L 261/46 Official Journal of the European Communities 29.9.2001 COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 1920/2001 of 28 September 2001 laying down detailed rules for the implementation of Council Regulation (EC) No 2494/95 as regards minimum standards for the treatment of service charges proportional to transaction values in the harmonised index of consumer prices and amending Regulation (EC) No 2214/96 (Text with EEA relevance) THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 249495 of 23 October 1995 concerning harmonised indices of consumer prices (!), as last amended by Commission Regulation (EC) No 1617/1999 (3, and in particular Article 4 and Article 5(3) thereof, Having regard to the opinion of the European Central Bank (%), Whereas: (1) By virtue of Article 5(1)(b) of Regulation (EC) No 2494/ 95, each Member State is required to produce a harmo- nised index of consumer prices (HICP) starting with the index for January 1997. (2)  Commission Regulation (EC) No 1749/96 of 9 September 1996 on initial implementing measures for Council Regulation (EC) No 2494/95 concerning harmo- nised indices of consumer prices (%), as last amended by Council Regulation (EC) No 1688/98 (°), defines the coverage of the HICP as those goods and services which are included in household final monetary consumption expenditure and requires coverage of COICOP/HICP class 12.5.1 ‘Financial services n.e.c.” in full by December 1999 without specific exclusion of charges expressed as a proportion of the transaction value. (3)  Commission Regulation (EC) No 2214/96 of 20 November 1996 concerning harmonised indices of consumer prices: transmission and dissemination of subindices of the HICP (%), as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 1749/1999 (), requires a harmonised subindex for COICOP/HICP expenditure class 12.6.2 ‘Other finan- cial services n.e.c.’ excluding interest payments and charges expressed as a proportion of the transaction value. (4)  There is considerable scope for non-comparability by excluding service charges that are expressed as a propor- tion of transaction values; a harmonised methodology () O] L 257, 27.10.1995, p. 1. () O] L 192, 24.7.1999, p. 9. () O] C 244, 1.9.2001, p. 5. (% O] L 229, 10.9.1996, p. 3. () O] L 214, 31.7.1998, p. 23. (9 O] L 296, 21.11.1996, p. 8. () O] L 214, 13.8.1999, p. 1. for the treatment of such charges is necessary to ensure that the resulting HICPs meet the comparability require- ment as laid down in Article 4 of Regulation (EC) No 2494/95. (5)  The treatment of service charges that are expressed as a proportion of transaction values should be consistent with the treatment of goods and services in the health, education and social protection sectors as laid down in Council Regulation (EC) No 2166/1999 (%). (6)  The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Statistical Programme Committee established by Council Decision 89/382/EEC, Euratom (°), HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION: Article 1 Aim The aim of this Regulation is to amend Annex II to Regulation (EC) No 2214/96 concerning the subindices of the harmonised indices of consumer prices, hereafter referred to as ‘HICP’, as regards the coverage of financial services, and to set minimum standards for the treatment of service charges proportional to transaction values in order to ensure that they are reliable and relevant and meet the comparability requirements as laid down in Article 4 of Regulation (EC) No 2494/95. Article 2 Definitions 1. Interest payments and interest-like charges cover nominal interest payments and all elements included in the calculation of effective interest. 2. Where service charges are defined as a proportion of the transaction value, the purchaser prices are defined as the proportion itself, multiplied by the value of a representative unit transaction in the base or reference period. () O] L 266, 14.10.1999, p. 1. () O] L 181, 28.6.1989, p. 47.