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Product and Service Classifications
Product and Service Classifications
are
the cornerstones against which official trade and production data are collected
by customs and national statistical bodies.
These quantitative data form the basis of NBS's 'Factual'
industrial sector profiles .
Anyone who has attempted to unravel the mare's nest of
inter-related national and international product/service classification systems
will know that extracting accurate and timely data from
the systems needs some determination and patience.
For example:
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Classification
systems for sales (production) and trade data are different.
To generate home consumption data (=sales+imports-exports),
one has to 'align' two systems that use different numbering systems and
descriptions.
Data
alignments issues are likely. Taking sales-trade
data 'alignments' generated by the statistical
authorities at face value will not identify the many anomalies and issues that need to be brought to the attention of
the data-gathering authorities.. -
Detail at a
cost. Data that are published
without charge have little relevance to most industries because they are
generally provided at a too-broad 4-digit level of classification. At
the very least one needs to purchase data against a 6-digit classification, and in most
cases, an 8-digit classification is needed to provide the detail
needed.
Data
varies with provenance. Trade data published
in the UK are not the same as UK trade data supplied to Europe for
publication or the data published by Eurostat. Even Eurostat data values can vary
according to the database they supply the data from! Timeliness is
an issue. While national trade data
are usually produced promptly, the same data reflected from Europe are
not. National sales or production data
can be published up to a year in arrears - and 2-3
years in arrears if you wait for the same data from Europe! -
International
difficulties arise when one needs to compare data
across borders. There is international agreement as to
classification of trade at the 6-digit level, but this rarely provides
enough detail. There is no similar agreement as to classifying production within individual countries, so generating
cross-border consumption data can be difficult.
There is good news
however. Within the EU, there is agreement as to
classification of both production and trade at the 8-digit level, This
means that, for EU countries at least, all aspects of trade and production
at a reasonably detailed product level can be determined. The EU's
trade with other World countries (e.g. the USA) can also be determined on
the same basis - but only from an EU perspective. The
inter-relationships between some of the classification systems are as indicated
below:
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Activities
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Products
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Worldwide
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ISIC Rev. 3
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CPC
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HS
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SITC Rev.3
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EU level
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NACE Rev.1
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CPA
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PRODCOM
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CN
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National level
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National versions of NACE
Rev.1
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National versions of CPA
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National versions of PRODCOM
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Key:
| ISIC |
International
Standard Industrial Classification |
| NACE |
'Nomenclature
générale des activités Économiques dans les Communautés Européennes'
(General Industrial Classification of Economic Activities within the
European Communities) |
| CPC |
Central
Product Classification |
| CPA |
Classification
of Products by Activity |
| PRODCOM |
Products
of the Communities |
| HS |
Harmonized
Commodity Description and Coding System |
| CN |
Combined
Nomenclature |
| SITC |
Standard
International Trade Classification |
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