EN 
 
 
OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK 
of 5 December 2005 
at the request of Magyar Nemzeti Bank 
on a draft regulation on the scope of information to be supplied to the central bank’s information 
system and on the method and time limits for data supply  
(CON/2005/52) 
 1. On 11 November 2005, the European Central Bank (ECB) received a request from Magyar 
Nemzeti Bank (MNB) for an opinion on a draft re gulation on the scope of information to be 
supplied to the central bank’s information system  and on the method and time limits for data supply 
(hereinafter the ‘draft regulation’). 
2. The ECB’s competence to deliver an opinion is based on the fourth indent of Article 2(1) of 
Council Decision 98/415/EC of 29 June 1998 on the c onsultation of the European Central Bank by 
national authorities regarding draft legislative provisions
1, as the draft regulation relates to the 
collection of statistical information. In accordan ce 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. 
3. The draft regulation is intended to replace MNB Regulation No 8/2004 (XII. 19) on the scope of 
information to be supplied to the central bank’ s information system and on the method and time 
limits for data supply. The draft regulation rela tes to MNB’s information system, which collects 
statistical information necessary for its tasks.  
4. Article 5.2 of the Statute of the European System of Central Banks (ESCB) and of the European 
Central Bank provides that “the national central banks  shall carry out, to the extent possible, the 
tasks described in Article 5.1”; the tasks there re ferred to are those of the ESCB as defined by the 
Treaty establishing the European Community an d the Statute of the ESCB and the ECB. 
Article 43.1 of the Statute implies that legal inst ruments adopted by the ECB for the fulfilment of 
its statistical reporting requirements do not confer  any rights or impose any obligations on the non-
participating Member States. At the same time, Article 47.2 of the Statute states that the General Council (in which the Governor of MNB is a member) of the ECB must contribute to the collection of statistical information as referred to in Article 5 of the Statute.  
5. Article 10 of the Treaty requires that “Member St ates shall take all appropriate measures ... to 
ensure fulfilment of the obligations arising out of the Treaty” and, more specifically, Article 4 of 
                                                     
 
1  OJ L 189, 3.7.1998, p. 42. 
2 the Council Regulation No 2533/98 on the collection of statistical information by the ECB requires 
all Member States to “organise themselves in the fi eld of statistics … and fully co-operate in order 
to ensure the fulfilment of the obligations arising out of Article 5 of the Statute”. 
6. Recital 17 of Council Regulation No 2533/98 states that  “while it is recognised that the statistical 
information needed to fulfil he ECB’s statistical reporting requirem ents is not the same for the 
participating as for the non-participating Member St ates, Article 5 of the Statute applies to both 
participating and non-participating Me mber States; this fact, together with Article 10 of the Treaty, 
implies an obligation to design and implement at the national level all the measures that Member 
States consider appropriate in order to carry out th e collection of the statistical information needed 
to fulfil the ECB’s statistical reporting requirement s and the timely preparations in the field of 
statistics in order for them to become participating Member States”. 
7. The ECB welcomes this initiative to regulate the co llection of statistical information. The ECB 
notes that the national central banks’ reporting provisions are an indispensable component of the national statistical collection systems. These na tional reporting provisions may differ to varying 
degrees between each Member State, depending on many national and external factors. As a result, the ECB’s comments on national central bank draft st atistical reporting provisions are mainly of a 
general nature and are intended to  draw attention to those aspects that may be made more explicit 
in the consulted draft legislative proposals. 
8. The ECB welcomes the following main objectives of the amendments to be introduced by the draft 
regulation:  
(a) the introduction of obligations to supply four new types of data; and  
(b) modification of certain data to be provided in accordance with Guideline ECB/2005/4 of 
15 February 2005 amending Guideline ECB 2003/2 concerning certain statistical reporting 
requirements of the European Central Bank a nd the procedures for reporting by the national 
central banks of statistical information in  the field of money and banking statistics
2.  
9. In addition, the draft regulation introduces the re quirement to provide data on securities issued in 
Hungary so that MNB can contribute to a shared securities database within the ESCB for statistical 
purposes. The ECB welcomes the requirement for security-by-security reporting in order to 
enhance the portfolio investment account within ba lance of payments and international investment 
position statistics. Such a reporting system comp lies with Guideline ECB/2004/15 of 16 July 2004 
on the statistical reporting requirements of the Euro pean Central Bank in the field of balance of 
payment statistics and international investment position statistics, and the international reserves 
template3, and in particular its time limit for implementation of 1 March 2008.  
                                                      
2  OJ L 109, 29.4.2005, p. 6. 
3  OJ L 354, 30.11.2004, p. 34. 
3 10. These amendments to be introduced by the draft re gulation will improve the accuracy of statistical 
information obtained from reporting agents. They also indicate that MNB is preparing adequately for the Eurosystem’s requirements.  
11. The ECB concludes that the reporting scheme to be  introduced by the draft regulation as far as 
reporting agents residing in Hungary are concerned appears to comply with its statistical reporting 
requirements. Furthermore, the draft regulation appe ars to be complete and consistent with these 
requirements.  
12. At the same time, the draft regulation provides th at as an NCB outside the euro area, MNB will 
assess whether any proposed detailed reporting instru ctions and collection methods at the national 
level are the most efficient and effective and the least burdensome for the reporting agents concerned.  
13. This opinion does not prejudice any later assess ment by the ECB of the Hungarian reporting 
scheme and the statistical information reported to  the ECB for the fulfilment of its statistical 
reporting requirements. 
14. This opinion will be published on the ECB’s website. 
  Done at Frankfurt am Main, 5 December 2005. 
 
[signed] 
 
The President of the ECB 
Jean-Claude TRICHET