How Is The Industry Segment Determined?

In Germany, Switzerland, and Austria, commercial registers generally do not provide standardized public industry classification codes for companies. As a result, some companies - especially newly formed or inactive entities - cannot be assigned a reliable industry segment if insufficient business information is available.

To classify companies despite these limitations, North Data uses the corporate purpose descriptions recorded in the respective commercial registers. Historically, these descriptions were often vague or highly generic, but in recent years they have become more detailed and informative. North Data also uses automated classification methods, including machine learning, to determine likely industry segments.

In many other countries, official industry classification sources are publicly available and are used directly by North Data. An overview of the data sources used by country is available in the "Countries and Sources Coverage" section of our website.