ECE/CES/52

STATISTICAL COMMISSION

and

ECONOMIC COMMISSION FOR EUROPE

CONFERENCE OF EUROPEAN STATISTICIANS

Report

of the forty-fifth plenary session

(Geneva, 10-12 June 1997)

UNITED NATIONS

1997

ECE/CES/52

STATISTICAL COMMISSION

and

ECONOMIC COMMISSION FOR EUROPE

CONFERENCE OF EUROPEAN STATISTICIANS

Report

of the forty-fifth plenary session

(Geneva, 10-12 June 1997)

UNITED NATIONS

1997

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Paragraphs

I.	INTRODUCTION	1-8

II.	IMPLICATIONS OF MEETINGS OF THE CONFERENCE'S PARENT BODIES	9-15

a)	April 1997 session of the Economic Commission for Europe	9-13

b)	February 1997 session of the UN Statistical Commission	14-15

III.	INTEGRATED PRESENTATION AND COORDINATION OF INTERNATIONAL	16-73

STATISTICAL WORK IN THE ECE REGION

a)	Introduction	16

b)	The European Comparisons Programme	17-21

c)	Price statistics	22-25

d)	Minimum standards for metadata on Internet	26-31

e)	Environmental accounting	32-37

f)	Household incomes and expenditures	38-42

g)	International trade in financial services	43-46

h)	Other programme elements in the integrated presentation	47-72

i)	Assessment of the approach taken to reviewing the integrated presentation at the 1997 plenary session	73

IV.	ECE-EUROSTAT JOINT DATA COLLECTION	74

V.	BEST PRACTICES FOR OFFICIAL STATISTICS	75

VI.	OUTCOME OF THE LISBON SEMINAR	76

VII.	IMPACT OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT ON STATISTICAL OPERATIONS: MANAGERIAL CONSIDERATIONS	77-103

VIII.	ELECTION OF A NEW BUREAU FOR 1997/98 and 1998/99	104-108

IX.	ADOPTION OF THE REPORT	109

ANNEX I	INTEGRATED PRESENTATION OF PROGRAMMES OF INTERNATIONAL

STATISTICAL WORK IN THE ECE REGION, 1997/98 AND 1998/99

ANNEX II	PRIORITY MENU OF THE CES FOR 1997/98 AND 1998/99

ANNEX III	CES CALENDAR OF MEETINGS, 1997/98 and 1998/99

* * * * *

Information Guide for the Economic Commission for Europe (ECE)

IMPLEMENTATION OF COMMISSION DECISION I(48)

To be considered during the sessions of the Principal Subsidiary Bodies (PSBs) and included in their report to the Commission

Information Guide for the Commission

Paragraphs

(i)	Draft decisions and/or recommendations for possible

adoption by the Commission at its next session.	N/A

(ii)	Implementation of decisions previously adopted by the	9-13,

Commission, including application of resolutions adopted	52,57

by ECOSOC and the General Assembly (inputs made to global programmes and interregional cooperation)

(iii)	Possible amendments to the mandate of the PSB, for discussion

and, possibly, adoption by the Commission	N/A

(iv)	Programme of work

- Implementation of the programme of work	47,50,56,

including	62,68,70

- difficulties encountered	37

- proposals to streamline activities,	74

to enhance efficiency, and	16,73

to assist the economies in transition

- Resource information, and	37, and CES/1997/15, Annex I

- proposals to ensure a more efficient

use of available resources	52,57,74

- Programme of work and calendar of meetings	48,51,57,63,69,

for the coming year(s)	71 and Annex III

(see also CES/1997/15 and adda 1-6)

(v)	Cooperation

- Cooperation with other ECE Subsidiary	(See CES/1997/15

Bodies active in other but related fields	and adda. 1-6)

of activity, and suggestions for the

improvement of such cooperation.

- Cooperation with other relevant organizations	17,32,43,74,

and institutions, and suggestions for the	(& CES/1997/15

improvement of such cooperation	and adda. 1-6)

I.	INTRODUCTION

Attendance

The Conference of European Statisticians held its forty-fifth plenary session in Geneva. It was attended by representatives of Austria, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Moldova, Romania, Russian Federation, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom and United States.

The session was attended by representatives of the European Commission.

Australia, Japan, Mexico and the Republic of Korea participated under Article 11 of the terms of reference of the ECE.

A representative of the Interstate Statistical Committee of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS STAT) participated under article 12 of the terms of reference of the ECE.

Representatives of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Information and Policy Analysis (UN Statistics Division), United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and Caribbean (ECLAC) and the following specialized agencies and intergovernmental organizations attended: International Labour Organization (ILO); International Monetary Fund (IMF); World Trade Organization (WTO); World Bank; European Free trade Association (EFTA); and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

Mr. I. Fellegi (Canada) chaired the session. Messrs. P. Garonna (Italy), S. Longva (Norway), D. Murphy (Ireland) and E.Outrata (Czech Republic) were Vice-Chairmen.

Agenda and procedure

The provisional agenda (ECE/CES/51) was adopted.

Opening statements

An opening address was delivered by Ms. D. Pastizzi-Ferencic, the Deputy Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Europe, on behalf of Mr. Yves Berthelot, the Executive Secretary. A summary of his statement was made available as a Room paper.

II.	IMPLICATIONS OF MEETINGS OF THE CONFERENCE'S PARENT BODIES

A.	April 1997 session of the Economic Commission for Europe

Documentation: CES/1997/11

The Conference noted the Plan of Action and the Reform of the ECE which the Economic Commission for Europe had adopted at its April 1997 session. The Conference considered that its method of work and its operating procedures are already largely aligned with the new requirements that are called for in the Commission's Plan of Action.

The Conference welcomed the additional post that is to be assigned to the Statistical Division to strengthen the support that the Division provides to service the work of the Conference of European Statistician;

In response to the Commission's request that PSBs should review the status of their subsidiary bodies, the Conference agreed to take up the matter of converting the status of its two subsidiary bodies (the Working Group on EDP and the Study Group on Food and Agricultural Statistics in Europe), when reviewing the relevant programme elements in the Integrated Presentation of International Statistical Work Programmes in the ECE Region (See paras. 52 and 59 below).

The Conference asked the Bureau to take up the following issues during the course of its 1997/98 meetings:

-	to look into the possibility of priority ranking the programme elements in the Conference's work programme, with the aim of recommending a priority ranking for the Conference to consider at its 1998 plenary session for use in 1998/99;

-	when proposing its recommended priority ranking of programme elements, to also delineate proposed important new activities that the Conference could undertake in 1998/99 and subsequent years if the Conference were to receive a larger share of ECE regular budget resources as a result of recommendations made by the Commission's Group of Experts on the Programme of Work; and

-	to designate one or more of its members to monitor the Conference's implementation of the decisions taken by the Commission at its 1997 session.

The Conference agreed to the Commission's request that the work programme of the ECE's Population Activities Unit be subjected to regular intergovernmental review in the future via the annual plenary sessions of the Conference of European Statisticians. To facilitate this, it asked the Bureau of the Conference to conduct these reviews on its behalf with a view to recommending decisions for the Conference to adopt at the plenary sessions.

B.	February 1997 session of the UN Statistical Commission

The Conference noted that the implications of the February 1997 meeting of the UN Statistical Commission are spelled out at appropriate places in the Integrated Presentation of International Statistical Work Programmes in the ECE Region.

The attention of the Conference was called to the following topics which were discussed at the February 1997 session of the UN Statistical

Commission: (i) The completion of the first version of the Central Product Classification (CPC); (ii) Adoption of the Recommendations on Statistics of International Migration; and (iii) A revision of the Begeer Report that is to be undertaken by a small group of countries aimed at further improving the efficiency of work of the UN Statistical Commission.

III.	INTEGRATED PRESENTATION AND COORDINATION OF INTERNATIONAL STATISTICAL WORK IN THE ECE REGION

Documentation: CES/1997/10 and addenda 1-7

a)	Introduction

The Conference agreed to review the integrated presentation on an experimental basis in the manner suggested by the Bureau, namely to review six programme elements in greater depth, and to review the remaining 40 or so programme elements more quickly on the basis of the detailed recommendations made by the Bureau. The following six topics were the ones which were reviewed in greater depth: (a) the European Comparisons Programme (part of P.E. 3.9); (b) price statistics (part of P.E. 3.9); (c) minimum standards for metadata on the Internet (part of P.E. 2.3); (d) environmental accounting (part of P.E. 5.2); (e) household incomes and expenditures (part of P.E. 4.13); and (f) international trade in financial services (part of P.E. 3.2).

b)	The European Comparisons Programme

Mr. Derek Blades of the OECD served as the Discussion Leader for this topic.

The discussion points raised by countries with regards to the ECP fell into the following three groups:

(i) dissatisfaction with various aspects of the programme: the lack of overall transparency; the lack of transparency about calculation and aggregation methods and about editing procedures; the delay in the publication of results; the lack of standardized presentation of results;

(ii) clarification of methodological issues: what are the advantages/disadvantages of using exchange rates or PPPs to compute GDP in real terms as both are used in international publications; how appropriate is the current methodology for comparing countries at different levels of economic development and with different social and cultural conditions; how to estimate annual PPPs for GDP; is it appropriate to present real income per head based on PPPs as a time series; what would be the effect on the comparison of reducing the number of products priced and the number of basic headings; how should non-market services be valued and how to adjust for productivity differences; how results should be calculated for groups of countries such as EU15 or the OECD; how to reconcile results between countries participating in more than one group; what uses can be made of ECP results; how to make greater use of prices collected for CPIs; how to make greater use of international market research data;

(iii) concern about the future of the programme: the organisation and grouping of countries for ECP 99; the financing by international

organisations of countries participating in more than one group; the

establishment of a Group for Group Coordinators to harmonise methodology.

In the discussion several suggestions were made for improvements to the programme. These included the possibility of creating common data bases to serve CPI as well as ECP requirements and of using price statistics available from commercial market research sources. It was also suggested that if it proved impossible to improve methods for comparing non-market goods and services, it may be better to omit them entirely from the comparisons. Some questions were raised about the presentation of statistics derived from PPPs and comment on their relevance to policy-related issues. In view of the margins of error in both GDP expressed in PPPs and GDP, it was thought inappropriate to present data on PPP-adjusted per capita GDP in the form of tables ranking countries.

The Conference was informed that OECD has recently commissioned a critical report on the OECD-Eurostat comparison programme. Although it does not deal with the ECP as such, some of the recommendations in that report are relevant for the organisation of comparisons within some of the ECP's country groupings. It was suggested that the Conference should review in future years the extent to which the recommendations of the report are being implemented.

The Conference recommended the continuation of work on ECP bearing in mind the above conclusions.

c)	Price statistics

Mr. Jacob Ryten of Statistics Canada served as Discussion Leader for this topic.

In discussing the Boskin report on the US Consumer Price Index and its conclusion of the upward bias in the index (in the order of 1%) the Conference concurred with the view of the Ottawa Group that not all countries are in the same situation as the United States. For example, in the European Union, changes in the baskets of goods and the list of outlets are made more frequently than in the United States. But the Conference also agreed that more work was needed to take into account the accelerating rate of introduction of new products. It noted that it was also necessary to take into account the changing quality of goods, and in this work the international organizations have an important role to play. For the harmonized CPI, it was recognized that continued work to ensure comparability in health care and owner-occupied dwellings were needed.

The Conference approved the prices part of programme element 3.9. It welcomed the November 1997 joint ECE/ILO meeting on CPI, but it felt that the meeting's agenda could benefit from a sharper focus.

It was suggested that the work under this programme element be extended to cover other types of price indices such as those for capital, business services, exports and imports, and if necessary, to do so by reducing the amount of work on national accounts. This suggestion will be drawn to the attention of the rapporteur of programme element 3,9 (prices) for him to consider the next time the Bureau conducts its in-depth review of Programme Activity 3 (economic statistics).

d)	Minimum standards for metadata on Internet (Documentation: CES/1997/14)

Mr. Jacob Ryten of Statistics Canada served as Discussion Leader for this topic.

The discussion revealed two major opinions concerning statistical metadata and Internet:

i)	The first took the view that Internet is just another tool of statistical data dissemination and, therefore, requirements for statistical metadata on Internet are not substantially different from those for statistical metadata disseminated through any other media. The opinion was expressed that no special attention should be drawn to metadata on Internet.

ii)	The second, expressed by a large number of participants, emphasized that Internet has many specific features which are significant for national statistical offices and international organizations when making statistical data and metadata available to users. Internet has made possible a qualitative change in statistical data dissemination especially because of its widespread and easy accessibility by different kinds of users. Therefore, the presentation of statistical data and metadata on Internet requires special efforts, with an emphasis firstly on the content, and secondly on the media.

There was general agreement that the requirements for metadata on Internet should be considered primarily in relation to the needs of users. Internet has brought along many non-traditional users of statistical data. Several participants pointed out that more analysis of users is needed in order to make the dissemination of metadata through Internet efficient. The importance of user-friendliness of metadata was underlined.

