The "Hong Kong Standard Industrial Classification" (HSIC) is modelled on the United Nations' International Standard Industrial Classification of All Economic Activities Revision 2 (ISIC Rev. 2) with local adaptation and its Version 1.0 was introduced in 1990. The HSIC is reviewed from time to time to reflect significant changes in the industrial structure of the Hong Kong economy and the emergence of new economic activities. HSIC Version 1.1 (V1.1), which represented a more significant round of update, has been implemented since 2001. 

A full-scale revision exercise on the HSIC aiming to achieve relevance, comparability and continuity was completed in 2008. The revised HSIC, i.e. HSIC V2.0, adopts the basic framework and principles, as well as the conceptual and structural changes, of the ISIC Rev. 4, which was released officially by the United Nations Statistics Division in August 2008.

HSIC V2.0 has been used progressively in different surveys by the Census and Statistics Department (C&SD) starting from 2009. 

Detailed information on HSIC V2.0 is given in the manual "Hong Kong Standard Industrial Classification (HSIC) Version 2.0", which contains the detailed classification lists and descriptions of industries of HSIC V2.0. Users can download this manual in Adobe Acrobat portable document (PDF) format free of charge from the C&SD Website  (http://www.censtatd.gov.hk/products_and_services/products/publications/classification_lists/index_cd_B2XX000401_dt_detail.jsp). Besides, the print version is also available for sale. 

An "Index of Industry Codes of the HSIC V2.0" in PDF format can be downloaded by clicking the hyperlink shown here. For ease of reference, an"Index of Industry Codes of the HSIC V1.1"is also available by clicking the hyperlink here. 

Since HSIC V1.1 has been used for the collection and presentation of statistics in many areas for years, there is a strong need for concordance tables between HSIC V2.0 and HSIC V1.1 to reveal the detailed changes in the revision. "Concordances between HSIC V2.0 and HSIC V1.1" at 1-digit, 3-digit, 4-digit and 6-digit levels in PDF format can be downloaded by clicking the hyperlink shown here.

A search tool for checking HSIC V2.0 information is made available on the C&SD Website(http://www.censtatd.gov.hk/products_and_services/online_services/hsic_search_tool/index.jsp). Apart from searching the HSIC V2.0 codes, the search tool also provides functions of searching among code examples, as well as among titles and explanatory notes of industries. Besides, a function for displaying a full hierarchy of HSIC V2.0 is provided where users can grasp the detailed structure of HSIC V2.0.

For enquiries about the HSIC V1.1 and HSIC V2.0, please contact the Employment Statistics and Central Register of Establishments Section of the C&SD by telephone number: 2582 5074 or by e-mail: cre@censtatd.gov.hk.