Commission Regulation (EC) No 2602/2000 of 17 November 2000 laying down detailed rules for the implementation of Council Regulation (EC) No 2494/95 as regards minimum standards for the treatment of price reductions in the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (Text with EEA relevance)
Date: 2000-11-17
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: EU Member State, consumer price, goods and services, housekeeping economy, price index, reduced price, statistical method

L 300/16

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

29.11.2000

COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 2602/2000

of 17 November 2000

laying down detailed rules for the implementation of Council Regulation (EC) No 2494/95 as
regards minimum standards for the treatment of price reductions in the Harmonised Index of
Consumer Prices

(Text with EEA relevance)

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

(5)

The measures provided for in this Regulation are in
accordance with
Statistical
Programme Committee (SPC) established by Council
Decision 89/382/EEC, Euratom (5),

opinion

the

the

of

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European
Community,

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

After consulting the European Central Bank (2),

Whereas:

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

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

There is considerable scope for procedural differences in
the treatment of price reductions and the relationship
between price reductions and purchase price. A harmo-
nised methodology for the treatment of price reductions
in the HICP is necessary to ensure that the resulting
HICPs meet the comparability requirement of Article 4
of Regulation (EC) No 2494/95. It will also improve
their reliability and relevance.

Prices used in the HICP should be purchaser prices
actually paid by households to purchase individual
goods and services in monetary transactions, including
any taxes less subsidies on the products, after deductions
for discounts for bulk or off-peak purchases from
standard prices or charges, and excluding interest or
services charges added under credit arrangements and
any extra charges incurred as a result of failing to pay
within the period stated at the time the purchases were
made.

In the event of changes in specification, prices should be
treated in accordance with the rules regarding quality
adjustment set out in Commission Regulation (EC) No
1749/96 of 9 September 1996 on initial implementing
measures for Council Regulation (EC) No 2494/95
concerning harmonised indices of consumer prices (3), as
last amended by Council Regulation (EC) No 1688/
98 (4).

(1) OJ L 257, 27.10.1995, p. 1.
(2) Opinion delivered on 24 November 2000 (not yet published in the

Official Journal).

(3) OJ L 229, 10.9.1996, p. 3.
(4) OJ L 214, 31.7.1998, p. 23.

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

Aim

The aim of this Regulation is to specify the treatment in the
Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices, hereinafter referred to
as ‘HICP’ of reductions in prices for individual goods or services
in order to ensure that HICPs are reliable and relevant and meet
the comparability requirements laid down in Article 4 of Regu-
lation (EC) No 2494/95.

Article 2

Purchaser prices

Unless otherwise stated purchaser prices used in the HICP shall
in general take account of reductions in prices of individual
goods and services if such reductions:

(a) can be attributed to the purchase of an individual good or

service;

(b) are available to all potential consumers with no special

conditions attached (non-discriminatory);

(c) are known to the purchaser at the time when they enter
into the agreement with the seller to purchase the product
concerned; and

(d) can be claimed at the time of purchase or within such a
time period following the actual purchase that they might
be expected to have a significant influence on the quantities
purchasers are willing to purchase.

In particular, reductions in the prices of individual goods and
services which are likely or expected to be available again at
standard prices or are available elsewhere at standard prices
shall be taken into account in the HICP. Standard price means
the price without any conditions or qualifications and not
described as a special price.

(5) OJ L 181, 28.6.1989, p. 47.

29.11.2000

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

L 300/17

Article 3

Inducements

with the index for January 2001 or with the index for January
2002.

The market value of
something temporarily offered to
consumers to persuade them to purchase a particular product,
hereinafter referred to as an ‘inducement’, may be deducted if
known. That market value shall be added back at the time the
offer is withdrawn. Inducements in the form of extras, such as
extra quantity of
inclusion of a
different product ‘free of charge’ or other benefits, shall be
disregarded if they are not significant.

the product concerned,

Article 4

Specification change

Where specification changes, prices shall be treated in accord-
ance with the rules on specification changes, and in particular
those regarding quality adjustment in Article 5 of Regulation
(EC) No 1749/96.

Article 5

Implementation

The provisions of this Regulation shall be applied by Member
States in December 2000 at the latest and take effect either

Article 6

Revision

1.
As a transitional measure, where the implementation of
the provisions of this Regulation affects the annual rate of
change (m/(m–12)) of the all-items index by more than one-
tenth of one percentage point compared with an index which
does not take account of price reductions, the index series
concerned shall be revised appropriately.

General provisions relating to the revisions policy for the
2.
HICPs shall be adopted in accordance with the procedure laid
down in Article 14 of Regulation (EC) No 2494/95, whereupon
the transitional measures shall cease to apply.

Article 7

Entry into force

This Regulation shall enter
into force on the 20th 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 Brussels, 17 November 2000.

For the Commission

Pedro SOLBES MIRA

Member of the Commission