Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2021/1949 of 10 November 2021 on the principles for estimating dwelling services for the purposes of Regulation (EU) 2019/516 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the harmonisation of gross national income at market prices (GNI Regulation) and repealing Commission Decision 95/309/EC, Euratom and Commission Regulation (EC) No 1722/2005 (Text with EEA relevance)

THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,

Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

Having regard to Regulation (EU) 2019/516 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 March 2019 on the harmonisation of gross national income at market prices and repealing Council Directive 89/130/EEC, Euratom and Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1287/2003 (GNI Regulation) (1), and in particular Article 5(3) thereof,

Whereas:

(1) The principles for estimating dwelling services are one of the issues defined in Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2020/2147 (2) on the list of issues to ensure the reliability, exhaustiveness and comparability of the gross national income at market prices (‘GNI’) data to be addressed in every verification cycle.

(2) For data on GNI to be reliable, exhaustive and comparable, the principles for estimating dwelling services need to be clarified.

(3) GNI aggregates and their components should be comparable across Member States and should comply with the relevant definitions and accounting rules of the European system of accounts 2010 (‘ESA 2010’) (3).

(4) Commission Decision 95/309/EC, Euratom (4) and Commission Regulation (EC) No 1722/2005 (5) should therefore be repealed.

(5) The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the European Statistical System Committee referred to in Article 8 of Regulation (EU) 2019/516,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

For the purposes of Regulation (EU) 2019/516 the principles for estimating dwelling services, as set out in this Regulation, shall apply.

Article 2

Member States shall use tabular analyses or statistical techniques to derive pertinent stratification criteria.

They may also make use of rentals for furnished dwellings if scaled down so as to exclude payments for the use of the furniture.

Member States with a small private rental sector may exceptionally make use of duly increased public rentals in order to enlarge the basis for imputed rentals.

Article 3

In exceptional cases, and when duly justified, Member States may apply other objective methods, such as the user-cost method.

No justification shall be required for use of the user-cost method in compiling the output of owner-occupied dwellings, provided that the following conditions are met:

(a) privately rented dwellings must represent less than 10 % of the dwelling stock; and

(b) if (a) is fulfilled and the share of the total rented dwellings – market and non-market – in the total dwelling stock exceeds 10 %, the disparity between market and other paid rentals must exceed a factor of three.

Article 4

Member States using a base year approach shall extrapolate a given base year figure using appropriate quantity, price and quality indicators.

Article 5

For dwelling services, Member States shall apply the detailed principles in Annex to estimate output, intermediate consumption and transactions with the rest of the world.

Article 6

Decision 95/309/EC, Euratom and Regulation (EC) No 1722/2005 are repealed.

Article 7

This Regulation shall enter into force on the twentieth day following that of 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, 10 November 2021.

For the Commission The President Ursula VON DER LEYEN

(1) OJ L 91, 29.3.2019, p. 19.

(2) Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2020/2147 of 8 October 2020 supplementing Regulation (EU) 2019/516 of the European Parliament and of the Council by defining the list of issues to be addressed in every verification cycle (OJ L 428, 18.12.2020, p. 9).

(3) Regulation (EU) No 549/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 May 2013 on the European system of national and regional accounts in the European Union (OJ L 174, 26.6.2013, p. 1).

(4) Commission Decision 95/309/EC, Euratom of 18 July 1995 specifying the principles for estimating dwelling services for the purpose of implementing Article 1 of Council Directive 89/130/EEC, Euratom on the harmonization of the compilation of gross national product at market prices (OJ L 186, 5.8.1995, p. 59).

(5) Commission Regulation (EC) No 1722/2005 of 20 October 2005 on the principles for estimating dwelling services for the purpose of Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1287/2003 on the harmonisation of gross national income at market prices (OJ L 276, 21.10.2005, p. 5).