Why did Section J split into J and K?

Former Section J split into two sections because the field it covered had grown into two distinct fields that needed separate section headings. The Central Statistics Office in Ireland describes the split as the most obvious structural change in NACE Rev. 2.1. The split is the reason the section count rose from 21 in NACE Rev. 2 to 22 in NACE Rev. 2.1.

Which divisions went to each new section?

The manual states the division allocation in the passage on the new Section J and the new Section K. The first new section, for which the code J is reused, includes the existing divisions 58, 59 and 60. It also includes the activities of news agencies and postproduction recording conversion services to streaming formats, formerly in division 63. The second new section, for which the code K is reused, includes the existing divisions 61 and 62, and the rest of division 63. The split therefore divides the former division 63 between the two new sections, while divisions 58, 59, 60, 61 and 62 move as whole divisions.

The foreword to the manual gives the reason for the rearrangement in general terms: activities in the field can be identified in a manner sufficiently detailed to capture the rapid development of content distribution and information service activities. The manual passage on the review states that the update reflects technological developments and structural changes in the economy in the last two decades. The split is therefore presented as a response to growth and differentiation in the field, not as a correction of an error in the earlier section. The earlier section grouped the activities together. The new sections group them by the distinction between content production and distribution, on one side, and telecommunication, programming, consulting, infrastructure and other information services, on the other.

New section	Heading	Divisions stated in the manual
J	Publishing, broadcasting and content production and distribution activities	58, 59, 60, plus news agency and postproduction parts formerly in 63
K	Telecommunication, computer programming, consulting, computing infrastructure and other information service activities	61, 62, and the rest of 63

What changed inside the new sections beside the split?

Inside the new sections, the manual lists further changes that must not be confused with the split itself. A new group 60.3 for news agency and other content distribution activities was created, consisting of class 60.31 for news agency activities, moved from group 63.9 in NACE Rev. 2, and the new class 60.39 for other content distribution activities. In the new Section K, the distinction at group level between wired, wireless and satellite telecommunications was removed, and groups 61.1, 61.2 and 61.3 were merged into a single group 61.1, containing a single class 61.10. Class 62.01 was transformed into group 62.1, classes 62.02 and 62.03 were merged into group 62.2, and class 62.09 was transformed into group 62.9. A new group 63.1 for computing infrastructure, data processing, hosting and related activities was created, and group 63.9 was restructured.

Those changes are recorded in the manual section on major changes, and they are distinct from the section split. A reader who attributes every change in divisions 58 to 63 to the split will misread the changelog. The split changes the section letters and the section headings. The group and class changes inside the divisions change the lower level structure, and each must be traced in the correspondence table for the classes concerned.

What did the split do to later sections?

The split shifted the letters of the sections that followed. The manual Table 4 shows the comparison, and the passage beside Table 5 states that subsequent sections have been recoded. The former section K became section L, the former section L became section M, and the shift continued through to the former section U becoming section V. The headings of those sections, except for the renamed arts section, stayed the same in substance, while their letters changed. A reader who uses a section letter from NACE Rev. 2 to find a section in NACE Rev. 2.1 will therefore find the wrong section for every section after the split, unless the letter is converted using Table 4.

The shift also affects citations and dataset labels that include a section letter. A label that shows a letter and a numeric code together must state its version, because the same numeric code with a letter from the other version denotes a different section. The numeric code itself, without a letter, is unaffected by the shift, because the section letter is not part of the numeric code. The shift is a change in presentation and in the structure table, not a change in the numeric codes of the divisions that moved sections.

What does the split not decide?

The split does not decide the new class for an activity formerly in Section J, and it does not decide an entry for a business. Division 63 was divided between the two new sections, and several classes inside the new sections were created, merged or restructured. The correspondence table for each class shows whether its relationship is one to one, many to one, one to many, or many to many, and the explanatory notes for the new classes state what each includes and excludes. The institute or register that holds the record confirms an entry, using those sources. A reader who knows only that the section split has not yet learned where a particular activity sits in the new structure.

Read Table 4 for the section comparison, read the manual passages on the new sections for the division allocation, and confirm any entry with the national statistical institute or the business register that holds the record.