Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2022/2094 of 28 October 2022 specifying the technical items of data sets, establishing the technical formats for transmission of information and specifying the detailed arrangements and content of the quality reports on the organisation of a sample survey in the consumption domain pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2019/1700 of the European Parliament and of the Council (Text with EEA relevance)

31.10.2022	EN	Official Journal of the European Union	L 281/23

THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,

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

Having regard to Regulation (EU) 2019/1700 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 10 October 2019 establishing a common framework for European statistics relating to persons and households, based on data at individual level collected from samples, amending Regulations (EC) No 808/2004, (EC) No 452/2008 and (EC) No 1338/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council, and repealing Regulation (EC) No 1177/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council and Council Regulation (EC) No 577/98 ¹, and in particular Article 7(1), Article 8(3) and Article 13(6) thereof,

Whereas:

• (1) To ensure the accurate implementation of the sample survey in the consumption domain called the Household Budget Survey (‘HBS’), the Commission should specify the technical items of the data set, the technical formats for transmission of information and the detailed arrangements and content of the quality reports.

• (2) The HBS is a key instrument used to compile weightings for important macroeconomic indicators, such as consumer price indices and the harmonised indices of consumer prices as measures of inflation, as well as for national accounts purposes. Those surveys provide detailed descriptions of private households’ total consumption expenditure using household characteristics such as income, housing and many other demographic and socioeconomic characteristics. They therefore provide information on the economic and social living conditions of households and individuals in the Member States. The information from the HBS is also used at EU level in the context of consumer protection policy.

• (3) The European Green Deal calls for a sustainable consumer policy that will help empower consumers to make informed choices and play an active role in the ecological transition ². Furthermore, the Green Deal aims to ensure fair and inclusive transitions, with due attention to social concerns and distribution of impacts. The Farm to Fork strategy also aims at promoting sustainable food consumption and facilitating the shift to healthy, sustainable diets ³. In addition, Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan promotes healthy food to address certain cancer risks ⁴.

• (4) The international comparability of national statistics on consumption expenditure requires the use of statistical classifications for territorial units, education, occupation and economic sector that are compatible with the NUTS ⁵, ISCED ⁶, ISCO ⁷ and NACE ⁸ classifications. Furthermore, to classify and analyse individual consumption expenditure incurred by households according to their purpose, the Classification of Individual Consumption According to Purpose (‘COICOP’) ⁹ is to be used.

• (5) The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the European Statistical System Committee, established by Article 7 of Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council ¹⁰,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

Subject matter

This Regulation specifies the technical items of the data sets, the technical formats for the transmission of information from Member States to the Commission (Eurostat), the arrangements for transmission and the content of the quality reports in the consumption domain.

Article 2

Definitions

For the purposes of this Regulation, the following definitions apply:

• (1) ‘reference period’ means the period to which a particular item of information relates;

• (2) ‘current calendar year’ means the calendar year of the interview;

• (3) ‘sample person’ means a member of a private household who is at least 16 years old on 1 January of the current calendar year;

• (4) ‘sample household’ means a private household containing at least one sample person;

• (5) ‘age’ of a person means the age in completed years on 1 January of the current calendar year;

• (6) ‘reference person’ means the household member who is at least 16 years old and who contributes most to the total income of the household;

• (7) ‘collection unit’ means a household or person with certain characteristics to which or whom the information collected pertains;

• (8) ‘household respondent’ means the sample person from whom household-level information is obtained;

• (9) ‘diary’ means a template (electronic or paper) in which households and/or household members record all items of daily consumption and/or expenditure;

• (10) ‘recording period’ means the period for which a consumption expenditure diary is maintained by the household and/or individual.

Article 3

Statistical concepts and description of variables

Member States shall use the statistical concepts laid down in Annex I.

The technical characteristics of variables shall be those laid down in Annex II and refer to:

• (a) the variable’s identifier;

• (b) the variable’s name;

• (c) the modality label and code;

• (d) the collection unit;

• (e) the reference period.

