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

(Text with EEA relevance)

THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 285(1) thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,

Having regard to the opinion of the European Central Bank (1),

Acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 251 of the Treaty (2),

Whereas:

(1) Council Regulation (EEC) No 3037/90 (3) established the statistical classification of economic activities in the European Community (hereinafter referred to as ‘NACE Rev. 1’ or ‘NACE Rev. 1.1’).

(2) In order to reflect the technological development and structural changes of the economy, an up-to-date classification, called NACE Revision 2, should be established (hereinafter referred to as ‘NACE Rev. 2’).

(3) An up-to-date classification such as NACE Rev. 2 is central to the Commission's ongoing efforts to modernise the production of Community statistics; it is expected to contribute, through more comparable and relevant data, to better economic governance at both Community and national level.

(4) In order to function, the internal market requires statistical standards applicable to the collection, transmission and publication of national and Community statistics so that businesses, financial institutions, governments and all other operators in the internal market can have access to reliable and comparable statistical data. To this end, it is vital that the various categories for classifying activities in the Community be interpreted uniformly in all the Member States.

(5) Reliable and comparable statistics are necessary to enable businesses to assess their competitiveness, and are useful to the Community institutions in preventing distortions of competition.

(6) The establishment of a revised common statistical classification of economic activities does not oblige Member States to collect, publish or supply data. Only if the Member States use activity classifications linked to the Community classification is it possible to provide integrated information with the reliability, speed, flexibility and degree of detail required for the management of the internal market.

(7) Provision should be made for the Member States to be able, in order to meet national requirements, to integrate into their national classifications additional categories based on the statistical classification of economic activities in the Community.

(8) The international comparability of economic statistics requires that the Member States and the Community institutions use classifications of economic activities which are directly linked to the International Standard Industrial Classification of all economic activities (ISIC) Rev. 4, as adopted by the Statistical Commission of the United Nations.

(9) Use of the classification of economic activities in the Community requires that the Commission be assisted by the Statistical Programme Committee set up by Council Decision 89/382/EEC, Euratom (4) in particular as regards: the examination of problems arising from implementation of NACE Rev. 2; ensuring a fully coordinated transition from NACE Rev. 1 to NACE Rev. 2; and, the preparation of future amendments to NACE Rev. 2.

(10) Council Regulation (EEC) No 2186/93 (5) established a common framework for setting up statistical business registers with harmonised definitions, characteristics, scope and updating procedures.

(11) The establishment of a revised statistical classification of economic activities makes it necessary to modify specifically various references to NACE Rev. 1 as well as to amend a number of relevant instruments. It is therefore necessary to amend the following instruments: Regulation (EEC) No 3037/90; Council Regulation (EEC) No 3924/91 of 19 December 1991 on the establishment of a Community survey of industrial production (6); Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 58/97 of 20 December 1996 concerning structural business statistics (7); Council Regulation (EC) No 1165/98 of 19 May 1998 concerning short term statistics (8); Council Regulation (EC) No 1172/98 of 25 May 1998 on statistical returns in respect of the carriage of goods by road (9); Council Regulation (EC) No 530/1999 of 9 March 1999 concerning structural statistics on earnings and on labour costs (10); Regulation (EC) No 2150/2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 November 2002 on waste statistics (11); Regulation (EC) No 450/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 February 2003 concerning the labour cost index (12); Regulation (EC) No 48/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 December 2003 on the production of annual Community statistics on the steel industry for the reference years 2003-2009 (13); Regulation (EC) No 808/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 April 2004 concerning Community statistics on the information society (14); and, 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 (15).

(12) A number of Community instruments need to be amended, according to the specific procedures applicable to them, before transition to NACE Rev. 2, namely: Council Regulation (EC) No 2223/96 of 25 June 1996 on the European system of national and regional accounts in the Community (16); 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 (17); and Regulation (EC) No 184/2005 of the European Parliament and the Council of 12 January 2005 on Community statistics concerning balance of payments, international trade in services and foreign direct investment (18).

