The IASB observed that paragraph 12 of IFRS 8 does not elaborate upon the meaning of 'similar economic characteristics' except to say that operating segments that share similar economic characteristics would be expected to exhibit a similar long term financial performance. In addition, determining whether operating segments have 'similar economic characteristics' requires the use of judgement.
In addition, paragraph 22(a) of IFRS 8 currently contains a requirement to disclose the factors that were used to identify the entity's reportable segments, including the basis of organisation, and suggests, as an example, disclosing whether operating segments have been aggregated. However, there is no explicit requirement in paragraph 22(a) of IFRS 8 to disclose the aggregation of operating segments.