Article 4

Characteristics of the statistical populations and observation units and the rules on respondents

Article 5

Reference periods

Article 6

Detailed sample characteristics

• (a) the address was impossible to locate;

• (b) the address was non-residential or unoccupied;

• (c) the household or person was not found at the address;

• (d) the household or person was unable to respond (including due to incapacity);

• (e) a definite refusal of the household or person to cooperate was received;

• (f) the circumstances endangered the interviewer’s safety.

Article 7

Data gathering periods and methods

Article 8

Common standards for data editing, imputation, weighting and estimation

Article 9

Formats for transmitting information

Article 10

Quality reporting

Article 11

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 the Member States.

Done at Brussels, 28 October 2022.

For the Commission

The President

Ursula VON DER LEYEN

ANNEX I

DEFINITIONS OF STATISTICAL CONCEPTS

Consumption by classification of individual consumption by purpose (COICOP)

The consumption by classification of individual consumption by purpose (COICOP) is based on the concept of household final consumption expenditure in European System of Accounts, ESA 2010 ¹² as far as applicable to the consumption domain. It refers to expenditure incurred by private households on goods and services for satisfaction of their needs or wants.

Household final consumption expenditure includes the following examples:

• (a) services of owner-occupied dwellings (imputed rent);

• (b) own consumption;

• (c) expenditure on items not treated as intermediate consumption, such as:

• (1) materials for small repairs to and interior decoration of dwellings of a kind carried out by tenants as well as owners;

• (2) materials for repairs and maintenance to consumer durables, including vehicles;

• (d) expenditure on items not treated as capital formation, in particular consumer durables, that continue to perform their function in several accounting periods; this includes the transfer of ownership of some durables from an enterprise to a household;

• (e) financial services directly charged used for final consumption purposes by households (that is, not including FISIM);

• (f) insurance services by the amount of the actual service charge;

• (g) pension funding services by the amount of the actual service charge;

• (h) payments by households for licences, permits, etc. which are regarded as purchases of services;

• (i) the purchase of output at not economically significant prices, e.g. entrance fees for a museum.

Household final consumption expenditure excludes the following:

• (a) social transfers in kind, such as expenditures initially incurred by households but subsequently reimbursed by social security, e.g. some medical expenses;

• (b) expenditure on items treated as intermediate consumption or gross capital formation, such as:

• (1) expenditures by households owning unincorporated enterprises when incurred for business purposes – e.g. on durable goods such as vehicles, furniture or electrical equipment (gross fixed capital formation), and also on non-durables such as fuel (treated as intermediate consumption);

• (2) expenditure that an owner-occupier incurs on the decoration, maintenance and repair of the dwelling not typically carried out by tenants (treated as intermediate consumption in producing housing services);

• (3) the purchase of dwellings (treated as gross fixed capital formation);

• (4) expenditure on valuables (treated as gross fixed capital formation);

• (c) items treated as acquisitions of non-produced assets, in particular the purchase of land;

• (d) all those payments by households which are to be regarded as taxes;

• (e) voluntary transfers in cash or in kind by households to charities and relief and aid organisations.

The final consumption expenditure of households shall be recorded at purchasers’ prices. This is the price the purchaser actually pays for the products at the time of the purchase.

The purchaser’s price includes the following:

• (a) taxes less subsidies on the products (but excluding deductible taxes like VAT on the products);

• (b) transport charges paid separately by the purchaser to take delivery at the required time and place;

• (c) deductions for any discounts for bulk or off-peak-purchases from standard prices or charges.

The purchaser’s price excludes the following:

• (a) interest or services charges added under credit arrangements;

• (b) extra charges incurred as a result of late payment, where late payment means failing to pay within the period stated at the time the purchases were made.

Imputed rent

The purchase of the dwelling as such shall be regarded as capital formation (investment) and not consumer expenditure, and consequently shall be excluded from household final consumption expenditure. The ownership of a dwelling however produces a service, a shelter, which is consumed over time by the households, and as a consequence, an estimated price of the shelter, by imputation of a rental, shall be included in the household final consumption expenditure. It shall be part of the non-monetary part of household final consumption expenditure since no monetary transaction is involved.

