What happened to Section J in NACE Rev. 2.1?

The old Section J, for information and communication, was split into two sections in NACE Rev. 2.1. Section J now covers publishing, broadcasting and content production and distribution activities. Section K now covers telecommunication, computer programming, consulting, computing infrastructure and other information service activities. The split is the most visible structural change in the revision. It is a restructure, not a merge and not a rename. Activities were regrouped between the two new sections, and every section after the old Section J moved one letter forward as a result.

What did the old Section J contain?

The old Section J grouped information and communication activities together under one letter. That grouping brought together activities that produce content, activities that carry content, and activities that process information. The revision separates the production and distribution of content from the carriage and processing of information. The EUR-Lex summary lists the 22 sections of NACE Rev. 2.1 in order, with publishing, broadcasting and content production and distribution activities at J, and telecommunication, computer programming, consulting, computing infrastructure and other information service activities at K. The CSO in Ireland describes the same split and calls it the most obvious structural change, while noting many other changes at division, group and class level. The section titles alone show the new logic. The notes and the correspondence tables show how each lower heading was placed.

Section	Rev. 2.1 title area	Character
J	Publishing, broadcasting and content production and distribution	Content creation and distribution
K	Telecommunication, computer programming, consulting, computing infrastructure and other information services	Carriage, programming and information services
Later sections	Same activity areas as before the split	Letter moved one step forward

The table above uses the section titles as published in the EUR-Lex summary. Lower level placement must be checked heading by heading in the correspondence tables. A section title never decides the class for a specific activity.

Why were the sections regrouped?

The regrouping reflects a change in how the activities relate to each other in the economy. Content production and distribution activities are commonly carried out together, and the new Section J groups them on that basis. Telecommunication and computing activities form a different grouping, built around infrastructure, programming and information services. Eurostat states that NACE Rev. 2.1 introduces new concepts at all levels and restructures a number of existing headings, while maintaining the structure where no change was explicitly required. The Section J split is the case where change was explicitly required at section level. The regrouping changes how statistics are presented. It does not change the activities themselves, and it does not decide anything about a specific business beyond its statistical description.

What happened to the letters after J?

Every section after the old Section J moved one letter forward. Financial and insurance activities, previously at K, sit at L in Rev. 2.1. Real estate, professional services, administrative services and the remaining sections each moved one step in the same way. The shift is mechanical, but its effect on datasets is large. A dataset that stores section letters without the version will misplace every section from the old K onwards when it is read against the new structure. The letter shift is also why renumbering without a content change must be checked separately from restructuring: a heading can carry a new letter and the same content, or a new letter and new content, and only the table and the note together show which case applies.

What must a reader check after the split?

A reader should check three things. First, the section title for the activity area, to see whether the activity sits in content or in carriage and processing. Second, the correspondence row for the old heading, to see whether the activity stayed in the same lower level grouping or moved. Third, the explanatory note for the new class, to confirm inclusions and exclusions. Where a specific business entry is confirmed is the national statistical institute or the business register holding the record. A code in Section J or Section K does not decide tax, licensing, funding or collective agreement matters. The split is a statistical regrouping. The institute or register holds the entry.

One old section became two new sections, the letters after it moved one step, and the table row and the note for each heading show where its activities now sit.