Quality Report

Structural Business
Statistics Regulation Annex V

Member State: BULGARIA

Reference Year: 2009

Report issued: SBS - Structural statistics in insurance

Compiling institution: National Statistical Institute
Contact details:
Name: / Karmen Iskrova
E-mail address: /
Telephone number: / + 359 2 9857 151
Postal address: / National Statistical Institute;
2, Panayot Volov Str.; 1038 Sofia, Bulgaria;

Please answer in the grey-shaded cells or, when necessary, update the information given.

Please check the pre-filled cells marked in green.

There is no limit for the replies to open questions; the row height will be automatically adjusted to your text.

Please note that, if you consider that any of your answer should be treated as confidential, the answer needs being labelled “CONFIDENTIAL” explicitly.

Contents:

I. Relevance 3

I.1. Completeness 3

I.1.1.Data availability 3

The availability rate is as follows (pre-filled by Eurostat): 3

I.1.3. Availability of characteristics and/or breakdowns required by the SBS-Regulation 4

I.1.4. Derogations from the provisions of the SBS Regulation 5

I.2. Confidentiality 5

I.3. Monitoring user interest 5

I.3.1. Consultation with your main users (target group: narrow scope, e.g. National Accounts, Central Banks, Economy department etc.) 5

I.3.2. User satisfaction (broader scope) 6

II. Accuracy and reliability 7

II.1. Concepts and sources 7

II.1.1. Description of the administrative sources/ data collected for supervisory purposes. 7

II.1.2. Definitions and concepts used in the administrative sources 7

II.2. Assessment of revisions 8

II.2.1. Average size of revision 8

II.2.2. Revision policy 8

III. Coherence and comparability 8

III.1. Coherence 8

III.2. Comparability 9

III.2.1. Comparability over time 9

III.2.2. Geographical comparability: Coverage of target population 9

IV. Timeliness and Punctuality 10

IV.1 Timeliness 10

IV.2. Punctuality 10

V. Accessibility and Clarity 11

V.1. Accessibility 11

V.2. Clarity 12

VI. Further Comments 12

I. Relevance

Definition
Relevance is the degree to which statistical outputs meet current and potential user needs. It depends on whether all the statistics that are needed are produced and the extent to which concepts used (definitions, classifications etc.,) reflect user needs.

I.1. Completeness

The completeness is the extent to which data are available compared with the requirements in terms of characteristic, geographical and activity breakdown, as specified in the SBS Regulation[1].

I.1.1.Data availability

The availability rate is as follows (pre-filled by Eurostat):

Data availability
5A / 100
5B / 100
5C / 100
5D / 100
5E / 100
5F / 96
5G / 70
5H / 100
TOTAL / 97
I.1.2. Specification of missing detail: (table to be filled in by Eurostat)
a) characteristics / nothing missing
b) legal form breakdown in series 5B / nothing missing
c) country of residence of parent enterprise breakdown in series 5C / nothing missing
d) size class breakdown in series 5D and 5E / nothing missing
e) product breakdown in series 5F / Ent1: 39100:65124;65125
Ent2:39100:65110a,6511a; 39200:6511b
Ent5:39100:65124;65125
Ent6:369100:65110a,6511a
39200: 6511b / nothing missing
f) geographical breakdown in series 5G and 5H / Ent1;2;3:
AT
BE
BG
CY
CZ
DK
EE
FR
DE
GR
HU
IE
IT
LV
LT
LU
MT
NL
PL
PT
SK
SI
ES
FI
SE
UK
RO
/ nothing missing

I.1.3. Availability of characteristics and/or breakdowns required by the SBS-Regulation

Please comment on the rates of available statistics calculated by Eurostat and explain the reasons why any characteristics or breakdowns required by the SBS Regulation are not available (e.g. derogations) and describe your plans for improvement in the future.
Series 5F:
As regards Ent1: 39100:65124;65125, under the Bulgarian law life insurance companies are not allowed to offer such services. Therefore the value is zero.
As regard Ent2:39100:65110a,6511a and 39200:6511b, we have no such cases. Therefore the value is zero.
As for Ent5:39100:65124;65125 and Ent6:369100:65110a,6511a and 39200: 6511b, there is no legal framework for insurance companies of type V and type VI. Consequently, they are non-existent on the Bulgarian market and NSI does not collect such data.
Series 5G:
NSI has no available data about the number of branches of insurance companies and such data are not collected.

I.1.4. Derogations from the provisions of the SBS Regulation

NOT APPLICABLE.

Please indicate whether you intend to provide data for which you have granted derogation earlier than the timing foreseen in the Commission Regulation.
No granted derogation.

I.2. Confidentiality

I.2.1 The rate of confidential cells was computed as: (pre-filled by Eurostat):

Confidentiality
5A / 33 23
5B / 28 27
5C / 32 22
5D / 25 0
5E / 43 0
5F / 0
5G / 13 11
5H / 11 7
TOTAL / 21 15

N.B. The number of confidential cells is calculated at the detailed level of the activity breakdown required by the Regulation (EC) 251/2009.

I.3. Monitoring user interest

I.3.1. Consultation with your main users (target group: narrow scope, e.g. National Accounts, Central Banks, Economy department etc.)

1.3.2.1. Has your unit regular consultations with some of your main users?

[ X] Yes

[ ] No

1.3.2.2. If yes, could you give a brief description of your main users and their needs (by main groups of users) Internal or external users?
The main user of SBS data on insurance is the National accounts division at NSI. In order to fulfil its needs, additional data to the annual survey are collected, like the share of the households in the gross premiums written and claims – total and by type of products.

I.3.2. User satisfaction (broader scope)

I.3.2.1. Have you organised a punctual or a regular survey related to the users' satisfaction regarding the availability of your data for Annex V of the SBS Regulation?

[ ] Yes

[ X ] No

I.3.3.2. If you have organised a survey as such, to what extent the users' needs were fulfilled by the available data and if they are relevant for all of them?

II. Accuracy and reliability

Definition
Accuracy of statistical outputs in the general statistical sense is the degree of closeness of estimates to the true values.

II.1. Concepts and sources

II.1.1. Description of the administrative sources/ data collected for supervisory purposes.

Please describe the administrative sources:
- Is there an identification of units in the administrative source with those in the business register (linkage)? Is it possible that some of the supervised units have another principal activity and could therefore be included in the business register with other activity codes than NACE Rev. 65.1 or 65.3?
-Which SBS characteristics are directly available from administrative sources/ data collected for supervisory purposes?
- Are there any characteristics for which the item non-response influences the quality?
- All licensed insurance enterprises are included in business registers and in the statistical register of NSI. The national legislation allows only one principal activity to be performed by insurance enterprises. There are no insurance enterprises with other activity codes than NACE Rev.2 - 65.1 and 65.2.
- Data on geographical and product breakdowns, premiums by type of contracts and other breakdowns are collected by FSC and submitted to the NSI for the purposes of SBS.
- There are no characteristics for which the item non-response influences the quality.

II.1.2. Definitions and concepts used in the administrative sources

How would you assess the proximity of the definitions and concepts (including statistical units) used for administrative purposes / data collected for supervisory purposes with those required for statistical purposes (very good, good, satisfactory, poor, very poor).
Please list the main differences between administrative and statistical definitions and concepts.
How are variables not available from administrative sources / data collected for supervisory purposes compiled (sample survey; estimation on the basis of other variables)?
There is very good proximity of the definitions used and data collected for supervisory purposes with those required for statistical purposes.
Variables not available from administrative sources are collected with the annual statistical survey of insurance enterprises performed by NSI.

II.2. Assessment of revisions

II.2.1. Average size of revision

By revision we refer to the replacement of the data published on the Eurostat website with the new data. The corrections send to Eurostat before any data to be published on the website are not considered revisions.

The revision size is measured as follows:

The symmetric and confined relative distance measure varies between -2 and 2 for change percentages ranging from -100% to infinity. The weight factor wn in the formula is the fraction of the original value to the total of original values transmitted. The weights therefore add up to one and the error measure is also a weighted average of the square ‘symmetric and confined relative distances’ as used for the comparison of preliminary and final data.

NOT APPLICABLE.

If it was the case, please comment on the reason for those the revisions.
No revisions are made in time series. Data sent to Eurostat are final.

II.2.2. Revision policy

Please describe your revision policy including some information related to the average number of revisions (planned or not), the main reasons for revisions and the impact of the revisions.
There is no revision policy due to the absence of changes in methodology.

III. Coherence and comparability

III.1. Coherence

Definition
Coherence of statistics is their adequacy to be reliably combined in different ways and for various uses. It focuses on the joint use of statistics that are produced for different primary purposes to show cases of incoherence rather than to prove coherence.
Coherence with national accounts data on insurance corporations.
In this quality report the data providers can report on the inconsistencies that can already be documented.
Summarized data at national level on insurance services statistics, which are provided for the needs of SBS, are used for the compilation of the national accounts. Breakdowns by products, legal status and countries are not used.

III.2. Comparability

Definition
Comparability aims at measuring the impact of differences in applied statistical concepts, measurement tools and procedures where statistics are compared between geographical areas, sectoral domains or over time.

III.2.1. Comparability over time

Length of time series is the period when the statistics were compiled for the first time to the latest reference year available at Eurostat.

Length of comparable time series starts with the last break in time series to the last reference year available at Eurostat.

