About Us
Introduction
The Voorburg Group on Services Statistics was created in 1986, in response to a request from the United Nations Statistical Office (UNSO), for assistance in developing services statistics. The first meeting, hosted by the Netherlands Statistical Office (CBS) was held in January of 1987 in Voorburg (Netherlands), from which the Group derives its name.
Purpose
The purpose of the Voorburg Group (VG) is to address issues related to the production of service statistics, including service product outputs and inputs, the estimation of the real product of service activities, price indices of service products and industries, and their implications for product and industry classification (Central Product Classification (CPC) and International Standard Classification of All Economic Activities (ISIC)).
In 2005, the VG received a renewed mandate from the UNSC concerning its objective, focus and scope1. The objective of the VG is to establish an internationally comparable methodology for measuring the constant dollar outputs of the service industries. The focus of the VG is to develop concepts, methods, and best practices in the area of services. The scope of the VG is centered on producer price indices (PPIs) for services, turnover by products, and classifications.
The Voorburg Group has contributed over the years to building up and sharing a considerable and growing body of knowledge of Service Sector Statistics. It has prompted international cooperation in the development of standards and has assisted in resolving statistical and measurement challenges in the Service Sector.
1 Ducharme, Louis Marc 'Strategic Vision of the Voorburg Group on Services Statistics for 2005-2008' background document to the Statistical Commission at its thirty-sixth session.
Bureau of the Voorburg Group
The organization and the planning of the annual meeting are done by the Bureau. The Bureau consists of a core group of members, the host of the last meeting and the host of the next meeting.
The members of the Bureau are:
| Mark E. Wallace | U. S. Census Bureau (Chair) |
| André Loranger | Statistics Canada |
| Josef Auer | Statistics Austria |
| Christopher Jenkins | Office for National Statistics, U.K. |
| Agnieszka Matulska-Bachura | Central Statistical Office of Poland |
Previous Meetings
The Voorburg Group meets for one week every year. The next meeting will be held from October 1st to October 5th, 2012 in Warsaw, Poland. The previous meetings were held as follows:
1987 Voorburg, the Netherlands
1987 Stockholm, Sweden
1988 Wiesbaden, Germany
1989 Ottawa, Canada
1990 Paris, France
1991 Helsinki, Finland
1992 Williamsburg, United States of America
1993 Oslo, Norway
1994 Sydney, Australia
1995 Voorburg, the Netherlands
1996 Newport, Wales
1997 Copenhagen, Denmark
1998 Rome, Italy
1999 Christchurch, New Zealand
2000 Madrid, Spain
2001 Örebro, Sweden
2002 Nantes, France
2003 Tokyo, Japan
2004 Ottawa, Canada
2005 Helsinki, Finland
2006 Wiesbaden, Germany
2007 Seoul, South Korea
2008 Aguascalientes, Mexico
2009 Oslo, Norway
2010 Vienna, Austria
2011 Newport, Wales
2012 Warsaw, Poland (forthcoming)