What happened to trade and intermediation in Italy?

Trade and intermediation headings in ATECO 2025 follow the European changes in NACE Rev. 2.1, because ATECO 2025 is consistent with NACE Rev. 2.1, as Istat states. Division 45, for the sale and repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles, was removed, and its activities were placed under wholesale trade, retail trade, and repair. Classification by retail sales channel was eliminated. Numerous new classes were created for intermediation activities, previously grouped with the products or services being intermediated or under the residual business support class.

Those three changes are stated for the European classification in the explanatory document of the Spanish statistical institute, which describes the same European structure that ATECO 2025 follows. They are stated here as European changes reflected in the Italian classification, not as Italian code lists, because no Italian class list for these areas was verified on the Istat page fetched for this work.

How did trade change?

Trade changed in two ways. First, the separate division for motor vehicle trade and repair ended, and its activities were grouped with wholesale trade, retail trade and repair in general. Second, the distinction between retail channels ended, so that retail is grouped by what is sold and whether the trade is wholesale or retail, rather than by whether the sale happened in a shop, online, at a market, or through another channel. Statistics Netherlands states the reason for the channel change: many physical shops also sell online, the distinction is no longer clear, and the activity is the same in both cases. The Spanish explanatory document states the same elimination of channel criteria. The Italian structure follows the same logic at the shared levels. A reader who works with Italian trade figures should therefore expect channel headings to disappear, and should combine old channel headings through the correspondence table when comparing with new goods based headings.

Change	Old grouping	New grouping
Division 45 removed	Separate division for motor vehicle trade and repair	Wholesale, retail and repair divisions
Channel distinction ended	Headings divided by shop, online, stall or market	Headings by goods sold and wholesale or retail character
Intermediation added	Grouped with the product, or in residual support	Own classes in most sections

The table above describes the changes in general terms for the European structure reflected in ATECO 2025. It names no Italian class, because class rows must be read in the Istat structure and correspondence table for the headings concerned.

How did intermediation change?

Intermediation changed from a hidden grouping to a visible one. Activities that link buyers and sellers, or users and providers, for a product or service supplied by another party, now have their own classes in most sections. The intermediary may operate a platform, a marketplace, a comparison site, or an agency arrangement, but the defining feature is the linking role. The boundary in each section is stated in the notes for the new classes, showing what counts as intermediation for that product or service type and what stays in the class for the underlying activity. Old product and service headings lose the intermediation activities previously grouped inside them, and the residual business support heading loses the intermediation activities grouped there for want of a better place. A series for an old product class that once included intermediation will therefore show a fall when intermediation moves out, even if the underlying activity did not fall. The correspondence table shows the movement. The notes show the new scope.

How are the changes checked in Italy?

The changes are checked in the Istat structure, notes and bidirectional correspondence table, published in the dedicated ATECO section of the Istat website. The structure shows the headings. The notes show the content of each heading. The table shows the link between ATECO 2022 and ATECO 2025 in both directions. A reader should read the note for each candidate heading, including cross references to neighbouring headings, and should check the correspondence row where an old heading is involved. The interactive search systems updated by Istat can help find headings, but a search result is a candidate, not a decision, and it must be tested in its note. Confirmation of a specific business entry comes from Istat or the business register holding the record. This site holds no register and decides no entry.

What do the changes not decide?

The changes do not decide the code for any reader, and they do not decide tax, licensing, funding or collective agreement questions. Trade and intermediation are areas where other authorities apply their own rules, and a statistical heading does not replace those rules. A code for intermediation describes the statistical grouping of the linking activity. It does not describe the legal character of the arrangement. A code for retail trade describes the statistical grouping of the trade. It does not grant a licence or set a tax treatment. The classification groups activities for statistics. Other bodies decide their own questions under their own rules.

Trade lost its separate motor vehicle division and its channel headings, intermediation gained its own classes, and the Istat structure, notes and table together show the new grouping for each heading. ”