Indicator / Period (yyyy – yyyy)
III.2.1.1. Length of time series / 2000-2009
III.2.1.2. Length of comparable time series / 2004-2008
2000-2007;2008-2009
III.2.1.3. In case III.2.1.1. is not equal to III.2.1.2., please indicate the reasons or any differences in concepts and measurement methods for breaks in time series.
The NSI and FSC applied the Council Directive 91/ 674 on the annual accounts of insurance enterprises to the statistical and financial questionnaires in 2004. The purpose was to meet the requirements of Eurostat and other international institutions for providing more and comparable data on various characteristics.
For the period 2000 – 2007 the time series are according to NACE Rev. 1, while for the period 2008-2009 the time series are according to NACE Rev. 2.

III.2.2. Geographical comparability: Coverage of target population

III.2.2.1. Please report on the possible exclusion of the small mutual enterprises (enterprises mentioned in Article 3 of Council Directive 73/239/EEC and Article 2(2) and (3), 3 and 4 of Council Directive 79/267/EEC).
The statistical survey is exhaustive. It includes all licensed insurance enterprises – incorporated enterprises limited by shares, mutual enterprises, branches of insurance enterprises with head office in non EEA Member States.
III.2.2.2. Is the home-country principle applied for the reporting to Eurostat?
Home country principle is applied for reporting to Eurostat.

IV. Timeliness and Punctuality

IV.1 Timeliness

Definition
The timeliness of statistical outputs is the length of time between the event or phenomenon they describe and their availability.
Please provide the key dates for the following actions
Action / Deadline(s) .../../….
a) Data-collection, if any / t+3
b) Post-collection phase / t+12
c) Dissemination in your country, if applicable / t+18

IV.2. Punctuality

Definition
Punctuality refers to the delay between the date of the release of the data and the target date (the date by which the data should have been delivered).

Punctuality is calculated as the actual date of data delivery minus the scheduled date of transmission to Eurostat. It shows how many calendar days this was behind (positive value) or ahead of (negative value) of the legal deadline (12 months after the end of the reference year).

Punctuality
5A / -28
5B / -28
5C / -28
5D / -28
5E / -28
5F / -28
5G / -28
5H / -28
IV.2.1. Please comment on the punctuality of transmission to Eurostat if you sent the data after the deadline of t+12 months, e.g., the reasons for the late delivery and the action taken or planned to improve punctuality.
No delay.

V. Accessibility and Clarity

V.1. Accessibility

Definition
Accessibility of statistical output refers to the conditions and modalities by which users can obtain data.
It is measured of the ease with which users can obtain data: where to go, how to order, delivery time, clear pricing policy, convenient marketing conditions, availability of micro and macro data, various formats (paper, files, CD_ROM, Internet etc.).
V.1.1. Is the SBS data on insurance services disseminated at national level either by your or any another institution?
yes
no F If no, please proceed to VI. Further comments.
V.1.2. Is the information different from the figures sent to Eurostat?
yes
no
V.1.3. If yes, please give a brief description of the reasons for these differences.
How do you disseminate SBS data on insurance services?
Member State / Paper/pdf Publications / Electronic Publications
News release / Statistical yearbook / Thematic publications / Internet-Data base / CD/DVD-Rom / Other (fax, e-mail, etc.)
2009 / yes / yes / yes / yes / yes / yes
Action plan 2010 / yes
è For 2009, please, mark with a cross where applicable.
è For 2010, please, report any scheduled action plan specifying the implementation date.
V.1.4. Are publications on Insurance Services Statistics available in any language other than the official language (s) of your country?
[ X] in English
[] in the following other language(s)
: Please indicate links to your electronic publications on SBS data on insurance services
http://www.nsi.bg/otrasalen.php?otr=69&a1=1533&a2=1534#cont

V.2. Clarity

Definition
The clarity of statistical outputs is the measure of the ease with which users can understand the data.
It is determined by the information environment within which the data are presented, whether the data are accompanied with appropriate metadata, whether use is made of illustrations such as graphs and maps, whether information on data accuracy are available (including any limitations on use) and the extent to which additional assistance is provided by the producer.
V.2.1. Are statistical metadata available?
[ ] for paper publications
[ X] on the Website (electronic version)
[ ] no methodological explanations on data are disseminated
: Please indicate links to your electronic publications of metadata
http://www.nsi.bg/otrasal-metodologiaen.php?otr=69&a1=571&a2=572&url=%2Fotrasal-m
todologiaen.php%3Fotr%3D69%26a1%3D571%26a2%3D572%23cont

VI. Further Comments

Please provide further comments regarding business demography data quality which are not included above (e.g. intention for changes in the methodology etc).
The methodology has never been changed since 2004. It completely suits the requirements for SBS.

[1] SBS Regulation: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2008:097:0013:0059:EN:PDF: