Reporting agents must fulfil the following minimum standards to meet the European Central Bank’s (ECB’s) statistical reporting requirements.
1. Minimum standards for transmission:
reporting must be timely and within the deadlines set by the relevant NCB;
statistical reports must take their form and format from the technical reporting requirements set by the relevant NCB;
the reporting agent must provide the details of one or more contact persons to the relevant NCB;
the technical specifications for data transmission to the relevant NCBs must be followed.
2. Minimum standards for accuracy:
statistical information must be correct: all linear constraints must be fulfilled (e.g. subtotals must add up to totals), and data must be consistent across all frequencies;
reporting agents must be able to provide information on the developments implied by the transmitted data;
statistical information must be complete and must not contain continuous and structural gaps; existing gaps must be acknowledged, explained to the relevant NCB and, where applicable, bridged as soon as possible;
reporting agents must follow the rounding policy set by the relevant NCB for the technical transmission of the data.
3. Minimum standards for compliance with concepts:
statistical information must comply with the definitions and classifications contained in this Regulation;
in the event of deviations from these definitions and classifications reporting agents must monitor and quantify the difference between the measure used and the measure contained in this Regulation on a regular basis;
reporting agents must be able to explain breaks in the transmitted data compared with the previous periods’ figures.
4. Minimum standards for revisions:
The revisions policy and procedures set by the ECB and the relevant NCB must be followed. Revisions deviating from regular revisions must be accompanied by explanatory notes.