The imputed rent represents simultaneously a non-monetary source of income, and consequently shall be recorded on the income side as well.

The imputed rent shall be estimated for all households that do not report paying full rent, either because they are owner-occupiers, or because they live in an accommodation rented at a lower price than the market price, or because the accommodation is provided rent-free.

The imputed rent shall be estimated only for those dwellings (and any associated buildings such as a garage) that are used as a main residence by the households.

The value of imputed rent shall be the estimated value of rental that would be paid for a similar accommodation, taking into account factors such as location, neighbourhood amenities, etc., as well as the size and quality of the dwelling itself. This value shall be reduced by any rent actually paid (in the case where the accommodation is rented at a lower price than the market price) and reduced by any ordinary maintenance (gas, electricity, water, etc.), minor repairs or refurbishment expenditure which the owner-occupier households make on the property of the type that would normally be carried out by landlords.

For garages located separately from dwellings, which are used by the owner for final consumption purposes in connection with using the dwelling, a similar imputation shall be made.

To estimate the value of owner-occupied dwelling services, the stratification method based on actual rents (either by direct extrapolation or by means of econometric regression) shall be preferably used.

• — The stock of dwellings shall be preferably stratified by location, size and nature of dwelling and other factors that affect the rental. Information about actual rentals from privately-owned rented dwellings shall be used to obtain an estimate of the rental value of the total stock of dwellings. The average actual rental per stratum shall be applied to all dwellings in that particular stratum.

• — The rental to be applied to owner-occupied dwellings in the stratification method is defined as the private market rental due for the right to use an unfurnished dwelling. The rentals for unfurnished dwellings from all private market contracts shall be used to determine imputed rentals. Private market rentals that are at a low level due to government regulation are included.

• — If the sample size for the observed rentals as defined above is not large enough, observed rentals for furnished dwellings may be used for imputation purposes, provided they are adjusted for the furniture element. Exceptionally, also increased rentals for public-owned dwellings may be used. Low rentals for dwellings let to relatives or to employees should not be used.

In the absence of a sufficiently large rental market, where accommodation is dominated by owner-occupied dwellings, the self-assessment method shall be applied for owner-occupied dwellings. The value of the imputed rent under this method refers to a self-assessed value used as direct estimate of the market price value of the dwelling.

Own consumption

Own consumption refers to goods and services produced as outputs of unincorporated enterprises owned by households that are retained for consumption by the members of the same household. Examples of products retained for own final consumption include:

• (a) agricultural products retained by farmers;

• (b) housing (dwelling) services produced by owner-occupiers;

• (c) household services produced by employing paid staff.

Domestic and personal services that are produced and consumed within the same household are not counted as production in ESA and as a result shall not be part of own consumption. Examples of domestic services produced by households themselves that shall be excluded are:

• (a) cleaning, decoration and maintenance of the dwelling as far as these activities are also common for tenants;

• (b) cleaning, servicing and repair of household durables;

• (c) preparation and serving of meals;

• (d) care, training and instruction of children;

• (e) care of sick, infirm or old people; and

• (f) transportation of members of the household or their goods.

However, domestic and personal services that are produced by employing paid domestic staff are considered as production, and make part of final consumption expenditure.

Own consumption shall be recorded when the output retained is taken into the household for own final consumption, and shall be valued at the purchaser’s price of similar products (goods or services) sold on the market. Domestic and personal services that are produced by employing paid domestic staff shall be valued by the compensation of employees paid; this shall include any compensation in kind such as food or accommodation.

Cross-border consumption expenditure

Household final consumption expenditure includes consumption expenditure of private resident households, whether the expenditure takes place in the country or abroad. Cross border consumption expenditure refers to the part of the household’s consumption expenditure effected abroad. It covers all direct purchases of goods and services made by residents while travelling abroad for business or personal purposes. Two categories, which require different treatment, shall be distinguished:

• (a) all business-related expenditure by business travellers are intermediate consumption, and therefore shall be excluded from household final consumption;

• (b) all other expenditure, whether by business travellers or other travellers, shall be household final consumption expenditure.

