Manual on Statistics of International Trade in Services

Acknowledgements 
 
The  Manual on Statistics of International Trade in Services is the result of a wide-ranging and transparent 
process. It has been jointly produced by the organizations that participate in the Interagency Task Force on 
Statistics of International Trade in Services authorized by the United Nations Statistical Commission. It has 
benefited from strong cooperation among the six participating agencies, the sound advice of national experts and 
specialist consultants, and valuable contributions and comments from statistical compilers, trade negotiators, 
representatives of the business community, policy makers and analysts in all regions of the world and in 
international agencies.  
The Task Force was established by the Statistical Commission in 1994. Its mandate was to strengthen 
cooperation among international organizations; encourage the development of international concepts, definitions 
and classifications; and promote the availability, quality and international comparability of international trade-in-
services statistics. It was established in response to a growing demand from governments, businesses and analysts 
for more and better internationally comparable data on services trade, including those data needed in support of 
international negotiations and agreements. In view of the wide gap between statistical needs and available data, the 
work of the Task Force was considered a long-term exercise.  
The Task Force consists of individuals representing the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and 
Development (OECD), which acts as the Convenor, the Statistical Office of the European Communities (Eurostat), 
the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the United Nations Statistics Division, the United Nations Conference on 
Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the World Trade Organization (WTO). The Task Force members, in their 
initial meetings, considered possible strategies for improving the statistics. They decided that the preparation of 
new international methodological recommendations, both innovative and consistent with existing statistical 
systems, was a prerequisite for achieving its goals. Thus, in early 1996, they began to develop the present Manual. 
Over the next several years, the Task Force members, with assistance from national experts and specialist 
consultants, developed the outline structure of the Manual, undertook research and prepared successive drafts of 
chapters and appendices. During this period, the Task Force was chaired first by Derek Blades (OECD), through 
1999, and then by William Cave (OECD). Other Task Force members who significantly contributed to the 
development and production of the Manual were Jean-Claude Roman (Eurostat); Margaret Fitzgibbon, Mahinder 
Gill and Neil Patterson (IMF); Ann Chadeau and Erwin Veil (OECD); Mary Chamie (United Nations Statistics 
Division); Jolita Butkeviciene (UNCTAD); Jürgen Richtering (UNCTAD and later WTO); and Guy Karsenty 
(WTO). 
The United States Bureau of Economic Analysis (USBEA), the Deutsche Bundesbank, and Statistics Canada 
made available leading national experts to work with the Task Force. These experts were Obie Whichard 
(USBEA); Almut Steger (Deutsche Bundesbank), who participated in her capacity as Chair of the Group of 
OECD-Eurostat Experts in Trade in Services Statistics; and Shaila Nijhowne (Statistics Canada), who participated 
in her capacity as Chair of the Technical Subgroup on Classifications of the Expert Group on International 
Economic and Social Classifications. Statistics Canada made additional research contributions, especially through 
Hugh Henderson. The Task Force employed two specialist consultants, Julian Arkell and Jack Bame, who 
undertook initial research and prepared early drafts of the Manual. Eivind Hoffmann (International Labour 
Organization), Thomas Hatzichronoglou (OECD), Francis Ng (World Bank) and Antonio Massieu (World Tourism 
Organization) provided advice to the Task Force. 
The successive drafts of the Manual were subject to an extensive consultation and review process with expert 
groups, national statistical agencies, national central banks, international agencies, trade negotiators and data users. 
Reviews of the Manual or its status were undertaken during meetings of the IMF Committee on Balance of 
Payments Statistics, the Group of OECD-Eurostat Experts in Trade-in-Services Statistics, and the OECD 
Globalization Experts of the Working Party on Statistics of the Committee on Industry and the Business 
Environment; at workshops for national statisticians that were conducted by the UN Statistics Division, in 
cooperation with the regional commissions and national host agencies, in the Latin America and the Caribbean, 
Asia and Pacific, and African regions; at Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation and WTO seminars; and at a meeting 
of the United Kingdom Royal Statistical Society. The Task Force benefited immensely from the advice received at 
these various meetings and seminars, and also from comments received from about 70 countries following a mail-

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out of the draft Manual by IMF and the UN Statistics Division in November 1999 to central banks and statistical 
agencies worldwide. 
The Task Force wishes to express its appreciation to the members of the expert group that was convened in July 
2000 to conduct the final external technical review of the draft Manual. The members of this group of statisticians, 
trade negotiators, business representatives and data users commended the Task Force for its work and made a 
number of recommendations to be addressed before submission of the Manual to the Statistical Commission for 
approval. The group was chaired by Peter Pariag (Trinidad and Tobago) and its other members were: Mr. 
Henderson, Ms. Nijhowne and David Usher (Canada); Quancheng Song (China); Wai-Yi Wang (Hong Kong, 
China); François Renard (France); Ms. Steger (Germany); Akhilesh C. Kulshreshtha (India); Jung-Hoi Koo 
(Republic of Korea); Alfonso Sales Duarte (Mexico); Adisa Timothy Odunlami (Nigeria); Lidia Troshina (Russian 
Federation); Stefaans Walters (South Africa); Stuart Brown and Duncan McKenzie (United Kingdom); Bernard 
Ascher, Peter D. Ehrenhaft, Harry Freeman and Mr. Whichard (United States of America); José Carlos Mattos and 
Francisco Javier Prieto (Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean); and Sherry M. Stephenson 
(Organization of American States). 
As a result of the extensive review process, in 2000 and early 2001 the Task Force prepared a further draft of the 
Manual, under the coordination of Mr. Cave, who drew together substantive material drafted by Ms. Fitzgibbon, 
Mr. Karsenty and Mr. Whichard, as well as important contributions and guidance from Ralf Becker (UN Statistics 
Division), Ms. Butkeviciene, Ms. Chamie, Mr. Patterson, Mr. Roman and Ms. Steger. OECD contributed 
secretarial and administrative support, particularly by Joscelyn Magdeleine. Editorial support was financed by 
IMF. 
The present draft was submitted to the Statistical Commission at its thirty-second session, in March 2001. The 
Statistical Commission approved the Manual as an international manual and commended the Task Force for its 
work. 

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