Manual on Statistics of International Trade in Services

Payments Manual
1
 (BPM5), which contains 
recommendations for the definition, valuation, 
classification, and recording of resident/non-resident 
trade in services. Also important is the System of 
National Accounts, 1993
2
 (1993 SNA), whose concepts 
and definitions underpin many of the Manual’s 
recommendations about data on services delivered 
through foreign affiliates. Although there are important 
advances in the Manual, it recognizes that in some areas 
there is farther to go; where questions are raised that are 
not adequately resolved, this Manual also sets an agenda 
for further research and development work.  
                                                 
1
   Washington, D.C., 1993. 
2
   Commission of the European Communities, International 
Monetary Fund, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and 
Development, United Nations and World Bank, 
Brussels/Luxembourg, New York, Paris, Washington, D.C., 
1993. 

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4 
1.5.  For services trade between residents and non-
residents, the Manual recommends building on the 
BPM5 framework by elaborating its classification of 
transactions by type of service to form the Extended 
Balance of Payments Services Classification (EBOPS). 
Annex III provides tables showing the correspondence 
between EBOPS, the Central Product Classification, 
Version 1.0
3
 (CPC, Version 1.0) of the United Nations, 
and the GNS/W/120 list of services identified within the 
scope of GATS. 
1.6.  An important feature of the Manual is a 
discussion of the modalities through which services may 
be delivered, of which the GATS identifies four: cross 
border, consumption abroad, commercial presence and 
presence of natural persons. Distinctions are made 
based on whether the service supplier, the consumer, or 
neither, moves from one country to another for the 
transaction to be effected. 
1.7.  For services delivered through subsidiaries and 
branches abroad, referred to in the present Manual as the 
commercial presence mode, methodological antecedents 
are not fully developed. However, drawing on work 
conducted by the Organisation for Economic Co-
operation and Development (OECD) and the Statistical 
Office of the European Communities (Eurostat), as well 
as on the experience of a number of countries in 
collecting this type of data, the Manual reflects the 
emerging international consensus that statistics on such 
services should be developed for firms in which a 
foreign investor has a majority interest. They should be 
classified as a first priority on an activity basis (i.e., by 
industry of the producer rather than by type of service 
produced). Industry groupings drawn from the 
International Standard Industrial Classification of All 
Economic Activities, Revision 3
4
 (ISIC, Rev.3), are 
provided for use in reporting these statistics to 
international organizations. These groupings, known as 
the ISIC Categories for Foreign Affiliates (ICFA), allow 
the activities of services enterprises to be viewed in the 
context of the activities of all enterprises. Although 
detail by product for foreign-owned firms is encouraged 
to enable comparability between FATS data and trade 
between residents and non-residents, compilation on a 
product basis will remain a longer-term goal for most 
countries because of current limitations on data 
collection. 
                                                 
3
   United Nations publication, Sales No. E.98.XVII.5. 
4
   United Nations publication, Sales No. E.90.XVII.11. 
1.8. 
The most pertinent information on the activities 
of affiliates may be considered to be data on their sales.  
Services delivered through transactions between 
residents and non-residents are measured in terms of 
sales, and a comparable measure must be available for 
affiliates in order to measure services delivered through 
foreign affiliates on a parallel basis.  However, 
additional information is generally required for an 
adequate assessment of the economic effects of affiliate 
operations and of measures to liberalize the delivery of 
services through the commercial presence mode of 
supply. Accordingly, the Manual recommends multiple 
indicators, or variables, for FATS, rather than sales only. 
1.9. 
With respect to one of the modes of supply, the 
presence of natural persons, the definitions and concepts 
used in GATS require some information that lies outside 
the BPM5 and FATS domains or that pertains to 
transactions that BPM5 records in components other 
than services.  Because these domains are not subject to 
modification, and because the statistical requirements in 
this area are less well defined, these requirements are 
addressed in an annex to the Manual.  The lack of a 
precise definition and a suitable existing framework has 
led to the identification of this mode of supply as a key 
area for further development work. 
1.10. The Manual provides descriptions of the major 
services involved in international trade as well as the 
GATS nomenclature and provisions. However, for a 
range of services that have attracted particular attention 
in trade negotiations, there is insufficient agreement on a 
detailed taxonomy and corresponding statistical 
treatment. These include telecommunications, financial 
services, professional services, environmental services, 
and internet related services. For these services, some 
further development work, beyond their treatment in the 
Manual, is recommended. 
1.11. The Manual does not give more than summary 
practical guidance to national compilers as is the 
purpose of the IMF Balance of Payments Compilation 
Guide.
5
 It is recognized, however, that the successful 
implementation of the Manual’s  recommendations will 
be greatly aided by further guidance and technical 
support from international agencies to supplement 
existing provision. 
1.12.  The treatment in the present Manual  of both 
balance of payments statistics on trade in services and 
FATS statistics, even within the constraints of current 
                                                 
5
 
Washington, D. C., 1995. 

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5 
statistical frameworks, represents a significant step 
toward building links between these two bases. This 
linkage poses a challenge to statisticians who may draw 
on expertise and information spread among central 
banks, national statistical offices, and government 
ministries. As statistics on trade in services are 
developed, close cooperation will be required among the 
institutions involved.  
1.13.  Measurement of trade in services is inherently 
more difficult than measurement of trade in goods. 
Services are more difficult to define. Some services are 
defined through abstract concepts rather than by any 
physical attribute or physical function. Unlike trade in 
goods, for trade in services there is no package crossing 
the customs frontier with an internationally recognised 
commodity code; a description of the contents; 
information on quantity, origin, and destination; an 
invoice; and an administrative system based on customs 
duty collection that is practised at assembling these data. 
The required information on services trade, once defined, 
is dependent on reaching a common understanding of 
concepts with data providers. It depends on information 
that may be reported either from business accounting and 
record keeping systems or by individuals, and on a 
variety of data sources, including administrative sources, 
surveys, and estimation techniques.  
1.14.  National agencies need to weigh the demand of 
users for more detail about services trade against the cost 
of collection, the burden of extra information provision 
on business, and the need for certain minimum quality 
thresholds. As with other statistical data collections, 
there is a requirement in most countries to protect the 
confidentiality of individual firms’ data. These 
constraints and considerations limit in a very real sense 
the amount of detail on international trade in services 
that it is practical to provide. The level of detail set out 
in the Manual accordingly represents a compromise 
between the need that trade negotiators, analysts, and 
policy makers have for information and the difficulties 
of data collection that national agencies may encounter.