The situation
A client’s description of its products, services and revenue split
Your client in Gdańsk designs air-quality sensors, has them made by a contract manufacturer, sells them with a monthly software subscription and installs them in office buildings. It is setting up companies in Prague and Cluj. Each register asks for activity codes, and the client’s bank has asked for them too.
Choosing a code looks like form-filling until the activities overlap. The time goes on deciding what the main activity is when hardware, software and installation are sold together, checking the national version of the classification in each country, and writing down why, so the next person to open the file understands the choice.
What the research has to settle
The rules behind the answer
- One European structure, national versions
- NACE is the EU’s statistical classification of economic activities. National versions such as Poland’s PKD, the Czech CZ-NACE and Romania’s CAEN keep the European structure, and some add a further national level of detail.
- The main activity is measured, not declared
- The principal activity is the one that contributes most to value added. Where that cannot be measured, proxies such as turnover or staff time are used. A company selling sensors with a subscription has to establish which activity carries the most.
- Outsourced manufacturing has its own rules
- A company that designs a product and has it made by a contractor is not automatically classified as a manufacturer. The classification rules for outsourcing look at what the principal owns and controls, and the research checks them for the client’s set-up.
- The classification is being revised
- The EU has moved from NACE Rev. 2 to NACE Rev. 2.1, and national classifications are following with their own transition periods. The proposal should state which version each register accepts on the date of filing.
How it runs in azta
From the question to the document
The question, as you would type it
Polish company designs air-quality sensors, outsources manufacturing, sells them with a monthly software subscription and installs them in offices. Revenue: 45% hardware, 35% subscription, 20% installation. Which main and secondary NACE codes fit, and what are the PKD, CZ-NACE and CAEN equivalents?
You start with
A client’s description of its products, services and revenue split
- 01
Describe the business in plain words
Set out the products, services and revenue split. azta proposes NACE codes for the main and secondary activities and explains why each fits.
Activity-code classification· Free - 02
Check the outsourcing and version rules
Ask how the classification treats design with contract manufacturing, and which version each national register accepts now. azta cites the sources it relies on.
Cited research· Free - 03
Write the reasoning down
Ask for a short classification note per company, with the national equivalents. Edit it in Canvas.
Canvas · Ask azta· Pro - 04
Export it for the file
Export the note to Word and keep it with the client’s registration papers.
Word export· Pro You send
A proposal of main and secondary activity codes, with the reasoning for each
What you get
A proposal of main and secondary activity codes, with the reasoning for each
Classification note · draft
Activity codes for the Gdańsk, Prague and Cluj companies
Main activity. On the revenue split you gave us, sale of the sensors is the largest activity. Because manufacturing is outsourced, we have checked whether the company is classified as a manufacturer or a trader under the classification rules; the reasoning and the proposed code are in section 1.
Secondary activities. The software subscription and the installation work are listed as secondary activities, each with its code and the national equivalent in the Polish, Czech and Romanian classifications. If subscription revenue overtakes hardware, the main activity should be reviewed.
Version. Each code is given in the version the register accepts on the date of filing. Where a national register is moving to the revised classification, both codes are shown.
Outcomes on your numbers
What azta is worth on this task
Pro pays for itself after
17 minutes a month
At €100 an hour, that is all the time Pro (€27 a month) has to take off your desk to cover its price.
Example figures. Replace them with your own.
- Hours back a year
- 27
- Capacity at your rate
- €2,700
- More activity-code proposals a quarter
- 4.5
- Return on Pro
- 8.3×
- Research
- Drafting
- Your review
A scenario you set, not a promise. The hours that come back go to another client, or deeper into this one.
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Book a demoSources azta searches here
- Dziennik Ustaw
- e-Sbírka
- legislatie.just.ro
- EUR-Lex · Curia
What stays with you
- The client’s revenue split and what it actually does, which only the client knows.
- Choosing the codes that go on each form.
- Telling the client when the codes should be reviewed.
Frequently asked questions
- Is activity-code classification on the Free plan?
- Yes. Activity-code classification is part of the Free plan. Five questions a month are free, no card.
- Can a code matter beyond statistics?
- It can. Some national rules, banks and insurers refer to the registered code. Ask azta whether a rule the client relies on refers to it.
- Does azta submit the codes to the register?
- No. It proposes codes with reasoning. The filing stays with you.
