I finally found out how to upload and use this data. 

First you select the data you want to upload (or all of it) either from your national customs authority list (case for France) or from the EU website on the subject.  Note that there are approximately 23000 entries.  I believe there is a version in each EU language.

Then to complete the configuration steps navigate to Sales / Configuration / Address Book / Intrastat Code and proceed to upload your data by clicking on the import tag and following instructions.  Only 2 fields are needed, the intrastat code and the description.  The final configuration step willbe to update the inventory part of your products to reflect the appropriate intrastat codes.  Note also that the report is driven by a flag (intrastat member) set at country level (preset for all EU countries) also present for update in Sales / Configuration / Addess Book / Localization / Countries. 

Subsequent purchases and sales will then record this data and provide the appropriate output from the report provided.