operation.

  • 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/ss/Satellite?c=Page&p=1254735638180&pagename=ProductosYServicios%2FPYSLayout&cid=1254735638180&L=1

  • 10.6Documentation on methodology

    A detailed description of the methodology used can be found at:

    https://www.ine.es/en/metodologia/t37/t3730p227_en.pdf

    Eurostat's Manual of Recommendations (latest edition 2012) on Statistics of Foreign Affiliates can be found at:

    http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/products-manuals-and-guidelines/-/KS-RA-12-016

  • 10.7Quality documentation

    Sections 10.6 to 17 of this document are the user-oriented quality report for this operation.

• 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.

    
    

    Quality assurance is also ensured based on the following points: 

    1) This population originates from the CBR (Central Business Register of INE) register of groups that is coordinated with the EGR (Eurostat EuroGroups Register), which limits the infra or supra population coverage. 

    2) The Inward FATS information is subjected to the same statistical quality controls as the Structural Business Statistics (SBS): Industry Sector, Trade Sector and Services Sector that is used to collect its information, and where the non-response rate is low and missing information is imputed following the same techniques applied to the aforementioned SBS.

    The production process of the statistic has established controls to detect and correct errors in order to guarantee the quality of the statistic.

    Data collection in Collection Units has programmed serious and second level errors, in order to filter the data as it is introduced by the user. During data collection and filtering, measures are also taken to reduce non-response.

    Finally, once the data reaches the Central Services, the data is subjected to additional micro and macro-filtering controls, which guarantee a final product of sufficient quality.

    3) The information from this statistic is also compared with the information from the Statistics of Spanish Affiliates Abroad (Outward FATS) in order to ensure that the units are foreign affiliates in Spain and not the parent companies of Spanish companies.

  • 11.2Quality assessment

    Pursuant to Regulation 716/2007 of the EP and Council, the Commission must evaluate the data sent by the different Member States for the statistics in Annexes I and II of this Regulation, according to the quality criteria listed in Commission Regulation (EC) 834/2009 on EU statistics on the structure and activity of foreign affiliates, as far as quality reports are concerned. These criteria are: relevance, accuracy, timeliness, punctuality, accessibility, comparability and coherence. 

    Since 2015, the sectoral surveys (Industrial Survey, Annual Trade Survey and Annual Services Survey) that have served as the basis for data collection for affiliate statistics separtely, have been integrated and harmonised in the Structural Business Statistics (SBS): Industry Sector, Trade Sector and Services Sector, operations that have implemented various methodological  improvementes. This has resulted in a more reliable quality of information on affiliates, regardless of their sector of activity.

• 12Relevance
  • 12.1User needs

    The users of the statistic are:

    • Eurostat, which uses the data in order to have information at EU and European Free Trade Association (EFTA) level on the structure and activity of foreign affiliates located in that area, as a statistical indicator of economic globalisation.
    • Ministries and other public agencies.
    • The INE directories unit, which uses the information from Inward FATS to feed back the information from the Groups Directory of the Central Business Register (CBR) and also from the Eurostat EuroGroups Register (EGR).
    • Bank of Spain
    • Companies and institutions.
    • Researchers and universities.
    • Individuals.
  • 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)

     

    
    

    In the latest general user satisfaction survey of 2019, the assessment of the product quality dimensions (relevance, precision, timeliness, coherence and comparability) for the group of statistics referring to the "Services" (in which this statiscal operation in framed) can be consulted.

    On the other hand, those responsible for this statistical operation are in permanent contact with the main users, in order to meet any specific need for information.

    Likewise, given the possibility that there are requests not attended to due to their complexity, these are evaluated as well as any suggestions made by the main users. Most of these demands are satisfied.

  • 12.3Completeness

    The statistical operation complies with the information requirements of the FATS regulation and the National Statistics Plan in the section on structural information on affiliates for the industrial, trade and other services sector.

    The Completeness rate for available obligatory statistical results R1=100%.

