Why was the former Section J split?

The former Section J, information and communication, was split because the activities inside it had grown in different directions, and one section no longer described them with enough detail. The review that produced NACE Rev. 2.1 separated content production and distribution from telecommunication and computing services. The split is a structural change in a statistical classification. No code for a specific reader is determined by it.

What prompted the review?

Paragraph 37 of the introductory guidelines states that in 2018 (FIXED), the European Statistical System Committee decided to launch a review of NACE Rev. 2, to integrate changes in economic activities since the previous revision, such as digitalisation, globalisation and more attention to well being and sustainability. A task force of representatives designated by national statistical institutes, chaired by Eurostat, carried out the review and reported to the Standards Working Group, which validated the work. The review was therefore a statistical maintenance exercise, not a change in the legal effect of a code.

Paragraph 38 adds the timetable of the first stage. The Committee validated the structure of NACE Revision 2 Update 1, NACE Rev. 2.1, in May 2022 (FIXED). Eurostat then published introductory guidelines and explanatory notes for the new classification, as well as correspondence tables between NACE Rev. 2 and NACE Rev. 2.1. The validation date matters for reading the manual: the structure described in this cluster is the structure validated at that stage, as adopted by Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2023/137, which entered into force on 9 February 2023 (FIXED).

What did the split separate?

The foreword to the manual states the separation in plain terms. One new section is dedicated to publishing, broadcasting, and content production and distribution activities. Another new section is dedicated to telecommunication, computer programming, consulting and other information service activities. The foreword adds that activities in the field can then be identified in a manner sufficiently detailed to capture the rapid development of content distribution and information service activities. The separation follows the work itself: making and distributing content sits apart from carrying content and providing computing infrastructure.

Paragraph 165 states the same separation with the division numbers. The first new section, for which code J is reused, includes the existing divisions 58, 59 and 60, plus activities moved from division 63. The second new section, for which code K is reused, includes existing divisions 61 and 62 and the rest of division 63. The reuse of both letters is deliberate in the manual, and it is the reason every code from the old section must be read with its version stated. The letter alone does not tell a reader which section is meant.

How large was the change in numbers?

| Measure | NACE Rev. 2 | NACE Rev. 2.1 |

|---|---|

| Sections | 21 | 22 |

| Divisions | 88 | 87 |

| Groups | 272 | 287 |

| Classes | 615 | 651 |

The table reproduces Table 5 in the manual, which presents the changes in numerical terms. The section count rises by one, because one section becomes two. The division count falls by one, because restructuring elsewhere in the classification removes a division. The group and class counts rise, because new detail is added at the lower levels. The numbers describe the structure as adopted. They do not describe any specific unit, and a larger class count does not mean that every old class gained a new counterpart.

What does the split not decide?

A section letter alone decides no code for a specific unit, and the letter J is the clearest warning of that limit in the whole classification. In NACE Rev. 2 the letter J meant information and communication. In NACE Rev. 2.1 the same letter means publishing, broadcasting and content production and distribution activities, and the letter K carries the other half of the old section. A code must therefore always be read with its version stated. The classification is statistical only. The entry is confirmed only by the institute or register holding the record, and tax, licensing, social security, collective agreement and funding questions are not decided by the code.

Where is a moved code confirmed?

The check for this subject runs through the manual, the table, and the register. The manual, the correspondence table, and the institute or register are the sources for the new structure, the recorded move for a class, and the entry actually held, in that order. No step in that sequence can be skipped by quoting a section letter.

Read the review purpose in paragraphs 37 and 38, note which half of the old section a category now sits in, and confirm any moved entry with the institute or register that holds it.