1. Contact

1.1 Contact organisation

National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT)

Short-term Economic Statistics Directorate

1.2 Contact organisation unit

Unit SCI/E

1.3 Contact name

1.4 Contact person function

1.5 Contact mail address

Via Torino, 6

I - 00184 Rome

1.6 Contact email address

1.7 Contact phone number

1.8 Contact fax number

2. Metadata update

2.1 Metadata last certified

10/06/2014

2.2 Metadata last posted

26/06/2014

2.3 Metadata last update

26/06/2014

3. Statistical presentation

3.1 Data description

“Indice dei prezzi all'importazione dei prodotti industriali”
This index measures the gross monthly change in the import price of products coming from the rest of the World. It is a means of distinguishing real growth of imports from price changes in the foreign trade statistics and the national accounts. It can provide information to the business community on particular areas (euro and non-euro zone) and different product categories of interest to them.

3.2 Classification system

NACE Rev. 2.

3.3 Coverage - sector

Sections B to D of CpAteco 2007 are covered as regards products, sections B to E and G of Ateco as regards enterprises in terms of main activity. Classifications are Italian versions derived from NACE Rev. 2.

Related services are excluded. Indexes are not required for the following aggregates of NACE Rev. 2: 07.21, 09, 18, 24.46, 25.4, 30.1, 30.3, 30.4, 33, 36, 37, 38.1, 38.2 and 38.3.

3.4 Statistical concepts and definitions

Data are collected for products imported by national importers. Reporting units are the industrial and trading enterprises. The price is an actual transaction price collected when the ownership of the goods is transferred. The price is the c.i.f. (cost, insurance and freight) price at national border, excluding all duties and taxes on imports to be shouldered by the reporting unit. Other sale conditions are defined by the most common contracts.

3.5 Statistical unit

Industrial and trading enterprise

3.6 Statistical population

The list of products is made up of about 1000 items (ProdCom). Prices, about 6.000 price series, are collected by a list of about 2.000 enterprises.

3.7 Reference area

The area covered is the whole national territory.

3.8 Coverage - Time

Monthly data are disseminated according to the Nace 2 classification at the 3-digit level since January 2010.

3.9 Base period

The index is Laspeyres fixed base type. The base is 2010.

4. Unit of measure

Indices

5. Reference Period

Monthly

6. Institutional Mandate

6.1 Institutional Mandate - legal acts and other agreements

Legal basis

National level: This is one of the compulsory surveys fixed every year by a Decree of the President of the Republic (D.P.R.).

European level: Regulation n. 1165 of 1998 and subsequent modifications and integrations

Obligation on units to provide data

Surveys is mandatory. Penalties are applicable for non-response.

Planned changes in legal basis, obligation to respond and frame used

None.

6.2 Institutional Mandate - data sharing

Not available

7. Confidentiality

7.1 Confidentiality - policy

Dissemination of terms and conditions under which official statistics are produced, including confidentiality of individual responses

Confidentiality provisions are explicitly stated in the Istat President’s letter attached to data collection questionnaire along with references to different acts on statistics. Links to relevant acts on statistics are presented on the website of Sistan - National Statistical System - (http://www.sistan.it/index.php?id=203).

7.2 Confidentiality - data treatment

Recent data are confidential and sent to Eurostat for European aggregates only

8. Release policy

8.1 Release calendar

Every year in December Istat send to Eurostat a transmission calendar providing precise dates for the coming year

8.2 Release calendar access

Press release calendar http://www.istat.it/en/information/journalists/press-calendar

8.3 Release policy - user access

Simultaneous release to all interested parties	Not available
Identification of internal government access to data before release	No pre-release access
Transmission to Eurostat and further use of the statistics	Data are sent to Eurostat following to required standards (by GESMES format) at the same time as the press release. Data are transmitted once per month: provisional data for the month t-1 and final data for the month t-2 The short term information is also used for quarterly and annual National Accounts.

