JHS 200 Service classification of municipalities and joint municipal authorities

The recommendation on the classification of services of municipalities and joint municipal authorities describes common definitions of services and links to general hierarchies. The classification services are described independently of the organisation and do not include hierarchies. Municipalities and other data users can create hierarchies themselves according to their own needs. The service classification can be used in all municipalities and associations of municipalities and has been prepared in an activity-based way so that the services take into account the tasks assigned to municipalities by the legislation and the tasks taken by the municipalities themselves. In addition, the classification of services takes into account the existing classification of functions of general government COFOG (see JHS 186), requirements for local government statistics and other classifications developed for data processing (e.g. classifications of documented data processing, industrial classification). The classification of services in municipalities is mainly used in national guidance, statistics and the presentation of economic indicators for the classification of income and expenditure and investments of municipalities and joint municipal boards. The classification is used to plan, evaluate and guide municipalities’ service activities and to productise services. The recommendation concerns municipal services as of 2019. The development work is related to the implementation of the public finance plan, the macro-prudential governance of local government finances and the implementation of national projects for the development of statistics and data management of municipalities. The objective is to harmonise the definition and maintenance practices of municipal finances for the purposes of calculating the municipalities’ finances and activities.