5.1. Introduction. The present chapter describes the purposes and characteristics of effective institutional arrangements, and the governance and mechanism of cooperation, as well as the activities required to ensure the improvement of such arrangements and their positive impact on data quality. This chapter is based on the recommendations contained in chapter VIII of IMTS 2010, on data compilation strategies and is linked to chapter I of IMTS 2010-CM regarding the legal framework for merchandise trade statistics. The annexes to the chapter provide examples of institutional arrangements under various country circumstances.[1]
[1] The scope of this chapter does not include institutional arrangements between international organizations active in compilation, dissemination and analysis of trade statistics. Information on this matter is available from the UNSD website, at http:// unstats.un.org/unsd/trade/ imts/cooperation.htm and the website of the Inter-agency Task Force on International Merchandise Trade Statistics at http://imts.wto.org/task_e.htm.