RESTRICTED
WORLD TRADE S/CSC/W/6/Add.13
27March 1998
ORGANIZATION(98-1253)
Committee onSpecific Commitments
DETAILED ANALYSIS OFTHE MODIFICATIONS BROUGHT
ABOUT BYTHE REVISION OFTHE CENTRAL
PRODUCT CLASSIFICATION
Note bytheSecretariat
Addendum
HEALTH AND SOCIAL SERVICES
1. Paragraph 5ofthereport ofthemeeting oftheCommittee onSpecific Commitments heldon
10October 1996, states that"...theSecretariat should takeupcontact withtheVoorburg Group with
aviewtoinforming theCommittee inthenearfuture ofanyproposed changes totheCPCwhich could
beofinterest intheCommittee 'sdeliberations ".
2. Thestatistical committee oftheUnited Nations adopted atits10-14 February 1997 Session
thedraftCPCRev.1 proposed bytheVoorburg group. Adefinitive version ofRev.1 hasnowbeen
finalizedandwillsoonbedistributedtoMembers.ThisdocumentwillallowMemberstoconsultdirectly
theconcordances tables andthedefinitions mentioned inthepresent noteandtocompare them with
theCPC provisional structure anddefinitions iftheyfeelituseful todoso.Thisiswhy, contrary
tothepreceding sectoral studies ontourism, energy, transport, distribution andconstruction, the
concordance tables andthedefinitions havenotbeenannexed tothepresent note.
3. Thepurpose ofthepresent noteistoanalyse indetail themodifications brought bytheCPC
rev.1 intheHealth andsocial services sector asdefined indivision 93"Health andsocial services"
oftheprovisional CPC.1Itwillproceed through acomparison ofthecomplete structures ofboth
classifications asputinconcordance bytheCPC drafters andaswellthrough acomparison oftheir
descriptive parts. Itwillfollow theorder oftheconcordance tablebetween theprovisional CPCand
theCPCversion 1andoftheGNSclassification. Theprovisional CPCwillbereferred toas"prov",
CPC rev.1 as"rev",CPC provisional items as"pXXXX", andCPC rev.1 items as"rXXXX".
4. Inthepresentnote,ithasbeenthoughtmoreappropriatetoretainthetechnicaltermsputforward
intheprovisional CPC'spreface, andusedbytheVoorburg Group when communicating withthe
Secretariat, instead ofthose --referring tothenumbering ofthedigits --previously usedintheseries
ofnotes already issued bytheSecretariat astothetourism, distribution, construction, energy and
transport sectors. Thecoding system oftheCPCisdescribed asfollows inparagraph 33ofprovCPC
preface: "Thecoding system ofCPCishierarchical andpurely decimal. Theclassification consists
1Inthesection 1oftheGNS Classification list(seedocument MTN.GNS/W/120), items ofdivision p93
arepartofparagraph Aonprofessional services --thisisthecaseof9312 "Medical anddental services"; 932
"Veterinaryservices";93191"Servicesprovidedbymidwives,nurses,physiotherapistsandpara-medicalpersonnel"
--,aswellasparagraph FonOther business services --thisisthecaseofHospital services (9311); Other Human
Health Services (9319, other than93191); Social services (933).S/CSC/W/6/Add.13
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ofsections (identified bythefirstdigit), divisions (identified bythefirstandsecond digit), groups
(identified bythefirstthreedigits), classes (identified bythefirstfourdigits) andsubclasses (identified
byallfivedigits, taketogether). Thecodes forthesection range from0through 9andeachsection
maybedivided intoninedivisions. Atthethirddigitofthecodeeachdivision may,inturn,bedivided
intoninegroups which would thenbefurther divided intonineclasses andthenintoninesubclasses. ".
Paragraph 35ofprovCPCpreface adds: "Where agiven levelofclassification isnotfurther subdivided,
a"0"isusedintheposition forthenextmore detailed level."Thefollowing chart summarizes the
correspondence between these twolanguages.
One-digit item Section
Two-digits item Division
Three-digits item Group
Four-digits item Class
Five-digits item Subclass
5. Theabbreviation "n.e.c."means "notelsewhere classified".
6. Thesignification oftheasterisks intheconcordance tableisthefollowing:
xxx*: Theitemiswider thanitscorrespondent intheother version ofCPC. Thismeans
thatitcorresponds toseveral items intheother version ofCPCandhasconsequently
awider scope according totherelated explanatory notes. Asterisks always appear
intheright-hand column ofconcordance tables.
xxxx
****1
****2 Theseries ofasterisks before thelastdigitaimsatavoiding therepetition ofthefour
previous digits when asetofitems having thesame prefix isreferred.
7. Division p93"Health andsocial services" isrelated todivision r93,which bears exactly the
same title. Astothisdivision (and, inabroader sense, astothewhole section p9"Community, social
andpersonal services" ),structural changes havebeenminimal. Except forminor modifications, the
structure ofCPC rev.1 isthesame asinprovisional CPC.2
8. Class p9320 "Veterinary services" hasbeendivided inthree newclasses, namely classr9321
"Veterinary services forpetanimals" ,classr9322 "Veterinary services forlivestock" andclassr9329
"Other animal veterinary services" .Atthesubclass level, theonlychange consists inthebreaking
upofsubclassp93209"Otherveterinaryservices"intotwosingle-subclasses,subclassr93220"Veterinary
services forlivestock" ,andsubclass r93290 "Other veterinary services" .
