Table of Contents

  • Since the mid-1980s and with the quickening pace of globalisation of the economy, foreign direct investment has become central to worldwide industrial restructuring and one of the most dynamic elements of international transactions.

  • For all variables except R&D expenditure and Number of researchers, the data are prepared by the Globalisation Section of the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). Source data are collected by the ABS as part of the annual Economic Activity Survey (EAS), based on a sample of about 20 000 management units selected from the ABS Business Register. Foreign ownership characteristics of businesses responding to the EAS are identified by matching the data for the EAS businesses with the foreign ownership data for the same businesses from the ABS quarterly Survey of International Investment for those businesses included in both surveys. For other businesses, a number of other sources were used, with most ownership data compiled from extensive Internet searches.

  • The data are prepared by the Austrian National Bank (Österreichische Nationalbank), on the basis of the annual survey on stocks of direct investment abroad. It covers non-resident enterprises with a value of voting shares held by Austrian investors exceeding EUR 73 000.

  • For Production, Gross operating surplus and Capital under foreign influence, the data are prepared by the Industrial Organisation and Finance Division of Statistics Canada.

  • The data are prepared by the Czech Statistical Office. For all variables except R&D expenditure and Number of researchers, they are extracted from the annual structural survey (for non-financial enterprises) and from the annual survey in the financial sector. No special survey on enterprises with foreign participation is conducted, they are identified in the Business Register. The information on the share of foreign participation is updated by the Czech National Bank. Non-financial firms with 100 employees or more are surveyed exhaustively, smaller firms are surveyed by sample. The method for estimating non-responses is different between the time periods 1997-99, 2000-01 and 2002-04. The data in this publication refer to majority foreign-owned enterprises, which have a foreign capital share of more than 50%.

  • For all variables, the data are provided by Statistics Denmark in the framework of the Eurostat FATS pilot study. For 1999 data, the statistics were produced on the basis of the three following sources: the register of foreign-owned enterprises held by the Danish Central Bank; Statistics Denmark’s business register; Annual Accounts Statistics, which provide a large part of the structural business statistics (SBS) data. The register provided by the Danish Central Bank only includes enterprises that have direct foreign investment of at least 10 DKK million. Having received the Central Bank register containing information on identification numbers and ownership, the register was aligned with Statistics Denmark’s business register for the object of checking identification numbers and identifying every enterprise’s grouping of activity.

  • Up to 2001, for all variables except R&D expenditure and Number of researchers, the data have been prepared by the Service des Statistiques Industrielles (SESSI), Ministry of Industry. Source data are derived from the annual business survey (Enquête Annuelle d’Entreprise - EAE) complemented with results from the Institut National de la Statistique et des Études Économiques (INSEE) survey on financial ties (LiFi). From 1999, information from the Diane database (coedition Bureau Van Dijk Electronic Editions / Coface SCRL) has been added.

  • For all variables except R&D expenditure and Number of researchers, the data are prepared by the Deutsche Bundesbank. The data are based on annual stock surveys of direct investment (nonresidents’ assets in the economic territory), which cover all enterprises in Germany directly owned by foreigners or, from 2002, indirectly owned by foreigners through foreign majority-owned resident enterprises. From 2002 onwards, the submission of reports is required of every German enterprise with a balance sheet total of more than EUR 3 million; from 1999 until 2001, enterprises in Germany with a balance sheet total of more than EUR 500 000 were covered in which a non-resident (or several economically linked non-residents) holds 50% or more of the shares or voting rights of the German enterprise; reports were also required of German enterprises with a balance sheet total of more than EUR 5 million in which a non-resident (or several economically linked non-residents) held at least 10% but less than 50% of the shares or voting rights in the German enterprise concerned. Prior to 1999, the enterprises covered were those with foreign participating interests of more than 20% and with a balance sheet total exceeding EUR 500 000.

  • The data are prepared by the Financial Statistical Department of the Hungarian Central Statistical Office (HCSO). The annual corporation-tax declarations, the annual investment survey and the external trade data collection of FDI are the most important data sources. In Hungary, all enterprises with legal entity and unincorporated enterprises with turnover greater than USD 500 000 are required to submit a detailed corporation-tax declaration. This includes the value of the stock of foreign direct investment and its distribution by industrial sector, but does not provide any information on the country of origin. Therefore, since 1992 the HCSO has organised an annual survey on FDI. In 1997, the sample included 5 000 enterprises selected on the corporation-tax declarations, covering 88% of the total stocks of FDI. From 1999 onwards, the data of country of origin of inward foreign direct investment position is based on information collected by the National Bank of Hungary. This sample survey covers 1 500 enterprises operating by significant FDI amounting to 83% of total FDI calculated from the tax files. The results are published in Foreign Direct Investment in Hungary.

  • The data are prepared by the Irish Central Statistics Office (CSO) for all variables except R&D expenditure. The CSO conducts an annual survey on industrial production which covers separately companies which employ at least three persons and where 50% or more of the share capital is held by non-Irish residents. The local unit is the basic unit used in this survey. The data are published annually in Census of Industrial Production.

  • Italian data on majority foreign-owned firms come from ISTAT, the Italian statistical office, which has started to collect data on inward foreign affiliates for both manufacturing and services sectors in 2004. The survey on foreign-controlled enterprises in Italy (Inward FATS) is biannual, collecting information on the last two years. The response rate to the survey is 52% in terms of firms and 63% in terms of persons employed. After manual controls on non respondents, the response rate raises up to 80% in terms of person employed. For the moment, only data for 2001 and 2002 are available. Indirect foreign-controlled firms are included only in respect to majority control. The results are published on the ISTAT’s web site at http://www.istat.it/imprese/attivita/ .

