CPV Classification

Definition

Common Procurement Vocabulary (CPV) is the European statistical classification of goods and services procured by the public sector. It is established by law. The CPV consists of a Main Vocabulary and a Supplementary Vocabulary, both available in 22 official EU languages.

Structure

The Main Vocabulary currently consists of about 9454 terms, listing goods, works and services commonly used in public Procurement. The CPV does not offer a structured description for each code, the scope of each term must be infered from the string (text) comprising its name. The CVP name text contains parts (or combinations) of information, such as the main name of a product and its type, and sometimes other details.

The system is hierarchical with the following overall shape:

• 45 Divisions
• 272 Groups
• 1002 Classes
• 2379 Categories
• 5756 Sub-categories

Procurement Type

• CPV-codes that start with 0 up to and including 44 or 48 : Deliverables (Goods)
• CPV-codes that start with 50 up to and including 98: Services
• CPV-codes that start with 45: Works

NB: There are no codes that start with 46, 47 or 49.

Encoding

The coding structure of the CPV Vocabulary uses a nine-digit code. The digit is a control digit that serves to verify the previous digits.

• The first two digits come in a block, so as to accommodate 99 Divisions (XX000000-Y)
• The next six digits each represent one level of classification, so there cannot be more than 9 groups at a given level of classification.
• The first three digits together identify Groups (XXX00000-Y) (so there can be 10 groups per division)
• The first four digits together identify Classes (XXXX0000-Y) (so there can be 10 classes per group)
• The first five digits identify Categories (XXXXX000-Y) (so there can be 10 categories per class)
• The last three digits give further precision within each category (Subcategories)

Zeros are placed at the end of codes, except for the first two digits, and they indicate the level of accuracy of the code (the more zeros it has, the more general it is). Where a given level of classification is not further subdivided, a ‘0’ is used in the position for the next more detailed level.

Example

As an example, a dental X-ray device would be classified with increasing accuracy as follows:

• Division 33 (33000000-0): Medical equipments, pharmaceuticals and personal care products
• Group 33-1 (33100000-1): Medical equipments
• Class 33-1-1 (33110000-4): Imaging equipment for medical, dental and veterinary use
• Category 33-1-1-1 (33111000-1): X-ray devices
• Subcategory 33-1-1-1-2 (33111200-3): X-ray workstations

Top Level CPV Divisions

This is the CPV 2008 highest level segmentation

Division Code	Description
CPV Division 03	Agricultural, farming, fishing, forestry and related products
CPV Division 09	Petroleum products, fuel, electricity and other sources of energy
CPV Division 14	Mining, basic metals and related products
CPV Division 15	Food, beverages, tobacco and related products
CPV Division 16	Agricultural machinery
CPV Division 18	Clothing, footwear, luggage articles and accessories
CPV Division 19	Leather and textile fabrics, plastic and rubber materials
CPV Division 22	Printed matter and related products
CPV Division 24	Chemical products
CPV Division 30	Office and computing machinery, equipment and supplies except furniture and software packages
CPV Division 31	Electrical machinery, apparatus, equipment and consumables; lighting
CPV Division 32	Radio, television, communication, telecommunication and related equipment
CPV Division 33	Medical equipments, pharmaceuticals and personal care products
CPV Division 34	Transport equipment and auxiliary products to transportation
CPV Division 35	Security, fire-fighting, police and defence equipment
CPV Division 37	Musical instruments, sport goods, games, toys, handicraft, art materials and accessories
CPV Division 38	Laboratory, optical and precision equipments (excl. glasses)
CPV Division 39	Furniture (incl. office furniture), furnishings, domestic appliances (excl. lighting) and cleaning products
CPV Division 41	Collected and purified water
CPV Division 42	Industrial machinery
CPV Division 43	Machinery for mining, quarrying, construction equipment
CPV Division 44	Construction structures and materials; auxiliary products to construction (except electric apparatus)
CPV Division 45	Construction work
CPV Division 48	Software package and information systems
CPV Division 50	Repair and maintenance services
CPV Division 51	Installation services (except software)
CPV Division 55	Hotel, restaurant and retail trade services
CPV Division 60	Transport services (excl. Waste transport)
CPV Division 63	Supporting and auxiliary transport services; travel agencies services
CPV Division 64	Postal and telecommunications services
CPV Division 65	Public utilities
CPV Division 66	Financial and insurance services
CPV Division 70	Real estate services
CPV Division 71	Architectural, construction, engineering and inspection services
CPV Division 72	IT services: consulting, software development, Internet and support
CPV Division 73	Research and development services and related consultancy services
CPV Division 75	Administration, defence and social security services
CPV Division 76	Services related to the oil and gas industry
CPV Division 77	Agricultural, forestry, horticultural, aquacultural and apicultural services
CPV Division 79	Business services: law, marketing, consulting, recruitment, printing and security
CPV Division 80	Education and training services
CPV Division 85	Health and social work services
CPV Division 90	Sewage, refuse, cleaning and environmental services
CPV Division 92	Recreational, cultural and sporting services
CPV Division 98	Other community, social and personal services

Issues and Challenges

• The CPV taxonomy is somewhat correlated with the CPA (Classification of Products by Activity), which in turn is correlated with the NACE Classification but there is no formal correspondence.

See Also

• ISCO Classification
• NACE Classification

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