(13) The measures necessary for the implementation of this Regulation should be adopted in accordance with Council Decision 1999/468/EC of 28 June 1999 laying down the procedures for the exercise of implementing powers conferred on the Commission (19).

(14) In particular, power should be conferred on the Commission to amend or supplement NACE Rev. 2 in order to take account of technological or economic developments or to align it with other economic and social classifications. Since these measures are of general scope and designed to amend non-essential elements of this Regulation or to supplement this Regulation by the addition of new non-essential elements, they should be adopted in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny provided for in Article 5a of Decision 1999/468/EC.

(15) Since the objective of this Regulation, namely the creation of common statistical standards that permit the production of harmonised data, cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States and can therefore be better achieved at Community level, the Community may adopt measures, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity as set out in Article 5 of the Treaty. In accordance with the principle of proportionality, as set out in that Article, this Regulation does not go beyond what is necessary to achieve that objective.

(16) The Statistical Programme Committee has been consulted,

HAVE ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

SECTION I

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1

Subject matter and scope

1.   This Regulation establishes a common statistical classification of economic activities in the European Community, hereinafter referred to as ‘NACE Rev. 2’. This classification ensures that Community classifications are relevant to the economic reality and enhances the comparability of national, Community and international classifications and, hence, of national, Community and international statistics.

2.   This Regulation shall apply only to the use of the classification for statistical purposes.

Article 2

NACE Rev. 2

1.   NACE Rev. 2 shall include:

(a) a first level consisting of headings identified by an alphabetical code (sections);

(b) a second level consisting of headings identified by a two-digit numerical code (divisions);

(c) a third level consisting of headings identified by a three-digit numerical code (groups); and

(d) a fourth level consisting of headings identified by a four-digit numerical code (classes).

2.   NACE Rev. 2 is set out in Annex I.

Article 3

Use of NACE Rev. 2

The Commission shall use NACE Rev. 2 for all statistics classified according to economic activities.

Article 4

National classifications of economic activities

1.   Member States' statistics presented according to economic activities shall be produced using NACE Rev. 2 or a national classification derived therefrom.

2.   The national classification may introduce additional headings and levels and a different coding may be used. Each of the levels, except for the highest, shall consist of either the same headings as the corresponding NACE Rev. 2 level or headings constituting an exact breakdown thereof.

3.   Member States shall forward to the Commission, for its approval prior to their publication, the drafts defining or modifying their national classifications. The Commission shall check the conformity of these drafts with paragraph 2 within two months. The Commission shall transmit the approved national classification to the other Member States for information. The Member States' national classifications shall include a table of correspondence between the national classifications and NACE Rev. 2.

4.   In the event of incompatibility between certain NACE Rev. 2 headings and the national economic structure, the Commission may authorise a Member State to use an aggregation of NACE Rev. 2 headings in a specific sector.

To obtain such an authorisation, the Member State concerned must provide the Commission with all the necessary information to consider its request. The Commission shall decide within three months.

However, notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph 2, such an authorisation shall not entitle the Member State concerned to subdivide the aggregated headings in a way different from NACE Rev. 2.

5.   The Commission shall, together with the Member State concerned, periodically review the authorisations granted under paragraph 4 to verify whether they remain justified.

Article 5

Commission activities

The Commission, in cooperation with the Member States, shall ensure the dissemination, maintenance and promotion of NACE Rev. 2, in particular by:

(a) drafting, updating and publishing explanatory notes for NACE Rev. 2;

(b) drawing up and publishing guidelines for classifying statistical units in accordance with NACE Rev. 2;

(c) publishing correspondence tables between NACE Rev. 1.1 and NACE Rev. 2 and between NACE Rev. 2 and NACE Rev. 1.1; and

(d) working to improve consistency with other social and economic classifications.

