EN 
 
 
OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK 
of 5 March 2010 
on amendments to the Law on and Statute of Eesti Pank 
(CON/2010/20) 
 
Introduction and legal basis  
On 10 February 2010 the European Central Bank (ECB) received a request from Eesti Pank for an 
opinion on a draft decision of Eesti Pank’s Superv isory Board to amend Eesti Pank’s Statute and on 18 
February 2010 a request for an opinion on a draft law amending the Law on Eesti Pank (hereinafter the 
‘draft provisions’). 
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 (TFEU) and th e third indent of Article 2(1) of Council 
Decision 98/415/EC of 29 June 1998 on the consu ltation of the European Central Bank by national 
authorities regarding draft legislative provisions1, as the draft provisions relate to the national central 
bank. 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 provisions 
The draft provisions replace references to the Tr eaty establishing the European Community with 
references to the TFEU and include additional refere nces to the TFEU and Union legal acts in articles on 
the competence and meetings of the Supervisory Boar d. The draft provisions also set Eesti Pank’s capital 
in euro. The provision on a standing Monetary Policy Co mmittee in Eesti Pank’s Statute is repealed, as is 
the provision on the monetary fina ncing prohibition in the Law on E esti Pank. The draft provisions will 
enter into force on the date of abrogation of Estoni a’s derogation pursuant to Article 140(2) TFEU, except 
some minor consistency corrections concerning the Statute which will enter into force upon the adoption 
of the Supervisory Board’s decision. 
 
                                                 
1  OJ L 189, 3.7.1998, p. 42.  
2 2. General observations  
2.1 The draft provisions are in line with the ECB recommendations for improving the clarity of 
legislative provisions made in  previous convergence reports2. This opinion is without prejudice to 
the assessment of Estonian legislation in the upcoming convergence report. 
2.2 The ECB notes that the draft provisions repeal Article 16 of the Law on Ee sti Pank transposing the 
monetary financing prohibition contained in Artic le 123 TFEU. Article 16 lays down that Eesti 
Pank is prohibited from granting loans to the public sector. However, Article 16 is not fully in line 
with Article 123 TFEU for two reasons. First, it does not extend the prohibition on monetary 
financing to direct purchases by Eesti Pank of debt  instruments from public sector entities. Second, 
it does not exempt publicly-owned credit institutions  from the prohibition in the context of supply 
of reserves by national central banks. Provisions co ntaining such imperfections should either be 
amended or repealed, especially as Article 123 TFEU is  directly applicable and there is, therefore, 
generally, no reason to transpose it into national legislation. The ECB therefore welcomes the draft 
provisions in this respect.  
2.3 The ECB also notes that after the repeal of the articles on the Monetary Policy Committee by the 
draft provisions and other changes, the scope of Eesti Pank’s Statute is now largely limited to 
repeating the provisions of the Law on Eesti Pank.  
  Done at Frankfurt am Main, 5 March 2010. 
 
[signed] 
  
The President of the ECB 
Jean-Claude TRICHET 
 
                                                 
2  See the ECB’s Convergence Report of December 2006, p. 213, and that of May 2008 p. 235.