COMTEC Foreign Trade according to Technological Content

The main aim of the Foreign Trade according to Technological Content is to present, on a quarterly basis, the trade flows related to the exports and imports between Catalonia and other countries of industrial products according to research and development effort (R&D).

These statistics classify the flow of exported and imported goods into four groups, depending on the importance of their technological content, according to the industrial sectors of the Catalan Classification of Economic Activity 2009 (CCAE-2009):

1. High technology level
2. Medium-high technology level
3. Medium-low technology level
4. Low technology level

These groups are disaggregated depending on whether they are exports or imports to the 27 members of the European Union or the rest of the world. The corresponding values are generated in Catalonia and Spain.

The primary source of information is the territorial operations file of the Customs and Special Tax Department of the Spanish Central Tax Authority. This is a file that contains the most relevant information derived from the data in the Single Administrative Document (DUA) and Intrastat statements.