EN 
 
 
OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK 
of 16 March 2009 
at the request of the Polish Minister for Finance  
on a draft law amending the Law on guarantees and endorsements granted by the Treasury and 
certain legal persons, the Law on Bank Gospod arstwa Krajowego and certain other laws 
(CON/2009/22) 
 
Introduction and legal basis  
On 18 February 2009 the European Central Bank (ECB) received a request from the Polish Minister for 
Finance for an opinion on a draft law (hereinafter ‘the draft law’) amending the Law of 14 March 2003 on 
Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego (hereinafter the ‘Law on BGK’)1.  
The ECB’s competence to deliver an  opinion is based on Article 105(4) of the Treaty establishing the 
European Community and the sixth 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 provisions2, as the draft law contains rules applicable  to financial institutions insofar as they 
materially influence the stability of financial ins titutions and markets. 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 
1.1 Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego (BGK) is th e only Polish credit institution established by 
legislation as a State bank3. Its main activities include supporting the government’s socioeconomic 
programmes, as well as local self-government and regional development projects. Within this 
scope, BGK provides banking services to public entities and several public funds established for 
special purposes, including those established to di stribute EU funds. As a specific financial 
                                                 
1  Dz. U. of 2003, No 65, item 594. 
2  OJ L 189, 3.7.1998, p. 42. 
3  See Article 2(1) of the Law on BGK together with Article 1 of the Regulation of the President of Poland of 30 May 1924 
merging the State credit institutions  into Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego ( Dziennik Ustaw  (Dz. U.) of 1924 No 46, 
item 477). See also Article 46(1) of the Law on banking of 13 April 1960 (Dz. U. of 1960 No 20, item 121) together with 
Article 64(2) of the Law on banking of 12 June 1975 (Dz. U. of 1975 No 20, item  108) and Article 64(2) of the Law on 
banking of 26 February 1982 (Dz.U. of 1982 No 7, item 56). See also Article 14(1) of the Law on banking of 29 August 
1997 (consolidated text: Dz.U. of 2002 No 72, item 665) (her einafter the ‘Law on banking’). See Regulation of the 
Minister for the Treasury of 27 August 2003 laying down the ar ticles of incorporation for Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego 
(Dz. U. of 2003 No 156, item 1526). 
institution created for public purpos es, BGK is exem pted from  Directi ve 2006/48/ EC of  
14 June 2006 relating to the ta king up and pursuit of the business of credit institutions (recast)4. 
1.2 According to  the draft la w’s explanat ory memorandum5, the pla nned changes are related to ‘the  
need to ensure the tran sparency  of Bank  Gospodarstwa Krajow ego’s o peration s to better perform 
its tasks and  implement governm ent programmes’ and aim  to ‘create a le gal framework  within  
which BGK, as a State-owned bank, wil l conduct ba nking o perations as part of its own operations,  
and at the same time support the gover nment’s social and economic programmes, as well as local 
self-government and regio nal development progra mmes which are being im plemented with the use 
of public funds’ . The draft law str eamlines th e Law on BGK, ex tends the legal framework  for 
BGK’s im plem entation of governm ent programme s and winds up some sp ecial public funds,  
transferring their ass ets to  BGK. Further more, so me formal requi rements apply ing to the BGK’ s 
operations are relaxed. 
1.3 The draft law modifies BGK’s activities. It extends support for Po lish exports to also include the 
implem entation of g overn ment programmes6. It creates a new task of  issuing  endorsem ents and  
guarantees within the fra mework of carry ing out  governm ent programmes,  on BGK’ s or the 
Treasury ’s behalf7. The draft law also allows the Minister  for Finance to increase  BGK’ s statutor y 
funds, by way of pr ovidi ng BGK with Treasury  bonds issued specifically  for this purpose. Their 
issuance will be exem pt from  budget limits, but thei r value will be included in the calculation of  
governm ent debt8. Further more, the draft law amen ds Article 128b of the La w on bankin g by 
allowing the Financial Supervision Co mmission to  exem pt BGK from  some requirem ents of the  
Law on banking9. Such a possibilit y is extended to funds pr ovided to BGK for government  
programme p urposes. Additional conditi ons are dr opped, including the requirem ent for the sep arate 
management of such fun ds and exclusio n of the bank’s own risk in relation to thi s activity . 
1.4 The draft law provides for the windi ng up of several special  public funds, including the EU  
Guarantee Fund and the transfer of their asset s to BGK’ s statutory  fund10. The ECB understand s 
that this will result in a significant increase in BG K’s funds com pared to the relative size of other 
financial institutions. 
 
