EN ECB-PUBLIC  
 
 
OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK 
of 10 March 2014  
on the oversight of credit transfers and direct debits in euro 
(CON/2014/20) 
 
Introduction and legal basis 
On 29 January 2014, the European Central Bank (ECB) received a request from Banca Na ţională a 
României (BNR) for an opinion on a draft governme nt emergency ordinance setting out the measures to 
implement Regulation (EU) No 260/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 
14 March 2012 establishing technical and business requireme nts for credit transfers and direct debits in 
euro1 (hereinafter the ‘draft ordinance’). 
The ECB’s competence to deliver an  opinion is based on Articles 127(4) and 282(5) of the Treaty on the 
Functioning of the European Union and the second, thir d and fifth indents of Article 2(1) of Council 
Decision 98/415/EC2, as the draft ordinance relates to means of payment, BNR and payment and 
settlement systems. 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 ordinance 
1.1 The purpose of the draft ordinance is to implement Regulation (EU) No 260/2012 (hereinafter the 
‘Regulation’) in Romania. More particularly , the draft ordinance designates the competent 
authority for ensuring compliance with the Regula tion, defines redress procedures and penalties, as 
well as procedures for out-of-court resolution of disputes.  
1.2 For this purpose, BNR is designated as the compet ent authority and is entitled to: (i) cooperate with 
other competent authorities in EU Member States ; (ii) request any relevant information and 
documents; (iii) carry out on-site inspections at th e premises of the entities monitored; (iv) further 
specify redress procedures and/or apply penalti es for non-compliance with the provisions of the 
Regulation, the delegated acts adopted by the Eu ropean Commission or relevant BNR regulations; 
and (v) issue regulations for the implementation of the Regulation and the delegated acts adopted 
by the Commission. 
                                                 
1 OJ L 94, 30.3.2012, p. 22. 
2 Council Decision 98/415/EC of 29 June 1998 on the consultatio n of the European Central Bank by national authorities 
regarding draft legislative provisions (OJ L 189, 3.7.1998, p. 42). 
ECB-PUBLIC  
2 1.3 BNR will also ‘monitor payment service providers  and payment system operators established in 
Romania which provide payment services in euro and the payment scheme operators referred to in 
Article 4 of the Regulation’3. 
 2. Specific observations  In order to ensure proper application of the Regulati on, the draft ordinance, including in particular its 
provisions on the designation of BNR as the authority responsible for ensuring compliance with the Regulation, needs to be in line with the wording of th e Regulation. In particular, Article 3(2) of the draft 
ordinance refers to ‘payment scheme operators’, while Article 4(4) of the Regulation refers to ‘payment 
scheme owners’. The draft ordinance should be amended in this regard since the entity owning a payment 
scheme might not be the one operating it. 
 This opinion will be published on the ECB’s website.   Done at Frankfurt am Main, 10 March 2014. 
 
[signed] 
 
The President of the ECB 
Mario DRAGHI 
                                                 
3 Article 3 of the draft ordinance.