Basic data of the statistics
Data description
The statistics present the environmental taxes paid by each industry (64 industries) and households. Environmental taxes are divided into four categories: energy taxes, transport taxes, emission taxes and resource taxes. Energy taxes comprise the taxes paid on fuels, electricity tax and strategic stockpile fees. Emission allowances included in emissions trading are also considered energy taxes. Emission taxes comprise taxes on packaging, oil pollution charges, oil waste charges, water protection charges and waste tax. Transport taxes comprise the automobile tax, vehicle tax and motor vehicle tax. Resource taxes comprise licence fees for hunting and fishing. Refunds of taxes (incl. energy taxes) are considered in the taxes paid by individual industries.
Statistical population
The statistical population comprises all economic units located in Finland.
Statistical unit
Industry/household, at the degree of detail used in the statistics, is the basic unit used in the statistics. The data used in the statistics consist of the data collected for the national accounts.
Unit of measure
Euros are used as the unit of measure in the statistics. The taxes paid are given as millions of euros.
Reference period
The reference period used in the statistics is one year. The statistics are published 16 months after the end of the statistical year.
Reference area
The statistics cover the whole of Finland and the activities of Finnish economic units in countries outside Finland.
Sector coverage
The statistics cover all industries and households. They include the environmental taxes paid by all economic units in Finland.
Time coverage
The statistics cover the time series from year 2008 onwards. The data for the most recent year are published 16 months after the end of the statistical year. The data for earlier years are updated as new statistics are published.
Frequency of dissemination
The statistics are published 16 months after the end of the statistical year at the same time each year. In exceptional cases, Statistics Finland may also correct erroneous information at other times by issuing corrections. Revisions for earlier years take place in connection with regular statistical releases.
Concepts
An energy tax is an environmental tax levied on energy products, and on the production and consumption of energy. Energy taxes in Finland comprise taxes and surtaxes on motor fuels, light and heavy fuel oil, coal, peat, natural gas, and charges for safeguarding their security of supply.
The concept of environment refers to the physical, social and cultural factors that are present in the natural or built environment and with which humans have an interactive relationship. The environment is perceived above all as the human living environment on the state and quality of which human activity has a positive or negative impact.
The point of departure in defining an environmental tax is that it must be levied on such measurable physical quantity that has a harmful effect on the environment. The essential criterion in the defining is the basis, not the nature of the tax.
The industrial classification divides units into industry classes based on their main economic activity. The main economic activity is the one that produces a majority of the unit's value added. The classification used is the Finnish national classification (TOL) derived from the statistical classification of economic activities in the European Community (NACE).
Vehicle-related taxes are environmental taxes levied on motor vehicles. Vehicle-related taxes in Finland comprise automobile tax, vehicle tax and motor vehicle tax.
Accuracy, reliability and timeliness
Overall accuracy
As the statistics are mainly derived from other statistics, the quality of the source statistics is crucial for the reliability of the data. Because there are different types of source statistics, there are also various uncertainty factors. In some cases, the data on environmental taxes paid in the source data may be clarified or updated. The breakdown of taxes in different industries may also be specified in the source data or the calculation method may be updated.
Timeliness
The statistical data are published 16 months after the end of the statistical year.
Punctuality
The data are published 16 months after the end of the statistical year, which is in accordance with the timetable on reporting data to Eurostat specified in the regulation.
Comparability
Comparability - geographical
The statistics are based on EU Regulation on European environmental economic accounts (No 691/2011, No 538/2014) and its implementing regulation (No 2174/2015). Thus, in terms of data and structure, the statistics are consistent with the statistics published in other EU countries. The definitions in the regulation are also in accordance with the System of Environmental Economic Accounting (SEEA) specified by the UN, which means that most of the statistics are also comparable with SEEA-compatible statistics on environmental taxes produced outside the EU.
Comparability - over time
The statistics are comparable for the whole length of the time series, starting from 2008. The data in older publications may have been revised in more recent releases and for this reason, comparable data on all years can be found in the latest releases.
Coherence - cross domain
The data contained in the statistics are comparable with other tax statistics. The Standard Industrial Classification used in the statistics is consistent with the classifications used in other statistics on environmental accounts and national accounts and can thus be combined with them.
Coherence - internal
The data contained in the statistics are comparable with other tax statistics. The Standard Industrial Classification used in the statistics is consistent with the classifications used in other statistics on environmental accounts and national accounts and can thus be combined with them.
Source data and data collections
Source data
The statistics are macro statistics and most of the data contained in them have been collected from other statistics. No data are separately collected for the statistics and no separate sample surveys are produced. National accounts’ tax statistics and supply and use tables are the most important source data used by Statistics Finland for the statistics. Energy tax data from the Tax Administration, Vehicle tax data supplied by Traficom and final central government accounts are also used.
Data collection
No separate data collection has been carried out for the purpose of the statistics. The statistics are macro statistics and most of the data contained in them have been collected from other statistics.
Frequency of data collection
The data used in the statistics are based on figures collected each year.
Methods
Data compilation
The data contained in the statistics consist of national account statistics, vehicle tax data supplied by Traficom and final central government accounts. Aggregate tax data can be calculated at more detailed level by calculating and combining the data.
Data validation
The statistics are macro statistics and most of the data contained in them have been collected from other statistics. For this reason, the source data are not separately validated. The data published in the statistics are compared with the data published in the national accounts and their accuracy and comparability are checked.
