Nomenclatures and classifications

Finnish international trade statistics are published in accordance with the following classification standards:

  • Combined Nomenclature (CN)
  • Standard International Trade Classification (SITC)
  • Classification of Products by Activities (CPA) 
  • The Classification by Broad Economic Categories (BEC) aggregates goods to macroeconomic end-use categories
  • Main Industrial Groupings (MIG), according to primary purpose of use
  • Nomenclature générale des activités économiques dans les Communautés européennes (NACE)
  • National industrial classification (TOL)

The Harmonized System (HS Nomenclature) published by the World Customs Organization (WCO) is an international system for describing and coding trade commodities. The HS Nomenclature is renewed every five years. HS is a classification, which is generally being used for reporting Customs statistics even outside the EU.  The CN Nomenclature (8 digits), and the even more accurate Taric Nomenclature (10 digits) of the European Union, are based on the HS Nomenclature (6 digits, Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System, World Customs Organisation). The CN Nomenclature is used both for commodity descriptions and for statistical reporting within the European Union. The Combined Nomenclature with about 10,000 commodity codes is used for statistical reporting both when it comes to internal and external trade.

SITC is the classification of international trade issued by the United Nations (UN). CPA is the classification system of goods and services applied by the European Union. MIG is a classification specified by the European Union where various industries are aggregated according to the purposes of use of their products. NACE is the industrial classification of units dealing in economic activities.

The Combined Nomenclature (CN) is the primary classification standard used by Finnish international trade statistics. All exported and imported merchandise is classified according to the CN both in the statistical declarations of the internal trade and the customs declarations of the external trade. Also the classification standards SITC and CPA are applied at statistics published on international trade. The conversion keys from CN to SITC and from CN to CPA are used.

International trade statistics are also published since 1997 according to the NACE industries classification of the EU. Until 1997, the ISIC industries classification was applied. From 1997 to 2002 the conversion from CN to NACE took place via CPA. From 2003 to 2008, the industries classification was based on the TOL2002 industries classification of the business register of the Statistics Finland, and from 2009, it is based on the TOL2008. The conversion key from NACE to MIG is used. International trade statistics according to the MIG classification will be published from 2009.

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Statistics service
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You can ask about

  • finding and interpreting statistics on the foreign trade of goods
  • the use of the service for searching data in international trade statistics i.e. ULJAS database.