External Trade of the Czech Republic

Methodology

External trade statistics represent an important source of information for the needs of the economy-oriented public, ministries and other state authorities of the Czech Republic (Office of the Government, Chamber of Deputies, the Senate, Czech National Bank), institutions of higher education, international organisations (Eurostat, FAO, IMF, OECD) and last but not least the business-oriented public. External trade data are used for analytical purposes, particularly for evaluation of economic development of the state; detailed data give the business-oriented public an insight into the business environment.

The source of information on external trade are data collected by customs authorities. Starting from processing of the January 2004 data, data collection and the first check are carried out by the Directorate General of Customs (DGC), whereas the Czech Statistical Office is in charge of further data processing, checks and publishing.

In terms of legislation, the production of data on imports and exports is regulated by Customs Act No. 13/1993 Coll., as amended. Decree No. 200/2005 Coll. concerning trade with third countries, implementing certain regulations of the Customs Act and repealing certain decrees regulating exemption from import duty and non-preferential origin of goods, and, in the area of Intrastat, Decree No. 201/2005 Coll., on statistics of exported and imported goods and on the way of sharing data on trade with the other Member States of the European Communities, came into effect on 1July 2005.

External trade statistics is made up of the sum of intra - Community trade (trade with the EU Member States) and trade with third countries. Data on goods traded between Member States of the Communities are supplied by reporting units to the customs office on the Intrastat questionnaire, with information on dispatches of goods or arrivals of goods. Data on imported and exported goods in trade with third countries are given in a Single Administrative Document (SAD).

In terms of methodology, external trade statistics in the Czech Republic are now fully comparable with those in the European Union countries.

Data on external trade in USD and in EUR in Table 2 “External Trade, January – February 2006” are calculated, using average monthly exchange rate in a given period as reported by the Czech National Bank.

We resume the publishing of Unit Value Indices in the fourth quarter of 2005. According to Commission Regulation (EC) No 1915/2005, since the 1st January 2006 data on net mass in kg is provided only for those items of goods for which the quantity is not given in supplementary units. Considering that the CZSO does not compute Unit Value Indices since January 2006.

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The Czech Statistical Office publishes monthly the sample indices of nominal prices of imports and exports, which are based on prices measured among selected commodities and selected units. The development of prices is measured, using representatives-items with defined constant quality, so that only changes in prices are measured. These indices are published in the edition Statistical Information – “Import and Export Price Indices in the CR” (Czech-English version), publication code: 7201-06. The price indices serve the preparation of deflators used to compute imports and exports indices at constant prices, where the indices are converted on the basis of the structure of imports or exports according to the SITC, Rev. 3, at the 2-digit level in a given period.