Article 6

Implementing measures

1.   The following measures for implementing NACE Rev. 2 shall be adopted in accordance with the regulatory procedure referred to in Article 7(2):

(a) decisions required in case of problems arising from implementation of NACE Rev. 2, including the assignment of economic activities to specific classes; and

(b) technical measures ensuring a fully coordinated transition from NACE Rev. 1.1 to NACE Rev. 2, especially with respect to issues related to breaks in time series, including double reporting and back-casting of time series.

2.   Measures relating to NACE Rev. 2 with a view to amending or supplementing non-essential elements of this Regulation, which are designed for the following purposes, shall be adopted in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny referred to in Article 7(3):

(a) to take account of technological or economic developments; or

(b) to align it with other economic and social classifications.

3.   Consideration shall be given to the principle that the benefits of updating NACE Rev. 2 must outweigh its costs, and to the principle that additional costs and burdens remain within a reasonable limit.

Article 7

Committee

1.   The Commission shall be assisted by the Statistical Programme Committee, established by Decision 89/382/EEC, Euratom.

2.   Where reference is made to this paragraph, the procedure laid down in Articles 5 and 7 of Decision 1999/468/EC shall apply, having regard to the provisions of Article 8 thereof.

The period laid down in Article 5(6) of Decision 1999/468/EC shall be set at three months.

3.   Where reference is made to this paragraph, the procedure laid down in Article 5a(1) to (4) and Article 7 of Decision 1999/468/EC shall apply, having regard to the provisions of Article 8 thereof.

Article 8

Implementation of NACE Rev. 2

1.   Statistical units referred to in business registers, as set up according to Regulation (EEC) No 2186/93, shall be classified according to NACE Rev. 2.

2.   Statistics referring to economic activities performed from 1 January 2008 onwards shall be produced by Member States using NACE Rev. 2 or with a national classification derived therefrom pursuant to Article 4.

3.   By way of derogation from paragraph 2, short-term statistics governed by Regulation (EC) No 1165/98 and the labour-cost index governed by Regulation (EC) No 450/2003 shall be produced using NACE Rev. 2 from 1 January 2009.

4.   The provision of paragraph 2 shall not apply for the production of the following statistics:

(a) national accounts statistics under Regulation (EC) No 2223/96;

(b) economic accounts for agriculture under Regulation (EC) No 138/2004; and

(c) statistics concerning balance of payments, international trade in services and foreign direct investment under Regulation (EC) No 184/2005.

SECTION II

AMENDMENTS TO RELATED ACTS

Article 9

Amendments to Regulation (EEC) No 3037/90

Articles 3, 10, and 12 of Regulation (EEC) No 3037/90 shall be deleted.

Article 10

Amendments to Regulation (EEC) No 3924/91

Regulation (EEC) No 3924/91 is hereby amended as follows:

(1) ‘NACE Rev. 1’ shall be replaced by ‘NACE Rev. 2’ throughout the text.

(2) Article 2(1) shall be replaced by the following:

‘1.   The field covered by the survey referred to in Article 1 shall be that of the activities in sections B and C of the classification of economic activities in the European Community (NACE Rev. 2).’.

Article 11

Amendments to Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 58/97

Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 58/97 is hereby amended as follows:

(1) ‘NACE Rev. 1’ shall be replaced by ‘NACE Rev. 2’ throughout the text and annexes with the exception of Annex 1, Section 10 ‘Reports and pilot studies’, Annex 3, Section 5 ‘First reference year’ and Annex 3, Section 9 ‘Reports and pilot studies’ where the reference to ‘NACE Rev. 1’ is maintained.

(2) Article 3(1) shall be replaced by the following:

‘1.   This Regulation shall cover all market activities in Sections B to N and P to S of the statistical classification of economic activities in the European Community (NACE Rev. 2).’.

(3) The Annexes shall be amended in accordance with Annex II to this Regulation.

