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28 May 2002

ISIC 4 questionnaire - Summary of responses B1

For each of these issues, please provide your views concerning the importance and relevance of the issue. Please add any other structural and conceptual issues you would like to see addressed in the revision. B. Cross-cutting issues Cross-cutting issues are issues that affect many parts of the classification. They concern economic activities that are spread throughout the economy. 1. How should ISIC reflect the growing importance of "information" in the economy and in society? Should a high level category be introduced to deal with this? What should the boundaries be? The OECD has defined Information and telecommunication technologies (ICTs) whereas NAICS has adopted the Information sector (division 51). To what extent should the ISIC revision be guided by these examples?

From the 46 reactions 34 had an answer on question B1 equivalent to 73,9 % of responses. Almost all replies (32) (94%) had a positive attitude toward incorporating ICT and or Information as a sector, one country would expand information to include content. One country said the the concept of ICT was too broad, another saw problems concerning crossing through sections. The OECD defintion could be adopted by 13 countries (28 %), be it sometimes after future discussion on it. The necessity for incorporating ICT in ISIC or as alernate aggregate of ISIC was mentioned by 20 (59 %) countries (an alternate structure was favoured by 6 countries from those 20 (13 %). The Present NAICS structure for an Information Sector, sometimes combined with communication was favoured by 14 countries (40 %) Problems mentioned for using ISIC: · Breaking principle of homogeneity · IT sector not to be grouped on a technology basis, because techniques and technoloy change; rather, the nature (media, mode, output) and the purpose of activity are usuable criteria. · Introduction of information sector in ISIC is not a good solution because the mix-ture produces part goods and part services. Extending the new sector with telecommunications could be a solution: · Crossing sections jeopardizes the general flexibility of the classification. The standard should be kept as neutral as possible. Possible solutions: · Information and communication sector combined. · Make a special purpose classification for ICT General conclusion: A high percentage 73,9 % answered question B1, almost all countries that an-swered are in favour of including the ICT -sector in the activity classification. The majority of them want the structure from NAICS for an information sector. Including the ICT sector in ISIC was favoured by 14 countries, 6 wanted an alternate aggregate for ICT. Problems concerning the functional approach were mentioned by some countries. One answer mentioned the fact that ISIC, as a standard, should be kept as neutral as possible and that an alternate aggregate is only posited as a solution.