OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN MONETARY INSTITUTE 
 
on a consultation under Article 109f(6) of the Treaty establishing the European Community (the 
“Treaty”) and Article 5.3 of the Statute of the EMI as elaborated in Council Decision 93/717/EC of 22nd November 1993 (the “Council Decision”) from the National Bank of Belgium on behalf of the 
Belgian Government concerning a dr aft amendment to its Organic Law. 
 
CON/95/12 
 1. The present consultation was initiated by letter of 10th July 1995 by the National Bank of Belgium  
on behalf of the Belgian Government. The consultation concerns a draft amendment to the 
Organic Law of the National Bank of Belgium, providing the Bank with a legal lien on all 
securities booked in its accounts in the name of  the participants. The purpose of the amendment 
is to ensure the repayment of intra-day or ov ernight credits granted by the National Bank of 
Belgium to participating institutions, thus fo stering the efficient management and smooth 
functioning of the real-time gross-settlement syst em calles ELLIPS, which is in the process of 
being established. During the present consu ltation process, the Na tional Bank of Belgium 
informed the EMI that the draft legislation on wh ich the EMI was origina lly consulted had been 
changed, as a result of discussions between the responsible Belgian ministries. The change 
concerned the nature of the lien on securities provided by particip ants to the National Bank of 
Belgium. In the new text of the law, the lien prov ided will have the same ranking or priority as 
that of any other pledge which pa rticipants in the ELLIPS system may provide to third parties.  
 
2. As the draft bill provides for amendments to the statute of a national central bank of a member 
State of the European Union and relates to clearing and settlement systems, the EMI is 
competent to issue an opinion on the draft legislation under Article 1.1, second and fourth 
indent, of the Council Decision. 
 3. The EMI welcomes the measures as contained in the draft since they provide for an adaptation 
of the current Organic Law of the National Bank of Belgium to various Articles of the Treaty 
and of the Statute of the European System of Central Banks and of the European Central Bank 
(the “Statute”) and in particular of Article 18.1 of the Statute which states that the ECB and the 
national central banks may conduct credit operations with credit institutions and other market participants, with lending being based on adequate  collateral. The practical implications of this 
Article for payment systems are such that natio nal central banks and their counterparts should 
be able to establish collateral in a timely  and efficient manner. The draft legislation 
contemplates this as it gives a generic lien on all securities which the Na tional Bank of Belgium 
at any time may keep in deposit for a participan t of the ELLIPS system to ensure re-payment of 
credits and also provides for a simplified procedure for the realisation of collateral and, thus, supports the smooth operation of the payment system itself. The amendment is also consistent 
with Article 105.2, fourth indent, of the Treaty, as reproduced in Article 3.1, fourth indent, of 
the Statute, which lists as one of the tasks of the ECSB and its components the promotion of the 
smooth operation of payment systems.  
 
 It is noted that the legal construction chosen  for the collateralisatio n of credit facilities for 
participants in the ELLIPS system and its pract ical elaboration should, on the one hand, not 
form an obstacle for selling or pledging secur ities deposited with the National bank of Belgium 
to third parties in the normal course of tradin g activities, whilst on the other hand a monitoring 
mechanism should ensure that outstanding debts are, at any point in time, sufficiently covered by collateral.  
  Finally, the proposed adaptation of the St atute of the National Bank of Belgium is in 
accordance with Article 108 of the Treaty which requires that statutes of national central banks 
shall be made compatible with the Treaty and the Statute.  
  The draft amendment does not give rise to any further remarks which should be addressed in 
this opinion from the EMI’s point of view. 
 
4. The EMI agrees that this opinion may be made pu blic by the competent Belgian authorities at their  
discretion. 
 
30th August 1995