ST/ESA/STAT/SER.M/34/REV.4 Department of Economic and Social Affairs Statistics Division Statistical Papers Series M No. 34/Rev. 4 Standard International Trade Classification Revision 4 The Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations Secretariat is a vital interface between global policies in the economic, social and environmental spheres and national action. 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ST/ESA/STAT/SER.M/34/Rev.4 UNITED NATIONS PUBLICATION Sales No.E.06.XVII.10 ISBN 92-1-161493-7 Copyright © United Nations, 2006 All rights reserved Contents Page Introduction Historical background . v Standard International Trade Classification, Revision 4 vii General purpose . vii Revision guidelines . viii Summary of changes . viii Abbreviations and symbols . ix Classification scheme of SITC, Revision 4 . x Standard International Trade Classification, Revision 4 . 1 Appendices I. Correspondence table between the subheadings of the Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System, fourth edition (HS07), and the basic headings of SITC, Rev. 4 II. Correspondence table between the headings of SITC, Rev. 4, and SITC, Rev. 3 III. Correspondence table between the headings of SITC, Rev. 3, and SITC, Rev. 4 iii Standard International Trade Classification, Revision 4 iv Standard International Trade Classification, Revision 4 Introduction Historical background 1. Although the search for greater comparability of international merchandise trade statistics had been going on for a very long time, it was not until the 1930s that significant developments directed towards the solution of the problem took place. In 1938, the League of Nations published the report of its Committee of Statistical Experts, Minimum List of Commodities for International Trade Statistics.1 The League's Minimum List was based on the 1937 revision of the League's Draft Customs Nomenclature.2 2. Since the appearance of the Minimum List, there had been many changes both in the structure of international merchandise trade and in the needs of countries, intergovernmental bodies and international agencies for greater international comparability of trade data. Consequently, the United Nations Statistical Commission at its third session had recommended that a revision of the League's Minimum List be prepared. In cooperation with Governments and with the assistance of expert consultants, the United Nations Secretariat drew up the 1950 edition of the United Nations Standard International Trade Classification (referred to below as the "original" SITC).3 In its resolution 299 B (XI) of 12 July 1950, the Economic and Social Council, upon the recommendation of the Statistical Commission at its fifth session held in May 1950, urged all Governments to make use of the Standard Classification by adopting it. By 1960, many countries were compiling international merchandise trade data according to the original SITC or national classifications correlated to it and major international organizations had adopted SITC as a basis for the reporting of international trade statistics. Some countries also used the original SITC as the basis of their customs nomenclatures.4 3. At the same time, in many European countries and in a number of countries outside Europe, customs tariff nomenclature was based on the 1955 Tariff Nomenclature (BTN) of the Customs Cooperation Council.5 BTN was an internationally agreed nomenclature by which products were grouped according to the nature of the material of which they were made, as had been traditional in customs nomenclatures. Consequently, data based on BTN had to be regrouped in order to provide economic statistics, since for economic analysis it is necessary that aggregates be available for classes of goods such as food, raw materials, chemicals, machinery and transport equipment and also for groupings of commodities by stage of fabrication and by industrial origin. The regrouping of BTN data into the form of the original SITC involved numerous subdivisions of BTN items. Considerable statistical resources were therefore required to regroup, giving rise to serious inconveniences for the developed countries and almost insuperable obstacles for the countries whose statistical resources were limited, when they attempted to use both the original SITC and BTN. 1 League of Nations, 1938 (II.A.14; and corrigendum, 1939). 2 League of Nations, 1937 (II.B.5), vols. 1 and 2. 3 Statistical Papers, No. 10/Rev.1, June 1951(United Nations publication, Sales No. 51.XVII.1). 4 See, for example, the Nomenclatura Arancelaria Uniforme Centroamericana (NAUCA), published by the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America, Mexico City, 1953. 5 Nomenclature for the Classification of Goods in Customs Tariffs, Brussels, 1955; and Explanatory Notes to the Brussels Nomenclature, Brussels, 1955. v Standard International Trade Classification, Revision 4 4. To improve this situation a group of experts from countries and intergovernmental agencies using both the original SITC and BTN prepared SITC, Revised.6 The revision required some modifications of both classifications. In the case of BTN, this consisted of the subdivision of a number of BTN items and the provision of a commentary in the Brussels Explanatory Notes on the subheadings thus created. These steps taken by the Customs Cooperation Council thereby made the precision of definition achieved by BTN applicable to SITC and provided to countries with a system offering the advantages of, at the same time, an internationally agreed tariff nomenclature and an internationally agreed statistical classification. A reciprocal one-to-one correspondence was thus achieved between SITC, Revised, and BTN. The Statistical Commission at its eleventh session recommended that countries compiling data according to the original SITC shift, if possible, to SITC, Revised, and that countries beginning to compile international trade data for the first time do so, if possible, on the basis of SITC, Revised.7 5. SITC, Revised, represented an improvement over the original SITC. Nevertheless, the increase in the volume of trade and the changes that had taken place in geographical as well as commodity patterns since l960 had, by l968, created a demand for a further revision of SITC. Thus, in l969, pursuant to a recommendation of the Statistical Commission, 8 the revision process of SITC was begun. The final draft of SITC, Revision 2, prepared by the Secretariat, based on the opinions of Governments and international organizations, was recommended for adoption by the Statistical Commission at its eighteenth session in October l974. On 7 May 1975, the Economic and Social Council adopted resolution 1948 (LVIII) recommending SITC, Revision 2, 9 for international use. The subsequent revision of the l972 edition of BTN to produce the Customs Cooperation Council nomenclature (CCCN)10 ensured a relationship encompassing a one-to-one correspondence between the subdivisions of the CCCN headings and the basic headings of SITC, Revision 2. 6. There were, however, a number of users who found the subdivisions of CCCN (and thus SITC, Revision 2) insufficient for their needs.11 There was also an expressed need for the harmonization of economic classifications.12 Partly to satisfy these needs, the Customs Co-operation Council in May l973 undertook responsibility for the development and completion of a harmonized commodity description and coding system. The work resulted in the revision of CCCN and the expansion of its four-digit categories into the Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System (HS), comprising 5,019 six- digit subheadings.13 7. At its twenty-first session, in January l981, the Statistical Commission had taken note of the fact that a third revision of SITC would have to be made available when both the revised CCCN and HS came into force in 1988.14 Accordingly, later that year, the United Nations Secretariat commenced 6 Statistical Papers, Series M, No. 34, 1961 (United Nations publication, Sales No. 61.XVII.6). 7 See Official Records of the Economic and Social Council, Thirtieth Session, Supplement No. 12 (E/3375 and Add.l). 8 Ibid., Forty-fourth Session, Supplement No. 10 (E/4471). 9 Statistical Papers, No. 34/Rev.2 (UN publication, Sales No. E 75.XVII.6). 10 Nomenclature for the Classification of Goods in Customs Tariffs, 5th ed., Brussels, 1976. 11 United Nations Statistical Office and Statistical Office EC Joint Working Group on World Level Classifications, "A Harmonization Commodity Description and Coding System for Use in International Trade" (UNSO/SOEC/1/2). 12 United Nations Secretariat, "The Harmonization of Statistical Classifications” (ST/ESA/STAT/78). 13 Customs Co-operation Council, The Harmonized