UNITED

NATIONS

Distr.

RESTRICTED

ECE/CES/49

1 April 1996

ORIGINAL: ENGLISH

STATISTICAL COMMISSION and ECONOMIC COMMISSION FOR EUROPE

CONFERENCE OF EUROPEAN STATISTICIANS

Forty-fourth plenary session

(Paris, 11-13 June 1996)

Provisional agenda of the 1996 plenary session

(The meeting will start at 2:30 p.m. on Tuesday 11 June)

1.	The Conference's attention is drawn to the following key items on this year's agenda:

•	Item 3: The integrated presentation and coordination of international statistical work affecting UN/ECE, European Union and OECD member countries, in which basic information on the statistical work programmes of the ECE, EC, OECD, UN Statistical Division and other international organizations is presented for all fields of statistics covered by the Conference's programme of work. This integrated presentation is the major tool that the Conference of European Statisticians uses at its annual plenary sessions to coordinate statistical work carried out by the international organizations relating to ECE, EU and OECD countries.

The Bureau's proposals for decisions by the Conference are included in the integrated presentation, project by project. Decisions of a more routine nature are given in a normal font, whereas decisions that the Bureau feels the Conference may wish to discuss before taking a decision are given in a bold font.

Attention is drawn particularly to the following sub-programmes in the integrated presentation, which have been amended much more than the other sub-programmes to reflect the outcome of the Bureau's in-depth review of these sub-programmes during the past year: sub-programmes 1 (Organization and operation of statistical services); 2 (Technical Infrastructure and other cross-cutting issues); 5 (Natural resources and environment statistics) and 6 (Dissemination and support for secretariat activities).

•	Item 5: "Labour market dynamics: new statistical and analytical approaches" is the topic of substantive discussion at this year's plenary session.

2.	The documents intended for discussion are listed in the agenda under the relevant agenda items. Background documents, which are not intended for discussion at this Conference, are listed in the annex. The more important of the background documents are marked with an asterisk.

3.	The Conference is expected to complete most of its work by 5:00 on Thursday, 13 June. The final half hour of the plenary session will be devoted (i) to the election of a new Vice-Chairman of the Conference (5:00-5:05) (for the period from 3 November to 11 June the Bureau co-opted Mr. Outrata to replace Mr. Olenski), and (ii) to the adoption of the report of the 1996 plenary session (5:10-5:30). The session is expected to finish its business by 5:30 on Thursday.

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Provisional Agenda

1. Adoption of the agenda	ECE/CES/49

2. Implications of meetings of the Conference's parent bodies:

• The April 1996 session of the ECE	CES/1996/R.16

• The April 1996 meeting of the UNSC's Working Group	CES/1996/R.17

on International Statistical Programmes and Coordination

3. Integrated presentation and coordination of	CES/1996/R.10

international statistical work affecting	and Adda. 1-7 (and

ECE, EU and OECD countries	background documents)

•Sub-programme 1: Organization and operation

of statistical services	Add.1

•	Sub-programme 2: Technical infrastructure and

other cross-cutting issues	Add.2

•	Sub-programme 3: Economic statistics	Add.3 (and

CES/1996/R.29)

•	Sub-programme 4: Social and demographic statistics	Add.4

•	Sub-programme 5: Environment statistics	Add.5

•	Sub-programme 6: Dissemination and support for

secretariat activities	Add.6

4.	CES contribution to Habitat II	CES/1996/R.28

5.	Subject for substantive discussion: "Labour

market dynamics: New statistical and

analytical approaches"	CES/1996/R.18-27

6.	Election of a Vice-Chair to the Bureau for 1996/97	CES/1995/R.11,

Annex I

7.	Other business

8.	Adoption of the report

Tentative timetable of the plenary session

(Tuesday 11 June: Morning meeting for the CES Bureau members only)

Tuesday, 11 June (2:30-5:30 p.m.)

