REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL on the exercise of the power to adopt delegated acts conferred on the Commission under Regulation (EU) 2016/792 on harmonised indices of consumer prices and the house price index
Date: 2025-07-28
Institutions: European Commission, Eurostat
Subjects: EU statistics, consumption, delegated legislation, habitat, harmonisation of prices, national statistics, powers of the institutions (EU), price index, publishing of prices, transfer of competence

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  EN 

   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 28.7.2025  COM(2025) 442 final  REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL on the exercise of the power to adopt delegated acts conferred on the Commission under Regulation (EU) 2016/792 on harmonised indices of consumer prices and the house price index  
 
 
REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT 
AND THE COUNCIL 

on the exercise of the power to adopt delegated acts conferred on the 
Commission under Regulation (EU) 2016/792 on harmonised indices of 
consumer prices and the house price index 

1. 

BACKGROUND 

Under Regulation (EU) 2016/792 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 
11 May 2016 on harmonised indices of consumer prices  and the house price index 
(1),  the  Commission  is  empowered  to  adopt  delegated  acts  (see  Article 10  on  the 
exercise of delegation). 

This empowerment concerns the following purposes: 

• 

• 
• 

Individual  Consumption  by  Purpose 

to  amend  Annex  I,  in  order  to  ensure  comparability  of  the  harmonised 
indices  at  international  level  in  accordance  with  the  United  Nation’s  (UN) 
Classification  of 
(COICOP) 
(Article 4(3)); 
to add items to the list in Article 4(4), first subparagraph; 
to modify the list set  out in  Article 5(8) to  include  'games of chance'  in  the 
Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) and the HICP at constant tax 
rates (HICP-CT). 

When exercising the power to adopt delegated acts, the Commission must ensure, in 
line with Article 10(2) of Regulation (EU) 2016/792, that those acts are justified and 
do  not  impose  a  significant  additional  burden  on  Member  States  or  on  the 
respondent  units.  Article 10(2)  also  requires  the  Commission  to  follow  its  usual 
practice  and  consult  with  experts,  including  in  the  Member  States,  as  part  of  the 
preparatory work for the delegated act. 

Finally,  under  Article 10(5),  the  Commission  must  simultaneously  notify  the 
European Parliament and the Council as soon as it adopts a delegated act. 

2. 

LEGAL BASIS 

Under Article 10(3) of Regulation (EU) 2016/792, the power to adopt delegated acts 
is conferred on the Commission for a period of five years from 13 June 2016. This 
power  is  to  be  extended  tacitly  for  periods  of  five  years  unless  the  European 
Parliament or the Council opposes such extension not later than three months before 
the end of each period. 

The Commission is obliged to draw up a report on the use of the delegation of power 
no later than nine months before the end of each five-year period. 

(1)  Regulation  (EU)  2016/792  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  of  11 May  2016  on 
harmonised  indices  of  consumer  prices  and  the  house  price  index,  and  repealing  Council 
Regulation 
(OJ  L  135,  24.5.2016,  p. 11,  ELI:  https://eur-
(EC)  No  2494/95 
lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2016/792/oj). 

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This report fulfils that obligation. 

3. 

COMMISSION EXERCISE OF DELEGATED POWERS 
In  2020,  the  Commission  issued  the  report  COM(2020) 354  final  (2)  covering  the 
first five-year period of using the power to adopt delegated acts under Article 10(3) 
of Regulation (EU) 2016/792 and noted that, during that period, the power to adopt 
delegated acts had not been exercised. 

For the following period, as per the tacit extension of the delegation of powers, the 
Commission  exercised  its  power  to  adopt  delegated  acts,  as  conferred  on  it  under 
Article 10(3)  of  Regulation  (EU)  2016/792,  by  adopting  Commission  Delegated 
Regulation (EU) 2024/3159 (3). 

Commission  Delegated  Regulation  (EU)  2024/3159  amended  Regulation  (EU) 
2016/792 as regards: 

• 

• 

the  update  of  Annex  I  ‘European  Classification  of  Individual  Consumption 
according to Purpose (ECOICOP)’ to a new version (‘ECOICOP, Ver. 2’), in 
accordance  with  the  power  conferred  to  the  Commission  under  Article 4(3) 
of Regulation (EU) 2016/792; and 
the  inclusion  of  games  of  chance  in  the  HICP  and  the  HICP-CT,  in 
accordance with the power conferred to the Commission under Article 5(8), 
second paragraph of Regulation (EU) 2016/792. 

