Mónica Torres Deputy Director for Copyright, CERLALC March 21 and 22, 2013, Washington. D.C. Inter-American Committee on Culture (CIC) V Ordinary Meeting

In 2006 CERLALC prepared a diagnosis of Copyright in Latin America and identified the creation of a Satellite Account of Culture in the system of national accounts to identify and make visible the cultural activities in the economies of our countries as a priority. The development of this satellite account will contribute to the full recognition of culture as an economic sector and source of resources, and will also contribute to the analysis, proposals, design, execution and evaluation of public policy for culture and copyright.

As a region, we need to guarantee culture formal treatment as an economic sector, with clear operating rules and stable over time. The evidence shows that an economic sector respectful of these rules may have a sector policy.

Ibero-American Meeting of Statistical Assessment of Creative Industries Organized by the Regional Center for Book Promotion in Latin America (CERLALC) with the support of the Ibero-American Observatory of Copyrights (ODAI), the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the Organization of American States (OAS), and Plaza Mayor of Medellin Gathered 23 delegates from 15 Latin America countries and 11 intergovernmental organizations.

Principal objective To implement and improve the capacity for statistical assessment of the creative sector in Latin-American countries.

Main achievement Consensus about the need to create Satellite Accounts for Culture and Creative Industries, both in regional countries and the rest of the world, which will only be possible with previous construction of basic statistics for culture and creative industries.

We must work on the following points To include policy guidance for the institutionalization of assessment for creative industries in the countries agendas. To promote the creation of basic statistics concerning creative industries, so as to create satellite accounts for culture and creative industries that satisfy the needs for information and regional comparability. To promote actions towards greater capacity for the production of statistics, taking into account that the sector requires timely, accurate, and reliable information for policy makers.

To achieve the institutionalization and execution of periodic assessments regarding a common methodology, in order to ensure comparability of regional creative activities. To create and consolidate inter-institutional work teams among ministries of culture, institutes responsible for national accounts, and ministries of planning and finance in each country, with shared responsibilities, in order to guarantee continuous assessment of satellite accounts for culture and creative industries. To join forces and build common agendas among regional institutions, to enhance, promote, and implement the assessment of creative and cultural activities, taking into account the harmonization of processes.

To design a regional project to strengthen the purposes, goals, and indicators for the development of creative and cultural industries. To promote the development of regional cooperation projects to transfer knowledge and capacity building related to the implementation of satellite accounts for regional creative and cultural industries. To build a common roadmap for the assessment of creative industries, step by step and according to each countrys realities and limitations, which will be beneficial when planning public policies harmonized with other regional countries.

Regional efforts regarding the culture assessment must prioritize the articulation of processes and procedures, and the unification of methodological criteria for measuring cultural activity and its contribution to economy, so as to provide adequate information for public and private decision making. Considering national accounts system guidelines, these efforts would allow us to articulate SCAs with WIPOs Copyright Industries methodology, so as to develop categories, concepts, classifications, and complementary accounting frameworks that will strengthen the scope of governmental information and action around the world. This would cover the service economy trend, cultural services, and their economic valuation, among others.

In conclusion, we must decide upon a minimum number of activities to be measured by governmental institutions in all countries. This would provide us with basic statistics regarding cultural and creative activities, from which comparisons may be made. If this is achieved, LA countries would have precise indicators for each creative and cultural activity in the medium-term.

Thank you!