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.
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.
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 ;
Regulation (EU) 2023/137 entered into force on , redefining aspects of the classification, and will start to apply to data transmission incrementally (depending on the statistical domain) from until .
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.
Regulation (EC) No 1893/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 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, , 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 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, , pp. 5–42).
RELATED DOCUMENTS
Council Regulation (EEC) No 3037/90 of on the statistical classification of economic activities in the European Community (OJ L 293, , pp. 1–26).
Regulation (EU) 2019/2152 of the European Parliament and of the Council of on European business statistics, repealing 10 legal acts in the field of business statistics (OJ L 327, , pp. 1–35).
Regulation (EU) 2019/1700 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 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, , pp. 1–32).
Regulation (EU) No 549/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of on the European system of national and regional accounts in the European Union (OJ L 174, , pp. 1–727).
Regulation (EU) No 70/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council of on statistical returns in respect of the carriage of goods by road (recast) (OJ L 32, , pp. 1–18).
Regulation (EC) No 1338/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council of on Community statistics on public health and health and safety at work (OJ L 354, , pp. 70–81).
Regulation (EC) No 453/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council of on quarterly statistics on Community job vacancies (OJ L 145, , pp. 234–237).
Regulation (EC) No 1552/2005 of the European Parliament and of the Council of on statistics relating to vocational training in enterprises (OJ L 255, , pp. 1–5).
Regulation (EC) No 138/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council of on the economic accounts for agriculture in the Community (OJ L 33, , pp. 1–87).