1. Preparation Extra-EU 2019 exercise
Ag.9.2
No Doc
Preparation Extra-EU 2019 exercise
Working Group on Articles 64 & 65 of the Staff Regulations
Meeting in Luxembourg 26 & 27 March 2019

2. Content of this presentation
UN P2P processing for 2019
ECP PPP processing (ESTAT, ISRP) for 2019
including fresh Brussels data
Complementary data for Group2
ECP-type survey in New York
DS changing names
Update of the Extra-EU methodology manual

3. UN 2018 P2Ps scheduled in 2019 Regions Nber
Part of UN scheduled 2018 P2P
African
10+5
Burkina Faso; Cameroon; Central African Republic; Comoros; Congo; Democratic Republic of the Congo; Gabon; Ghana; Ivory Coast; Liberia; Djibouti; Eritrea; Lesotho; Senegal; South Africa
Asia
6+2
Pakistan; Tajikistan; Turkmenistan; Uzbekistan; Yemen; Iraq; Myanmar; Uzbekistan
Australia 2
Papua New Guinea; Solomon Islands
Europe 4
Balkans for testing ECP: Albania; Bosnia & Herzegovina; North Macedonia (FYROM); Serbia. [not Montenegro]
North America
1+1
 Belize; Cuba
South America
Venezuela; Chile
Total
18+15
 =33 and Bangladesh; Vietnam; West Bank Gaza;
[New Caledonia not planned]

4. For July 2019 calculation (annual report) - introduce fresh BXL price data
Average prices from ECP
As used to establish Intra-EU parities
E15-1 Food, beverages tobacco
E15-2 Personal appearance
E16-1 House and garden
E16-2 Transport; Hotels, restaurants, cafes
E17-1 Services
E17-2 Furniture; Health
2018 Private school fees
Price data updated to June 2018 using HICP

5. Summary of ECP processed in period
NB. July PPP data from annual report was introduced as basis for following August intermediate report, updated with HICP (for ESTAT) and UN CPI (for ISRP)
2019: ISRP New set of PPP for Israël & Chile expected.
Coordinated by ESTAT
Coordinated by ISRP
IS - Reykjavik
AUS - Canberra
NO - Oslo
CAN - Ottawa
CH - Bern
JAP - Tokyo
CH - Geneva
KOR - Seoul
TR - Ankara
MEX - Mexico City
5x Balkans:(Test UN surveys 2018)
NZL - Wellington
USA - Washington

6. One-off complementary data for Group 2
Because UN item definition = with NYC not BXL
so BH would otherwise be imputed hierarchically (imprecise and some have big expenditure weight)
or Eurostat has to compile from other sources (delay/consistency)
Flights (intercontinental)
Communication (telephone calls, postage, parcels)
Because UN don’t collect: car prices 6

7. ECP-type survey in New York
As we have already seen, CC is currently using 2009 survey, extrapolated with regional price index
UN survey 2016 not used. 18% method impact quantified.
Expected timeline for joint ECP-type survey:
Design, financing, etc: 2019
Fieldwork & validation: 2020
Integration of results for bilateral PPP BXL: 2021
Background
EEAS becoming nervous as no reply received to the summer 2018 note of Mr Di Vita;
Cooperation with UN.ICSC critical to avoid running our won costly price surveys, as was the case in the past (Eurocost)
Joint (ESTAT, ICSC and ISRP) objective is to use ECP as global mythology
But ECP as methodological approach as well as acronym has been caught as scapegoat for other perceived issues (mainly rent survey done by ISRP in Geneva, nothing to do with ECP)
Due to the UN governance survey, where staff representatives and representatives of administration are part of the statically governance, the previously agree roll out of ECP approach to all UN duty stations has been blocked
In particular, ECP could mean for staff representatives the end of the participation of local staff to survey, remove potential biais in selecting outlets and products Proposal to use ICSC 2016 price data as basis for CC, deflated with 18% “transition factor” is contested by EU social dialogue partners.
As basis for CC production in New York, Eurostat is currently using 2009 external contractor price survey data, extrapolated with inflation indices (the value was completed and introduced before signature of trilateral memorandum of understanding with ICSC and ISRP). This CC consequently does not capture method improvements subsequently adopted (notably, switch from 57 basic headings to 80 basic headings and consequent inclusion of education and healthcare prices). Importantly, with effect from July 2018 publication, it no longer respects the target period for review of source data.  
Latest developments
Based on video conference with ICSC at technical level in February 2019, ICSC is fully busy with revising their post adjustment principles (equivalent of our staff regulate and related admin instructions related to their pay package), therefore
ICSC and Eurostat agree that only truly effective way to assess impact of social dialogue partners on outlet selection (the key area of difference between A64/ECP methodology and ICSC methodology), is to conduct an ECP-style survey in New York (as well las at the same time in Washington).
Next UN ICSC price survey in New York is due Following ICSC decision in July 2018 to continue with existing ICSC approach for cycle, which involves conducting and validating price surveys in all EU capital cities rather than using ECP datasets, ICSC secretariat has limited possibility to start work on preparing the 2021 New York survey during 2019.
Contacts by Eurostat with US Bureau of Labor Statistics who provide data to OECD for Washington DC for use in International Comparison Programme have indicated that they do not have capacity to conduct a price survey in New York.
US Bureau of Economic Affairs have identified that USA regional PPP estimates are published since 2016, based on US regional CPI databases ( ). As these estimates suggest a ratio WDC : NYC of : which is not reflected in UN data, and as the CPI source is not designed to allow spatial comparisons and is more limited than national dataset, applying them to OECD Washington DC data is not considered an appropriate substitute for a full-scale price survey in New York for use within UN system.
Next steps
Eurostat has a provisional funding appropriation under 2019 financial decision to organise a survey in New York, and will now prepare a public call for tender with a view to finalising appointment of contractor by , with execution to begin in 2020:
Consultants (coordinators) with knowledge of ECP procedures should be sought,
ICSC secretariat (not social dialogue partners) will be fully associated with the process and especially with (a) outlet research, (b) price fieldwork, (c) validation.
Item definitions will be based on ECP list (or if available)
Initial focus should be on research into consumption habits and preferences, outlet selection and in particular establishing an implicit/explicit weighting using objective criteria
An ambitious target is to have price data validated and analysed by spring 2021 ACPAQ + A6465WG in spring 2021
Request for 4 CA IV was made recently by C3, among which one for NY (and Washington) survey; this new post would also be assigned to smoothing contacts with EEAS
This approach was agreed in principle at technical level also as useful input to UN reflection on the use of ECP in the next round of surveys post ICSC would be fully associated to the work so they can also take ownership of the results when needed
EU delegation in NY could be briefed on these developments
Most importantly communication channels must be re-opened with EEAS central services without further delay to avoid major backlash. If considered useful, unit C3 could prepare the ground at HoU level
 In saff R or in which guidance : 5-7 Y?

8. DS that are changing name:
Under “Prespa Agreement”, June 2018, the UN provisional reference “The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM)” no longer applies and is replaced with “The Republic of North Macedonia” or “North Macedonia”.
In September 2018, for 50th independence anniversary, King Mswati III of “Swaziland” has changed his country's name to “eSwatini”.
Kazakhstan capital “Astana” renamed “Nur-Sultan” in March 2019 to honour retiring president Nazarbayev.

9. Extra-EU method manual update
§7 p26 Title « consumption Structures »:
To be updated with new regionalised UN weights.
New names for Swaziland (eSwatini) and FYROM (North Macedonia) and Kazakhstan-Astana (Nur-Sultan) to be inserted.
New DS (Mongolia) to be inserted

10. Thank you for your attention!