Description of the CNAE-2009

The National Classification of Economic Activities 2009. CNAE-2009 is the result of an extensive review of European and international classifications of products and economic activities, which began in 1999. The main reason for the reviews is the need for the classifications to be adapted to the changes in the world economy.

This classification is a boost to the work to modernise the production of statistics as it reflects the current situation and enables companies, financial institutions, governments and other market operators to have reliable data that is comparable worldwide.

The new classification is a far-reaching review and contains important changes to the previous one, the CNAE-93 Rev. 1, as it reflects the significant growth of service activities in the economies over recent years, particularly, of the information and environmental sectors.

Therefore, it is having a significant impact on the statistical operations of Eustat and of the Basque Statistics Organisation. It will not be fully implemented until 2011 and two economic activities classifications will have to coexist during this period.