The content of metadata on Internet was another important issue covered in the discussion. The vast amount of data originating from different sources and different countries makes the areas where there is a lack of statistical coordination and integration more visible. The harmonization of concepts and definitions is essential in order to obtain comparable statistics.

There should be a shared understanding of which elements of metadata are important to display on Internet. It was pointed out, however, that national statistical offices themselves often lack the required capacity and that they are not in the position to develop standards in this area. In this respect, the valuable experiences of many international organizations were mentioned, and it was suggested that they could contribute significantly to solve these problems.

The Conference discussed how this international work could continue. Several proposals were mentioned. E.g., it was suggested that the work should continue on guidelines on the Minimum Set of Metadata on Internet launched by the working group of experts within the framework of the Work Session on Statistical Metainformation Systems. Other participants recommended the organization of a special seminar on statistical metadata on Internet. However, there was a general understanding that international activities in this field should be better structured to enable progress to be made. The Conference asked the Bureau to address this and related issues at its autumn 1997 meeting with a view to suggesting a viable and efficient way forward.

e)	Environmental accounting

Ms Anne Harrison of the OECD served as Discussion Leader for this topic. The meeting complemented her on the very clear and comprehensive overview she gave of what has been happening in the field of environmental accounting since 1993. In spite of the large number of initiatives and numerous players involved, she concluded that coordination worked well at the working level and that progress is being made on various fronts, and notably on the usefulness of dividing environmental concerns into two aspects: those concerned with environmental goods(sub-soil deposits, forests, etc.) and those relating to the provision of environmental services (mainly air and water used as sinks). For the former, establishing balance sheets in monetary terms seems feasible because they involve monetary transactions, while there are serious reservations, from statisticians at least, about the feasibility of doing similar balance sheets for environmental services. This dichotomy, she said, is currently approximated by another dichotomy because developing countries are more concerned about the depletion of environmental goods whereas industrialized countries are more concerned about pollution caused by uncontrolled demand on environmental services. The spectre of having two different approaches to environmental accounting, one for rich and one for poor countries, was considered clearly unacceptable. Consequently, the meeting of the London Group in Ottawa in June will dedicate one day to see how far a common approach between SEEA and NAMEA accounting can be identified and to examine where there are still significant differences.

She formulated three questions for consideration by the plenary:

how much pressure is there still in countries to produce green GDPs?;

is there agreement with the approach of treating "depletion" and "degradation" of the environment separately?; and does the meeting agree that the incremental approach, which concentrates on a few topics at a

time, is the better way to reach consensus in the field of environmental accounting?

The ensuing discussion showed that currently, in most countries, there was no pressure for establishing green GDPs, rather the opposite. Several participants said that satellite accounts had replaced the drive for green GDPs. Concerning the production of green GDPs, it was also observed that this task was not up to statisticians to undertake but was more of a modelling job. Furthermore, with the growing awareness of the limitations of the current GDP as a measure of wealth, the pressure to integrate the economic, social and environmental concerns into a new summary measure is increasing.

It could also be concluded from the discussion that the incremental approach was favoured as the most suitable way to make progress towards the integration of the SEEA and NAMEA approaches. In many countries there already seems to be agreement that environmental depletion is a pure accounting issue and, hence, can be integrated into the national accounts, while this is not the case with environmental degradation.

The meeting was reminded of the recent conclusion of the Statistical Commission which considered basic environment statistics to be of the highest priority, followed by environmental indicators and environmental accounting.

Several participants regretted the minimal resources currently given by the ECE to environment statistics and environmental accounting especially. The Conference recalled in this connection that during the course of its 1997/98 meetings the Bureau would be looking into the possibility of priority ranking its programme elements with the aim of recommending a priority ranking for the Conference to consider at its 1998 plenary session. It also recalled that it had asked the Bureau, when preparing its recommended priority ranking of Programme elements, to also delineate proposed important new activities that the Conference could undertake in 1998/99 and subsequent years if the Conference were to receive a larger share of ECE's regular budget resources as a result of recommendations made by the Commission's Group of Expert on the Programme of Work.

f)	Household incomes and expenditures

Mr. Bruce Petrie of Statistics Canada served as Discussion Leader for this topic.

The Conference noted that a lot of work is going on in this area by international organizations and by the Canberra Group. The coordination of the work between these bodies is essential. The Conference was assured that such coordination is taking place.

The Conference agreed on the division of labour between the Canberra Group, focusing on conceptual work, and international organizations which have the responsibility of bringing the work forward and establishing internationally agreed manuals. As concerns the focus of the work, more efforts are needed for the conceptual work with a view to promoting international comparability and resolving existing problems of data presentation. It was also suggested to extend the objectives of programme element 4.13 to include the development of data on wealth as well as welfare measurement and social accounting.

It was also drawn to the attention of the Conference that the objective of programme element 4.13 of measuring the capacity of individuals, families and households to acquire goods and services require a more comprehensive measurement than money income. It was recommended that higher priority be devoted to developing broader measures of household income.

Another conclusion drawn by the Conference was that there still does not exist a clear and common understanding of the concept "poverty". The conceptual work on measurement of poverty should continue with the aim of improving understanding of this issue and, eventually, permitting meaningful international comparisons and/or avoiding inappropriate and misleading comparisons.

g)	International trade in financial services

Ms. Carol Carson of IMF served as Discussion Leader for this topic.

In choosing this topic for presentation many countries had expressed the general awareness that globalization and rapid development of information technologies increases the importance of trade in financial services. These developments create new challenges for the producers of statistics, for instance in keeping up with the rapid change in financial products and how to capture them statistically.

The Conference concluded that there was no disagreement about the work carried out in the relevant parts of programme elements 3.2 and 3.6 and recognized at the same time the difficulties involved in these tasks. The international organizations are working as fast as is realistic in developing standards, adaptation of classifications and identifying a basic set of comparable data. In this work, international organizations are drawing heavily on international expertise. The national producers of statistics that are facing the problems of measurement of trade in financial services will also be given the opportunity to contribute to the work in this area.

For these parts of programme elements 3.2 and 3.6 the Conference voiced no concern.

h)	Other programme elements in the integrated presentation

i)	Programme Activity 1: Organization and operation of statistical services (Documentation: CES/1997/10/Add.1)

The Conference approved the comments of the Bureau on work done in 1996/97 and on ongoing activities in this programme activity.

