Ralf BeckerUnited Nations Statistics Division

August 2015

Central Product Classification Central Product Classification (CPC) Ver.2.1(CPC) Ver.2.1

Background

The Expert Group at its meeting in 2011 agreed to undertake an update of the Central Product Classification (CPC) during the scheduled review for 2012.

It was emphasized that this would be an “update” only, not a “revision”, focusing on improving the detail and structure of the classification in selected areas only and at low levels of the classification only.

Background A detailed proposal listing of the

changes to be made to the CPC has been provided to the Statistical Commission in 2012

A first draft of the CPC Ver.2.1 structure and explanatory notes have been presented in 2013.

Additional work was necessary to develop explanatory notes and solve remaining issues

Sources for changes in CPC Changes in the CPC were based on

(a) a regular assessment of the impact of the 2012 amendments to the Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System (HS), which forms the building blocks for sections 0-4 of CPC;

(b) an assessment of the linkages between CPC and the Standard International Energy Product Classification (SIEC), with a view to improve the comparability of the two classifications

(c) a proposal by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) to adapt the detail of CPC in selected areas of agriculture and food products to allow for CPC to be used directly for data collection in agricultural statistics; and

(d) feedback received on CPC issues in the Statistics Division Classifications Hotline *

Problems The conclusion of a number of issues related to

energy statistics was postponed and will be taken up again for the next scheduled review in 2017.

This is a result of detailed discussions that have revealed definitional problems that need to be clarified with users of the energy product classification and may require adjustments within that classification.

Making changes to the CPC based on the current definitions of the energy product classification would have been premature and could have resulted in unnecessary deviations from established CPC standards.

List of issues There was a list of 43 issues considered, of which 6

were characterized as “issues requiring conceptual discussion”, 15 as “Issues requiring clarification (details, links, formulation)” and 22 as “Issues that seem straightforward”. One issue may affect many classes/subclasses

9 issues remained as “unresolved”, mostly related to the link between CPC and the energy product classification

A few others were raised by the Voorburg Group, but with insufficient follow-up to have them included. They should be reviewed for the next update. Example: Detail for recyclable materials

An additional issue (related to outsourcing) has been raised in the TSG and took some time to resolve.

House-cleaning tasks The following were carried out as final

exercises Final review of explanatory notes Manual check of cross-references in exclusions

About 1,500 Text editing etc.

Review of correspondence tables CPC 2.1 – HS 2012, CPC 2.1 – CPC 2, CPC 2.1 – ISIC 4

CPC Ver.2.1 Published in August 2015

On UNSD website Translations will follow

Publication includes also: Introduction (concepts, rules) Alternative aggregation for products of the

Information Economy Extended structure for agricultural products

CPC Ver.2.1 changes

Changes vary by degree New codes Recoded items (no change in content) Codes with changes in explanatory notes Structural changes

While structural changes are limited, changes in the text are quite substantial and affect translation

CPC Ver.2.1 changes

Number of categories in creased from 4408 to 4596 Most of these in agriculture / food

4140 items keep the same code and title Of these 1222 are completely unchanged The others have explanatory note changes

or editorial changes only (spelling, comma etc.)

CPC Ver.2.1 changes

This leaves only 266 subclasses affected by structural changes in the CPC 34 in agriculture / forestry (FAO) 60 in fishing (FAO) 27 in processed fish products (FAO) 7 in food products (FAO) 12 in textiles (HS) 22 in wood products / paper (FAO,HS) 14 in energy products (SIEC)

CPC Ver.2.1 changes

Structural changes (cont.) 6 in chemicals (HS) 9 in pesticides (FAO) 10 in other goods (HS) 37 in R&D 4 in telecommunications 16 in support services

CPC Ver.2.1 translation

Many of the changes are easy to handle

Editorial changes may often not affect the translation

UNSD will provide a document that highlights all changes that require translation