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1907

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24 November 2003

2003 quest. - Summary of question 15 responses

Question 15 from the "questions" document: Do you agree to the creation of divisions for a) the manufacture of computers, communications equipment and electronic components and b) manufacture of electrical equipment? -see division 3.13 and 3.14 in section III.3 of the ISIC structure draft

Summary of responses to question 15 49 replies to this question have been received with unanimous support for a change of existing ISIC 3.1 divisions 29-33 to a breakdown similar or close to the ISIC 4 proposal - differentiating between a) Computers, communications equipment and electronic components (3.13) and b) Electrical equipment (3.14). However, many respondents raised concerns about the ability to make a clear distinction between electric and electrical manufacturing. Many countries mentioned the need to measure the ICT sector (which is currently an alternate aggregation of selected ISIC classes) and that they would like to see ISIC following as close as possible this concept. India wants to see continuity first and retain the group and class level unchanged with a possible differing aggregation structure. In case of kitchen facilities with additional features, all countries suggested the basic purpose and use of equipment/machine/appliance as a classification criterion and not the additional features (a kitchen appliance with additional features is still a kitchen appliance). Japan proposes not to split Division 33 (Manufacture of medical, precision and optical instruments, watches and clocks), but put it collectively under 3.12 (Manufacture of machinery and equipment) since the use and function of electronic or non-electronic measuring/regulating instruments, clocks etc. is the same and would create instability in the classification of manufacturers that have electronic and non-electronic product lines. The Philippines have elaborated criteria to classify electronic products and showed their breakdown on the group level (there is also a paper of NSCB, "Recommended coverage of electronic products"): 1. Manufacture of components and devices (semi-conductors), 2. Manufacture of Electronic data processing, 3. Manufacture of Office equipment, 4. Manufacture of Consumer electronics, 5. Manufacture of Telecommunications equipment , 6. Manufacture of Communication and radar, 7. Manufacture of Control and instrumentation, 8. Manufacture of Medical and industrial instrumentation, 9. Manufacture of Automotive electronics. Portugal suggested to move the electronic components from 3.13 to 3.14 (Manufacture of electrical equipment) and UK proposed to find a more general title for 3.13, since the current working title is too product oriented and would better be replaced by e.g. 'Computer and electronic product manufacturing'. Action required: There is broad support for changing Divisions 29-33 of ISIC 3.1 and recognize Manufacturing of computers, communications equipment, etc. separately from Manufacturing of electrical equipment. There are many problems associated with this change (boundary problems, definitions and separation of 3.13 and 3.14), but in light of increasing importance and the need of measuring ICT, relevance is ranked higher than continuity. UK proposed the title of 3.13 to be 'Computer and electronic product manufacturing' (as in NAICS).