What changed for intermediation service activities?

Intermediation service activities gained a set of new classes in NACE Rev. 2.1, placed in the divisions where the goods and services concerned are produced. The Central Statistics Office in Ireland notes the introduction of new concepts at all levels, revised rules for outsourcing, and the treatment of intermediation activities, as conceptually significant changes in the update. Intermediation is therefore a cross cutting change, not a change confined to one section, and its classes must be traced division by division.

Which new intermediation classes were created?

The manual lists the new classes in the passage on intermediation service activities, in division order. The list begins with class 35.40 for activities of brokers and agents for electric power and natural gas, class 43.60 for intermediation for specialised construction services, classes 47.91 and 47.92 for intermediation for non specialised and specialised retail sale, classes 52.31 and 52.32 for intermediation for freight and passenger transportation, and class 53.30 for intermediation for postal and courier activities. It continues with classes 55.40 for accommodation, 56.40 for food and beverage services, 61.20 for telecommunication reselling and intermediation for telecommunication, 68.31 for real estate activities, and 74.91 for patent brokering and marketing services.

The list continues with classes 77.51 and 77.52 for intermediation for rental and leasing, class 82.40 for intermediation for business support services not elsewhere classified, class 85.61 for intermediation for courses and tutors, class 86.97 for intermediation for medical, dental and other human health services, class 87.91 for intermediation for residential care activities, class 95.40 for intermediation for repair and maintenance, and class 96.40 for intermediation for personal services. The full headings are given in the manual passage, and the headings must be read there, because the short forms in this guide do not replace the full headings. Each class sits in the division for the underlying good or service, rather than in a single division for intermediation as a whole.

Division	New intermediation class or classes listed in the manual
35	35.40
43	43.60
47	47.91, 47.92
52	52.31, 52.32
53	53.30
55 and 56	55.40, 56.40

How does the manual treat intermediation as a concept?

The manual treats intermediation in the passage on rules for specific activities, as well as in the changelog passage. The foreword states that the increasing importance of intermediation service activities is accommodated through several new categories, as one of three examples illustrating the changes in the update. The Irish summary states that significant conceptual changes occurred with the introduction of new concepts at all levels, revised rules for outsourcing, and the treatment of intermediation activities. The changelog passage cross refers to the rules passage, showing that the new classes and the rules for applying them belong together. A reader who lists the new classes without reading the rules will know where the classes sit, but will not know how the rules distinguish an intermediation activity from the underlying activity it intermediates.

The rules passage itself is not summarised in full in this guide, because the passage is detailed and the rules must be read in the manual. The point that can be stated from the sources cited is the placement principle: the new classes were created in the divisions where the goods and services are produced. Intermediation for a service therefore sits beside the classes for that service, in the same division, rather than in a separate intermediation division. That placement is the structural fact that the changelog records, and it is the fact a reader needs to find the class in the structure table.

What must be checked for a class that supplied an intermediation class?

A new intermediation class draws its scope from activities previously grouped elsewhere, and the correspondence table shows the relationship. The manual states that classes for which some activities move from a NACE Rev. 2 class to another NACE Rev. 2.1 class are presented in the correspondence tables, according to the Eurostat overview page. For an intermediation class, the correspondence table will show whether the relationship is one to one, many to one, one to many, or many to many, and which old classes supplied the activities. The explanatory note for the new class then states what the class includes and excludes, and the note for each old class states what has moved. A reader must read both notes, and the table row, together, before drawing any conclusion about the scope of the new class.

The notes are particularly important for intermediation classes because the heading words, intermediation service activities for a named field, do not on their own state the boundary with the underlying activity. An activity that intermediates a service and an activity that provides the service itself may share words in their headings, while sitting in different classes. The notes state the boundary, with inclusions, exclusions and cross references. A heading comparison alone cannot settle the boundary, and must not be presented as if it could.

What does the intermediation change not decide?

The intermediation change does not decide that a particular activity is an intermediation activity, and it does not decide an entry for a business. It creates categories for intermediation activities, placed in the divisions for the underlying goods and services, and it records the creation in the changelog. Whether an activity falls in an intermediation class or in the class for the underlying activity is a question for the notes and the rules, applied by the institute or register that holds the record. The creation of a category does not, on its own, move an entry. Recoding of entries is a separate step, on the timetable of the institute or register concerned.

Read the intermediation passage in the manual for the full list of new classes, check the correspondence table for the class concerned, and confirm any entry with the national statistical institute or the business register that holds the record.