Is your business eligible? What the SIC and export codes actually mean

The second test is about what you actually produce, using Harmonised System commodity codes — the six-digit codes used internationally to classify traded goods. Here’s a detail that trips people up: you don’t need to export anything to qualify on this test. What matters is that you manufacture a product that falls under one of the eligible HS codes; whether it then gets sold domestically or shipped abroad doesn’t affect the test itself. The government has described this as the final list for the scheme’s first year, with no further changes planned to the SIC or HS code lists once applications open — so this is worth treating as settled rather than checking back periodically hoping something changes.

Both tests have to pass. A business in an eligible sector making an ineligible product doesn’t qualify, and neither does the reverse. That combination is deliberately restrictive, and it’s the single biggest reason applications get filtered out before they even reach the electricity-mix calculation. If you’re not sure where your business lands, checking both codes against the published lists — properly, not from memory — is the first and most useful thing you can do before the application window opens in October.