CPV codes explained

The Common Procurement Vocabulary (CPV) is the EU’s single classification system for public procurement. Regulation (EC) No 2195/2002 adopted it so that buyers describe the subject of a contract with the same codes in every member state. Each code has a label in every official EU language: a German and a Portuguese notice for the same kind of work can carry the same code, even though their texts share no word.

The version in use is CPV 2008. Commission Regulation (EC) No 213/2008 replaced the original list and has applied since 15 September 2008. The CPV page on TED, the EU’s platform for procurement notices, names CPV 2008 as the version to use when notices are filled in and searched.

The main vocabulary of CPV 2008 has 9,454 codes: 45 divisions, 272 groups, 1,002 classes, 2,379 categories and 5,756 codes below the category level. Together they cover supplies, works and services, from agricultural products (03000000) to other community, social and personal services (98000000).

A code in the main vocabulary has eight digits and a ninth check digit, written after a hyphen: 72000000-5. Annex I of Regulation (EC) No 213/2008 assigns the levels by leading digits:

• Division: the first two digits (XX000000-Y).
• Group: the first three digits (XXX00000-Y).
• Class: the first four digits (XXXX0000-Y).
• Category: the first five digits (XXXXX000-Y).
• Each of the last three digits adds precision within the category.

The check digit only verifies the eight digits before it; it carries no meaning of its own. The zeros at the end show how broad a code is: the more trailing zeros, the more general the code. The table follows one code from the IT services division down to a specific service.

The supplementary vocabulary

Next to the main vocabulary, the CPV has a supplementary vocabulary that adds detail to a main code, such as a material, a form or an intended use. Its codes have a letter for the section, a letter for the group and three digits, the last of which is again a check digit: AA01-1 stands for “Metal” (Annex I of Regulation (EC) No 213/2008). A supplementary code describes the subject further; it does not replace the main code, and most notices do without one.

A notice gives one main classification code and may add others. In eForms, the standard for EU notices, these are the business terms BT-262, main classification code, and BT-263, additional classification codes. Both exist for the procedure as a whole, for each lot and for each part, so a notice divided into lots can carry different codes per lot: a road project might classify one lot as construction work (45) and another as engineering services (71).

The codes are the buyer’s choice. TED advises buyers to pick the code that matches the purchase most accurately and, where none fits, a more general one, that is, a code with more trailing zeros (TED: CPV). A broad code such as 72000000-5 therefore often means “IT services of some kind”, and only the description says which.

Read the main code first, then the codes of the lot that interests you, then the description. A code says what kind of supply, work or service is bought. It says nothing about the size of the contract, who may bid or where the work is done; the place is given with NUTS codes, explained in NUTS regions in Germany.

Inteliwert’s search has a category filter by CPV division. It matches the leading digits of every code a notice carries, main or additional, on the procedure or on a lot. The filter for division 72 therefore finds a notice whose only IT code is 72222300 (search IT services, division 72). The read API takes longer prefixes too, from two to eight digits.

Each opportunity page lists the notice’s CPV codes with their labels in English or German, next to the NUTS codes of the place of performance, and links to the official notice. The table at the end of this guide links every division to its category page, which lists the open opportunities from the sources Inteliwert covers.

Codes are a good first cut, not the whole answer. Two buyers can classify similar work under different codes, so combine the filter with words from the subject, such as a technology or the name of a service, and read the descriptions of what you find.

Codes written short

Portals and documents often write “CPV 45” or “CPV 452”. That is shorthand for the division 45000000 or the group 45200000, filled up with zeros, not a code of its own. Inteliwert reads a code written this way as the full code.

The check digit

The digit after the hyphen belongs to exactly one code: 72000000-5 is correct, and another digit after 72000000 points to a typing error. Inteliwert’s search filters use the digits before the hyphen. When you put a code into your own documents, check it against the official list on TED.

“45” means the whole division

A filter on 45 covers all construction work, from site preparation (45100000) to building completion (45400000). For a narrower search, use a group or a class, such as 45200000 for complete or part construction and civil engineering work.

Only the main code

The most specific codes are often on the lots or among the additional codes. A search on main codes alone misses them.

Supplies or services

Buying a software licence and buying software development fall into different divisions: 48 for software packages and information systems, 72 for IT services. The same split runs through many subjects, so search both when in doubt.

The table lists every division of CPV 2008 with its eight-digit code, without the check digit, and its English and German label, from the CPV 2008 code list of the Publications Office of the European Union (CC BY 4.0) as distributed with the eForms SDK. Each English label links to the division’s category page on Inteliwert.