• 13Accuracy and reliability
  • 13.1Overall accuracy

    The statistical information is collected from the data of the Structural Business Statistics (SBS): Industry Sector, Trade Sector and Services Sector which is carried out by sampling. However, the sub-population of affiliates of foreign companies in Spain is exhaustively investigated (without sampling) in the aforementioned surveys. For this reason, there is no sampling error as such, although there are other types of non-sampling errors that are attempted to be reduced in the different statistical development processes, both in the collection phase (response rate and filtering control) and in the subsequent editing and imputing phases. For this reason, overall accuracy depends exclusively on non-sampling errors related mainly to non-response  (for which the missing information is imputed) and population coverage problems in the directories used to identify the affiliate population. 

  • 13.2Sampling error

    Not applicable, as mentioned in section 13.1. Overall accuracy, the population of affiliates of foreign companies in Spain is studied exhaustively.

    A1=N.A

  • 13.3Non-sampling error

    A control of non-sampling errors is carried out throughout the statistical process.

    In order to reduce coverage errors, the framework is updated annually and questionnaires returned due to duplicates, closures, out-of-scope units and changes in characteristics are analysed.

    Specific questions that contribute to monitoring coverage are also introduced into the questionnaire and information from other surveys that use the same framework is included.

    Measurement and processing errors are minimised through the various stages of manual and automatic filtering.

    Total over-coverage rate (2020): A2=10.3%.

    Total unit non-response rate (2020): A4=11.9%. Depending on the number of employed, the following ratios are obtained:

    • Less than 9 employed: 17.0%
    • Between 10 and 49 employed: 9.4%
    • More than 50 employed: 5.5%
• 14Timeliness and punctuality
  • 14.1Timeliness

    The European FATS Regulation requires the results to be available within 20 months from the end of the reference period. The sending of results to Eurostat takes place within this period and the publication of Inward FATS results on the INE website takes place in t+21 months, where t is the reference year of the data.

    Timeliness of final results (number of days between the end of the reference period and the date of publication of the final results) (2020): TP2= 20 months + 26 days.

  • 14.2Punctuality

    Punctuality (delay in publication) (2020): TP3=0 (compliance with the INE's release calendar).

• 15Coherence and Comparability
  • 15.1Comparability - geographical

    The availability of a methodology, a design and a common process of collection, filtering, editing and updating in all its geographical scope, guarantees the comparability of the results between the different  sectors under study. On the other hand, the methodological adaptation to the FATS regulation makes it possible to compare with the other European Union countries that disseminated this same information for their respective sectors.

  • 15.2Comparability - over time

    The methodological continuity applied since the implementation of the survey allows comparability over time.

    However, from the beginning of this statistical operation, the following periods must be distinguished:

    • Reference years of data 2005-2007: The statistics only cover the commerce and non-financial services sectors. Statistical results are based on Legal Units. The activities are classified according to the CNAE-93.
    • Reference years of data 2008-2018: The scope of statistics is broadened to cover the sectors of industry, commerce and non-financial services. Results based on Legal Units. The activities are classified according to the new CNAE-2009.
    • Reference years of the data 2018 onwards (industry, commerce and services). CNAE-2009. Results based on Statistical Enterprises.

    As of 2018, the FILINT statistic applies a new operating concept of ‘Enterprise’, according to which a Statistical Enterprise can be made up of a single Legal Unit (as it had been in previous years) or by several Legal Units. Due to this change, the statistical results for 2018 (based on the Statistical Enterprises) are not comparable with those of previous years (based on separate Legal Units). To facilitate the comparison in 2018, the INE released the statistical results of said exercise under both versions. From reference year 2019 only data based on the Statistical Enterprises is disseminated.

    Thus, for the Results based on Statistical  Enterprises:

    The indicator Length of the comparable time series (CC2) (No. of comparable elements in a time series since its last gap) (2020): CC2=3

  • 15.3Coherence - cross domain

    The use of the same national classification of economic activities allows the comparison of the survey information with other economic statistics such as the Structural Business Statistics (SBS): Industry Sector, Trade Sector and Services Sector , and with the Central Business Register (CBR).

    To favour this analysis, comparative results are offered for these companies, under foreign control, and for the rest of companies resident in Spain, under national control.

  • 15.4Coherence - internal

    Coherence is a fundamental matter both in the survey methodology approach and in the whole preparation process. The coherence between the variables is compared in all phases of the statistical process.

