Companies may therefore see new SBI codes in their research from this year onward.
We will gradually implement SBI 2025 in the surveys, says project manager Patrick Baart. This way, we can depict the economy much clearer and more precisely. In 2008, for example, the solar panel sector was still in its infancy and had no own code. Now it does, and we can highlight this sector and exactly state its size.
In 2026, we will do this for about 44 of 170 CBS business statistics. The operation is expected to be completed within four years. We follow the calendar for all countries in the European Union.
New SBI Codes
Some companies will face different CBS surveys from 2026 than before. And users of CBS statistics, such as governments and researchers, may encounter data based on the new SBI codes. This revision is a result of Eurostats policy, the European statistical office, to have EU countries revise SBI codes every fifteen years.
With the revision, statistics better reflect the current economic situation, says Baart. For example, many codes have been added related to intermediaries and mediation. These are companies that connect customers and service/product/seller. Think of Marktplaats.nl and comparison sites. Its great that entrepreneurs contribute through surveys to a more accurate mapping of the economy.
Step by Step
The Chamber of Commerce (KVK) Trade Register is the main source for the General Business Register (ABR) of CBS, the basis for business surveys. The Trade Register lists over three and a half million companies. They already received a new SBI code from KVK in September 2025. For different activities, companies sometimes have multiple codes. CBS statistics are based on one SBI code per company: the code for the companys main activity.Intensive Preparation
With the publication of statistics based on the new codes, a new era begins after two years of intensive preparation. During this period, CBS and KVK closely collaborated. CBS is responsible in the Netherlands for the SBI used, and KVK is responsible for assigning the correct SBI codes to companies based on the activity description provided by companies to KVK.Baart: The collaboration mainly involved providing companies with new coding. CBS created a linking scheme for this. And KVK developed tools to determine the best fitting SBI 2025 codes for a company. This was done based on the companys old codes, the linking scheme, SBI 2008 explanations, SBI 2025 explanations, and the companys activity description.
Changes for Companies
What will companies notice who must participate in a CBS survey? It depends on the type of survey, sector, and company type, says Baart. In many surveys, little changes for companies; they deal with surveys almost the same as before.For example, the automotive sector changes more. He explains: In the old SBI coding, there was one SBI code for companies in this sector. But in the automotive sector, many different activities are undertaken. Some companies focus mainly on wholesale. Others focus on retail and mainly sell to consumers. And there are companies, like garages, that mainly perform repairs. Therefore, each company received a code last year that fits its core activity. This affects surveys. All companies in the automotive sector, which were approached the same way by CBS in the old situation, received the same “automotive sector survey.” With the new SBI, they are specifically approached as wholesale, retail, or repair companies. So with specific questions about the relevant core activity. The questions about car trade they knew before will be encountered again. The survey name is different, but the content largely remains the same.
Same or Less Time
A principle of the revision is that companies do not spend more time providing data than before, and where possible even less. Baart: If there are relevant changes in a survey, we inform companies via the webpages on our website.Publishing
From this year, surveys are increasingly based on SBI 2025. Sometimes this requires extra work from CBS. Baart: For example, if Eurostat asks to publish statistics in the transition year based on both old and new SBI codes. Then we must also publish collected data based on new codes to old codes. We also “backcast” time series: time series from previous years compiled using the old SBI classification are published based on the new classification. For CBS data users, we clearly state which SBI classification the CBS data is based on: old or new.Until all surveys have new codes in a few years, CBS must maintain two registers: one based on old codes and one based on new codes. In some combined publications, data based on both codings will be visible. Baart: Take the SME Status Dashboard. It combines multiple statistics. Some statistics have not yet switched and are based on old codes. Others have switched and are based on new codes. We will explicitly mention this.