Opinion of the European Central Bank of 24 August 1999 at the request of the Council of the European Union on a proposal for a Council Regulation (EC) laying down detailed rules for the implementation of Council Regulation (EC) No 2494/95 as regards minimum standards for the treatment of products in the health, education and social protection sectors in the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (CON/99/11)
Date: 1999-08-24
Institutions: European Central Bank
Subjects: consumer price, harmonisation of prices, health service, price index, social services, teaching

12.11.1999

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 324/11

EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK

OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK

of 24 August 1999

at the request of the Council of the European Union on a proposal for a Council Regulation (EC)
laying down detailed rules for the implementation of Council Regulation (EC) No 2494/95 as
regards minimum standards for the treatment of products in the health, education and social
protection sectors in the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices

(CON/99/11)

(1999/C 324/07)

1. On 13 August 1999 the European Central Bank (ECB)
received a request
the European
Union for an ECB opinion on a proposal for a Council
Regulation (EC) on the abovementioned topic (hereinafter
referred to as the (cid:145)draft Regulation(cid:146)).

from the Council of

5. Articles 2 and 3 of the draft Regulation provide details of
the definition and coverage which are important for the
extension of coverage. The ECB supports these. As regards
the rules set out in Article 3(1), the ECB refers to its
opinion submitted on 9 July 1999 on a draft Commission
Regulation (EC) concerning the sub-indices of the HICP.

2. The ECB’s competence to deliver an opinion is based on
Article 105(4) of
the Treaty establishing the European
Community and Article 5(3) of Council Regulation (EC)
No 2494/95 of 23 October 1995 concerning harmonised
In accordance with Article
indices of consumer prices.
the
first sentence of
17.5,
European Central Bank,
this ECB opinion has been
adopted by the Governing Council of the ECB.

the Rules of Procedure of

6. Article 4 contains the essential conceptual definition of
price measurement of goods and services in the health,
education and social protection sectors. The two main
pillars are the implementation of the Laspeyres principle
and the measurement of prices net of reimbursement. The
ECB regards the proposals as consistent with the concept
of household final monetary consumption expenditure.

3. The objective of

the draft Regulation is to define the
methodological details for the inclusion of products in
the health, education and social protection sectors and
the timetable for
(in
particular hospital services, social protection services and
retirement homes).

the inclusion of certain items

latter Regulation, coverage of

4. The reason for proposing the adoption of the draft Regu-
lation lies in Commission Regulation (EC) No 1749/96 as
amended by Council Regulation (EC) No 1687/98.
According to this
the
Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP)
is to be
extended in the health, education and social protection
sectors and the major part of
the extension is to be
implemeted in December 1999. The Regulation also
states that the methodological details of inclusion should
be specified in accordance with the procedure laid down in
Article 14 of the framework Regulation (EC) No 2494/95.
In its opinion of 14 July 1998 on the aforementioned
Regulation (EC) No 1687/98, the ECB fully supported the
extension of coverage. It supported the general concept of
what should be covered by the HICP ((cid:145)household final
monetary consumption expenditure(cid:146)) and explained the
reasons for this view.

for

the

7. With regard to Article 4.2(d),

treatment of

the ECB is aware that
in
changes
different options
in purchasers’
purchase prices
justified
income
within the concepts of the HICP. The ECB agrees with
the proposal, which follows a full discussion which
resulted in no alternative proposal finding general support.

((cid:145)income-dependent prices(cid:146))

resulting from changes

can be

8. The ECB strongly supports

the proposed date

for
implementation,
i.e. December 1999 (Article 9). This is
essential for ensuring that the extension of coverage of
the HICP which is
scheduled for December 1999
according to Regulation (EC) No 1687/98 is implemented
in a comparable manner. The comparability of the HICP is
decisive for its credibility and for the use of the HICP by
the
the ECB. The ECB therefore also proposes
provision of Article 8(1) of the draft Regulation, which
enables Member States to deviate from the rules of the
Regulation under certain conditions,
in connection with
the provision of Article 7, which defines the comparability
threshold, be clarified. Any departure from the Regulation
affecting the HICP systematically by more than one-tenth
of one percentage point
strict
application of Articles 4 and 5 of the Regulation) should
be ruled out by the Regulation.

(compared with the

that

C 324/12

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

12.11.1999

9. As already stated in its opinion of 14 July 1998 on Regu-
lation (EC) No 1687/98, the ECB would stress that the
provision of sufficiently comparable back-data covering at
least the year 1999 (and, in respect of the items listed in
Article 9 which are to be implemented in December 2000,
at least the year 2000) is highly desirable as supplementary
information.

10. This ECB opinion will be published in the Official Journal of

the European Communities.

Done at Frankfurt am Main on 24 August 1999.

The Vice-President of the ECB

C. NOYER