The concept “industry” refers to a group of enterprises which turn out industrial products of a similar economic purpose.

The basic reporting unit of statistics on the industry is an enterprise whose principal activity is classified to divisions 10 - 41 of the Industrial classification of economic activities (CZ-NACE) in force since 1 January 1992.

The CZ-NACE splits the industry into the following sections:

• C – Mining and quarrying
• D – Manufacturing
• E – Electricity, gas and water supply

The data are obtained by the enterprise approach, i.e. for enterprises having their head office in the region concerned, including their establishments and plants situated in other regions. Due to a rather low degree of data relevance for a given region, the data are not further broken down into districts. A 100% survey is applied to get data from enterprises with 100+ employees, while a sample survey method is used for smaller entities.

Sales of own goods and services incidental to industry to external users refer to sales (receipts) of own tangible and intangible output valued at current prices; they are recorded on accounts 601 and 602. If own goods are transferred to own commercial networks, the sales are recorded in account group 62. The recorded sales (receipts) are free of VAT, consumer tax and customs duty.

Employees in industry are given as actual persons. The average registered number of employees (in terms of actual persons) includes all permanent and temporary employees who have a contract of employment with the employer and receive wages from the employer for the work done. The average registered number of employees does not include e.g. women on maternity leave, temporary members of the armed forces (including persons on compulsory community service), apprentices, students on practical training, persons working under contracts for work or of service, etc.

The average gross monthly wage per employee in industry is based on the wage bill (gross) (without deductions imposed by law or agreed upon with the employee), to be paid in the given period. The wage bill does not include funds paid from the other personnel expenses account. To calculate the average gross wage, the wages paid are divided by the average number of employees and the number of months in the reference period.

ENERGY

Information on the consumption of fuels and energy in all economic activities (industries) of the national economy is obtained from all incorporated enterprises employing 20+ people. The data on the consumption of fuels and energy in the regions are processed for entities with their head office in the region concerned.

Consumption of solid, liquid and gaseous fuels includes consumed individual fuels in terms of energy units - i.e. both production and non-production consumption, including consumption of inputs for generation of electricity and heat and for fuel upgrading; gas oils used to drive motors (formerly diesel oil) also include gas oils consumed for intra-enterprise transport.

Consumption of electricity – also includes in-house consumption of the production of electricity.

CONSTRUCTION

Construction comprises enterprises having their head offices in the area concerned, whose principal activity is construction (CZ-NACE 45) and which employ 20 employees and more.

Construction work of contractors and sub-contractors (the value “S”) comprises total output resulting from construction activities and accepted sub-deliveries of work done by other organisations. It includes neither sub-delivery to other construction work contractors nor deliveries of work implemented between units of one organisation. They data are reported excluding value added tax.

Basic construction output (construction work done by own employees) is the volume of work carried out by employees on the organization’s books, including productive work of apprentices.

Data on housing construction refer to the entire housing construction in the area (including all types of extensions) that results in new dwellings attained by all forms of construction). Dwellings arising from changes in the purpose of use without any prior construction modifications are not included. The number of dwellings includes dwellings located in constructions for housing as well as elsewhere.

Constructions for housing are multi-dwelling buildings in which the function of housing prevails, plus family houses. The dwelling refers to one or more rooms designed for living by the planning authority and can serve the purpose of living as independent dwelling units. The dwellings started are dwellings, whose construction was started in the reference period, as laid down in the builder’s diary, irrespective of whether they were completed or not. The dwellings completed are dwellings approved for use by the planning authority, the approval taking effect in the reference period. Dwellings under construction are dwellings whose construction was started (in the reference year or earlier), but not yet finished by the end of the reference period. The habitable floor area is the floor area of habitable rooms. The habitable room is a room directly lit and ventilated, of at least 8 m² in floor area, which can be directly or indirectly heated and which is designed for living all the year round.

Data on building permits are processed from figures reported on questionnaires submitted by individual planning authorities. The building permit pursuant to Article 66 of Act No. 83/1998 Coll., which amends Act No. 50/1976 Coll., on Planning and Construction Order (Construction Act), lays down binding conditions for the implementation and use of the construction. Estimated value of constructions comprises total costs (at current prices), including technology, spent on preparing and implementing the construction and on putting it into operation.

Environmental protection refers to construction activities aimed to control water pollution, dispose of or use waste, reclaim land, and reduce impact of physical factor on the environment.

The presented data on construction are comparable to the data released in previous years.

