EN ECB-PUBLIC  
 
 
 OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK 
of 23 October 2012  
on open market operations and standing facilities 
(CON/2012/78) 
 
Introduction and legal basis 
On 2 October 2012, the European Central Ba nk (ECB) received a request from Banca Na ţională a 
României (BNR) for an opinion on a draft re gulation amending BNR Regulation No 1/2000 on open 
market operations performed by Banca Na ţională a României and standing facilities granted to eligible 
participants1 (hereinafter the ‘draft regulation’). 
The ECB’s competence to deliver an  opinion is based on Articles 127(4) and 282(5) of the Treaty on the 
Functioning of the European Union and Article 2(2)  of Council Decision 98/415/EC of 29 June 1998 on 
the consultation of the European Central Bank by  national authorities regarding draft legislative 
provisions2, as the draft regulation relates to instruments of monetary policy. In accordance with the first 
sentence of Article 17.5 of the Rules of Procedure of the European Central Bank, the Governing Council 
has adopted this opinion. 
 1.  Purpose of the draft regulation 
The draft regulation repeals the restriction on the nu mber of options in the bids submitted by eligible 
participants for variable-rate tenders organised by  BNR for the purposes of open market operations, as 
such restriction may have a negative impact on the interbank Romanian leu money market liquidity in 
certain difficult market situations. This is in line with the commitments under the precautionary financial 
assistance programme with the International Monetary  Fund, the European Union and the World Bank. 
The draft regulation also rearranges the wordin g of BNR Regulation No 1/2000 relating to the 
requirement that eligible particip ants in BNR’s open market operations
 must be subject to the minimum 
reserve regime, in accordance with BNR’s regulations, for greater clarity and terminological consistency. 
 2. Specific observations  2.1 The amended Article 34 of BNR Regulation No 1/2000 will no longer refer to ‘variable-rate 
tenders’ and, therefore, the concept of ‘bids’ under Article 34 will encompass bids for both fixed-
rate and variable-rate tenders performed for th e purposes of BNR’s open market operations. The 
                                                 
1  Monitorul Oficial al României , Part One, No 142, 5.4.2000. 
2  OJ L 189, 3.7.1998, p. 42.  
ECB-PUBLIC  
2 ECB understands that, under the amended Article 34 of BNR Regulation No 1/2000, options for 
different amounts in the fixed-rate tenders refe r to the amounts with collateral from different 
International Security Identification Numbers fo r operations requiring eligible assets as collateral. 
The ECB further understands that BNR will also modify the operating procedures pursuant to Article 43 of BNR Regulation No 1/2000.   
2.2 The ECB welcomes the clarification of the requi rement that eligible participants in BNR’s open 
market operations must be subject  to the minimum reserve regime. 
 This opinion will be published on the ECB’s website three weeks after the date of its adoption. 
  Done at Frankfurt am Main, 23 October 2012. 
 
[signed] 
 
The President of the ECB 
Mario DRAGHI