Proposal Description

The System of National Accounts is being updated for the first time since 2008. The new SNA 2025, together with updates to the Balance of Payments Manual (BPM7), will incorporate guidance on globalisation, digitalisation, evolving financial instruments, economic wellbeing and sustainability.
Chair and discussant
The session will be chaired by Nicola Massarelli (Eurostat). The chair will make a brief introduction to the SNA 2025 revision process, the role of Eurostat in coordinating implementation across the ESS, and the particular challenges and stakes for EU Member States.
Jorrit Zwijnenburg (OECD) will act as a discussant.
Presentations
The session comprises four presentations, drawing on the experience of EU Member States. Together they provide broad coverage of the key implementation challenges under SNA 2025 and ESA.
1. Producing Experimental Estimates of Data Assets (Alejandro Donado, Germany - TBC)
This presentation will share a country's early experience in operationalising the new 2025 SNA and ESA 2030 guidance on data as an asset. It will cover the methodological approaches explored to identify data-producing activities and estimate the value of data assets, possibly including a comparison of alternative methods. The presenter will reflect on the challenges encountered in delineating data assets from other intangibles. Preliminary experimental estimates and their potential impact on GDP and the capital stock will also be discussed.
2. Producing Experimental Estimates of Data Assets (Matevž Meze, Slovenia - TBC)
This presentation will provide a further country perspective on the compilation of experimental estimates for data assets under SNA 2025. Similarly to the previous presentation, it will examine different methodological approaches available and compare their implications for the resulting estimates. The presenter will highlight practical challenges encountered, lessons learned from early implementation work, and the steps envisaged to move from experimental to regular estimates within the national accounts.
3. Accounting for Natural Resources (Francesca Tartamella, Italy - TBC)
This presentation will examine a country's experience in implementing the natural resources changes introduced in 2025 SNA, which include the treatment of depletion of natural resources as a cost of production and an expanded asset boundary covering biological resources and, potentially, renewable energy resources. The presenter will discuss the data sources and valuation methods used to produce early estimates, the methodological challenges encountered, and the implications for key macroeconomic indicators such as net domestic product.
4. Recording Crypto Assets in the National Accounts (François Guinouard, France - TBC)
SNA 2025 and the updated Balance of Payments Manual introduce a structured classification framework for crypto assets. This presentation will describe a country's experience in implementing this new guidance, covering the classification of crypto assets under the updated framework, the data sources used to estimate their value, and the challenges arising from the rapidly evolving and decentralised nature of crypto markets. The presenter will ideally also reflect on the implications for consistency between the national accounts and the balance of payments, and on the steps needed to arrive at robust and internationally comparable estimates.