RESTRICTED
WORLD TRADE S/CSC/W/6/Add.6
27March 1998
ORGANIZATION(98-1248)
Committee onSpecific Commitments
DETAILED ANALYSIS OFTHE MODIFICATIONS BROUGHT
ABOUT BYTHE REVISION OFTHE CENTRAL
PRODUCT CLASSIFICATION
Note bytheSecretariat
Addendum
RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
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 intheresearch anddevelopment services sub-sector, which ispartofthebusiness services sector
asdefined intheGNSClassification. Itwillproceed through acomparison ofthecomplete structures
ofbothclassifications asputinconcordance bytheCPC drafters andaswellthrough acomparison
oftheirdescriptive parts. Itwillfollow theorder oftheconcordance tablebetween theprovisional
CPCandtheCPCversion 1.Theprovisional CPCwillbereferred toas"prov",CPCrev.1 as"rev",
CPC provisional items as"pXXXX", andCPC rev.1 items as"rXXXX".
4. Inthepresent note, ithasbeenestimated more appropriate tokeepwiththetechnical terms
putforward intheprovisional CPC'spreface instead ofthose -referring tothenumbering ofthedigits
-previously usedintheseries ofnotes already issued bytheSecretariat astothetourism, distribution,
construction, energy andtransport sectors. Thecoding system oftheCPC isdescribed asfollows
inparagraph 33ofprovCPCpreface: "Thecoding system ofCPCishierarchical andpurely decimal.
Theclassification consists ofsections (identified bythefirstdigit), divisions (identified bythefirstand
second digit), groups (identified bythefirstthree digits), classes (identified bythefirstfourdigits)
andsubclasses (identified byallfivedigits, taketogether). Thecodes forthesection range from0
through 9andeachsection maybedivided intoninedivisions. Atthethird digitofthecodeeach
division may,inturn,bedivided intoninegroups which would thenbefurther divided intonineclasses
andthenintoninesubclasses. ".Paragraph 35ofprovCPC preface adds: "Where agiven levelof
classification isnotfurther subdivided, a"0"isusedintheposition forthenextmore detailed level."
Thefollowing chart summarizes thecorrespondence between these twolanguages.S/CSC/W/6/Add.6
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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. IntheGNS classification list,theResearch andDevelopment Services sub-sector (para. C)
corresponds infulltothecontent ofdivision p85"Research anddevelopment services" .Thisdivision
hasbecome division r81,similarly entitled. Sub-items under section 1para. Csimply aredivision
85'sgroups: point a.concerning R&D Services onnatural sciences (851); point b.concerning R&D
services onsocial sciences andhumanities (852); point c.concerning Interdisciplinary R&D services
(853).
8. Atthethirddigitlevel, there isanexact correspondence between thestructure ofthegroups
inprovandinrev. Therealchange concerns thecreation ofnewclasses, instead ofasingle-class,
eachrelated toeachformer subclass, allsubclasses hence becoming single-subclasses: whereas
differentiation arose fromthefifthdigit, itnowproceeds fromthefourth digit(ingroup **1,numbers
1,2,3,4,5and9appear atfour-digit levelinstead offive-digit level, thesamepattern being reproduced
astogroup **2).
9. Explanatory notes areverysimilar, except forsome minor changes:
- systematic deletion oftherepetition ofthetitleinthenewexplanatory notes.1
- introduction ofthemention ofenvironmental research services insubclass r81190
"Research andexperimental development services inother natural science" ,formerly
mentioned intheexplanatory noteunder single-subclass p85300* "Interdisciplinary
research anddevelopment services" .
1Thedeletion oftherepetition ofthetitleofsubclasses innewexplanatory notes isalmost systematic inrev.S/CSC/W/6/Add.6
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- explicit exclusion ofmarket research services (referred tosubclass r83700) insubclass
r81220 "Research anddevelopment services ineconomics" .2
- deletion ofthefollowing introductory note under division p85"Research and
development service" :"Research anddevelopment services consisting inscientific
progress achieved inthevarious fields ofnatural andsocial sciences inthethreeareas
ofR&D, i.e.basic research, applied research andexperimental development. R&D
services aresubdivided intogroups, classes andsubclasses according tothesciences
towhich theR&D services relates ".
- disappearanceoftheexplanatorynoteundersubclassr81290 "Interdisciplinary research
andexperimental development services ",corresponding tosubclass p85300 similarly
entitled.
__________
2Thisdoesnotmean animplicit inclusion intothecoverage ofthecorresponding provitem: infact,there
existed inprovisional CPC anitemspecifically dedicated tomarket research services, subclass p86401.