Commission Regulation (EC) No 1749/96 of 9 September 1996 on initial implementing measures for Council Regulation (EC) No 2494/95 concerning harmonized indices of consumer prices
Modified by
  • Council Regulation (EC) No 1687/98of 20 July 1998amending Commission Regulation (EC) No 1749/96 concerning the coverage of goods and services of the harmonised index of consumer prices, 31998R1687, July 31, 1998
  • Council Regulation (EC) No 1688/98of 20 July 1998amending Commission Regulation (EC) No 1749/96 concerning the geographic and population coverage of the harmonised index of consumer prices, 31998R1688, July 31, 1998
  • Commission Regulation (EC) No 1334/2007of 14 November 2007amending Regulation (EC) No 1749/96 on initial implementing measures for Council Regulation (EC) No 2494/95 concerning harmonised indices of consumer prices(Text with EEA relevance), 32007R1334, November 15, 2007
  • Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/1148of 31 July 2020laying down the methodological and technical specifications in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2016/792 of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards harmonised indices of consumer prices and the house price index(Text with EEA relevance), 32020R1148, August 4, 2020
Commission Regulation (EC) No 1749/96of 9 September 1996on initial implementing measures for Council Regulation (EC) No 2494/95 concerning harmonized indices of consumer prices I.GENERAL PROVISIONS
Article 1AimThe aim of this Regulation is to establish for the purpose of the production of a comparable harmonized index of consumer prices (HICP) produced by each Member State:theinitial coverage of goods and services as well as comparable practices for updating the coverage to include newly significant consumer goods and services,minimum standards for the procedures of quality adjustment,minimum standards for the prices used,the formula for compiling price indices for the elementary aggregates.The aim is also to ensure that the sampling of prices is such that the HICPs are sufficiently reliable for the purpose of international comparisons and to provide information from which to set minimum standards for sampling.
Article 2DefinitionsFor the purpose of this Regulation, the following definitions shall apply:1."Household final monetary consumption expenditure" as specified in Annex lb means that part of final consumption expenditure which is incurred by households irrespective of nationality or residence status, in monetary transactions, on the economic territory of the Member State, on goods and services that are used for the direct satisfaction of individual needs or wants, and in one or both of the time periods being compared.2."Product-offer" means a specified good or service that is offered for purchase at a stated price, in a specific outlet or by a specific provider, under specific terms of supply, and thus defines a unique entity at any one time.3.The "coverage" of the HICP, that is the statistical "target universe" to be represented by the HICP, means the set of all transactions falling within the scope of household final monetary consumption expenditure.4.A "consumption segment by purpose" or "consumption segment" means a set of transactions relating to product-offers which, on the grounds of common properties, are deemed to serve a common purpose, in the sense that they:are marketed for predominant use in similar situations,can largely be described by a common specification, andmay be considered by consumers as equivalent.5."Newly significant goods and services" mean those goods and services the price changes of which are not explicitly included in a Member State's HICP and the estimated consumers’ expenditure on which has become at least one part per thousand of the expenditure covered by that HICP.6."Sampling" means any procedure in the construction of the HICP where a subset of the universe of product-offers is selected to estimate the price change for consumption segments covered by the HICP.7."Target sample" means the set of product-offers within consumption segments for which the Member State plans to observe prices in order to achieve a reliable and comparable representation of the HICP target universe.8."Weights" used in HICP aggregations mean the appropriate estimates of relative expenditures on any sub-division of the target universe, in accordance with Commission Regulation (EC) No 2454/97OJ L 340, 11.12.1997, p. 24..9."Observed price" means a price actually confirmed by the Member States.10."Replacement product-offer" means a product-offer with an observed price that replaces a product-offer in the target sample.11."Replacement price" means the observed price for a replacement product-offer.12."Estimated price" means a price which is substituted for an observed price and is based on an appropriate estimation procedure. Previously observed prices shall not be regarded as estimated prices unless they can be shown to be appropriate estimates.13.An "elementary product group" means a set of product-offers that are sampled in order to represent one or more consumption segments in the HICP.14.An "elementary aggregate" means an elementary product group stratified, for instance by regions, cities or outlet types and so refers to the level at which observed prices enter the HICP. Where elementary product groups are not stratified, the terms "elementary product group" and "elementary aggregate" shall have the same meaning.15.An "elementary aggregate index" means a price index for an elementary aggregate.16."Quality change" means that a replacement has resulted in a significant difference in the degree to which the replacement product-offer serves the consumer purpose of the consumption segment to which it belongs, whenever the Member State judges so.17."Quality adjustment" means the procedure of making an allowance for an observed quality change by increasing or decreasing the observed current or reference price by a factor or an amount equivalent to the value of that quality change.
Article 2aPrinciples1.The compiled HICP is a sample statistic which shall represent the change in prices, on average over the target universe, between the calendar month of the current index and the period to which it is compared.2.The set of all transactions in the statistical universe can be exhaustively divided into subsets corresponding to the product-offers to which these transactions pertain. They shall be classified according to the four-digit categories and sub-categories given in Annex Ia, which derive from the COICOP international classification and shall be known as COICOP/HICP (classification of individual consumption by purpose adapted to the needs of HICPs).3.The HICP shall be computed using a formula which is consistent with the Laspeyres-type formula.4.Consumption segments shall form the fixed objects in the index basket to be followed by the HICP.5.Prices used in the HICP shall be the purchase prices, which are the prices paid by households to purchase individual goods and services in monetary transactions.6.Where goods and services have been available to consumers free of charge, and subsequently an actual price is charged, then the change from a zero price to the actual price, and vice versa, shall be taken into account in the HICP.7.The HICP shall provide a measure of pure change in prices, unaffected by quality change. It shall:(a)reflect the price change on the basis of the changed expenditure of maintaining the consumption pattern of households and the composition of the consumer population in the base or reference period; and(b)be constructed by making appropriate adjustments for observed quality change. Quality adjustments shall serve the reliability, and in particular the representativity of the HICP as a measure of pure price change.8.Concerning quality change, the judgement shall be based on due evidence of a difference between the specification of a replacement product-offer and the product-offer it replaced in the sample; That is, a difference in the product-offers’ significant price-determining characteristics, such as brand, material or make, that are relevant to the consumer purpose in question.A quality change does not arise when there is a comprehensive annual or less frequent revision of the HICP sample. Its inclusion shall be made by establishing the appropriate chain links. Revisions of the HICP sample do not remove the need to introduce replacement product-offers without delay in between two revisions.9.The representation of an elementary product group or an elementary aggregate shall be defined by the expenditure weight associated to it. Other weightings may be used within elementary aggregates on the condition that the representativity of the index is ensured.10."Reliability" shall be assessed according to "precision", which refers to the scale of sampling errors, and "representativity" which refers to the lack of bias.

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