9. Frequency of dissemination

Monthly

10. Accessibility and clarity

10.1 Dissemination format - News release

From December 2013 there is a monthly news release http://www.istat.it/en/archive/import+prices

10.2 Dissemination format - Publications

Not available

10.3 Dissemination format - online database

Not available

10.4 Dissemination format - microdata access

Not available

10.5 Dissemination format - other

Data are sent to Eurostat. This index is also one one of the 'Principal European Economic Indicators (PEEI)'

10.6 Documentation on methodology

Methodology is in the framework of short-term business statistics. Further details in annex

10.7 Quality management - documentation

More information about procedures applied for quality management and quality assessment in the document "Quality Guidelines For Statistical Processes" - December 2012

http://www.istat.it/en/files/2011/11/QualityGuidelines_EngVers_1.11.pdf

11. Quality management

11.1 Quality assurance

Essential points of Istat quality policy are: process quality, product quality, documentation, respect for respondents, strengthening of statistical literacy and users' orientation. More information available at http://www.istat.it/en/about-istat/quality

11.2 Quality management - assessment

Not available

12. Relevance

12.1 Relevance - User Needs

Eurostat is among the main users for this index.

12.2 Relevance - User Satisfaction

Not available

12.3 Completeness

Not available

13. Accuracy

13.1 Accuracy - overall

Not available

13.2 Sampling error

Not available

13.3 Non-sampling error

Response rate	Not available.
Actions to speed up or increase the rate of response	On the first days of the month following the reference period reminders are sent to non-respondents by an automatic internal procedure (sending e-mail and faxes). Sometimes non-respondents are contacted directly by phone.

14. Timeliness and punctuality

14.1 Timeliness

Timeliness	Not available.
Timetable of data collection	The questionnaire is available on the Istat web site. Each reporting unit (enterprise) has its own ID and password to fill in the questionnaire. The deadline for replies is approximately the 20th day of the month following the reference month.

14.2 Punctuality

Not available

15. Coherence and comparability

15.1 Comparability - geographical

Not available

15.2 Comparability - over time

Not available

15.3 Coherence - cross domain

Dissemination of information that support statistical cross-checks and provide assurance of reasonableness	None
Confrontation with other data sets	None.

15.4 Coherence - internal

Not available

16. Cost and Burden

14 persons work at ISTAT for unit SCI/E.

17. Data revision

17.1 Data revision - policy

Not available

17.2 Data revision - practice

Generally, major changes in methodology, sources and statistical techniques are announced in ad hoc publications.
Advance notification of methodological changes is also provided through seminars and papers disseminated throughout the scientific community.

18. Statistical processing

18.1 Source data

Type of source	Data are collected through a statistical survey.
Frame on which the source is based	Foreign Trade statistics
Sample or census	Sample (based on a non-probabilistic design).
Criteria for stratification	The sample is drawn by quotas, calculated to guarantee a sufficient coverage in terms of turnover.
Threshold values and percentages	None.
Frequency of updating the sample	The sample of products and the list of enterprises are updated every five years.

18.2 Frequency of data collection

Monthly data collection.

18.3 Data collection

Questionnaires used in the survey	The questionnaire is identified by the initials �Mod. Istat P340�. On the top of the questionnaire the name of survey is also specified: �Monthly survey on price of products imported by enterprises�.
Planned changes in national questionnaires	None.
Data collection media	Data are collected using an online questionnaire at the address https://indata.istat.it; in some cases data are still collected by fax or e-mail.
Planned changes in data collection methodology	None.

18.4 Data validation

Not available

18.5 Data compilation

Estimates for non-response	Data for non-respondents are estimated
Estimates for grossing-up to population levels	None
Type of index	The Laspeyres index is compiled by steps: (a) firstly, by calculating the price relatives, i.e. the ratios between the surveyed price at time t and the average price at time t=0; (b) price relatives are aggregated by simple geometric mean in order to derive the elementary product index; (c) calculation of the Laspeyres indices starting from the Class level (4 digit of the NACE Rev. 2) up to the overall index. Adjustments for quality changes: when a price variation is due to a change in the price determining characteristics, a quality change occurs; the algorithm applied is the overlap one. New price quotations are introduced only when the index base is updated. Seasonal items: the most recent price collected is held constant until new prices are reported for the same season.
Method of weighting and chaining	The weighting system is defined at national level. For the higher aggregation level (from the 4-digit level upwards) the weighting coefficients are determined on the basis of (billed) import values according to the Survey on �Enterprises Accounting Systems� (the main annual SBS survey). For lower levels, the Foreign Trade statistics is used as the source.
Planned changes in production methods	Chained- indices will be planned.

18.6 Adjustment

WDA, SA and other calculations

Not available

19. Comment

Not available