Subject to the qualifications specified below the Conference accepted the Bureau's recommendations for decisions on the planned activities in the programme elements in this programme activity (see CES/1997/15/Add.1)

P. E. (Programme element) 1.2: Managerial and policy issues of direct concern to presidents of national statistical offices

The Conference accepted the invitation by the Secretary General of the OECD to hold its forty-sixth plenary session in Paris from 18-20 May 1998.

ii)	Programme Activity 2: Technical infrastructure and other cross-cutting issues (Documentation: CES/1997/10/Add.2 and CES/1997/10/Add.7)

The Conference approved the comments of the Bureau on work done in 1996/97 and on ongoing activities in this programme activity.

Subject to qualifications specified below the Conference accepted the Bureau's recommendations for decisions on the planned activities in the programme elements in this programme activity (see CES/1997/15/Add.2).

P. E. 2.1: Management of information technology infrastructure

The Conference agreed to convert the Working Party on Electronic Data Processing into an ad-hoc group so that it would have the same status as all other expert meetings convened by the Conference, subject to the understanding that it will continue to perform the same types of functions it performed for the Conference in the past.

P E. 2.3: Dissemination and interchange of statistical information

The Conference noted the recommendation for future work contained in CES/1997/10/Add.7 that had been formulated by the June 1997 work session on statistical output for dissemination to information media. However, it also recalled that as a result of the outcome of the Conference's discussion on standards for metadata on the Internet, the Bureau is to consider during its 1997/98 term of office how best to use its meeting programme to have these sorts of issues addressed. Depending on the outcome of the Bureau's discussion on this, two work sessions in the Conference's planned work programme for 1997/98 could be affected (the work session on statistical metadata planned to be held in February 1998, and the work session on statistical output for dissemination to information media planned to be held in June 1998).

P. E. 2.4: Industry commodity and occupation classifications

The Conference noted the recommendations made by the Seminar on statistical nomenclatures, and agreed that those recommendations should be brought to the attention of the Rapporteur of P.E. 2.4.

P. E. 2.5: Statistical research and development

The Conference asked the ECE secretariat to consider ways in which it could actively encourage NSOs to regularly prepare and circulate an annual summary of their activities and progress to all ECE member countries.

iii)	Programme Activity 3: Economic statistics (Documentation: CES/1997/10/Add.3 and CES/1997/10/Add.7)

The Conference approved the comments of the Bureau on work done in 1996/97 and on ongoing activities in this programme activity.

Subject to qualifications specified below the Conference accepted the Bureau's recommendations for decisions on the planned activities in the programme elements in this programme activity (see CES/1997/15/Add.3).

P. E. 3.1 Implementation of the SNA

The Conference noted the proposed terms of reference for the 1997/98 ECE-Eurostat-OECD joint meeting on national accounts, which had been recommended by the 3-6 June 1997 joint meeting. The Conference agreed with the Bureau's assessments that a further joint meeting be held in 1997/98, and that the list of 11 topics was too long and unfocussed. It also agreed with the Bureau's proposal that the list should be confined to a small number of priority topics on which progress could be expected to be made over the course of the next year or two. It welcomed the offer of Eurostat to contact OECD and the ECE to come up with a proposal along these lines that could be submitted to the autumn 1997 meeting of the Bureau for approval. The Conference also concurred with the Bureau's recommendation that the three sponsoring organizations should give consideration to the possibility of designating one person or organization as the overall organizer of the joint meetings on national accounts that are organized in the future, so that they could be organized somewhat along the lines of the topics for substantive discussion at the plenary sessions of the Conference.

P. E. 3.10: Agricultural statistics

The Conference agreed to convert the ECE/FAO Study Group on Agricultural Statistics in Europe into an ad-hoc group so that it would have the same status as all other expert meetings convened by the Conference.

P. E. 3.12: Energy statistics

The Conference agreed to postpone the 1997/98 joint meeting on energy statistics to 1998/99.

P. E. 3.14: Business registers

The Conference agreed to have the forthcoming joint ECE-Eurostat meeting on business registers take up the recommendation of the April 1997 seminar on statistical nomenclatures (CES/1997/10/Add.7). It was also informed of plans for the Round Table meeting on Business Registers which will be held in Tokyo in October 1997.

iv)	Programme Activity 4: Social and demographic statistics (Documentation: CES/1997/10/Add.4, CES/1997/10/Add.7, CES/AC.6/158 and CES/AC.6/161)

The Conference approved the comments of the Bureau on work done in 1996/97 and on ongoing activities in this programme activity.

Subject to qualifications specified below the Conference accepted the Bureau's recommendations for decisions on the planned activities in the programme elements in this programme activity (see CES/1997/15/Add.4).

P. E. 4.1: Social indicators and frameworks

The delegate of Switzerland informed the Conference about the outcomes of the Siena Group meeting that was held in Neuchatel, Switzerland from 5-6 June 1997, whose theme was "Social integration of minorities (ethnic, linguistic, cultural) and immigrants". The Conference noted that the next Siena Group meeting is to be devoted to the theme of families and households, and that the meeting will be held in Australia in December 1998. The Conference was also informed that ISTAT has published the first Siena Group Monitoring Report which deals with youth exclusion.

P. E. 4.5: Population and housing censuses

The Conference adopted the Recommendations for the 2000 Round of Population and Housing Censuses in the ECE Region (see CES/AC.6/158) subject to the understanding that they will be amended according to the conclusion of the March 1997 meeting on population and housing censuses. It also agreed that they should be published in the Conference's Statistical Standards and Studies series.

P. E. 4.6: Health statistics

The Conference approved the proposed new terms of reference for

the 1997/98 ECE-WHO work session on health statistics shown in CES/1997/10/Add.7.

P. E. 4.10: Labour statistics

The Conference noted the readiness of the Netherlands to share its experiences in this field with the ILO, in order to help advance work on the development of a Labour Accounting System.

v)	Programme Activity 5: Environment statistics (Documentation: CES/1997/10/Add.5)

The Conference approved the comments of the Bureau on work done in 1996/97 and on ongoing activities in this programme activity.

The Conference accepted the Bureau's recommendations for decisions on the planned activities in the programme elements in this programme activity (see CES/1997/15/Add.5).

vi)	Programme Activity 6: Dissemination and support for secretariat activities (Documentation: CES/1997/10/Add.6)

The Conference approved the comments of the Bureau on work done in 1996/97 and on ongoing activities in this programme activity.

The Conference accepted the Bureau's recommendations for decisions on the planned activities in the programme elements in this programme activity (see CES/1997/15/Add.6).

