The mandate of the ad hoc Subgroup on Alluvial Production was renewed.

The Expert Group took decisions on a few open questions brought forward by the Technical Subgroup, gave additional guidance to the Subgroup for clarification of the draft and approved the draft ISIC, Revision 4.

The Technical Subgroup met for a total of 10 (usually week long) meetings to elaborate the details of the classification.

The Technical Subgroup on the International Standard Classification of Occupations will report back to the Expert Group at a meeting in early 2007.

The Technical Subgroup prepared a proposal for the programme of work for the 2007 revision, Central Product Classification, Version 2, in a multistage process.

The Technical Subgroup supported the revision of the SITC in general and the improvement of the links between the CPC and the SITC to the extent possible, in particular.

Throughout the revision process, the various drafts of the CPC revision were prepared by the Technical Subgroup, with the monitoring and guidance of the Statistical Commission and the Expert Group.

The Statistics Division has also established a technical subgroup on human functioning and disability to review and update current census recommendations on disability with regard to concepts, definitions and classifications.

The Forum secretariat has participated in several Inter Agency and Expert Meetings on Millennium Development Goal Indicators and has collaborated, with FAO and other organizations, in the Subgroup on Environment.

That particular part of the Classification was subsequently revised in meetings of the Technical Subgroup and in a special meeting convened by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

The responses to the questionnaire were subsequently reviewed by the Technical Subgroup and resulted in a revised top level draft structure of the classification, which was presented to the Commission in March 2004.

The GCG, or any subgroup reporting to it, may also make recommendations on the divisions into regions for purposes of the monitoring arrangements, if not already decided upon by the Conference of the Parties.

A Gender Elections Task Force was established in March 2004 as a subgroup of the Advisory Group on Gender.8 The Task Force regrouped in early 2005 to focus on women's participation in the September elections.

The Technical Subgroup prepared a proposal for the work programme for the 2007 revision of the International Standard Industrial Classification of All Economic Activities, Revision 4, and the Central Product Classification, Version 2, in a multistage process.

It was concluded that the present Technical Subgroup of the Expert Group on International Economic and Social Classifications could take on this task, but at a later time after the conclusion of the ISIC and CPC revisions.

The United Nations Expert Group on International Economic and Social Classifications and its technical subgroup finalized the structure for the fourth revision of ISIC (ISIC Rev.4 structure) in 2005 for submission to the Statistical Commission for approval.

Development of the different versions of the ISIC draft, the questionnaires and related materials was carried out by the United Nations Statistics Division in consultation with the Technical Subgroup of the Expert Group on International Economic and Social Classifications.

An increasing number of HIV diagnoses among women, and in the subgroup of women who had had perinatally exposed children, was associated with heterosexual contact in a high prevalence country or heterosexual contact with a partner from a high prevalence country.

The actual status of the group as a subgroup of the Expert Group on International Economic and Social Classifications was subsequently questioned by the ILO, but it still intends to report back to the Expert Group on work carried out until 2007.

The Statistics Division's Technical Subgroup on the Movement of Persons has agreed on recommendations on the measurement of remittances in the balance of payments framework and is preparing improved guidelines for the measurement of Mode 4 trade in services (presence of natural persons).

Variant CJD was first described in 1996, following intensive surveillance activities undertaken by the UK National CJD Surveillance Unit (NCJDSU) in Edinburgh. This new form of prion disease had distinctive clinical and pathological features, and occurred in young patients within a single genetic subgroup.

The responses to this questionnaire included more than 2,000 individual comments for improving the structure or explanatory text of the classification, which were evaluated and taken into account by the Technical Subgroup at two meetings in early 2005 the draft classification was revised accordingly.

Although not formally part of the revision of the International Standard Industrial Classification of All Economic Activities or of the work of the Technical Subgroup, the NACE NAICS convergence project has provided a substantial amount of background information and research useful for the ISIC revision.

The Technical Subgroup of the Expert Group on International Economic and Social Classifications was updated on the progress of the fourth revision of the SITC and the linkage between the Central Product Classification and the Standard International Trade Classification during its meeting in October 2005.

The subgroup on children and violence established within the NGO Group for the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the NGO Advisory Panel for the study have been active in the reporting period, in particular in the context of children in conflict with the law.

In that process, the Expert Group and the Technical Subgroup have tried to create, not a consensus document, but rather a classification that reflects current economic organization in most countries of the world, is forward looking and provides a good basis for comparable statistics around the world in future years.

As an immediate practical measure, the Expert Group discussed and endorsed the proposal to establish a technical subgroup on the International Standard Classification of Occupations to advise the International Labour Organization in the drafting of proposals for updating the ISCO and in the preparation of documents for discussions at technical meetings.

Following the recommendations made by the Expert Group on International Economic and Social Classifications at its meeting in June 2005, the final draft of the CPC, Version 2, structure was reviewed after the meeting by the Technical Subgroup and, at the time of the writing of this report, was being reviewed by the Expert Group for approval.

The current revision processes for the ISIC, the CPC and the ISCO have provided a rare opportunity for such joint efforts by the Expert Group on International Economic and Social Classifications and its Technical Subgroup, the United Nations Statistics Division, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, other international regional organizations and member countries to be productive.

14. Welcomes the strengthening of the South American subgroup of Artisanal Alluvial Producers, and its intention to meet to discuss regional cooperation on the challenges faced in controlling diamond production and trade, and also welcomes the invitation extended by Venezuela for a visit led by the Chair of the Kimberley Process to take place during the first quarter of 2008

(b) Also welcomed the expedited efforts of the United Nations Statistics Division to keep the revision of the International Standard Industrial Classification of All Economic Activities (ISIC) on schedule in the period leading up to the next meeting of the Expert Group on International Economic and Social Classifications in June 2005 and thanked the participants in its Technical Subgroup for facilitating that effort

Based on the results of the work of the Subgroup on Alluvial Production the Declaration was adopted by the KP plenary meeting in Moscow setting out recommendations for effective internal controls over alluvial diamond production and supporting potential donors in channelling targeted capacity building assistance to alluvial producer Participants in order to further the effective implementation of the Certification Scheme.

In response to the expert group's recommendation regarding presenting data on the website, a technical subgroup on alternative designs designed a separate area on the Division's website to provide information on national practices related to alternative census designs.3 Also, census questionnaires from 133 population and or housing censuses used for the 2000 round of censuses have been scanned and posted on the same website,4 providing a methodological base for building on past experience.