ICT and media sector

The classification of economic sectors linked to information and communication technologies (ICT) is created on the basis of recommendations issued by the OECD. The OECD’s definition aims to identify economic activities specific to ICT, content and media. It is based on the General Classification of Economic Activities (NOGA08). The economic sectors of the ICT and media sector cover the economic activities of the ICT, content and media sectors.

The international definition of the ICT sector from the Working Party on Indicators for the Information Society (WPIIS) of the OECD was adopted in 2006. This definition was adapted in accordance with the revision of the General Classification of Economic Activities (CITI rev.4, NOGA 2008) and at the same time reviewed according to the following principles: the ICT sector includes activities that produce goods and services enabling the economy to be digitalised, i.e. the transformation of information used into digital form so that it is easier to produce, communicate, save and reproduce. For sectors specialised in producing ICT, the products from a candidate sector must be intended to fulfil information processing and communication functions by electronic means including transmission and display. For the ICT services sector, the products of a considered activity must be intended to enable electronic processing and communication.

Given the impact of ICT on activities involving content creation and distribution (e.g. in text, audio or video format) and particularly on those intended for a larger audience, a “content and media” sector was defined to better outline the “information business” concept. The following general definition is used to identify the activities concerned: content corresponds to an organised message intended for people and published in the media and through activities linked with the media. Its added value for the consumer cannot be measured by its physical qualities but instead by its informative, educational, cultural and entertaining properties. In concrete terms, this corresponds to all activities listed in section J of the NOGA, excluding those already included in the definition of the ICT sector.