Manual on Statistics of International Trade in Services

participation of foreign expertise in delivering services. 
Such information could provide the basis for policy 
makers to adjust other regulatory measures if necessary - 
for example, to remove obstacles or facilitate 
employment conditions for certain categories of persons. 
12. CPC provides the basis for classifying different 
services as products of economic activities, including 
those delivered by foreign natural persons supplying 
services in the compiling economy. To establish a link 
between the characteristics of those persons representing 
the movement of natural persons and the product 
classification is of particular relevance because CPC will 
serve as a guideline for the elaboration of the future 
classifications for specific aspects of the economy, 
including international trade in services. 
13. In the absence of direct observations on the 
provision of services through mode 4, more than one 
statistical measure could be used to demonstrate to what 
extent the presence of natural persons is involved in the 
delivery of services. The statistical classification systems 
identified below will be considered in order to establish 
to what extent they could provide information related to 
services trade on the number of foreign persons who are 
employed on a non-permanent basis in the host 
economy’s service industries in their respective 

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occupational groupings and their value added to the host 
economy. 
ILO International Standard Classification of 
Occupations
g
 
14. As a first approximation, occupational groups may 
be used to distinguish between the different categories of 
services provided by foreign nationals. The 
ILO 
International Standard Classification of Occupations 
(ISCO-88) provides a sound basis for international 
comparability of statistics on the categories of foreign 
natural persons who are participating in the delivery of 
traded services. This framework may be used for 
conducting negotiations concerning mode 4 as well
h
.
The availability of statistical information on 
employment in all or the selected categories––for 
example, from the latest population census or a labour 
force survey––could allow negotiators to understand 
their significance and thus better focus the negotiations 
and advance liberalization of market access for those 
categories and groups of persons that are relatively more 
important for the international trade in services. Further 
work will have to be done, however, to identify the main 
occupational groups included or likely to be included in 
the commitments in the future rounds of negotiations - 
that is, to establish the most relevant links between 
ISCO-88 and CPC categories - and to investigate how to 
collect the necessary information reliably and 
effectively.