Manual on Statistics of International Trade in Services

4. Construction services 
3.92.  Construction services covers work performed on 
construction projects and installation by employees of an 
enterprise in locations outside the territory of an 
enterprise. The present Manual recommends that 
construction services be disaggregated into construction 
abroad  and  construction in the compiling economy. 
This disaggregation allows for the recording of both the 
construction services provided and the goods and 
services purchased in the host economy by non-resident 
enterprises that are providing the services, on a gross 
basis. Thus construction abroad comprises the 
construction services provided to non-residents by 
enterprises resident in the compiling economy (credit) 
and the goods and services purchased in the host 
economy by these enterprises (debit). Construction in 
the compiling economy comprises construction services 
provided to residents of the compiling economy by non-
resident construction enterprises (debit) and the goods 
and services purchased in the compiling economy by 
these non-resident enterprises (credit).  
3.93.  This recommendation is a deviation from BPM5, 
which recommends that expenditures for goods and 
services purchased in the host economy be included in 
other business services, other.  It is acknowledged that, 
for strong practical reasons, countries may prefer to 
continue to follow the treatment recommended in 
BPM5; in such cases, the treatment should be described 
in the explanatory methodological notes that accompany 
the publication of the data on construction services.  
3.94.  Both sub-components of construction services 
cover the work performed on construction projects and 
installations by employees of an enterprise in locations 
outside the economic territory of the enterprise (the 
work is generally performed for a short time period; the 
one-year rule for residence of such enterprises is to be 
                                                 
49
  At the time of publication of the Manual, the classification of 
a number of products related to Internet activity, in the area of 
telecommunications, information services and computing 
services, was highlighted for ongoing discussion. 

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41 
applied flexibly, as described in paragraph 3.5 above). 
Construction services are valued on a gross basis––that 
is, they are valued inclusive of all goods and services 
used as inputs to the process of providing construction 
services, and also inclusive of all of the other costs of 
production and the operating surplus that accrues to the 
owners of the construction enterprise. This valuation 
principle is the same as that which applies in the 
valuation of all production (of both goods and services), 
as described in the 1993 SNA. Box 3 provides a 
numerical example.