Each legal entity must choose a field of activity upon establishment and indicate its field of activity annually during the submission of the annual report.

EMTAK is the Estonian national version of the internationally harmonised NACE classification, which makes economic statistics comparable between different units and makes data sets in this field easily interpretable. The activity of a legal entity is an important source for compiling statistics in various fields.

A new Estonian Classification of Economic Activities (EMTAK 2025) came into effect on January 1st, 2025.
As a result, entrepreneurs establishing a new company or submitting annual reports will be able to use the updated classification version when selecting their economic activity.
For existing companies, the economic activity codes will initially remain unchanged. Adjustments to the codes for existing companies will be made gradually in line with the submission of annual reports.
More detailed information about the changes can be found on the e-Business Register help page.

In the new EMTAK 2025 version there are 22 groups of activities, which are further divided into numerous sub-groups of activities.

The basis for selecting the activity is the Estonian Classification of Economic Activities (EMTAK). When starting a business, only one main activity should be chosen - the activity from which the highest revenue is expected in the first financial year. Determining the main activity does not mean that the company cannot operate in other areas as well.

Among the currently operating legal entities, the most popular activities are real estate rental, consultancy, and construction. Following them closly is programming.
Among new registered legal entities, programming is firmly in the top three as an activity. You can find the list of activities of new legal entities on the New Legal Entities page.