• 16Cost and burden
  • 16.1Cost and burden

    To significantly reduce the response burden on respondents, simplified versions of the questionnaires for small companies have been designed and the design and selection of the sample has been coordinated with other surveys to reduce, as far as possible, excessive use of certain respondent units arising from the completion of multiple surveys in the same year.

    The information corresponding to this survey is obtained from the Structural Business Statistics (SBS): Industry Sector, Trade Sector and Services Sector considering the sample of affiliates, which is a subset of the samples of these statistical operations.

    The estimate of the budgetary appropriation necessary to finance this statistic foreseen in the 2022 Annual Programme is 60.22 thousand euros.

• 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 is final. When first published they are no longer subject to revision.
    If errors are detected and the data must be changed, then an explanatory note is added along with the information to alert users that the data have been changed. Whenever possible users are directly informed about these errors.

  • 17.2Data revision - practice

    The data are published when they are definitive, not subject to revision.

• 18Statistical processing
  • 18.1Source data

    The information necessary to prepare the survey framework is obtained from the INE Central Business Register (CBR), which contains data on all companies resident in Spain, but which is capable of distinguishing those that belong to a supranational group of companies. In addition to identifying and location data for the different statistical units, the CBR contains information on the economic activity and employment of the different companies, which facilitates the consideration of these concepts in the stratification process. The information from the CBR is completed and updated with data obtained from the survey itself.

    
    The sample of affiliate statistics forms part of the overall sample of the Structural Business Statistics (SBS): Industry Sector, Trade Sector and Services Sector, therefore, in principle, the criteria established in this SBS statistic are also applicable in terms of type of sampling, selection of the sample, etc. However, given the peculiarities of the target affiliate population, it has been considered more appropriate, in order to better estimate the results of the survey, to apply comprehensive criteria in the process of selecting the units whenever possible. In any case, there is always a small number of units (affiliates) not located a priori in the directory, which are detected in the general collection process, and which consequently come from sample strata.

  • 18.2Frequency of data collection

    The data collection is annual.

    For reference year t, it takes place during the months of April to December of year t+1.

  • 18.3Data collection

    The collection of information necessary for the preparation of this statistic is included in the general collection framework of the Structural Business Statistics (SBS): Industry Sector, Trade Sector and Services Sector .

    The means used to collect the information and supplied to the user for this purpose are the paper questionnaire and the questionnaire via the internet.

    The management processes for the collection of information, both from the computer management point of view and the treatment of incidents and error control, are also integrated within the general section of the SBS.

  • 18.4Data validation

    As the survey information is obtained from the Structural Business Statistics (SBS): Industry Sector, Trade Sector and Services Sector, the validation processes related to the original data are those corresponding to this statistic. 

    The initial information processing stage of the survey, coincides in time with information collection, and takes place simultaneously with the collection, throughout the duration of the same. The articulated system is centred on three main aspects: a continuous updating process; a filtering of the questionnaire content, integrated in the recording; and a processing of the inter-provincial management of the company unit, and in particular, of the multi-location companies. Its overall objective is to establish sufficient levels of quality to allow a significant simplification of the subsequent processing of the information.

    The recording and filtering of the questionnaires is done continuously by the collection units themselves, establishing the necessary control standards to ensure an adequate level of quality throughout the process. This enables the control, already at this stage, of any errors that may affect the data obtained from the respondent units.

    Once the information is received in the Promoter Unit, a coverage control is carried out, in order to guarantee the completeness of the recorded data, detect duplicates and coverage errors, and, at the same time, to be able to carry out a first evaluation on the quality of the variables collected in the questionnaires.

  • 18.5Data compilation

    During the micro-filtering process, the detection and filtering of errors and inconsistencies in the identification variables of each register, as well as the filtering and imputation of content errors, are carried out. Depending on the characteristics of each type of error, in certain cases automatic imputation procedures are used, and in others file updates are carried out, for the purpose of incorporating the corrections of the errors detected. Likewise, the systematic errors detected in the studies and analyses carried out previously on the recorded data are corrected. The last stage, before the tabulation and dissemination of results, is obtaining analysis tables to eliminate the errors and inconsistencies detected in this phase by means of macro-processing techniques.

  • 18.6Adjustment

    Not applicable as it is not necessary to adjust the data seasonally.

• 19Comment
  • 19.1Comment