The  amendment  of  Annex  I  to  Regulation  (EU)  2016/792  was  required  to  ensure 
comparability of the harmonised price indices at the international level following the 
adoption of the UN COICOP 2018 (4). The amendment enables an alignment of the 
ECOICOP  with  the  revised  UN  COICOP,  reflecting  the  significant  changes  of 
consumption patterns of households since the original UN COICOP was established 
in 1999. 

The Commission, in consultation with expert groups, has developed methodological 
guidance, ensuring a sufficient degree of harmonisation for the compilation of a sub-
index  for  games  of  chance.  For  this  reason,  it  has  made  use  of  its  power  to  adopt 
delegated acts set out in Article 4(3) of Regulation (EU) 2016/792 to remove games 
of  chance  from  the  table  of  excluded  items  in  the  HICP  scope  in  line  with 
Article 5(8) of the same Regulation. Games of chance are therefore now included in 
the HICP as part of household final monetary consumption expenditure. 

(2)  Report from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council on the exercise of the 
power to adopt delegated acts conferred on the Commission under Regulation (EU) 2016/792 on 
harmonised indices of consumer prices and the house price index, COM(2020)354 final. 

(3)  Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2024/3159 of 2 September 2024, amending Regulation 
(EU)  2016/792  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  on  harmonised  indices  of 
consumer prices and the house price index as regards the classification of consumption and the 
inclusion  of  games  of  chance 
(OJ  L,  2024/3159,  20.12.2024,  ELI:  https://eur-
lex.europa.eu/eli/reg_del/2024/3159/oj/eng). 

(4)  See the publication of the United Nations Statistical Division, UNSD — COICOP. 

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The delegated act will start to apply from the reference month of January 2026. 

With the inclusion of games of chance in the HICP and the HICP-CT, the delegated 
power granted for amending Article 5(8) is terminated, given that the changes made 
possible by it have already been carried out. 

Consistency  between  the  new  classification  and  the  list  of  exempted  items  in  the 
table  in  Article 5(8)  may  be  impacted  by  the  amendment  of  the  classification. 
Therefore,  as  set  out  in  the  fourth  preamble  of  Commission  Delegated  Regulation 
(EU)  2024/3159,  in  the  event  of  differences,  the  table  should  be  understood  as 
referring to the amended classification for the remaining listed products. 

To  address  the  cost  and  burden  on  Member  States,  as  set  out  in  Article 10(2)  of 
Regulation (EU) 2016/792, financial support from the general budget of the EU via 
grants was allocated, based on Member States’ proposals and according to the needs 
to support changes required in their national production systems to accommodate the 
transition  to  the  new  COICOP  classification  and  to  prepare  for  the  inclusion  of 
games of chance. 

Specific recommendations on the treatment of games of chance (5) were also made 
available to Member States and respondents to support them in the implementation 
of this change. 

The  changes  to  Regulation  (EU)  2016/792,  which  were  deemed  necessary  to 
maintain  high  standards  of  statistical  accuracy  of  the  HICP,  were  discussed  with 
experts from Member States, as required under the third paragraph of Article 10(2) 
of the same Regulation. 

Synergies were also seen in adopting both changes together. 

Overall, the use of delegated powers by the Commission will improve the relevance 
of harmonised price indices in reflecting current economic structures and the highest 
statistical standards. 

4. 

CONCLUSION 

By  adopting  Commission  Delegated  Regulation  (EU)  2024/3159,  the  Commission 
has exercised its power to adopt delegated acts under Article 10 of Regulation (EU) 
2016/792. 

The  Commission  considers  that  it  should  retain  the  delegated  powers  provided  by 
Regulation  (EU)  2016/792.  The  powers  to  modify  Article 4(4)  of  Regulation  (EU) 
2016/792  or  to  further  change  Annex  I  remain  essential  to  address  future  needs 
arising from inflation developments. As a result the harmonised indices of consumer 
prices and the house price index will be improved, so that they continue to meet high 
standards in terms of quality and comparability. 

(5) 

Recommendations on the treatment of games of chance in the HICP - December 2024 

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The  Commission  invites  the  European  Parliament  and  the  Council  to  take  note  of 
this report. 

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