Regulation (EC) No 1893/2006 establishes a classification, known as NACE Revision 2 (NACE Rev. 2), of economic activities to be used across the European Union (EU) to ensure that statistics are comparable.
Regulation (EU) 2023/137 updates the NACE Rev. 2 classification to take account of technological and economic developments, and to align it with other economic and social classifications.

KEY POINTS

The smooth running of the single market requires EU-wide standards on the collection, transmission and publication of national and EU statistics. This ensures that companies, financial institutions, governments and other single-market operators have access to reliable and comparable statistical data.

The information helps companies to assess their competitiveness and EU institutions to prevent distortions of competition.

NACE Revision 2.1

Regulation (EC) No 1893/2006 defines a four-digit hierarchical classification of economic activities, commonly known as NACE (from Nomenclature statistique des activités économiques dans la Communauté européenne) Revision 2 (NACE Rev. 2), which is consistent with the United Nations International Standard Industrial Classification of All Economic Activities.

Regulation (EU) 2023/137 specifies NACE Rev. 2 update 1, comprising four levels (sections, divisions, groups, and classes), each identified by either one letter (sections) or two (divisions), three (groups) or four (classes) digits.

The 22 sections are as follows:

agriculture, forestry and fishing;
mining and quarrying;
manufacturing;
electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply;
water supply – sewerage, waste management and remediation activities;
construction;
wholesale and retail trade;
transportation and storage;
accommodation and food service activities;
publishing, broadcasting and content production and distribution activities;
telecommunication, computer programming, consulting, computing infrastructure and other information service activities;
financial and insurance activities;
real estate activities;
professional, scientific and technical activities;
administrative and support service activities;
public administration and defence, and compulsory social security;
education;
human health and social work activities;
arts, sports and recreation;
other service activities;
activities of households as employers and undifferentiated goods- and service-producing activities of households for own use;
activities of extraterritorial organisations and bodies.

The European Statistical System Committee of national experts:

is responsible for implementing and managing NACE and ensuring it is uniformly applied across the EU;
assists, and is chaired by, the European Commission;
deals with issues linked to the classification system, such as interpretation, amendments, coordination, drafting explanatory notes and guidelines and cooperation with international organisations.

The legislation:

only applies to the use of the classification for statistical purposes;
does not oblige EU Member States to collect, publish or supply data.

FROM WHEN DOES THE REGULATION APPLY?

Regulation (EC) No 1893/2006 introducing NACE Rev. 2 has applied since 1 January 2008;
Regulation (EU) 2023/137 entered into force on 9 February 2023, redefining aspects of the classification, and will start to apply to data transmission incrementally (depending on the statistical domain) from 1 January 2025 until 1 January 2031.

BACKGROUND

Regulation (EEC) No 3037/90 does (as subsequently amended) establish NACE Rev. 1 (Rev. 1.1). While the regulation is still in force, it is no longer in practical use, as NACE Rev. 1 (Rev. 1.1) has been superseded by NACE Rev. 2 (Rev. 2.1). Regulation (EEC) No 3037/90 is thus only of historical interest.

For further information, see:

NACE background – Statistics Explained article (Eurostat).

MAIN DOCUMENTS

Regulation (EC) No 1893/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 December 2006 establishing the statistical classification of economic activities NACE Revision 2 and amending Council Regulation (EEC) No 3037/90 as well as certain EC Regulations on specific statistical domains (OJ L 393, 30.12.2006, p. 1–39).

Successive amendments to Regulation (EC) No 1893/2006 have been incorporated into the original text. This consolidated version is of documentary value only.

Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2023/137 of 10 October 2022 amending Regulation (EC) No 1893/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing the statistical classification of economic activities NACE Revision 2 (OJ L 19, 20.1.2023, pp. 5–42).

RELATED DOCUMENTS

Council Regulation (EEC) No 3037/90 of 9 October 1990 on the statistical classification of economic activities in the European Community (OJ L 293, 24.10.1990, pp. 1–26).

Regulation (EU) 2019/2152 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 November 2019 on European business statistics, repealing 10 legal acts in the field of business statistics (OJ L 327, 17.12.2019, pp. 1–35).

See consolidated version.

Regulation (EU) 2019/1700 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 10 October 2019 establishing a common framework for European statistics relating to persons and households, based on data at individual level collected from samples, amending Regulations (EC) No 808/2004, (EC) No 452/2008 and (EC) No 1338/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council, and repealing Regulation (EC) No 1177/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council and Council Regulation (EC) No 577/98 (OJ L 261I, 14.10.2019, pp. 1–32).

Regulation (EU) No 549/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 May 2013 on the European system of national and regional accounts in the European Union (OJ L 174, 26.6.2013, pp. 1–727).

See consolidated version.

Regulation (EU) No 70/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 January 2012 on statistical returns in respect of the carriage of goods by road (recast) (OJ L 32, 3.2.2012, pp. 1–18).

See consolidated version.

Regulation (EU) No 691/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 6 July 2011 on European environmental economic accounts (OJ L 192, 22.7.2011, pp. 1–16).

See consolidated version.

Regulation (EC) No 1338/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 December 2008 on Community statistics on public health and health and safety at work (OJ L 354, 31.12.2008, pp. 70–81).

See consolidated version.

Regulation (EC) No 1099/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 October 2008 on energy statistics (OJ L 304, 14.11.2008, pp. 1–62).

See consolidated version.

Regulation (EC) No 453/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 April 2008 on quarterly statistics on Community job vacancies (OJ L 145, 4.6.2008, pp. 234–237).

Regulation (EC) No 1552/2005 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 7 September 2005 on statistics relating to vocational training in enterprises (OJ L 255, 30.9.2005, pp. 1–5).

See consolidated version.

Regulation (EC) No 138/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 December 2003 on the economic accounts for agriculture in the Community (OJ L 33, 5.2.2004, pp. 1–87).

See consolidated version.

Regulation (EC) No 450/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 February 2003 concerning the labour cost index (OJ L 69, 13.3.2003, pp. 1–5).

See consolidated version.

Regulation (EC) No 2150/2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 November 2002 on waste statistics (OJ L 332, 9.12.2002, pp. 1–36).

See consolidated version.

Council Regulation (EC) No 530/1999 of 9 March 1999 concerning structural statistics on earnings and on labour costs (OJ L 63, 12.3.1999, pp. 6–10).

See consolidated version.

last update 28.02.2023

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