Background

The Voorburg Group on Services Statistics was created in 1986, in response to a request from the United Nations Statistical Office (UNSO), for assistance in developing services statistics. The first meeting, hosted by the Netherlands Statistical Office (CBS) was held in January of 1987 in Voorburg (Netherlands), from which the Group derives its name.

Purpose

The purpose of the Voorburg Group (VG) is to address issues related to the production of service statistics, including service product outputs and inputs, the estimation of the real product of service activities, price indices of service products and industries, and their implications for product and industry classification (Central Product Classification (CPC) and International Standard Classification of All Economic Activities (ISIC)).

In 2005, the VG received a renewed mandate from the UNSC concerning its objective, focus and scope. The objective of the VG is to establish an internationally comparable methodology for measuring the constant dollar outputs of the service industries. The focus of the VG is to develop concepts, methods, and best practices in the area of services. The scope of the VG is centered on producer price indices (PPIs) for services, turnover by products, and classifications.

The Voorburg Group has contributed over the years to building up and sharing a considerable and growing body of knowledge of Service Sector Statistics. It has prompted international cooperation in the development of standards and has assisted in resolving statistical and measurement challenges in the Service Sector.

Bureau of the Voorburg Group

The organization and the planning of the annual meeting are done by the Bureau. The Bureau consists of a core group of members, the host of the last meeting and the host of the next meeting.

The actual members of the Bureau are:

The Voorburg Group meets for one week every year. The next meeting will be held from September 20^th to September 24^th, 2010 in Vienna, Austria. The previous meetings were held as follows:

Meetings

1987   Voorburg, the Netherlands
1987   Stockholm, Sweden
1988   Wiesbaden, Germany
1989   Ottawa, Canada
1990   Paris, France
1991   Helsinki, Finland
1992   Williamsburg, United States of America
1993   Oslo, Norway
1994   Sydney, Australia
1995   Voorburg, the Netherlands
1996   Newport, Wales
1997   Copenhagen, Denmark
1998   Rome, Italy
1999   Christchurch, New Zealand
2000   Madrid, Spain
2001   Örebro, Sweden
2002   Nantes, France
2003   Tokyo, Japan
2004   Ottawa, Canada
2005   Helsinki, Finland
2006   Wiesbaden, Germany
2007   Seoul, South Korea
2008   Aguascalientes, Mexico
2009   Oslo, Norway
2010   Vienna, Austria (forthcoming)

Latest news from the Voorburg Group

Introduction

In the last two years, in order to produce more concrete deliverables, the Voorburg Group has adopted a more structured approach in terms of its work plan and proceedings. In acknowledging the parallel and equally important development of turnover (output measures), prices and classifications, the Group made an explicit effort to better balance its agenda among these three areas. This new orientation was initially reflected in the 2006 meeting agenda and continued for the 2007 meeting, contributing to the great success of both these meetings.

2006 Meeting

At this 2006 meeting, the Voorburg Group focused on the development of concepts, methods, and best practices in the area of services. The scope of the meeting sessions centered on turnover (output measures), classification, and prices, and sessions were structured around a review of output and price statistics for service industries with the objective of creating comparable data across programs for the improvement of input data for national accounts.

In order to meet its objective, the Voorburg Group created a task force with a mandate to develop, in advance of the meeting, a structured content development framework (CDF) for use by member countries to address the development of services prices and turnover/output data, with links to classifications and national accounts. The CDF, which was completed and available for use by December 2005, specified a structured approach for developing mini-presentations (separately done on prices and turnover/output) and sector papers (covering prices, outputs, and classification) for use in future Voorburg Group meetings.

In 2006, the Group focused its work mainly in three major areas:

1. Establishing a Content Development Framework (CDF) to guide the direction and work on the different Service Sector industries.
2. Developing a Thesaurus for prices methodology.
3. Developing an Industry scorecard tool to assess the various countries’ progress toward developing output and price data for various service industries and products.

Content Development Framework (CDF)

The purpose of the CDF is to provide a much more structured approach to developing mini-presentations and sector papers covering different service industries and for organizing the format and conduct of the Voorburg Group meetings.

The CDF essentially calls for industry specific papers to be prepared by participating countries according to a predefined template, including specific methodological guidelines, and requires that the papers cover pre-established topics related to the Group’s three main domains of interest (turnover, prices and classification), as well as the national accounting perspective.

This approach ensures that the content of the papers are more comparable and standardized, thus facilitating the exchange of knowledge and expertise as well as discussion of issues. The papers are presented, critiqued and discussed in Mini-Presentations during the Group’s meeting (and available on the Group’s website).

This substantive content material as well as the output from the discussions, in turn, serve as key inputs to produce, discuss and adopt Sector papers (presented in the following year) that present a set of key methodological guidelines for the development and production of Service industry statistics. As concrete deliverables from the Voorburg Group meetings, these sector papers are intended to become reference material for statisticians that oversee the development and compilation of Service Sector statistics in the various countries and international organizations.