  • The data are prepared by the Enterprise Statistics Office, Research and Statistics Department and the Trade and Investment Facilitation Division, Trade and Economic Cooperation Bureau, METI, based on the annual survey on Trends in Business Activities of Foreign Affiliates in Japan. Up to 2002, it covered enterprises which had been subject to a notification or post facto report of direct inward investment to the METI and for which more than one-third of the shares or holdings were owned by foreign investors.

  • The data are prepared by the Division Business Statistics of Statistics Netherlands (CBS). They refer to majority foreign-owned enterprises and are based on several sources: For Number of enterprises, Number of employees, Production, Turnover, Value added, Compensation of employees and Gross operating surplus, the data come from a few surveys on non-financial enterprises used to produce the Structural Business Statistics. The divisions 11 to 64, 71, 72, 74, 90 and 93 of ISIC Revision 3 are covered.

  • The data are prepared by Statistics Norway (Statistik sentralbyrå). They are based on a yearly survey of mining and manufacturing industries, which covers all manufacturing establishments from 1996. Previous surveys covered all establishments employing five or more persons up to 1991, and employing more than ten persons for the period 1992-95. The SIFON register, which includes Norwegian joint-stock companies where the entire share capital or parts of it are in foreign hands, is also used. Data from 1995 onwards are not comparable with those for previous years as they include indirectly foreign-owned establishments. The results are published every year on the Web site of Statistics Norway ( www.ssb.no ).
  • For all variables except R&D expenditure and Number of researchers, the data are prepared by the Department of Enterprises of the Central Statistical Office (GUS). These data are collected via an annual survey since 1993 and refer to majority foreign-owned firms, i.e. where more than 50% of the capital is held by non-residents. Up to 1998, all enterprises were surveyed. From 1999, all enterprises employing more than 9 persons are covered. Public administration and defence (ISIC 75) as well as banks and insurance companies are not covered. The response rate of the survey is about 70%. No estimates are made for non-responders. The results are published in the report Economic activities of companies with foreign capital share.

  • For all variables except R&D expenditure and Number of researchers, the data are prepared by the Bank of Portugal. They are based on the biennial stock survey of inward direct investment, which is conducted in odd years. In 1997, when the first survey was launched, all direct investment enterprises were covered. In the subsequent editions of the survey (in 1999, 2001 and 2003), a sample was taken into account for non-financial enterprises according to the level of significance of both annual flows recorded in the balance of payments and previous stocks. All direct investment enterprises belonging to the financial sector are covered by the FDI survey. The response rate is about 80% for non-financial enterprises. Estimates are made for non-responders according to information reported under previous FDI surveys and/or available in the balance sheets’ report of these enterprises. Indirectly foreign-owned firms are not included.

  • The data are prepared by the Spanish National Institute of Statistics (Instituto Nacional de Estadística, Ministerío de Economía). They come from the annual Business Industrial Survey (Encuesta Industrial de Empresas), covering all industrial enterprises employing one or more paid persons. Units with 20 or more persons engaged are surveyed exhaustively every year; units with less than 20 persons engaged are surveyed by sample. The total annual sample includes approximately 40 000 enterprises. The data refer to majority foreign-owned firms (foreign participating interests of 50% at the latest).

  • As of 1 July 1994, statistics on international business, i.e. Swedish groups with subsidiaries abroad and foreign-owned enterprises in Sweden, have an official status and are regularly produced and published. The Swedish National Board for Industrial and Technical Development, NUTEK, was the governmental agency responsible for the production of these official statistics. Since 1 January 2001, a new government authority, the Swedish Institute for Growth Policy Studies (ITPS), was given responsibility for these statistics. The surveys are carried out in co-operation with Statistics Sweden.

  • For all variables except R&D expenditure, the data are prepared by the Swiss National Bank (SNB), on the basis of annual surveys on stocks of direct investment abroad. Participation in the surveys is mandatory for all enterprises resident in Switzerland with direct investment abroad exceeding CHF 10 million (including credits) at the time of the survey. Up to 2003, the annual survey was carried out among approximately 850 companies and groups of companies in Switzerland. In 2004, the number of companies included in the survey has been expanded to 1 100.

  • The data are prepared by the Office for National Statistics and are based on the Annual Business Inquiry, which replaced the annual Census of Production in 1993. This inquiry covers United Kingdom (except Channel Islands and Isle of Man) “enterprises” engaged in industrial production and services from 1998. Industrial production includes mining and quarrying; manufacturing; construction; and electricity, gas and water supply industries (Sections C to F of SIC92). Services includes repair of motor vehicles, motorcycle and personal and household goods; wholesale trade; retail trade; hotels and restaurants; transport, storage and communication; and real estate, renting and business (Sections G to K of SIC92). Up to 1995, data for foreign enterprises, i.e. controlled or owned by companies incorporated overseas (majority foreign ownership), are available separately for manufacturing industries only.

  • The data are prepared by the Bureau of Economic Analysis, US Department of Commerce. Most of the data are based on annual and benchmark surveys which cover US business enterprises in which a foreign person owned (or controlled) a direct (or indirect) interest of 10% or more at the end of the US business enterprise’s fiscal year. The last benchmark surveys were conducted in 1992, 1997 and 2002. They provide benchmarks for deriving current universe estimates of direct investment from sample data collected in non-benchmark years. Between benchmark years, smaller affiliates are exempted from reporting; however, data for these affiliates are statistically estimated so that all estimates -- benchmark and non-benchmark alike -- represent universe totals. The Bureau of Economic Analysis also publishes data on majority-owned affiliates (those in which the foreign parents’ ownership share exceeds 50%). The data in this publication relate to all affiliates up to 1996, and to majority foreign-owned affiliates as from 1997. The data are electronically released annually and are also available on the Web site of the Bureau of Economic Analysis ( www.bea.doc.gov ).