APPENDIX 2: IMTS 2010 RECOMMENDATIONS AND AUSTRALIA'S COMPLIANCE

This appendix lists all the recommendations included in IMTS 2010, Australia's current level of compliance with the recommendations and where appropriate a brief explanation of Australian practice. In the small number of instances (in addition to those described in Chapter 3 (Key conceptual changes which have statistical implications for Australia)) where Australian reporting practices differ from the standards, the differences do not seriously impact on recorded trade values and no adjustments are considered necessary. For example, the recommendations about quantity measurement are not fully applied in Australia, as a net weight is not recorded for all transactions and the units of quantity reported to Customs and Border Protection are those most relevant to Australian industry¹. While this may mean some incomparability of quantity data between Australia and partner country statistics the standard of quantity reporting is higher under the current methodology.

IMTS 2010 recommendation	Australia's treatment in international merchandise trade statistics
GENERAL GUIDELINES
Record all goods which add to or subtract from the stock of material resources of a country by entering (imports) or leaving (exports) its economic territory	Goods which add to or subtract from Australia's stock of material resources by entering or leaving Australia's statistical territory are recorded.
Use the change of ownership criterion on an exceptional basis when the general guideline is not applicable or sufficient for the following categories of goods: ships, aircraft, satellites, powerlines, pipelines and undersea communications cables and mobile equipment	Change of ownership may be used in exceptional circumstances.
Adopt the BPM6 definition of economic territory	BPM6 definition of economic territory is not adopted. Australia's statistical territory generally aligns with its customs territory.
Record goods when they enter or leave the economic territory	Exports are recorded when the goods leave Australia. Imports are recorded when Customs and Border Protection finalises the import declaration.
SPECIFIC GUIDELINES: INCLUSIONS
Include non–monetary gold	Included*
Include banknotes and securities, and coins not in circulation	Included* and compliant with the valuation recommendation (value to be of the printed paper and not face value).
Include goods traded in accordance with barter agreements	Included*
Include goods traded on Government account	Included*
Include humanitarian aid, including emergency aid	Included*
Include goods for military use	Included*
Include goods acquired by travellers... to a significant scale	Included*
Include goods on consignment	Included*
Include media whether or not recorded	Included* and compliant with valuation recommendation (valued at their full transaction value).
Include goods for processing with or without a change of ownership	Included*
Include goods which cross borders as a result of transactions between related parties	Included*
Include returned goods which were originally exported	Included*
Include electricity, gas, oil and water	Gas, oil and water are included. Australia does not import or export electricity. Compliant with the valuation recommendation (to be valued net of any delivery charges not included according to the FOB/CIF valuation).
Include goods dispatched or received through postal or courier services	Included*
Include migrants' effects	Included*
Include goods transferred from or to a buffer stock organisation	Included*
Include goods under financial lease	Included and compliant with valuation recommendation (price of similar goods and excluding the value of any services)
Include ships and aircraft	Included if there is a change of ownership between an Australian resident and a non–resident and the ship or aircraft enters or leaves Australia's statistical territory.
Include goods delivered to or dispatched from offshore installations located in the economic territory of the compiling country	Included, except goods extracted from the JPDA,
Include fish catch, minerals from the seabed and salvage	Included*
Include bunkers, stores, ballast and dunnage	Stores, ballast and dunnage supplied to foreign vessels are included as these are reported to Customs. Bunkers supplied to foreign ships and aircraft while in Australia are estimated and included.
Include satellites and their launchers eg a. satellite launcher produced in country A and sold to country B for use. Export from country A and an import of country B b. satellite is produced and launched in country B on behalf of country A. Export of country B and import of country A.	a. Included if a Customs declaration is received b. Excluded.
Include goods in electronic commerce – goods that physically move across country borders but are ordered and paid for electronically	Included*
Include gifts and donations	Included*
Include power lines, pipelines and undersea communications cable when: a. dispatched from one country for installation in another; and b. installed in international waters and there is a change of ownership between a resident and a non–resident	Included*. If installed in international waters the goods are included whether or not there is a change of ownership between a resident and a non–resident.
Include used goods	Included*
Include waste and scrap	Included*
Include mobile equipment that changes ownership while outside the country of residence of its original owner	Excluded
Include goods received or sent abroad by international organisations	Included*
SPECIFIC GUIDELINES: EXCLUSIONS
Exclude goods simply being transported through a country e.g. goods in transit	Excluded
Exclude goods temporarily admitted or dispatched	Excluded
Exclude monetary gold	Excluded
Exclude issued banknotes and securities and coins in circulation	Excluded
Exclude goods consigned to and from the territorial enclaves	Excluded
Exclude non–financial assets, ownership of which has been transferred from residents to non–residents without crossing borders	Excluded
Exclude goods treated as part of trade in services a. goods acquired by travellers b. newspapers and periodicals sent under direct subscription c. goods supplied by and to enclaves of foreign governments eg embassies, military bases d. media carrying customised software or originals	Excluded
Exclude goods under merchanting	Excluded
Exclude goods under operating lease	Excluded
Exclude from imports goods lost or destroyed after leaving the economic territory but before entering the intended country of import. Include these goods in export statistics	Excluded. These goods are included in exports from Australia.
Exclude satellites and their launchers moved to and launched from another country without change of ownership	Excluded
Exclude goods functioning as a means of transport e.g. ships, aircraft, containers to transport cargo	Excluded
Exclude content delivered electronically	Excluded
SPECIFIC GUIDELINES: SEPARATE RECORDING
Exclude but separately record goods for repair or maintenance	Excluded and separately recorded.
