EN
OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK
of 17 January 2003
at the request of De Nederlandsche Bank on a draft of the Balance of Payment Reporting
Instructions 2003 
(CON/2003/1)
1. On 18 December 2002 the European Central Bank (ECB) received a request from De
Nederlandsche Bank (hereinafter the Bank) for an opinion on a draft of the Balance of Payment
Reporting Instructions 2003 (hereinaft er the draft instructions).
2. The ECBs competence to deliver an opinion is ba sed on Article 105(4) of the Treaty establishing
the European Community, Article 4 of the Statute of the European System of Central Banks and of
the European Central Bank and the fourth indent  of Article 2(1) of Council Decision 98/415/EC of
29 June 1998 on the consultation of the European Central Bank by national authorities regarding
draft legislative provisions1. In accordance with the first sentence of Article 17.5 of the Rules of
Procedure of the European Central Bank2, the Governing Council of the ECB has adopted this
opinion.
3. Section 7(1)(a) of the External Financial Relations Act 1994 imposes a general obligation to
provide the Bank, in conformity with the releva nt instructions issued by the Bank, with all
information and data material to the balance of payments of the Netherlands. The draft instructions
are based on this Section and they replace the curr ent Reporting Instructions for External Payments
2000 from 1 April 2003. The new data collection sy stem imposes an obligation on residents
designated by the Bank as reporting instituti ons to report directly to the Bank. Reporting
institutions will no longer be required to report i ndividual transactions to the Bank. Instead, they
will be required to provide periodical statements of  their transactions with non-residents and their
positions against them. The draft instructions al so allow reporting institutions to transmit, upon
prior agreement by the Bank, a consolidated repor t on behalf of several reporting institutions that
belong to the same group. The reporting institu tion compiling the consolidated report will be
responsible for complying with the reporting requi rements of the reporting institutions covered by
the consolidated report. Reporting institutions may also appoint a representative to compile
individual or consolidated reports on their behalf and transmit them to the Bank. In this casereporting institutions remain responsible for co mplying with the reporting requirements. The
                                                     
1 OJ L 189, 3.7.1998, p. 42.
2 OJ L 125, 19.5.1999, p. 34.
2information to be supplied to the Bank will be determined by the reporting profile, or profiles,
allocated to a specific reporting institution. A re porting institution will be required to transmit
reports to the Bank in accordance with the re porting forms and explanatory notes provided.
4. The ECB welcomes the draft instructions as they  clarify the Banks responsibility in compiling and
publishing balance-of-payments statistics. Also, the draft instructions clearly define reporting
institutions reporting obligations, whilst giving the Bank some leeway to require additional
information where relevant. In doing so, the draft instructions ensure compliance by the Bank with
Guideline ECB/2000/4 of 11 May 2000 on the statisti cal reporting requirements of the ECB in the
field of balance-of-payment statistics, the inte rnational reserves template and international
investment position statistics3. In this context it might be useful to add to the recitals of the draft
instructions or the accompanying Explanator y Note a reference to this Guideline. 
5. Section 2 of the draft instructions also states  the purpose for which reporting institutions will be
required to provide statistical information and da ta to the Bank. Inserting a reference to the
international investment position statistics could be considered in this context, as they provide
useful information and analytical value on th eir own and complement the balance-of-payment
statistics. 
6. Section 8(1) of the draft instructions refers to th e delivery of a quarterly statement relating to credit
institutions services to non-residents. The serv ices are understood to cover any business carried
out by credit institutions with their customers.  However, this may be ambiguous as the term
services in the balance of payments speci fically covers credit institutions commercial
relationship with their (non-resident) clients, such  as the supply of financial and other business and
insurance services, although not financial trans actions and positions with accounts abroad. Whilst
the reporting forms contain clear definitions specify ing which transactions and positions need to be
reported to the Bank, it may be considered to revi ew the wording of the draft Instructions so that
they also contain this clarification.
7. Sections 14 and 15 of the draft instructions revo ke the current Reporting Instructions for External
Payments 2000 from 1 April 2003. Section 13 contai ns a transitional arrangement and specifies
that information and data relating to the period prio r to the entry into force of the draft instructions
must be compiled on the basis of the current Re porting Instructions for External Payments 2000. In
order to avoid any misunderstanding, it might be useful  to clarify here that this applies even where
this reporting occurs after 1 April 2003.
                                                     
3 OJ L 168, 23.6.2001, p. 25.
38. The ECB confirms that it has no objection to the competent national authorities making this
opinion publicly available at their discretion. Th is opinion will be published on the ECBs website
six months after the date of its adoption.
Done at Frankfurt am Main on 17 January 2003.
The President of the ECB
[signed]
Willem F. DUISENBERG