What is a NACE code?

NACE is the classification of economic activities; in Türkiye workplace registrations are kept with six-digit NACE activity codes. Its weight in occupational health and safety is direct: the hazard class of a workplace hangs on this code. The annex list marks each of its 2,142 codes as low, hazardous or highly hazardous.

What the code says

NACE is the common classification of economic activities. In Türkiye workplace registration records are kept in its six-digit form. The first two digits give the division of the activity, the following digits the group and class, and the last two digits the national breakdown.

Code	Activity	Hazard class
05.10.00	Hard coal mining	Highly hazardous
20.11.01	Manufacture of industrial gases	Highly hazardous
41.00.01	Construction of residential buildings (excluding timber buildings)	Highly hazardous
47.11.01	Retail trade in grocery shops and supermarkets	Low hazard

Why it matters so much in OHS

The annex to the Communiqué on Workplace Hazard Classes writes a hazard class next to each activity code. The code is therefore not a statistical label; it is the starting point of a workplace's OHS duties. Specialist and physician time, the renewal interval of the risk assessment, training hours, the headcount of emergency teams and the first-aider ratio all follow from that class.

The list we use comes from the annex itself: of 2,142 six-digit codes, 898 are low hazard, 888 hazardous and 356 highly hazardous. The annex also holds 1,049 higher-level rows (section, division, group, class) and 20 repealed codes; since registration uses a six-digit code, only six-digit codes are offered for lookup.

Where the code is written

The activity code of a workplace sits in its social security registration record; the workplace declaration and the registration letter carry the same code. Codes of one family share their first two digits: divisions 41, 42 and 43 cover construction, divisions 05 to 09 cover mining. So the first two digits give the family and the full code gives the hazard class.

Three things that are often confused

A code is not an industry name. One industry heading can hold several classes: of the 177 codes in retail trade division 47, 161 are low hazard while 2 are highly hazardous.
The code must describe the main work. Under Art. 2/1 the class follows the main work carried out at the site; where several main activities exist, the higher class applies.
If the code changes, the duties change. A change of activity is notified within one month, and if the class changes the new requirements are met within 90 days.

Enter your code in the hazard class lookup to see its class, and study the spread of codes in your division on the sector pages.

Obligation	Legal basis	How the page covers it
The hazard class is read from the annex of the communiqué by looking at the activity code	Communiqué on Workplace Hazard Classes, art. 1 — pursuant to art. 9 of Law no. 6331, the hazard classes of workplaces are set out in the List of Workplace Hazard Classes in Annex 1; art. 3(5) — where an objection changes the class of an activity code in the list, the communiqué is amended accordingly.	The "Why it matters so much in OHS" section: the code is the starting point of the OHS duties.
The code must describe the principal activity; with several, the higher class applies	Communiqué on Workplace Hazard Classes, art. 2(1) — in determining the hazard class, the class of the principal activity carried out at the workplace is taken into account; art. 2(3) — where more than one activity fits the definition of a principal activity, the one with the higher hazard class prevails.	The "The code must describe the principal activity" item in the "Three points often confused" list.
If the code changes, notification is within one month and the requirements within 90 days	Communiqué on Workplace Hazard Classes, art. 2(2) — the employer notifies the Ministry of a change in the principal activity within one month at the latest; art. 3(4) — where the decision causes a change of class, the requirements are completed within 90 days and reported to the Directorate General of Occupational Health and Safety.	The "If the code changes, the duties change" item in the "Three points often confused" list.

Obligation	Legal basis	How the page covers it
The common classification of economic activities is established by a regulation	Regulation (EC) No 1893/2006, art. 1(1) — this Regulation establishes a common statistical classification of economic activities in the European Community, referred to as NACE Rev. 2; the classification enhances the comparability of national, Community and international classifications and hence of statistics; art. 1(2) — this Regulation shall apply only to the use of the classification for statistical purposes.	The "What the code says" section: NACE is the common classification of economic activities.
The four levels of the classification are defined in the regulation	Regulation (EC) No 1893/2006, art. 2(1) — NACE Rev. 2 shall include (a) a first level of headings identified by an alphabetical code (sections), (b) a second level identified by a two-digit numerical code (divisions), (c) a third level identified by a three-digit code (groups) and (d) a fourth level identified by a four-digit code (classes); art. 2(2) — NACE Rev. 2 is set out in Annex I.	The digit explanation in the "What the code says" section: the first two digits give the division, the next ones the group and class.
A national classification may add levels and use different coding	Regulation (EC) No 1893/2006, art. 4(1) — Member States' statistics presented according to economic activities shall be produced using NACE Rev. 2 or a national classification derived therefrom; art. 4(2) — the national classification may introduce additional headings and levels and a different coding may be used; each level, except the highest, shall consist either of the same headings as the corresponding NACE Rev. 2 level or of headings constituting an exact breakdown thereof.	The sentence "the last two digits show the national-level breakdown" in the "What the code says" section.

Obligation

Legal basis

How the page covers it

The common classification of economic activities is established by a regulation

Regulation (EC) No 1893/2006, art. 1(1) — this Regulation establishes a common statistical classification of economic activities in the European Community, referred to as NACE Rev. 2; the classification enhances the comparability of national, Community and international classifications and hence of statistics; art. 1(2) — this Regulation shall apply only to the use of the classification for statistical purposes.

The "What the code says" section: NACE is the common classification of economic activities.

The four levels of the classification are defined in the regulation

Regulation (EC) No 1893/2006, art. 2(1) — NACE Rev. 2 shall include (a) a first level of headings identified by an alphabetical code (sections), (b) a second level identified by a two-digit numerical code (divisions), (c) a third level identified by a three-digit code (groups) and (d) a fourth level identified by a four-digit code (classes); art. 2(2) — NACE Rev. 2 is set out in Annex I.

The digit explanation in the "What the code says" section: the first two digits give the division, the next ones the group and class.

A national classification may add levels and use different coding

Regulation (EC) No 1893/2006, art. 4(1) — Member States' statistics presented according to economic activities shall be produced using NACE Rev. 2 or a national classification derived therefrom; art. 4(2) — the national classification may introduce additional headings and levels and a different coding may be used; each level, except the highest, shall consist either of the same headings as the corresponding NACE Rev. 2 level or of headings constituting an exact breakdown thereof.

The sentence "the last two digits show the national-level breakdown" in the "What the code says" section.

What is a NACE code?

What the code says

Why it matters so much in OHS

Where the code is written

Three things that are often confused

Legal basis

Legal basis — Türkiye

Legal basis — European Union

Manage this in Optifora

What is a NACE code?

What the code says

Why it matters so much in OHS

Where the code is written

Three things that are often confused

Related answers

Legal basis

Legal basis — Türkiye

Legal basis — European Union

Manage this in Optifora