The representative of Bosnia and Herzegovina read the Conference the letter it had sent to the ECE in 1996 concerning the treatment of Yugoslavia in "Trends in Europe and North America". He also informed the Conference of the reply he had received from the UNOG Legal Liaison Office. The representative of Croatia indicated his support for the statement made by the representative of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Chairman took note of their statements and informed them that the ECE Statistical Division would handle the matter in the way that UN Headquarters indicate they should be handled.

i)	Assessment of the approach taken to reviewing the integrated presentation at the 1997 plenary session

The Conference was generally satisfied with the approach that had been taken at the 1997 plenary session in reviewing the integrated presentation. It considered that a similar approach should be used at the 1998 and subsequent plenary sessions. There was also general agreement that the Conference's discussion of the views put forward by Discussion Leaders would be facilitated in the future if the Discussion Leaders prepared short notes which would be issued as Conference documents. The importance of ensuring that the integrated presentation is distributed well in advance of the plenary session was also underlined.

IV.	ECE-EUROSTAT-OECD JOINT DATA COLLECTION

Documentation: CES/1997/1

The Conference took note of the work initiated by UN/ECE, Eurostat and OECD on reviewing data collection practices by the three organizations in order to reduce duplication and response burden on national statistical offices. The Conference asked UN/ECE, Eurostat and OECD and other international organizations to continue this work and to report progress to the next plenary session.

V.	BEST PRACTICES FOR OFFICIAL STATISTICS

Documentation: CES/1997/R.6 and R.6/Corr.1

The head of the Czech Statistical Office informed the Conference about a preparatory meeting his office is planning to host next spring for offices interested in discussing best practices in official statistics. To be able to plan the meeting he asked interested countries and organizations to send him their internal codes and other documents concerning their statistical principles. The meeting would focus on how to implement the Fundamental Principles for Official Statistics and would be held under the auspices of the Statistical Commission of the United Nations. Several delegations expressed their support for such a meeting. Eurostat distributed three recent documents on Community statistics which closely relate to the Fundamental Principles.

VI.	OUTCOME OF THE LISBON SEMINAR

Documentation: CES/SEM.35/2

The chairman of the organizing committee of the Lisbon seminar, Mr. W. de Vries, informed the Conference about the outcome of the seminar. It was decided that the new Bureau would take up the question in 1997/98 about when the next seminar should be scheduled and propose a theme for the Conference's consideration.

VII.	IMPACT OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT ON STATISTICAL OPERATIONS: MANAGERIAL CONSIDERATIONS

Documentation:	CES/1997/R.2-9

This was the topic for substantive discussion at the 1997 plenary session. The seminar session was organized by Mr. Wouter Keller and Mr. Willem de Vries of Statistics Netherlands, and Mr. William McLennan served as a Discussion Leader. Discussion was based on papers prepared by Canada, Czech Republic, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Sweden and the United States.

The discussion on the impact of information technology (IT) developments on statistical operations focused on the following two major areas:

(a)	managerial and internal IT issues, based on contributions from Canada, Czech Republic, Norway and Portugal;

(b)	data interchange and external IT issues, based on contributions from Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden and United States.

General considerations

It was noted that the statistical offices have to take advantage of modern techniques in order to achieve cost savings, improve statistical data quality, and orient statistical data production towards market needs. The strategies for data collection, processing and dissemination should be considered in this light.

The presentations and discussion highlighted several common problems that result from rapid technological change that managers of statistical offices have to solve. The focus on PC technology, client-server architecture and development of networks (including Internet) forces statistical offices to reorganize statistical data processing. Subject-matter statisticians are becoming more directly involved in the data production process.

The management of IT should cover both the planning of hardware and software and human resource management. It also impacts on the organization of statistical production. Therefore, management and planning of IT should be the responsibility of the top management and should be an integral part of the corporate management processes of the statistical office.

(a)	Managerial and internal IT issues

Centralization, decentralization, standardization

Although in the era of mainframe technology the organization of IT was also very often decentralized, the development of networking and PC architecture has made it possible to decentralize statistical production more significantly. The question still remains what responsibilities, activities and/or tools should be managed centrally.

Finding the right balance between centralization and decentralization was considered crucial in IT management. The opinion was expressed that, on the one hand, certain activities should be centralized such as: maintenance of IT infrastructure, maintenance of communication networks, standardization of tools, maintenance of the software toolbox, data management, metadata management, and career management of IT staff. On the other hand, very often decentralized areas are: hardware, applications, and the responsibility for their replacement. As for standardization, many participants stated that tools should be standardized but their use decentralized. Furthermore, it was noted that there is no need for comparability at the software and hardware level, but on the outputs and their transferability.

The development of IT and the strategy of downsizing of mainframe-based applications to the PC-based client-server architecture should be centralized. It was pointed out that the critical issue in downsizing is not the change of hardware, but redesigning the processes, and human resources management.

Several countries pointed out that efficient statistical production needs some stability in implementing the IT applications. It was mentioned that a certain conservatism in this respect would be desirable. Examples cited were to keep ambitions moderate, introduce new technology step-by-step, build prototypes, and use standard software packages whenever possible.

However, it was also recognized that in many cases commercial software packages are not able to handle them because of the specifics of statistical processing. Therefore, there remains a need for in-house specially developed statistical software.

Human resources management

One of the most important problems that statistical offices have to solve is related to human resources management. It is often difficult to keep trained staff and to compete with the higher salaries of the private sector. The solution is to make the work in statistical offices more interesting and challenging, and to plan the work so that the mobility of staff will not create additional problems.

The need for high quality training of IT and subject-matter staff was underlined. Some countries reported on their experiences in organizing extensive training courses for staff, providing that the trained experts would be employed in the statistical office for at least 2 to 3 years after the training.

Many countries reported that owing to advances in PC technology, data processing is affecting a greater number of statistical staff and the number of pure IT specialists (application and system programmers) is decreasing. The role and responsibility of subject-matter statisticians in statistical data processing is growing. This trend should be reflected in IT management.

Cost-efficiency

The role of pricing policies was discussed in relation to management of IT. Some participants mentioned that the cost of statistical information could be an important consideration in the decision-making process of IT strategy. Pricing could be an efficient mechanism to determine the balance between centralized and decentralized activities in statistical production. It was mentioned that charging for statistical data is a good way to get feedback on data usage. It can influence the IT strategy for individual statistical applications.

The difficulties in estimating the cost of IT and the related savings were pointed out. Several countries stated that the cost of developing IT should not be seen as a one-time investment of purchasing the technology. In estimating the efficiency of IT, some countries have difficulties in finding a way to include IT costs in their accounting system. It was mentioned that there is no direct relationship between investment in IT and its productivity. IT gains often do not mean lower costs but higher quality of output.

International cooperation

Many participants stressed that international cooperation can play an important role in the exchange of experiences in IT management. Furthermore, the need for international cooperation was mentioned in the development of international standards and guidelines, and in identifying which products and/or software developments can be of greatest benefit.

