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Guide to Sharing Economic Data in Official Statistics

Published:
ECECESSTAT20205

Measuring the activities of multinational enterprise groups is one of the major challenges facing producers of official statistics today. Sharing data nationally and internationally on the activities of multinational enterprise groups has become necessary to ensure the high quality of official statistics.

This Guide follows in the steps of the two previous guides on globalization - The Impact of Globalization on National Accounts (2011) and the Guide to Measuring Global Production (2015). It highlights the importance of data sharing to capture economic stocks and flows correctly in official statistics and introduces operational ideas and common tools to increase data sharing for statistical purposes while observing statistical confidentiality.

Data sharing is an indispensable element in the toolbox of statisticians as they develop approaches to the measurement challenges posed by globalization. To facilitate and improve data sharing, the Guide provides:

  • Many examples to share experience from different types of data sharing cases in the realm of official statistics;
  • An analysis of enablers and obstacles of data exchange with links to resources to overcome barriers;
  • Instructions and experience from large cases units in statistical offices and their role in data sharing;
  • Materials for communication with multinational enterprise groups;
  • Legal and procedural recommendations and a template of Memorandum of Understanding for data sharing among statistical authorities;
  • Information on useful IT tools and solutions for data sharing;
  • Step-by-step guidance towards data sharing and ensuring confidentiality; and
  • Recommendations on further actions for countries and international organizations.

This Guide is the result of the joint work of the members of the UNECE Task Force on Exchange and Sharing of Economic Data involving leading experts from national statistical authorities and international organizations. It has also benefitted from feedback and case studies from consultations and expert meetings.

Download the Russian version