EN 
 
 
OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK 
of 28 February 2005 
at the request of Central Bank of Malta 
on a draft directive No 5 on statistical reporting requirements  
(CON/2005/5) 
 1. On 20 January 2005, the European  Central Bank (ECB) received a request from the Central Bank 
of Malta (CBM) for an opinion on a draft direc tive No 5 on statistical reporting requirements 
(hereinafter the ‘draft directive’). 
2. The ECB’s competence to deliver an opinion is based on the fourth indent of Article 2(1) of 
Council Decision 98/415/EC of 29 June 1998 on the c onsultation of the European Central Bank by 
national authorities regarding draft legislative provisions
1, as the draft directive relates to the 
collection of financial statistical information. In  accordance with the first sentence of Article 17.5 
of the Rules of Procedure of the European Cent ral Bank, the Governing Council has adopted this 
opinion. 
3. The draft directive is based on Article 24B of the Central Bank of Malta Act2 (hereinafter the 
‘Act’), which empowers the CBM to issue dir ectives on the definition and imposition of its 
statistical reporting requirements. Pursuant to the draft directive, credit institutions3 would be 
required to report statistical information, as re quired and defined by the Banking Directive BD/064, 
to the CBM and not merely to the Malta Fina ncial Services Authority (MFSA), the competent 
authority for banking regulation. It is understood that such information would relate in particular to 
end-of-month stock positions. The CBM would have the power to verify the accuracy of the 
statistical information submitted or compulsorily co llect it and, in the event of a credit institution 
failing to comply with the statistical reporting requirements, to sanction the non-compliance by imposing an administrative penalty pursuant to regula tions to be issued by the Minister of Finance 
under other provisions of the Act
5. Finally, queries and requests for interpretation of the reporting 
requirements under Banking Directive BD/06 require d by the CBM would be decided upon by the 
                                                      
1  OJ L 189, 3.7.1998, p. 42. 
2  Article 24B of the Central Bank of Malt a Act, Cap. 204 of the Laws of Malta. 
3  The draft directive is intended to apply to credit  institutions licensed under the Banking Act, Cap. 371. 
4  Banking Directive BD/06/2005 of the Ma lta Financial Services Authority (Ban king Unit) on the statutory financial 
information to be submitted by credit institutions  authorised under the Banking Act Cap. 371.    
5  Legal Notice 75 of 2003, as amended by Legal Notice 330 of 2004, issued in accordance with the powers granted by 
Article 52A of the Central Bank of Malt a Act, Cap. 204 of the Laws of Malta.  
2 CBM after consultation with the MFSA, unless  the query concerned the reserve deposit 
requirements, in which case it would be dealt with and decided solely by the CBM.  
4. The draft directive is not intended to replace th e statistical reporting requirements of Banking 
Directive BD/06, under which credit institutions are obliged to report their financial information to 
the MFSA. These requirements are unaffected and rema in fully in place. Instead, the draft directive 
will ensure that the CBM will no longer have to rely on the MFSA’s enforcement and sanctioning 
powers, pursuant to the Banking Act, to enforce its own powers to collect statistical information, as 
is the case at present. The draft directive is t hus intended to enable the CBM to enforce its 
statistical reporting requirements and to  impose sanctions for non-compliance. 
5. Article 5.2 of the Statute of the European System  of Central Banks and of the European Central 
Bank provides that the national central banks (NCBs ) shall carry out, to the extent possible, the 
tasks described in Article 5.1, i. e. the European System of Central Banks (ESCB) tasks defined by 
the Treaty establishing the European Community and th e Statute. Article 43.1 of the Statute implies 
that legal instruments adopted by the ECB for the fulfilment of its statis tical reporting requirements 
do not confer any rights or impose any obligations on the non-participating Member States.  
6. Article 10 of the Treaty requires that ‘Member St ates shall take all appropriate measures ... to 
ensure fulfilment of the obligations arising out of this Treaty’. More specifically, Article 4 of 
Council Regulation (EC) No 2533/98 concerning the collection of statistical information by the 
European Central Bank6 requires that ‘Member States shall organise themselves in the field of 
statistics and shall fully cooperate with the ES CB in order to ensure the fulfilment of the 
obligations arising out of Article 5 of the Statute’. 
7. Recital 17 of Regulation (EC) No 2533/98 states th at, while it is recognised that the statistical 
information needed to fulfil the ECB’s statisti cal reporting requirements is not the same for the 
participating as for the non-participating Member St ates, Article 5 of the Statute applies to both 
participating and non-partic ipating Member States.  
8. On the basis of the above, the ECB welcomes the CBM’s initiative to adopt a directive on the 
collection of statistical information. The ECB notes that the NCBs’ reporting provisions are an indispensable component of the national statisti cal collection systems. The ECB does not comment 
in detail on national reporting provisions as they may differ considerably between Member States, 
depending on various national and external factors. The ECB’s comments (see paragraph 12 below) 
are therefore of a general nature only and are m eant to serve as a guide, enabling the CBM to shape 
its reporting requirements in line with those of th e Eurosystem in preparation for Malta’s adoption 
of the euro. 
9. The ECB welcomes the core objective of the draft dire ctive, which is to clarify the legal obligations 
of credit institutions to provide financial informa tion, in particular end-of-month stock positions, 
directly to the CBM and not only to the MFSA. The ECB understands that, although in practice 
                                                     
