Division 6) Variable 240106: Payments to subcontractors

For activities of NACE Sections B to E payments to subcontractors are payments made by the unit to third parties in return for industrial goods and services supplied as part of a subcontracting relationship defined as follows:

Two enterprises are linked by a subcontracting relationship whenever conditions A and B are met together:

1. A..

   the customer enterprise, also said main contractor, participates in the conception of the product providing, even partially, technical specifications to the supplier enterprise, also said subcontractor, and/or provides it with the materials to be processed;

2. B..

   the customer enterprise sells the subcontracted product, either as such or as part of a more complex product, and takes on the after-sales liability for the product.

Note: The mere stipulation of a colour, size or catalogue number does not constitute a technical specification in itself. The manufacture of a tailor-made product does not of itself necessarily imply a subcontracting relationship.

For the statistics on activities of NACE Section F payments to subcontractors are payments made by the unit to third parties in return for construction works supplied as a part of a subcontracting relationship.

Two enterprises are linked by a subcontracting relationship, whenever conditions A, B, C and D are simultaneously satisfied:

1. A..

   The customer enterprise contracts with the supplier enterprise, hereafter referred to as ‘sub-contractor’, for the execution of works or services which are incorporated specifically in the construction process;

2. B..

   The customer enterprise is responsible for the final product of the construction process, the responsibility covers also the parts carried out by the subcontractors; the subcontractor can in some cases carry some responsibility.

3. C..

   The customer enterprise provides specifications to the subcontractor, for example, the work or service executed by the subcontractor must be tailor-made for the purposes of the specific project and cannot thus be a standardised or catalogue work or services.

4. D..

   The reciprocal contract is not otherwise ruled by an agreement of an associative type, such as a common answer for a call for tender, a consortium or joint venture, etc.