9. Insubclass p93311 "Welfare services delivered through residential institutions tooldpersons
orthehandicapped" related subclass (r93311), theexpression "oldpersons" hasbeenreplaced bythe
expression "theelderly" and"handicapped" hasbeen replaced bytheexpression "persons with
disabilities".
2Inthewhole division, theexpression "health status" hasbeenreplaced bythesimple mention of"health".S/CSC/W/6/Add.13
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10. Subclasses p93312 "Welfare services delivered through residential institutions tochildren and
other clients" andp93319 "Other social services withaccommodation" havebeenmerged inanew
subclass r93319 "Other social services withaccommodation" .
11. Subclass p93321 "Child day-care services incl.day-care services forthehandicapped" isnow
entitled"Childday-careservices"(subclassr93321)andsubclassp93323"Welfareservicesnot-delivered
through residential institutions" corresponds tosubclass r93323 "Welfare services without
accommodation" .
12. Concerning themodifications brought totheexplanatory notes, thefollowing remarks canbe
made:
- Inthewhole division, theexpression "health status" hasbeenreplaced bythesingle
mention of"health".
- Insubclass r93121 "General medical services" ,themention of"out-patient clinics,
clinics attached tofirms, schools, etc."replaces mention of"out-patient clinics, attached
tofirms, schools, etc.".
- Insubclass r93110 "Hospital services" ,the"services delivered under thedirection of
medical doctors chiefly toin-patients, aimed atcuring, reactivating and/or maintaining
thehealth status ofapatient ..."pattern, withnoprecision onthetypeoftheseservices,
isreproduced asmany times asdifferent types ofservices havebeendistinguished:
namely, surgical, medical, gynaecological andobstetrical, rehabilitation, psychiatric,
andother hospital services. Mention ofpharmaceutical services isadded. Military
hospital services andprison hospital services arealsoexpressly covered.
- Explanatorynoteundersubclassr93122"Specializedmedicalservices"hasbeenentirely
reshuffled. Theoriginal explanatory notecitedseveral types of"specific orparticular
conditions, diseases oranatomical regions (except dental services)" defining thescope
ofthemedical services covered. Thenewexplanatory notegives thename ofthese
medical services, instead ofdefining theirfieldofpractice: forinstance, consultation
services inpaediatrics, gynaecology-obstetrics, neurology andpsychiatry, andvarious
medical services, surgical consultation services, etc.,arecited. TheVoorburg Group
hasremarked thatHealth andmedical services wereveryregulated atthenational level.
Forexample, ifthere isamedical specialization inhomeopathy inonecountry, thus
itisplaced intosubclass r93122 "Specialised medial services" .Homeopathic treatment
inthiscountry under subclass r93191 "Deliveries andrelated services, nursing services,
physiotherapeutic andpara-medical services" would bethenillegal. Onthecontrary,
onemight imagine thatinanother country acupuncture would becovered under subclass
r93191 "Deliveries andrelated services, nursing services, physiotherapeutic andpara-
medical services" .
- Only theformal presentation ofexplanations havebeenchanged inexplanatory note
under subclass r93123 "Dental services" ;emphasis ontheinclusion ofservices
delivered inhospitals toin-patients isadded astodental surgery.
- Explanatory noteunder subclass r93191 "Deliveries andrelated services, nursing
services, physiotherapeutic andpara-medical services" ,includes "homeopathological
andsimilar services" inthecoverage ofservices provided byphysiotherapists andother
para-medical persons. Itisalsostated thattheservices covered inthissubclass are
provided byauthorised persons, other thanmedical doctors. TheVoorburg GroupS/CSC/W/6/Add.13
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hasindicated totheSecretariat thatthese redrafting implicated nochange incoverage
orcontent oftheitem; assaidabove, theVoorburg Group hasstressed thathealth
andmedical specialization wereveryregulated atthenational level: inonecountry,
forinstance, where there isamedical specialization inhomeopathy, homeopathic
treatment would beclassified under r93122 "Specialized medical services" ,andnot
under r93121 "General medical services" .
- Thenewexplanatory noteunder r93220 "Veterinary services forlivestock" ismutatis
mutandis thesame asfortheother subclasses under group r932.
- Subclass r93290 "Other veterinary services" excludes services related toanimal
husbandry suchasartificial insemination (related tor86121).
- Theexplanatory noteunder subclass r93192 "Ambulance services" covers the"services
involving transport ofpatients byambulance, withorwithout resuscitation equipment
ormedical personnel "inlieuofthe"general andspecialized medical services delivered
intheambulance ".
- Theexplanatory noteunder subclass r93199 "Other human health services n.e.c."
hasbeenrecast. Itnowmentions services provided bymedical laboratories, services
provided byblood, sperm andtransplant organ banks, dental testing services, medical
analyses andtesting services, instead ofservices inthefieldofmorphological or
chemical pathology, bacteriology, virology, immunology, etc.
- Theexplanatorynoteundersubclassr93319"Othersocialserviceswithaccommodation"
results from themerger oftheexplanatory notes under p93311 andp93312.3
- Theexplanatory noteunder subclass r93321 "Child day-care services" substitutes the
expression "young people withdisabilities" tothemention of"handicapped".
__________
3Theexpression "homes forchildren withemotional impairments" replaces theexpression "home forchildren
emotionally disturbed".