Classification of Economic Activities, issue 2008 (WZ 2008)



The Classification of Economic Activities, issue 2008 (WZ 2008), was developed under extensive participation of data users and data producers in administration, economy, research and society and provides a basis for a consistent classification of economic activities of enterprises, local units and other statistical units in all official statistics. It respects the requirements of the Statistical Classification of Economic Activities in the European Community (NACE Rev. 2), which was published in the Regulation (EC) No 1893/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 December 2006 (OJ EC No L 393 p. 1) and which is based on the International Standard Industrial Classification (ISIC Rev. 4) of the United Nations. The approval of the European Commission according to article 4 (3) of the aforementioned Regulation is available.

The usage of WZ 2008 is based on Article 8 of the aforementioned Regulation. According to this article statistics referring to economic activities performed from 1 January 2008 onwards (reference period) have to be produced using NACE Rev. 2 (in Germany using WZ 2008). By way of derogation short-term statistics governed by Regulation (EC) No 1165/98 and the labour-cost index governed by Regulation (EC) No 450/2003 have to be produced using NACE Rev. 2 (in Germany using WZ 2008) from 1 January 2009. The usage from 2008/2009 shall not apply for the following statistics: national accounts statistics under Regulation (EC) No 2223/96, economic accounts for agriculture under Regulation (EC) No 138/2004 and statistics concerning balance of payments, international trade in services and foreign direct investment under Regulation (EC) No 184/2005. These statistics will use NACE Rev. 2 / WZ 2008 from a later date.
01.01.2008 00:00:00 (GMT+0100)
29.02.2024 17:11:36 (GMT+0100)
29.02.2024 17:11:36 (GMT+0100)
© Statistisches Bundesamt, Wiesbaden 2008
Distribution (also in parts) permitted, provided that the source is mentioned.
Federal Statistical Office Federal Statistical Office
Issued by: Statistisches Bundesamt (Federal Statistical Office), Wiesbaden,
Section „Classifications“, Phone.: 0611/75-2510, -2294, -2280, Fax: 0611/75-3953,
E-Mail: wz@destatis.de
Meuser, Anton


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Structure with explanatory notesDownload xml-file
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StructureDownload pdf-file
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KeywordsDownload xml-file
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CorrespondencesDownload xml-file
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