(b)	Data exchange and external IT issues

Electronic Data Interchange

Countries reported the growing role of EDI in statistical data collection. The distinction was made between "primary EDI" (i.e. data collected directly from an original source, such as individual enterprises and households) and "secondary EDI" (i.e. the use of data already collected by another institution, such as tax authorities and customs offices).

Concerning primary EDI, it was pointed out that data collection in this way can improve cooperation between statistical offices and enterprises. The traditional statistical questionnaire has become too burdensome for enterprises. This situation calls for redesigning the data collection process, and orienting it more towards the needs of enterprises.

Some countries reported their experiences in cooperation with medium-sized firms. The opinion was also expressed by some participants that it could be reasonable to concentrate the primary EDI on cooperation with large business units as they provide the biggest share in aggregate data. In addition, large enterprises are often better able to cope with the requirements of EDI. User-friendly software with flexible links is needed to connect the statistical office with many different data sources.

With reference to secondary EDI, the discussion revealed that the main problems in it are caused by differences in methodology. External institutions use their own concepts, definitions, units and classifications. Interpretation is very often needed when transferring data into the statistical environment. It was pointed out, however, that if those methodological problems could be solved, the possibility of using data from secondary sources would significantly facilitate statistical data collection.

EDI offers the possibilities of reconsidering the whole data collection strategy in statistical offices. The use of electronic questionnaires across collections and collecting agencies would reduce the response burden and improve data quality.

Internet

The use of Internet for statistical data dissemination and (to a lesser extent) data collection was broadly discussed. Some participants raised the question whether the importance of Internet as a tool for data dissemination has been over-estimated. It was pointed out that Internet should not supersede but enhance other dissemination media. There was general agreement that Internet is very efficient for advertising statistical information. The market should decide, however, what is the most appropriate medium for disseminating data to different users.

For example, on the one hand Internet could be a valuable tool for providing information to users with low statistical literacy. On the other hand, clients needing the most up-to-date information should be able to access statistical databases directly via a communication network. Electronic publications could be suitable for users who need to work further with the data, and paper publications could be an appropriate medium for providing analytical materials.

Metadata

In connection with disseminating statistical data through Internet, the availability of relevant statistical metadata was considered crucial. There was general agreement that metadata is important for providing user-guidance and support.

In addition to assisting clients in interpreting statistical data, metadata should also facilitate navigation by providing links between different components of data and metadata (e.g. cross-links at the subject-matter level). Furthermore, they should inform users about the consistency of statistical data. Deviations from existing international and national standards should also be indicated. The importance of the up-to-date character of metadata on Internet was also stressed.

Many participants pointed out that international cooperation is needed to harmonize metadata on Internet. Developing metadata standards could be one of the outcomes of those activities.

Data confidentiality

The issue of data confidentiality was discussed with reference to the dissemination of statistical microdata. This is often subject to national legislation concerning statistical confidentiality. Some participants expressed the view that confidential microdata should not be released to users automatically. There was a general understanding that allowing access to microdata needs to be handled very carefully.

VIII.	Election of a new Bureau for 1997/98 and 1998/99

Documentation: CES/1997/13

In accordance with the rules of procedure adopted by the Conference at its 1993 plenary session, the election was organized by Mr. Malaguerra of Switzerland, who was the most senior previous Chairman of the Conference present at the plenary session.

For the 1997/98 and 1998/99 term of office, based on proposals put forward by Mr. Carlo Malaguerra of Switzerland, the Conference unanimously elected the following as Bureau members:

Chairman: Mr. Paolo Garonna (Italy) (1st term as Chairman, 3rd term	as	a Bureau member)

Vice-Chairmen: Mr. Adriaan Abrahamse (Netherlands) (first term)

Mr. Svein Longva (Norway) (second term)

Mr. Donal Murphy (Ireland) (second term)

Mr. Edvard Outrata (Czech Republic) (second term)

Mr. Rein Veetöusme (Estonia) (first term).

Mr. Malaguerra also recommended that the new Bureau periodically invite the Chairman of the Interstate Statistical Committee of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS STAT) to its meetings.

The Conference thanked Mr. Malaguerra for the task he performed in this process.

The Conference expressed its gratitude to Mr. Fellegi, who served as Chairman of the Conference during the past four years. It also thanked the other Bureau members who had served on the Bureau during 1995/96 and 1996/97.

IX.	ADOPTION OF THE REPORT

This report was adopted by the Conference at its closing session on 12 June 1997.

ANNEX I

INTEGRATED PRESENTATION OF PROGRAMMES OF INTERNATIONAL

STATISTICAL WORK IN THE ECE REGION, 1997/98 AND 1998/99

Note

The integrated presentation of the statistical work programmes of the Economic Commission for Europe (ECE), the European Communities (EC), the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and other international organizations working in the ECE region is presented in documents CES/1997/15 and Addenda 1-6, as indicated below. The integrated presentation shown in these documents, which collectively constitute Annex I of the report of the plenary session, is too large to issue as part of this report or as a single document.

CES/1997/15: Programmes of international statistical work in the UN/ECE	region, 1997/98 and 1998/99: An integrated presentation - Introduction and overview

CES/1997/15/Add.1: Programme Activity 1: Organization and operation of statistical services

CES/1997/15/Add.2: Programme Activity 2: Technical infrastructure and other cross-cutting issues

CES/1997/15/Add.3: Programme Activity 3: Economic statistics

CES/1997/15/Add.4: Programme Activity 4: Social and demographic statistics

CES/1997/15/Add.5: Programme Activity 5: Environment statistics

CES/1997/15/Add.6: Programme Activity 6: Dissemination and support for secretariat activities

ANNEX II. Priority Menu of the CES for 1997/98 and 1998/99

a) 1997/98

WORK PROGRAMME OF THE CONFERENCE OF EUROPEAN STATISTICIANS

PRIORITY MENU FOR 1997/98 Programme element Substantive action required of the ECE secretariat Major coordination required Output for the plenary session 1998 1.1 Promotion and coordination of multilateral statistical work - Preparation of integrated presentation of international statistical work programmes

- Various intersecretariat working groups - Eurostat, OECD, UNSD, IMF, World Bank, Specialized Agencies, etc.

- various organizations - Draft Integrated presentation

1.2 Managerial and policy issues of direct concern to presidents of national statistical offices - Preparation of CES plenary session

- Organization of substantive discussion

- Organization of Bureau meetings

- All international agencies active in the region

-

- Eurostat, OECD, UNSD, IMF, World Bank - CES Annual Report

- Discussion papers

- Bureau's reports; minutes of meetings 1.3 Transition countries in the ECE region - Taking full account of the needs of countries in transition in the CES work programme, provision of guidance and advice to transition countries by the Regional Adviser

- Participate in inter-agency coordination activities

- To manage, as the executing agency, the UNDP and UNFPA regional projects for the development of social and demographic statistics in transition countries - Eurostat, OECD, UNSD, IMF, World Bank, ILO, etc.

