Enhancing International Agricultural Statistics Classification Systems

1. International Classifications for Agricultural Statistics Valentina Ramaschiello, ESS 8 December 2011

2. FAO WORK ON INTERNATIONAL CLASSIFICATIONS • Who? The Statistics Division, the Fisheries and Aquaculture, theNatural Resources and the Forestry Departments • What? Since 2005 collaboration with the UN Statistics Division (UNSD) and the World Customs Organization (WCO) in the review of: • land classifications • SEEA (System for Environmental and Economic Accounts) • commodity classifications • CPC (Central Product Classification) • HS (Harmonized System) • Why? • Strong need for major international schemes to be suitable for agriculture and food statistics, facilitating the harmonization and comparison of data across different countries and statistical domains

3. ACTIVITIES COMMODITY CLASSIFICATIONS • Review of CPC and HS • CPC expanded for agriculture and food statistics • Questionnaire on National Agriculture and Food Production Classifications • Database on Commodity Classifications

4. CENTRAL PRODUCT CLASSIFICATION OF THE UN (CPC) Custodian: United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD) Current version: Ver.2 (2008) Purpose: • to provide a framework for the international comparison of statistics dealing with products • to serve as a guide for developing or revising existing classification schemes of products in order to make them compatible with international standards • to enhance harmonization across various fields of economic and related statistics Coverage: general purpose classification, includes goods and services which are output from economic activities and generally follows the definition for products used in the SNA Structure: five-digits structure; each subclass of CPC consists of goods or services that are predominantly produced in a specific ISIC class or classes

5. CENTRAL PRODUCT CLASSIFICATION OF THE UN (CPC) Governance mechanism • Review cycle: every 5 years • The Expert Group on International Classifications (EG), coordinated by UNSD, aims at developing a strategy for the convergence of international classifications • The group meets at least every two years and reports to the United Nations Statistical Commission (UNSC) following each meeting • Specific technical, analytical or exploratory tasks are carried out by Technical Subgroups (TSG) of the Expert Group • Members of the EG are representatives from International Organizations, countries, custodians, major users of international statistical classifications and experts in the development and application of international classifications

6. International FAO CPC rev. FAO FAO is a member of the EG and of the TSG for the CPC revision

7. HARMONIZED SYSTEM (HS) Custodian: World Customs Organization (WCO) Current version: 2007 (2012 forthcoming) Purpose: 206 countries, territories or customs or economic unions utilize it as the basis for Customs tariffs and for the compilation trade statistics Trade nomenclature most widely used in the world; it is a detailed listing of commodities rather than a proper classification for the purpose of organizing official statistics Coverage: goods; commodities are generally classified according to raw or basic material, to the degree of processing, to the use or function and economic activities Structure: six-digits structure

8. HARMONIZED SYSTEM (HS) Governance mechanism • Review cycle: every 5 years • The WCO manages this process through the Harmonized System Committee (representing the Contracting Parties to the HS Convention), and more specifically through its HS Review Sub-Committee (RSC) • The HS Committee and RSC meet twice a year; they examines policy matters, takes decisions on classification questions, settles disputes and prepares amendments to the Explanatory Notes • The HS Committee and RSC are attended by WCO member countries; International Organizations are also invited to participate with the status of “observer”, they have a consultative role but not voting power (differently from countries)

9. HARMONIZED SYSTEM (HS) WCO Council Harmonized System Committee FAO HS Review Sub-Committee FAO FAO is an observer member of the HS Committee and of the HS RSC

10. Concluded Review of CPC and HS Aim: • To increase proper detail and make CPC structure more suitable to meet the needs of Agriculture (in CPC) and of Agriculture and Fisheries and Aquaculture (in HS) production domains Results of the reviews: • CPC Ver.2 (finalized in 2008) includes 550 Agriculture items (more than double compared to CPC Ver.1.1) • HS 2012 (based on CPC Ver.2 finalized in 2011) includes more than 300 new Agriculture and Fisheries and Aquaculture items

11. CPC Ver. 2.1 Review (ongoing) • FAO proposal for revision of CPC Ver.2.1 submitted to the Expert Group on International Classifications last May 2011 • Aim: to increase proper detail and make CPC Ver.2.1. structure more suitable to meet the needs of Agriculture, Fisheries and Aquaculture and Forestry production domains (The inclusion of fishery and forestry items in the proposal for CPC Ver.2.1, besides agriculture, represents an important improvement compared to the previous CPC review round) • The proposal is currently under review in the TSG. If accepted, it will be submitted to the 43rd Session of the UN Statistical Commission in February 2012

12. HS 2017 Review (ongoing) • HS 2017 Review commenced in November 2009 and is expected to be completed by June 2014 • The revised version will enter into force on the 1st of January 2017 • FAO renewed its willingness to cooperate with the WCO for the update and enhancement of the HS at the 42nd session of the RSC (21-24 November 2011) • Submission of the FAO proposal for HS 2017 is planned for the 43rd session of the RSC (Brussels 21-25 May 2012). The proposal will cover Agriculture, Fisheries and Aquaculture and Forestry (The inclusion of forestry items in the proposal for HS 2017 represents an important improvement compared to the previous HS review round).

