EN 
 
 
OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK 
of 16 November 2005  
at the request of the Ministry of Justice of the Slovak Republic on a draft law 
on criminal liability of legal persons and on amendments to certain laws 
(CON/2005/47) 
 1. On 6 October 2005 the European Central Bank (ECB)  received a request from the Ministry of 
Justice of the Slovak Republic for an opinion on a draft law on criminal liability of legal persons 
and on amendments to certain laws (hereinafter the ‘draft law’). 
2. The ECB’s competence to deliver an opinion is based on the second indent of Article 105(4) of the 
Treaty establishing the European Community and, in particular, on the first, second and third indents of Article 2(1) of Council Decision 98/4 15/EC of 29 June 1998 on the consultation of the 
European Central Bank by national authoriti es regarding draft legislative provisions
1, as the draft 
law contains provisions concerning currency matte rs, means of payment and a national central bank 
(NCB). 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. 
3. The draft law forms part of the general reform of Slovak criminal law. It has several objectives. 
First, it implements a number of Community legal acts such as Council Framework Decision of 29 May 2000 (2000/383/JHA) on increasing protecti on by criminal penalties and other sanctions 
against counterfeiting in connection with the introduction of the euro
2 and Council Framework 
Decision of 28 May 2001 (2001/413/JHA) comba ting fraud and counterfeiting of non-cash means 
of payment3. Second, as a lex specialis to the recently adopted Slovak Criminal Code4 and Code of 
Criminal Procedure5, it regulates the concept of criminal liability of legal persons in the Slovak 
legal order by way of a separate law. According to  the general part of the explanatory memorandum 
to the draft law, the draft law lays down the c onditions defining the criminal liability of legal 
persons, the types of sanctions and protective measures that can be imposed on them and the 
procedure to be followed by the law-enforcement authorities in cases where the indicted person is a 
legal person.  
                                                 
1  OJ L 189, 3.7.1998, p. 42. 
2  OJ L 140, 14.6.2000, p. 1. 
3  OJ L 149, 2.6.2001, p. 1. 
4  Criminal Code of 20 May 2005, Act No 300/200 5 Coll. (enters into force on 1 January 2006). 
5  Code of Criminal Procedure of 24 May 2005, Act No 301/2005 Coll. (enters into force on 1 January 2006). 
2 4. The ECB takes note that the draft law not only ex cludes the Slovak State and State authorities, but 
also Národná banka Slovenska (NBS) from its scope of application, since, as the explanatory note 
to Article 2(1) of the draft law states, it is unreasonable to expect the State to sanction itself 
including its authorities and NBS. The ECB understa nds that the Slovak legislator, by listing NBS 
separately from the Slovak State and State authorities,  wishes to differentiate clearly between the 
State and State authorities on the one hand, and NBS on the other. 
5. The ECB welcomes the implementation of  Council Framework Decision 2000/383/JHA and 
Council Framework Decision 2001/413/JHA. As early as 1998, the ECB recommended to the Council, the Parliament, the Commission and the Me mber States that certain  measures should be 
adopted to enhance the legal protection of euro banknotes and coins
6. As far as the exclusion of 
NBS from the scope of the draft law is concerne d, the ECB would like to point out two specific 
issues. First, the exemption of NBS from the scope of criminal responsibility does not as such have 
an impact on the principle of central bank inde pendence. Second, the ECB welcomes the intention 
of the Slovak legislator to differentiate in the draft law clearly between the State and the State authorities on the one hand, and NBS on the other. While, as also pointed out in the explanatory note to Article 2(1) of the draft law, NBS safeguard s the tasks of the State to a considerable extent, 
the ECB would like to emphasise that NBS is a memb er of the European System of Central Banks 
under the provisions of the Treaty and the Statute of  the European System of Central Banks and of 
the European Central Bank. The distinction made  in the draft law between NBS and the Slovak 
State and State authorities would strengthen the principle of central bank independence laid down 
in Article 108 of the Treaty. In order to make this  distinction clearer, however, Article 2(1) of the 
draft law could be drafted more unambiguously to state that NBS is not a State authority. This statement would comply fully with the Slovak Constitution
7 and NBS’s statute8, which refer to 
NBS as ‘the independent centra l bank of Slovak Republic’. 
6. This opinion will be published on the ECB’s website. 
  Done at Frankfurt am Main, 16 November 2005. 
 
[signed] 
 
The President of the ECB 
Jean-Claude TRICHET  
                                                 
6  Recommendation of the Governing Council of the European  Central Bank of 7 July 1998 regarding the adoption of 
certain measures to enhance the le gal protection of euro banknotes and coins (OJ C 11, 15.1.1999, p. 13). 
7  Article 56 of the Constitution of the Slovak Republic No 460/1992 Coll., as last amended. 
8  Article 1(1) of the Act No 566/1992 Coll. on  Národná banka Slovenska, as last amended.