REAL ESTATE PRICES

Data on real estate prices are obtained from the Ministry of Finance of the CR, from real estate transfer tax returns, which must be filed by real estate owners (sellers) with respective financial offices after the registered contract of purchase is taken over from the land registration office. The establishment of the price information database at financial offices was started by processing tax return data in 1998 pursuant to Decree No. 279/1997 Coll. The database covers transactions in the whole real estate market and is based on real (reported) prices.

The data for individual years released in previous yearbooks cannot be compared due to subsequent conversions of data from administrative sources.

RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT, INFORMATION SOCIETY

The concept ‘research and development’ is stipulated in the CR by Act No. 130/2002 Coll., on the Support to Research and Development from Public Funds and on Amendments to Certain Acts. For the purpose of the Act, ‘research and development’ is defined as systematic creative work carried out to obtain new knowledge or to use it.

Research comprises creative work undertaken on a systematic basis in order to increase the stock of knowledge, including knowledge of man, culture and society, using methods which allow confirming supplementing or refuting the knowledge obtained.

Development is systematic creative work drawing on existing knowledge gained from research and/or practical experience, which is directed to producing new materials, products or devices, installing new processes, systems and services, or improving substantially those already produced or installed, including acquisition and verification of prototypes, pilot plants or demonstrational plants.

R&D employees are research workers directly engaged in R&D, as well as auxiliary workers, technicians, administrators and other persons working at R&D workplaces of the reporting units. They also include employees in charge of providing direct services for R&D activities. Their formal job attachment is contract of employment, contract for work or contract of service.

The registered number of employees as of 31 December in terms of actual persons (headcount) refers to the number of persons active, fully or in part, in R&D activities (human resources in research and development). Before 2001 the number also included contracts for work and of service in R&D in force as of the end of a reference year.

The average registered number of R&D employees, in terms of full-time equivalent (FTE). One FTE equals one-year (full-time) work of an employee who is 100% engaged in R&D activities. For employees also engaged in other activities than R&D, only the R&D-related working time is counted in, so that overestimation of the number of employees engaged in R&D will be avoided. The FTE indicator also takes account of the number of persons working for the reporting unit under contracts for work or of service, adjusted as the FTE methodology dictates.

Internal expenditure on R&D (R&D expenditure) includes all internal R&D expenditure spent within a reporting unit or an economic sector irrespective of the source of financing. Expenditure made outside the reporting unit, but supporting internal R&D (e.g. purchases of deliveries for R&D), is included. The internal R&D expenditure consists of:

• non-investment R&D expenditure
• acquisition of intangible and tangible fixed assets for R&D

The numbers of patent applications and patents granted are traditionally considered as one of the indicators measuring the success of research, development and innovation activities.

The invention is a solution to a technical problem, which is new compared to the state of the technology in the world, contains an inventive step, does not clearly result for an expert from the known state of technology, and finds industrial use. The patent granting procedure commences by filing an invention application with the Industrial Property Office of the Czech Republic (IPO). By filing an application concerning an invention the applicant acquires the right of priority. The application is filed in all countries in which the potential patent holder requires protection.

The patent is defined by Act No. 527/1990 Sb., as amended. It is a public deed issued by a national or international patent office (by the Industrial Property Office (IPO) in the Czech Republic), which provides legal protection of the invention for up to 20 years on the territory for which the patent was issued.

Information society is a term used in connection with the introduction and development of new information and communication technologies and systems in particular (the Internet, mobile phones, electronic commerce, etc.) into the most various areas of everyday life.

Statistics on the information society aims at describing the production (supply) of advanced information and communication technologies on the one hand and the extent, degree and use of these technologies and systems in individual sectors of society on the other hand.

Information and communication technologies (ICT) generally refer to technologies, systems, activities and processes that participate in imaging, processing, storing and transmitting information and data through an electronic means.

PC user: an individual who used PC last three months.

Internet user: an individual who used Internet last three months.

Personal computer: includes all types of personal computers: desktop, notebook or handheld (palmtop).

Purchase via the Internet: purchase of goods and services implemented by means of computer networks based on Internet protocols, most frequently through the seller’s www interface. Purchases implemented by virtue of orders made on the basis of information obtained from the Internet and placed in a classic way (telephone, fax, written order) or through classic, hand-written and dispatched e-mails are not included. The goods or services have to be ordered electronically via the seller’s Internet-www interface to be counted in. The goods ordered in this manner can be paid for and delivered off-line, not through the Internet.