NAF Code List: Every Division and Sub-Class, With Labels

The NAF code list contains 88 divisions and 732 sub-classes, grouped into 21 sections. The table below gives all 88 divisions with their official label and the section they belong to. NAF is the French activity nomenclature, and the division is the level you use to segment a market: it groups a coherent economic activity, where a sub-class narrows down to a specific trade.

This page is the reference table. If you are looking for how to read a code, where to find the one attached to a given company, or how to have it corrected, our guide on the NAF code of a company covers those questions in depth.

NAF code list: the 21 sections and the 88 divisions

The nomenclature reads top down. A section is a letter from A to U covering a broad domain, for instance J for information and communication. A division is a two-digit number inside that section. The 272 groups, 615 classes and 732 sub-classes then narrow down to the trade itself. Labels below are the official French ones, since that is what you will match against in any French registry or API.

How to read a code in the NAF code list

A full code looks like 62.01Z. Each part maps to a level of the list above: 62 is the division (computer programming, consultancy and related activities), 62.0 the group, 62.01 the class, and the trailing letter Z the French sub-class. The first four digits are European and shared across the Union, the letter is French only.

That matters if you work across countries: the first four characters map directly onto the European NACE nomenclature, the letter does not. If you are building a multi-country segmentation, cut at the class level.

NAF or APE: two names for the same list

NAF is the nomenclature, meaning the list itself. The APE code is the code drawn from that list which INSEE assigns to a company or an establishment to describe its main activity. Searching for an APE code list or a NAF code list therefore returns exactly the same table.

One detail that matters for prospecting: the code is assigned on declaration, based on the main activity a company states. It is not audited and it does not update itself when the business changes. A company that pivoted can keep a code describing none of what it does for years.

NAF 2025: the list changes on 1 January 2027

The table above is NAF rev. 2, in force until the end of 2026. INSEE has published a new version, NAF 2025, which takes effect in January 2027. Until then, rev. 2 remains the official nomenclature and it is what registries and APIs return.

If you are building an internal reference today, add a version column now. A mapping table will be needed at the switch, and any segmentation built on hardcoded codes will break silently on the day it happens.

NAF code list: from the 88 divisions to the 732 sub-classes

The division is enough for commercial segmentation in the large majority of cases. Going down to the sub-class is useful in two situations only: when your offer targets a very specific trade inside a broad sector, and when the division mixes realities too different to be addressed together.

Division 47, retail trade, is the clearest example: it holds food retail chains, sports equipment shops and market stalls alike. A campaign built on the whole division will speak to companies that share neither size, nor buying cycle, nor decision makers.

The divisions that actually carry B2B

Out of 88 divisions, a handful concentrate most of the companies B2B prospecting targets. Knowing them saves you from scanning the whole list for every new segment.

• 62 and 63: computer programming, consultancy, information services. Software vendors, IT services firms and technical agencies live here.
• 70: head office activities and management consultancy. A very broad division, spanning consulting firms and holding companies alike: break it into sub-classes before any campaign.
• 73: advertising and market research. Agencies, media buyers, research institutes.
• 69: legal and accounting activities. Law firms and accountancy practices, two markets with almost nothing in common despite the shared division.
• 64 to 66: financial and insurance activities. Long decision cycles, heavy compliance, best treated separately.
• 46: wholesale trade. Often forgotten, though it holds a dense fabric of mid-sized companies with real budgets.

Conversely, some divisions are traps for outbound: 84 (public administration) and 85 (education) hold many entities that do not buy like companies, with public procurement procedures that change the sales approach entirely.

Combining a NAF code with other criteria

A code on its own produces a list that is either too broad or too narrow, almost never right. It becomes useful crossed with two or three other filters.

Size is the highest-return cross. One division holds sole traders and groups of several thousand employees, which share neither need nor decision path. Filtering on headcount or revenue often splits an unmanageable division into two workable segments.

Age comes next. A company founded six months ago and one established twenty years ago, under the same code, are two different markets: one is equipping, the other replacing. Our guide on finding a company founding year covers how to pull that field.

Geography finally, if your offer has a local component or your reps travel. The SIRENE register carries the address of every establishment, which lets you drill down to the department without leaving the same source.

These three crosses happen in the same sheet as the import: you start from a NAF code, you get the companies, then you enrich size, founding year and address column by column before filtering.

What the NAF code list does not tell you

A code describes a declared activity, not a company. Three limits come up every time it is used for targeting.

It describes the main activity, and only that. A business that publishes software and also sells training will carry one code. The second activity, sometimes the more profitable one, is invisible in the nomenclature. If your offer addresses a secondary activity, the list will never surface it.

It says nothing about maturity or resources. Two companies under the same code can be ten years and a thousand employees apart. That is exactly why crossing with size and age is not optional.

It does not follow pivots. The code is assigned at incorporation and corrected on request, rarely spontaneously. In fast-moving sectors a meaningful share of companies carry a stale code. It is one reason a list built on the NAF code alone should always be checked against a second source, typically the company website.

From a NAF code to a qualified prospect list

The list is a starting point, not a destination. Once you have picked a division or a sub-class, you need the companies that carry it, then the decision makers inside them, then their contact details.

That is what Derrick's Import Companies by NAF Code feature does: you enter a code, it imports the matching companies straight into your Google Sheet along with their legal data. Budget 1 credit per company imported, and the free plan includes 100 credits per month at no cost, which is plenty to test a division before committing.

From there enrichment continues in the same sheet: executives, headcount, website, then emails and phone numbers. Start free and run a whole division through it before writing a single line of outreach.

Where to check a company against the NAF code list

For a given company, the code appears on its SIRENE registry statement, on its Kbis extract and on most legal directory listings. The INSEE SIRENE register is the official source and it is freely searchable.

Watch one frequent confusion: a company has an APE code at the legal entity level, and each of its establishments can carry a different one. If you target physical sites rather than headquarters, the establishment code is the one that counts. Our guides on finding a company headquarters and finding a company industry go into that.