Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/1720 of 20 June 2024 amending Regulation (EU) 2020/1148 as regards the index compilation of the harmonised indices of consumer prices

THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,

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

Having regard to 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 (EC) No 2494/95 (1), and in particular Article 4(4) thereof,

Whereas:

(1) Regulation (EU) 2016/792 lays down a common framework for the production of the harmonised index of consumer prices (HICP), the harmonised index of consumer prices at constant tax rates (HICP-CT), the owner-occupied housing price index and the house price index.

(2) Significantly changing the HICP and HICP-CT production methods may result in a permanent and significant shift, upwards or downwards, in the level of the index. This would in turn result in distorted annual rates of change for 1 year after the change is made. To ensure unbiased rates of change, it may be necessary to adjust the level of the index. Such an adjustment should be derived from observed prices.

(3) To ensure that the harmonised indices are comparable, uniform conditions are needed for the use of adjustments in the compilation of the HICP and the HICP-CT in the case of significant changes in production methods.

(4) The measures set out in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the European Statistical System Committee,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/1148 is amended as follows:

(2) in Chapter 2, the following Article 22 is added: ‘Article 22 Application of level-shift adjustments

Article 2

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, 20 June 2024.

For the Commission The President Ursula VON DER LEYEN

(1) OJ L 135, 24.5.2016, p. 11, ELI: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2016/792/oj.