Commission Regulation (EC) No 1708/2005 of 19 October 2005 laying down detailed rules for the implementation of Council Regulation (EC) No 2494/95 as regards the common index reference period for the harmonised index of consumer prices, and amending Regulation (EC) No 2214/96   (Text with EEA relevance)
Date: 2005-10-19
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: consumer price, harmonisation of prices, price index, statistical method

20.10.2005

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 274/9

COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 1708/2005

of 19 October 2005

laying down detailed rules for the implementation of Council Regulation (EC) No 2494/95 as
regards the common index reference period for the harmonised index of consumer prices, and
amending Regulation (EC) No 2214/96

(Text with EEA relevance)

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

(5)

Having regard to the Treaty
Community,

establishing the European

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

Having regard to the opinion of the European Central Bank (2),
as required under Article 5(3) of Regulation (EC) No 2494/95,

Whereas:

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

Harmonised Indices of Consumer Prices
(HICPs) are
harmonised inflation figures required by the Commission
and the European Central Bank for the performance of
their functions under Article 121 of the EC Treaty. HICPs
are designed to facilitate international comparisons of
consumer price inflation. They serve as important indi-
cators for the management of monetary policy.

Under heading (a) of Article 5(1) of Regulation (EC) No
2494/95, Stage I of the measures necessary to achieve
comparable
the
consumer prices
production of an interim series of indices.

indices of

entails

Under heading (b) of Article 5(1) of Regulation (EC) No
the harmonised index of
2494/95, during Stage II
consumer prices
index for
January 1997, the year 1996 being the common index
reference period.

starts with the

(HICP)

Regulation (EC) No 2494/95 does not, however, preclude
updating the HICPs to another common index reference
period.

(6)

(7)

(8)

(9)

(10)

Following the accession of 10 new Member States in
2004, some HICP sub-indices, governed by the system
of classification of individual consumption by purpose
adapted to the needs of HICPs (COICOP/HICP), as set
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),
to
different
reference periods; however, HICPs
should be compiled on the basis of common index
reference periods in order to ensure comparability in
accordance with Article 4 of Regulation (EC) No
2494/95.

index

refer

Updating the common index reference period would
improve the relevance of the HICPs in accordance with
Article 5(3) of Regulation (EC) No 2494/95.

It
is considered good practice to update the index
reference period of price indices when major revisions
of
the indices are taking place, whether in terms of
items, geographical coverage, or both.

It
is necessary to establish rules for common index
reference periods of COICOP/HICP sub-indices integrated
within the HICP at different points in time, in order to
ensure that the resulting HICPs meet the comparability
and relevance requirements of Articles 4 and 5(3) of
Regulation (EC) No 2494/95.

In this context it is necessary to clarify and harmonise
the terminology in order to guide operational practice
concerning reference periods for HICPs.
is further
necessary to amend Commission Regulation (EC) No
2214/96 of 20 November 1996 concerning harmonised
indices of consumer prices: transmission and dissemi-
nation of sub-indices of the HICP (4).

It

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

opinion

the

the

of

(1) OJ L 257, 27.10.1995, p. 1. Regulation as amended by Regulation
(EC) No 1882/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council
(OJ L 284, 31.10.2003, p. 1).

(2) Opinion delivered on 4 October 2005 (OJ C 254, 14.10.2005).

(3) OJ L 229, 10.9.1996, p. 3. Regulation as

last amended by

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

(4) OJ L 296, 21.11.1996, p. 8. Regulation as last amended by
Regulation (EC) No 1920/2001 (OJ L 261, 29.9.2001, p. 46).

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

L 274/10

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

20.10.2005

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

Aim

period when deemed appropriate. Upon updates, the full time
series of all HICPs and HICP sub-indices shall be rescaled to the
common index reference period. The rescaling to the new index
reference period shall take effect with the index for the January
of the following calendar year.

The aim of this Regulation is to establish common rules for
determining certain index reference periods in order to ensure
that
the resulting Harmonised Indices of Consumer Prices
(HICPs) are comparable and relevant.

Article 2

Definitions

There shall be three types of common reference or base periods
used in the construction of HICPs which may be chosen inde-
pendently of each other, namely:

(a) The ‘weighting reference period’ is as defined in Article 2 of

Commission Regulation (EC) No 2454/97 (1).

(b) The ‘price reference period’

is the period from which the
current price change is measured and for which prices are
used as denominators in the index calculations; it refers to
the prices used for the volume valuation in the HICP
weights.

(c) The ‘index reference period’

is the period for which the

index is set to 100 index points.

Article 3

Implementing measures

The HICP common index reference period shall be set at

1.
2005 = 100.

2.
The full time series of the HICP all-item indices and sub-
indices shall be rescaled to another common index reference

The Commission (Eurostat) may update

3.
index
reference period after consulting the Statistical Programme
Committee established by Decision 89/382/EEC, Euratom.

the

4.
Any additional COICOP/HICP sub-indices to be integrated
within the HICP shall be linked in December at the level of 100
index points and take effect with the index for the following
January.

Article 4

Amendment

Article 4 of Regulation (EC) No 2214/96 is replaced by the
following:

‘Article 4

Dissemination of sub-indices

The Commission (Eurostat) shall disseminate sub-indices of
the HICPs for the categories listed in Annex 1 to this Regu-
lation on the basis of a common index reference period’.

Article 5

Entry into force

This Regulation shall enter into force on the twentieth 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, 19 October 2005.

For the Commission

Joaquín ALMUNIA
Member of the Commission

(1) OJ L 340, 11.12.1997, p. 24.