Exclude but separately record quantity of waste and scrap with no commercial value	Excluded. Quantity is not separately recorded.
Exclude but separately record goods entering or leaving the economic territory illegally e.g. smuggled goods, trade in stolen vehicles, shipments of narcotic substances	Excluded but not separately recorded.
Include in export statistics, goods lost or destroyed after leaving the exporting country but before entering the importing country and after ownership has been acquired by the importer. Exclude but separately record in importing country for adjustment purposes.	Included in export statistics. Excluded but not separately recorded in import statistics.
TRADE SYSTEM
Use the Revised Kyoto Convention (RKC) and the definitions of customs terms used in the RKC annexes	Australia is a contracting party to the RKC. Australia has implemented the binding provisions in the General Annex that have general application across a number of Customs procedures. Of the ten optional Specific Annexes, Australia has accepted six Specific Annexes in full and chapters of a further two.
Elements of the statistical territory. Make clear which elements exist and are included in the statistical territory	Compliant with IMTS 2010.
Include and identify re–imports and re–exports	Compliant with IMTS 2010.
Customs procedure codes. Make information about the customs procedure applied to each individual transaction part of the customs dataset for trade statistics	Some customs procedures e.g. treatment codes defining temporary imports are clear in the transactions information supplied to the ABS by Customs and Border Protection. Information at the transactions level is confidential and cannot be disseminated.
Use the general trade system	Compliant with IMTS 2010.
COMMODITY CLASSIFICATIONS
Use the HS for the collection, compilation and dissemination of statistics	Compliant with IMTS 2010.
Use SITC for the dissemination and analysis of statistics	Compliant with IMTS 2010.
VALUATION
Record a statistical value for all goods covered in the statistics, whether sold, exchanged or provided without payment	Compliant with IMTS 2010.
Adopt the WTO Agreement on Customs Valuation for both imports and exports	Customs and Border Protection has adopted the WTO Agreement for imports.
Exports statistical value is FOB value; Imports statistical value is CIF value. Countries are encouraged to compile FOB value imports	FOB value is standard for exports and imports. Imports on a CIF basis are available.
Use official exchange rates to convert data. Convert data at the time of importation or exportation	Exchange rates provided by the Reserve Bank Australia (RBA) are used by Customs and Border Protection and the ABS. The official exchange rate at the time of export from the foreign country is used to convert import transactions. The ABS processing system converts export transactions reported in one of twenty eight allowable currencies to Australian dollars using the official RBA exchange rate at the time of export from Australia.
QUANTITY MEASUREMENT
Quantity is collected, estimated and reported using the World Customs Organisation (WCO) standard units and in net weight	Units of quantity reflect the quantities used in Australia which are not always WCO standard units. Net weight is recorded if the unit of quantity is a weight unit i.e. grams, kilograms, tonnes.
Provide quantity conversion factors to the WCO standard units	Not provided.
PARTNER COUNTRY
Follow the RKC provisions for determining country of origin	Australia is a signatory to the WTO Rules of Origin Agreement but has not accepted the Specific Annex K of the RKC which deals with country of origin.
Record country of origin for imports and country of last known destination for exports	Compliant with IMTS 2010.
Record country of consignment for imports	Not specifically reported to Customs and Border Protection. In some cases the overseas port may indicate the country of consignment .
When calculating trade balances use country of origin and country of last known destination	Compliant with IMTS 2010.
Use the trading partner's definition of economic territory	The definition of the economic territory of Australia's trading partners is defined by the DFAT. In most cases these align with the trading partner's definition.
MODE OF TRANSPORT
Compile and disseminate mode of transport at the most detailed commodity level	Compliant with IMTS 2010.
Mode of transport classification – clearly indicate the contents of the mode of transport categories	Compliant with IMTS 2010.
DATA COMPILATION STRATEGIES
Use customs records	Compliant with IMTS 2010.
Cooperate with customs experts to correctly allocate customs procedure codes	There is close cooperation between the ABS and Customs and Border Protection. Some customs procedures are identifiable in the information received from Customs and Border Protection e.g. treatment codes for some temporary imports.
Use non–customs records to supplement data to ensure full coverage	Very little supplementation of Customs and Border Protection records.
Where non–customs data are used ensure the data are integrated to minimise reporting burden	Very little supplementation of Customs and Border Protection records.
Establish institutional arrangements to ensure the compilation of high quality statistics	Compliant with IMTS 2010.
DATA QUALITY AND METADATA
Systematic approach to data quality	Compliant with IMTS 2010.
Develop a standard for quality reports	Compliant with IMTS 2010.
Complete or update quality reports every five years	Compliant with IMTS 2010.
Base quality reports on a set of quantitative and qualitative indicators	Compliant with IMTS 2010.
The dimensions of data quality include relevance, accuracy, timeliness, coherence etc	Compliant with IMTS 2010.
Quality indicators cover all dimensions of quality; are based on the consistent application of a sound methodology and the indicators are easy to interpret by users	Compliant with IMTS 2010.
Include metadata as an integral part of the dissemination of statistics	Compliant with IMTS 2010.
DISSEMINATION
Use passive confidentiality	Compliant with IMTS 2010.
While still protecting confidential information release data at the next highest level	Confidentiality procedures are different in Australia but they are compliant with the spirit of this recommendation.
Announce in advance the dates of statistical releases and revisions	Compliant with IMTS 2010.
Treat all users equally and disseminate data without preference	Compliant with IMTS 2010.
SUPPLEMENTARY TOPICS
Produce and publish volume indexes and price indexes for total imports and total exports and significant commodity groups on a regular basis	Indexes are published in other ABS publications including International Trade Price Indexes, Australia (cat. no. 6457.0).

¹ The IMTS 2010 quantity measurement recommendations are in substance the same as those included in IMTS Rev.2.
* These goods are included if a Customs declaration is lodged and the value of the goods exceeds the Customs thresholds.