Opening addresses (2:30-2:50)

Item 1: Adoption of the agenda (2:50-2:55)	ECE/CES/49

Item 6: Introduction to process of Bureau elections	CES/1995/R.11,

(2:55-3:00)	Annex I

Item 2: Implications of meetings of the Conference's parent bodies

•	The April 1996 session of the ECE (3:00-3:05)	CES/1996/R.16

•	The April 1996 meeting of the UNSC's Working Group on Interna-

tional Statistical Programmes and Coordination (3:05-3:10)	CES/1996/R.17

Item 3:Integrated presentation and coordination of	CES/1996/R.10

international statistical work affecting ECE,	(& background docs)

EU and OECD countries

•	Introductory comments by the Chairman (3:10-3:20)	CES/1996/R.10/

•	Sub-programme 1 (3:20-3:50)	Add.1

(break: 3:50-4:15)

•	Sub-programme 2 (4:15-5:00)	Add.2

•	Sub-programme 3 (Part I) (5:00-5:30)	Add.3

Wednesday, 12 June (9:30-12:30 and 2:30-5:30)

Item 3 (continued)

•	Sub-programme 3 (Part II) (9:30-11:00)	Add.3 (and

CES/1996/R.29)

(break, 11:00-11:25)

•	Sub-programme 4 (11:25-12:30; lunch; 2:30-2:50)	Add.4

•	Sub-programme 5 (2:50-3:20)	Add.5

•	Sub-programme 6 (3:20-3:30)	Add.6

•	Participants' and Chairman's concluding remarks (3:30-3:40)

(break: 3:40-4:05)

Item 4: CES contribution to Habitat II (4:05-4:15)	CES/1996/R.28

Item 5: Labour market dynamics: New statistical and analytical approaches	Introduction (4:20-4:40)

Presentation and discussion of papers (4:40-5:30)	CES/1996/R.18-27

Thursday, 13 June (9:30-12:30 and 2:30-5:30)

Item 5: Labour market dynamics (Cont.)(9:30-12:30; lunch; 2:30-5:00)

Item 6: Election of a Vice-Chairman to the Bureau (continued)(5:00-5:05)

Item 7: Other business (5:05-5:10)

Item 8: Adoption of the report, and closing of the session (5:10-5:30)

* * * * *

Explanatory notes to the agenda

Item 1: Adoption of the agenda, and consideration of the procedures

to be followed at the plenary session

The Bureau of the Conference agreed the outline of this provisional agenda at its February 1996 meeting. It is presented in more detail in this document for the approval of the Conference.

At several recent plenary sessions, members of the Conference have asked the Bureau to consider whether and how the duration of the plenary sessions could be reduced and how its business might be conducted more efficiently and effectively. In response to those requests, this year's plenary session has been reduced to a duration of two-and-one-half days. To help ensure this goal can be achieved in an efficient manner, the procedures which the Conference approved at its 1994 session for improving the efficiency of the CES plenary sessions (CES/821) will be applied during the 1996 session.

Item 2: Implications of meetings of the Conference's parent bodies

a)	The April 1995 session of the Economic Commission for Europe

Information on the discussions held at the April 1996 session of the Economic Commission for Europe and on resolutions and decisions taken at it which have a bearing on the work of the Conference will be presented in CES/1996/R.16. Documents considered at the Commission session which are likely to be of interest to the Conference will also be made available at the plenary session. One such document is the interim report of the Commission's Ad Hoc Working Group on Strategic Directions and Efficiency which the Working Group submitted to the April 1996 session of the Commission (E/ECE/1331), which outlines progress which the Group has made to date in its in-depth review of the ECE. Another is the report of the Chairman of the Commission on the consultations he held with the Bureaux of the ECE Principal Subsidiary Bodies (including the Bureau of the Conference) since the April 1995 session of the Commission (E/ECE/1335).

b)	The April 1996 meeting of the UN Statistical Commission's Working Group on International Statistical Programmes and Coordination

Information on the conclusions of the April 1996 meeting of the Working Group which have a bearing on the work of the Conference and on international statistical work affecting ECE, EU and OECD countries is presented in CES/1996/R.17. When necessary, these will also be referred to during discussion under item 3 of the provisional agenda.

Item 3: Integrated presentation and coordination of international statistical

work affecting ECE, EU and OECD countries

At its 1995 plenary session the Conference asked the Bureau to continue to try to improve the integrated presentation of international statistical work affecting ECE, EU and OECD countries, so that the presentation could continue to serve as an effective instrument for coordinating that work. In response to that request, during 1995/96 the Bureau conducted an in-depth review of the following four sub-programmes: 1 (Organization and operation of statistical services), 2 (Technical infrastructure and other cross-cutting issues), 5 (Environment statistics) and 6 (Dissemination and support for secretariat activities). These in-depth reviews resulted in numerous proposals for changes to be made to the objectives and outputs of the projects in these work areas. In many cases the Bureau also suggested that the wording of the headings under each project in the integrated presentation be changed to make their intended meaning clearer. At its 1995 plenary session the Conference also asked Rapporteurs to prepare reports for the field of statistics they cover, as a means of helping the Bureau to monitor progress towards the objectives and expected outputs the Conference had decided upon for those fields of statistics. The Bureau found that those Rapporteur reports proved useful for helping it to identify issues in each field of statistics which warranted being brought to the attention of the Conference. These and other improvements to the integrated presentation are summarized in CES/1996/R.10, and shown in addenda 1-6 of the document.

