COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 1722/2005
of 20 October 2005
on the principles for estimating dwelling services for the purpose of Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1287/2003 on the harmonisation of gross national income at market prices
(Text with EEA relevance)
THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community,
Having regard to Treaty establishing the European Atomic Energy Community,
Having regard to Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1287/2003 of 15 July 2003 on the harmonisation of gross national income at market prices (GNI Regulation) (1), and in particular Article 5(1) thereof,
Whereas:
(1)
Article 2(7) of Council Decision 2000/597/EC, Euratom of 29 September 2000 on the system of the Communities’ own resources (2) lays down that gross national product at market prices (GNP) is to be considered equal to gross national income at market prices (GNI) as provided by the Commission in accordance with the European System of Accounts (ESA). The ESA of 1995 (ESA95), superseding two earlier systems of 1970 and 1979 respectively, was established by Council Regulation (EC) No 2223/96 of 25 June 1996 on the European system of national and regional accounts in the Community (3), and was set out in the Annex thereto. GNI, as used in ESA95, replaced GNP as a criterion for own resource purposes, with effect from budget year 2002.
(2)
For the purpose of the implementation of Article 1 of Council Directive 89/130/EEC, Euratom on the harmonisation of the compilation of gross national product at market prices (4), the principles for the estimation of dwelling services have been set out by Commission Decision 95/309/EC, Euratom (5). For the purposes of Article 1 of Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1287/2003, the equivalent set of principles should now be provided in respect of GNI.
(3)
The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the GNI Committee set up by Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1287/2003,
HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:
Article 1
For the purposes of Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1287/2003 the following principles for the estimation of dwelling services as set out in this Regulation shall apply.
Article 2
1. Member States shall apply the stratification method based on actual rentals in order to compile the output of dwelling services.
Member States shall use tabular analyses or statistical techniques to derive significant stratification criteria.
2. Member States shall make use of actual rentals due for the right to use an unfurnished dwelling under all contracts relating to privately-owned dwellings in order to compile imputed rentals.
Rentals for furnished dwellings may also be used if scaled down so as to exclude payment for the use of the furniture.
In countries where the privately rented sector is small, exceptionally, duly increased public rentals may be used to enlarge the basis for imputed rentals.
Article 3
1. In exceptional and duly justified cases, Member States may apply other objective methods, such as the user-cost method.
No justification shall be required for use of the user-cost method in compiling the output of owner-occupied dwellings, provided that both of the following conditions are met:
(a)
privately rented dwellings must represent less than 10 % of the dwelling stock; and
(b)
the disparity between private and other paid rentals must exceed a factor of three.
2. Within three years of the date of adoption of this Regulation the GNI Committee shall review the functioning of the user-cost method.
Article 4
Member States using a base year approach shall extrapolate a given base year figure using appropriate quantity, price and quality indicators.
Article 5
The further and more detailed principles for the estimation of output, intermediate consumption and transactions with the rest of the world, in the context of dwelling services, shall be as contained in the Annex.
Article 6
This Regulation shall enter into force on the 20th day following its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.
This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.
Done at Brussels, 20 October 2005.