Article 12

Amendment to Regulation (EC) No 1165/98

Regulation (EC) No 1165/98 is hereby amended as follows:

(1) Article 2(1) shall be replaced by the following:

‘1.   This Regulation shall apply to all market activities in Sections B to N and P to S of the statistical classification of economic activities in the European Community (NACE Rev. 2).’.

(2) In Article 17, the following points shall be added:

‘(k)

the first base year to be applied for time series in NACE Rev. 2;

(l) for time series prior to 2009, to be transmitted according to NACE Rev. 2, the level of detail, the form, the first reference period, and the reference period.’.

(3) The Annexes shall be amended in accordance with Annex III to this Regulation.

Article 13

Amendment to Regulation (EC) No 1172/98

In Regulation (EC) No 1172/98, the terms: ‘NACE Rev. 1’ and ‘NACE Rev. 1.1’ shall be replaced by ‘NACE Rev. 2’ throughout the text and the annexes.

Article 14

Amendment to Regulation (EC) No 530/1999

Regulation (EC) No 530/1999 is hereby amended as follows:

(1) ‘NACE Rev. 1’ shall be replaced by ‘NACE Rev. 2’ throughout the text.

(2) In Article 3:

(a) paragraph 1 shall be replaced by the following:

‘1.   The statistics shall cover all economic activities defined in sections B (Mining and quarrying), C (Manufacturing), D (Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply), E (Water supply; sewerage, waste management and remediation activities), F (Construction), G (Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles), H (Transportation and storage), I (Accommodation and food service activities), J (Information and communication activities), K (Financial and insurance activities), L (Real estate activities), M (Professional, scientific and technical activities), N (Administrative and support service activities), P (Education), Q (Human health and social work activities), R (Arts, entertainment and recreation activities) and S (Other service activities) of the statistical classification of economic activities in the European Community (NACE Rev. 2).’;

(b) paragraph 2 shall be deleted.

Article 15

Amendment to Regulation (EC) No 2150/2002

Regulation (EC) No 2150/2002 is hereby amended as follows:

(1) ‘NACE Rev. 1’ and ‘NACE Rev. 1.1’ shall be replaced by ‘NACE Rev. 2’ throughout the text and annexes.

(2) Annex I to Regulation (EC) No 2150/2002 shall be amended in accordance with Annex IV to this Regulation.

Article 16

Amendment to Regulation (EC) No 450/2003

Regulation (EC) No 450/2003 is hereby amended as follows:

(1) ‘NACE Rev. 1’ shall be replaced by ‘NACE Rev. 2’ throughout the text.

(2) Article 3 shall be replaced by the following:

‘Article 3

Scope

1.   This Regulation shall apply to all activities defined in sections B to S of NACE Rev. 2.

2.   The inclusion of economic activities defined by NACE Rev. 2 sections O to S in the scope of this Regulation shall be determined in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 12(2), taking into account the feasibility studies defined in Article 10.’.

(3) Article 5 shall be replaced by the following:

‘Article 5

Frequency and back data

1.   The data for the LCI shall first be compiled according to NACE Rev. 2 for the first quarter of 2009, and thereafter for each quarter (ending on 31 March, 30 June, 30 September and 31 December of each year).

2.   Back data from the first quarter of 2000 to the fourth quarter of 2008 shall be made available by the Member States. The back data shall be provided for each of the NACE Rev. 2 sections B to N and for the labour cost items mentioned in Article 4(1).’.

(4) Article 6(3) shall be replaced by the following:

‘3.   The back data referred to in Article 5 shall be transmitted to the Commission (Eurostat) at the same time as the LCI for the first quarter of 2009.’.

(5) In Article 11 point (c) shall be replaced by the following:

‘(c)

inclusion of NACE Rev. 2 sections O to S (Article 3);’.

Article 17

Amendment to Regulation (EC) No 48/2004

The first paragraph of Article 3 of Regulation (EC) No 48/2004 shall be replaced by the following:

‘This Regulation shall cover data on the steel industry, which is defined as group 24.1 of the statistical classification of economic activities in the European Community (NACE Rev. 2).’.

