Revision policy

The revision policy has been developed according to European and international recommendations and good practices.

Definitions

There are 3 types of revision:

1. Revisions of provisional figures: these revisions are carried out according to a planning set in advance, when new data, more complete, are available. They are generally carried out every month, every quarter or every year. 
2. Revisions due to methodological changes are less common and often lead to breaks in time series. These revisions are the result of:
   • changes in concepts, definitions, classifications or international standards;
   • a change to the legal basis ;  
   • changes in the applied method or approach;
   • new data sources;
   • technical or management changes;
   • the update of the base weighting.
3. Corrections of errors are revisions that cannot be planned. They can be the result of errors found. They are errors in the production process: 
   • in the survey data or administrative files, 
   • when entering data,
   • in the assumptions, 
   • in the calculations, 
   • in the hardware or software, etc. 

Revisions of provisional figures

Principles 

1. A schedule of revisions is established according to the European legislation in force, to the annual work programme and to the release calendar. 
2. If possible, these revisions are included in the release calendar available on the Statbel website. 
3. When relevant, an impact assessment of the revisions can be carried out. 

Revisions due to methodological changes

Principles

1. Changes to the method, the model, the calculations and/or data sources are announced and documented.
2. Whenever possible, either results are proposed for an overlap period so that users can calculate themselves a relevant time series, or the time series is recalculated. 

Corrections of errors

Principles of unplanned revisions

1. When an error is found after publication, corrective actions are taken as soon as possible. 
2. The corrected results are immediately published after their calculation and validation. Information can be provided at the time of publication on the causes of the error and on its impact on the results. 
3. When relevant, already published figures are immediately removed from the website, and users are informed. 

Communication principles 

Publication or communication principles of the provisional, revised or corrected figures.

Revisions of provisional figures: at the time of the publication, the metadata indicate that the revision was a planned revision.

Revisions due to methodological changes are communicated in a timely manner to users and stakeholders. When relevant, an impact analysis is carried out, or consultations are organised with users and stakeholders.
At the time of the publication of the results, the metadata refer to this revision and its impact on the time series. 

Corrections of errors: when corrections are published, clarification is provided on the adjustments.