What does ISIC not decide?

ISIC does not decide anything about a specific business, person, or product, beyond the statistical description of an activity category. It is a classification of economic activities, maintained by the United Nations Statistics Division for the collection and presentation of statistics, and its categories describe activities in general terms. It does not determine the code for any reader, it does not grant a licence, it does not set a tax rate, it does not decide employment or social security status, and it does not decide eligibility for funding or for a collective agreement.

Those questions are decided by other laws, other rules, and other holders, on facts that ISIC does not record. A reader who treats an ISIC category as a decision about a specific case misreads the classification, and the misreading is the one this cluster is written to prevent.

Why does a statistical classification not decide a specific case?

A statistical classification partitions the universe of activities into categories that are exhaustive and mutually exclusive, in the terms Eurostat uses for statistical classifications in its NACE background article: each element should be possible to classify in one category, each element should be classified in only one category, and methodological principles should allow consistent allocation. Those principles are designed for statistics, so that aggregates can be compiled and compared. They are not designed to decide the rights or obligations of a specific unit. A category definition states what activities fall inside it and what activities fall outside it, in general terms, for statistical purposes. It does not state what a named business does, what it is permitted to do, or what it owes. The gap between a general category and a specific case is filled by the register entry, the licence, the tax record, and the decision of the body that administers the relevant rule, not by the classification.

What is the limit, in the words of the NACE legislation?

The limit for NACE, from which the ISIC limit follows by the same reasoning, is stated in the EUR-Lex summary: the legislation only applies to the use of the classification for statistical purposes, and it does not oblige member states to collect, publish or supply data. ISIC is the international standard from which NACE is derived, and it is maintained for the same statistical purpose: to provide a framework for collecting and reporting economic data, as the United Nations Statistics Division states. A use of ISIC for a non statistical purpose, which the Division notes is increasing, does not change that limit. A commercial dataset, a listing, or a grouping that uses ISIC codes is a reuse of a statistical classification, and it should be checked against the category meaning and the version used, and it should never be quoted as if the United Nations had made a finding about the business or product concerned. The reuse is a private act. The classification is a public standard. The two should not be confused.

What does a correspondence mapping not guarantee?

A correspondence mapping between ISIC and another classification, or between two revisions of ISIC, does not guarantee a one to one result where the table shows a one to many, many to one, or split pattern. Eurostat describes correspondence tables between two different classifications as showing the relationship between all positions of the two classifications involved, and a relationship is not a guarantee. Where a category splits, the table shows the split, and the explanatory notes for the target categories must be read to understand the division. Where a category merges, the table shows the merger, and the comparison must be made at the aggregate. A mapping that is presented as a guarantee, without the mapping type and the notes, overstates the table, and this guide does not present any mapping in those terms. The limit on mappings is part of the limit on the classification itself: a statistical relationship between categories is not a decision about a unit.

Question	Decided by ISIC?	Decided by
What does the category cover?	Yes, in general terms, in the note	United Nations Statistics Division publication
What code is held for a unit?	No	National statistical institute or business register
Is an activity licensed?	No	Licensing authority, on the licence record
What tax applies?	No	Tax law and the tax record
Is funding or an agreement available?	No	Funding rules, agreement, and the deciding body

The table is a boundary map. The first row is the only row where ISIC decides anything, and it decides it in general terms, for statistics. Every other row belongs to another holder, and a citation to ISIC should never be used as evidence for those rows.

How is the limit stated in a citation or a quotation?

The limit is stated in the same sentence as the code, not in a footnote added later. A quotation of an ISIC code should name the classification, the revision, the category, and the statistical purpose, and should state that the quotation is a category description, not a finding about a specific business. A quotation that gives only the code invites the reader to treat it as a finding, and a footnote added after the fact rarely corrects that impression. The guardrail on every guide in this cluster states the limit in the same way: statistical classification only, no determination of any reader’s code, confirmation with the institute or register, and general information, not advice on any reader’s registration. The guardrail is not a disclaimer added for form. It is the statement of what the classification is for, and it belongs in the body of every guide, in its own words, at least once.

Where is a specific question answered?

A question about a category is answered in the United Nations Statistics Division publication for the revision in use. A question about the entry for a unit is answered by the national statistical institute or the business register that holds the record. A question about a licence, a tax position, or eligibility is answered by the authority that administers the relevant law or rule. The classification points to the first holder. It does not answer the second or third questions, and it should never be quoted as if it did.

State the statistical limit with every ISIC code, check the category in the Division publication, and confirm a business entry with the institute or register that holds it. ”