Council Regulation (EC) No 2166/1999 of 8 October 1999 laying down detailed rules for the implementation of 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
Date: 1999-10-08
Institutions: Council of the European Union
Subjects: consumer price, goods and services, harmonisation of prices, health policy, social security, teaching

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Official Journal of the European Communities

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I

(Acts whose publication is obligatory)

COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) No 2166/1999

of 8 October 1999

laying down detailed rules for the implementation of 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

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European
Community,

Having regard to Regulation (EC) No 2494/95 of 23 October
1995 concerning harmonised indices of consumer prices (1),
and in particular Articles 4 and 5(3) thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,

After consulting the European Central Bank (2),

Whereas:

(1)

(2)

(3)

by virtue of Article 5(1)(b) of Regulation (EC) No 2494/
95, each Member State is required to produce a Har-
monised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) starting with
the index for January 1997;

Commission Regulation (EC) No 1749/96 (3) defines the
coverage of the HICP as those goods and services which
are included in household final monetary consumption
expenditure; goods and services in the health, education
and social protection sectors are part of the coverage of
the HICP; household final monetary consumption covers
the expenditure incurred by individuals living in institu-
tional households and should be grouped in accordance
with the COICOP/HICP categories as laid down in
Commission Regulation (EC) No 2214/96 (4);

by virtue of Commission Regulation (EC) No 1749/96,
in particular Article 3 and Annex Ia thereof, extended
coverage in the health, education and social protection
sectors should be implemented in December 1999 and
take effect with the index for January 2000, whereby 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, the
timetable of inclusion for hospital services and social
protection services provided within the home, retire-
ment homes and residences for the disabled should be
specified in accordance with the same procedure;

there is considerable scope for procedural differences in
the treatment of goods and services in the health, educa-
tion and social protection sectors in the HICP; a har-
monised methodology for such goods and services is
necessary to ensure that the resulting HICPs meet the
comparability requirements as laid down in Article 4 of
Regulation (EC) No 2494/95;

the treatment of goods and services in the health, educa-
tion and social protection sectors is consistent with the
laid down in the European System of
definitions
Accounts (ESA) 1995 set out in Council Regulation (EC)
No 2223/96 (5);

the Statistical Programme Committee (SPC) has not
delivered an opinion within the time limit set by its
chairman;
following the procedure laid
down in Article 14(2) of Regulation (EC) No 2494/95,
the Commission has to, without delay, submit to the
Council a proposal relating to the measures to be taken,

in this case,

(4)

(5)

(6)

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

Aim

(1) OJ L 257, 27.10.1995, p. 1.
(2) Opinion delivered on 24 August 1999.
(3) OJ L 229, 10.9.1996, p. 3. Regulation as amended by Council
Regulations (EC) No 1687/98 (OJ L 214, 31.7.1998, p. 12) and
(EC) No 1688/98 (OJ L 214, 31.7.1998, p. 23).

(4) OJ L 296, 21.11.1996, p. 8. Regulation as last amended by Regula-

tion (EC) No 1749/1999 (OJ L 214, 13.8.1999, p. 1).

The aim of this Regulation is to set minimum standards for the
treatment of goods and services in the health, education and

(5) OJ L 310, 30.11.1996, p. 1. Regulation as amended by Regulation

(EC) No 448/98 (OJ L 58, 27.2.1998, p. 1).

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14. 10. 1999

in the Harmonised Indices of
social protection sectors
Consumer Prices, hereafter referred to as HICPs, in order to
ensure that they are reliable and relevant and meet the compar-
ability requirements as laid down in Article 4 of Regulation
(EC) No 2494/95.

Article 2

Definition

1.
Reimbursements refer to payments to households by
government units, social security administrations or non-profit
that are made as
institutions serving households (NPISHs),
direct consequences of purchases of
individually specified
goods and services,

initially paid for by households.

Payments of claims to households by insurance com-

2.
panies do not constitute reimbursements.

3.
Other payments or rebates to households by government
units, social security administrations or NPISHs in the form of
assistance to reduce household expenditure, such as housing
allowances to tenants or payments due to sickness, disability,
the care of elderly relatives or scholarships to students, are
considered as social benefits in cash. They are treated as
income transfers to households and do not constitute reim-
bursements.

Article 3

Coverage

to COICOP/HICP Division 10 if the child's age of entry is not
less than three years and the activities consist of organised
instruction in a school-type environment designed to bridge
the gap between the home and school atmosphere. If, on the
other hand, the main objective is not a pedagogical one, but to
the service
provide child-minding assistance and support,
concerned should be allocated to COICOP/HICP class 12.4.0.

5. Where hospitals, in addition to basic services as defined
in COICOP/HICP 06.3, make other goods or services available
to in-patients on a separate charge basis, the latter shall not be
allocated to class 06.3.0, but
to the COICOP/HICP classes
concerned.

Article 4

Prices

1.
The HICP sub-indices concerned shall be calculated using
a formula which is consistent with the Laspeyres-type formula
used for other sub-indices. They should 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.

