RESTRICTED
WORLD TRADE S/CSC/W/6/Add.8
27March 1998
ORGANIZATION(98-1249)
Committee onSpecific Commitments
DETAILED ANALYSIS OFTHE MODIFICATIONS BROUGHT
ABOUT BYTHE REVISION OFTHE CENTRAL
PRODUCT CLASSIFICATION
Note bytheSecretariat
Addendum
RENTAL/LEASING SERVICES WITHOUT OPERATOR
1. Paragraph 5ofthereport ofthemeeting oftheCommittee onSpecific Commitments heldon
10October 1996, states that"...theSecretariat should takeupcontact withtheVoorburg Group with
aviewtoinforming theCommittee inthenearfuture ofanyproposed changes totheCPCwhich could
beofinterest intheCommittee 'sdeliberations ".
2. Thestatistical committee oftheUnited Nations adopted atits10-14 February 1997 Session
thedraftCPCRev.1 proposed bytheVoorburg group. Adefinitive version ofRev.1 hasnowbeen
finalizedandwillsoonbedistributedtoMembers.ThisdocumentwillallowMemberstoconsultdirectly
theconcordances tables andthedefinitions mentioned inthepresent noteandtocompare them with
theCPC provisional structure anddefinitions iftheyfeelituseful todoso.Thisiswhy, contrary
tothepreceding sectoral studies ontourism, energy, transport, distribution andconstruction, the
concordance tables andthedefinitions havenotbeenannexed tothepresent note.
3. Thepurpose ofthepresent noteistoanalyse indetail themodifications brought bytheCPC
Rev.1 intheRental/Leasing Services without operator sub-sector, which ispartofthebusiness services
sector asdefined intheGNS Classification.1Itwillproceed through acomparison ofthecomplete
structures ofbothclassifications asputinconcordance bytheCPC drafters andaswellthrough a
comparison oftheirdescriptive parts. Itwillfollow theorder oftheconcordance tablebetween the
provisional CPCandtheCPCversion 1andoftheGNS classification. Theprovisional CPCwillbe
referred toas"prov",CPCrev.1 as"rev",CPCprovisional items as"pXXXX", andCPCrev.1 items
as"rXXXX".
4. Inthepresent note,ithasbeenthought moreappropriate toretain thetechnical terms putforward
intheprovisional CPC'spreface, andusedbytheVoorburg Group when communicating withthe
Secretariat, instead ofthose --referring tothenumbering ofthedigits --previously usedintheseries
ofnotes already issued bytheSecretariat astothetourism, distribution, construction, energy and
transport sectors. Thecoding system oftheCPCisdescribed asfollows inparagraph 33ofprovCPC
preface: "Thecoding system ofCPCishierarchical andpurely decimal. Theclassification consists
ofsections (identified bythefirstdigit), divisions (identified bythefirstandsecond digit), groups
(identified bythefirstthreedigits), classes (identified bythefirstfourdigits) andsubclasses (identified
byallfivedigits, taketogether). Thecodes forthesection range from0through 9andeachsection
maybedivided intoninedivisions. Atthethirddigitofthecodeeachdivision may,inturn,bedivided
1Seedocument MTN.GNS/W/120.S/CSC/W/6/Add.8
Page2
intoninegroups which would thenbefurther divided intonineclasses andthenintoninesubclasses. ".
Paragraph 35ofprovCPCpreface adds: "Where agiven levelofclassification isnotfurther subdivided,
a"0"isusedintheposition forthenextmore detailed level."Thefollowing chart summarizes the
correspondence between these twolanguages.
One-digit item Section
Two-digits item Division
Three-digits item Group
Four-digits item Class
Five-digits item Subclass
5. Theabbreviation "n.e.c."means "notelsewhere classified".
6. Thesignification oftheasterisks intheconcordance tableisthefollowing:
xxx*: Theitemiswider thanitscorrespondent intheother version ofCPC. Thismeans
thatitcorresponds toseveral items intheother version ofCPCandhasconsequently
awider scope according totherelated explanatory notes. Asterisks always appear
intheright-hand column ofconcordance tables.
xxxx
****1
****2 Theseries ofasterisks before thelastdigitaimsatavoiding therepetition ofthefour
previous digits when asetofitems having thesame prefix isreferred.
