International Trade
and related Economic Statistics

Trade and business statistics have common features starting with the fact that in the end the businesses are the ones making decisions on trading internationally and on making other kinds of international business arrangements, such as FDI, establishing foreign affiliates and outsourcing of business functions. These statistics include international merchandise trade statistics, statistics of international trade in services, foreign affiliates statistics, and foreign direct investment statistics; and links trade and business statistics to gain insights into the impact of globalization on competitiveness, employment, innovation and economic success.

Working Groups

Task Force on International Merchandise Trade Statistics (TFIMTS)

The Task Force was created in 1992 to improve international cooperation in the collection, processing and dissemination of international merchandise trade statistics. It is convened by the World Trade Organization and gathers specialists of International Merchandise Trade Statistics from Eurostat, the Food and Agriculture Organization, the International Monetary Fund, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the United Nations Statistics Division, the UN Conference on Trade and Development, and the UN Regional Commissions. The Task Force meets annually.

UN Expert Group on International Merchandise Trade Statistics (EG-IMTS)

The Expert Group on International Merchandise Trade Statistics (EG-IMTS) supports the United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD) in the update/ revision of the IMTS methodology and its Compilers Manual. The report of the Secretary General on international merchandise trade statistics to the 43rd session of the Statistical Commission contains updated terms of reference of the EG-IMTS. According to these terms of reference, the EG-IMTS is expected to continue providing guidance on the implementation of the revised recommendations contained in IMTS 2010 and to assist in the development of further compilation guidance.

Task Force on Statistics of International Trade in Services (TFSITS)

The Interagency Task Force on Statistics of International Trade in Services (TFSITS) was established at the request of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and UNCTAD to the Statistical Commission in 1994. The objectives of the Task Force are to elaborate the statistical requirements of the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS). The Task Force is convened by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), and consists of Eurostat, International Monetary Fund (IMF), the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD), the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and the World Trade Organization (WTO). The main focus of the Task Force is to develop and support the implementation of the Manual on Statistics of International Trade in Services (MSITS).

UN Expert Group on the compilation of Statistics of International Trade in Services(EG-CSITS)

Led by the United Nations Statistics Division, the UN Expert Group on the compilation of SITS (EG-CSITS) was established in December 2011. The Expert Group consists of all TFSITS members and national experts from developed and developing countries. In cooperation with the Task Force (TFSITS), the Expert Group focuses on developing a compilers guide for MSITS 2010, which is expected to be finished in 2013.

Technical Sub-group on the revision of the BEC

The technical sub-group was specifically created to revise the current BEC bringing the broad economic categories up-to-date while adding services and reviewing the allocation of goods and services to theend-use categories.

Technical Sub-group on the classification of Business Functions

This technical subgroup was created to establish an international classification of business functions, which would serve to compare statistics on outsourcing among countries.

Wiesbaden Group on Business Registers

The Wiesbaden Group on Business Registers is an international expert group under the umbrella of the UN Statistical Commission engaged in further development of business registers, survey frames and associated topics. The Wiesbaden Group aims at tackling forward-looking matters and identifying new challenges concerning business registers in the wider sense.

UNECE Task Force on Business Registers

The Task Force is established by the Bureau of the Conference of European Statistician (CES). The Task Force reports to the Conference of European Statisticians (CES) and its Bureau. The objective of the Task Force is to produce a set of international guidelines and recommendations of good practices on statistical business registers to help countries in developing and maintaining their registers and improve international comparability.

OECD Working Party on Trade in Goods and Services

The Working Party was established under the authority of CSTAT in June, 2007. The Working Party facilitates the development and improvement of internationally comparable methodologies in order to promote comparable, sound, consistent and coherent trade in goods statistics, trade in services statistics and trade and trade-related globalisation indicators.

Eurostat Working Group on Trade and Business Statistics

The Working Group on Trade and Business Statistics aims to enhance trade data through integrating additional information on characteristics of enterprises involved in international trade, such as the size and the sector of economic activity. Bringing trade statistics closer to the frame of business statistics offers many new analytical possibilities. It allows addressing questions like "What kind of business are behind the international trade flows?".