Article 18

Amendment to Regulation (EC) No 808/2004

Annex I to Regulation (EC) No 808/2004 shall be amended in accordance with Annex V to this Regulation.

Article 19

Amendment to Regulation (EC) No 1552/2005

Regulation (EC) No 1552/2005 is hereby amended as follows:

(1) ‘NACE Rev. 1.1’ shall be replaced by ‘NACE Rev. 2’ throughout the text.

(2) Article 2(2) shall be deleted.

(3) Article 4 shall be replaced by the following:

‘Article 4

Scope of statistics

The statistics on the vocational training in enterprises shall cover at least all economic activities defined in sections B to N and R to S of NACE Rev. 2.’.

SECTION III

FINAL PROVISIONS

Article 20

Transitional provisions

When complying with the requirements of Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 58/97, Member States shall transmit to the Commission (Eurostat) structural business statistics referring to the calendar year 2008 according to both NACE Rev. 1.1 and NACE Rev. 2.

For each of the Annexes to Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 58/97, the list of characteristics and the required breakdowns to be transmitted according to NACE Rev.1.1 shall be decided in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 13 of that Regulation.

Article 21

Entry into force

This Regulation shall enter into force on the twentieth day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

It shall apply from 1 January 2008.

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.

Done at Brussels, 20 December 2006.

For the European Parliament

The President

J. BORRELL FONTELLES

For the Council

The President

J. KORKEAOJA

(1)  

OJ C 79, 1.4.2006, p. 31

.

(2)  Opinion of the European Parliament of 12 October 2006 (not yet published in the Official Journal) and the Council Decision of 19 December 2006.

(3)  

OJ L 293, 24.10.1990, p. 1

. Regulation as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 1882/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council (

OJ L 284, 31.10.2003, p. 1

.).

(4)  

OJ L 181, 28.6.1989, p. 47

.

(5)  

OJ L 196, 5.8.1993, p. 1

. Regulation as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 1882/2003.

(6)  

OJ L 374, 31.12.1991, p. 1

. Regulation as amended by Regulation (EC) No 1882/2003.

(7)  

OJ L 14, 17.1.1997, p. 1

. Regulation as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 1882/2003.

(8)  

OJ L 162, 5.6.1998, p. 1

. Regulation as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 1503/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council (

OJ L 281,12.10.2006, p. 15

).

(9)  

OJ L 163, 6.6.1998, p. 1

. Regulation as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 1882/2003.

(10)  

OJ L 63, 12.3.1999, p. 6

. Regulation as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 1882/2003.

(11)  

OJ L 332, 9.12.2002, p. 1

. Regulation as last amended by Commission Regulation (EC) No 783/2005 (

OJ L 131, 25.5.2005, p. 38

).

(12)  

OJ L 69, 13.3.2003, p. 1

.

(13)  

OJ L 7, 13.1.2004, p. 1

.

(14)  

OJ L 143, 30.4.2004, p. 49

.

(15)  

OJ L 255, 30.9.2005, p. 1

.

(16)  

OJ L 310, 30.11.1996, p. 1

. Regulation as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 1267/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council (

OJ L 180, 18.7.2003, p. 1

).

(17)  

OJ L 33, 5.2.2004, p. 1

. Regulation as amended by Commission Regulation (EC) No 909/2006 (

OJ L 168, 21.6.2006, p. 14

).

(18)  

OJ L 35, 8.2.2005, p. 23

. Regulation as amended by Commission Regulation (EC) No 602/2006 (

OJ L 106, 19.4.2006, p. 10

).

(19)  

OJ L 184, 17.7.1999, p. 23

. Decision as amended by Decision 2006/512/EC (

OJ L 200, 22.7.2006, p. 11

).

ANNEX I

NACE REV. 2