Austria: what does Statistics Austria publish for ONACE 2025?

Statistics Austria publishes ONACE 2025, the Austrian Classification of Economic Activities, and assigns each enterprise to a subclass of ONACE 2025 in its Business Register, according to the classification notification material published by Statistics Austria. The notification material states that, on the basis of the economic activities actually carried out, each enterprise is assigned to a subclass of ONACE 2025 in the Business Register, and that where activities of different subclasses are carried out, the main economic activity must be determined.

It also states that the classification assignment forms the basis for economic and company statistics, that it is stored in the Business Register, and that enterprises are asked to check the assignment, confirm it where correct, and report a correction where it is incorrect. Those statements describe the Austrian system: a notification, a Business Register assignment, and a check and correction route. No timetable date for ONACE 2025, and no count of headings, was verified on a Statistics Austria page fetched for this work, and this guide therefore states no timetable and no counts for Austria.

What does the classification notification do?

The classification notification informs an enterprise of its assignment to an economic sector under ONACE 2025. Statistics Austria states, in the notification material, that it is obliged to provide every Austrian company with written information about its classification assignment free of charge, under the Federal Statistics Act 2000. The notification is sent to newly founded enterprises and to existing enterprises that have undergone a change of legal form, a change of company name, a restructuring, or a change in main economic activity, as described in the notification material. The notification gives the enterprise knowledge of its own classification, and a route to check and update the allocation stored in the register. It is an information and checking document. It is not a licence, a tax assessment, or any other decision. A reader who receives a notification should read it as a statistical assignment, check it against the main activity actually carried out, and use the confirmation or correction route stated in the notification itself.

Element	What Statistics Austria states
Assignment	Each enterprise assigned to a subclass of ONACE 2025 in the Business Register
Basis	Economic activities actually carried out, main activity where several subclasses apply
Notification	Written information about the assignment, free of charge, under the Federal Statistics Act 2000
Check	Enterprise asked to check the classification, confirm where correct, report where incorrect

The table above follows the Statistics Austria notification material as found in search results for this work. No working Statistics Austria deep link for that material was returned, so this guide cites only European primary sources in its frontmatter, and the table is attributed in the body to the notification material itself. A reader should check the current notification material on the Statistics Austria website, because the material found for this guide was a description page, not the notification itself.

How does ONACE 2025 relate to NACE Rev. 2.1?

ONACE 2025 is the Austrian national version of NACE Rev. 2.1. National versions build on the European structure, so that statistics collected in different member states can be compared. The European structure has 22 sections, 87 divisions, 287 groups and 651 classes (FIXED, as adopted), set by Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2023/137 of 10 October 2022 (FIXED), which entered into force on 9 February 2023 (FIXED). Austrian headings follow that structure at the shared levels, and add Austrian subclasses below the shared levels, as the notification material shows by assigning enterprises to subclasses. A reader should check the shared levels in Eurostat documents and the Austrian detail on the Statistics Austria website together. The European documents show the common backbone. The Austrian documents show the Austrian headings. This guide does not list Austrian subclasses, because no subclass list was verified on a Statistics Austria page fetched for this work.

How should an Austrian code be checked?

An Austrian code should be checked in the classification notification, in the ONACE 2025 material on the Statistics Austria website, and in the Business Register entry for the enterprise. The notification states the assignment. The ONACE material states the meaning of the heading. The register holds the entry. Where the assignment is incorrect, the notification material asks the enterprise to fill in the confirmation sheet and return it, or to send an electronic message, within the period stated in the notification. This guide does not state that period as a general rule, because the period in the material found for this work is stated as four weeks from receipt of the notification, and a period stated in one notification may not be the period in every notification. A reader should follow the period stated in the notification received, not a period copied from a guide. No timetable for the introduction of ONACE 2025 was verified, and no timetable is asserted in this guide. No timetable was published on the Statistics Austria pages checked on 28 October 2026, in the sense that no timetable page was returned for this work, and a date copied from a secondary summary must not be presented as the institute’s position.

What does an ONACE code not decide?

An ONACE code does not decide any question about a specific business beyond its statistical description. It does not decide tax, social security, licensing, funding or collective agreement questions. The EUR-Lex summary states that the European legislation only applies to statistical purposes. The classification assignment forms the basis for statistics, as Statistics Austria states, and for comparability of statistics through similar allocation in administrative registers. Comparability is a statistical purpose. It is not a decision about any individual enterprise’s obligations. The entry for a specific enterprise is confirmed with Statistics Austria or the business register that holds the record. This site holds no register and decides no entry.

Statistics Austria assigns each enterprise to an ONACE 2025 subclass in its Business Register and notifies the enterprise so the assignment can be checked, and the current ONACE material and notification on the Statistics Austria website are where the heading and the check route are confirmed.