Classification by Broad Economic Categories
Series M 53 rev. 4
Year 2003
The original Classification by Broad Economic Categories (BEC) was produced in 1961 to provide a means for international trade statistics to be analyzed by broad economic categories such as food, industrial supplies, capital equipment, consumer durables, and consumer non-durables. The original BEC was linked to the Standard International Trade Classification. Two revisions of BEC were produced to coincide with revisions of SITC, and a third revision made technical corrections. The current publication provides links between BEC and the Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System (2002 edition) and the basic classes of goods in the System of National Accounts (consumption goods, intermediate goods, capital goods). Each of the 3,121 SITC headings is correlated to one of the nineteen BEC basic headings, as are 5,222 of the 5,224 HS02 subheadings (two HS02 subheadings fall outside the scope of SITC, Rev.3 and are therefore not correlated to BEC).

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The latest version of BEC (Rev.5) was endorsed by UN Statistical Commission in 2016: http://unstats.un.org/unsd/trade/classifications/bec.asp