                                                 
4  OJ L 177, 30.6 .2006, p . 1. See Ar ticle 2 . 
5  Parliamentar y document No 16 38 of 6 Febru ary 2009 , available on  the lower chamber  of Parliament’s web site at 
www.sejm.gov.pl. 
6  Articl e 2(3)( a) of the draft law, amending Article 5(1)(3) of the Law on BGK. 
7  Article 2(3)(a) o f the draf t law, introducing a new Article 5(1 )(5) to the Law on BGK, in conjun ction with Article 1(9) of  
the dr aft law, in troducing  a new Chapter 8a to  the Law of 8 May  1997  on gu arantees and endo rsements granted by the 
Treasur y and certain legal person s (Dz.U. o f 2003 , No 174 , item 1 689). 
8  Articl e 2(4)  of the draf t law, intro ducing n ew Article 5a of th e Law on BGK. 
9  Articl e 7 of th e draft law. 
10  Articles 15 to 17  and 25  of the dr aft law. 
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2. General observations  
2.1 Since the mai n aim of the draft law is to improve the transparenc y of BGK’ s operations, inter alia  
to better implem ent govern ment programmes, the ECB understands that BGK will play  a 
substantial role in assisting t he govern ment’s econom ic programmes rel ating to the c urrent  
financial crisis. In this context, and t o the ex tent t hat the broad ened scope of BGK’s activities 
relates to the crisi s, the ECB reit erates its statements expressed in its previous opini ons on  
measures adopted in Poland to m itigate the financial turm oil11 and em phasises the need to provide  
for the te mporary  character of such measures to  meet their  aim of restori ng norm al market 
conditions. 
2.2 In view of the BGK’ s specific status d ue to its publ ic sector role and its exemption from  Directive 
2006/ 48/EC, the ECB underlines the need to maintain a level play ing field and avoid  undu e 
distortions of co mpetition between financial ins titutions as a result of increasi ng BGK’ s statutor y 
funds and br oadening the scope of its activities. In  particular, the ECB notes that enhancing BGK’s  
activity  on th e credit market by  providing additi onal funds and re laxing the re quirements appl ying 
to its activities, including the possibilit y of obtai ning an exem ption from  the requirem ents of the 
Law on ban king12, shoul d not lead to  the crowdi ng o ut of credit prov ided b y other credi t 
institutions operating in the market. Furtherm ore, the ECB notes t hat the i mplementation of BGK’s  
tasks within t he fram ework of governm ent progra mmes must respect the Comm unity  rules on State 
aid. Appropriate s afeguards, including risk manage ment and control measure s, need also to be put 
in place to ensure that BGK’ s enha nced role does not im pair the st ability  of the financial markets.   
 
This opini on will be publis hed on t he ECB’s website. 
 
 
Done at Frankfurt am  Main, 16  March 2009 . 
 
[signed ] 
 
The President of the ECB 
Jean-Claude TRICHET 
                                                 
11  See ECB Opin ion CON/2008/80 of 28 November  2008 at th e request of the Polish Minister for  Finance on a draf t law on 
the provision of Treasur y support to financial institutions and ECB  Opinion CON/2 009/19 of 9 Mar ch 2009 at the request 
of the Polish Minister for  Finan ce on a draft law  on the recapitalisation of  certain financial institutions.  
12  Article 128b  of the Law on b anking, as  amended  by Article 7 of  the draf t law. 
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