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International Trade in Goods
The CSO publishes International Trade in Goods statistics for Intra-EU and Extra-EU Trade Data, this information comes from different survey and administrative data sources as outlined below.
Extra-EU merchandise trade covers imports and exports to and from countries outside the EU. This information is collected on Customs declarations, and the relevant statistical information is transmitted to the CSO from Revenue and the Customs authorities.
Intra-EU merchandise trade covers imports and exports to and from countries within the EU. This trade is collected using a combination of the Intrastat survey, administered by the VIMA (VIES and Intrastat Mutual Assistance) branch of Revenue, and VAT3 returns where traders are asked to report the value of disposals and acquisitions with other EU Member States. Traders whose annual Intra-EU acquisitions exceed €500,000 or annual Intra-EU disposals exceed €635,000 are obliged to complete the Intrastat survey. Intra-EU Supplies of Goods (E1) and Intra-EU Acquisitions of Goods (E2) on the VAT3 return are used to estimate the Intra-EU trade for traders who do not submit Intrastat.
Relevant legislation:
REGULATION (EU) 2019/2152 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL
COMMISSION IMPLEMENTING REGULATION (EU) 2020/1197
COMMISSION IMPLEMENTING REGULATION (EU) 2021/1225
COMMISSION DELEGATED REGULATION (EU) 2021/1704
Our results are made available to the public in aggregate form, with details of trading partner countries and product types. The data are submitted to Eurostat each month and are also available on their website. CSO publishes monthly releases which are widely used by government departments, members of the press and media, businesses and private individuals. The CSO operates a trade helpdesk (trade@cso.ie) which provides data to users who may have more detailed queries.
Anonymised survey information may be provided to other government departments, approved organisations and approved researchers for statistical purposes only.
Under new legislation Intra-EU export microdata is also provided to the corresponding importing Member State in Europe. The transmission and use of this data by other Member States are strictly controlled under European legislation.
Yes. All information supplied to the CSO is treated as confidential. The Statistics Act, 1993 sets stringent confidentiality standards: Information collected may be used only for statistical purposes, and no personal data related to an identifiable person or business undertaking may be divulged to any other government department or body.
Disseminated Data is aggregated by Import/Export flow, Commodity Code and country of Import/export. Data is anonymised and is not published at VAT Number level.
Legislation regarding statistical confidentiality:
REGULATION (EC) No 223/2009 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL
The Revenue Commissioners supply the CSO with Customs declarations, Intrastat Survey data, and trade relevant parts of the VAT3 returns (E1 and E2 boxes).
Under the General Data Protection Regulation, you have the following rights:
However, because your data is processed for statistical purposes these rights may be limited in accordance with Article 89 of the GDPR. This is due to the fact that the exercise of any of these rights may render impossible, or seriously impair, the achievement of the statistical processing and such restriction maybe necessary for the fulfillment of those purposes.