ReferencePeriod

Timespan or point in time to which the measured observation is intended to refer.

In many cases, the reference period and time period will be identical, but there are also cases where they are different. This can happen if data are not available for the target reference period, but are available for a time period which is judged to be sufficiently close. For example, the reference period may be a calendar year, whereas data may only be available for a fiscal year. In such cases, “reference period” should refer to the target reference period rather than the actual time period of the data. The difference between target and actual reference period can be highlighted in a free text note.