One source is the reports by German firms on transactions with firms from countries that are members of the European Union (EU); these reports are used to compile the so-called Intrahandelsstatistik on intra-EU trade. The other source is transaction-level data collected by the customs on trade with countries outside the EU (the so-called Extrahandelsstatistik).2 The raw data that are used to build the statistic on foreign trade are transaction level data, i.e. they relate to one transaction of a German firm with a firm located outside Germany at a time. Published data from this statistic report exports and imports aggregated at the level of goods traded and by country of origin.