7. Though theirstructures arenotstrictly thesame, section 1paragraph E.Rental/Leasing Services
without Operators oftheGNS Classification anddivision p83"Leasing orrental services without
operator" haveexactly thesame content.
8. Division p83"Leasing orrental services without operator" corresponds todivision r73*, which
hasthesame titleandcontent. Group p831 "Leasing orrental services concerning machinery and
equipment without operator" andgroup p832 "Leasing orrental services concerning personal and
household goods" havebeenconverted intotwosimilar groups, group r731* which bears thesame
titleasitscounterpart inprov, andgroup r732* "Leasing orrental services concerning other goods" .
9. Anoteplaced under former group p8310 excluding leasing services ofmachinery andequipment
ofpersonal andhousehold goods onapurely financial basisappears nowatdivision (two-digit) level.
Anewintroductory noteindicates thattheduration oftherental service isirrelevant foritsclassification.
A. CPC831"Leasing orRental Services concerning Machinery andEquipment without Operator"
10. According toconcordance tables, group r731"Leasing orrental services concerning machinery
andequipment without operator" corresponds atoncetogroup p831(which bears thesame title)and
togroup p754* "Telecommunications related services" .Group r732 "Leasing orrental services
concerning personal andhousehold goods" reproduces thesame pattern (p832 andp754*).S/CSC/W/6/Add.8
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11. Atfour-digit level, single-class p8310* "Leasing orrental services concerning machinery and
equipment without operator" hasbeensplitintotwonewclasses, classr7311 "Leasing orrental services
concerning transport equipment without operator" andclass r7312* "Leasing orrental services
concerning other machinery andequipment without operator"2,while single-class p8320* "Leasing
orrental services concerning personal andhousehold goods" hasbeenbroken upintoeight classes,
eachdedicated toaspecific typeofgood: "televisions, radios, video cassette recorders andrelated
equipment andaccessories "(r7321*),"video tapes"(r7322),"furniture andother household appliances "
(r7323), "leasing andleisure equipment "(r7324), "household linen"(r7325), "textiles, clothing and
footwear"(r7326),"do-ityourselfmachineryandequipment",andfinally"othergoods,n.e.c."(r7329).
Surprisingly --ifonetakes theconnections made intheconcordance tables inconsideration --,the
VoorburgGroupdeclaresthatnewclassr7311"Leasingorrentalservicesconcerningtransportequipment
withoutoperator"comesfromsubclassp83105"Leasingorrentalservicesotherlandtransportequipment
without operator" ;indeed, theirrespective coverages could becompared, though thelatteronlyinvolves
"land transport equipment", andthesecond onegenerally concerns "transport equipment".
12. Atfive-digit level, fouroftherange ofseven subclasses under newclassr7311 correspond
tosimilar former subclasses under class p8310*. Subclass p83105* "Leasing orrental services
concerning other landtransport equipment without operator" hasbeensplitintothree revsubclasses:
r73113 "Leasing orrental services concerning railroad vehicles without operator" ,3r73114 "Leasing
orrental services concerning other landtransport without operator" ,andr73117 "Leasing orrental
services ofcontainers" .
13. Withregard toleasing orrental services, thecorrespondence between provandrevsubclasses
ismade upon types ofmachinery andequipment rentorleased. Subclass p83101 "Rental services or
leasing concerning private carswithout operator" isconnected withsubclass r73111 "Rental services
concerning carsandlight vans without operator" ,andsoareidentical services concerning "goods
transport motor vehicles without operator "(p83102 andr73112), "vessels without operator "(p83103
andr73115), and"aircraft without operator "(p83104 andr73116). TheVoorburg Group hasestimated
inaddition thatlightvanswere implicitly covered intheprovisional CPC.
