WORKING GROUP ON INTERNATIONAL CLASSIFICATIONS (GTCI) Meeting of the Expert Group on International Statistical Classifications New York, United States of America Eva Castillo Navarrete May 2015

FORMATION OF THE GTCI The Working Group’s formation was agreed in the “Regional Seminar on the exchange of experiences on classifications and nomenclatures”, which was held at Santiago de Chile on December 13 th -14 th, 2010.

GENERAL OBJECTIVE OF THE GTCI Support the countries of the region in adopting or adapting the new versions of the international classifications, in order to contribute to the development of official statistics in the various statistical programs.

GTCI MEMBERS 19 National Statistical Offices (NSO) : ArgentinaGuatemala BarbadosHaiti BoliviaHonduras BrazilMexico ChilePanama ColombiaParaguay Costa RicaPeru Dominican RepublicSaint Lucia EcuadorUruguay El Salvador ILO and UNSD are represented as well, and in March 2015 UNESCO became a GTCI member too.

PROGRESS REPORT AUGUST 2014 – MARCH 2015 Face-to-face meeting o The third meeting of the GTCI was held in Bogota, Colombia, on August 4 th -8 th. The meeting was funded by the UNSD and the ILO, with the logistic support of Colombia’s DANE.  During the meeting the NSO noted their progress in the implementation or adaptation of the ISIC, CPC and ISCO classifications; strengths, weaknesses, challenges and possible solutions were identified, and a strategy for the next meeting was determined.

PROGRESS REPORT AUGUST 2014 – MARCH 2015 GTCI Electronic Forum o The GTCI forum works actively in order to share experiences in classification topics and to keep members informed about the revision of international classifications. During the reported period the following actions were taken:  Inform on the problems found in ISIC Rev. 4.  Inform on changes between CPC Ver. 2 and CPC Ver  Inform on the impact of the resolutions at the 19th International Conference of Labour Statisticians (ICLS) on ISCO.  Assign forum administrators and create a Subcommittee for the registry of classification questions and answers.

PROGRESS REPORT AUGUST 2014 – MARCH 2015 Spanish translation of key documents o The UNSD representative is currently reviewing the Spanish draft translation of the Implementation Guide for International Standard Industrial Classification of All Economic Activities (ISIC Rev. 4) (parts 0, 1, 2, 4 y 5). -The Spanish version of the Guide is an essential tool to support countries in the implementation or adaptation of the ISIC. -The translation is the outcome of the work carried out by the Subcommittee for the translation of the Implementation Guide for ISIC Rev. 4, formed by Argentina, Chile, Mexico and Saint Lucia.

PROGRESS REPORT AUGUST 2014 – MARCH 2015 Spanish translation of key documents o Inform on the Spanish translation of the CPC Ver. 2 being posted on the UN website as an unofficial version. - The Spanish version of the Classification is an essential tool to support countries in the implementation or adaptation of the products. - The translation is the outcome of the work carried out by the Subcommittee for the translation of the CPC, formed by Chile, Colombia and Peru, with the support of the UNSD and INEGI (GTCI coordination), during the process of reviewing the translation.

PROGRESS REPORT AUGUST 2014 – MARCH 2015 Training on classifications o Assessment of the proposals for the training plan on: -International Standard Industrial Classification of All Economic Activities (ISIC) -Central Product Classification (CPC) The proposals were developed by the Training Subcommitte, formed by Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador and Uruguay.

PROGRESS REPORT AUGUST 2014 – MARCH 2015 Horizontal collaboration o Mexico is advising Ecuador on the automatic encoding system applied to the ISCO. The assistance began in early Communication and coordination with organizations which have developed or are developing regional classifications o In February 2015 the GTCI came into contact with Argentina, member of MERCOSUR (Southern Common Market), who expressed the group’s interest to participate in the Fourth meeting of GTCI. Contact with international organizations which are custodians of the classifications and have developed papers for the implementation, adaptation or update of the classifications o In March 2015 UNESCO became a GTCI member.

MAIN CHALLENGES IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE GTCI WORK PLAN Obtain the necessary funding to hold GTCI face-to-face meetings, in order to promote the use and dissemination of economic and social classifications.

Conociendo México INEGI Informa