Industriecodes

Industriecodes are standardized identifiers used to classify the economic activity of businesses. They are designed to group firms by the nature of their primary operations, enabling statistical analysis, regulatory compliance, and administrative tasks such as registration, taxation, and procurement. A single code typically points to a broad sector and, if needed, to more detailed subcategories, reflecting a hierarchical structure from general activities to specific activities.

International and national systems create and maintain these codes. The United Nations International Standard Industrial Classification (ISIC) is a widely used international framework. The European Union uses NACE Rev. 2, which aligns with ISIC but is tailored for EU statistics and policy. In North America, the standard systems are NAICS and, historically, SIC; many national registries map to these. Some countries maintain their own national classifications, such as SBI in the Netherlands (Standaard Bedrijfsindeling).

Industriecodes appear on company registries, tax forms, invoices, and statistical datasets. They help policymakers and researchers compare economic activity across sectors and time, support market analysis, and enable targeted regulation and public procurement. When activities change, organizations may update their codes, and crosswalks or conversion tables may be used to align data between systems.

Because different coding schemes exist and are updated periodically, direct comparability requires careful mapping between systems. In practice, industry codes serve as a practical shorthand to summarize a firm’s primary activity for data aggregation and policy purposes.