OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK
at the request of the Swedish Ministry of  Finance under Article 109f (6) of the Treaty
establishing the European Comm unity (the Treaty) and Articl e 5.3 of the Statute of the EMI
on a draft legislative propos al to amend the Riksbank Act
CON/98/25
1. On 23 April 1998 the EMI received a request fro m the Swedish Ministry of Finance for an
opinion on a draft legislative proposal to amend the Riksbank Act (Lagrådsremiss - Ändringar
i lagen (1988 : 1385) om Sveriges riksbank)  and on 11 May 1998 the EMI received a revised
version of the legislative proposal (Regeri ngens proposition 1997/98 : 164 - Ändringar i lagen
(1988 : 1385) om Sveriges riksbank ) (the legislative proposal).
2. In accordance with Article 1091 (2) of the Treaty, the ECB has taken over the advisory
functions of the EMI which has gone into li quidation upon the establishment of the ECB on 1
June 1998. The ECBs competence to deliver an opinion is based on Artic le 1.1, second indent,
of the Council Decision (93/717/ EC) of 22 November 1993 on the consultation of the EMI by
the authorities of the Member States on draft le gislative provisions, as the legislative proposal
contains provisions concerning  the status and activities of Sveriges Riksbank (the Bank).
3. The ECB notes the connection to the previous legislative report entitled The status of the
Riksbank (Lagrådsremiss - Riksbankens ställning) which was submitted to the EMI for anopinion in October 1997, and a reference is made to the EMIs opinion in the matter(CON/97/26) dated 7 Novemb er 1997 (the Opinion).
4. In view of the relatively extensive Opinion alr eady provided by the EMI regarding the status of
the Bank, and the purpose of the present legisl ative proposal to review the Riksbank Act
(lagen (1988 : 1385) om Sveriges riksbank) (the Act) in order to improve inter alia itsdisposition, the ECB will at this instance limit its  comments to certain substantive elements of
the legislative proposal.
5. The ECB notes that the references in the Ac t to credit institutions (kreditinstitut) are now
proposed to be replaced by references to financi al institutions (finansin stitut) in the revised
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legislative proposal (as opposed to monetary financial institutions (monetära
finansinstitut), which latter terminology was su ggested in the former version submitted to the
EMI). It is assumed that the chosen term, f inancial institutions, will provide the requisite
scope and clarity for the purposes of the Act. 
6. The ECB also notes and welcomes the requireme nt that the Bank obtains adequate collateral
(betryggande säkerhet) in respect of credit operations for monetary policy purposes (Section5 of Chapter 6 of the legislative proposal) and intra-day credit for payment systems purposes(Section 7 of Chapter 6 of the legislative propos al), in compliance with  the Statute of the
European System of Central Banks and of th e European Central Bank (the ESCB Statute)
(cf Article 18 of the ESCB Statute).
7. Moreover, the proposed amendments in relation to credit operations and repurchase
transactions for monetary policy purposes contained in Chapter 6 of the legislative proposalwill facilitate the future integration of the Bank into the European System of Central Banks (the
ESCB). In particular, the legislative propos al will enable the Bank to carry out both
repurchase transactions and credit operations with counterparties in accordance with the
monetary policy framework developed by the EMI.
8. Finally, the ECB notes Section 8 of Chapter 6 of the revised Act, whereby the Bank, under
certain extraordinary circumstances, may provide credit or guarantees on special terms in order
to support the liquidity of banks and Swedish entities under supervision by the SwedishFinancial Supervisory Authority. Such a legal pr ovision concerning a function for the Bank as
lender of last resort might need to be review ed again before Swedens participation in EMU
and the Banks integration into the ESCB in order to make it subject to the requirements
derived from the Banks full participation in th e ESCB (cf also the EMIs previous Opinion on
the topic of integration of the Bank into the ESCB).
9. The ECB has no objection to this opinion being made public.
10 June 1998