The complete integrated presentation is too large to produce in a single document. It is therefore presented in several addenda (one for each of the six sub-programmes). Each of these documents contains brief descriptions of the conclusions reached by the Bureau in its review of the work that was carried out in the Conference's work programme since the 1995 plenary session and in its review of work planned to be carried out in the next two years. The Bureau's proposals for decisions by the Conference are included in each of these documents project by project. Decisions of a more routine nature are given in a normal font, whereas decisions that the Bureau feels the Conference may wish to discuss before taking a decision are given in a bold font.

Document CES/1996/R.10 also contains an annex in which information is given on the resources which are available in the ECE for servicing the programme of work of the Conference in the coming year.

Document CES/1996/R.10/Add.7 is also an important document. It contains up-to-date information on the outcome of work conducted in projects in the Conference's work programme during the March-June 1996 period. Since addenda 1-6 were finalized in March, they also include recommendations made by the Bureau at its February 1996 meeting on future work for decision by the Conference.

The coordination of international statistical work affecting ECE, EU and OECD countries and the taking of decisions on the Conference's own work programme are two of the most important functions that the Conference is expected to perform at each plenary session. These responsibilities will be carried out under this agenda item. Therefore, under this item the Conference is expected to take decisions on its own work programme and, when considered appropriate, to offer guidance and advice to other international and supranational organizations and to other ECE Principal Subsidiary Bodies on planned activities in their work programmes that relate to these countries.

Discussion is expected to focus primarily on the material presented in documents CES/1996/R10 and its addenda. However, if need be, the various background documents listed in the Annex of the provisional agenda are also available for reference.

In its review of projects 3.6 (International trade in services) and 3.8 (Other marketed services, and non-marketed services) in sub-programme 3, the OECD proposes to have the topic "the role of OECD in the development of service and trade-in-service statistics in the past and in the future" considered by the Conference, on the basis of the paper prepared by the OECD on this subject (CES/1996/R.29). The Bureau anticipates that discussion on this OECD topic would require a maximum of about 30 minutes.

Item 4: CES contribution to HABITAT-II

At its 1995 plenary session the Conference asked the Bureau to prepare, on behalf of the Conference, a statement to be made available at HABITAT-II, underlining the usefulness of statistics on human settlements and housing to policy makers in these fields. The Declaration which was prepared has been reproduced as document CES/1996/R.28.

Item 5: "Labour market dynamics: New statistical and analytical approaches"

Each year the plenary session has the opportunity to discuss, in the form of a short seminar, a topic of interest to heads of national statistical offices. On this occasion the members of the Conference are invited to comment in substantive discussion on the topic "Labour market dynamics: New statistical and analytical approaches", based on an overview paper by the United Kingdom (CES/1996/R.18) and supporting papers by the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Germany, New Zealand, Russian Federation, Sweden, USA and the ILO (CES/1996/R.19-27).

Mr. Peter Stibbard of the United Kingdom will chair this part of the plenary session. He has also asked some countries to serve as Discussants of the papers that have been contributed as the basis for discussion of this topic.

Notes of the discussion will not be included in the report to be adopted at the end of the session (see agenda item 8), but will be distributed to participants within about two weeks of the closing of the plenary session.

Item 6: Election of a Vice-Chair to the Bureau for 1996/97

At the 1995 plenary session the Conference elected the following members of the Conference as Bureau members for 1995/96 and 1996/97: Messrs. I. Fellegi (Canada)(re-elected as Chairman for a second term); P. Garonna (Italy); S. Longva (Norway); D. Murphy (Ireland); J. Olenski (Poland); and Y. Yurkov (Russian Federation). Therefore, the term of office of the current Bureau of the Conference expires in one year (at the closing of the 1997 plenary session).

In the autumn of 1995/96 Mr. Olenski's post as Vice-Chairman became vacant because he assumed other duties in his country. In accordance with the rules of procedure governing the election of Bureau members and the responsibilities that are expected to be carried out by Bureau members which the Conference adopted at its 1991 plenary session (see CES/1995/R.11, Annex I), the Bureau co-opted another member of the Conference (Mr. E. Outrata of the Czech Republic) to serve on the Bureau until the time of the 1996 plenary session, when the Conference will elect a member of the Conference to serve as Vice-Chair until the closing of the 1997 plenary session, which is when the term of the current Bureau will expire.

Item 7: Other business

This item on the agenda will include any topic which the Conference may decide to add during the adoption of the agenda.

Item 8: Adoption of the report

The Conference is expected to adopt the report of the present plenary session before it adjourns. To enable this to be accomplished as quickly as possible and during the limited time available, the Bureau has asked the secretariat to follow the same procedure that was used at the 1995 plenary session, where it prepared a considerably shorter draft report than was prepared in preceding years. It has also asked it to limit the information presented in it, to the greatest extent possible, to decisions taken by the Conference during the course of the plenary session. If delegates wish to offer amendments to the report, it will be helpful if they could be offered in writing and in English before or during the discussion of the adoption of the report. The secretariat will make each part of the draft report available as soon as it becomes available, in each of ECE's three official working languages.

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Annex: Background documents for the 1996 plenary session

The following supplementary documents contain background information for several items of the provisional agenda. They are listed below by agenda item number. The background documents marked with an asterisk are those which the Conference may consider to be more important. However, the Bureau considers that none of the documents listed below need be discussed at the plenary session.

Document

Agenda item 1

Procedures to be followed for ensuring efficient plenary sessions	CES/821

Agenda item 2

Interim report of the Commission's Ad Hoc Working Group on	E/ECE/1331

Stategic Directions and Efficiency

Report of the Chairman of the ECE on his consultations with	E/ECE/1335

PSB Bureaux in the April 1995 - March 1996 period

Response of the CES Bureau to the questionnaire it	CES/Bur.96/21*

received from the Bureau of the ECE

Agenda item 3

Sub-programme 1: Organization and operation of statistical services

PE 1.1: Report of the Oct. 1995 meeting of the CES Bureau	CES/BUR.96/10*

PE 1.1: Report of the Feb. 1996 meeting of the CES Bureau	CES/BUR.96/25*

PE 1.1: Resource inventory of international statistical

work affecting ECE countries	CES/1996/R.12

PE 1.2: Plans for the Lisbon seminar	Info brochure

Sub-programme 2: Technical infrastructure and other cross-cutting issues

PE 2.1: Report of the ISIS Seminar	CES/SEM.34.2

PE 2.2: Report of the work session on statistical data editing	CES/1996/R.5

PE 2.3: Report of the work session on statistical output for

dissemination to information media	CES/1996/R.11

PE 2.3: Progress report on EDIFACT	CES/1996/R.13

PE 2.6: Report of the work session on GIS	CES/1996/R.14

Sub-programme 3: Economic statistics

PE 3.1: Report of the ECE-OECD meeting on national accounts	CES/AC.68/..

PE 3.4: Report of the Working Party on Transport Statistics	CES/AC.62/81

PE 3.9: ECE-Eurostat-OECD joint consultation on the ECP	CES/1996/R.2

PE 3.9: ECE-ILO meeting on consumer prices	CES/AC.49/76

PE 3.10: ECE-Eurostat-FAO-OECD work session on agricultural

statistics for transition countries	CES/1996/R.3

PE 3.10: Report of the 22nd FAO/ECE Study Group on food and

agricultural statistics	CES/AC.61.57

PE.3.12: Report on ECE-OECD meeting on energy statistics	CES/AC.32/65

PE 3.14: Report of the ECE-Eurostat work session on

business registers	CES/1996/R.15

Sub-programme 4: Social and demographic statistics

PE 4.5: Report of the work session on housing censuses	CES/1996/R.4

PE 4.8: Report of the ECE-Unesco-OECD work session on education

statistics	CES/1996/R.8

P.E. 4.11: Report of ECE-Eurostat Working Group on migration

statistics	CES/1996/R.6

PE 4.11: Report of the work session on fertility and family

surveys	CES/1996/R.7

Sub-programme 5: Environment statistics

PE 5.1: Report of the work session on methodology	CES/1996/R.1

PE 5.1: Report of the work session on fauna, flora and habitat

statistics	CES/1996/R.9*

Agenda item 6

Rules governing the election of CES Bureau members	CES/1995/R.11*

_______________________

*	Documents marked with an asterisk are ones that the Conference may consider more important than the others.