17 / 20 Registers and institutes where a code is confirmed
Is a code confirmed by the institute or by the register?
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Statistical classification only
Statistical classification only. This guide does not determine any reader's code. Confirm a code with the national statistical institute or the business register that holds the record. This is general information, not advice on any reader's registration.
A code is confirmed in two places, for two different questions. The meaning of a category is confirmed by the classification documents held by Eurostat and the national statistical institute: the explanatory notes, the introductory guidelines, and the correspondence tables. The entry for a specific business is confirmed by the business register or the statistical business register that holds the record for that unit. A reader who asks the institute for a business entry, or asks the register for the meaning of a category, asks the wrong holder, and the answer will be a referral rather than a confirmation.
What does the statistical institute hold?
The national statistical institute holds the national version of the classification, the timetable for its use in national statistics, and the statistical business register used as the frame for business statistics. The Central Statistics Office of Ireland, for example, describes NACE as the standard classification of industrial activity in Ireland, and states that its Business Register completed work during 2025 (FIXED, as stated by the Central Statistics Office) on updating the coding of enterprises to NACE Rev. 2.1. Eurostat holds the European version, the manual, the explanatory notes and the correspondence tables, and publishes them through its NACE pages and through ShowVoc, its online platform for classifications. The institute is therefore the holder for questions about what a category covers, when a national statistic moves to the new version, and how a class moved between versions.
What does the business register hold?
The business register holds the record for a unit: its identifiers, its recorded activity description, and the code or codes assigned to it. The register is the record of the entry, not the record of the classification. Statistics Netherlands explains that each business in the Netherlands is assigned a code by the Dutch Chamber of Commerce, the KVK, and that Statistics Netherlands uses the SBI to classify businesses according to their main business activity. The assignment sits with the KVK, and the statistical use sits with Statistics Netherlands. In France, the Sirene directory holds the company record, and Service Public states that the APE code can be viewed there and a rectification requested. The pattern is the same in each case: the register holds the entry, and the institute holds the classification that the entry uses.
How are the two holders shown in a check record?
A check record should name both holders, and should state which question each one answers. The table below shows the shape of that record, using the holders verified in the pages consulted for this guide. A record that names only one holder is incomplete, because it leaves the second question unanswered.
| Question | Holder | Document or record |
|---|---|---|
| What does the category cover? | Eurostat and the national statistical institute | Explanatory note and introductory guidelines |
| How did the activity move between versions? | Eurostat | Correspondence table |
| What code is held for this unit? | Business register that holds the record | Register entry for the unit |
| When does a national statistic move? | National statistical institute | Institute timetable publication |
The table is a division of labour, not a hierarchy. Neither holder decides the other’s question. The institute does not hold the register entry for a unit that sits in a separate business register, and the register does not set the meaning of a category.
What happens when the institute and the register are the same body?
In some countries, the statistical institute also maintains the statistical business register, and the two roles sit in one organisation. The Central Statistics Office Business Register in Ireland is an example of a register maintained by the institute. Even there, the two questions remain distinct, and the check record should still separate them: the classification documents answer the meaning question, and the register entry answers the entry question. The same body can answer both, but it answers them from different records, and a reader should ask for the record that matches the question. A request for a register entry should name the unit and its identifier. A request about meaning should name the category and the version.
What does a code not do in this division?
A code held in a register does not, by itself, decide tax, licensing, funding, collective agreement or social security questions, and a category meaning in an explanatory note does not decide them either. The EUR-Lex summary states that the legislation only applies to the use of the classification for statistical purposes, and does not oblige member states to collect, publish or supply data. The institute and the register are holders of statistical records. Questions about obligations for a specific business belong to the authority that administers the obligation, and the register entry should never be quoted as if it answered them.
Name the question, name the holder for that question, and confirm the entry with the register that holds the record for the unit.