Principles and outlines
Contact organisation unit
Legal acts and other agreements
The statistics are part of the System of Environmental Economic Accounting (SEEA), an international framework which monitors the interaction between the environment and the economy. EU Regulation on European environmental economic accounts (EU) No 691/2011, amended by Regulation (EU) No 538/2014, and its implementing regulation (EU) No 2174/2015 obligate EU Member States to compile statistics on environmental taxes as of the statistical year 2008. The objective of environmental accounts is to provide a statistical description of the interaction between the environment and the economy which for the most part complies with the basic framework and classifications of the national accounts. Compilation of the statistics is guided by the Statistics Act (280/2004, as amended 361/2013), the general act of the national statistical service. Only the necessary data that cannot be obtained from administrative data sources are requested from data suppliers. Index series are published so that no individual enterprise’s data or development can be deduced from them.
Confidentiality - policy
The data protection of data collected for statistical purposes is absolutely guaranteed in accordance with the Statistics Act (280/2004), the Personal Data Act (532/1999) and the Act on the Openness of Government Activities (621/1999), as well as the requirements of the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (2016/679). The data materials are protected at all stages of processing with the necessary physical and technical solutions. Statistics Finland has compiled detailed directions and instructions for confidential processing of the data. Employees have access only to the data essential for their duties. The premises where unit-level data are processed are not accessible to outsiders. Members of the personnel have signed a pledge of secrecy upon entering the service. Wilful breaching of data protection is punishable.
Confidentiality - data treatment
The data materials are protected at all stages of processing with the necessary physical and technical solutions. The unit-specific data of the calculation data must be kept confidential. Data are only handled by persons who need the data in their work. The use of data is restricted by usage rights. The statistics are formed by processing a large number of different statistics and other data sources. The aggregation of data in the process, the compilation time evaluation related to data quality, detailed prioritisation of sources and measures related to total level balancing produce an end result that does not enable identification of individual data producers. If, as a result of the required degree of detail, data from which individual operators can be identified is included in the material, the data in question must be marked as confidential and will not be published.
Release policy
Statistics Finland’s release calendar lists in advance all the statistical data and publications to be released over the year. Statistical releases can be found under statistics-specific releases. The statistical data are released on the Internet at 8 am unless otherwise indicated. The calendar is updated on weekdays. Statistics Finland’s release calendar for the coming year is published in December each year. The data for the latest year are published 16 months after the end of the statistical year.
Data sharing
The statistics are published on the Statistics Finland website 21 months after the end of the statistical year. As required under EU Regulation on European environmental economic accounts (No 691/2011, No 538/2014), the data are submitted to Eurostat 21 months after the end of the statistical year. Eurostat publishes the data on its own website together with the data on other EU countries a few months after the supply of the data.
Accessibility and clarity
Statistical data are published as database tables in the StatFin database. The database is the primary publishing site of data, and new data are updated first there. When releasing statistical data, existing database tables can be updated with new data or completely new database tables can be published.
In addition to statistical data published in the StatFin database, a release on the key data is usually published in the web service. If the release contains data concerning several reference periods (e.g. monthly and annual data), a review bringing together these data is published in the web service. Database tables updated at the time of publication are listed both in the release and in the review. In some cases, statistical data can also be published as mere database releases in the StatFin database. No release or review is published in connection with these database releases.
Releases and database tables are published in three languages, in Finnish, Swedish and English. The language versions of releases may have more limited content than in Finnish.
Information about changes in the publication schedules of releases and database tables and about corrections are given as change releases in the web service.
Data revision - policy
Revisions – i.e. improvements in the accuracy of statistical data already published – are a normal feature of statistical production and result in improved quality of statistics. The principle is that statistical data are based on the best available data and information concerning the statistical phenomenon. On the other hand, the revisions are communicated as transparently as possible in advance. Advance communication ensures that the users can prepare for the data revisions.
The reason why data in statistical releases become revised is often caused by the data becoming supplemented. Then the new, revised statistical figure is based on a wider information basis and describes the phenomenon more accurately than before.
Revisions of statistical data may also be caused by the calculation method used, such as annual benchmarking or updating of weight structures. Changes of base years and used classifications may also cause revisions to data.
Lisäksi suhdannetilastoihin tarvittaessa tämä lisäys:
Seasonally adjusted data in statistics on economic trends become revised because of the calculation method used. Additional information on a new time series observation is exploited in model-based calculation methods and this is reflected as changes in previous releases. Revisions of the latest figures to be seasonally adjusted are elaborated on in the releases and quality reports of statistics.
Quality assessment
Official Statistics of Finland (OSF) are a comprehensive collection of statistics describing the development and state of society. They comprise nearly 300 sets of statistics on 26 different topics. The producers of Official Statistics of Finland have approved a common quality assurance in which they commit to common quality criteria and quality assurance measures. The good practices followed in the statistics are presented in Statistics Finland’s Quality Guidelines for Official Statistics handbook.
Quality assurance
Quality management requires comprehensive guidance of activities. The quality management framework of the field of statistics is the European Statistics Code of Practice (CoP). The quality criteria of Official Statistics of Finland are also compatible with the European Statistics Code of Practice.
Further information: Quality management | Statistics Finland (stat.fi)
User access
Data are released to all users at the same time. Statistical data may only be handled at Statistics Finland and information on them may be given before release only by persons involved in the production of the statistics concerned or who need the data of the statistics concerned in their own work before the data are published.
Further information: Publication principles for statistics
Unless otherwise separately stated in connection with the product, data or service concerned, Statistics Finland is the producer of the data and the owner of the copyright. The terms of use for statistical data
