(Acts whose publication is obligatory)

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 Commu-

nity, 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 (

Acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 251

of the Treaty (

Whereas:

(1)

Council Regulation (EEC) No 3037/90 (

) 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 classifica-

tion, 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 classifi-

cation 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 Coun-

cil Decision 89/382/EEC, Euratom (

) 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.

(

) OJ C 79, 1.4.2006, p. 31.

(

) Opinion of the European Parliament of 12 October 2006 (not yet

published in the Official Journal) and the Council Decision of

19 December 2006.

(

) 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.).

(

) OJ L 181, 28.6.1989, p. 47.

(10)

Council Regulation (EEC) No 2186/93 (

) 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 specific-

ally 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 (

); Council Regulation (EC,

Euratom) No 58/97 of 20 December 1996 concerning

structural business statistics (

); Council Regulation (EC)

No 1165/98 of 19 May 1998 concerning short term

statistics (

); Council Regulation (EC) No 1172/98 of

25 May 1998 on statistical returns in respect of the

carriage of goods by road (

); Council Regulation (EC)

No 530/1999 of 9 March 1999 concerning structural

statistics on earnings and on labour costs (

); Regulation

(EC) No 2150/2002 of the European Parliament and of the

Council of 25 November 2002 on waste statistics (

);

Regulation (EC) No 450/2003 of the European Parliament

and of the Council of 27 February 2003 concerning the

labour cost index (

); 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 (

);

Regulation (EC) No 808/2004 of the European Parliament

and of the Council of 21 April 2004 concerning

Community statistics on the information society (

); 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 (

(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 (

); 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 (

); 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 invest-

ment (

(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 (

(14)

In particular, power should be conferred on the Commis-

sion 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 classifica-

tion of economic activities in the European Community,

hereinafter referred to as ‘NACE Rev. 2’. This classification

ensures that Community classifications are relevant to the

(

) OJ L 196, 5.8.1993, p. 1. Regulation as last amended by Regulation

(EC) No 1882/2003.

(

) OJ L 374, 31.12.1991, p. 1. Regulation as amended by Regulation

(EC) No 1882/2003.

(

) OJ L 14, 17.1.1997, p. 1. Regulation as last amended by Regulation

(EC) No 1882/2003.

(

) 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).

(

) OJ L 163, 6.6.1998, p. 1. Regulation as last amended by Regulation

(EC) No 1882/2003.

(

) OJ L 63, 12.3.1999, p. 6. Regulation as last amended by Regulation

(EC) No 1882/2003.

(

) 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).

(

) OJ L 69, 13.3.2003, p. 1.

(

) OJ L 7, 13.1.2004, p. 1.

(

) OJ L 143, 30.4.2004, p. 49.

(

) OJ L 255, 30.9.2005, p. 1.

(

) 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).

(

) 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).

(

) 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).

(

) OJ L 184, 17.7.1999, p. 23. Decision as amended by Decision

2006/512/EC (OJ L 200, 22.7.2006, p. 11).

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);

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 head-

ings 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 informa-

tion. 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;

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 develop-

ments; 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

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 Com-

munity (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 con-

ditioning supply), E (Water supply; sewerage, waste

management and remediation activities), F (Construc-

tion), G (Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor

vehicles and motorcycles), H (Transportation and

storage), I (Accommodation and food service activ-

ities), 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