UN / OECD JOINT SYSTEM FOR THE COLLECTION AND PROCESSING OF INTERNATIONAL MERCHANDISE TRADE STATISTICS Mary Jane Holupka, United Nations Statistics Division Conference on Data Quality for International Organizations

2 Introduction The Joint System’s Features –collection and sharing of detailed annual commodity-by-partner trade data –common data-processing standards –computer applications for use in data- processing and dissemination

3 Joint System Objectives Reduce national authorities’ response burden Synchronize and harmonize data-processing routines Disseminate identical high quality detailed international merchandise trade data The organizations’ databases will be coherent and consistent Best use will be made of scarce resources

4 Background Separate/independent data collection, processing and publishing activities at OECD and UNSD; discrepancies appeared from time to time in published data Suspicions confirmed: countries sometimes sent different data to each Conclusion: reconciling OECD and UNSD data only possible using same data sets and processing procedures

5 From the early 90s to 1998, what took so long? Preferences - UNSD disseminated provisional as well as final data; OECD only final data Treatment of confidential data Different country codes being used Conversion of commodity classifications

6 Data collection: the first step 2001 Memorandum of Understanding –OECD will collect trade data and metadata from its member countries –UNSD will collect from non-OECD countries only –OECD will share the data with UNSD

7 IT Developments taking place at the same time A move away from mainframe to server environment –OECD chose Oracle database in 90s, then shared this knowledge with UNSD in 2000 –In 2001, UNSD switched to SQL-Server, then shared this knowledge with OECD in 2003

8 The development of the UN/OECD Joint System Common data-processing standards for: –country codes –trade conversion factors –classifications and correlation tables –non-standard codes –quantity units and quantity estimations –confidentiality –metadata –synchronization of databases

9 The development of the UN/OECD Joint System (cont.) All computer applications for processing and dissemination of trade data are to be shared Starting point – UN Comtrade, installed by OECD and made accessible to public by mid-2006 COPRA (Commodity Processing application) as a foundation, with the following benefits: –inter-agency standards on all details of data processing –harmonization of published international trade statistics –higher level of data quality –full accountability in the treatment of trade data –availability of a complete set of metadata

10 Data Dissemination Both organizations will continue to keep separate international merchandise trade statistics databases, to serve their own particular needs: –storing various data in addition to those agreed in the Joint System (e.g. historical data, memorandum items, derived data, etc.) –developing additional analytical and presentational functionalities and controlling user access to them –dissemination practices, including pricing of user access to the database services, entering into contracts with users Disclaimers to alert the user to common standards and compliance with the Data Sharing Agreement

11 Joint System Diagram

12 The Current Situation Starting with 2002 data, only OECD collects trade data from the OECD member countries, reducing the countries’ response burden As of 1 January 2006, the UN/OECD data- processing system has been operational, being fine-tuned. Will result in –higher quality trade statistics through an improved data-processing system certified by UNSD and OECD –higher quality dissemination system maintained by the combined team of UNSD and OECD IT experts

13 The Current Situation (cont.) OECD web client being tested, when completed will have the same functionalities, look and feel as Comtrade. To “go live” by summer 2006 Both UN and OECD logos to emphasize the inter-agency cooperation UN/OECD Joint System as a continuous effort –statisticians are constantly comparing notes and finding solutions to details on data processing –IT experts are regularly crossing the Atlantic to actively work on the data-processing system

14 Plans for further cooperation Development of a common strategy for maintenance and dissemination of the tariff-line data Evaluation of the possibility of collecting, processing and disseminating trade data containing additional features –mode of transport –nature of transaction –additional partner country attributions Further standardization and enhancement of the metadata Evaluation of the experience gained for use in similar activities in statistics of international trade in services

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16 For further information UN Comtrade, UNSD Vladimir Markhonko Ronald Jansen Markie Muryawan OECD ITCS Andreas Lindner, Gregory Legoff Trevor Fletcher Lynda Hawe, Valerie Thielemans, etc.