REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL on the exercise of the power to adopt delegated acts conferred on the Commission by Regulation (EU) No 1893/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 December 2006 establishing the statistical classification of economic activities NACE Revision 2 and amending Council Regulation (EEC) No 3037/90 as well as certain EC Regulations on specific statistical domains
Date: 2023-10-10
Institutions: European Commission, Eurostat
Subjects: EU statistics, European Commission, delegated legislation, economic activity, national statistics, powers of the institutions (EU), statistical method, statistical nomenclature, transfer of competence

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   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 10.10.2023  COM(2023) 561 final  REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL on the exercise of the power to adopt delegated acts conferred on the Commission by Regulation (EU) No 1893/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 December 2006 establishing the statistical classification of economic activities NACE Revision 2 and amending Council Regulation (EEC) No 3037/90 as well as certain EC Regulations on specific statistical domains  
 
 
1.  

INTRODUCTION 

Regulation (EC) No 1893/2006 of 20 December 20061 laid down Revision 2 of the statistical 
classification of economic activities (NACE). This piece of legislation ensures that European 
classifications are relevant to the economic reality and improves the comparability of national, 
European and international classifications. It therefore improves the comparability of national, 
European and international statistics. 

Article 6(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1893/20062 empowers the Commission to adopt delegated 
acts (in accordance with Article 6a of the Regulation) amending Annex I to the Regulation to 
take  account  of  technological  or  economic  developments  or  to  align  NACE  with  other 
economic and social classifications. 

Under  the  terms  of  Article 6a(2),  the  power  to  adopt  delegated  acts  is  conferred  on  the 
Commission for a period of 5 years, starting from 26 July 2019. The delegation of power will 
be  tacitly  extended  for  additional  five-year  periods,  unless  the  European  Parliament  or  the 
Council  opposes  this  extension  no  later  than  3  months  before  the  end  of  each  period. 
Furthermore, the Commission must draw up a report on the delegation of power no later than 
9 months before the end of the five-year period. This report fulfils that obligation. 

COMMISSION  EXERCISE  OF  DELEGATED  POWERS  UNDER 

2.  
REGULATION (EC) NO 1893/2006 

Following the adoption by the Statistical Commission of the United Nations of Revision 5 of 
the International Standard Industrial Classification of All Economic Activities (‘ISIC Rev. 5’), 
the NACE classification had to be adapted to maintain its comparability and consistency with 
the standards for classifying economic activities used at international level.  

The  Commission  has  adopted  Commission  Delegated  Regulation  (EU)  2023/1373  to  take 
account  of  technological  developments  and  to  align  NACE  with  other  economic  and  social 
classifications,  most  notably  ISIC  Rev.  5.  Article  2(2)  of  that  Regulation  postpones  its 
application for a number of transmissions to the Commission (Eurostat). It has since transpired 

1 Regulation (EC) No 1893/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 December 2006 
establishing the statistical classification of economic activities NACE Revision 2 and amending Council 
Regulation (EEC) No 3037/90 as well as certain EC Regulations on specific statistical domains, OJ L393, 
30.12.2006, p. 1. 

2 As amended by Regulation (EU) 2019/1243 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 June 2019 
adapting a number of legal acts providing for the use of the regulatory procedure with scrutiny to Articles 290 
and 291 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, OJ L 198, 25.7.2019, p. 241. 

3 Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2023/137 of 10 October 2022 amending Regulation (EC) 
No 1893/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing the statistical classification of 
economic activities NACE Revision 2, OJ L19, 20.1.2023, p. 5. 

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that for an optimal roll-out of NACE, it might be necessary to postpone the date of application 
for some additional data transmissions. 

An up-to-date NACE classification is central to the Commission’s ongoing efforts to modernise 
the production of European statistics. This up-to-date classification is expected to contribute, 
through  more  comparable  and  relevant  data,  to  better  economic  governance  at  both  the 
European Union and national levels. 

3.  

CONCLUSION 

The Commission has exercised the power to adopt delegated acts conferred on it by Regulation 
(EC) No 1893/2006. The Commission considers that it should continue to have the delegated 
powers under Regulation (EC) No 1893/2006, as it needs to adopt delegated acts in the future 
in  a  timely  manner  to  regularly  update  the  NACE  classification.  Because  it  can  update  the 
NACE  classification  by  means  of  a  delegated  act,  the  Commission  is  able  to  support  the 
European  Statistical  System  by  providing  a  classification  that  makes  it  possible  to  produce 
accurate statistics that: (i) are of high quality; (ii) reflect the structure of the European Union 
economy; and (iii) are consistent with other economic and social classifications. 

Furthermore, in the future it may also be necessary to adapt by means of a delegated act the 
application  dates  set  out  in  Regulation  (EC)  No  1893/2006,  as  amended  by  Commission 
Delegated Regulation (EU) 2023/137.  

The Commission invites the European Parliament and the Council to take note of this report. 

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