1.1 Historical background

The inauguration of the Single Market on January 1, 1993 fundamentally changed the system for collecting external trade statistics. Until that date, statistical information on the trading of goods was collected by customs declarations. With the abolition of customs formalities between Member States, a new data collection system was adopted: since then, the Intrastat system is the basis for statistics on intra-Community trade.

The particularity of the Intrastat system is to collect the statistical information directly from companies. Through monthly reporting, the companies provide the competent national authority with data on their intra-Community transactions. Since the beginning of this new collecting system, the European Commission wanted to ensure a balance between statistical quality and the business workload.

A system of exemption and simplification thresholds (lien) has been introduced, reducing the workload of many intra-Community operators.