Only cross-border consumption expenditure made in monetary form shall be registered.

Total annual net income from all sources, including non-monetary components

Household total annual net income from all sources includes monetary annual net income from all sources, income in kind from employment, income in kind from non-salaried activities and imputed rent.

Household total annual net income from all sources should equal the sum for all household members of total personal annual net income from all sources plus all annual net income components at household level.

Monetary annual net income from all sources

Monetary annual net income from all sources includes:

• — Cash or near-cash employee income.

• — Cash profits or losses from self-employment (including royalties).

• — Property income:

• a. Interest, dividends, profits from capital investment in an unincorporated business;

• b. Income from rental of a property or land;

• c. Pensions received from individual private plans (other than those covered under the European system of integrated social protection statistics (ESSPROS)).

• — Current transfers received:

• a. Social benefits:

• — Family/children-related allowances;

• — Housing allowances;

• — Unemployment benefits;

• — Old-age benefits;

• — Survivors’ benefits;

• — Sickness benefits;

• — Disability benefits;

• — Education-related allowances;

• — Social exclusion allowances/benefits not classified elsewhere;

• b. Regular inter-household cash transfers received.

• — Other cash income received.

Income in kind from employment

Income in kind from employment refers to the non-monetary income components which an employer may provide free of charge or at a reduced price to an employee as part of the employment package. (If any goods or services are provided for both private and work use, then private use, as a proportion of total use, must be estimated and applied to the total value).

It includes:

• — a company car and associated costs (e.g. free fuel, car insurance, taxes and duties, as applicable) provided either for private use or for both private and work use,

• — free or subsidised meals, luncheon vouchers,

• — reimbursement or payment of housing-related expenses (e.g. gas, electricity, water, telephone or mobile telephone bills),

• — accommodation provided free or at reduced rent to an employee as the household’s main or secondary residence,

• — other goods and services provided free or at a reduced price by employers to their employees, if they are a significant component of income at national level or they constitute a significant component of the income of particular groups of households.

The value of goods and services provided free of charge shall be calculated according to their market value. The value of goods and services provided at a reduced price shall be calculated as the difference between the market value and the amount paid by the employee.

It does not include:

• — the cost to the employer of providing any of these goods and services if they are necessary to enable employees to do their work,

• — accommodation services at a place of work which cannot be used by the households to which the employees belong,

• — allowances paid to employees for the purchase of tools, equipment, clothes, etc. needed exclusively or primarily for their work,

• — special meals or drinks necessitated by exceptional working conditions,

• — any goods or services provided to employees at the place of work or required because of the nature of their work (e.g. a medical examination required for work).

Income in kind from non-salaried activities

Income in kind from non-salaried activities includes output for own final consumption, that is goods and services produced by households that are retained for consumption by the members of the same household.

Income in kind from non-salaried activities does not include imputed rent.

Tax on income and social insurance contributions

Tax on income refers to taxes on income, profits and capital gains. They are assessed on the actual or presumed income of individuals, households or tax units. They include taxes assessed on holdings of property, land or real estate, where these holdings are used as a basis for estimating the income of their owners. Taxes related to pensions received from individual private plans (other than those covered under ESSPROS) should also be taken into account.

Taxes on income include:

• — taxes on individual, household or tax-unit income (income from employment, property, entrepreneurship, pensions, etc.), including taxes deducted by employers (pay-as-you-earn taxes), other taxes at source and taxes on the income of owners of unincorporated enterprises paid during the income reference period,

• — any tax repayment received during the income reference period relating to tax paid on the income received during the income reference period or previous years. This value should be taken into account as a reduction of taxes paid,

• — any interest charged on arrears of taxes due and any fines imposed by taxation authorities.

Taxes on income do not include:

• — fees paid for hunting, shooting and fishing rights.

ANNEX II

TECHNICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF VARIABLES