The spreadsheet versions of statistical tables are stored in CSV format (Comma-Separated Values). CSV files can be read into most spreadsheet packages and word processors. In order to maximise portability, CSV files contain only the values (numeric or text) of the table cells, no formatting such as information about column widths, cell merging, fonts or line breaks.
Most Web browsers can be configured to view CSV files with a spreadsheet application of the user's choice.
The following conventions are specific to the CSV files, which represent statistical tables of BIS publications:
