DS Globalisation business > Methodology > early warning system REVAMP EN

Several unexpected restructuring events of multinational enterprise (MNE) groups in 2015 and 2016 resulted in major revisions of data for European business statistics and national accounts. This lead to users becoming concerned about the quality and consistency of these statistics.

The early warning system (EWS) was established in 2017 to detect restructuring events of MNE groups and to prepare for them. 

Objectives

In particular, the EWS is intended to:

  • discover restructuring cases as early as possible and inform the EU countries which are directly concerned by such actions
  • ensure that the cases of restructured MNE groups are treated consistently in European statistics
  • agree on a coordinated timing of the publication of first data results and revisions
  • ensure a timely, harmonised, and interlinked communication towards users of national and European statistics.

Organisation

The EWS is a structured, light, and non-legislative procedure based on the voluntary cooperation between national data compilers and Eurostat. It relies on a network of national EWS correspondents, coordinated by the Eurostat EWS-secretariat, which together work on concrete restructuring cases. 

Eurostat has established cooperation with the European System of Central Banks (ESCB) and the European Central Bank (ECB), which is also a member of the EWS network. 

Implementation

Countries of the European Statistical System (ESS) should trigger the EWS as soon as they become aware of the restructuring of an MNE group which possibly will have sizeable effects on national and European statistics. This should be done before the impact of such a restructuring has an impact on the statistics. The EWS can also be triggered by Eurostat or the ECB.

Once the EWS is triggered, the individual case is discussed by means of ad-hoc task forces with the national correspondents of the affected countries. A methodological summary note, containing anonymised information, is drafted for the case to build up a repository of cases and their statistical treatment. The anonymised methodological summary notes are published below.

Eurostat ensures that the statistical confidentiality for the exchange of relevant information is respected by using secure communication channels.

For more details, please consult our  EWS information note to the network’s correspondents.