Washington — A new North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) replacing the U.S. Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) system has been published and is now available from the federal superintendent of documents. This system will allow business marketers to classify customers and prospects by industry type.

The NAICS classification system includes 350 new industries, including the growing service sector and technological industries. The book also contains definitions for each industry; tables showing correspondence between 1997 NAICS and 1987 SICs codes and vise versa; an alphabetic list of more than 18,000 businesses and their corresponding NAICS codes; and a special section on what small businesses need to know about NAICS.

For information on ordering the NAICS book, call 202/512-1800; fax 202/512-2250; , or visit www.census.gov/epcd/www/naics.html.