What happened to Division 45 in Germany?

Division 45 was removed in WZ 2025, and its activities were placed under Division 46, Division 47 and Division 95, following the European structure that WZ matches to class level. The German change follows the same pattern stated by Statistics Netherlands and the Spanish statistical institute for their national variants: the category of trade in and repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles was removed and reclassified under wholesale trade, retail trade, and repair.

Destatis publishes the division count falling from 88 in WZ 2008 to 87 in WZ 2025, which is consistent with the removal of one division alongside the addition of the new section. The division did not merge into a single heading. It was divided across three divisions. The change is a restructure, not a rename, and not a merge.

How is the removal shown in the German structure?

The removal is shown by the absence of Division 45 from the WZ 2025 structure, together with correspondence rows that point its former headings to Divisions 46, 47 and 95. The Destatis WISTA article describes the main changes of WZ 2025 against WZ 2008 as arising from the revision of NACE, and it states that WZ matches NACE completely to class level. The detailed class rows must be read in the Eurostat correspondence tables and in the WZ structure on the classification server. This guide does not list class level rows for Division 45, because none were verified on a Destatis page fetched for this work, and a list copied from a secondary summary could misstate a heading. The destination divisions, stated by two national institutes for the same European change, are the verified part of this guide. The class rows are the part that must be checked heading by heading.

Former area	New division	New division area
Wholesale sale of motor vehicles and motorcycles	46	Wholesale trade
Motor vehicle and motorcycle retail sale	47	Retail trade
Motor vehicle and motorcycle repair	95	Repair and maintenance

The table above shows destination divisions as stated for the European change. It does not list class rows, which must be read in the correspondence tables for the headings concerned.

Why was the division removed?

The division was removed because the classification now groups trade by wholesale or retail character, and repair by repair character, rather than grouping motor vehicle trade and repair together as a division of its own. The Spanish explanatory document links the removal to the wider trade restructure, in which classification by sales channel was also removed. The two changes work together: trade is grouped by what is sold and whether it is wholesale or retail, and repair is grouped with repair. The motor vehicle character of the goods remains visible in the class titles and notes inside the destination divisions, but it no longer defines a division. The change affects the presentation of statistics. The activities themselves are unaffected, and nothing about a specific business is decided.

What happens to German series that used Division 45?

German series that used Division 45 cannot be continued by copying a single new division. Wholesale figures must be read under Division 46, retail figures under Division 47, and repair figures under Division 95, each alongside the other trade or repair activities in that division. Double reporting and backcasting, described in the methods guide in this cluster, give a comparable basis for a period. Following only one destination division loses part of the former Division 45 and misstates the trend. The correspondence table shows all three destinations. The published backcast or double reported series shows the numbers on a comparable basis. The version note in each publication shows which version a given figure uses, and the gradual introduction timetable governs when each domain moves.

What the removal does not decide

The removal does not decide the code for any reader, and it does not decide tax, licensing, funding or collective agreement questions. A unit that sold and repaired motor vehicles under the old structure may now have activities recorded under more than one division, and the principal activity method, as described in the introductory guidelines, governs the single statistical description in general terms. This guide does not apply that method to any specific business. The entry is confirmed with the register that holds it, and the meaning of a heading is confirmed in the WZ structure published by Destatis. This site holds no register and decides no entry.

Division 45 ended as a division in WZ 2025, its trade went to Divisions 46 and 47, its repair went to Division 95, and the correspondence rows for each class show the exact new place. ”