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| The Data: Coverage, Periodicity, and Timeliness | ||||||||||||
| Coverage characteristics | 5.1.1 Statistical presentation Short description Consumer Price Indices (CPIs) are economic indicators constructed to measure the changes over time in the prices of consumer goods and services acquired, used or paid for by households. Harmonized Indices of Consumer Prices (HICPs) are designed for international comparisons of consumer price inflation. They are used in the assessment of inflation convergence as required under Article 121 of the Treaty of Amsterdam (Article 109j of the Treaty on European Union). The coverage of the HICPs is defined in terms of ‘household final monetary consumption expenditure’, by reference to the national accounts concepts of the European System of Accounts (ESA 1995). Expenditures are classified according to the COICOP/HICP (Classification Of Individual Consumption by Purpose adapted to the needs of HICPs) available from the RAMON database of classifications (access from Eurostat’s home page). The following indices are available from Eurostat: a) the all-items HICPs for all Member States plus Norway and Iceland; Each Member State (MS) has its own HICP and at European level there are aggregate indices with different geographical coverage. The Monetary Union Index of Consumer Prices (MUICP) has the narrowest coverage of only Euro area countries. The European Economic Area Index of Consumer Prices (EEAICP) has the widest coverage of all 25 MSs plus Iceland and Norway. The European Index of Consumer Prices (EICP) measures the annual inflation in the EU. A Flash estimate estimating the inflation rate for the Euro area is released at the end of every month. Metadata in SDDS format are also available on Eurostat website at: http://europa.eu.int/estatref/info/sdds/en/prc/prc_hicp_base.htm and | |||||||||||
| Periodicity | 4.1.1 Periodicity Harmonized consumer price indices are produced monthly. The following compilations are available: harmonized monthly, annual and annual average indices and inflation rates for the European Monetary Union (EMU), the EU, the EEA and each of their MSs, by COICOP/HICP categories together with corresponding weights. A number of special aggregates are also calculated on a monthly basis. | |||||||||||
| Timeliness | 4.1.2 Timeliness About 16 days after the end of the reference month. | |||||||||||
| Access by the Public | ||||||||||||
| Advance dissemination of release calendar | 5.1.3 Advance release calendar The precise date of data release is disseminated on Eurostat website. An Advance Release Calendar for the euro area data is also available on the DSBB. | |||||||||||
| Simultaneous release to all interested parties | 5.1.4 Simultaneous release Data are disseminated simultaneously to all interested parties through a database update and on Eurostat's website | |||||||||||
| Integrity | ||||||||||||
| Dissemination of terms and conditions under which official statistics are produced, including those relating to the confidentiality of individually identifiable information | 0.1.1 Responsibility for collecting, processing, and disseminating statistics Eurostat Rules on statistical compilation Council Regulation (EC) N° 322/97 of 17 February 1997 on Community Statistics (OJ N° L 52/1) sets the rules for General provisions, the Community statistical program and its implementation, Principles, Dissemination, Statistical confidentiality and Final provisions. Price index: Consumer prices Rules on statistical compilation Art. 1 of Protocol No 21 that develops Article 121(1) of the Treaty of Amsterdam states that "inflation shall be measured by means of consumer price index on a comparable basis, taking into account differences in national definitions". Council Regulation (EC) No 2494/95 of 23 October 1995 sets the legal basis for establishing a harmonized methodology for the compilation of the HICPs, the MUICP, the EICP and EEAICP. Under this Regulation, the Commission has brought forward detailed Regulations establishing the specific rules governing the production of harmonized indices. To date, 16 specific regulations governing issues as quality of weights, transmission and dissemination of sub-indices, coverage of goods and services, geographical and population coverage, minimum standards for the treatment of tariffs, insurance, health, education and social protection services, timing of entering prices, treatment of price reductions, treatment of service charges, revisions policy, new index reference period and temporal coverage of price collection have been adopted. All the regulations as well as further methodological details can be found following the links: Compendium of HICP reference documents, Council Commission Regulation No 1708/2005 of 19 October 2005 and Regulation (EC) No 701/2006 of 25 April 2006. 0.1.3 Confidentiality of individual reporters' data Eurostat Council Regulation (CE) No 322/97 of 17 February 1997 (OJ No L 52/1) and Council Regulation (EURATOM, EEC) no 1588/90 of 11 June 1990 on the transmission of the data subject to statistical confidentiality to the Statistical Office of the European Communities (OJ No L 151/ 1) stipulates the detailed rules used for receiving, processing and disseminating the confidential data. | |||||||||||