14. Asfarasexplanatory notes under class r7311 areconcerned, thefollowing changes should
benoted:
a) Inthenewexplanatory notes, therepetition ofasubclass title,which wassystematic inthe
original explanatory notes, isdeleted ordoes notappear when asubclass hasnoexact
correspondent.
b) Thetextofexplanatory noteunder subclass p83101 "Leasing orrental services concerning
privatecarswithoutoperator"isnotreintroducedinthecorrespondingsubclassr73111"Leasing
orrental services concerning carsandlightvanswithout operator" .TheVoorburg Group
hasconsidered thatthere hasbeennochange incoverage orcontent ofclassresulting from
these modifications.
c) Thetextoftheexplanatory noteunder subclass p83105* "Leasing orrental services concerning
other landtransport equipment without operator" hasbeenrecast, while thissubclass hasbeen
broken upinthree. Infact,onlyoneofthethree subclasses resulting from thisbreaking up
2Thedistinction between transport andnon-transport services isfrequent andhasbeen referred incertain
schedules ofspecific commitments. Ithasbeen nowintroduced inCPC rev.1.
3Therelationbetweensubclassr73117"Leasingorrentalservicesofcontainers"andsubclassp83105"Leasing
orrental services concerning other landtransport equipment without operator" issubject tocriticism, insofar
asitcould notimplies therenting ofcontainers inmaritime transport..S/CSC/W/6/Add.8
Page4
hasanexplanatory note: subclass r73114 "Leasing orrental concerning other landtransport
equipment without operator" (theother subclass concerns railroad vehicles without operator).
Itcitesexactly thesame examples asinsubclass p83105* explanatory note; however, new
items areadded --leasing, renting orhiring services concerning other landtransport equipment
without operators andman- oranimal-drawn passenger vehicle rental services without the
services ofadriver --andanewexclusion isdefined: leasing, renting orhiring ofbicycles,
skis(relevant tosubclass r732404).
d) Thetextoftheexplanatory noteunder subclass p83106 "Leasing orrental services concerning
agricultural machinery andequipment without operator" isrepeated verbatim inrev
corresponding subclass, except fortheaddition ofexclusion of"leasing, renting andhiring
services concerning lawnmowers ",which isrelevant tosubclass r73270.
e) Thetextoftheexplanatory noteunder bothsubclass p83107 "Leasing orrental services
concerning construction machinery andequipment without operator" andthecorresponding
subclass r73122 hasnotbeen modified, except addition ofnewexamples ofconstruction
machinery: scaffolding without erection anddismantling, sitehuts, etc.
f) Subclass p83108* "Leasing orrental services concerning office machinery andequipment
(including computer) without operator" hasbeenbroken upintotwosubclasses, subclass r73123
"Leasingorrentalservicesconcerningofficemachineryandequipment(excl.computers)without
operator" andsubclass r73124 "Leasing orrental services concerning computers without
operator" .5
Exclusions ofrenting orhiring services concerning computers orcomputer-related equipment
withoperatorormanagement6andrentingservicesofcomputertimeonanhourlyortime-sharing
basis7arenomore mentioned inanyoftheexplanatory notes related tothenewsubclasses.
Anewexclusionoftelephoneequipmentisaddedtotheexplanatorynoteundersubclassr73123.8
g) Finally, theresidual explanatory noteunder subclass p83109 "Leasing orrental services
concerning other machinery andequipment without operator" iscompletely reintroduced. An
additional precision isgiven thatpersonal andhouseholds goods arenotconcerned, while it
issimilarly mentioned thatleasing, renting orhiring ofallkinds ofmachinery generally used
ascapital goods byindustry arecovered; mention ofcommunication equipment isreplaced
bymentioningoftelecommunicationequipment;newitemsareadded:coinoperatingmachines,
office furniture, telephone equipment.