2. (a) The purchaser prices of goods and services in the health,
education and social protection sectors to be used in the
HICP shall be the amounts to be paid by consumers net
of reimbursements.

(b) Changes in purchaser prices which reflect changes in
the rules determining them shall be shown as price
changes in the HICP.

(c) Where purchaser prices

changes
resulting from changes in the index shall be shown as
price changes in the HICP.

index-linked,

are

1.
Goods and services in the health, education and social
protection sectors on which household final monetary
consumption expenditure is incurred shall be covered in the
HICP and grouped in accordance with the COICOP/HICP cat-
egories as laid down in Commission Regulation (EC) No 2214/
96.

2.
All providers of goods and services in the health, educa-
tion and social protection sectors, such as government and
private institutions, NPISHs or private self-employed persons,
shall be covered in the HICP independently of their status. This
excludes individuals or groups of individuals as producers of
goods and non-financial services exclusively for own final use.

3.
In accordance with COICOP/HICP, Education (Division
10) includes education services only. If an all-inclusive price is
charged for education services in combination with educational
materials or education support services, its components shall
be separated and allocated to the COICOP/HICP classes
concerned. Where such an all-inclusive price cannot be
separated into the prices of the components concerned, the
all-inclusive price shall be allocated to COICOP/HICP Division
10.

4.
Borderline cases between education services at the pre-
primary level and child-minding social protection facilities,
such as wet-nurses, crèches and play-schools, shall be allocated

(d) Changes in the purchaser prices resulting from changes
in purchasers' incomes shall be shown as price changes
in the HICP.

3. Where quality
treated
changes, prices
according to the rules applied in the context of specification
changes, and in particular those regarding quality adjustment
pursuant to Article 5 of Commission Regulation (EC) No 1749/
96.

should be

in the health, education and
4. Where goods or services,
social protection sectors, have been made
to
consumers free of charge and subsequently an actual price is
charged, the change from zero to an actual price, and vice
versa, shall be reflected in the HICP.

available

5. Where goods or services in the health, education and
social protection sectors, jointly provided with other goods and
services, have been made available to consumers free of charge
and subsequently are charged for on a separate basis, the
change shall be reflected in the HICP.

6. Where relevant, the procedure provided for in Article 5
of Commission Regulation (EC) No 2646/98 (1) concerning
tariffs shall apply mutatis mutandis.

(1) OJ L 335, 10.12.1998, p. 30.

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Article 5

Basic information

Article 8

Quality control

The basic information shall be all purchaser prices of goods
and services in the health, education and social protection
sectors and their components, together with weightings which
reflect the level, the timing and the structure of the consump-
tion of such goods or services, according to the price-deter-
mining socioeconomic characteristics.

Article 6

Data sources

1.
The HICP sub-indices concerned shall be computed by
the Member States from basic information as defined in Article
5.

The statistical units, such as government agencies, social
2.
security administrations or NPISHs, called upon by the Member
States to cooperate in the collection or provision of basic
information are obliged to give honest and complete informa-
tion at the time it is requested and allow the organisations and
institutions responsible for compiling official statistics, on
request, to obtain information at the level of detail necessary to
evaluate compliance with the comparability requirements and
the quality of the HICP sub-indices.

Article 7

Comparability

HICPs constructed following the procedures described in
Articles 4 and 5 of this Regulation or following other proced-
ures which do not result in an index which differs systemat-
ically by more than one tenth of one percentage point on
average over one year against the previous year from an index
compiled following those procedures, shall be deemed com-
parable.

1. Member States shall provide the Commission (Eurostat)
with information on the procedures developed for the treat-
ment of goods and services in the health, education and social
protection sectors where these procedures differ from those
specified in Articles 4 and 5 of this Regulation, before such
procedures are used.

2. Member States shall provide the Commission (Eurostat),
on request, with sufficient information to assess the operation
of the procedures laid down in Articles 4 and 5 of this Regula-
tion. The result of this assessment shall be included in the
reports to be submitted by the Commission to the Council as
provided for in Article 2 of Council Regulation (EC) No 1687/
98 and in Article 2 of Council Regulation (EC) No 1688/98.

Article 9

Implementation

The provisions of this Regulation shall be implemented by the
Member States in December 1999 and shall take effect with the
index for January 2000, apart from the following, which shall
be implemented in December 2000 and shall take effect with
the index for January 2001:

(a) hospital services (COICOP/HICP 06.3);

(b) social protection services provided within the home, such
as home cleaning, meals, transport for the disabled (part of
COICOP/HICP 12.4.0);

(c) retirement homes, residences for the disabled (part of

COICOP/HICP 12.4.0).

Article 10

Entry into force

This Regulation shall enter into force on the twentieth day
following its publication in the Official Journal of the European
Communities.

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.

Done at Luxembourg, 8 October 1999.

For the Council

The President

S. NIINISTÖ