RESTRICTED
WORLD TRADE S/CSC/W/6/Add.7
27March 1998
ORGANIZATION(98-1245)
Committee onSpecific Commitments
DETAILED ANALYSIS OFTHE MODIFICATIONS BROUGHT
ABOUT BYTHE REVISION OFTHE CENTRAL
PRODUCT CLASSIFICATION
Note bytheSecretariat
Addendum
REAL ESTATE 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 intherealestate services sub-sector, which ispartofthebusiness services sector asdefined in
theGNS Classification.1Itwillproceed through acomparison ofthecomplete structures ofboth
classifications asputinconcordance bytheCPCdrafters 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. Inthepresent note,ithasbeenthought moreappropriate toretain thetechnical terms putforward
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
ofsections (identified bythefirstdigit), divisions (identified bythefirstandsecond digit), groups
(identified bythefirstthreedigits), classes (identified bythefirstfourdigits) andsubclasses (identified
byallfivedigits, taketogether). Thecodes forthesection range from0through 9andeachsection
1Seedocument MTN.GNS/W/120.S/CSC/W/6/Add.7
Page2
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. There isatightcorrespondence between theGNSclassification anddivision p82"Real estate
services" ,whose groups -p821 "Renting orleasing services involving leased orowned properties"
andp822"Real estate services onafeeorcontract basis" -havebecome Section 1para. Dsub-items
oftheGNS Classification.
8. Division p82"Real estate services" corresponds tonewdivision r72,which hasthesametitle.
Division r72ispartofsection r7"Financial andrelated services; realestate services; andrental
andleasing services" .Thisnewsection aggregates financial services andrelated services withreal
estate services andrental/leasing services.2
9. Thetwoformer groups attached todivision p82,group p821 "Real estate services involving
ownorleased property" andgroup p822 "Real estate services onafeeorcontract basis" havebeen
reintroduced inrevastheystand, keeping atthesecond andthird digits thesame numbers astheir
counterparts (r721 andr722).
2ThisisanewfeaturecomparedtotheGNSclassificationlist,whichusedtoincludeboth"realestateservices"
and"rental/leasingserviceswithoutoperators"inaspecificitem,andwhichcomprisedaseparatefinancialservices
sector builtonlywithformer division p81"Financial intermediation andauxiliary services therefor" classes and
subclasses.S/CSC/W/6/Add.7
Page3
10. However, atthefour-digit level, former single-class p8210 "Real estate services involving own
orleased property" hasbeenbroken upintothreecorresponding newclasses, r7211 "Renting orleasing
services involving ownorleased property" ,r7212 "Trade services ofbuildings andassociated land"
andr7213 "Trade services ofvacant andsubdivided land".
11. Atfive-digit level, thesixsubclasses formerly under single-class p8210 areshared between
thethreenewclasses mentioned intheprevious paragraph, twoofthese subclasses nowbeing merged
intoonenewsubclass:
- subclasses p82101 "Renting orleasing services involving ownorleased residential
property" andsubclass p82102 "Renting orleasing services involving ownorleased
non-residential property" have been transferred under class r7211 andhave been
numbered r72111 andr72112, withidentical titles andexplanatory notes;
- subclasses p82103 "Residential building andlandsales" andp82105 "Non-residential
building andlandsales" havebecome r72121 "Trade services ofresidential buildings
andassociated land" andr72122 "Trade services ofvacant andsubdivided land",the
onlychange between corresponding items being therecast oftitlesandthesuppression
of"ownaccount sales ofresidential building thathavebeenconstructed incontract
byaconstruction unitfortheselling unitandwhich aretreated astrading stock by
theseller"inthenewsubclasses compared totheoriginal ones. According tothe
Voorburg Group, there hasbeennochange ofcoverage arising from thedeletion of
these terms.