13. Implementation of CPC for Agriculture and Food Statistics in FAO • CPC Ver.2 is more suitable for agriculture statistics than CPC Ver.1.1. (too aggregated to be useful) • FAO SCWG endorsed the implementation of CPC Ver.2 as reference classification for agriculture and food production in FAO WHY? • Standardization ofitem names, titles, definitions, descriptions and data groups • Harmonization of official statistics at global level • Comparability of statistical data over time and across countries • Increase of “communication” among datasets • Decrease of reporting burden for countries

14. CPC Expanded for Agriculture • Problem: Detail on some food and agriculture products is still not sufficient in CPC, particularly in terms of primary products of origin • Reason: FAO is a sector-specific Organization and CPC is a general purpose scheme Endorsement The proposal of a CPC expanded was endorsed by the Expert Group Meeting on International Classification in May 2011 The CPC expanded will be included as an official annex to the CPC Solution: CPC EXPANDED FOR FOOD AND AGRICULTURE CPC structure at 5 digits added with a 6th digit to accommodate more disaggregated agriculture and food data

15. Questionnaire on National Agriculture and Food Production Classifications • Sent to countries and available online by the end of 2011 • Coordination with the UNSD National Classifications Registry and the Global Inventory of Statistical Standard Aim of the Questionnaire • To assess countries’ practices and the extent to which international standards are implemented, with a particular reference to the CPC • To understand how classifications are managed, i.e. stored, maintained and disseminated • To identify country needs on technical assistance in this domain

16. Questionnaire on National Agriculture and Food Production Classifications (contd) Expected improvements from the Questionnaire • To decrease countries’ reporting burden • To appraise and enhance the harmonization of data on agriculture and food production at the international level • To frame capacity development programmes • To enhance FAO’s data collection system • To identify classifications focal points at the country level thus facilitating and enhancing communication between FAO and countries in this field

17. Questionnaire on National Agriculture and Food Production Classifications (contd) Main information asked • Name of the classification (s) and coverage i.e. primary and/or processed products • Degree of coherence with international or regional (supra-national) reference product classifications • Availability of correspondence tables and explanatory notes • How the classification is stored and managed (to be filled in by people in charge of information systems) • Capacity development/technical assistance needs Countries are also asked to send their agriculture and food products classification structure (codes and titles) and any documentation describing it (correspondence tables and explanatory notes)

18. Database on Commodity Classifications • To store and manage all information on FAOSTAT Commodity List (codes, titles, Latin names, definitions etc.) • To search by codes or by text specific information on commodities classified in the FCL and correspondences between the FCL, CPC and HS • National classifications and link to FCL are also available (CountrySTAT) The DB is currently located in a development area and will be soon available on the Statistics Division website www.fao.org/economic/ess/en/

19. Thank you! Valentina Ramaschiello valentina.ramaschiello@fao.org

20. Some background information

21. CLASSIFICATIONSDEFINITION AND PURPOSE Definition “Set of discrete, exhaustive and mutually exclusive observations which can be assigned to one or more variables to be measured in the collation and/or presentation of data” United Nations Statistics Division Purpose • To provide a framework to collect and analyse data, and to report and compare statistics at the international level • To standardize statistical information, aggregate and disaggregate data sets in a meaningful way • To support policy and decision making

22. WHY INTERNATIONAL CLASSIFICATIONSARE IMPORTANT? • Essential mechanisms for the harmonization and coordination of data compilation at the global level • Allow national data and indicators to be comparable with those of other countries, thus facilitating countries inclusion in global statistical activities • Can be adapted to national statistical and economic needs and conditions, for better relevance and applicability To ensure data comparability and harmonization at the global level, international classifications should be taken as reference for the development of regional and national classifications

23. INTERNATIONAL, REGIONAL AND NATIONAL CLASSIFICATIONS International classifications are applicable at the global level and developed and maintained by international organizations, which are the custodian of these schemes CPC Central Product Classification of the UN Regionalclassification are implemented by regional organizations (supra-national -e.g. AFRISTAT, EUROSTAT etc.-) and applied by their member countries NOPEMA Nomenclature de Produits des Etats Membres d’AFRISTAT Nationalclassifications are country-specific schemes, designed and applied by countries NPC Nomenclature des Produits du Cameroun NOPRIM Nomenclature des Produits de la Mauritanie Other national adaptations of the NOPEMA

24. ACTIVITIES LAND CLASSIFICATIONS SEEA – System for Environmental and Economic Accounts • In cooperation with the European Environmental Agency (EEA), development of international standards for the classification of land use and land cover to be included in the SEEA • The final draft of the revised SEEA is now available for global consultation on the UNSD SEEA website(open until 7 December) • The revised SEEA will be submitted to the 43rd Session of the UN Statistical Commission in February 2012