United Nations Statistics Division

1. ISIC and CPC implementation United Nations Statistics Division

2. Expert Group • Expert Group discussed a proposal for the implementation of ISIC and CPC at its meeting in April 2007 • Main recommendations relate to: • Timetable • Documentation and tools • Regional workshops • Technical cooperation

3. Timetable • EG recommended two milestones: • Countries should adapt their national classification to ISIC Rev.4 by 2009 • To meet population census target of 2010 • International data reporting in ISIC Rev.4 format should begin in 2012 • Some countries recommended earlier goals, but that may be unrealistic for majority of countries

4. Timetable • No specific dates have been recommended for completion of: • Adaptation of business register • Sample designs and weights for surveys • Backcasting • Reasons: • The timing and organization of surveys varies by country • Scope (length) of backcasting differs by country

5. Documentation and tools • UNSD will develop: • A Companion Guide to ISIC and CPC that helps to understand: • the concepts and structure of the classifications • Application of the classification • Correspondence tables • ISIC and CPC indexes • UNSD will also set up an open discussion forum and expand the classifications website into a larger knowledge platform

6. Documentation and tools • UNSD will develop documents, based on European and other experiences, for: • Establishing a national classification • Recoding of business registers • Sampling design and weight estimation • Backcasting

7. Regional workshops • Regional workshops have been supported in two phases: • Workshops on final versions of ISIC and CPC in 2007/8 • Workshops on specific elements of implementation*, such as: • Adaptation of business registers • Statistical collection programmes • Use of the classification for administrative data * (carried out most likely in connection with industry workshops)

8. Technical cooperation • EG supported regional partnership for technical cooperation • Proposal: • US, Canada, selected S.American countries support ECLAC • EU members support ECA, ECE, ESCWA (where relationships already exist) • Australia, Japan, India support ESCAP • UNSD will serve specific subregions • First steps of cooperation will be organized through the open discussion forum

9. Implementation process

10. Implementation of ISIC Rev.4 • Major tasks and challenges: • Defining a new classification and associated tools • Reclassification of all units on the business register according to the revised classification • Maintaining two classifications for an interim period • Sampling and weighting under the new classification • Simultaneous estimation and results assessment under both new and old classification • Construction of industry weights for short term statistics • Construction of back series in terms of the revised classification • Handling of the national accounts move to the revised classification

11. Overall implementation process • NSIC setup process • creation of a new national version of national classification (NSIC) according to ISIC Rev.4 for national use • Register update process • switchover in the Business Register to new NSIC • Statistics update process • co-ordinate simultaneous switchover in statistics to new NSIC and the control of the quality of time series

12. NSIC setup process

13. Register update process

14. Statistics update process

15. Coordination of work • Groups involved in the three processes need to be coordinated • Need for a programme manager • Communication with users of the classification (potential data providers) • Need to get other users involved in setup and keep them updated on work and impact according to a fixed schedule

16. Criteria for developing NSIC • Discussed in previous presentation • Should involve other stakeholders / users/ data providers • If sufficient, ISIC Rev.4 can be used as is • In this case, tools (correspondence tables etc.) are ready

17. Recoding the business register • Based on known correspondence table, can use different methods: • Direct (straight) recoding • Use of additional info from NSO or external registers • Surveys • Profiling • Probabilistic models

18. Recoding the business register • Dual coding should be kept for several years • Problem: some units may cease operation • Use of reference dates may help • Can be implemented by using a transition code • Reflect correspondence table • Can computer-assisted coding help?

19. Future statistical work • Sampling procedures have to be updated for the new classification • Scope of categories may have changed • Should (at least for the transition period) produce estimates for old and new classification • Overall sample size may increase • To increase reliability of dual-coded results • To compensate for startup problems of the new classification (misclassification of units) • To allow for increase of detail required in new classification • To better evaluate coherence between old and new classification

20. Sample timetable for transition (1)

21. Sample timetable for transition (2)

22. Additional guidance • More detailed guidance for developing new national classification, recoding of business register, sampling design and weight estimation, backcasting is being prepared in the implementation materials