When do balance of payments, trade in services and investment statistics move?

Balance of payments, international trade in services, and foreign direct investment are listed by Eurostat as domains whose data transmission requirements were updated for NACE Rev. 2.1, with changes set out in Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2024/3104. No single application date for these domains was verified in the pages consulted for this guide, and no date published as checked on 28 October 2026 is asserted for them here. The general range applies: from 1 January 2025 to 1 January 2031 (FIXED range), depending on the statistical domain.

What do these three domains cover, in classification terms?

Balance of payments statistics describe transactions between residents and non residents, organised in part by the economic activity of the resident unit. International trade in services statistics describe service transactions by activity and by partner. Foreign direct investment statistics describe investment positions and flows, again broken down by the activity of the unit concerned. In each case, the NACE code is a breakdown variable in a statistical aggregate. It is not a description of a single transaction, and it is not a licence or an authorisation for the transaction. The three domains are grouped together on the Eurostat transition page because the same delegated regulation sets out their updated transmission requirements, not because they share a single reference period or a single publication calendar.

What does the Eurostat transition page state, and what does it not state?

The Eurostat transition page states that updated data transmission requirements have been developed on the basis of the correspondence table between NACE Rev. 2 and NACE Rev. 2.1, and that statistics which currently use NACE Rev. 2 can be provided after the changeover to NACE Rev. 2.1. For balance of payments, international trade in services, and foreign direct investment, it states that changes are set out in Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2024/3104. The page consulted does not state a single application date for these domains. This guide therefore records the instrument, records the general range, and records the absence of a verified domain date, rather than presenting a date from another domain as if it applied here.

Why does the correspondence table matter more here than a single date?

In these domains, a unit can appear in more than one dataset, and the same unit can be classified in different breakdowns for different purposes. The correspondence table describes, for each NACE Rev. 2 heading, how activities currently classified there should be classified in NACE Rev. 2.1, in the words of the Eurostat transition page. Where a Rev. 2 class splits, the table shows a one to many mapping. That mapping does not by itself pick the new class for a specific unit, and it does not guarantee a one to one result. A reader who compares a balance of payments series across the changeover must check the mapping type for the classes that dominate the series, and must check whether the series was backcast or double reported. A single date, even if it were known, would not answer those questions.

Check	Question to answer	Source
Instrument	Which delegated regulation sets the updated requirements?	Eurostat transition page
Version	Which NACE version does the dataset use?	Dataset metadata
Mapping	Does the class split, merge, or stay the same?	Correspondence table
Meaning	What does the new class include and exclude?	Explanatory note

The table is a working checklist. It is not a timetable, and it does not replace the domain instrument. It keeps the version, the mapping and the meaning in view at the same time, which is the combination a comparison needs.

How are reference periods handled across the changeover?

Reference periods are the periods the statistics describe, and they do not move with publication dates. A balance of payments release published after the changeover can still describe a reference period compiled under the earlier classification, and a later release can restate the earlier period on the new basis through backcasting. Eurostat describes parallel datasets and backcasting methods on its transition page for this reason, so that historical series can be presented on a consistent basis. A reader should record the reference period, the NACE version, and any restatement note together, and should not compare a restated series with an unrestated one without noting the difference. The classification change is a break to be managed in the metadata, not a trend to be read from the figures.

What does this timetable not decide?

The updated transmission requirements for these domains do not decide the classification of a specific enterprise, and they do not decide any question about exchange control, investment approval, tax, or licensing. According to the EUR-Lex summary, the legislation only applies to statistical use of the classification. The entry for a specific unit is confirmed with the national statistical institute or the business register that holds the record, and any question about a transaction is for the authority that governs that transaction, not for the classification.

Check the instrument on the Eurostat transition page, check the version and reference period in the dataset metadata, and confirm a single entry with the institute or register that holds it.