Vol. 460 No. 4
45 Mr. Andrews asked the Taoiseach the plans, if any, he has to upgrade the quality of the trade data; and the further plans, if any, he has to speed up the compilation and publication of such information in view of the fact that currently the information for May comes out in November. [1578/96]
The quality and timeliness of the external trade statistics are high priorities for the Central Statistics Office, whose objective is to ensure that the results are as accurate and as timely as possible. As expected, the timeliness of trade statistics deteriorated in all EU member states in 1993. When the Single Market was completed in January 1993, Customs declarations were no longer required for the movements of goods within the EU. Since these declarations were the source of the intra-EU trade statistics, a new system was needed to collect the data. This new survey system called Intrastat, was introduced in all EU countries in January 1993. It involves the monthly collection of statistical returns from about 8,000 of the largest traders. The Intrastat survey is conducted by the Revenue Commissioners, while estimation, data analysis and publication is the responsibility of the Central Statistics Office. Trade with Non-EU countries continues to be based on Customs documents.
Before 1993, trade statistics were far more timely than most other economic statistics because traders had to complete Customs documentation in order to ensure the speedy movement of goods. The Intrastat data collection system has lost this advantage, and is subject to the non-response and timeliness difficulties that are common to all direct statistical inquiries.
Steady progress has, however, been made in improving timeliness over the past two years. The most recent total trade release, for July 1995, was published in December with a timelag of 20 weeks. The corresponding timelag for July 1994 was 28 weeks, and for July 1993 was 32 weeks. There will be further improvements during 1996, and it is planned to reduce the timelag to 17 weeks by the end of 1996. The ability to make further improvements beyond this point will be dependent on traders sending in their returns more quickly. Statistics on our trade with non-EU countries are now published 10 weeks after the end of the reference period.
