EN 
 
 
OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK 
of 9 October 2009  
on involvement of  De Nederlandsche Bank in the monetary system  
in Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba 
(CON/2009/80) 
 
Introduction and legal basis  
On 24 August 2009 the European Central Bank (ECB) received a request from the Dutch Ministry of 
Finance for an opinion on the draft rules on the moneta ry system in Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba 
(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 De Nederland sche Bank (DNB). 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 law 
The draft law will regulate the monetary system of the islands of Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba 
(hereinafter the ‘BES islands’), and specifically will assign the status of legal tender to the US dollar in 
the BES islands and will impose specific tasks on DNB. 
 2. General observations  2.1 The BES islands, which are currently part of the Netherlands Antilles, will become public bodies 
within the meaning of Article 134 of the Dutch Constitution and part of the territory of the 
Netherlands. The Netherlands Antilles will cease to exist as a country within the Netherlands. The 
BES islands will also remain overseas countries and te rritories within the meaning of Part 4 of the 
Treaty. Therefore, although the BES islands will b ecome part of the territory of the Netherlands, 
they will not become part of the terr itory where the Treaty applies in full. 
                                                 
1  OJ L 189, 3.7.1998, p. 42.  
2 2.2 As regards the tasks conferred to DNB under the draft law, the ECB welcomes the fact that DNB 
will be reimbursed by the Dutch State for any co sts incurred in connection with its monitoring of 
the preparations for the currency changeover in the BES islands. 
 
3. Compatibility of DNB’s new tasks with the Treaty Article 4(1) of the draft law assigns to DNB the task of promoting the smooth operation of payment 
systems in the BES islands, including the circulatio n of US dollar banknotes and coins. According to 
Article 4(2), further rules in respect of this task may be laid down by a general administrative regulation 
on which the ECB also expects to be consulted in due time. 
The ECB understands that: (i) in principle, commercial banks will distribute US dollar banknotes and provide US dollar accounts 
so that the central bank will not be directly involved;  
(ii) DNB will discuss with the US authorities, incl uding the Federal Reserve, in particular its 
coordinating role in screening and withdrawing fro m circulation counterfeit US dollar banknotes;  
(iii) DNB will monitor the preparations fo r the changeover to the US dollar. 
In this context, the ECB makes the following observations. The ECB is of the opinion that these tasks 
qualify as non-ESCB tasks within the meaning of Article  14.4 of the Statute of the European System of 
Central Banks and of the European Central Bank (herei nafter the ‘Statute of the ESCB’). Article 14.4 of 
the Statute of the ESCB provides that national centr al banks may perform functions other than those 
specified in the Statute of the ESCB unless the Governi ng Council finds, by a majority of two thirds of 
the votes cast, that these interfere with the objectives and tasks of the ESCB. The objectives and tasks of 
the ESCB include the primary objective of maintaining price stability, and the basic tasks of defining and 
implementing monetary policy and conducting forei gn-exchange operations. As currently envisaged 
under the draft law, the abovementioned DNB tasks do not currently appear to have the potential of 
interfering with the objectives and tasks of the ESCB. Moreover, while the performance of these 
essentially monetary tasks by DNB does not raise any m onetary financing concerns, DNB is subject to the 
monetary financing prohibition with respect to any activities it conducts in the BES islands in the same 
way as in the rest of the territory of the Netherlands.  
The ECB understands that DNB may be asked in the future  to provide liquidity assistance in US dollars to 
commercial banks located in the BES islands, th rough for instance either DNB’s foreign currency 
portfolio or the borrowing of US dollars via swap arrangements. In the same vein, DNB may also be 
assigned supervisory tasks in these public bodies with resp ect to financial institutions (see the legislation 
referred to in Article 6.6, 6.9 and 6.10  of the Amending Law BES). Such tasks performed by DNB in the 
BES islands are important and should receive due cons ideration. It is however understood that assigning 
these new tasks to DNB will require an amendmen t to the 1998 Law on banking on which the ECB 
expects to be consulted in due time. 
3  
This opinion will be published on the ECB’s website.    Done at Frankfurt am Main, 9 October 2009. 
 
[signed] 
 
The President of the ECB 
Jean-Claude TRICHET