Annex III - ELEMENTS OF THE EUROPEAN FRAMEWORK FOR STATISTICAL BUSINESS REGISTERS

Part A: Register detailed topics and unique identifier

1. The units listed in the national statistical business registers and in the EuroGroups Register as referred to in Article 2 of this Regulation shall be characterised by an identity number and by register detailed topics specified in Part C.

2. The units listed in the national statistical business registers and in the EuroGroups Register shall be uniquely identified by an identity number to facilitate the infrastructure role of the European framework for statistical business registers. Those identity numbers will be provided by the NSAs. The identity numbers for legal units and multinational enterprise groups relevant for the EuroGroups Register will be provided by the Commission (Eurostat). For national purposes NSAs can maintain additional identity number in the national statistical business registers.

Part B: Time reference and periodicity

3. The national statistical business registers and the EuroGroups Register shall be updated by means of entries and removals at least annually.

4. The frequency of updating shall depend on the kind of unit, the variable considered, the size of the unit and the source generally used for the update.

5. Member States shall make annually a copy that reflects the state of the national statistical business registers at the end of the year and keep that copy for at least 30 years for the purpose of analysis. The Commission (Eurostat) shall make annually a copy that reflects the state of the EuroGroups Register at the end of the year and keep that copy for at least 30 years for the purpose of analysis.

Part C: Detailed topics for business registers

The national statistical business registers and the EuroGroups Register shall, for the respective units defined in Article 2 of this Regulation, contain the following detailed topics by unit.