1. The Conference of European Statisticians adopted, at its 1994 plenary session within its programme of work, the continuation of the development and implementation of international standards for EDI in statistics. The main activities were identified as follows: participation in the development of standards in the framework of the Western European Edifact Board, Message Development Group MD6 -- Statistics (WE EB/MD6); trial electronic collection of data from transition countries; and coordination of implementation of these standards in transition countries.
2. The ECE secretariat participated in the development of GESMES/ECOSER -- message for the transmission of statistical time series -- and played a leading role in the preparation of the GESMES/ECOSER Reference Guide.
3. The trial electronic collection of data from transition countries (EDI trial) launched in 1993 continued throughout 1994/1995. Experiences have shown some technical problems which will need to be resolved -- implementation of the updated message structures (GESMES 95A and GESMES/ECOSER), modification of software tools (message editor and message translator) and introduction of new communication facilities (INTERNET).
4. The ECE secretariat plans to gradually introduce EDI means into the collection process of all macroeconomic data for the purposes of the ECE annual publications (Economic Survey of Europe and Economic Bulletin for Europe). In this respect the ECE secretariat is also working on a methodological description of statistical indicators required from national statistical offices. This work is coordinated with other international organizations, in particular with OECD and IMF. A preliminary outcome of this work is the revised version of the Questionnaire on Selected Macroeconomic Indicators and three trial questionnaires -- on industrial production, financial statistics and foreign trade, prepared by the ECE secretariat.
5. The implementation of electronic data collection within the ECE secretariat is undertaken in close cooperationwith the maintenance of the ECE Statistical Database (ECESDB), mainly in the area of metadata. The secretariat is at present in the process of setting-up the client-server database in the newly established local area network.
6. Several countries participating in the EDI trial were interested in obtaining data from the ECESDB. This obliges the ECE secretariat to establish two-way communication with transition countries when data are disseminated from the ECESDB using the same UN/EDIFACT means through which they were collected. This primarily requires the implementation of REQARR (array request) message which is currently under development in WE EB/MD6. Moreover, in order to allow national statistical offices in transition countries to extend the use of UN/EDIFACT for their internal purposes, it is necessary to assist them in the implementation of other messages apart from GESMES -- most importantly the Raw Data Response MESsage (RDRMES) and, consequently, other suitable messages according to the needs of national statistical offices.