| Identification of internal government access to data before release | 1.2.2 Internal governmental access to statistics prior to release The news release is sent to the Spokesperson' service of the Commission and to Eurostat's Press Office prior to the release of the data. | |||||||||||
| Identification of ministerial commentary on the occasion of statistical releases | 1.2.3 Attribution of statistical products Other than the text of the news release drafted by Eurostat, there are no official comments on the occasion of the release of the data. | |||||||||||
| Provision of information about revision and advance notice of major changes in methodology | 4.3.1 Revision schedule The HICPs are in principle open to revision, in particular when new or improved information becomes available (see Compendium of HICP reference documents and in particular Commission Regulation (EC) No 1921/2001 of 28/9/2001, OJ L 261/49)). Monthly releases may include provisional data that is confirmed the following month. Further revision requires explanatory documentation by Member States. Revision policy The HICPs are in principle open to revision, in particular when new or improved information becomes available. Commission Regulation (EC) No 1921/2001 of 28 September 2001 lays down detailed rules for the implementation of Council Regulation (EC) No 2494/95 as regards minimum standards for revisions of the harmonized index of consumer prices and amends Regulation (EC) No 2602/2000. Further details on Regulations: Compendium of HICP reference documents. 1.2.4 Advance notice of major changes in methodology, source data, and statistical techniques. Changes in methodology may intervene as a result of implementing EC Regulations published in the Official Journal. Substantial changes in methodology are also the subject of comments with the first release of data affected by such changes. | |||||||||||
| Quality | ||||||||||||
| Dissemination of documentation on methodology and sources used in preparing statistics | 5.2.1 Dissemination of documentation on concepts, scope, classifications, basis of recording, data sources, and statistical techniques Technical notes on HICP have been published in Eurostat News Releases and Memos: · Eurostat News Release 21/97 of 5 March 1997, "Harmonizing the way EU measures inflation"; · Eurostat Memo 8/98, 4 May 1998, "New Monetary Union Index of Consumer prices (MUICP)"; · Eurostat Memo 2/2000 of 18 February 2000, "Extended Coverage and Earlier Release Dates for the HICP". · Eurostat News Release 146/2005 of 16 November 2005, "New reference year 2005=100 for HICPs";
Further details: · Compendium of HICP reference documents For specific questions on HICP methodology, you can send an e-mail to our central mailbox on HICP methods. 5.2.2 Disseminated level of detail Metadata in SDDS format are also available on Eurostat website at: http://europa.eu.int/estatref/info/sdds/en/prc/prc_hicp_base.htm and (See also summary methodology) | |||||||||||
| Dissemination of component detail, reconciliations with related data, and statistical frameworks that support statistical cross-checks and provide assurance of reasonableness | 4.2.2 Temporal consistency Time coverage HICPs with harmonized coverage and methodology have been published since March 1997. Interim indices based largely on existing national Consumer Price Indices are available back to 1996; these are adjusted to reduce differences in coverage of goods and services observed between national CPIs. 5.1.2 Dissemination media and format Consumer price index data are disseminated through Eurostat’s website in several locations: § Eurostat's homepage/Special Topics/HICP/Data § Economy and Finance -> Prices § General statistics -> Euro-indicators § General statistics -> Structural indicators, General economic background Recent monthly and annual series are also published in the monthly HICP "News Release" and the monthly "Statistics in Focus - Economy and Finance" publication, which includes annual inflation rates at two-digit COICOP/HICP level. | |||||||||||
| Data Category Notes: The method used by the UK to re-reference to 2005=100 is different from that used by all other EU and EEA countries in that the UK has used unrounded index levels for rescaling and computed inflation rates from the unrounded re-referenced index series. | ||||||||||||
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