- Eurostat, OECD, UNSD, IMF, IWG.COORD, CIS

- UNDP, Eurostat, UNSD, CIS

- Progress report, when required

- Progress reports, when required

- Progress report, when required

1.4 Relations with countries outside the ECE region (including in the Mediterranean region) - Preparation and provision of relevant CES documents to the Statistical Commission, UNSD and the Regional Commissions - UNSD, Regional Commissions

- Progress reports, when required 2.1 Management of information technology infrastructure - Organization of ISIS'98

- Report

2.2 Statistical data collection and processing - Preparation of methodological materials and publication on statistical data editing

- Organization of the work session on statistical data editing

- Methodological materials and publication

- Conclusions of the Work Session

2.3 Dissemination and interchange of statistical information - Organization of the work session on statistical metadata

- Preparation of methodological materials on statistical metadata

- Organization of the work session on statistical output for dissemination to information media

- Participation in the development of EDISTAT

- EUROSTAT - Conclusions of the work session

- Methodological materials

-Conclusions of the work session

- Progress report

2.6 Geographical and regional data - Organization of the work session on GIS

- Preparation of methodological materials on implementation of GIS - EUROSTAT - Report

- Methodological materials 3.9 Price statistics, including PPPs - Preparation of the ECE/ILO meeting on consumer price indices

(24-27 November 1997)

- Preparation of the ACSO-ECE-Eurostat-OECD Consultation on the European Comparison Programme within Group II (May 1998) - ILO

- ACSO, Eurostat, OECD

- Report

- Report

3.10 Agricultural statistics - Preparations of the ECE/FAO Meeting on food and agriculture statistics (30 June-3 July 1997)

-Eurostat/OECD/ FAO/ECE Seminar on agricultural statistics for central European countries (Budapest, 12-14 Nov. 1997)

- Eurostat/OECD/FAO/ECE Seminar on agricultural statistics for CIS countries

(St. Petersburg, June/July 1998) -IWG.AGRI

- IWG.AGRI

- IWG.AGRI - Report

- Report

- Report 3.14 Business registers - Preparations of the ECE/Eurostat meeting on business registers (Feb. 1998) - Eurostat - Report 4.2 Gender statistics - Preparation of the work session (jointly with INSTRAW and UNSD) - INSTRAW and UNSD - Report 4.5 Population and housing censuses - Publication of the ECE-Eurostat regional variant of the global recommendations on population and housing censuses - Eurostat, UNSD

- Publication 4.11 Demographic statistics (projections, migration and fertility) - Preparation of the annual migration matrices

- Preparation of work session on migration statistics

- Eurostat, UNSD

- Eurostat - Matrices

- Report 5.1	Sectorial concepts, definitions and classifications

- Organization of the joint ECE-Eurostat work session on methodological questions of environment statistics

- Eurostat

- Report

6.1 Coordination of international data collection - Annual collection in the field of energy.

- Preparation of the ECE Statistical Yearbook

- Preparation of Statistical Journal - Eurostat, OECD/IEA as required

-

-

-

- Annual publication

- 4 issues of Statistical Journal per year 6.2 Other statistically-related activities of the ECE secretariat - Preparation of statistical tables and analysis as required - Eurostat, OECD, UNSD, CIS STAT, other ECE PSBs - Progress report (to the CES Bureau)

- Collection of macroeconomic data from transition countries

- Maintenance of the database on macroeconomic statistics for transition countries - OECD, ILO, IMF, UNIDO, UNSD, CIS STAT

- - Progress report (to the CES Bureau)

-

b) 1998/99

WORK PROGRAMME OF THE CONFERENCE OF EUROPEAN STATISTICIANS

PRIORITY MENU FOR 1998/99 Programme element Substantive action required of the ECE secretariat Major coordination required Output for the plenary session 1999 1.1 Promotion and coordination of multilateral statistical work - Preparation of integrated presentation of international statistical work programmes

- Participation in various intersecretariat working group meetings - Eurostat, OECD, UNSD, IMF, World Bank, Specialized Agencies, etc.

- Various organizations - Draft Integrated presentation

1.2 Managerial and policy issues of direct concern to presidents of national statistical offices - Preparation of CES plenary session

- Organization of substantive discussion

- Organization of Bureau meetings - All international agencies active in the region

-

- Eurostat, OECD, UNSD, IMF, World Bank - CES Annual Report

- Discussion papers

- Bureau's reports; minutes of meetings 1.3 Transition countries in the ECE region - Taking full account of the needs of countries in transition in the CES work programme, provision of guidance and advice to transition countries by the Regional Adviser

- Participate in inter-agency coordination activities

- To manage, as the executing agency, the UNDP and UNFPA regional projects for the development of social and demographic statistics in transition countries - Eurostat, OECD, UNSD, IMF, World Bank, ILO, etc.

- Eurostat, OECD, UNSD, IMF, IWG.COORD, CIS

- UNDP, Eurostat, UNSD, CIS

- Progress report, when required

- Progress reports, when required

- Progress report, when required

1.4 Relations with countries outside the ECE region (including in the Mediterranean region) - Preparation and provision of relevant CES documents to the Statistical Commission, UNSD and the Regional Commissions - UNSD, Regional Commissions

- Progress reports, when required 2.1 Management of statistical information technology - Preparation of the Meeting on the Management of Statistical Information Technology

- ECE/Eurostat work session on statistical confidentiality - Report

- Conclusions of the work session 2.2 Statistical data collection and processing - Preparation of methodological materials and publication on statistical data editing

- Organization of the work session on statistical data editing

- Methodological materials and publication

- Conclusions of the work session 2.3 Dissemination and interchange of statistical information - Preparation of methodological materials on statistical metadata

- Participation in the development of EDISTAT (Western European EDIFACT Board - group MD6) - EUROSTAT

- Methodological materials

- Progress report

2.6 Geographical and regional data - Organization of the work session on GIS

- Preparation of methodological materials on implementation of GIS - EUROSTAT - Conclusions of the work session

- Methodological materials 3.1 Implementation of the system of national accounts - Preparation of two ECE-Eurostat-OECD meetings on national accounts (autumn 1998 and spring 1999) - Eurostat, OECD - Reports

3.9 Price statistics, including PPPs

- Preparation of the ECE/ILO meeting on consumer price indices (1999)

