Statistical Papers: Central Product Classification (CPC)

24/06/2021    5969

By: United Nations

The Central Product Classification (CPC) constitutes a complete product classification covering all goods and services. It serves as an international standard for assembling and tabulating all kinds of data requiring product detail, including statistics on industrial production, domestic and foreign commodity trade, international trade in services, balance of payments, consumption and price statistics and other data used within the national accounts. It provides a framework for international comparison and promotes harmonization of various types of statistics related to goods and services. 

The first version of the CPC, the Provisional Central Product Classification, was published in 1991. The latest edition, CPC version 2.1, released in 2015, is the result of a scheduled review of the CPC structure and detail to ensure the classifications’ relevance for describing current products in the economy. The changes in this version are mostly results of further reviews of agricultural products (including fishery, forestry and agricultural inputs), outputs of selected service industries, energy products and necessary adjustments to reflect changes made in the Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System.

The documents are attached below: