Industry sectors overview
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Aerospace industries
The European aeronautics industry develops and manufactures a broad range of products: civil and military aircraft, aero-engines, helicopters, unmanned aerial vehicles, as well as systems and equipment. It also comprises maintenance and service companies which carry out repair, training or other activities linked to the different products.
This website provides information and links to a range of initiatives significantly impacting on the aerospace industry. Aerospace is the widely used international term to describe companies operating in the aeronautics, space and defence sectors.
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Automotive
The EU is the world's largest producer of motor vehicles. The automotive industry is therefore central to Europe's prosperity. It is a huge employer of skilled workforce and a key driver of knowledge and innovation. It represents Europe's largest private investor in research and development (R&D). It also makes a major contribution to EU's Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and exports far more than it imports.
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Biotechnology
Life sciences and biotechnology are enabling technologies that are used in a variety of industry sectors such as healthcare/pharmaceuticals, animal health, textiles, chemicals, plastic, paper, fuel, food and feed processing.
Biotechnology makes a significant contribution to core European Union policy goals including public health, ageing society, economic growth, job creation, sustainable development, and environmental protection.
To ensure that policies are implemented consistently in Europe, a broad and detailed strategy and action plan for the development of biotechnology-based products were adopted in 2002 by the Commission. The mid-term review in 2007 revealed that the implementation had been successful during the first four years, and five new priorities were defined for the period 2007-2010, inter alia better access to finance and a more efficient technology transfer.
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Chemicals
The chemicals, plastics and rubber industries are among the largest and the most dynamic industrial sectors in the EU. Together they generate about 3.2 million jobs in more than 60 000 companies. In 2007 chemicals sales in the EU amounted to €537 billion which is about 30 % of global chemicals sales. Regulation has a significant impact on the chemicals industry. This is why the quality of legislation, correct implementation and proper enforcement are not only of high significance for the achievement of health and environmental objectives, but also for the competitiveness of the chemicals industry.
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Construction
The construction sector is strategically important for Europe providing buildings and infrastructure on which all sectors of the economy depend. It is the biggest sectoral employer and a major contributor to Gross Capital Formation in Europe.
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Cosmetics
Cosmetic products are important consumer products with an essential role in everyone's life: apart from "traditional" cosmetic products, such as make-up and perfumes, it also includes products for personal hygiene, for example tooth-care products, shampoos and soaps.
Today's cosmetic market is driven by innovation including new colour pallets, treatments targeted to specific skin types and unique formulas concentrating on different needs. Most cosmetics products have a lifespan of less than five years and manufacturers reformulate 25% of their products every year. They need to improve products constantly in order to stay ahead in a highly competitive market where more choice and ever greater efficacy are expected by the consumer.
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Defence industries
The European defence industry makes a major contribution to the security and defence of European citizens. The key objective of the European Commission's defence industrial policy is to develop an innovative and competitive European Defence Technological and Industrial Base (EDTIB). Such an EDTIB is an important prerequisite for an effective European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP) which is designed to provide the EU with the capacity for autonomous action in order to respond to international crises, without prejudice to actions by NATO. A competitive EDTIB is also required to provide Europe with affordability and the ability to cooperate internationally in the development and production of defence equipment.
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Electrical engineering
Electrical Engineering accounts for 3% of the production, value-added and employment of the EU25. 9,615 electrical engineering enterprises with 20 or more employees produced in 2004 €192,870 m worth of electrical apparatus and equipment, directly employing 1,237 m people.
As a major supplier to other sectors, Electrical Engineering is very cycle sensitive.
The EU electrical engineering market is the world's largest one (€181 bn), followed by the US and Japan (€96 bn and €84 bn).
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Food industry
The food and drink industry is one of Europe's most important and dynamic industrial sectors. It is made up of about 310 000 companies, and provides jobs for more than 4 million people.
With an annual turnover in excess of €800 billion, this diverse sector is a strong exporter and is responsible for countless end products in extremely competitive domestic and international markets. But room for improvement still exists.
Excess red tape, finance shortages, a lack of R&D opportunities and difficulties to access raw materials are some of the main obstacles which must be cleared if the EU is to position itself more strongly in world markets.
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Footwear
The footwear sector is a diverse industry which covers a wide variety of materials (textile, plastics, rubber and leather) and products from different types of men's, women's and children's footwear to more specialised products like snowboard boots and protective footwear. This diversity of end products corresponds to a multitude of industrial processes, enterprises and market structures.
EU action aims to promote innovation, competitiveness and competition between companies involved in the sector, combat fraud and counterfeiting, and protect consumers' health and the environment.
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Furniture
The furniture industry is essentially an assembling industry, which employs various raw materials to manufacture its products. They range from wood and wood based panels to metals, plastics, textile, leather and glass. There are many different types of furniture (e.g. chairs, sofas, tables, wardrobes, kitchens, mattresses) with very different uses (e.g. households, schools, offices).
Nowadays, the EU furniture industry has a high level of production quality in technical, aesthetic, design and fashion related terms and has a strong image worldwide.
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Information and communication technologies
The Information and communication technologies (ICT) sector accounted for a substantial part of EU GDP and employment. However, ICT is a ubiquitous technology and investments in ICT are also estimated to have been responsible for around half of the EU's productivity growth in recent years.
It is a highly R&D intensive sector, accounting for around a quarter of EU R&D. As general purpose technologies, ICT goods and services are important drivers of productivity growth and economic performance across all sectors.
ICT enables process and product innovation, and money spent on computing technology delivers gains in worker productivity, which are many times higher than those of other investments.
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Leather
Leather tanning covers the treatment of raw materials, i.e. the conversion of raw hide or skin, a putrescible material, into leather, a stable material, and finishing it so that it can be used in the manufacture of a wide range of consumer products.
The leather tanning industry uses hides and skins - by-products from the meat and dairy industry - which would otherwise have to be disposed of by other means, such as landfills and incineration. Leather is the tanning sector's fundamental output. It is an intermediate industrial product, with applications in downstream sectors of the consumer goods industry. Footwear, garment, furniture, automotive and leather goods industries are the most important outlets for EU tanners' production.
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Legal metrology and pre-packaging
Measuring instruments are essential to ensure accuracy of measurement, notably for transactions by consumers and industry in every day life: examples include water meters, taximeters, electricity meters and weighing machines. The EU legislation promotes rapid technological innovation and choice in conformity assessment procedures.
In 2009 the European Commission has given a mandate
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to CEN, CENELEC and ETSI in the field of measuring instruments to create European standards that will enable interoperability of utility meters (water, gas, electricity, heat) and then enhance energy efficiency and user empowerment.Pre-packages consist of product and packaging materials. The contents of pre-packages must be measured in order to quantify the amount of product inside. That is where metrology plays a role. It allows producers and authorities to accurately check the sizes and weights of all pre-packed products such as detergents, pet food, ice cream, frozen food, low alcoholic drinks, soft drinks, cleaning products, paints, shampoo, and toothpaste.
For wine and alcohol the EU prescribes the sizes of pre-packed products allowed.Units of measurement are essential in everyday life to ensure transactions and to protect health and safety.
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Maritime industries
Maritime industries include both shipbuilding and recreational crafts. These two sectors benefit from EU support for trade, the environment, and for the standardisation of building provisions and administrative procedures.
The difference between these two sectors lies in the purpose of the respective vessels:
- Shipbuilding (including ship repair and conversion) is directed at the larger (mainly sea-going) vessels, intended for merchant/commercial purposes, but also military vessels. It addresses as well products and services supplied for the building, conversion, and maintenance of these ships (seagoing and inland).
- The recreational craft sector covers boats of 2.5 to 24m hull length intended for leisure or sport. It addresses mainly the internal market legislation these products have to comply with for their free circulation on the EU market.
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Mechanical engineering
Mechanical Engineering represents one of the largest industrial sectors in the European Union, in terms of number of enterprises (around 169 000 which are mostly SMEs), employment (3,3 million people), production and generation of added value.
With 36% of the world market, Europe is the world's largest producer and exporter of machineries. The competitiveness of the industry relies inter alia on excellent, innovative products, know-how and skills and the ability to comply with customers' wishes.
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Medical devices
The role of medical devices in healthcare is essential.
The diversity and innovativeness of this sector contribute significantly to enhance the quality and efficacy of healthcare.
Covering a wide range of products, from simple bandages to the most sophisticated life-supporting products, the medical devices sector plays a crucial role in the diagnosis, prevention, monitoring, and treatment of diseases and the improvement of the quality of life of people suffering from disabilities.
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Mining, metals and minerals
Embracing steel, non-ferrous metals, non metallic mineral products (cement, ceramics, glass, and lime) and the non-energy extractive industries (mining and minerals), the mission of Directorate-General Enterprise and Industry is to ensure that these sectors can operate within a framework which allows them to achieve a high level of competitiveness, with particular regard to the principles of sustainable development and the practices of fair trade.
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Pharmaceuticals
The pharmaceutical industry makes an important contribution to Europe's and the world's well-being. It is a strategic sector due to its economic as well as its public health dimension.
Europe needs to preserve a vibrant pharmaceutical sector as an essential precondition to ensure a high level of public health protection and a competitive knowledge-based economy.
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Pressure equipment and gas appliances
The industrial sector of pressure equipment covers a wide range of products. From consumer products such as fire extinguishers and pressure cookers up to huge and complex industrial installations or boilers in power plants. Aerosol dispensers are also covered in this section.
The gas appliances sector concerns mainly common consumer and commercial products burning gaseous fuels used for cooking, heating, hot water production, refrigeration, lighting and washing. Appliances specifically designed for use in industrial processes carried out on industrial premises are excluded.
The European Commission promotes the global and sustainable competitiveness of these sectors by analysing the characteristics and challenges and by taking necessary actions:
- to ensure safety and free movement of these products in the enlarged EU internal market through the management, enforcement, simplification and improvement of applicable legislation;
- to actively participate in actions to increase access to third countries markets, to promote regulatory convergence and to expand geographically the Internal Market;
- to intervene in other relevant policies (trade, competition, environment, health and safety) having an impact on the competitiveness of the sector.
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R&TTE
The sector of Radiocommunications and Telecommunications Terminal Equipment Industries encompasses all products using the radio frequency spectrum (e.g. car door openers, mobile communications equipment like cellular telephones, CB radio, broadcast transmitters, etc.) and all equipment attached to public telecommunications networks (e.g. ADSL modems, telephones, telephone switches). The R&TTE is one of the few high-tech sectors where the EU is a global leader as in cellular communications.
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Textiles and clothing
The textile and clothing (or T&C) industry is a diverse and heterogeneous industry which covers an important number of activities from the transformation of fibres to yarns and fabrics to the production of a wide variety of products such as hi-tech synthetic yarns, wool, bed-linen, industrial filters, geo-textiles, clothing etc.
The sector is an important part of the European manufacturing industry. It plays a crucial role on the economy and social well-being in numerous regions of the EU-27. According to the latest structural data available, in 2006 there were 220.000 companies employing 2.5 million people and generated a turnover of €190 billion. The textile and clothing sector accounts for 3% of total manufacturing value added in Europe.
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Tourism
Tourism comprises a wide variety of products and destinations and involves many different stakeholders, both public and private, with areas of competence very decentralised, often at regional and local levels. Tourism has a great potential as regards contributing to the achievement of several major EU objectives, such as sustainable development, economic growth, employment as well as economic and social cohesion.
Tourism is particularly important when it comes to offering job opportunities to young people, who represent twice as much of the labour force in tourism as in the rest of the economy.
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Toys
There are around 80 million children under 14 in the EU, and about 2 000 companies employing over 100 000 people directly in the toys and games sector, most are small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
Toys and games are vital tools for child development. Whilst manufacturers are responsible for the safety of their products, importers, notified bodies
and national authorities all have a role to play in ensuring toys sold in Europe's shops fulfil all safety requirements. -
Wood, Paper, Printing
Forest-based industries include the woodworking industries, pulp and paper industries and the printing industries. They use as their main raw materials wood, paper or recovered paper and wood. They also include specialised sectors such as cork.
EU forest-based industries are competitive, boasting very good technical and commercial performance. The pulp and paper, woodworking and printing sectors are world leaders in many areas. However, the sector faces a number of challenges, including access to raw materials, climate change, innovation, trade and the provision of information on forest-based products. For woodworking and printing, the SME dimension is highly relevant. Many parts of these industries play an essential role in maintaining sustainable employment in rural areas.