NACE-BEL 2025

NACE-BEL 2025

The NACE code of an enterprise is determined based on its economic activity.

The NACE code is a code given by the European Union and its Member States to a specific class of commercial or non-commercial economic activities. The NACE is an official European list of activity descriptions. NACE stands for statistical classification of economic activities in the European Community (derived from the French title: Nomenclature statistique des activités économiques dans la Communauté européenne) or the “European classification of economic activities”. The NACE consists of a number (the NACE code) and a description.

The NACE code is mandatory for all EU countries and serves as a tool for compiling economic statistics and overviews. Each country may extend the list with additional codes, as long as the basic list remains unchanged. This is why in Belgium we also speak of NACE-BEL codes. The NSSO, VAT administration and enterprise counters use them to classify enterprises according to their economic activities.

As new economic activities are added and old ones disappear, it is sometimes necessary to update the economic activity classification. The last revision of the NACE classification of economic activities took place in 2006 and resulted in the NACE Rev. 2 classification.

The NACE Rev. 2.1 was adopted by the Commission in October 2022. It is available in English and goes down to 4 NACE digits. The new structure of the NACE Rev 2.1 was published in early 2023: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/products-eurostat-news/w/wdn-20230210-1
 

Work progress and info related to transition and implementation by statistical domain can be found on Eurostat's website: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/nace/overview

The new structure and labels of the NACE-BEL 2025 have been approved by Eurostat.

To convert the NACE-BEL 2008 codes into NACE-BEL 2025, you can use the correspondence table 2008-2025.

The NACE-BEL 2025 will be implemented gradually by statistical domain from 1 January 2025 according to the timing established at European level.

Implementation rollout plan for NACE Rev. 2.1

Group Statistical product Reference period Provision time
BSDG SBRs 2025 31/12/2025
BSDG ICT (hh & individuals) 2025 05/10/2025
BSDG PRODCOM 2025 30/06/2026
BSDG SBS 2025 31/10/2026 (prel)
30/06/2027 (final)
BSDG TEC 2025 31/12/2026
BSDG R&D 2025 30/06/2027
BSDG STEC 2025 30/06/2027
BSDG FATS 2025 31/08/2027
BSDG FDI 2025 30/09/2027
BSDG STS 2025 01/03/2028
BSDG ICT (ent) 2026 05/10/2026
BSDG Innovation 2024-2026 (2026 RY) 30/06/2028
BSDG GVC 2024-2026 30/09/2028