EN 
 
 
OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK 
of 25 July 2006  
at the request of the Bank of Greece 
on a draft provision on the Bank of Greece’s powers in the field of consumer protection 
(CON/2006/38) 
 Introduction and legal basis
 
On 3 July 2006 the European Central Bank (ECB) received a request from the Bank of Greece for an 
opinion on a draft provision on the Bank of Greece’s powers in the field of consumer protection (hereinafter the ‘draft provision’). 
The ECB’s competence to deliver an  opinion is based on Article 105(4) of the Treaty establishing the 
European Community and on the third indent of Article 2(1) of Council Decision 98/415/EC of 
29 June 1998 on the consultation of the European Ce ntral Bank by national authorities regarding draft 
legislative provisions
1, as the draft provision concerns a national central bank (NCB). In accordance with 
the first sentence of Article 17.5 of the Rules of Pr ocedure of the European Central Bank, the Governing 
Council has adopted this opinion. 
 1.  Purpose of the draft provision 
1.1 The draft provision would establish a comprehens ive consumer-protection regime for transactions 
in financial products and services offered by en tities supervised by the Bank of Greece. More 
specifically, it would give the Bank of Greece powers to lay down rules on the following: (i) the transparency of transactions in financial products and services; and (ii) the protection of consumers 
entering into transactions with entities supervised  by the Bank of Greece. The latter power would 
more specifically include laying down rules on the ca lculation of interest rates, issuance of all types 
of payment instruments, financial intermediaries, cr edit advertising, a consumer ’s right to opt out of 
a financial contract or terminate it early, and a fi nancial institution’s duty to provide information to 
consumers. The draft provision also lays down th e Bank of Greece’s powers to impose sanctions in 
case of failure to comply with the abovementi oned rules and the procedures for imposing such 
sanctions. 
                                                     
 
1  OJ L 189, 3.7.1998, p. 42.  
 
2 1.2  Furthermore, under paragraph 3 of the draft pr ovision, a consultative body would be established in 
which both the Ministry of Development and the Bank of Greece would participate with the purpose of applying and de veloping best practices for effective consumer protection, implementing 
the relevant Community Directives and prom oting training programmes addressed both to 
consumers and to the staff of financial institutions. 
1.3  Finally, the draft provision regulates the civil liability of the Bank of Greece’s statutory bodies and 
staff for their acts or omissions when carrying out duties on the basis of the public authority assigned to the Bank of Greece. In this context, it establishes that a collective body or member of 
staff would only be liable in the case of their wilful misconduct or gross negligence. 
 2. General observations 2.1 As regards the granting of new consumer-prot ection powers to the Bank of Greece, the ECB would 
draw attention to the fact that the new tasks d escribed under paragraph 1.1 are not listed among the 
functions of the NCBs as specified in the Statute of the European System of Central Banks and of 
the European Central Bank. However, without pr ejudice to the Governing Council’s powers to take 
action under Article 14.4 of the Statute, the ECB does not consider that the abovementioned tasks 
would interfere with the objectives and tasks of the European System of Central Banks (ESCB). 
2.2 Nonetheless, it should be noted that pursuant to th e last sentence of Article 14.4 of the Statute, the 
new tasks described in paragraphs 1.1 and 1.2 would have to be performed on the responsibility 
and liability of the Bank of Greece, and would not be regarded as being part of the functions of the 
ESCB. 
2.3 In more general terms, the ECB welcomes th e allocation of new powers under the draft provision 
to the Bank of Greece to ensure the transparency  of terms and procedures of transactions carried 
out by entities subject to its supervision (i.e. credit institutions, financial leasing companies, 
factoring companies, mutual guarantee compani es, money-market broker companies, counter-
guarantee funds and bureaux de cha nge). The imposition of specific transparency requirements for 
financial transactions, accompanied by effec tive monitoring of the compliance with those 
requirements, should allow consumers to compare more easily different products and services on 
offer and could therefore enhance competition be tween intermediaries. Moreover, such powers 
comply with the objectives of financial supervisi on as laid down in the Statute of the Bank of 
Greece. In this context, the ECB would draw atten tion to Article 55A of the Statute of the Bank of 
Greece, which states that ‘prudential supervision shall also be aimed at ensuring transparency of 
the procedures and terms of transactions carried out by those subject to supervision’. Indeed, 
prudential supervision and investor/consumer pr otection are both intended to safeguard the 
soundness of the financial market and the preservatio n of confidence in the marketplace. However, 
it is important to ensure that both functions have  adequate and equal emph asis and that appropriate 
organisational requirements are in place to ensure it. Therefore, the Bank of Greece’s intention to 
 
3 allocate the functions attributed by the draft provi sion to a specific department goes in the right 
direction.  
 3. Specific observations 3.1 Exclusive competence of the Bank of Greece  
 It is the ECB’s understanding that all rule-mak ing described under paragr aphs 1.1 and 1.2 would 
fall under the Bank of Greece’s exclusive competen ce. Such exclusive competence in relation to 
the protection of consumers of financial services would also correspond with the Bank of Greece’s 
exclusive competence to supervi se the entities described in Articl e 55A of its Statute. The ECB 
welcomes the fact that the Bank of Greece would have  the power to establish rules in relation to the 
transparency of transactions in financial services a nd products offered by supervised entities, as this 
could improve the clarity and efficiency of the regulatory framework in Greece, simultaneously ensuring both adequate consumer pr otection and a level playing field. 
3.2 Financial independence of the Bank of Greece 
 The ECB observes that the new tasks described under paragraphs 1.1 and 1.2 are bound to require 
the Bank of Greece to commit considerable resources,  both human and financial, to tasks other than 
the functions specified in the Statute. The ECB has consistently held the view
2 that ‘Member States 
may not put their NCBs in the position of not having sufficient financial resources to carry out their 
ESCB or Eurosystem related tasks, as applicable’.  The ECB therefore expects that, in planning the 
transfer of additional powers to the Bank of Greece,  care will be taken to ensure that the Bank’s 
operational capacity to carry out Eurosystem-related tasks will not be affected. 
3.3 Establishment of a joint consultative body 
 Paragraph 3 of the draft provision could be e nhanced by giving the consultative body to be 
established between the Bank of Greece and the Mini stry of Development the task of organising 
consultations with consumer associations, evaluati ng such consultations and putting the results to 
practical use. This would be in line with envi saged Community best practices in the field of 
consumer protection3. 
3.4 Liability  regime  
The ECB welcomes paragraph 4 of the draft pr ovision, which adequately reflects the Core 
Principles for Effective Banking Supervisi on adopted by the Basel Committee on Banking 
Supervision4 by requiring protection from personal and in stitutional liability for supervisory actions 
                                                      
2 See e.g. the ECB’s Convergence Report 2004, p. 28. 
3 See e.g. the Amended proposal for a Decision of the Europ ean Parliament and of the Council establishing a programme 
of Community action in the field of cons umer policy (2007-2013), COM(2006) 235 final. 
4 Available at: http://www.bis.org/publ/bcbs30a.pdf. 
 
4 taken by bodies and staff of the Bank of Greece in good faith in the course of performing their 
supervisory duties.  
 This opinion will be published on the ECB’s website.   Done at Frankfurt am Main, 25 July 2006. 
 
[signed] 
 
The President of the ECB  
Jean-Claude TRICHET