1. UPDATE OF SNA Conference on National Accounts in the context of development cooperation Luxembourg 6-8 May 2008

2. MAIN CHARACTERISTICS OF THE PROJECT (1)
In 2003, the United Nations Statistical Commission (UNSC) called for an update of the SNA 1993
The overall aim is to bring national accounts in line with the new economic environment, advances in methodological research and needs of users
Feasibility of implementation and consistency with related manuals are key aspects

3. MAIN CHARACTERISTICS OF THE PROJECT (2)
44 issues have been identified by the ISWGNA with the help of the AEG
A global consultation of NSIs and Central Banks on the full list of recommendations and on draft chapters has been organised
In 2007, the UNSC approved the full list of recommendations

4. TWO VOLUMES
Volume 1 (chapters 1 to 17 constituting the SNA framework) was approved by UNSC in February 2008, but with the possibility for countries to provide substantial comments until end of April
Volume 2 (chapters 18 to 29 on government and rest of the world accounts and on extensions of accounts) to be submitted to the UNSC in March 2009

5. STRATEGY FOR IMPLEMENTATION OF THE SNA
UNSC asked ISWGNA to develop a strategy for implementing the updated SNA
 Eurostat/UNSD Conference on 6-8 May in Luxembourg

6. UNFUNDED GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEE PENSION SCHEMES
Agreement on a compromise solution (Eurostat / ECB Task Force):
The entitlements of unfunded government employee pension schemes can be either recorded in the core accounts or in a new standard (supplementary) table; rationale and criteria used in the above choice have to be provided by each country
The new standard (supplementary) table will give a complete view of households’ pension entitlements
Task Force work is being continued

7. RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
According to the recommendation :
R&D should be treated as capital formation
The value should be determined in terms of economic benefits it provides
By convention, R&D may be valued at the sum of costs
However, statistical difficulties remain to be solved before the long term objective of capitalizing R-D can be achieved
OECD Task Force  Handbook
Eurostat TasK Force  Supplementary tables

8. CAPITALISATION OF DESTRUCTIVE WEAPONS
The AEG recommendation is to treat as capital formation all expenditure by the military corresponding to a use of one year or more
 Ways to obtain the required data must be found

9. GOODS FOR PROCESSING
The AEG recommendation is that the recording of imports and exports should be based on the change of ownership and no more on the physical movement
Input-output tables will reflect what each unit contributes to the production process rather than the physical technology
The physical movements of goods, captured in merchandise trade statistics, have to be reconciled with the international flows to be recorded in BoP and NA
 UNECE/OECD/Eurostat Working Group on the Impact of globalization on national accounts  Guidelines

10. STATE OF PLAY ON VOLUME 1
Deadline for comments was 30 April. The ISWGNA will meet on Friday 9 May to consider all the comments
The aim is to finalise the text of Volume 1 by end May, for a release in summer
The volume will be available in pre-edit version on the project website. A hardcopy will follow
The ISWGNA will look into translation arrangements

11. OUTLINE TIMETABLE FOR VOLUME 2
Until mid-July, chapters posted for world-wide comments
Until mid-September, comments on last draft chapters
From September onwards, redraft of Volume 2 for it to be ready around mid-December for consideration prior to UNSC in February 2009