C. Country experiences

Country Experience: United States of America: postal and courier services (ch. 3)

3.26.        Example from the United States of America: obtaining information on goods transactions through postal and courier services. In the United States international merchandise trade statistics program, value-based exemption levels have been established to help alleviate filer burden and reduce processing costs. As goods valued below these exemption levels do not require complete filing, import and export low-value estimates are calculated each month.  Goods shipped by small package courier companies have been identified as a major component of under-coverage, especially for exports. Therefore, the United States Census Bureau developed a methodology for using a sum of courier and non-courier estimates. Data on low-value shipments provided by major courier companies upon request served as a basis for the methodology.   The proportion of low-value trade to high-value trade was developed using data from the couriers over several months, and this proportion is used as a “courier factor”.  The courier data received each month is multiplied by this factor to produce courier low-value estimates.  The courier factors can be updated as needed by requesting more recent low-valued trade data from the courier companies.

Country Experience: Mexico: Administrative and company records (ch. 3)

3.27.        Example from Mexico: administrative and company records as non-customs sources. In principle, administrative and company records can be used to validate, supplement or replace the information provided by customs. In the case of Mexico, such non-customs records are used for two specific cases. In the first case, the Ministry of Communications and Transportation provides information on the volume of goods transported by air, sea, road and rail obtained from national and international airlines as well as from public bodies such the maritime ports. This information is used to supplement the information on mode of transport available from customs declarations. Second, in the case of oil,Mexico’s Working Group on Foreign Trade Statistics agrees on the replacement of the customs records and the use of internal records from Petroleos Mexicanos, the company responsible in Mexico for producing and exporting oil.

Country Experience: Norway: Ships registers (ch. 3)

3.28.         Example from Norway:  use of ships registers. In Norway, the external trade of ships, aircrafts and movable drilling rigs is not properly covered by data from customs. Concerning ships, estimates based on change of ownership are used as an alternative. Statistics Norway regularly receives information from the Norway’s shipping registers (NIS/NOR) about new registrations, cancellations and other changes in the registers. Based on this information, a letter and a form are sent to the registered owner, asking for additional information. The full details of this example is provided in chapter XXIII, annex B.

Annex III.A Country practices in the use of different data sources

a. There is no established convention for the designation of countries or areas in the United Nations system “as developed” or “developing”. In common practice, Japan in Asia, Canada and the United States of America in Northern America, Australia and New Zealand in Oceania, and Europe are considered developed regions (see http://mdgs.un.org/unsd/mdg/Host.aspx?Content=Data/RegionalGroupings.htm).

Source: International Merchandise Trade Statistics: Supplement to the Compilers Manual (United Nations publication, Sales No. E.08. XVII.9 and Corr.1), table 1.2.

Note: Two dots (..) signify that data are unavailable.