What changed in Sections D and E in ISIC Rev. 5?

Sections D and E in ISIC Rev. 5, published by the UN Statistics Division, carry forward the broad utility and environmental scope of the previous revision, with clearer treatment of intermediation and of waste and recovery activities. Across the whole revision, including sections d and e, there are 22 sections from A to V, 87 divisions, 258 groups and 463 classes, and it was endorsed by the UN Statistical Commission in March 2023. Within Sections D and E, readers will find updated descriptions that reflect how power and gas brokerage, materials recovery and remediation are now organised. The full publication, not this summary, is the authority for any detailed comparison.

What stayed the same, and what was clarified?

The broad scope stayed put. Section D still covers utility supply, and Section E still covers water, sewerage, waste and remediation. What changed, in the terms of this guide, is clarity rather than a wholesale reorganisation. Intermediation for power and gas is described more clearly, so arranging a sale is easier to separate from operating a network. Waste and recovery descriptions are updated, so recovery work is easier to separate from collection and disposal. Remediation descriptions reflect how cleanup work is now organised. None of that means every unit changed its code. A clearer description can leave many units exactly where they were, while giving statisticians a firmer basis for the units at the edges.

That distinction between wording and code matters for anyone working with time series. If a description is rewritten but the underlying activity is unchanged, the numbers may remain comparable. If a category splits or merges, comparability needs a bridge. Only the official correspondence material can show which situation applies to a given activity, which is why this guide points readers there rather than offering a summary table of moves.

How should a researcher compare old and new waste numbers?

A researcher comparing waste statistics across revisions should start from the official Rev. 5 publication and the national correspondence table. That route shows which older categories map to the new descriptions, while this guide only explains the direction of change in general terms. The practical steps are unglamorous but necessary: find the old code, find its correspondence entry, read the new description in full, and check whether the activity in question still fits, has split, or has moved. Skipping the correspondence step and assuming a similar looking code means the same thing is the most common error in revision work, and it is easy to make because the section letters and many words look familiar.

National statistical institutes apply Rev. 5 through their own national versions and correspondence tables, so a researcher should also check the national version for the country in question. A change that looks straightforward internationally may have a local nuance, especially where a country organises waste or energy services in a distinctive way. The international publication is the shared reference; the national correspondence shows how that reference was implemented locally.

Which updated descriptions should readers notice first?

The following kinds of work are described in ISIC Rev. 5, published by the UN Statistics Division, as part of this grouping:

• Clearer intermediation descriptions for power and gas
• Updated waste and recovery descriptions
• Continued separation of supply from construction
• Refined treatment and disposal descriptions
• Consistency with the wider Rev. 5 structure of 463 classes

Read the third item as continuity, not change: supply and construction remain separate, as they were, even as other descriptions were refined. Read the last item as a structural check: the updated Sections D and E descriptions sit inside the same wider tree of 22 sections, 87 divisions, 258 groups and 463 classes, so a change in one description does not imply a change in the tree itself. That list is an orientation aid, not a substitute for the full class description. If sections d and e offers a heading that fits and a detail that does not, the Rev. 5 publication detail should prevail, and the national institute should be consulted for a formal record.

Why does a summary guide stop short of a detailed comparison?

A short guide can explain direction, but it cannot reproduce the correspondence tables, the explanatory notes and the national versions that a detailed comparison requires. Attempting to do so in a few paragraphs would risk exactly the error it warns against: implying that a similar word means the same code. The safer role for a guide like this is to orient a reader, to name the areas that were clarified, and to send the reader to the publication and the correspondence material for anything that will be used in analysis or in a register.

For sections d and e, each code statement in this guide comes from the UN Statistics Division classification detail and the ISIC Rev. 5 publication in the frontmatter.

Finally, keep the scope of this guide in its place: it is a statistical classification explained in general terms, it does not determine any reader’s code, principal activity or registration, and confirmation for any of those belongs with the national statistical institute or business register that holds the record.