In order to ensure the quality and comparability of the statistical data sets at both national and international level, The Committee on Monetary, Financial and Balance of Payments Statistics (CMFB)¹ has developed a Harmonised European Revision Policy for Macroeconomic Statistics², which establishes the standard principles and rules for revising EU member states’ statistical data.

Based on the Public commitment on European Statistics by the ESCB³ and European statistics Code of Practice⁴, adopted by the European Statistical System Committee, data quality is carefully monitored according to the following standard criteria:

• relevance, i.e. the degree to which statistical information meets current and potential users’ needs;
• data accuracy, in the general statistical sense, data accuracy is the degree of closeness of estimates to the exact or true values;
• timeliness and punctuality of the dissemination of statistical data, in accordance with the official release calendar;
• clarity and accessibility of transmitted/published statistical data;
• comparability of data from the perspective of collecting sources and compilation methods and tools;
• coherence between related statistical datasets.

The revision involves the analysis of the compilation of the statistical indicators in order to progressively improve their quality and it has, usually, as a result the change in indicators value. In general, the purpose of revising statistical data is to include new, improved information, or to ensure compliance with new international methodological standards or European regulations.

In accordance with the Harmonised European Revision Policy for macroeconomic statistics, a distinction should be made between 'routine' revisions and 'major' or 'benchmark' revisions:

1. Routine revisions – which refer to the changes made to the values of the previously published statistical indicators, being generally determined by the current processes of statistical production (for example, the estimated values are replaced by reported values⁵).
2. Benchmark revisions – which are carried out at longer time intervals, usually at 5 years, and are mainly determined by the identification of new data sources or by significant changes in international methodological standards.

¹ CMFB is a committee established by the Council Decision no. 856 of November 13, 2006, to assist the European Commission in drawing up and implementing work programmes concerning monetary, financial and balance of payments statistics, as well as to ensure cooperation between the European Commission and the European Central Bank in the field of statistics. CMFB is an advisory committee, without legislative power.
²  Harmonised European Revision Policy for Macroeconomic Statistics  
³  Public commitment on European Statistics by the ESCB
⁵  European statistics Code of Practice  
⁵ The calendar of the routine revisions within a calendar year it is published here