- finally, subclasses p82504 "Residential vacant landsales" andp82506 "Non-residential
landsales"areamalgamated inanewsingle-subclass r73130* "Trade services ofvacant
andsubdividedland"underclassr7313,whoseexplanatorynoteisthesameasinformer
correspondentsubclasses(infact,inprov,thesetwosubclasseshadthesameexplanatory
note, theonlydistinction being made between residential andnon-residential vacant
lands), except thatitmentions that"thesalescaninclude salesofvacant landphysically
subdivided bytheselling unit".TheVoorburg Group hasindicated thattherehasbeen
nochange incoverage orcontent ofclass, andtherefore ithasconsidered thatthe
addition ofthemention that"thesales caninclude sales ofvacant landphysically
subdivided bytheselling unit"isonlyan"explicit specification".
12. With regard tonewgroup r722"Real estate services onafeeorcontract basis" ,thesame
pattern isreproduced: single-class p8220 hasbeenbroken upintothree newclasses, namely class
r7221 "Property management services onafeeorcontract basis" ,classr7222 "Buildings andassociated
landsales onafeeorcontract basis" andclassr7223 "Land sales onafeeorcontract basis" .The
Voorburg Group affirms thatthere hasbeennochange incoverage orcontent astoclass r722. In
particular, itunderlines thatthere hasbeennochange incoverage orcontent accruing from thenew
drafting ofexplanatory notes asregards newclassr7221 "Property management services onafeeor
contract basis" .
13. TheVoorburg Group hasannounced thatithasbeenproposed togiveconsideration inthenext
round ofrevision oftheCPCtotheexclusion ofappraisal services fromclassr7222 "Buildings and
associated landsales onafeeorcontract basis" andtocreate anewclass forrealestate appraisal
services inCPC rev.2.S/CSC/W/6/Add.7
Page4
14. Atfive-digit level, thesixsubclasses formerly under single-class p8220 arenowshared out
between thethree newclasses corresponding withp8220:
- subclass p82201 "Residential property management services onafeeorcontract basis"
andsubclassp82102"Non-residentialpropertymanagementservicesonafeeorcontract
basis" havebeenconverted intotwoidentical subclasses, r72211 andr72212, theonly
difference being addition of"rentcollection services "and"management services
concerning dwellings injointownership "inr72211; theVoorburg Group affirms that
thechanges totheexplanatory notesonlydetail thecoverage oftheclassmoreprecisely.
Inaddition, itnotes thattheatres should beimplicitly covered insubclass r72212 "Non-
residential property management services onafeeorcontract basis"3(seealsosimilar
mention oftheatres below inthelastpoint ofthisparagraph).
- subclasses p82203 "Residential buildings andlandsales onafeeorcontract basis"
andp82205 "Non-residential buildings andlandsales onafeeorcontract basis"
correspond tosubclasses r72221 "Residential building (andland) sales onafeeor
acontract basis" andr72222 "Non-residential building (andland) sales onafeeor
contract basis" ,whose explanatory notes arethesame asthose oftheircounterparts
inprov, except fortheaddition of"similar intermediation services involving buying,
selling, renting andappraisal ofresidential buildings andland"inbothdefinitions
(assaidbefore, theVoorburg Group hasindicated thatthere hasbeennochange of
coverage orcontent astothewhole classr722);
- finally, newsingle-subclass r72230* "Land saleonafeeorcontract basis" results
fromthemergerofsubclassesp82204"Residentialvacantlandsalesonafeeorcontract
basis" andp82206 "Non-residential vacant landsales onafeeorcontract basis" .
Thereference toresidential ornon-residential land,which constituted thesoledifference
between thetwoformer prov subclasses, hasdisappeared (addition ofmention of
"similar intermediation services involving buying, selling, renting andappraisal of
residential buildings andland"isalsomade inthisrevsubclass). TheVoorburg Group
hasdeclared thattherehasbeennochange incoverage orcontent ofclassr7223 "Land
saleonafeeorcontract basis" ;itnotes alsothattheatres would beimplicitly covered
inthisclass,bythegeneralinclusionofindustrialandcommercialproperties,andwould
notrequire special mention intheexplanatory notes fortheclass; inaddition, ithas
remarked that,other thantheatres, nospecific types ofcommercial buildings arelisted
ineither theprovisional CPC orCPC Rev.1.
__________
3Other differences areomissions of"theatres" inthelistofnon-residential properties innewsubclass r72212,
andofthemention "onafeeorcontract basis" inthesame subclass.