2.13. Statistical territory under the general trade system. The general trade system is in use when the statistical territory coincides with the economic territory. Conse- quently, it is recommended that the statistical territory of a country applying the gen- eral trade system include all applicable territorial elements (a) to (h) as listed in para. 2.3 above.45
2.14. General imports and exports are flows of goods entering/leaving the sta- tistical territory of a country applying the general trade system (see Figure 2.1) and recorded in compliance with the general and specific guidelines on scope provided in chapter 1 above.
2.15. General imports consist of:
(a) Imports of foreign goods (including compensating products after outward processing which changed their origin from domestic to foreign) entering the free circulation area, premises for inward processing, industrial free zones, premises for customs warehousing or commercial free zones; (b) Reimports of domestic goods into the free circulation area, premises for
inward processing or industrial free zones, premises for customs ware- housing or commercial free zones.
2.16. Reimports are imports of domestic goods which were previously recorded as exports. It is recommended that reimports not only be included in total imports but also be separately identified (coded) for analytical purposes. This may require the use of supplementary sources of information in order to determine that the goods in ques-
44 See Annex A, para. A.7.
45 Transactions in goods between a country’s enclaves in other countries with the host or third countries are treated as international trade in services (see para. 1.49(c) above).
28 International Merchandise Trade Statistics: Concepts and Definitions 2010
tion are indeed reimports rather than (a) goods withdrawn after being temporarily dis- patched without being previously recorded as exports, or (b) domestic goods that have acquired foreign origin through processing and which, therefore, should be recorded as imports of foreign goods under para. 2.15(a) above, but not identified as reimports.
2.17. General exports. General exports consist of:
(a) Exports of domestic goods (including compensating products after inward processing which changed their origin from foreign to domestic) from any part of the statistical territory, including free zones and customs warehouses; (b) Re-exports of foreign goods from any part of the statistical territory, includ-
ing free zones and customs warehouses.
2.18. Re-exports are exports of foreign goods which were previously recorded as imports. It is recommended thatre-exports not only be included in total exports but also be separately identified (coded) for analytical purposes. This may require the use of supplementary sources of information in order to determine that the goods in ques- tion are indeed re-exports rather than (a) goods temporarily admitted without being previously recorded as imports or (b) the export of foreign goods that have acquired domestic origin through processing and which, therefore, should be recorded as exports of domestic goods under para. 2.17(a) above, but not identified as re-exports.
2.19. Information about applied customs procedures. It is recommended that information about the customs procedure applied to individual transactions (or the nature of transaction) be included in the data set for trade statistics in order to facili- tate the identification of re-exports and reimports but also of other types of trade, such as goods for processing, trade between related parties, goods on consignment, etc. as far as possible. Further, it is recommended that, if the customs is not the agency compiling trade statistics, this information be regularly included in the data set pro- vided by customs to the agency responsible for the compilation of trade statistics of a country.
2.20. Use of the general system. General imports provide the most comprehen- sive record of the goods entering the economic territory of a compiling country and increasing the stock of its material resources, while general exports provide the most comprehensive record of the goods leaving its territory and thus decreasing that stock.
It is recommended, therefore, that countries use the general trade system for compila- tion of both their import and export statistics.
2.21. It is acknowledged that countries may find the compilation of data accord- ing to the general trade system difficult, in particular if there is no customs recording for some parts of the economic territory, such as free zones, or if those recordings are not detailed enough. In such cases, countries may wish to adopt the special trade sys- tem (see also para. 2.28).
2.22. Time of recording under general trade system. Under the general trade sys- tem, the time of recording should be the time when goods enter or leave the economic territory of the compiling country. In the case of customs-based data-collection sys- tems, this time can often be approximated by the date of lodgement of the customs declaration (that is, the date when customs accepts the declaration for processing). If such dates differ considerably from the date when goods actually cross the border of the economic territory (e.g., if goods are cleared well before or after their arrival) or non- customs data sources are used (e.g., enterprise surveys) then more appropriate dates should be identified and used (e.g., the date of arrival/departure of the goods carrier as indicated in the transportation documents). It is the responsibility of countries’ statisti- cal authorities to identify (or estimate) the best proxy date of the general guideline on
29 Trade system
time of recording by taking into account the peculiarity of national rules on administra- tive procedures and the need in consistency in the application of the selected method.