Harmonised Indices of Consumer Prices (HICPs) are harmonised inflation figures required under the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. Regulation (EU) 2016/792 of the European Parliament and the Council of 11 May 2016 (OJ L 135) sets the legal basis for establishing a harmonised methodology for the compilation of the HICP and the HICP-CT.

This regulation is implemented by Commission Regulation (EU) 2020/1148 of 31 July 2020.

Further methodological documentation, namely recommendations and guidelines, is available in the HICP dedicated section, under 'Methodology'.

INSEE was created by the French Finance Law of 27 April 1946 (articles 32 and 33).

Article 4 of Decree no. 47-834 of 13 May 1947 relating to the organisation of INSEE's central departments and regional directorates stipulates that statistical services are the scientific research and analysis bodies responsible for producing and publishing the main indices concerning the national economic situation, unless otherwise decided by the Minister.

Article 6 of the Order of 9 June 1989 relating to the organisational structure of INSEE Head Office clearly introduces the function of producing monthly consumer price indices.

However, the production and the calculation method for the consumer price indices are not described in any text of a legislative nature in order to avoid impinging on INSEE's independence. However, the Official Statistics Quality Label Committee within the CNIS (National Council of Statistical Information) examines the statistical quality of the survey methodology. The issuance of a favourable recommendation on public interest and statistical quality is required for the granting of a mandatory survey approval and publication in the Journal officiel (Official Journal of the French Republic), pursuant to the Law of 1951.

As such and in accordance with article 7 of the aforementioned law, legal persons that refuse access may be subject to an administrative fine (Law no. 51-711 of 7 June 1951) imposed by the Minister for Economic Affairs, on the recommendation of the National Council of Statistical Information. The amount of the first fine cannot exceed €150. For repeat offences, the fine amounts to between €300 and €2,250 for each offence.

In addition, the Official Statistics Authority, created in August 2008, is responsible for monitoring compliance with the principle of professional independence in the design, production and publication of official statistics and for compliance with the principles of impartiality, relevance and quality of the data produced. The European Statistics Code of Practice is used as the reference for the Authority's deliberations and evaluations.

Article 19 of the Law on digital technology permits access to private data. It introduces the notion of data in the public interest, which allows them to be reused by the official statistical service. Its application is provided for by article 3bis of the Law of 1951 on obligation, coordination and secrecy in statistical matters, which allows for the transmission, by secure electronic means, of databases held by legal persons governed by private law, to the official statistical service for the purpose of statistical surveys. This transmission is dependent on the decision of the Minister for Economic Affairs after a public study on the feasibility and expediency of such a transmission, and the recommendation of the CNIS (National Council for Statistical Information).

For public data: The procedures authorising access by the French official statistics service to administrative data with reference to article 7bis of the Law of 1951 on obligation, coordination and secrecy in statistical matters, allows for the transmission of individual data that were initially collected for other purposes by all administrations, to INSEE and to the statistical offices of ministries, exclusively for statistical purposes. "Public statistical data" refers to those collected via CNIS-approved statistical surveys, listed in a ministerial order signed by the Minister with responsibility for INSEE (Minister for Economic Affairs).