Regulation (EC) No 63/2002 of the European Central Bank
of 20 December 2001
concerning statistics on interest rates applied by monetary financial institutions to deposits and loans vis-à-vis households and non-financial corporations
(ECB/2001/18)
THE GOVERNING COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK,
Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 2533/98 of 23 November 1998 concerning the collection of statistical information by the European Central Bank(1), and in particular to Article 5(1) and Article 6(4) thereof,
Whereas:
(1) The European System of Central Banks (ESCB) requires, for the fulfilment of its tasks, the production of statistics on interest rates applied by monetary financial institutions (MFIs) to deposits and loans vis-à-vis households and non-financial corporations, the main purpose of which is to provide the European Central Bank (ECB) with a comprehensive, detailed and harmonised statistical picture of the level of interest rates applied by MFIs and their changes over time. These interest rates provide the final link in the mechanism for the transmission of the monetary policy arising from changes in official interest rates and, therefore, are a necessary precondition for a reliable analysis of monetary developments in the participating Member States. At the same time, information about interest rate developments is needed for the ESCB to contribute to the smooth conduct of policies pursued by the competent authorities relating to the prudential supervision of credit institutions and the stability of the financial system.
(2) The ECB shall, in accordance with the provisions of the Treaty establishing the European Community (hereinafter referred to as the "Treaty") and under the conditions laid down in the Statute of the European System of Central Banks and of the European Central Bank (hereinafter referred to as the "Statute"), make regulations to the extent necessary to implement the tasks of the ESCB as defined in the Statute and in some cases laid down in the provisions adopted by the Council referred to in Article 107(6) of the Treaty.
(3) Article 5.1 of the Statute requires the ECB, assisted by the national central banks (NCBs), to collect the necessary statistical information either from the competent national authorities or directly from economic agents in order to undertake the tasks of the ESCB. Article 5.2 of the Statute stipulates that the NCBs shall carry out, to the extent possible, the tasks described in Article 5.1.
(4) It may be necessary, and reduce the reporting burden, for NCBs to collect from the actual reporting population the statistical information necessary to fulfil the statistical reporting requirements of the ECB as part of a broader statistical reporting framework which the NCBs establish under their own responsibility in accordance with Community or national law or established practice and which serves other statistical purposes, provided the fulfilment of the statistical requirements of the ECB is not jeopardised. In order to foster transparency, it is appropriate, in these cases, to inform the reporting agents that data are collected to fulfil other statistical purposes. In specific cases, the ECB may rely on statistical information collected for such purposes to fulfil its requirements.
(5) Article 3 of Regulation (EC) No 2533/98 requires the ECB to specify the actual reporting population within the limits of the reference reporting population and to minimise the reporting burden involved. For the purposes of MFI interest rate statistics, the actual reporting population will either comprise a census of all relevant MFIs or, alternatively, a sample of relevant MFIs based on specified criteria. In view of the characteristics of the MFI sector in each of the participating Member States the final choice of the selection method is left to the NCBs. The aim is to reduce the reporting burden while at the same time ensuring high quality statistics. Article 5(1) provides that the ECB may adopt regulations for the definition and the imposition of its statistical reporting requirements on the actual reporting population of participating Member States. Article 6(4) provides that the ECB may adopt regulations specifying the conditions under which the right to verify or to carry out the compulsory collection of statistical information may be exercised.
(6) Article 4 of Regulation (EC) No 2533/98 provides for Member States to organise themselves in the field of statistics and to cooperate fully with the ESCB in order to ensure fulfilment of the obligations arising from Article 5 of the Statute.
(7) While it is recognised that regulations adopted by the ECB under Article 34.1 of the Statute do not confer any rights or impose any obligations on non-participating Member States, Article 5 of the Statute applies to both participating and non-participating Member States. Regulation (EC) No 2533/98 recalls that Article 5 of the Statute, together with Article 5 of the Treaty, implies an obligation to design and implement at national level all the measures that the non-participating Member States consider appropriate in order to carry out the collection of the statistical information needed to fulfil the ECB's statistical reporting requirements and timely preparations in the field of statistics in order for them to become participating Member States,
HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:
Article 1
Definitions
For the purpose of this Regulation:
1. the terms "reporting agents", "participating Member State", "resident" and "residing" shall have the same meaning as defined in Article 1 of Regulation (EC) No 2533/98;
2. "households and non-financial corporations" shall mean, as defined in the European System of Accounts (ESA) 1995, contained in Annex A to Council Regulation (EC) No 2223/96 of 25 June 1996 on the European system of national and regional accounts in the Community(2), all non-financial sectors other than general government. This covers the household sector and the sector of non-profit institutions serving households (S.14 and S.15 combined) and the sector of non-financial corporations (S.11);
3. "credit institutions and other institutions" shall mean all MFIs other than central banks and money market funds as identified in accordance with the classification principles set out in paragraph 1 of Part 1 of Annex I to Regulation (EC) No 2423/2001 of the European Central Bank of 22 November 2001 concerning the consolidated balance sheet of the monetary financial institutions sector (ECB/2001/13)(3);
4. "MFI interest rate statistics" shall mean statistics relating to those interest rates that are applied by resident credit institutions and other institutions to euro-denominated deposits and loans vis-à-vis households and non-financial corporations resident in the participating Member States;
5. "potential reporting population" shall mean resident credit institutions and other institutions which take euro-denominated deposits from and/or grant euro-denominated loans to households and/or non-financial corporations resident in the participating Member States.
Article 2
Actual reporting population
1. The actual reporting population shall consist of credit institutions and other institutions amongst the potential reporting population that are selected by NCBs according to the procedure set out in Annex I to this Regulation.
2. Each NCB shall inform its resident reporting agents about their reporting obligations following national procedures.
3. The Governing Council shall review the compliance with Annex I to this Regulation after its initial implementation and then at least every two years.
Article 3
Statistical reporting obligations
1. For the purposes of the regular production of MFI interest rate statistics, the actual reporting population shall report monthly statistical information relating to new business and outstanding amounts to the NCB of the participating Member State in which the reporting agent is resident. The required statistical information is specified in Annex II to this Regulation.
2. The NCBs shall define and implement the reporting arrangements to be followed by the actual reporting population in accordance with national characteristics. The NCBs shall ensure that these reporting arrangements provide the statistical information required and allow accurate checking of compliance with the minimum standards for transmission, accuracy, conceptual compliance and revisions as referred to in Article 3(3).
3. The required statistical information shall be reported in accordance with the minimum standards for transmission, accuracy, conceptual compliance and revisions as set out in Annex III to this Regulation.
4. The NCBs shall report the aggregated national monthly statistical information to the ECB by close of business on the 19th working day after the end of the reference month.
Article 4
Verification and compulsory collection
The right to verify or to collect compulsorily the information which reporting agents shall provide in compliance with the statistical reporting requirements set out in this Regulation shall be exercised by the NCBs, without prejudice to the right of the ECB to exercise these rights itself. This right shall be exercised in particular when an institution included in the actual reporting population does not fulfil the minimum standards for transmission, accuracy, conceptual compliance and revisions as set out in Annex III to this Regulation.
Article 5
First reporting
First reporting under this Regulation shall begin with monthly statistical information for January 2003.
Article 6
Transitional provisions
Transitional provisions for application of parts of this Regulation are laid down in Annex IV to this Regulation.
Article 7
Final provision
This Regulation shall enter into force on 31 January 2002.
Done at Frankfurt am Main, 20 December 2001.