EN 
 
 
OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK 
of 21 February 2008 
at the request of the German Ministry of Finance 
on a draft law amending the Law on the Deutsche Bundesbank 
(CON/2008/9) 
 
Introduction and legal basis  
On 9 November 2007 the European Central Bank (ECB)  received a request from the German Federal 
Ministry of Finance (hereinafter the ‘Ministry of Finance’) for an opinion on a draft law on the 
reorganisation and modernisation of federal civil service law  (hereinafter the ‘draft law’). 
The ECB’s competence to deliver an  opinion is based on Article 105(4) of the Treaty establishing the 
European Community and the third 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, as the draft law relates to the Deutsche Bundesb ank. In accordance with the first sentence of 
Article 17.5 of the Rules of Procedure of the Europ ean Central Bank, the Governing Council has adopted 
this opinion. 
 1. Purpose of the draft law 
Article 12 of the draft law amends § 31 of the La w on the Deutsche Bundesbank, which concerns the 
legal relationships between the Deutsche Bundesbank and its civil servants, employees and workers. The 
current § 31(4) and (6) of the Law on the Deutsche Bundesbank provides, as an exception to provisions 
on Federal civil servants which genera lly apply to the civil servants of the Bundesbank, that the Executive 
Board of the Deutsche Bundesbank (hereinafter the ‘Executive Board’) may regulate autonomously 
certain features of these relationships concerning, inter alia , the careers of Bundesbank staff by adopting 
Staff Regulations ( Personalstatut ) and other regulations ( Laufbahn-, Ausbildungs- und 
Prüfungsordnungen ). These regulations require the approval of the Federal Government (hereinafter the 
‘Government’), or, depending on the aspect being regulated , the agreement of the Ministry of the Interior. 
Under the amended § 31(4) and (6) of the Law on the Deutsche Bundesbank, the Government will be 
authorised to regulate the abovementioned legal relati onships either by adopting regulations itself, or by 
delegating the power to adopt regulations to the Ex ecutive Board. In the even t that the Government 
                                        
1  OJ L 189, 3.7.1998, p. 42.  
 
2 delegates this power, the regulations adopted by th e Executive Board will require the agreement of the 
Ministry of the Interior alone or in agreement with the Ministry of Finance, as the case may be. 
The difference between the current legislation and the proposed amendments is that under the current 
§ 31(4) and (6) of the Law on the Deutsche Bundesbank, upon the approval of the Government, the Executive Board can itself regulate certain matters c oncerning the Deutsche Bundesbank’s staff, and the 
Government is bound by its previous decisions to approve such regulations. The proposed amendments 
will allow the Government to decide whether to dele gate its regulatory power to the Executive Board and, 
if it does, it will be possible for it to withdraw th e delegation at any moment. This implies that the 
Government could indirectly revoke an  approval it has given in the past. 
 Apart from the abovementioned amendments, the draf t law also provides that the Bundesbank’s Staff 
Regulations currently in force will cease to apply after a transitional period, at the latest on 
31 December 2008.  
 2. General observations  
2.1 The ECB welcomes this consultation request by the Ministry of Finance on the amendments to the 
Law on the Deutsche Bundesbank. As a matter of principle, any draft legislative provisions amending the statute of a national central ba nk (NCB) should be the subject of a formal 
consultation of the ECB under the third indent of Article 2(1) of Council Decision 98/415/EC. This 
consultation obligation also applies to amendments to special public sector employment regulations which only apply to NCB staff. 
2.2 Such regulations must not impair the ability of  an NCB to employ and retain the qualified staff 
necessary for the performance of th e tasks conferred upon it by the Treaty, the Statute of the 
European System of Central Banks (hereinafter the 
‘ESCB Statute’) and national legislation in an 
independent manner. The ECB has noted that Member  States may not put their NCBs in a position 
where they have insufficient financial resources to carry out their ESCB- or Eurosystem-related 
tasks2. Similarly, an NCB may not be put into a posit ion where it has limited or no control over its 
staff, or where a government of a Member State seeks to influence it in the performance of its 
tasks, as has been stressed in various  opinions of the ECB in recent years3. 
2.3 In this context, the ECB notes that the amen dments to the Law on the Deutsche Bundesbank, 
according to the draft law’s explanatory memorandum, are of a technical nature and are not intended to change the substance of the pr ovisions applicable to the staff of the 
Deutsche Bundesbank. Furthermore, the explanat ory memorandum stresses that the Government 
intends to make full use of the power to delegate  to the Executive Board its power to regulate the 
                                        
2  See ECB Convergence Report 2007, p. 19. 
3  See ECB Convergence Report 2007, p. 20, footnote 7, referring, inter alia , to ECB Opinion CON/2004/1 of 
20 January 2004 at the request of the Economic Committee of the Finnish Parliament on a draft government proposal to 
amend the Suomen Pankki Act and other re lated acts, which concerned the reducti on of primary capital of the Suomen 
Pankki and a limitation on Suomen Pankki’s  right to create financial provisions. 
 
3 legal relationships between the De utsche Bundesbank and its staff. The ECB is also aware that the 
proposed amendments may be deemed necessary to make the legal situation compliant with the 
case law of the Federal Administrative Court4. 
2.4 The ECB considers that there is no need to amend § 31(4) and (6) of the Law on the 
Deutsche Bundesbank. The ECB is concerned abou t the Government’s discretionary powers to 
grant and withdraw the delegation, and to regul ate directly the legal relationships of the 
Deutsche Bundesbank with all categories of staff as  well as the careers of such staff. Although the 
Government’s approval is currently required for the adoption of regulations by the Executive 
Board, the ECB considers that the proposed am endments will give the Government increased 
discretion in this context, which will redu ce the Deutsche Bundesbank’s autonomy in taking 
decisions concerning its staff regulations. With a view to the principle of central bank independence, the ECB would like to point out th at the threat of withdrawing such delegated 
powers is a potential tool to influence an NCB un duly in fulfilling its tasks and thus limits that 
NCB’s independence. In this regard, it is usef ul to note that the ECB defines its staff policy 
autonomously and that this autonomy forms part  of the ECB’s independence as guaranteed by 
Article 108 of the Treaty and Article 36 of the ESCB Statute. 
2.5 As the proposed amendments entail a withdr awal of the Deutsche Bundesbank’s authority to 
determine the legal relationships a nd career polices for all categories of staff and a transfer of this 
authority to the Government, the ECB considers th em to be a reduction of the independence of the 
Deutsche Bundesbank. The ECB ther efore recommends that the new rules which will apply to the 
Deutsche Bundesbank should contain suffici ent safeguards to ensure that the 
Deutsche Bundesbank’s ability to carry out all its task s, particularly ESCB-related tasks, will not be 
affected. The intention of the Government to dele gate some of these powers to the Executive Board 
creates insufficient safeguards in terms of independe nce, as the permanent threat of a withdrawal of 
such delegated powers constitutes a potential and ongoing means of influencing the relevant 
policies in all respects.  
                                        
4  Federal Administrative Court, judgment of 1 June 1995 - 2 C 16/94. 
 
4 2.6 Against that background, the ECB would we lcome a revision of the proposed amendments, 
extending the powers of the Executive Board to adop t staff regulations. Finally, the ECB underlines 
that the Government should consult the ECB on any future amendment to the specific rules applicable to the Deutsche Bundesbank’s sta ff in accordance with Council Decision 98/415/EC.  
 This opinion will be published on the ECB’s website.   Done at Frankfurt am Main, 21 February 2008. 
 
[signed] 
 
The President of the ECB 
Jean-Claude TRICHET