NACE code lookup

NACE stands for Nomenclature statistique des activités économiques dans la Communauté européenne. It is the European standard for classifying economic activity, so that sector figures are built the same way across member states.

In Belgium every company is assigned one or more NACE codes when it registers with the CBE, based on what it actually does. A company with several activities therefore carries several codes: one main activity and any number of secondary ones.

The CBE currently runs on the NACE 2025 revision. That is the list you need to register a new activity or to look up a company's present code.

The 2008 and 2003 revisions stay useful when you are reading an older document: an annual filing, an old CBE extract or a publication from several years back may still quote a code from those revisions. Use the buttons above the table to switch revision.

When starting or expanding a business the code determines which activity you are registered under. That carries through to permits, VAT treatment and sometimes to sector specific obligations.

For prospecting and market analysis the code is the most practical way to define a sector. Filtering companies on NACE codes lets you build a list of businesses genuinely active in the market you are targeting.