You can find out more about economic codes on this page.
The Guernsey Economic Sector Classification Codes are used to group businesses by the type of economic activity they perform.
The codes are applied to data held by several States' service areas including Social Security, Income Tax and the Guernsey Registry. The data which is collected (e.g. employment trends and economic output) can then be analysed by sector. The nineteen sectors (listed below) align with those of the UK Standard Industrial Classification 2007 and International Standard Industrial Classification Rev.4.
- Agriculture, horticulture, fishing and quarrying
- Manufacturing
- Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply
- Water supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation activities
- Construction
- Wholesale, retail and repairs
- Hostelry
- Transport and storage
- Information and communication
- Finance
- Real estate activities
- Professional, business, scientific and technical activities
- Administrative and support service activities
- Public administration
- Education
- Human health, social and charitable work activities
- Arts, entertainment and recreation
- Other service activities
- Activities of households as employers
The coding system was updated in September 2019, when some extra codes were added to better describe the different types of holding companies and financial vehicles in Guernsey. Some of the previously used codes are to be discontinued. These are listed below for information, but you will be contacted if any action is required from you in order to update your code. A printable guide is available to 
download here [211kb].
Economic codes for employers and sole-traders
- There are 115
Economic sector codes for employers and sole traders - web [536kb], all of which can also be applied to companies and sole-traders.
- If you are registered for the ETI scheme in order to pay tax and/or contributions on pensions, but are not an employer, you will need to use the code for Retirement annuities, pension funds and schemes (10.7.3).
Economic codes for companies
- There are 126
- Within the 126, there are six codes for holding companies, which are to be used exclusively for companies that are not employers:
Passive equity holding company (excluding intellectual property, real estate and transport) carrying on no significant trading activity or management or shareholder control of another entity 10.5.2 Active equity holding company (excluding intellectual property, real estate and transport) with significant shareholder control over another entity 10.5.3 Company holding real estate property with no significant income generation other than the rental or leasing of assets and capital growth 10.5.4 Company holding intellectual property, trademarks or image rights no significant income generation other than the rental or leasing of assets and capital growth 10.5.5 Company holding aircraft or ships with no significant income generation other than the rental or leasing of assets and capital growth 10.5.6 Other holding company not directly engaged in trading or other active income generating activities 10.5.7 - There are also five codes for financial vehicles, which are to be used for companies that are not employers (these can also be used for trusts, funds and other products / schemes - as described in the next section):
Captive insurance and re-insurance products 10.7.2 Retirement annuities, pension funds and schemes 10.7.3 Other insurance funds, cells, vehicles and products 10.7.4 Regulated collective investment products, including open-ended and closed-ended funds, portfolios 10.7.5 Unregulated investment products 10.7.6 - Some additional guidance is provided by the Guernsey Registry regarding how to update the economic code held for a company on the register via a change company details submission.
Economic codes for trusts, funds and similar (including retirement and pension) products / schemes / vehicles that are not companies
- There are six codes to be applied to trusts, funds and other products / schemes /vehicles that are not employers.
- There is one code that is to be used exclusively for trusts and similar structures that are not companies (10.7.1), but the other five codes can be used for companies or trusts, funds and other products / schemes / vehicles:
Trusts and other similar structures (that are not companies) 10.7.1 Captive insurance and re-insurance products 10.7.2 Retirement annuities, pension funds and schemes 10.7.3 Other insurance funds, cells, vehicles and products 10.7.4 Regulated collective investment products, including open-ended and closed-ended funds, portfolios 10.7.5 Unregulated investment products 10.7.6 - For more information on the types of business activities included in each sector or to find out which code you need to complete your form for the Guernsey Registry, please see the Guide and spreadsheet on the right of this page.
Discontinued economic codes
- The following codes were discontinued in 2019 and replaced with one or more new codes.
- Finance sector:
- Code 10.2.1 was discontinued in 2019. Code 10.7.1 was introduced for trusts and other similar structures that are not companies. Various new codes (starting 10.5) for holding companies and (starting 10.7) for financial vehicles were also added.
- Code 10.3.1 was discontinued in 2019. It was replaced by codes 10.3.3, 10.3.4, 10.3.5 and 10.3.6.
- Code 10.3.2 was discontinued in 2019. It was replaced by codes 10.7.5 and 10.7.6.
- Code 10.4.1 was discontinued in 2019. It was replaced by codes 10.4.3, 10.7.2.
- Code 10.4.2 was discontinued in 2019. It was replaced by codes 10.4.4, 10.4.5, 10.7.3 and 10.7.4.
- Code 10.5.1 was discontinued in 2019. It was replaced by codes 10.5.2, 10.5.3, 10.5.4, 10.5.5, 10.5.6 and 10.5.7.
- Code 10.6.1 was discontinued in 2019. It was replaced by codes 10.9.1, 10.9.2 and 10.9.3.
- Code 10.6.2 was discontinued in 2019. It was replaced by code 10.8.1.
- Professional, business, scientific and technical activities sector:
- 12.3.1 was replaced with 12.3.3 and 12.3.4.
- Arts, entertainment and recreation sector:
- 17.3.1 was replaced with 17.3.2 and 17.3.3.
The economic sector codes can be used alongside the Classification codes for occupations, which are used to group together jobs, roles or skill levels.
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