4Thisonlyexcludes items expressly referred inanother subclass. Itisworth noting thatthese items were
already mentioned intheexplanatory noteunder thecorrespondent ofCPC rev.1 r73240 inCPC provisional,
namely subclass p83204 "Leasing orrental services concerning pleasure orleisure equipment" .
5Computers arenowexcluded from thecoverage oftheformer andrelevant tothecoverage ofthelatter,
insofar as"computers" components and"office machinery andequipment (excl. computers)" components ofthe
original explanatory notehave simply been divided between thetwocorresponding newexplanatory notes.
6Formerly classified ingroup p843"Data-processing services" ,nowdisaggregated andshared between r831*
"Consulting andmanagement services" andr859* "Other support services" .
7Related toex-p84330 "Time-sharing services" ,whose correspondent inrevisr85960* "Computer processing
services" .
8Referred tosubclass r73129 "Leasing orrental services concerning other machinery andequipment without
operator" .S/CSC/W/6/Add.8
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B. CPC 832"Leasing orRental Services concerning Personal andHousehold Goods
15. Asmentioned above, single-class p8320 "Leasing orrental services concerning personal and
household goods" hasbeendisaggregated ineight revclasses, allrelated tosingle-subclasses (hence
having thesame denomination). These classes (already mentioned inparagraph --)andsubclasses are
thefollowing:
- classr7321* "Leasing orrental services concerning televisions, radio, video cassette
recorders andrelated equipment andaccessories" (andsubclass r73210*);
- classr7322 "Leasing orrental services concerning video tapes" (andsubclass r73220)
- class r7323 "Leasing orrental services concerning furniture andother household
appliances" (andsubclass r73230);
- classr7324 "Leasing orrental services concerning pleasure andleisure equipment"
(andsubclass r73240);
- class r7325 "Leasing orrental services concerning household linen" (andsubclass
r73250);
- class r7326 "Leasing orrental services concerning textiles, clothing andfootwear"
(andsubclass r73260);
- class r7327 "Leasing orrental services concerning do-it-yourself machinery and
equipment" (andsubclass r73270);
- classr7329 "Leasing orrental services concerning other goods, n.e.c."(andsubclass
r73290).
16. Astothese classes andsubclasses, thefollowing remarks canbeissued:
- inallexplanatory notes, mention ofleasing, already contained intitle,isadded tothe
textofthenoteatthebeginning; explanatory notes ofcorresponding items areall
identical, except forsome minor changes andredistribution ofcontent when
disaggregation occurs.
- intheexplanatory notetosubclass r73220 "Leasing orrental services concerning video
tapes" mention ofvideo games isadded.
- intheexplanatory notetosubclass r73230 "Leasing orrental services concerning
furniture andotherhousehold appliances" mention ofleasing, renting orhiring services
concerning crockery, cutlery andornaments isadded.
- intheexplanatory notetosubclass r73240 "Leasing orrental services concerning
pleasure andleisure equipment" mention ofcamping equipment isadded.
- subclass r73250 "Leasing orrental services concerning household linen" ,subclass
r73260 "Leasing orrental services concerning textiles, clothing andfootwear" ,subclass
r73270 "Leasing orrental services concerning do-it-yourself machinery andequipment"
andsubclass r73290 "Leasing orrental services concerning other goods, n.e.c." all
resultfromthedisaggregationofsubclassp83209"Leasingorrentalservicesconcerning
other personal orhousehold goods" .Whereas thefirsttwonewrevsubclasses haveS/CSC/W/6/Add.8
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noexplanatory notes, subclass r73270 mentions inclusion ofleasing, renting orhiring
servicesconcerninglawnmowers.Theexplanatorynoteundersubclassr73290"Leasing
orrental services concerning other goods, n.e.c." nowcomprises theentire content
oftheexplanatory noteunder p83209 "Leasing orrental services concerning other
personal orhousehold" ,withanadditional mention ofbooks, journals andmagazines,
offlowers andplants, ofphoto equipment, andanother newmention ofleasing, renting
orhiring services concerning medical equipment (crutches) andparamedical equipment.
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