Do we need a new trade classification and presentation for goods and services?

1. Do we need a new trade classification and presentation for goods and services? OECD Statistics Directorate

2. Overview • Why a new classification/presentation? • Trade in goods • Trade in services (and goods) • Goods and services or trade in products • Problem areas • Possible structure of a new trade classification or presentation • Benefits • Conclusions/suggestions

3. Trade in goods and trade in services?but never the two really meet… • Trade in goods described by HS 2007 and SITC rev 4 – physical movement of goods cross frontiers • Trade in services – BOP/EBOPS 2010 – resident non-resident transactions – goods is “general merchandise” • The detail is in one (IMTS for goods) or the other (BOP for services) but not both

4. Goods and services together • Central Product Classification version 2 • CPC classifies all transactable products • Movable goods CPC 0-4 mainly related to HS • Other products CPC 5-9 • Structure not helpful for trade or production • Goods and service products are difficult to separate

5. Problem areas • Trade and BOP relate to transactions not production • E.g. distribution services • Charges for the use of intellectual property • Manufacturing services – need to keep commodity flow information • Information products • Travel • Potential big differences between conceptual and actual product industry links especially for some services • Exports relate better to production, imports to consumption

6. What would a product presentation look like? Maybe something like this…

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9. Contd…. etc

10. Benefits • Would give us a common language and with production statisticians but it would need refining • If a useful idea, another version could be developed using ISIC 3, HS2002, and EBOPS2002 for immediate use • Use building blocks that fit into trade data sources and relate closely to input-output perspectives • Bring integration of trade data and estimation that is done at the I-O stage in SNA into trade area in transparent way • Over time would help give a more complete view of trade

11. Conclusions and suggestions • split into goods and services has become progressively more problematic • While data are needed separately, need to find a way of considering trade in products altogether - for trade, production, and I_O analysis. •  Propose new classification/presentation of trade in goods and services • Pilot exercise to produce estimated data from existing data sources, with any necessary adjustments made explicit. • Review measurement of trade in goods and services through enterprise surveys - consider business register links to activity codes– facilitate estimation of alternative views of trade.

12. Questions for discussion • Is this alternative presentation or classification of trade in goods and services worth researching further? • Given that implementation of BPM6 may take some years, should presentation be researched also in terms of current classifications ISIC Rev.3, CPC Ver. 1.1 and BPM5? • Should it be aligned with supply-use and input-output work in 2008 SNA? In what way? • Any other comments or suggestions?