Accuracy and reliability

Overall accuracy

The data of which is the basis for the calculations are administrative information, subject to the control of the tax authorities, necessary to secure that the correct amount of taxes are collected on the sale of alcohol and tobacco.

The statistics' numbers for pure alcohol contain some uncertainty. The average percentage of alcohol for each tax class is based on analyses by the Danish Ministry of Taxation. Taxes on beer and spirits are estimated on the basis of the volume of pure alcohol in the good, while the tax applicable on wine is calculated per liter of wine and is differentiated by the alcohol percentage in the wine. A part of the statistics precision, therefore, depends on the precision of the Danish Ministry of Taxation's average calculations for the classes of taxation.

Sampling error

Not relevant for this statistics.

Non-sampling error

The statistic is founded on data on the tax authorities' tax revenue from the sale on alcohol and tobacco. The tax collection require a thorough preparation to secure that taxes are collected correctly, where it is not expected to be significant issues with the coverage, lapse or duplicates in the data. If there should be problems with the tax authorities' revenue lists, then Statistics Denmark receive corrects prior to the production of the statistic. This process reduces the risk of measurement error.

There can be a small degree of overestimation of the statistics due to returned tax stamps on goods that have not been sold, and therefore refunded by the tax authorities since these are not subtracted from the data. These refunds constituted less than a permille of the production in 2018, and the degree of overestimation is assessed to be insignificant.

All calculations are processed in a computerised production system, which have been thorough tested prior to its deployment. Moreover, different validations controls of the results are continuously used so that the risk of calculation errors are assessed to be insignificant for the statistic.

Quality management

Statistics Denmark follows the recommendations on organisation and management of quality given in the Code of Practice for European Statistics (CoP) and the implementation guidelines given in the Quality Assurance Framework of the European Statistical System (QAF). A Working Group on Quality and a central quality assurance function have been established to continuously carry through control of products and processes.

Quality assurance

Statistics Denmark follows the principles in the Code of Practice for European Statistics (CoP) and uses the Quality Assurance Framework of the European Statistical System (QAF) for the implementation of the principles. This involves continuous decentralized and central control of products and processes based on documentation following international standards. The central quality assurance function reports to the Working Group on Quality. Reports include suggestions for improvement that are assessed, decided and subsequently implemented.

Quality assessment

Data is assessed to be of a high quality, as it collected by the Danish tax authorities to ensure that the correct amount of taxes is being paid for the sales of alcohol and tobacco. Thus, the data is scrutinized and must be expected to be of a high quality. In the calculation of amounts average alcohol percentages specified by the Danish tax authorities are used on the basis of their own research. Part of the precision of the statistics thus hinges on the precision of the tax authorities' calculations for the tax groups. To ensure the quality all calculations are conducted in a dedicated production system and different validity controls are performed regularly on both in data and results.

Data revision - policy

Statistics Denmark revises published figures in accordance with the Revision Policy for Statistics Denmark. The common procedures and principles of the Revision Policy are for some statistics supplemented by a specific revision practice.

Data revision practice

Only final figures are published, albeit if errors are identified data is revised.