Based on the recommendation of the Joint ECE/ILO meeting on Consumer Price Indexes (CPI) and at the invitation of the ILO Bureau of Statistics, the Inter-secretariat Working Group on Price Statistics (IWGPS) was established at the end of September 1998 to coordinate the efforts and expertise of the major organisations concerned with prices so as to successfully revise the international standards on prices, in particular the CPI manual. . Responsibility for the project is shared by ILO, ECE, IMF1, World Bank, OECD, Eurostat and UNSD but it remains open to all interested and committed organisations.
The UN Statistical Commission was informed of the existence, purpose and mandate of the IWGPS at its 30th meeting in March 1999. The commission welcomed the initiative and suggested that the manuals focus on a description of best currently implementable practices and, where applicable, of the range of alternatives. Priority is given to the updating and revision of the ILO manual on Consumer Price Indices (by Ralf Turvey at al., ILO Geneva, 1989) to take into account the significant developments in the area of CPI methodology that have taken place since the appearance of the manual.
At the invitation of the ECE, the second meeting of IWGPS was held on 11th February 1999 in Geneva. The meeting decided to set up a Technical Expert Group on CPI (TEG-CPI) to facilitate the revision of the CPI manual. This group will liaise closely with the Ottawa City Group on Prices. Membership of TEG-CPI can be found on this website.