Item 2.2
Use of waivers in business statistics
5 April 2017
Working Group on methodology
Aleksandra Bujnowska
1
Eurostat
Waivers
• Skewed distributions in business statistics: small
counts and dominant companies
• Large number of suppressions in detailed tables
• Waiver: disclosure permission
• Legal basis in EU Statistical Law
• Recent experiences in ProdCom (product
statistics)
• Discussion with Expert Group ongoing
2
Eurostat
Where can waivers be applied?
• No legal restrictions, but rather practical
• Usually no need in social statistics
• A communication challenge in case data is not
directly collected by the Statistical Institute (e.g.
administrative data or Big Data)
• Practical problems in statistics production (need
for standardisation and tools)
3
Eurostat
Do waivers pay off?
Recent experiences from ProdCom :
• SK: from 751 selected companies 41% gave
permission for five year; confidential cells down
from 87% to 45% for Total quantity
• HU: asked for permission from all companies in
the online questionnaire: 60% agreed;
confidential cells down from 77% to 45%
4
Eurostat
Do waivers pay off?
• PL: separate survey for giving permission; from
1403 selected companies 1014 responded and
665 gave their consent valid until withdrawal;
confidential cells is expected to go down from
43% to 31%
• NL: asked a five year waiver from 1428, 62%
responded and 25% gave permission.
Confidential cells down from 65% to below 60%.
5
Eurostat
Do waivers pay off?
• The experiment in one domain only (ProdCom)
• The experiment was not standardised (different
selections and approaches)
• Use of waivers has a robust positive effect on
data availability
6
Eurostat
How can waivers be applied?
• Systematic (broad) or targeted
• Before, during or after data collection
• One instance, one survey or even an overall deal
• Period of validity
These dimensions are not independent.
Communication is important: companies should
understand what is their risk, but also what could
be their advantage
7
Eurostat
Open issue: tick boxes
• Is a tick-box on the questionnaire sufficient
permission to publish? What are your experiences
and/or opinions?
8
Eurostat
(2,k) dominance rule
The rule is on the two largest companies in the cell.
The discussion is on what to do in case only the
largest has given a waiver. Two interpretations
seem to exist:
• Keep the original rule
• Calibrate the risk from the perspective of the
second largest
Should we aim at common understanding or leave
both interpretations?
9
Eurostat
(2,k) dominance rule
Case 1
Case 2
100
50
90
45
80
40
70
35
60
30
50
25
40
20
30
15
20
10
10
5
0
0
10
Eurostat
(2,k) dominance rule
Case 1
Case 2
100
50
90
45
80
40
70
35
60
30
50
25
40
20
30
15
20
10
10
5
0
0
11
Eurostat
Passive confidentiality
In case of passive confidentiality data is considered
non-confidential by default. Companies would have
to apply for confidentiality (the reverse of giving a
waiver).
Easy to implement in statistics production and high
impact on data availability.
Used efficiently in trade statistics
12
Eurostat
Thank you for your attention!
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
13
Eurostat