Hugues Picard

INSEE, France

1. Administrative simplification

1.1 The Associated Registers

In relation with the wider and wider spread of the use of the unique identification number, INSEE has carried over its reflections on the association of administrative Registers with Sirene, generally within the framework of the re-engineering of administration Information Systems. This includes the establishment of flows of information from Sirene to the Administration Register and from this Register to Sirene. A provisional study is available, which aims at defining and provide a frame for all the relations between Sirene and the Registers, which are associated to it.

1.2 The use of Internet in the administrative declaration circuit.

The inter-administrative project called ¡°Declaration of Enterprises by Internet¡± (DEI) has been abandoned in favor of several private developments. It aimed at providing the enterprises all the services required to achieve its formalities when there is a creation, a modification or a discontinuation of a legal or local legal unit.

2. Electronic Interchanges

2.1 EDI

At the end of 2003, more than 70% of the declarations by enterprises will arrive at INSEE from the Centers of Declaration of Enterprises (CFE) in EDI format. It is hoped that most of exchanges will be made using XML messages at the end of 2004.

2.2 Provision of the unique identification number at the moment of the registration of the declaration of creation at the Center for Formalities of Enterprises (CFE)

The project aiming at allowing a CFE to obtain immediately the identification number through a XML message to and from the Register Sirene is completed and the service is now in effect and work well; The implementation had to face problems linked to the security developments necessary when using internet (both confidentiality of the data and protection of accesses). INSEE has also to adjust its informatics organization to the use of web services, the co-ordination of more and more separated developments within a given project being problematic within the present organization.

3. The re-engineering of the system of Registers

Since 2000, IINSEE carries out an important project for re-engineering the Register Sirene. Two main objectives are defined: (i) improve the quality of the Register and (ii) decrease the load for its management.

The developments of the new application, called Sirene 3, is going as planned, along with the re-organization of the management of the Register.

3.1 What has been done

On April 7, 2003, some operators started to work using the new work post for some types of changes declared by enterprises to the CFEs and transmitted by CFEs to INSEE through EDI.

The new application for data acquisition comprises:

-       a program for looking in Sirene either if the legal or local unit which is being created is not already registered (to avoid double counting) or to check the new data against those already registered if the declaration corresponds to a modification;

-       a program for checking the consistency and the validity of the declared data;

-       a program for codifying automatically the activity;

If the declaration passes through these three programs without problems, it is automatically included in the Register Sirene. In fact, the registration is made both in the formats Sirene 3 and Sirene 2, the latter being the one corresponding to the ¡°official¡± Register until the beginning of 2004. The operators on their work posts treat the declarations, which are erroneous or for which codification of activity and/or juridical category could not be made automatically. A special application is designed at ¡°transforming¡± the declarations still received on paper into a simili ¡°electronic declaration¡± in order to process it in the general manner.

At the beginning of 2004, the new application for dealing with the administrative missions of Sirene should be completed. At the same time, the number of operators should have decreased from 450 at the end of 2002 to 250, and the number of regional offices treating the declarations received from CFEs should have decreased from 22 to 10 (if one does not take the overseas departments in account).

3.2 What is to be done

In 2004, it is planned to complete the application and the operator¡¯s work post to include statistical and demographic developments (treatment one by one of major units, inclusion of specific information on continuity, on predecessor-successor,¡­) and quality requirements and indicators.

The years 2004 and 2005 will also be devoted to the re-engineering of all the tools for identification, in order to be in a position to improve (1) the Sirene operator¡¯s research for no double counting, (2) the research of a unit in the Register if some of its identifying characteristics are known, and (3) the automatic matching of a file with Sirene.

4. Business demography

4.1 The Information System on New Enterprises (SINE)

The third phase (5 years later) of the follow up of enterprises created in 1998 is being carried out on the field at the end of 2003.

4.2 The operations with Eurostat

INSEE is member of the task force of Eurostat on Business demography.

4.2 The reflection on demographical concepts and products in the framework of the re-engineering of the Register

New propositions for concepts and products have been adopted, in line with Eurostat concepts.

5 Business surveys and units

5.1 The use of Internet for business surveys

Internet may now be used for regular and "light" business surveys. Since some time, the enterprises may answer by Internet to monthly or annual industrial-production surveys: use rate has risen from 13% in 2000 to 40%  in 2003 (monthly production survey). INSEE has also developed a device making it possible for enterprises to answer to producer prices surveys (13% use rate at the beginning of 2004), as well as to qualitative surveys on economic trends (10% use rate at the beginning of 2004).

6. Statistical units

INSEE is currently carrying out a specific approach of some complex groups (profiling).  After several meetings with representatives of two big car groups, two specific units grouping several legal units have been constructed; a unique questionnaire of the annual survey on enterprises has been sent to the two groups, the answers dealing with the unit as a whole and not for each separate legal unit (to which questionnaires are no longer sent).  This practice is being extended to other types of surveys on the specific unit. The same approach is now being carried out with other groups.