How is an ATECO code searched for?

An ATECO code is searched for in the interactive search systems that Istat publishes for ATECO 2025, by code or by description of the activity. Istat states that the interactive search systems for a code or a description, within the structure and the explanatory notes, have been updated for ATECO 2025. A search by code finds the heading that carries the code, with its title and its note. A search by description finds headings whose titles or notes contain the words used, or whose content matches the description in the terms of the classification. Both searches are finding aids.

Neither search assigns a code. A search result is a candidate heading. A candidate should be tested in its own note and in neighbouring heading notes before being treated as a description of the activity in general terms.

How does a search by code work?

A search by code starts from a code already known, and returns the heading for that code in the version searched. The search is useful where a reader holds an old code and needs its title and note, or holds a new code and needs to confirm what it covers. The search must state the version, because the same digits can belong to different headings under different versions, and different digits can describe the same activity after renumbering. A search by code that does not state the version can return a heading from the wrong version without warning. A reader should therefore search in the ATECO 2025 structure for a new code, and in the ATECO 2022 structure for an old code, and should state the version beside every code found. The structure on the Istat site is published in Italian, English and German, so a search by code works in any of those language versions for the same heading.

Search input	What the system returns	Check that follows
Code, with version stated	Heading, title and note for that code	Read the note, check neighbours
Description of the activity	Headings whose titles or notes match the words	Read every candidate note, check neighbours
Old code, with version stated	Old heading, then correspondence row to new headings	Read every destination note

The table above separates search inputs by the check that follows each one. Every search ends in a note check. No search ends in a code assignment.

How does a search by description work?

A search by description starts from words that describe the activity, and returns headings whose titles or notes contain those words. The search is useful where a reader knows what is done but does not know the code. It is also the search most likely to mislead, because the same word can appear in headings for different activities, and because a heading can describe an activity without using the reader’s word for it. A description search should therefore use concrete terms for the production process or the output, rather than a sector name or a job title, and should follow every candidate to its note. A candidate whose note excludes the activity is not the heading, even if its title contains the search word. A heading whose note includes the activity is a candidate, even if its title does not contain the search word. The note governs. The search word only points.

How are search results tested?

Search results are tested in three ways. First, the note for the candidate heading is read in full, including inclusions, exclusions and cross references. The second step is reading neighbouring heading notes, confirming the activity is not excluded from the candidate while included in a neighbour. Third, where the search concerns an old code or an old description, the correspondence row is checked, to confirm whether the heading continued, merged, split or was renamed. A result that passes all three tests describes the activity in general terms. A result that fails any test points to the next candidate, in the neighbour headings or in the destination headings of the correspondence row. The search ends when a heading passes all three tests, or when the searcher concludes that no heading describes the activity as stated, and the description itself must be reframed in the terms of the classification.

What does a search not decide?

No reader code and no tax, licensing, funding or collective agreement question is decided by a search. It finds headings. The entry for a specific business is confirmed with Istat or with the business register holding the record. This site holds no register and decides no entry. A reader who treats a search result as an entry, without the register check, mistakes a candidate for a confirmation. The Istat search systems are published by Istat. The register entry is held by the register. The two should be kept apart, with the version stated beside every code found in either place.

Search the Istat systems by code or by description, test every candidate in its note and its neighbours, and let the register confirm the entry for the unit concerned. ”