Description of NAPCS Product Lists

The 71 product lists (69 trilatereal and 2 bilateral) that have been finalized at this time by the three countries can be viewed individually in PDF format. Although these lists have been designated as "final," it is important to note that they are still considered provisional, as a consequence of the need by each country to field test the feasibility of data collection for the products identified in the lists. In the US this testing, which began with the 2002 Economic Census, will be comprehensively implemented in the 2007 Economic Census. In addition, the feasibility of collection product data annually through the Services Annual Surveys has been ongoing since 2001, albeit at a much reduced level of detail from the Economic Censuses.

The products shown in each product list are presented in the context of a provisional aggregation structure agreed to by the three countries. These structures contain logical groupings of products developed through extensive research by the trilateral working groups and through expansive collaboration with industry experts from the respective countries. However, it must be emphasized that the provisional NAPCS aggregation structures and the associated working group codes shown in these product lists bear no necessary relationship to the final NAPCS structure and codes that will be developed by the three countries in subsequent phases of this initiative.

In contrast to the final NAPCS structure, the primary purpose of these provisional and industry-oriented aggregation structures is to facilitate refining product detail and obtaining agreement on the trilateral levels of product detail shown in each list, as provisional targets of comparability in the collection and publication of product data for the industries covered by that list. Moreover, the detailed products displayed in the individual lists are still being examined to identify products common to multiple lists and to standardize the titles and definitions for those products.

Once the final aggregation structure for NAPCS is determined, each product will carry a common title, definition, and product code across all industries that produce it, and the aggregation structure will group products regardless of industry in a manner that reflects how products are used from a demand-side perspective that will support studies of market share, demand for goods and services, import competition, and similar studies.

Each list consists of a table containing 12 columns that display the following information:

Column 1 - Industry Subject Area: The codes in this column identify the scope of the NAICS and US national industries whose products are covered by the given product list. The entry may range from a NAICS sector code, say 52, indicating that the products of all NAICS and US industries in sector 52 are covered by the list, to a 5-digit code, say 51114, indicating that only the products of the NAICS industry 51114 and US industry 511140 are covered by the list. (A description of NAICS sectors, subsectors, industry groups, industries, and US industries is found under NAICS.)

Column 2 - Working Group Code: The codes in this column are interim/unofficial product codes assigned by the three-country working group solely to organize the products contained in the product list.

Column 3 - Trilateral Detail: An X in this column for a product identifies the level of product detail that the three countries have provisionally agreed to identify in common and presently anticipate publishing comparable data for.

Columns 4-6 - National Product Detail: An X in one or more of these columns for a product indicates that it is a component of a trilateral product but is at a level of detail that is of interest only to the country or countries whose country column contains the X (column 4 = Canada, column 5 = Mexico, and column 6 = the US). In general only one or two of these country columns will contain an X for a non-trilateral product, but there are occasional situations where one or more of the detailed products below a trilateral product have an X in all three country columns.

Column 7 - US Title: Provides the US title for each product and product aggregate in the list.

Column 8 - US Definition: Provides the US definition for each product and product aggregate in the list.

Columns 9-11 NAICS Industries Producing the Products: These columns show the NAICS codes of the industries provisionally identified by each country to be producers of the product in that country.

Column 12 - CPC Code:Where provided, the codes displayed in this column identify the product code(s) from the United Nations Central Product Classification that concord to each NAPCS product or product aggregate in the list. At the present time, the entries in this column for each list are either preliminary or under development.