 
6  OJ L 318, 27.11.1998, p. 8. 
3 credit institutions already provide such inform ation to the CBM, Banking Directive BD/06 only 
requires them to report such information to the MFSA.  This clarification of credit institutions’ 
reporting obligations towards the CBM is welcome, as accurate statistical information is necessary 
for the CBM to fulfil its tasks and such clarifica tion will help to ensure that the information is 
reported properly and in time to the CBM.  
10. The ECB appreciates that under the draft directiv e the CBM would be empowered to verify the 
statistical information and compulsorily collect it,  if the credit institution were not to provide the 
information itself. These powers appear to be in line with Article 6 of Regulation ECB/2001/137. 
11. The ECB also welcomes the fact that the draft di rective stipulates that administrative penalties may 
be imposed by the CBM for non-compliance with th e statistical reporting obligations to which it 
relates. The ECB nevertheless observes that, notwithstanding that the CBM may impose administrative penalties independently, it is for the Minister of Finance to prescribe 
minimum and 
maximum administrative penalties by regulation.  
12. The ECB notes in passing that the draft directive requires statistical information to be provided 
according to the terms and conditions of, and w ithin the time periods indicated in, Banking 
Directive BD/06. In the ECB’s view, the scope of Banking Directive BD/06 would be too narrow 
to fulfil all the ECB’s statistical reporting require ments for monetary financial institutions (MFIs) 
located in the euro area, once Malta h as become a participating Member State8. MFIs other than 
credit institutions are also required to report statis tical data to the ECB, via their NCBs. In Malta 
this would be the case for Money Market Funds (M MFs), which fall within the definition of MFIs 
and would thus also be required to report da ta under Regulation ECB/2001/13. Secondly, Banking 
Directive BD/06 does not require the data on reva luation adjustments from reporting agents which 
the ECB would need in order to compute flows. It  is thus important for the CBM to maintain the 
statutory power to require additional information from credit institutions and MMFs (via the MFSA 
or directly) prior to Malta becoming a participating Member State. 
13. At the same time, it is the task primarily of the NCBs to assess whether any proposed detailed 
reporting instructions and collection methods at natio nal level are the most efficient, effective and 
the least burdensome for the reporting agents concerned.  
14. This opinion does not prejudice any later assessment by the ECB of the Maltese reporting scheme 
and the statistical information reported to it in  compliance with the ECB’s statistical reporting 
requirements. 
                                                      
7  Regulation ECB/2001/13 of 22 November 2001 concerning the c onsolidated balance sheet of  the monetary financial 
institutions sector, OJ L 333, 17.12.2001, p. 1.   
8  I.e., a Member State which has adopted the single curr ency (see Article 1 (definitions) of Council Regulation (EC) 
2533/98 of 23 November 1998 concerning the collection of sta tistical information by the European Central Bank, 
OJ L 318, 27.11.1998, p. 8. 
4 15. This opinion will be published on the ECB’s website. 
  Done at Frankfurt am Main, 28 February 2005. 
 
[signed] 
 
The President of the ECB 
Jean-Claude TRICHET