Workshop on International Classifications March 2013, Kishinev, Moldova Republic of Belarus

Activity and product classifications currently used in the Republic of Belarus National Classification of Economic Activities on the basis of NACE 1.1 – NACE Rev. 2 will soon be implemented National Classification of products based on the CPA 2002 – Working towards changing to CPA 2008 Nomenclature of foreign economic activity of the Customs Union on the basis of HS 2007 Other applicable classifications: national classification of activities based on ISCO-88, COICOP, COFOG, national classification of occupations and qualifications based on ISCED 1997

Ongoing revisions From NACE 1.1 → to NACE Rev. 2, From CPA 2002 → to CPA 2008

State of implementation Developed, National Classification of Economic Activities on the basis of NACE Rev. 2 and the national classification of products based on CPA 2008 National Classification of Economic Activities based on NACE Rev. 2 has been implemented in SBS NACE Rev. 2 will be implemented in business register based on the results of the structural survey conducted in March 2013

Specific issues encountered with the activity classifications An interdepartmental working group was working to solve – Difficulties in adapting NACE and CPA to take into account national circumstances, existing product standards and laws of the Republic – The need to harmonize the classification with the government Lack or late receipt of methodological materials in Russian There are questions concerning the methodology of compiling statistics for certain sets of activities (e.g. services, tourism)

Specific issues encountered with the activity classifications Practical guidance needed on recalculating by using coefficients and on the surveys needed for calculating the coefficients – Previous conversion was based on micro-data Difficulties in coding enterprises in business register, when micro-data is missing for two earlier classifications Difficulties in determining the value added for the individual stages of a vertically integrated process

Specific issues encountered with the activity classifications How to treat activities or products not covered in the classification? Advise needed on classifying the following activities: – services on refinement; mixing of finished products; services on printing images on a photo printer on any surface (finished goods, flowers, etc.); maintenance of communication cable in a building; rental of scaffolding in the implementation of installation; activities of outpatient medical organizations, nursing houses Problematic issues with the following products: – felt boots; pellets from straw, waste crops; pizza; clothing and other second hand items – Why these products are classified as manufacturing products in CPA 2008?

Specific issues encountered with the product classifications Questions due to certain discrepancies at 4 digit level of products in CPA 2008 and groups of economic activities in NACE rev.2 – for example, if mushrooms are grown they belong to agriculture, if collected they are part of forestry Difficulties with the methodology for treating certain sets of products – for example, audio-visual services, investment, intermediate and consumer goods

Issues related to time series For the current classification, data have been recalculated on the basis of micro-data for years backwards (depending on the area of ​​statistics) Now reviewing the approach for data recalculation (including the number of years of recalculation) Planning a revision based on coefficients calculated on the basis of survey data For the current classification, dual coding was used in business register, based on surveys Now we are planning to use dual coding, based partly on surveys, and partly on the basis of coefficients

Suggestions for future revisions Full consistency between the product classification and the classification of activities would be helpful – In cases where this is not possible, notes to explain the differences are needed Review the possibility to converge classification of products with the classification of goods of foreign economic activity