COUNTRY AND OVERSEAS PORT CLASSIFICATIONS AND PROCESSING

LOCATION CODE AND INTERNATIONAL MERCHANDISE TRADE CODES

6.30 Three classifications are used in producing international merchandise trade statistics by country and overseas port. They are:

• UN/Locode at country and port level (used in export and import declarations reported to the DIBP)
• International merchandise trade country code (used in ABS publications and other outputs)
• International merchandise trade overseas port code (used in ABS publications and other outputs).

6.31 A correspondence table which links the input and output codes is used to allocate the UN/Locodes for country and port supplied on customs declarations to the international merchandise trade country and port codes. This process is shown in Diagram 6.1 which shows that customs declarations contain a 2 character country UN/Locode and a 5 character port UN/Locode. These codes are converted to ABS country/port codes using a correspondence table. Data are disseminated using the ABS country/port codes.




6.32 The United Nations Code for Trade and Transport Locations (commonly known as UN/Locode) is a list of countries, and locations within countries, developed and maintained by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE). As at June 2014, the UN/Locode identifies over 85,000 locations in 250 countries and installations in international waters. This classification is updated periodically to include new codes, amend existing codes and delete codes that are no longer required. A list of countries included in the UN/Locode is available in UN/Locode Code List by Country. When goods for export or import are declared to the DIBP the country of final destination/country of origin and overseas port are reported using a UN/Locode.


COUNTRY

6.33 The ABS maintains a table for the correspondence between the UN/Locode country level and international merchandise trade country code where each two letter UN/Locode is corresponded to an international merchandise trade country code of up to four letters (e.g. 'BR' corresponds to 'BRAZ' with label 'BRAZIL'). In the ABS correspondence table, more than one country UN/Locode can be corresponded to a single international merchandise trade country code. Prior to the adoption of the country UN/Locode by the DIBP in July 2003, the DIBP and the ABS maintained a joint list of major country codes. A list of countries where the correspondence is not one UN/Locode to one ABS country, as at June 2014, is provided in Table 6.2 below.

Country name	UN/Locode	International merchandise trade country code	Areas included
Antarctica	AQ, HM	ANTC	Includes Heard Island and McDonald Islands
Denmark	DK,GL FO	DENM	Includes Greenland and the Faroe Islands
Falkland Islands (Malvinas)	FK, GS	FALK	Includes South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands
Finland	FI, AX	FINL	Includes Finland and Aland Islands
France	FR, MC, AD, YT	FRAN	Includes Monaco, Andorra and Mayotte
French Antilles	MF, GP, MQ, BL	FWIN	Includes St Martin (French part), Guadeloupe, Martinique and St Barthelemy
Israel	IL, PS	ISRA	Includes Occupied Palestinian Territory
Italy	IT, SM, VA	ITAL	Includes San Marino and the Vatican City State
Netherlands Antilles	AN, BQ, CW, SX, AW	ANTI	Includes Bonaire, St Eustatius and Saba, Curacao, St Martin (Dutch part) and Aruba
New Zealand	NZ, TK	NZ	Includes Tokelau
Norway	NO, SJ	NWAY	Includes Svalbard and Jan Mayen
Switzerland	CH, LI	SWIT	Includes Liechtenstein
United Kingdom	GB, GG, JE, IM	UK	Includes Guernsey, Jersey and Isle of Man

6.34 The ABS continues to maintain its own country and overseas port classifications:

• to facilitate analysis across time
• to minimise potential confidentialisation of data
• to avoid extensive changes to ABS processing systems and output formats.

6.35 The international merchandise trade country code is the output code used for the dissemination of international merchandise trade statistics by country. Changes to the international merchandise trade country codes are applied as soon as practicable after they have been:

• included in the UN/Locode classification
• recognised by DFAT
• implemented by the DIBP in export and import documentation.

6.36 In some cases a new country is added to the UN/Locode classification but the country is not recognised by the DFAT. In such instances, the new country code is corresponded to an existing international merchandise trade country code.

6.37 Appendix 7 in the 'Downloads' tab provides the correspondence between country UN/Locodes and international merchandise trade statistics country codes. A list of countries used in the dissemination of international merchandise trade statistics is also provided in Appendix 8 in the 'Downloads' tab.


RE-IMPORTS

6.38 It is worth noting the concept of re-imports. It relates to the country which the goods were originally exported from, and subsequently imported back into, in either the same condition in which they were exported, or after undergoing repair or minor alteration which leaves them essentially unchanged. In Australia's international merchandise trade statistics, re-imports are published in a separate category in the country of origin classification.


OVERSEAS PORTS

6.39 The overseas port of discharge (exports) and overseas port of loading (imports) are collectively referred to as overseas ports and are reported to the DIBP using the 5 digit port UN/Locodes. The ABS corresponds each 5 letter port UN/Locode to a 6 digit international merchandise trade overseas port code (e.g. 'BRRIO', name of Rio de Janeiro corresponds to ABS overseas port code 076001 with label 'Rio de Janeiro'), see Diagram 6.1 above.

6.40 For international merchandise trade overseas port codes, some ports are not separately identified due to the low volume of trade that occurs in those ports. Where a port is not separately identified, it is included under 'Other and unspecified ports' for the particular country, e.g. 'FRAVN' - Avignon is corresponded to 'Other and unspecified ports-France' with ABS overseas port code 250399. Where no ports are separately identified within a country the trade is included under 'All ports' for the particular country, e.g. 'AFJAA' - Jalalabad is corresponded to 'All ports-Afghanistan' with ABS overseas port code 004399.

6.41 International merchandise trade port codes are maintained using the port UN/Locodes. In some cases more than one port UN/Locode can be corresponded to a single international merchandise trade port code. Tejgaon (BDTEJ), Dhaka (BDDAC) and Kamalapur/Dhaka (BDKAM) are corresponded to Dacca, Bangladesh with ABS overseas port code 050100.

6.42 The ABS undertakes ad hoc overseas port reviews to identify changes in trading patterns. Where the volume of trade for a port that is not separately identified has increased significantly it will become separately identified. Where there has been a significant decline in trade for a separately identified port it will cease to be separately identified and grouped with ‘Other and unspecified ports’ for the country or 'Other and unspecified ports' for the country. This may also lead to 'All ports' for the country being opened. Historical data outside the 6 month revision period is not amended to reflect these changes.

6.43 The overseas ports used in Australia's international merchandise trade statistics are included in Appendix 8 in the 'Downloads' tab. Similar to international merchandise trade by country, the overseas port 'Confidential overseas port' represents for imports goods affected by confidentiality restrictions from September 2008. For exports the 'Confidential overseas port' also represents goods affected by confidentiality restrictions (see paragraph 6.28 in Country Trade Balances).