- Preparation of the ACSO-ECE-Eurostat-OECD Consultation on the ECP within Group II (1998/1999) - ILO

- ACSO, Eurostat, OECD

- Report

- Report

3.10 Agriculture statistics

- Preparation of the FAO/ECE Meeting on Food and Agricultural Statistics (1999) - IWG.AGRI

- Report

3.12 Energy statistics Preparation of the joint ECE/IEA/Eurostat meeting on energy statistics(1997/1998) - IWG.EN - Report 4.4 Registers and administrative records in social and demographic statistics - Preparation of the ECE-Eurostat joint work session

- Eurostat

- Report

4.5 Population and housing censuses - Preparation of the ECE-Eurostat joint work session - Eurostat - Report 4.6 Health statistics - Preparation of the work session (jointly with WHO/Europe) - WHO and WHO/Europe - Report 4.9 Cultural statistics - Preparation of the ECE-UNESCO joint work session - UNESCO - Report 4.11 Demographic statistics (including projections, migration and fertility) - Preparation of the annual matrices - Eurostat, UNSD - Matrices

5.1	Sectorial concepts, definitions and classifications - Organization of the joint ECE-Eurostat work session on methodological questions of environment statistics

- Eurostat - Report 6.1 Coordination of international data collection - Annual collections in the field of energy.

- Preparation of the ECE Statistical Yearbook

- Preparation of Statistical Journal - Eurostat, OECD/IEA as required

-

- -

- Annual publication

- 4 issues of Statistical Journal per year 6.2 Other statistically-related activities of the ECE secretariat

- Preparation of statistical tables and analysis as required - Eurostat, OECD, UNSD, CIS STAT, other ECE PSBs - Progress report (to the CES Bureau)

- Collection of macroeconomic data from transition countries

- Maintenance of the database on macroeconomic statistics for transition countries - OECD, ILO, IMF, UNIDO, UNSD, CIS STAT

- - Progress report (to the CES Bureau)

c) Projects inactive in 1997/98 and 1998/99

Work programme of the Conference of European Statisticians

Projects inactive in 1997/98 and 1998/99

2.4	Industry, commodity and occupation classifications

2.5	Statistical research and development

2.7	Human resource development

3.2	Money and banking, government finance, and balance of payments

3.3	International trade in goods

3.4	Transport statistics

3.5	Distributive trade

3.6	International trade in services

3.7	Tourism

3.8	Other marketed services and non-marketed services

3.11	Industrial statistics

3.13	Science and technology statistics

3.XX	Other work in the field of economic statistics

4.1	Social indicators and frameworks

4.3	Multi-purpose social surveys

4.7	Crime and criminal justice statistics

4.8	Education and training statistics

4.10	Labour statistics

4.12	Human settlements and housing statistics

4.13	Statistics of household income and expenditures, of the welfare of the population, and the poverty income statistics

4.14	Statistics on population groups of special interest

4.XX	Other work in the field of social and demographic statistics

5.2	Environmental accounting

5.3	Environmental database and reporting

ANNEX III

CES CALENDAR OF MEETINGS, 1997/98 and 1998/99

1997/98*

Programme	Meeting	Dates

element

3.10	ECE-FAO meeting on food and agriculture statistics	30 June-3 July 1997

in Europe

5.1	ECE-Eurostat work session on methodological issues	22-25 September 1997

of environment statistics (Neuchatel, Switzerland)

2.6	Work session on geographical information systems (Brighton, UK)	22-25 September 1997

2.2	Work session on statistical data editing (Prague, Czech Republic)	14-17 October 1997

1.2	CES Bureau meeting	15-16 October 1997

3.10	ECE-Eurostat-FAO-OECD seminar on agricultural	12-14 November 1997

statistics for central and east European countries

(Budapest, Hungary)

3.9	ECE-ILO meeting on consumer price indices	24-27 November 1997

1.2	CES Bureau meeting	28-29 January 1998

2.3	Work session on statistical metadata	18-20 February 1998

3.14	ECE-Eurostat work session on business registers (Luxembourg)	23-25 February 1998

4.11	ECE-Eurostat work session on migration statistics (**)	25-27 March 1998

6.2	ECE-INSTRAW-UNSD work session on gender statistics	20-22 April 1998

3.9	ECE-EUROSTAT-OECD and Austrian CSO joint consultation	18-20 May 1998

on the ECP within Group II (Vienna, Austria)

1.2	46th CES plenary session (Paris, France)	18-20 May 1998

2.1	ISIS'98 (Bratislava, Slovakia)	26-29 May 1998

2.3	Work session on statistical output for dissemination to	22-25 June 1998

information media (Cork, Ireland)

*	Meetings shown in a bold font are ones for which there is English, French and Russian interpretation.

**	Note: The dates, venue and list of sponsoring organizations shown for this meeting are provisional.

CES CALENDAR OF MEETINGS, 1997/98 and 1998/99*

1998/99

Programme	Meeting	Dates

element

3.10	ECE-Eurostat-FAO-OECD seminar on agricultural statistics	29 June - 3 July 1998

for central and east European countries

(St. Petersburg, Russian Federation)

5.1	ECE-Eurostat work session on methodological issues of	14-17 September 1998

environment statistics (Germany)

4.6	ECE-WHO/Europe work session on health statistics (Italy)**	21-23 September 1998

2.1	ECE-Eurostat work session on statistical confidentiality	21-23 September 1998

3.1	ECE-Eurostat-OECD meeting on national accounts (Luxembourg)	22-25 September 1998

2.6	Work session on GIS	5-7 October 1998

3.12	ECE-IEA-Eurostat meeting on energy statistics	12-14 October 1998

1.2	CES Bureau meeting	14-15 October 1998

2.2	Work session on statistical data editing	9-11 November 1998

4.5	ECE-Eurostat work session on population and housing censuses (**)	9-11 November 1998

4.11	ECE-Eurostat work session on projections (**)	January 1999

1.2	CES Bureau meeting	February 1999

2.1	Meeting on the management of statistics information technology	February 1999

4.4	ECE-Eurostat work session on registers and administrative	March 1999

records in social and demographic statistics (**)

4.9	ECE-UNESCO work session on cultural statistics	Spring 1999

3.1	ECE-Eurostat-OECD meeting on national accounts	Spring 1999

3.10	ECE-FAO meeting on food and agriculture statistics in Europe	June 1999

1.2	47th CES plenary session	15-17 June 1999

*	Meetings shown in a bold font are ones for which there is English, French and Russian interpretation.

**	Note: The dates, venue and list of sponsoring organizations shown for these meetings are provisional.