2007 Meeting

In 2007, building on the success of using the CDF, the Group focused on the following:

1. Finalizing and formally adopting the Thesaurus for Prices Methodology, including common terminologies for prices, so that all participating countries and international organizations can speak the same language in terms of pricing methodologies. The final version adopted at the 2007 meeting included concrete examples accompanying each of the seven pricing methods and improved definitions of each of the seven pricing methods.
2. Finalizing and formally adopting Sector Papers on two service industries covered by mini-presentations at the 2006 meeting: Freight Transport by Road (ISIC 4923) and Management Consultancy (ISIC 7020).
3. Presenting and discussing a General Methodology Paper including theoretical and practical issues and key points of a cross-cutting nature for the Service Sector as a whole. These key points of a general nature are provided to enable the Group to avoid rehashing the same points when discussing specific industries.
4. Presenting and discussing three Presentations by Three National Accountants from three different countries (South Korea, Australia, and the United States) covering key issues to be addressed by the Voorburg Group to better ascertain and document the specific Service Sector source data used by the national accounts to improve measures of real GDP. Key points were elicited as input to the development of a final report on national accounts to be prepared and presented at the 2008 meeting.

Also at the 2007 meeting, papers on IT Services were presented, discussed, and key points were raised as input to the Sector Paper on IT Services that will be prepared for and delivered at the 2008 Voorburg Group meeting.

In addition, the Voorburg group continued to monitor, via a survey that produces the industry scorecards, the degree to which the countries have made progress on the development of output and price statistics for various industries and products covered by the Service Sector. Results were discussed for a survey of country progress on the five industries comprising IT service industries:

1. Computer Programming Activities (ISIC 6201)
2. Information Technology Consultancy and Computer Facilities Management Activities (ISIC 6202)
3. Other Information Technology Service Activities (ISIC 6209)
4. Data Processing, Hosting and Related Services (ISIC 6311)
5. Web Portals (ISIC 6312)

Priority Objectives (All Objectives Were Met at the 2007 Meeting)

The 2007 meeting was a success as all the key objectives were met. The new strategic direction and the more structured approach for the statistical related work were successful and led to :

• An improved process by which knowledge is created, communicated and shared and by which best practices are adopted under the auspices of the Voorburg Group.
• The development and compilation of sector papers to serve as reference material for countries in developing Service Sector programs.
• The development of coherent, reliable and internationally comparable statistics on Service Sector industries.

2008 Meeting

By the time of the 2008 meeting, the Voorburg Group had established a strong foundation for proceeding with future work. Procedures were in place for the Content Development Framework, a Thesaurus for Prices Methodology, a General Methodology Paper, and there was a good understanding of key issues in the development of services statistics from a National Accounting perspective. In addition, there had been the introduction of the “Revisited Sector Papers” concept, which entails building upon previously issued Mini-presentations on prices (presented prior to 2006), which will allow for very efficiently accomplishing future work by effectively leveraging past work. All told, the stage was set for the very productive and successful 2008 meeting.

The 2008 meeting included the presentation and adoption of the Sector Paper on IT Service Industries, Mini-presentations on PPI and Turnover/Output for Wired, Wireless, Satellite, and Telecommunications Services, Mini-presentations on PPI and on Turnover/Output for Wholesale Trade, and the presentation of Revisited Sector Papers on Accounting, Bookkeeping and Auditing Activities and Tax Consultancy; and on Architectural and Engineering Activities and Related technical Consultancy.

The 2008 meeting also included three special presentations. The first, by the Bank of Japan, presented a proposal for the revision of the Corporate Services Price Index to be introduced with a 2005 base by the end of 2009. The CSPU will incorporate IT and outsourcing related services and capture various types of prices. The second presentation provided an overview of the mandate, membership, and activities of Promexico, and included a request that the Voorburg Group address issues concerning import and export pricing, an in-depth analysis of important products including offshoring and outsourcing activities, and an international case study on outsourcing. And the third special presentation outlined the work by the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) to assess the recent evolution of international trade in services in Costa Rica and Mexico and included a request that the Voorburg Group address issues concerning financial services.

Future Work Agenda (For 2009 and Onwards)

The 2009 meeting also will include a special session on the Effect of Globalization on Services Producer Price Index Change in the IT Industry: Case Studies for Selected Multinational Companies. In addition, Mini-presentations on PPI and Turnover/Output, to be presented at the 2010 meeting, will be assigned for Banking and Credit (a second year of presentations will be required due to the complexity of this industry), on Insurance, on Retail Trade, and on Cleaning and Facilities Support.

Planned Activities

The next annual meeting of the Voorburg group will be held from September 20th to 24th, 2010 in Vienna, Austria. Further details will be posted to this site as they are developed.

New Activities

• Publicizing the Voorburg Group Website so that papers presented at the annual meetings can be referenced by agencies around the world that have an interest in the production of service statistics.
  

Enquiries relating to the Voorburg Group should be addressed to:

Louis Marc DUCHARME
Director General, Economy Wide Statistics Branch
Statistics Canada
Jean Talon Building
Ottawa, Ontario CANADA
K1A 0T6